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DICTIONARY 

OF 

NATIONAL    BIOGRAPHY 

NICHOLS O'DUGAN 


DICTIONARY 


OF 


EDITED   BY 

SIDNEY     LEE 


VOL.  XLI. 
NICHOLS O'DuGAN 


MACMILLAN     AND      CO. 

LONDON  :  SMITH,  ELDER,  &  CO. 
1895 


JDft 
Z8 

-D4 
\83 
v/.A-l 


LIST    OF   WEITEES 


IN  THE  FORTY-FIRST   VOLUME. 


G.  A.  A.  .  .  G.  A.  AITKEN. 

J.  W.  A.  .  .  J.  W.  ALLEN. 

W.  A.  J.  A.  .  W.  A.  J.  ABCHBOLD. 

W.  A WALTEB  ARMSTRONG. 

R.  B-L.  .  .  .  RICHARD  BAGWELL. 

G.  F.  R.  B. .  G.  F.  RUSSELL  BARKER. 

M.  B Miss  BATESON. 

R.  B THE  REV.  RONALD  BAYNE. 

T.  B THOMAS  BAYNE. 

C.  R.  B.   .  .  C.  R.  BEAZLEY. 

H.  E.  D.  B.  THE  REV.  H.  E.  D.  BLAKISTON. 

G.  C.  B.  .  .  G.  C.  BOASE. 

T.  G.  B.  .  .  THE  REV.  PROFESSOR  BONNEY, 
F.R.S. 

A.  R.  B.  .  .  THE  REV.  A.  R.  BUCKLAND. 

F.  B LADY  FRANCES  BUSHBY. 

H.  M.  C.  .  .  THE  LATE  H.  MANNERS  CHI- 
CHESTER. 

A.  M.  C-E.  .  Miss  A.  M.  COOKE. 

T.  C THOMPSON  COOPER,  F.S.A. 

C.  H.  C.  .  .  C.  H.  COOTE. 

W.  P.  C.  ,  .  W.  P.  COURTNEY. 

L.  C LIONEL  CUST,  F.S.A. 

J.  A.  D.   .  .  J.  A.  DOYLE. 

R.  D ROBERT  DUNLOP. 

W.  J.  F.  .  .  W.  J.  FITZPATRICK,  F.S.A. 

W.  G.  D.  F.  THE  REV.  W.  G.  D.  FLETCHER. 


J.   G.   F.     ,    .   J.   G.  FOTHEHINGHAM. 

M.  F THE  REV.  DR.  FHIEDLANDER. 

R.  G RICHARD  GABNETT,  LL.D. 

J.  T.  G.   .  .  J.  T.  GILBERT,  LL.D.,  F.S.A. 

G.  G GORDON  GOODWIN. 

A.  G THE  REV.  ALEXANDER  GORDON. 

R.  E.  G.  .  .  R.  E.  GRAVES. 

J.  M.  G.  .  .  THE  LATE  J.  M.  GRAY. 

J.  C.  H.   .  .  J.  CUTHBERT  HADDEN. 

J.  A.  H.  .  .  J.  A.  HAMILTON. 

C.  A.  H.  .  .  C.  ALEXANDER  HARRIS. 

T.  F.  H.  .  .  T.  F.  HENDERSON. 

J.  A.  H-T.  .  J.  A.  HERBERT. 

W.  A.  S.  H.  W.  A.  S.  HEWINS. 

G.  J.  H.  .  .  GEORGE  JACOB  HOLYOAKE. 

W.  H.    ...  THE  REV.  WILLIAM  HUNT. 

A.  J THE    REV.   AUGUSTUS    JESSOPP, 

D.D. 

C.  L.   K.    .   .   C.  L.   KlNGSFOBD. 

J.  K JOSEPH  KNIGHT,  F.S.A. 

W.  W.  K.   .  COL.  W.  W.  KNOLLYS. 

J.  E.  L.   .  .  PROFESSOR  J.  E.  LAUGHTON. 

E.  L Miss  ELIZABETH  LEE. 

S.  L SIDNEY  LEE. 

R.  H.  L.  .  .  ROBIN  H.  LEOGE. 

A.  G.  L.  .  .  A.  G.  LITTLE. 

J.  E.  L.   .  .  JOHN  EDWARD  LLOYD. 


VI 


List  of  Writers. 


j.  H.  L.  . 

M.  MACD. 
J  B.  M.  . 
J.  M-N.  .  . 

E.  C.  M.  . 
L.  M.  M. . 
A.  H.  M. . 

N.  M 

G.  P.  M-Y, 
J.  B.  M.  . 
A.  N.  .  .  . 
P.  L.  N.  . 

F.  N.  .  .  . 

G.  LE  G.  N. 
D.  J.  O'D. 
F.  M.  O'D. 
8.  P.  0.   . 
W.  P-H.   . 
K.  P.  .  .  . 

H.  P 

C.  P 

B.  L.  P.  .  , 
8.  L.-P. .  .  . 

A.  F.  P. 

B.  P.  . 


.  THE  BEV.  J.  H.  LUPTON,  B.D. 

.    M.    MACDONAGH. 

.  J.  B.  MACDONALK. 

.  THE     BEV.    JAMES    MACKINNON 
Ph.D. 

.  E.  C.  MABCHANT. 

.    MlSS   MlDDLETON. 

.  A.  H.  MILLAR. 

.  NOBMAN  MOOBE,  M.D. 

.    G.   P.   MORIABTY. 

.  J.  BASS  Mri-LiNGER. 
.  ALBEBT  NICHOLSON. 
.  P.  L.  NOLAN. 
.  FBEDEBICK  NOBOATE. 
.  G.  LE  GBYS  NOBOATE. 

,   D.  J.   O'DONOOHTJE. 

,  F.  M.  O'DoNOGHUE,  F.S.A. 
CAPT.  S.  P.  OUVEB. 
THE  LATE  WYATT  PAPWOBTH. 
KINETON  PABKES. 
HENBY  PATON. 
THE  BEV.  CHABLES  PLAITS. 
B.  L.  POOLE. 
STANLEY  LANE-POOLE. 

A.   F.   PoLLABD. 
Ml8S  POBTEB. 


E.  G.  P.  .  .  Miss  E.  G.  POWELL. 
D'A.  P.  ...  D'ABCY  POWEB,  F.B.C.S. 

B.  B.  P.  .  .  B.  B.  PBOSSEB. 
J.  M.  B.  .  .  J.  M.  BIOG. 

C.  J.  E.    .  .  THE  EEV.  C.  J.  BOBINSON. 
J.  H.  E.  .  .  J.  H.  BOUND. 

W.  B-E.    .  .  WALTEB  BYE. 

L.  C.  S.    .  .  LLOYD  C.  SANDEBS. 

T.  S THOMAS  SECCOMBE. 

W.  A.  S.  .  .  W.  A.  SHAW. 

C.  F.  S.   .  .  Miss  C.  FELL  SMITH. 

L.  T.  S.   .  .  Miss  LUCY  TOULMIN  SMITH. 

B.  H.  S.  .  .  BASIL  HABBINGTON  SOULSBY. 
L.  S LESLIE  STEPHEN. 

G.  S-H.  .  .  .  GEOBGE  STBONACH. 

C.  W.  S.  .  .  C.  W.  SUTTON. 
J.  T-T.  .  .  .  JAMES  TAIT. 

H.  E.  T.  .  .  H.  B.  TEDDEB,  F.S.A. 
X  LL.  T.    .  D.  LLEUFEB  THOMAS. 
2.  V THE  EEV.  CANON  VENABLES. 

E.  H.  V.  .  .  COLONEL   B.   H.  VETCH,    E.E., 

C.B. 

G.  W GBAHAM  WALLAS. 

F.  W-N.    .  .  FOSTEB  WATSON. 

W.  W.  W.  .  SUBGEON-CAPTAIN  W.  W.  WEBB. 
W.  W WABWICK  WBOTH,  F.S.A. 


DICTIONARY 


OF 


NATIONAL    BIOGRAPHY 


Nichols 


Nichols 


NICHOLS.    [See  also  NICOLLS.] 

NICHOLS,  JAMES  (1785-1861),  printer 
and  theological  writer,  was  born  at  Wash- 
ington, Durham,  6  April  1785.  Owing  to 
family  losses  he  had  to  work  in  a  factory  at 
Holbeck,  Leeds,  from  the  age  of  eight  to 
twelve,  but  studied  the  Latin  grammar  in 
spare  moments.  His  father  was  afterwards 
able  to  send  him  to  Leeds  grammar  school. 
Nichols  was  for  some  time  a  private  tutor, 
and  subsequently  entered  into  business  as  a 
printer  and  bookseller  at  Briggate,  Leeds. 
He  printed  some  small  volumes,  including 
Byrom's  '  Poems '  (1814),  and  several  pam- 
phlets, and  edited  the  '  Leeds  Literary  Ob- 
server,' vol.  i.,  from  January  to  September 
1819.  This  periodical  he  proposed  to  replace 
by  a  monthly  miscellany  of  a  more  ambitious 
character,  but  removed  to  London  and  opened 
a  printing  office  at  22  Warwick  Square,  New- 
gate Street.  His  best  known  work,  '  Cal- 
vinism and  Arminianism  compared '  (1824), 
was  here  written  and  printed.  Of  this  book, 
Southey  wrote  to  the  Rev.  Neville  White 
28  Oct.  1824 :  ' It  is  put  together  in  a  most 
unhappy  way,  but  it  is  the  most  valuable 
contribution  to  our  ecclesiastical  history  that 
has  ever  fallen  into  my  hands '  (Selections 
from  Letters,  ed.  J.  W.  Warter,  1856,  iii. 
449;  see  also  Quarterly  Review,  1828,  xxxvii. 
228).  In  1825  was  published  the  first 
volume  of  his  translation  of  the  'Works 
of  Anninius,'  with  a  life  and  appendices,  and 
in  1826  he  printed  for  private  circulation 
complimentary  letters  from  A.  des  Amorie 
van  der  Hoeven  and  Adrian  Stolker;  the 
third  volume,  issued  in  1875,  was  translated 
by  Mr.  William  Nichols.  Bishop  Blomfield 
urged  Nichols  more  than  once  to  take  orders, 

VOL.  XLI. 


so  that  he  might  devote  himself  entirely 
to  theological  study.  Nichols  removed  his 
printing  office  in  1832  to  Hoxton  Square, 
where  he  remained  the  rest  of  his  life.  Here 
he  printed  some  excellent  editions  of  Thomas 
Fuller's  '  Church  History '  (1837),  '  History 
of  Cambridge  '  (1840),  and  ' The  Holy  and 
Profane  State '  (1841), '  Pearson  on  the  Creed' 
(1845),  and  Warburton's  '  Divine  Legation ' 
(1846),  and  edited  many  books  for  William 
Tegg.  In  an  obituary  notice  in  the  '  Athe- 
naeum'two  works  are  especially  commended, 
'which  cannot  be  surpassed  for  judgment, 
zeal,  care,  and  scholarship  on  the  part  of  the 
editor,  namely,  the  Poetical  Works  of  Thom- 
son [1849]  and  the  Complete  Works  of  Dr. 
Young  [1855].'  But  his  chief  publication 
was  probably  'The  Morning  Exercises  at 
Cripplegate,  St.  Giles-in-the-Fields,  and  in 
Southwark,  being  divers  Sermons  preached 
A.D.  1659-1689,'  fifth  edition,  collated  and 
corrected,  London,  1844-5,  6  vols.  8vo. 

He  died  in  Hoxton  Square  on  26  Nov.  1861, 
aged  76.  He  married  Miss  Bursey  of  Stock- 
ton-on-Tees  in  1813,  and  had  many  children, 
of  whom  two  survive. 

Nichols  was  '  one  of  the  rare  race  of 
learned  printers,  and  a  man  of  unbounded 
general  information ' (Athen<sum,7  Dec.  1861, 
p.  769).  His  amiable  disposition  and  valu- 
able researches  in  church  history  brought 
him  the  friendship  and  esteem  of  Southey, 
Tomline,  Wordsworth,  Todd,  Bowring,  and 
many  other  scholars. 

[Information  from  Mr.  William  Nichols  ; 
obituary  notices  in  Watchman,  27  Nov.  1861  ; 
Athenaeum,  30  Nov.  and  7  Dec.  1861 ;  Gent. 
Mag.  1862,  i.  106;  Allibone's  Diet,  of  English 
Literature,  vol.  ii.]  H.  R.  T. 


Nichols 


Nichols 


NICHOLS    or    NICHOLSON,   JOHN 

(d.  1538),protestant  martyr.  [See  LAMBERT.] 

NICHOLS,  JOHN  (1745-1826),  printer 
and  author,  was  born  at  Islington  on  2  Feb. 
1745.  His  father,  Edward  Nichols, a  baker, 
son  of  Bartholomew  and  Isabella  Nichols  of 
Piccadilly, was  born  on  18  Oct.  1719,and  died 
at  Islington  on  29  Jan.  1779 ;  and  his  mother, 
Anne,  daughter  of  Thomas  Wilmot  of  Beck- 
ingham,  Gainsborough,  was  born  in  1719, 
and  died  on  27  Dec.  1783.  Besides  John, 
only  one  child,  Anne,  survived;  she  married 
Edward  Bentley,  of  the  accountant's  office 
of  the  Bank  of  England.  Nichols  was  for 
eight  years  a  favourite  pupil  of  John  Shield, 
who  had  a  school  at  Islington,  and  it  was 
proposed  that  he  should  enter  the  navy. 
This  plan,  however,  fell  through  when  his 
uncle,  Thomas  Wilmot,  an  officer  and  friend 
of  Admiral  Barrington,  died  in  1751  ;  and 
in  1757  Nichols  was  apprenticed  to  William 
Bowyer  the  younger  [q.  v.],  the  printer.  A 
'  Report  from  the  Committee  appointed  to 
enquire  into  the  original  Standard  of  Weights 
and  Measures  in  this  Kingdom '  (1758)  was, 
Nichols  says,  one  of  the  first  works  on  which 
he  was  employed  as  a  compositor.  Bowyer 
was  a  man  of  education,  and  Nichols  seems 
to  have  received  a  very  fair  classical  training 
under  his  auspices.  At  sixteen  he  was  writ- 
ing verses  at  Bowyer's  suggestion  (NICHOLS, 
Lit.  Anecd.  ii.  37),  and  in  1763  he  published 
two  poems,  which  were  followed  in  1765  by 
verses  in  Dr.  Perfect's  '  Laurel  Wreath,'  and 
prose  essays  in  Kelly's  '  Babbler '  and  the 
'  Westminster  Journal,'  signed '  The  Cobbler 
of  Alsatia'('Life'  by  A.  CHALMEBS  in  Gent. 
Mag.,  1826,  ii.  489  seq.) 

In  1765  Bowyer  sent  Nichols  to  Cam- 
bridge, to  negotiate  with  the  vice-chancellor 
for  the  management  of  the  university  press. 
The  proposal  came  to  nothing,  because  the 
university  determined  to  keep  the  property 
in  their  own  hands.  Early  in  the  following 
year  Bowyer  took  Nichols  into  partnership, 
returning  to  his  father  half  the  apprentice 
fee  (Lit.  Anecd.  iii.  286),  and  in  1767  they 
removed  from  Whitefriars  to  Red  Lion  Pas- 
sage, Fleet  Street.  In  1774  they  jointly 
edited  'The  Origin  of  Printing,  in  two  Essays 
[by  Dr.  Middle  ton  and  Meerman].  With 
occasional  Remarks  and  an  Appendix.' 

Nichols's  important  literary  work  began 
in  1775,  when  he  edited  an  additional  volume 
of  Swift's '  Works,' which  was  followed  by '  A 
Supplement  to  Dr.  Swift's  Works,  with  Ex- 
planatory Notes,'  in  two  volumes,  in  1776 
and  1779.  In  1776  he  edited  the  '  Original 
Works '  of  William  King,  D.C.L.  [q.  v.],  in 
three  volumes.  In  these,  as  in  several  sub- 


sequent imdertakings,  Nichols  received  con- 
siderable assistance  from  Isaac  Reed,  who, 
like  Richard  Gough,  Dr.  Richard  Farmer, 
Dr.  Birch,  Dr.  Parsons,  Warton,  Sir  John 
Pringle,  and  others,  had  already  been  attracted 
by  the  young  man's  antiquarian  tastes. 
Bowyer  died  in  1777,  and  left  to  Nichols, 
who  was  an  executor,  the  residue  of  his  per- 
sonal estate,  after  numerous  bequests  (ib.  iii. 
289).  Nichols  erected  a  monument  to  his 
'  patron '  at  Leyton  (LTSONS,  Environs  of 
London,  iv.  169).  In  the  same  year  (1778) 
he  joined  a  friend,  David  Henry,  in  the 
management  of  the '  Gentleman's  Magazine,' 
and  from  1792  until  his  death  he  was  solely 
responsible  for  that  important  periodical,  and 
himself  constantly  wrote  for  it.  In  1780  he 
published,  with  the  assistance  of  Gough  and 
Dr.  Ducarel  (Lit.  Anecd.  vi.  284,  391),  « A 
Collection  of  Royal  and  Noble  Wills,  with 
Notes  and  a  Glossary ; '  a  valuable  '  Select 
Collection  of  Miscellaneous  Poems,'  in  four 
volumes,  followed  by  four  more  in  1782,  in 
which  he  was  aided  by  Joseph  Warton  and 
Bishops  Percy  and  Lowth  (ib.  iii.  160,  vi. 
170) ;  and  the  first  numbers  of  the  '  Biblio- 
theca  Topographica  Britannica,'  which  was 
completed,  in  eight  volumes,  in  1790,  to  be 
followed  (1791-1800)  by  two  supplementary 
volumes  of '  Miscellaneous  Antiquities.' 

Nichols  had  married,  in  July  1766,  Anne, 
daughter  of  William  Cradock.  She  died  on 
18  Feb.  1776,  and  in  June  1778  he  remarried 
Martha,  daughter  of  William  Green  of  Hinck- 
ley,  Leicestershire,  by  whom  he  was  father  of 
John  Bowyer  Nichols  [q.  v.]  In  1781  Bishop 
Percy  was  godfather  to  another  of  Nichols's 
sons,  Thomas  Cleiveland,  who  died  on  2  April 
of  the  following  year.  Nichols  was  a  fellow 
of  the  Society  of  Antiquaries,  London,  and  he 
became  an  honorary  member  of  the  Society 
of  Antiquaries  at  Edinburgh  in  1781,  and 
received  a  similar  honour  from  the  Society 
of  Antiquaries  at  Perth  in  1785.  In  1781-2 
he  was  in  correspondence  with  the  Rev.  Wil- 
liam Cole  on  literary  matters,  and  promised 
to  visit  Cole,  in  company  with  Steevens,  in 
1783  (Addit.  MSS.  5831  f.  128  b,  5993  f.  71, 
6401  f.  149).  In  1782  he  went  with  Gough 
on  an  antiquarian  pilgrimage  to  Croyland 
and  Spalding,  and  experienced  great  courtesy 
from  the  family  of  Maurice  Johnson,  founder 
of  the  Gentleman's  Society  at  Spalding  (Lit. 
Anecd.  vi.  125).  At  this  time,  too,  Nichols 
became  an  intimate  friend  of  Dr.  Johnson, 
whose  '  Lives  of  the  English  Poets '  were 
then  passing  through  his  press.  Nichols 
often  had  to  appeal  for  '  copy,'  and  Johnson 
frequently  asked  for  books  he  required,  and 
thanked  his  correspondent  for  information. 
On  20  Oct.  1784  Johnson  wrote  from  Lich- 


Nichols 


Nichols 


field, '  I  hope  we  shall  be  much  together ; ' 
but  in  December  Nichols  was  at  Johnson's 
funeral  (correspondence  presented  by  Nichols 
to  the  British  Museum,  Addit.  MS.  5159 ;  Lit. 
Anecd.  ii.  553-5).  Murphy  says  that  Nichols's 
attachment  to  Johnson  was  unwearied.  They 
frequently  met  at  the  Essex  Head  Club  (id. 
vi.  434;  BOSWELL,  Johnson,  ed.  Croker,  1853, 
pp.  666-7,  674,  711,  789,  794). 

In  1781  Nichols  published  his '  Biographi- 
cal Anecdotes  of  Mr.  Hogarth,  and  a  Cata- 
logue of  his  Works,  with  occasional  Re- 
marks,' in  which  he  was  much  assisted  by 
Steevens  and  Reed.  Half  a  dozen  copies  of 
a  portion  of  this  book  had  been  struck  off  in 
1780,  one  of  which  is  in  the  British  Museum, 
and  subsequent  editions,  considerably  en- 
larged, appeared  in  1782  and  1785.  Walpole, 
who  was  a  friend  of  Nichols  (Lit.  Anecd.  i. 
696),  said  that  this  account  of  Hogarth  was 
more  accurate  and  more  satisfactory  than 
that  given  in  his  'Anecdotes  of  Painting.'  A 
large  quantity,  but  by  no  means  all,  of  the 
original  material  is  utilised  in '  Anecdotes  of 
William  Hogarth,'  issued  by  John  Bowyer 
Nichols  in  1833  (see  notice  by  William  Bates 
in  Notes  and  Queries,  4th  ser.  i.  97).  After- 
wards Nichols  and  Steevens  published  '  The 
Genuine  Works  of  William  Hogarth,'  in 
three  volumes,  1808-17.  A  few  copies  of 
a  slight '  Life '  of  Bowyer  had  been  printed 
in  1778  for  the  use  of  friends ;  in  1782  ap- 
peared a  large  quarto  volume, '  Biographical 
and  Literary  Anecdotes  of  William  Bowyer, 
Printer,  F.S.A.,  and  of  many  of  his  learned 
friends.  By  John  Nichols,  his  apprentice, 
partner,  and  successor.'  Of  this  work,  which 
was  in  its  turn  to  be  the  nucleus  of  a  much 
larger  undertaking, Walpole  wrote  shrewdly : 
'  I  scarce  ever  saw  a  book  so  correct  as  Mr. 
Nichols's  "  Life  of  Mr.  Bowyer."  I  wish  it 
deserved  the  pains  he  has  bestowed  on  it 
every  way,  and  that  he  would  not  dub  so 
many  men  great.  I  have  known  several  of 
his  heroes,  who  were  very  little  men  '  (Let- 
ters, viii.  259).  In  the  same  year  Nichols 
edited  the  third  edition  of  Bowyer's '  Critical 
Conjectures  and  Observations  on  the  New 
Testament,'  with  the  assistance  of  Dr.  Henry 
Owen  and  Jeremiah  Markland  (Lit.  Anecd. 
iv.  299) ;  and  in  1783  he  brought  out,  with 
a  dedication  to  Owen,  a  second  edition  of 
Bowyer's  'Novum  Testamentum  Graecum.' 
In  that  year,  too,  Domesday  Book  was  pub- 
lished on  a  plan  projected  by  Nichols. 

Nichols's  edition  of  the  '  Epistolary  Cor- 
respondence of  the  Right  Rev.  Francis  At- 
terbury,  D.D.,  with  Historical  Notes,'  was 
begun  in  1783  and  completed  in  1787.  An 
enlarged  edition  appeared  in  1799,  with  an 
additional  fifth  volume,  which  contained  a 


memoir  of  the  bishop.  In  conjunction  with 
the  Rev.  Ralph  Heathcote,  Nichols  revised 
the  second  edition  of  the  '  Biographical  Dic- 
tionary,' 1784,  adding  some  hundreds  of  new 
lives ;  and  he  afterwards  greatly  assisted 
Chalmers  in  the  enlarged  edition  of  1812-17. 
In  1785  appeared  '  Miscellaneous  Tracts  by 
the  late  William  Bowyer  and  several  of  his 
Learned  Friends.  Collected  and  illustrated, 
with  Occasional  Notes,  by  John  Nichols.' 
Bishop  Percy  was  in  correspondence  with 
Nichols  in  1782-3  respecting  an  annotated 
edition  of  the  '  British  Essayists '  (Lit. 
Illustr.  vi.  570-6),  and  the  valuable  six- 
volume  edition  of  the  '  Tatler '  appeared  in 
1786,  the  principal  merit  of  the  work  being 
due  to  Dr.  John  Calder,  who  had  at  his  dis- 
posal the  notes  collected  by  Dr.  Percy.  The 
'  Spectator '  and  '  Guardian,'  less  fully  anno- 
tated, in  which  Nichols  had  little  share, 
followed  in  1789,  and  between  1788  and 
1791  Nichols  published  Steele's  '  Correspon- 
dence,' and  a  number  of  his  less-known 
periodicals  and  pamphlets,  which  will  be 
more  fully  described  below.  In  1787  he  edited 
the  '  Works,  in  Verse  and  Prose,  of  Leonard 
Welsted,  esq.,  now  first  collected,  with  Notes 
and  Memoirs  of  the  Author.' 

Nichols  was  elected,  in  December  1784,  a 
common  councillor  for  the  ward  of  Farring- 
don  Without,  but  he  lost  the  seat  in  1786 
after  a  violent  party  collision.  Next  year, 
however,  he  was  unanimously  re-elected,  and 
was  appointed  a  deputy  of  the  ward  by  John 
Wilkes,  who  was  its  alderman.  When  Wilkes 
died  in  1797,  Nichols  withdrew  from  the 
common  council,  but  in  the  following  year 
he  was  induced  again  to  accept  a  sear,  which 
he  retained  until  1811.  He  was  hardly  suited^ 
for  political  life,  as  he  detested  party  warfare. 
In  1786  he  had  joined  Dr.  John  Warner  and 
Dr.  Lettsom  in  a  scheme  for  the  erection  of  a 
statue  to  John  Howard  in  St.  Paul's  Cathe- 
dral (ib.  iv.  673,  682),  and  in  1793  land  for  a 
sea-bathing  infirmary  at  Margate  was  bought 
in  the  names  of  Nichols,  Dr.  Lettsom,  and 
the  Rev.  John  Pridden  (Lit.  Anecd.  ix.  220). 
Nichols  was  much  distressed  in  1788  by  the 
death  (29  Feb.)  of  his  second  wife,  in  her 
thirty-third  year,  a  few  weeks  after  the 
birth  of  a  daughter  (Gent.  Mag.  1788,  i. 
177,  274). 

The  '  Progresses  and  Public  Processions  of 
Queen  Elizabeth,  illustrated  with  Historical 
Notes  by  John  Nichols,'  was  published,  with 
Gough's  assistance,  in  1788.  A  third  volume 
was  added  in  1805,  and  part  i.  of  a  fourth 
volume  in  1821.  A  new  edition  of  the  whole 
work  appeared  in  1823,  in  three  volumes. 
In  1790  Nichols  published  'The  Plays  of 
William  Shakspeare,  accurately  printed  from 

B2 


Nichols 


Nichols 


the  Text  of  Mr.  Malone's  edition,  with  select 
explanatory  Notes/  in  seven  volumes ;  and 
in  that  year  'Peter  Pindar'  (Wolcot)  sati- 
rised him  in  '  A  Benevolent  Epistle  to  Syl- 
vanus  Urban,  alias  Master  John  Nichols, 
Printer,'  and  in  '  A  Rowland  for  an  Oliver, 
or  a  Poetical  Answer  to  the  Benevolent 
Epistle  of  Mister  Peter  Pindar'  (  Works  of 
Peter  Pindar,  1794,  ii.  358,  367-89,  399- 
409).  Wolcot  suggested  that  Nichols  was 
himself  quite  ignorant  of  antiquarian  matters, 
and  depended  on  Gough,  Walpole,  Hayley, 
Miss  Seward,  Miss  Hannah  More,  and  other 
contributors  to  the  '  Gentleman's  Magazine.' 
His  books  were  by  hirelings,  the  blunders 
only  being  Nichols's,  yet  he  was  for  ever 
speaking  and  dreaming  of  himself  '  and  his 
own  dear  works.' 

The  first  two  parts  of  '  The  History  and 
Antiquities  of  the  Town  and  County  of 
Leicester'  were  published  in  1795.  This 
work,  Nichols's  most  important  effort,  and 
considered  by  himself  his  '  most  durable 
monument,' was  completed  in  1815,  and  forms 
eight  folio  volumes.  Gough  again  rendered 
valuable  assistance ;  Nichols  and  he  made 
annual  excursions  together,  and  regularly 
visited  Dr.  Pegge  at  Whittington  (Lit.  Anecd. 
vi.  270, 301).  Several  of  Nichols's  earlier  topo- 
graphical writings  had  been  essays  towards 
the  county  history.  The '  Illustrations  of  the 
Manners  and  Expences  of  Ancient  Times  in 
England,'  a  scarce  volume,  appeared  in  1797 
(ib.  ix.  196).  His  next  important  undertak- 
ing, 'The  Works  of  the  Rev.  Jonathan  Swift, 
D.D.,  arranged  by  Thomas  Sheridan,  with 
Notes,  Historical  and  Critical.  A  new  edition, 
in  nineteen  volumes,  corrected  and  revised 
by  John  Nichols,  F.S.A./  was  published  in 
1801,  and  was  reprinted  in  1803  and  1808. 
It  had  been  in  preparation  as  early  as  1779 
(Hist.  MSS.  Comm.  12th  Rep.  pt.  x.  p.  347). 
Nichols  seems  to  have  thought  that  rather 
free  use  was  made  of  his  work  in  Scott's  edi- 
tion of  1814  (Lit.  Illustr.  v.  396-7). 

Nichols  retired  from  business  to  a  great 
extent  in  1803,  living  with  five  of  his  daugh- 
ters at  his  native  village  of  Islington.  In 
J1804  he  'attained  the  summit  of  his  am- 
bition,' when  he  was  elected  master  of  the 
Stationers'  Company.  He  gave  a  bust  of 
Bowyer  and  several  paintings  to  the  company, 
including  portraits  of  Steele  and  Prior,  which 
had  belonged  to  the  Earl  of  Oxford  (Lit. 
Anecd.  iii.  584,  603),  and  in  1817  he  trans- 
ferred to  the  company  500/.  four  per  cent, 
.annuities,  to  be  added  to  money  left  by 
Bowyer  for  deserving  compositors.  On  8  Jan. 
1807,  through  a  fall  in  his  printing  office, 
he  fractured  his  thigh  (Gent.  Mag.  1807, 
i.  79),  and  on  8  Feb.  1808  a  calamitous  fire 


occurred  at  the  office,  by  which  everything,. 
except  the  dwelling-house,  was  destroyed 
(ib.  1808,  i.  99).  Nichols  lost  nearly  10,OOOJ. 
by  the  fire  beyond  the  insurance,  and  the  en- 
tire stock  of  most  of  his  books  was  destroyed. 

Nichols  did  not,  however,  allow  himself  to 
be  crushed  by  his  misfortunes.  He  had  al- 
ready lost  5,000/.  by  the  'History  of  Leices- 
tershire,' but  he  felt  that  he  was  in  honour 
bound  to  complete  the  work  (Lit.  Illustr.  vi. 
588-90).  In  1809  he  edited,  in  two  volumes,. 
'Letters  on  various  subjects  to  and  from 
William  Nicholson,  D.D.,  successively  Bishop 
of  Carlisle  and  of  Deny,  and  Archbishop  of 
Cashel ; '  published  an  enlarged  edition  of  the 
'  Epistolary  Correspondence  of  Sir  Richard 
Steele '  (afterwards  giving  the  manuscript 
letters  to  the  British  Museum) ;  edited  Pegge's 
'Anonymiana,  or  Ten  Centuries  of  Observa- 
tions on  various  Authors  and  Subjects,  com- 
piled by  a  late  very  learned  and  reverend 
Divine ; '  and  wrote '  Biographical  Memoirs  of 
Richard  Gough, Esq. /which appeared  in  the 
'  Gentleman's  Magazine '  for  March  and  April, 
and  afterwards  in  pamphlet  form.  These  were 
followed  in  1811  by  a  new  edition  of  Ful- 
ler's '  History  of  the  Worthies  of  England/ 
in  two  quarto  volumes,  and  in  1812-15  by 
the  '  Literary  Anecdotes  of  the  Eighteenth 
Century/  an  invaluable  bibliographical  and 
biographical  storehouse  of  information,  in 
nine  volumes,  being  an  expansion  of  the 
earlier  '  Memoirs  of  Bowyer.'  Six  volumes 
of  a  supplementary  work,  '  Illustrations  of 
the  Literary  History  of  the  Eighteenth 
Century,'  appeared  between  1817  and  1831, 
two  being  published  posthumously,  and  John 
Bowyer  Nichols  added  two  more  volumes  in 
1848  and  1858.  This  work  contains  much 
of  Nichols's  correspondence,  but  is  not  so 
useful  as  the  '  Literary  Anecdotes.'  In  1821 
Nichols  wrote  a  long  preface  to  the  general 
index  to  the  '  Gentleman's  Magazine'  (1787- 
1818),  in  which  he  gave  a  history  of  the 
magazine.  Though  his  sight  was  failing, 
much  other  work  followed,  including  '  The 
Progresses,  Processions,  and  Magnificent 
Festivities  of  King  James  the  First/  in  four 
quarto  volumes,  published  posthumously  in 
1828. 

Nichols  died  suddenly  on  Sunday,  26  Nov. 
1826,  after  a  day  spent  calmly  with  his  family 
at  his  house  in  Highbury  Place ;  he  was  buried 
in  the  neighbouring  churchyard.  He  had  en- 
joyed wonderful  health  and  spirits  through- 
out his  long  life.  For  many  years  he  was 
registrar  of  the  Royal  Literary  Fund.  He 
was  also  a  governor  of  the  City  of  London 
Workhouse,  a  corporation  governor  of  Christ's 
Hospital,  and  of  Bridewell  and  Bethlehem 
Hospitals,  and  treasurer  of  St.  Bride's  Charity 


Nichols 


Nichols 


Schools.    Among  his  numerous  friends,  not  j 
already  mentioned,  were  Sir  John  Banks,  Dr.  i 
Hard,  Sir  John  Fenn,  Sir  Herbert  Croft,  and 
Edward  Gibbon.     His  old  friend  Gough,  of 
whom  Nichols  wrote, '  The  loss  of  Mr.  Gough 

_was  the  loss  of  more  than  a  brother — it  was 
losing  part  of  myself  (Lit.  Anecd.  vi.  315, 
331),  left  him  1,000/.,  with  1001.  to  each  of 
his  six  daughters  (see  list  in  Lit.  Illustr. 
viii.  74).  Nichols  was  a  great  collector  of  j 

_manuscripts  and  antiquities  left  by  other  , 
antiquaries ;  and  his  own  library,  with  some 
books  from  another  library,  were  sold  by  Mr.  | 
Sotheby  on  16  April  1828  and  the  three  fol-  j 
lowing  days,  and  realised  9521. 

There  are  several  portraits :  (1)  painted  by 
Towne,  1782,  engraved  by  Cook,  and  pub- 
lished in  '  Collections  for  Leicestershire,'  and 
'Brief  Memoirs  of  John  Nichols ;'  (2)  painted 
by  V.  D.  Puyl,  1787 ;  (3)  drawn  by  Edridge, 
published  in  Cadell's  '  Contemporary  Por- 
traits ; '  (4)  drawn  by  J.  Jackson,  R.  A.,  set.  62, 
published  by  Britton,  and  given  in  '  Literary 
Anecdotes/  vol.  iii. ;  (5)  painted  by  Jackson, 
mezzotint  by  Meyer,  published  in  '  History  of 
Leicesterslu're; '  (6)  painted  by  Jackson,  1811, 
engraved  by  Basire,  published  in  Timperley's 
'  Encyclopaedia  of  Literary  andTopographical 
Anecdotes;'  (7)  painted  and  engraved  by 
Meyer,  1825,  published  in  '  Gentleman's 
Magazine'  for  December  1826.  There  is  also 
(8)  a  bust  by  Giannelli. 

The  following  are  the  principal  works,  not 
already  mentioned :  1.  'Islington;  a  Poem,' 
1763.  2.  '  The  Birds  of  Parnassus,'  1763  and 
3  764.  3. '  Some  Account  of  the  Alien  Priories ' 
(from  manuscripts  of  John  Warburton,  re  vised 
by  Gough  and  Ducarel),  1779.  4.  '  Biogra- 
phical Memoirs  of  William  Ged,  including  a 
particular  Account  of  his  Progress  in  the  Art 
of  Block-printing,'  1781.  5.  'The  History 
and  Antiquities  of  Hinckley  in  Leicester- 
shire,' 1782  and  1813.  6.  "The  History  and 
Antiquities  of  Lambeth  Parish'  (with  Duca- 
rel and  Lort's  aid),  1786.  7.  'The  History 
and  Antiquities  of  Aston,  Flamvile,  and  Bur- 
bach  in  Leicestershire,' 1787.  8.  '  The  His- 
tory and  Antiquities  of  Canonbury,  with  some 
Account  of  the  Parish  of  Islington,'  1788. 
9.  '  The  Lover  and  Reader,  to  which  are  pre- 
fixed theWhig  Examiner,'  &c. ,  1 789.  10. '  The 
Lover,  written  in  imitation  of  the  Tatler,  by 
Marmaduke  Myrtle,  gent.,  to  which  is  added 
the  Reader,'  17*89.  11.  'Collections  towards 
the  History  and  Antiquities  of  the  Town  and 
County  of  Leicester,' 2  vols.  1790.  12.  'Chro- 

.jiological  List  of  the  Society  of  Antiquaries  of 
London'  (in  conjunction  with  Gough),  1798. 
13.  Jacob  Schnebbelie's  '  The  Antiquaries' 
Museum '(completed  by  Gough  and  Nichols), 
1800.  14.  « Brief  Memoirs  of  John  Nichols,'- 


1804.  15.  'Some  Account  of  the  Abbey 
Church  of  St.  Albans '  (by  Gough  and  Ni- 
chols), 1813.  Nichols  was  a  constant  con- 
tributor to  the  '  Gentleman's  Magazine/  and 
some  of  his  verses  are  in  his  '  Select  Col- 
lection of  Poems ; '  and  he  edited  numerous 
works  by  Steele,  Pegge,  George  Hardinge, 
White  Kennett,  Kennett  Gibson,  and  many 
others. 

[Nichols's  Lit.  Anecd.  (especially  vi.  626-37) 
and  Lit.  Illustrations,  passim ;  Brief  Memoirs  of 
John  Nichols  (twelve  copies  printed  by  himself 
in  1804);  Memoir  by  Alexander  Chalmers  in 
Gent.  Mag.  for  December  1826  (reprinted  as  a 
pamphlet  for  private  circulation)  ;  Lowndes's 
Bibl.  Manual ;  Timperley's  Encyclopaedia  of 
Literary  and  Typographical  Anecdotes,  1842; 
Bigmore  and  Wyman's  Bibliography  of  Print- 
ing, 1880;  Nelson's  History  of  the  Parish  of  St. 
Mary,  Islington,  1811,  p.  343  ;  Lewis's  History 
and  Topography  of  the  Parish  of  St.  Mary, 
Islington,  1842,  pp.  130,  162,  176-80,  238,  239, 
252,  383  ;  Notes  and  Queries,  2nd  ser.  i.  223, 
4th  ser.  i.  97  ;  Add.  MSS.  5145  B  f.  347,  5159, 
5831  f.  1 28  b,  5993  f.  71,  6391  f.  103,  6401  ff.  149, 
151,  24446  if.  2-21,  27578  f.  118,  27996,  29747 
f.  74,  33978  f.  98,  33979  ff.  120,  123.] 

G.  A.  A. 

NICHOLS,  JOHN  BOWYER  (1779- 
1863),  printer  and  antiquary,  the  eldest  son 
of  John  Nichols  (1745-1826)  [q.v.],  by  his 
second  wife,  Martha  Green  (1756-1788), 
was  born  at  Red  Lion  Passage,  Fleet  Street, 
London,  15  July  1779.  Young  Nichols 
spent  his  early  years  with  his  maternal 
grandfather  at  Hinckley,  Leicestershire,  and 
was  educated  at  St.  Paul's  School,  London, 
which  he  left  in  September  1796  to  enter  his 
father's  printing  office.  He  had  a  part  in  the 
editorship  of  the  '  Gentleman's  Magazine/ 
and  contributed  under  the  initials  J.  B.  N., 
or  N.  R.  S.,  the  final  letters  of  his  name.  He 
became  the  sole  proprietor  of  the  magazine 
in  1833,  and  in  the  following  year  transferred 
a  share  to  William  Pickering  [q.  v.]  of  Picca- 
dilly. This  share  he  subsequently  repurchased, 
and  in  1856  conveyed  the  whole  property  to 
John  Henry  Parker  [q.  v.]  of  Oxford.  W.  Bray 
refers  to '  the  indefatigable  attention  and  very 
great  accuracy '  of  Nichols  in  revising  the 
proof-sheets  of  the  second  volume  of  his  edi- 
tion of  Manning's '  History  of  Surrey'  (1809, 
p.  v).  Nichols  circulated  proposals  in  1811 
for  printing  the  third  and  fourth  volumes  of 
Hutchins's  '  Dorset/  of  which  the  stock  of  the 
first  three  volumes  had  perished  at  the  fire 
on  his  father's  premises  in  1808  (see  Gent. 
Mag.  1811,  i.  99-100).  The  fourth  volume 
appeared  in  1815,  with  his  name  on  the  title- 
page  jointly  with  that  of  Richard  Gough. 
In  1818  he  published,  in  two  octavo  volumes, 
the  autobiography  of  the  bookseller  John 


Nichols 


Nichols 


Dunton  [q.  v.],  which  had  furnished  many 
curious  materials  for  the  'Literary  Anec- 
dotes.' The  firm  was  now  J.  Nichols,  Son,  <fc 
Bentley,  with  an  office  at  the  Cicero's  Head, 
Red  Lion  Passage,  Fleet  Street,  as  well  as 
at  25  Parliament  Street,  Westminster.  The 
latter  locality,  which  soon  after  became  the 
sole  address  of  the  firm,  was  more  convenient, 
as  Nichols  had  become  one  of  the  printers 
of  the  votes  and  proceedings  of  the  house  of 
parliament,  an  appointment  in  which  he  fol- 
lowed his  father  and  William  Bowyer  (1699- 
1777)  [q.  v.]  For  a  short  time  he  was  printer 
to  the  corporation  of  the  city  of  London.  In 
1821,  after  the  resignation  of  his  father,  he 
became  one  of  the  three  registrars  of  the 
Royal  Literary  Fund.  He  was  master  of  the 
Sta'tioners'  Company  in  1850,  having  served 
all  the  annual  offices. 

Besides  writing  the  books  which  bear  his 
name,  he  superintended  the  passing  through 
the  press  of  nearly  all  the  important  county 
histories  published  during  the  first  half  of 
this  century.  Amongthesemaybementioned 
Ormerod's  '  Cheshire,'  Clutterbuck's  '  Hert- 
fordshire,' Surtees's '  Durham,'  Raine's '  North 
Durham,'  Hoare's  '  Wiltshire,'  Hunter's 
'  South  Yorkshire,'  Baker's  '  Northampton- 
shire,' Whitaker's  '  Whalley  '  and  '  Craven,' 
and  Lipscomb's  '  Buckinghamshire.'  He  left 
large  printed  and  manuscript  collections  on 
English  topography.  His  last  literary  un- 
dertaking was  the  completion  (vol.  vii.  in 
1848  and  vol.  viii.  in  1856)  of  his  father's 
well-known  '  Illustrations  of  the  Literary 
History  of  the  Eighteenth  Century,'  the 
sequel  to  the  '  Literary  Anecdotes.' 

Towards  the  end  of  his  life  he  became  blind, 
but  preserved  his  mental  powers  and  energy 
to  the  last.  As  an  antiquary  he  showed  great 
knowledge,  industry,  and  accuracy;  as  a 
man  of  business  he  was  esteemed  for  his 
honourable  dealings,  courtesy,  and  even  tem- 
per. He  was  a  fellow  of  the  Linnean  So- 
ciety (1812)  and  of  the  Society  of  Anti- 
quaries (1818),  and  was  appointed  printer  to 
that  body  in  1824  ;  he  was  an  original  mem- 
ber of  the  Athenseum  Club,  the  Archaeological 
Institute,  the  Numismatic  Society,  and  the 
Royal  Society  of  Literature.  He"  also  filled 
various  public  offices  in  Westminster. 

He  died  at  Baling  on  19  Oct.  1863,  aged 
84,  and  was  buried  at  Kensal  Green  ceme- 
tery. He  married,  in  1805,  Eliza  Baker  (d. 
1846;  see  Gent.  May.  1846,  i.  217),  by  whom 
he  had  fourteen  children;  of  these  there  sur- 
vived threesons — John Gough Nichols  [q.  v.], 
Robert  Cradock  Nichols  (d.  1892),  and 
Francis  Morgan  Nichols  (b.  1826)— and  four 
daughters. 

There  are  portraits  of  Nichols  by  J.  Jack- 


son, in  watercolour,  about  1818;  by  F.  Hop- 
wood,  in  pencil,  1821 ;  by  John  Wood,  in  oil, 
1836;  and  by  Samuel  Laurence,  in  chalks, 
1850.  The  last  was  lithographed  by  J.  H. 
Lynch.  W.  Behnes  exhibited  a  bust  of  him 
at  the  Royal  Academy  in  1858. 

His  chief  works  besides  those  noticed  are : 
1 .  '  A  brief  Account  of  the  Guildhall  of  the 
City  of  London,'  London,  1819, 8vo.  2.  'Ac- 
count of  the  Royal  Hospital  and  Collegiate 
Church  of  St.  Katharine,  near  the  Tower,' 
London,  1824,  4to  (based  on  the  history  of 
A.  C.  Ducarel,  1782,  4to,  with  additional 
plates).  3.  '  Historical  Notices  of  Fonthill 
Abbey,  Wiltshire,'  London,  1836,  4to  (based 
on  the  publications  of  J.  Britton  and  J. 
Rutter,  with  plates  from  the  work  of  the  last 
named).  4.  '  Catalogue  of  the  Hoare  Library 
at  Stourhead,  co.  Wilts,  with  an  Account  of 
the  Museum  of  British  Antiquities,'  printed 
for  private  use,  London,  1840,  large  8vo 
('Notices  of  the  Library  at  Stourhead '  were 
contributed  by  Nichols  to  the '  Wiltshire  and 
Natural  History  Magazine,'  1855,  vol.  ii.) 

Nichols  also  edited  Cradock's  '  Memoirs,' 
vols.  iii.  and  iv.  1828  ;  '  Anecdotes  of  Wil- 
liam Hogarth,'  1833,  with  forty-eight  plates, 
a  compilation  from  his  father's  'Biographical 
Anecdotes  of  Mr.  Hogarth '  (see  Notes  and 
Queries,  4th  ser.  i.  97) ;  J.  T.  Smith's  '  Cries 
of  London,'  1 839,  4to ;  and  '  History  and 
Antiquities  of  the  Abbey  of  St.  Edmunds 
Bury ;  by  the  Rev.  Rich.  Yates/  second  edi- 
tion, London,  1843,  2  parts,  4to. 

[Obituary  notice  by  J.  Gough  Nichols  in 
Gent.  Mag.  1863,  ii.  794-8,  reprinted  in  March 
1864,  -with  photograph  (1860) ;  Athenaeum, 
24  Oct.  1863  ;  Proceedings  Soc.  Antiq.  London, 
23  April  1864,  pp.  393-4/]  H.  E.  T. 

NICHOLS,    JOHN     GOUGH    (1806- 

1873),  printer  and  antiquary,  eldest  son  of 
John  Bowyer  Nichols  [q.  v.j,  was  born  at 
his  father's  house  in  Red  Lion  Passage, 
Fleet  Street,  London,  on  22  May  1806. 
Richard  Gough  [q.  v.]  was  his  godfather. 
He  went  to  a  school  kept  by  a  Miss  Roper 
at  Islington,  where,  in  1811,  Benjamin 
Disraeli,  his  senior  by  eighteen  months,  was 
a  schoolfellow.  From  1814  to  181G  he 
was  educated  by  Dr.  Waite  at  Lewisbam, 
and  in  January  1817  he  was  placed  at  Mer- 
chant Taylors'.  At  an  early  age  he  kept 
antiquarian  journals  and  copied  inscriptions 
and  epitaphs.  He  went  with  his  father  to 
the  meetings  of  the  Royal  Society  and  So- 
ciety of  Antiquaries,  and  corresponded  with 
the  author  of  the  '  Curiosities  of  Literature.' 
In  1824  he  left  school  for  the  counting-house 
in  the  printing  offices  of  his  father  and  grand- 
father. His  first  literary  work  was  in  con- 


Nichols 

nection  with  the '  Progresses  of  James  I '  of 
his  grandfather,  John  Nichols  (1745-1826) 
[q.  v.],  which  was  completed  and  edited  by 
young  Nichols  in  1828,  two  years  after  the 
author's  death. 

From  about  this  time  to  1851  he  was  joint 
editor,  and  from  1851  to  1856  he  was  sole 
editor,  of  the  '  Gentleman's  Magazine,'  and, 
besides  contributing  many  essays,  compiled 
the  very  useful  obituary  notices.  His  first 
separate  publication— on  autographs — was 
issued  in  1829.  The  following  year  he  visited 
Robert  Surtees  in  Durham,  and  made  a  Scot- 
tish tour.  On  the  foundation  of  the  Surtees 
Society  in  1834  he  was  elected  one  of  the 
treasurers.  In  1835  he  became  a  fellow  of  the 
Society  of  Antiquaries,  and  was  afterwards  its 
printer.  The  following  year  he  was  chosen 
a  member  of  the  committee  of  the  Royal 
Literary  Fund,  and  all  his  life  devoted  much 
attention  to  its  affairs.  He  was  one  of  the 
founders  of  the  Camden  Society  (1838),  and 
edited  many  of  its  publications  ;  the  '  Athe- 
meum '  says  (22  Nov.  1 873), '  There  is  scarcely 
a  volume  among  the  long  series  which  does 
not  bear  more  or  less  marks  of  his  revision.' 
In  1862  he  printed  a  'Descriptive  Catalogue' 
of  the  eighty-six  volumes  then  issued.  A 
new  edition  of  the  ''Catalogue'  appeared  in 
1872.  One  of  the  most  important  books  from 
the  press  of  Messrs.  Nichols  was  Hoare's 
'  Wiltshire ; '  to  this  great  undertaking 
Nichols  contributed  an  account  of  the '  Hun- 
dred of  Alderbury'  (1837).  In  1841  he  made 
an  antiquarian  tour  on  the  continent.  He 
was  an  original  member  of  the  Archaeological 
Institute  (1844).  In  1856  ill-health  com- 
pelled him  to  resign  the  editorship  of  the 
'Gentleman's  Magazine,'  and  the  property 
was  transferred  to  John  Henry  Parker  for 
a  nominal  consideration.  Nichols  was  then 
able  to  devote  himself  to  the  publication 
of  the  '  Literary  Remains  of  Edward  VI,' 
printed  by  the  Roxburghe  Club,  1857-8. 
He  gave  a  general  superintendence  to  the 
new  edition  of  Hutchins's  '  History  of  Dor- 
set,' undertaken  by  William  Shipp  in  1860. 
He  had  long  contemplated  the  establishment 
of  a  periodical  which  might  continue  the 
work  he  had  relinquished  in  the  '  Gentle- 
man's Magazine.'  This  took  shape  in  the 
'  Herald  and  Genealogist,'  of  which  the  first 
volume  appeared  under  his  editorship  in 
1862.  His  love  of  obituary-writing  caused 
him  to  found  the  short-lived  '  Register  and 
Magazine  of  Biography '  in  1869.  In  1870  he 
undertook  to  edit  a  new  edition  of  WThitaker's 
'  Whalley,'  of  which  the  first  volume  ap- 
peared in  1871. 

He  died  at  his  house,  Holmwood  Park, 
near  Dorking,  Surrey,  after  a  short  illness,  on 


Nichols 

1 4  Nov.  1873,  aged  67.  He  married,  on  22  July 
1843,  Lucy,  eldest  daughter  of  Frederick 
Lewis,  commander  R.N.,  and  had  one  son, 
John  Bruce  Nichols  (b.  1848),  and  two  daugh- 
ters. The  son's  name  was  joined  in  1873  to 
those  of  his  father  and  uncle  as  printers  of 
the  '  Votes  and  Proceedings  of  the  House 
of  Commons.'  A  portrait  of  Nichols  at  the 
age  of  twenty-four  is  contained  in  a  family 
group  in  water-colours,  by  Daniel  Maclise 
(1830).  A  medallion,  representing  him  and 
his  wife,  by  L.  C.  Wyon,  was  struck  in 
commemoration  of  their  silver  wedding  in 
1868. 

Nichols  was  the  third  in  succession,  and 
not  the  last,  of  a  family  which  has  added  to 
the  unblemished  record  of  a  great  printing 
business  an  hereditary  devotion  to  the  same 
class  of  learned  studies.  The  following  list 
of  separate  publications,  particularly  those 
issued  by  the  Camden  Society  and  the  Rox- 
burghe Club,  include  many  valuable  contri- 
butions to  the  materials  of  English  history 
and  topography.  His  heraldic  and  genealo- 
gical researches  are  of  great  importance.  As 
president  of  the  Society  of  Antiquaries,  Earl 
Stanhope  testified  to  the  loss  of  Nichols  as 
making  '  a  void  which  it  is  no  exaggeration 
to  call  irreparable  as  regards  the  particular 
line  of  inquiry  to  which  he  devoted  himself ' 
(Annual  Address,  1874). 

His  works  are:  1.  '  Autographs  of  Royal, 
Noble,  Learned,  and  Remarkable  Person- 
ages conspicuous  in  English  History  from 
Richard  II  to  Charles  II,  accompanied  by 
Memoirs/London,  1829,  large  4to.  2. '  London 
Pageants : '  (1)  'Accounts  of  Sixty  Royal  Pro- 
cessions and  Entertainments  in  the  City  of 
London;'  (2)  '  Bibliographical  List  of  Lord 
Mayors'  Pageants,'  London,  1831,  8vo  (also 
1837).  3.  'Annals  and  Antiquities  of  La- 
cock  Abbey,  Wilts,'  London,  1835, 8vo  (with 
W.  L.  Bowles).  4.  '  The  Hundred  of  Alder- 
bury,'  London,  1837,  fol.  (with  Sir  R.  C. 
Hoare ;  it  forms  part  of  '  Modern  History  of 
South  Wiltshire,'  vol.  v.)  5.  'Description 
of  the  Church  of  St.  Mary,  Warwick,  and  of 
the  Beauchamp  Chapel,'  London  [1838],  4to 
(seven  plates ;  an  abridgment  in  12mo  was 
also  published).  6.  '  Ancient  Paintings  in 
Fresco  discovered  in  1804  on  the  Walls  of  the 
Chapel  of  the  Trinity  at  Stratford-upon- Avon, 
from  Drawings  by  T.  Fisher,'  London,  1838, 
fol.  7.  '  Notices  of  Sir  Rich.  Lestrange '  (in 
W.  J.  Thoms's  '  Anecdotes,'  Camden  Soc., 
No.  5,  1839).  8.  '  The  Unton  Inventories 
relating  to  Wadley  and  Faringdon,  Berks, 
1596-1620,'  London,  Berkshire  Ashmolean 
Soc.  1841,  4to.  9.  '  The  Fishmongers'  Pa- 
geant on  Lord  Mayor's  Day,  1616;  "Chrys- 
analeia,"  by  Anthony  Munday  [q.  v.],  in  twelve 


Nichols 


s 


Nichols 


plates  by  H.  Shaw,  with  Introduction,'  Lon- 
don, 1844, large  fol. ;  2nd  edit.  1869.  10. '  Ex- 
amples of  Decorative  Tiles  sometimes  called 
Encaustic,  engraved  in  facsimile,'  London, 
1846,  4to.  11.  '  The  Chronicle  of  Calais  m 
the  Reigns  of  Henry  VII  and  Henry  VIII  to 
the  Year  1540,'  London,  1846,  4to  (Camden 
Soc.  No.  35).  12.  'Camden  Miscellany, 
London,  1847-75  (various  contributions  to 
vote.  i.  ii.  iii.  iv.  and  vii.)  13.  'The  Diary 
of  Henry  Machyn,  1550-63,'  London,  1848, 
4to  (Camden.  Soc.  No.  42).  14.  '  Pilgrimages 
to  St.  Mary  of  Walsingham  and  St.  Thomas 
of  Canterbury,  by  Des.  Erasmus,  newly  trans- 
lated,' London,  1849,  sm.  8vo;  2nd  edit. 
1875.  15.  'Description  of  the  Armorial 
Window  on  the  Staircase  at  Beaumanor,  co. 
Leicester,'  London,  privately  printed  [1849], 
8vo.  16.  '  The  Literary  Remains  of  J.  S. 
Hardy,  F.S. A.,'  London,  1852,  8vo.  17. '  The 
Chronicle  of  Queen  Jane  and  of  Two  Years 
of  Q.  Mary,'  London,  1852, 4to  (Camden  Soc. 
No.  48).  18.  '  Chronicle  of  the  Grey  Friars 
of  London,'  London,  1852, 4to  (Camden  Soc. 
No.  63).  19.  '  Grants,  &c.,  from  the  Crown 
during  the  Reign  of  Edward  V,'  London, 
1854,  4to  (Camden  Soc.  No.  60).  20.  ' Lite- 
rary Remains  of  Edward  VI,  with  Notes  and 
Memoir,'  London,  1857-8,  2  vols.  4to  (Rox- 
burghe  Club).  21.  '  Narratives  of  the  Days  of 
the  Reformation  chiefly  from  the  MSS.  of 
John  Foxe,'  London,  1859, 4to  (Camden  Soc. 
No.  77).  22.  '  Catalogue  of  Portraits  of 
Edward  VI,'  London,  1859,  4to.  23.  'The 
Armorial  Windows  erected  in  the  Reign  of 
Henry  VI  by  John,  Viscount  Beaumont,  and 
Katharine,  Duchess  of  Norfolk,  in  Wood- 
house  Chapel,  by  the  Park  of  Beaumanor,' 

1859,  4to    and    8vo    (privately    printed). 
24.  '  The  Boke  of  Noblesse  addressed  to  Ed- 
ward IV,  1475,  with  Introduction,'  London, 

1860,  4to  (Roxburghe  Club).     25.  '  Notices 
of  the  Company  of  Stationers,'  London,  1861, 
4to.     26.  '  A  Descriptive  Catalogue  of  the 
Works  of  the  Camden   Society,'  London, 
1862,  4to ;  2nd  edit.  1872.    27.  ''The  Family 
Alliances  of  Denmark  and  Great  Britain,' 
London,  1863, 8vo.  28. '  Wills  from  Doctors' 
Commons,  1495-1695,'  London,  1863,  4to 
(with  John  Bruce ;  Camden  Soc.  No.  83). 

29.  'The  Heralds'  Visitations  of  the  Counties 
of  England  and  Wales,'  London,  1864,  8vo. 

30.  '  History  from  Marble,'  compiled  in  the 
Reign  of  Charles  II  by  Thomas  Dingley,'  Lon- 
don, 1867-8,  2  vols.  4to  (Camden  Soc.  Nos. 
94  and  97).      31.  'History  of  the  Parish 
of  Whalley  and  Honor  of  Clitheroe  in  the 
Counties  of  Lancaster  and  York,  by  T.  D. 
Wliitaker,'  4th  ed.  revised,  London,  1870-6, 
2  vote.    4to    (the  2nd   vol.  posthumous). 
32.     '  Bibliographical  and  Critical  Account 


of  Watson's  Memoirs,'  London,  1871,  4to. 
33.  'The  Legend  of  Sir  Nicholas  Throck- 
morton,'  London,  1874,  4to  (Roxburghe 
Club).  34.  '  Autobiography  of  Anne,  Lady 
Halkett,'  London,  1875,  4to  (Camden  Soc. 
new.  ser.  No.  13).  Nos.  33  and  34  were 
posthumous. 

Nichols  contributed  many  articles  to  the 
'  Archfeologia  of  the  Society  of  Antiquaries,' 
1831-73,  vols.  xxiii-xliv. ;  the  '  Journal  &c. 
of  the  Archaeological  Institute,'  1845-51 ; 
the  '  Transactions  of  the  London  and  Middle- 
sex Archaeological  Association,'  vols.  i-iv. ; 
and  the  '  Collections  of  the  Surrey  Archaeo- 
logical Society,'  vols.  iii.  and  vi. 

The  following  periodicals  were  edited  by 
him  :  '  The  Gentleman's  Magazine,'  new  ser. 
1851-6,  vols.  xxxvi-xlv. ;  '  Collectanea  To- 
pographica  et  Genealogica,'  1834-43, 8  vols., 
large  8vo ;  '  The  Topographer  and  Genealo- 
gist,' 1846-58, 3  vols.  8vo;  'The  Herald  and 
Genealogist,'  1863-74,  8  vols.  8vo. 

[The  chief  source  of  information  is  the  Me- 
moir of  J.  G.  Nichols,  by  R.  C.  Nichols,  West- 
minster, 1874,  4to  (enlarged  from  Herald  and 
Genealogist,  1874,  viii.),  with  photographs  ;  see 
also  the  Athenaeum,  22  Nov.  1873;  Journal  of 
Massachusetts  Historical  Soc.  1873,  p.  122; 
Transactions  of  London  and  Middlesex  Archaeo- 
logical Soc.  1874,  iv.  488  ;  Times,  15  Nov.  1873  ; 
Annual  Register  for  1873,  p.  159 ;  Life  of  Robert 
Surtees,  1852  ;  Bigmore  and  Wyman's  Biblio- 
graphy of  Printing,  ii.  76-7.]  H.  R.  T. 

NICHOLS,  JOSIAS  (1555  ?-l 639),  puri- 
tan divine,  born  probably  about  1555,  was 
educated  at  Oxford,  where  he  graduated 
B.A.  18  March  1573-4.  In  1580  he  was 
presented  by  Nicholas  St.  Leger  and  his 
wife  to  the  rectory  of  Eastwell,  Kent.  He 
was  strictly  puritan  in  his  treatment  of  the 
Book  of  Common  Prayer  and  ceremonies 
(Lansdoivne  MS.  42,  f.  84 ;  STRYPE,  Whit- 
gift,  i.  271) ;  and  on  the  imposition  of  Whit- 
gift's  three  articles  in  1583  he  declined  to 
sign,  and  was  described  as  a  ringleader  of 
the  puritan  ministers  in  Kent.  Whitgift 
suspended  him  and  his  friends  in  February 
1583-4.  In  May  1584  some  gentlemen  of 
Kent  interceded  in  their  behalf.  Nichols 
was  restored,  evidently  by  Whitgift's  fa- 
vour, as  Dr.  William  Cove!  [q.  v.]  told  him 
distinctly  that  the  archbishop  had  shown 
him  more  honour  '  than  many  others  of 
your  quality  and  deserts '  (CovEL,  Modest 
Examination,  chap,  iii.)  His  views,  how- 
ever, remained  as  strongly  puritan  as  before ; 
he  signed  the  book  of  discipline,  and  took 
part  in  the  attempted  erection  of  the  '  go- 
vernment '  in  1587,  when  he  was  a  mem- 
ber of  a  synod  which  met  apparently  in 
London  (STRYPE,  Annals,  in.  ii.  477).  This 


Nichols 


Nichols 


movement  failed.  But  the  prospect  of 
James's  succession  renewed  the  hopes  of 
the  party,  and  Nichols  published  his  '  Plea  of 
the  Innocent,'  in  the  hope  of  reopening  the 
controversy.  It  was  answered  on  the  part  of 
the  church,  and  at  Whitgift's  instigation,  by 
Covel  in  his  '  Modest  and  Reasonable  Ex- 
amination of  some  things  in  use  in  the 
Church  of  England '  (1604).  On  the  part 
of  the  separatists,  whom  it  equally  casti- 
gated, it  was  answered  by  Sprint  in  his  '  Con- 
siderations touching  the  Points  in  Difference 
between  the  godly  Ministers  .  .  .  and  the 
seduced  Brethren  of  the  Separation '  (1608). 
As  a  consequence  of  his  literary  efforts, 
Nichols  was  deprived  of  the  rectory  of  East- 
well  in  1603.  He  appears  to  have  spent  the 
rest  of  his  life  in  the  neighbourhood.  In  Sep- 
tember 1614  '  Mr.  Josias  Nichols  of  Loose ' 
protested  at  a  meeting  at  Maidstone  against 
the  proposed  benevolence  to  pay  the  king's 
debts  as  not  having  been  sanctioned  by  parlia- 
ment (Hist.  MSS.  Comm.  10th  Rep.  iv.  17). 
Nichols  was  buried  at  Eastwell  on  16  May 
1639. 

His  works  are  :  1.  '  The  Order  of  House- 
hold Instruction,  by  which  every  Master  of 
a  Family  may  easily  .  .  .  make  his  House- 
hold to  understand  the  .  .  .  Principal  Points 
of  Christian  Religion,' London,  1590.  2.  'The 
Plea  of  the  Innocent,  wherein  is  averred  that 
the  Ministers  and  People  falsely  termed  Puri- 
tan are  injuriously  slandered  for  Enemies 
of  the  State,'  &c.,  London,  1602  (epistle 
dedicatory  to  the  archbishop,  two  editions 
of  the  same  year).  3.  '  Abraham's  Faith  : 
that  is,  the  old  Religion  wherein  is  taught 
that  the  Religion  now  publikely  taught, 
and  defended  by  Order  in  the  Church  of 
England,  is  the  only  true  Catholik  and  un- 
changeable Faith  of  God's  Elect,  and  the 
pretended  Religion  of  the  See  of  Rome  a 
subtle,  bastard,  etc.,  Superstition,'  London, 
1603  (epistle  dedicatory  to  the  archbishop 
and  the  lord  chief-justice  of  England). 

[Foster's  Alumni  Oxon. (1500-1714);  Oxford 
University  Kegister  ;  Neal's  Puritans,  i.  323-7 ; 
Brook's  Puritans ;  Hanbury's  Memorials ;  Lans- 
downe  MS.  42 ;  Roger  Morrice  MSS.  A  328-30 
(Dr.  Williams's  Library) ;  Strype's  Whitgift  and 
Annals;  Hasted's  Kent,  iii.  203;  Hist.  MSS. 
Comm.  10th  Eep.  iv.  17;  Covel's  Modest  and 
Reasonable  Examination  ;  Henry  Ainsworth's 
Counterpoyson.]  W.  A.  S. 

NICHOLS,  PHILIP  (f.  1547-1559), 
protestant  writer,  was  possibly  related  to  John  j 
Nichols,  rector  of  Laudewednack,  or  to  the 
Nichols  of  Trereife  in  Madron  (BoASE,  Collect. 
Cornub.  p.  621).  On  24  March  1547  Richard 
Crispyn,  prebendary  of  Exeter  and  rector  of 
Woodleigh  (Cranmer's  Letters,  Parker  Soc., 


p.  183),  preached  a  sermon  at  Marledon 
against  Luther's  doctrine  that  the  scriptures 
are  the  touchstone  of  truth.  Nichols  was 
present,  and  wrote  Crispyn  a  letter  of  re- 
monstrance. A  conference  followed  'the 
Sunday  after  Corpus  Christi  day,'  at  Herber- 
ton,  near  Totnes,  where  Crispyn  was  bene- 
ficed;  and  subsequently  Nichols  published: 
(1) '  The  Copie  of  a  Letter  sente  to  one  Maister 
Chrispyne,  chanon  of  Exeter,  for  that  he 
denied  ye  Scripture  to  be  the  Touche  Stone 
or  Trial  of  all  other  Doctrines :  Whereunto 
is  added  an  Apologie  and  a  Bullwarke  in  De- 
fence of  the  same  Letter.'  Colophon : '  written 
the  vii  Novr.  1547.  Imprinted  at  London.' 
Dedicated  '  to  his  singular  good  raaister,  Sir 
Peter  Carewe,'  who  had  instigated  the  print- 
ing. The  work  is  strongly  protestant  and 
outspoken.  Nichols  afterwards  issued  in  a 
like  spirit :  (2) '  Here  begynneth  a  godly  newe 
Story  of  XII  Men  that  Moyses  by  the  Com- 
mandment of  God  sent  to  spye  out  the  Land 
of  Canaan,  of  which  XII  only  Josua  and  Caleb 
were  found  fay thful  Messengers.'  Colophon : 
'  Inprinted  at  London,  10  May  1548.'  On 
the  thirty-third  (unpaged)  leaf  he  says:  'The 
Lord  hath  given  us  a  young  Josias,  which  . . . 
shall  .  .  .  finish  the  building  of  the  Holy 
Temple.'  In  the  later  form  of  the  work  this 
passage  is  altered  thus :  '  God  hath  given 
us  a  gracious  Judith,  which  shall  finish  the 
building  of  the  Holy  Temple  which  her 
father  began,  according  to  the  pattern  that 
the  Lord  hath  prescribed  in  the  Gospel.' 
This  fixes  1558-9  as  the  date  for  this  later 
edition,  which  bears  the  title :  '  The  History 
of  the  XII  Men  that  were  sent  to  spye  out 
the  Land  of  Canaan ;  no  less  fruitful  than 
true,  and  worthy  to  be  read  of  all.'  No  place 
or  date ;  identical  with  No.  2,  with  the  stated 
exceptions.  Tanner  also  ascribes  to  Nichols 
the  following:  (3)  'Ad  Anglise  protectorem 
Edwardum,'  and  (4)  '  Contra  Cornubiensium 
Rebelliones,'  1558.  In  their  rebellion  the 
Cornish  papists  had  demanded  that  Richard 
Crispyn,  Nichols's  earliest  opponent,  should 
be  sent  to  them  (SiEYPE,  Cranmer,  p. 
265). 

There  was  apparently  another  Philip  Ni- 
chols, who  was  instituted  to  the  church 
of  Kympton  (Kineton),  diocese  of  Wells, 
23  Nov.  1562,  on  the  presentment  of  Sir 
Francis  Knollys.  Tanner  credits  him  with 
the  authorship  of  the  '  Relation  of  the  Third 
Voyage  of  Sir  Francis  Drake,'  prepared  for 
publication  by  Sir  Francis  Drake  himself, 
with  a  dedication  to  Elizabeth,  dated  1592. 
The  work  was  first  published  by  Drake's 
nephew,  Sir  Francis  Drake,  in  1626,  with  a 
dedication  to  Charles  I,  as '  Sir  Francis  Drake 
Revived/  &c.,  London,  1626,  4to ;  London, 


Nichols 


10 


Nichols 


1628, 4to;  and  a  much  altered  edition,  Lon- 
don, 1052,  4to. 

[State  Papers,  Henry  VIII,  No.  6247,  p.  153; 
Watt's  Bibl.  Brit. ;  Tanner's  Bibl.  Brit.-Hib. ; 
Bibl.  Cornub.  pp.  1117,  1451  ;  Hazlitt's  Bibliogr. 
Coll.  and  Notes,  ii.  428;  Ames's  Typogr.  Antiq. 
(Herbert),  iv.  49,  322  :  Works  in  Brit.  Mus.] 

W.  A.  S. 

NICHOLS,  THOMAS  (fl.  1550),  trans- 
lator of  Thucydides,  was  a  citizen  and  gold- 
smith of  London.  In  1550  there  was  published 
1  The  Hystory  writtone  by  Thucidides  the 
Athenyan  of  the  warre  which  was  betweene 
the  Peloponesians  and  the  Athenyans  trans- 
lated oute  of  Frenche  into  the  Englysh  lan- 
guage by  Thomas  Nicolls  citizeine  and  Gold- 
smith of  London.  Imprinted  the  xxv  day  of 
July  in  the  yeare  of  our  Lorde  God  a  thou- 
sande  fyue  hundredd  and  fyftye.'  Prefixed 
is  '  the  tenoure  of  the  kynges  maiesties  most 
gracyous  priuilege  for  seuen  yeares;'  this 
is  dated  24  Feb.  1649-50,  and  grants  Nichols 
full  copyright  for  the  term  specified.  The 
work  is  dedicated  to  Sir  John  Cheke.  Nichols 
knew  no  Greek,  and  depended  entirely  on  the 
French  version  of  Claude  de  Seyssel,  bishop 
of  Marseilles  in  15 10,  and  archbishop  of  Turin 
in  1517,  whose  translation  Avas  published  at 
Paris  in  1527.  No  other  English  translation 
appeared  till  Hobbes's  version  of  1682. 

The  printer  of  Nichols's  volume  is  unknown. 
It  has  been  assigned  to  the  press  of  John 
Wayland ;  but  this  ascription  is  due  to  John 
Bagford,  who  pasted  into  his  copy  Way  land's 
colophon,  cut  from  another  book  (cf.  Harl. 
MS.  5929).  Bagford's  copy  came  into  the 
possession  of  Herbert,  who  was  deceived  by 
Bagford's  device,  and  gave  currency  to  the 
statement  that  Wayland  printed  the  volume 
(cf.  SINKER,  Su-teenth- Century  Books  in 
Trinity  College,  Cambridge;  AMES,  Typogr. 
Antiq.  ed.  Herbert). 

Another  THOMAS  NICHOLS  (Jl.  1554),  a 
London  merchant,  went  about  1554  to  the 
Canary  Islands  as  factor  for  Thomas  Lok  [see 
under  LOK,  SIK  WILLIAM],  Anthony  Hick- 
man,  and  Edward  Castelin,  'who  in  those 
days  were  worthie  merchants  and  of  great 
credit  in  London'  [cf.  art.  NICHOLAS,  THO- 
MAS]. Nichols  spent  seven  years  in  the 
islands,  and  after  returning  home  found 
so  many  errors  in  Andrew  Thevet's  'New 
founde  Worlde,'  which  appeared  in  an  Eng- 
lish translation  from  the  1  rench  in  1568,  that 
he  placed  his  own  observations  briefly  on 
record.  His  work  was  entitled  '  A  Descrip- 
tion of  the  Canary  Islands  and  Madera,  with 
their  remarkable  Fruits  and  Commodities.' 
It  was  included  in  Hakluyt's  '  Principall 
Navigations,'  1599  (vol.  ii.  bk.  iv.  pp.  3-7). 
[Authorities  cited.]  S.  L. 


NICHOLS,  WILLIAM  (1655-1716), 
Latin  poet,  born  in  1655,  was  son  of  the  Rev. 
Henry  Nichols  or  Nicols  of  Hilton,near  Cow- 
bridge,  Glamorganshire.  He  matriculated 
at  Oxford  from  Christ  Church  as  a  '  poor 
scholar'  on  14  April  1671,  and  graduated 
B.A.  on  24  March  1674-5,  M.A.  in  1677 
(FOSTER,  Alumni  Oxon.  1500-1714,  iii.  1070). 
On  4  June  1690  he  was  presented  to  the 
rectory  of  Cheadle,  Cheshire,  but  resigned 
it  on  his  appointment  to  the  rectory  of 
Stockport  in  the  same  county  on  24  March 
1693-4.  He  died  towards  the  end  of  1716. 
On  9  June  1692  he  married,  at  Flixton,  near 
Manchester,  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Peter 
Egerton  of  Shawe,  Lancashire,  and  by  her, 
who  died  on  1  Oct.  1708,  aged  43,  he  had 
several  children.  She  was  buried  in  Chester 
Cathedral,  where  her  husband  placed  a  mo- 
nument, with  an  elegant  Latin  inscription, 
to  her  memory. 

Nichols,  who  was  a  good  classical  scholar, 
wrote :  1.  '  De  Literis  Inventis  libri  sex,' 
London,  1711,  a  little  thick  8vo  of  387  pages, 
dedicated  to  Thomas,  earl  of  Pembroke,  and 
composed  entirely  in  Latin  elegiacs.  In  the 
sixth  book  he  refers  to  Stockport  and  its 
beautiful  situation,  and  also  notices  Man- 
chester and  the  neighbouring  country  in 
Derbyshire.  2.  '  Orationes  duse :  una  Gu- 
lielmi  Nicols,  A.  M.,  altera  Barthol.  Zie- 
genbalgii,  missionarii  Danici  ad  Indos  Orien- 
tales:  utraque  coram  venerabili  Societate 
pro  promovenda  Religione  Christiana  habita 
Londini,  Dec.  29,  1715.  Accedit  utriusque 
orationis  versio  Anglicana,'  8vo,  London, 
1716.  3.  '  nepl^Ap^wi/  libri  septem:  acce- 
dunt  Liturgica,'  2  pts.  12mo,  London,  1717. 
The  first  part,  which  is  inscribed  to  William 
Wake,  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  is  a  para- 
phrase on  the  church  catechism  in  Latin 
hexameters,  in  the  form  of  a  dialogue  be- 
tween master  and  pupil.  The  '  Liturgica,' 
dedicated  to  Sir  William  Dawes  [q.  v.],  arch- 
bishop of  York,  consists  of  translations  of 
some  portions  of  the  book  of  common  prayer 
into  Latin  verse. 

[Earwaker's  East  Cheshire,  i.  394,  ii.  655; 
Hearne's  Notes  and  Collections  (Oxf.  Hist.  Soc.), 
ii.  299.]  G.  G-. 

NICHOLS,  WILLIAM  LUKE  (1802- 
1889),antiquary,born  at  Gosport,  Hampshire, 
10  Aug.  1802,  was  the  eldest  son  of  Luke 
Nichols,  of  that  place,  merchant.  He  ma- 
triculated at  Queen's  College,  Oxford,  on 
28  Feb.  1821,  and  graduated  B.A.  1825, 
M.A.  1829.  In  1827  he  was  ordained  in  the 
English  church,  being  licensed  to  the  curacy 
of  Keynsham,  Somerset.  While  the  cholera 
was  raging  in  England,  he  had  the  undivided 


Nichols 


Nicholson 


care,  as  curate  in  sole  charge,  of  the  enormous 
parish  of  Bedminster,  near  Bristol.     From 

1  Feb.  1834  to  31  March  1839  he  was  minis- 
ter of  the  church  of  St.  James,  Bath;  for 
twelve  months  he  was  stationed  at  Trinity 
Church,  Bath ;  he  was  then  in  charge  of  a 
district  church  near  Ottery  St.  Mary,  Devon ; 
and  from  1846  to  1851  he  held  on  his  own 
nomination  the  rectory  of  Buckland  Mona- 
chorum,  near  Plymouth.     Nichols  then  re- 
turned to  Bath,  where  he  dwelt  in  the  east 
wing  of   Lansdown   Crescent,   collected   a 
valuable  library,  and  acquired  a  great  know- 
ledge of  literature.     In  1858,  and  for  several 
years  afterwards,  he  lived  at  the  Wyke,  on 
Grasmere.     For  two  or  three  years  before 
1870  he  resided  at  the  old  Manor  House, 
Keynsham,  but  from   that   date  until  his 
death  his  home  was  at  the  Woodlands,  on 
the  borders  of  the  Quantocks,  in  Somerset, 
and  midway  between  Nether  Stowey  and 
Alfoxden.      Nichols  travelled  frequently  in 
foreign  countries,  and  was  well  acquainted 
with  the  scenery  and  antiquities  of  Spain, 
Italy,  Sicily,  Greece,   and  Palestine.      He 
died  at  the  Woodlands  on  25  Sept.  1889, 
and  was  buried  with  his  parents  in  the  family 
vault  in  Gosport  churchyard  on  2  Oct.   By 
his  will  he  left  the  parish  the  funds  for  the 
completion  of  a  campanile,  or  bell-tower, 
which  he  had  begun  to  erect.     It  cost,  with 
the  bells,  the  sum  of  2,5001. 

Nichols  had  great  knowledge  of  literature, 
and  frequently  contributed  to  periodicals. 
He  published  at  Bath  in  1838  a  pamphlet 
entitled  '  Horse  Romanse,  or  a  Visit  to  a 
Roman  Villa/  which  was  suggested  by  the 
discovery,  during  the  formation  of  the  Great 
Western  Railway,  of  the  site  of  a  Roman 
villa  at  Newton  St.  Loe,  near  Bath.  The 
account  of  the  excavations  was  followed 
by  a  poem  of  120  lines  in  blank  verse  (cf. 
SCAKTH,  Agues  Solis,  pp.  114-15).  Nichols 
edited  in  1866  the  '  Remains  of  the  Rev. 
Francis  Kilvert'  [q.  v.]  He  was  elected 
F.S.A.  on  2  Feb.  1865.  He  printed  at  Bath 
for  private  circulation  in  1873  a  paper  on '  The 
Quantocks  and  their  Associations,'  which  he 
read  before  the  Bath  Literary  Club  on  11  Dec. 
1871.  It  was  interesting  to  the  lovers  of 
Coleridge,  Wordsworth,  Sir  Humphry  Davy, 
Thelwall,  and  Charles  Lloyd.  A  second  edi- 
tion, revised  and  enlarged,  with  map  and 
eleven  illustrations,  came  out  in!891.  Among 
the  illustrations  were  photographs  of  the 
author  and  of  his  house,  The  Woodlands. 
[Foster's  Alumni  Oxon.  1715-1886;  Guardian, 

2  Oct.  1889,  p.    1464;  Bath  Chronicle  (by  Mr. 
Peach  and  the  KPV.  H.  M.  Scarth),  3  and  10  Oct. 
1889;  Peach's  Historic  Houses  in  Bath,  2ndser. 
p.  7.]  W.  P.  C. 


NICHOLSON.     [See  also  NICOLSON.] 

NICHOLSON,  BRINSLEY,M.D.(1824- 
1892),  Elizabethan  scholar,  born  in  1824  at 
Fort  George,  Scotland,  was  the  eldest  son  of 
B.  W.  Hewittson  Nicholson,  of  the  army 
medical  staff.  After  a  boyhood  passed  at 
Gibraltar,  Malta,  and  the  Cape,  where  his 
father  was  stationed,  he  entered  Edinburgh 
University  in  1841,  in  due  time  took  his 
degree,  and  finished  his  medical  studies  in 
Paris.  Becoming  an  army  surgeon  he  spent 
some  years  in  South  Africa,  and  saw  ser- 
vice in  the  Kafir  Avars  in  1853  and  1854. 
His  careful  observation  and  knowledge  of 
the  native  tribes  were  shown  in  the  genea- 
logical tables  of  Kafir  chiefs  contributed  by 
him  to  a  '  Compendium  of  Kafir  Laws  and 
Customs '  printed  by  the  government  of  Bri- 
tish Kaffraria  at  MountCoke  in  1858.  During 
his  long  rides  and  lonely  hours  in  these  years 
the  study  of  Shakespeare  proved  a  constant 
solace.  He  was  in  China  during  the  war 
of  1860,  and  present  at  the  famous  loot  of 
the  Summer  Palace  at  Pekin ;  and  in  New 
Zealand  took  part  in  the  Maori  war,  which 
ended  in  1864.  About  1870  he  retired  from 
the  army,  and,  settling  near  London,  he  de- 
voted himself  seriously  to  Elizabethan  litera- 
ture. 

In  1875  he  edited,  for  the  then  recently 
formed  New  Shakspere  Society,  the  first  folio 
and  the  first  quarto  of  '  Henry  the  Fifth,'  and 
began  the  preparation  of  the  'Parallel  Texts' 
of  the  same  play,  issued  in  1877.  This  he  was 
prevented  from  completing  by  severe  illness. 
He  afterwards  read  several  papers  at  meetings 
of  the  New  Shakspere  Society,  and,  en- 
couraged by  his  friend  and  fellow-student, 
Professor  W.  T.  Gairdner  of  Glasgow,  he 
brought  out  in  1886  an  excellent  reprint  of 
Reginald  Scot's  '  Discoverie  of  Witchcraft ' 
(1584).  He  subsequently  worked  on  editions 
of  Jonson,  Chapman,  and  Donne ;  but  he  suc- 
ceeded in  bringing  near  completion  only  his 
edition  of  '  The  Best  Plays  of  Ben  Jonson/ 
which  was  published  posthumously  in  1893, 
with  an  introduction  by  Professor  C.  H. 
Herford,  in  the  Mermaid  Series  (2  vols.) 
His  edition  of  Donne's  poems  was  completed 
for  the  Muses'  Library  in  1895.  He  was  an 
occasional  contributor  to '  Notes  and  Queries/ 
the  'Athena3uin/  'Antiquary/  and  'Shake- 
speariana.'  Without  being  brilliant,  his 
habits  of  accuracy  and  his  full  acquaint- 
ance with  the  literature  of  the  period  gave 
value  to  his  criticism,  and  he  was  always 
ready  to  help  a  fellow  scholar.  He  died 
14  Sept.  1892.  He  had  married  in  1875,  and 
his  wife  survived  him. 

[Private  information.]  L.  T.  S. 


Nicholson 


12 


Nicholson 


NICHOLSON,  CHARLES  (1795-1837), 
flautist  and  composer,  son  of  Charles  Ni- 
cholson, flautist,  was  born  at  Liverpool  in 
1795.  Trained  under  his  father,  he  went  to 
London  when  quite  young,  and  soon  gained 
a  position  in  the  front  rank  of  flautists.  On 
the  foundation  of  the  Royal  Academy  of 
Music  in  1822  he  was  appointed  professor  of 
the  flute,  and  soon  after  became  principal  at 
the  Italian  Opera.  He  played  also  at  Drury 
Lane  and  at  the  Philharmonic  Society's  con- 
certs, where  several  of  his  compositions  for 
the  flute  were  performed  from  1823  to  1842. 
As  a  soloist  he  was  much  engaged,  both  in 
London  and  the  provinces,  but,  owing  to  im- 
provident habits,  was  in  the  end  reduced  to 
absolute  poverty.  He  died  in  London  on 
2(>  .March  1837,  having  been  supported  in 
his  illness  by  Messrs.  Clementi  and  Messrs. 
Collard.  His  father  greatly  increased  the  tone 
of  the  flute  by  enlarging  the  finger-holes,  and 
the  son  still  further  improved  the  instrument. 
He  had  some  talent  for  composition,  but  was 
imperfectly  educated,  and  had  often  to  obtain 
the  aid  of  professional  musicians  in  arrang- 
ing his  works.  His  best  original  composi- 
tion is  the  '  Polonaise  with  "  Kitty  Tyrell," ' 
and  his '  Complete  Preceptor  for  the  German 
Flute'  (London,  cir.  1820)  was  at  one  time 
extensively  used.  A  complete  list  of  his 
compositions,  including  concertos,  fantasias, 
solos,  and  other  pieces,  all  for  the  flute,  is 
given  by  Rockstro  (p.  614). 

[Rockstro's  Treatise  on  the  Flute  ;  Quar- 
terly Musical  Magazine,  1823;  Biographical 
Dictionary  of  Musicians,  1824;  Hogarth's  His- 
tory of  the  Philharmonic  Society  ;  Grove's  Dic- 
tionary of  Music.]  J.  C.  H. 

NICHOLSON,  SIR  FRANCIS  (1660- 
1728),  colonial  governor,  obtained  a  commis- 
sion in  the  army  as  ensign  9  Jan.  1678,  and 
as  lieutenant  6  May  1684.  He  subsequently 
complied  with  the  requirements  of  James  II 
by  kneeling  when  mass  was  celebrated  in  the 
king's  tent  at  Hounslow.  When,  in  1686, 
the  whole  body  of  colonies  north  of  Chesa- 
peake Bay  were  formed  into  a  single  province 
under  Sir  Edmund  Andros  [q.  v.j,  Nicholson 
was  appointed  lieutenant-governor,  and  re- 
mained at  New  York  to  represent  his  superior 
officer.  Although  in  other  situations  in  life 
he  displayed  considerable  intelligence  and  a 
fair  share  of  energy  and  executive  power,  it 
cannot  be  said  that  he  showed  any  of  these 
qualities  during  his  term  of  office  in  New  York. 
In  the  spring  of  1689  the  news  of  the  revolu- 
tion reached  New  England,  and  the  men  of 
Boston  rose  and  deposed  Andros.  Nicholson 
contrived  by  indiscreet  language  to  fall  out 
with  the  commander  of  the  New  York  militia, 
and  to  excite  a  belief  that  he  was  meditating 


violent  measures  of  retaliation.  The  people, 
headed  by  Jacob  Leisler,  a  resolute,  illiterate 
brewer  of  German  origin,  rose  and  took  pos- 
fession  of  the  forts  at  New  York.  Nicholson, 
feelingpossiblythat  his  posit  ion  as  lieutenant- 
governor  was  not  one  of  full  responsibility, 
took  ship  for  England.  A  commission  to  him 
was  actually  on  its  way  from  the  newly  esta- 
blished sovereigns  William  and  Mary.  In 
the  absence  of  Nicholson  this  fell  into  the 
hands  of  Leisler.  Thus  Nicholson's  flight  was 
largely  the  cause  of  the  subsequent  troubles, 
ending  in  the  execution  of  the  rebel  leaders. 
In  spite  of  this  failure  Nicholson  was  ap- 
pointed lieutenant-governor  of  Virginia  in 
1690,  and  his  discharge  of  that  office  forms 
perhaps  the  most  creditable  part  of  his  colonial 
career.  He  devoted  his  energy  with  no  little 
success  to  the  foundation  of  a  college,  named 
in  honour  of  the  sovereigns  the  College  of 
William  and  Mary,  to  the  establishment  of 
schools  and  to  the  improvement  of  the  condi- 
tion of  the  clergy.  He  contributed  300/.  to 
the  first  of  these  objects.  In  all  these  matters 
he  was  aided  by  James  Blair,  who  had  been 
appointed  commissary  for  Virginia  by  the 
Bishop  of  London.  Nicholson's  despatches 
at  this  time  are  full  of  interest.  In  two  im- 
portant matters  he  thoroughly  anticipated 
the  colonial  policy  of  the  next  century.  He 
urged  on  the  English  government  the  neces- 
sity of  seeing  that  the  colonists  were  ade- 
quately supplied  with  commodities,  especially 
with  clothing.  Otherwise,  he  thought,  they 
would  no  longer  devote  themselves  exclu- 
sively to  tobacco-growing,  but  would  manu- 
facture, and  so  compete  with  the  English 
producer.  He  also  urged  the  need  for  an 
I  effective  union  of  the  colonies  against  Canada. 
i  Nicholson  no  doubt  had  many  faults.  He  was 
\  passionate,  high-handed,  and  a  loose  liver. 
1  But  no  public  man  saw  more  clearly  the 
j  need  for  a  vigorous  policy  against  Canada,  or 
dinned  it  more  emphatically  and  persistently 
into  the  ears  of  the  English  government. 

In  1694  Lord  Howard  of  Effingham,  the 
titular  governor  under  whom  Nicholson  was 
deputy,  died.  The  post  was  conferred,  not 
on  N  icholson,  but  on  Andros.  Nicholson  and 
his  friends  resented  his  neglect.  It  was 
deemed  expedient  to  remove  him  from  the 
colony  altogether,  and  in  January  1694  he 
was  appointed  governor  of  Maryland.  Here 
his  good  fortune  deserted  him.  Maryland, 
founded  by  a  Romanist  proprietor,  had  now 
become  largely  imbued  with  nonconformity 
and  whiggery.  Nicholson,  a  churchman,  a 
tory,  and  a  rake,  was  wholly  unacceptable, 
and  the  State  Papers  are  full  of  his  disputes 
with  the  colonists  and  their  attacks  on  him. 
In  1698  he  returned  to  Virginia  as  governor. 


Nicholson 


Nicholson 


His  second  term  of  office  was  far  less  suc- 
cessful than  his  first.  He  irritated  the  colo- 
nists by  attempting  to  transfer  the  seat  of 
government  from  Jamestown  to  the  Middle 
Plantations,  a  few  miles  inland,  where  he 
made  an  abortive  effort  to  establish  a  capital 
city,  Williamsburg.  He  also  displeased  the 
assembly  by  pressing  them  to  contribute 
towards  a  fort  on  the  north-west  frontier  of 
New  York.  This  policy,  however,  though 
distasteful  to  the  colonists,  was  probably  wise 
in  itself,  and  also  acceptable  to  the  English 
government.  Nicholson  further  recommended 
himself  to  the  authorities  at  home,  and  in 
some  measure  to  the  Virginians,  by  his  energy 
in  capturing  a  pirate.  His  anger  against  the 
Virginian  assembly  on  account  of  their  frus-  | 
tration  of  his  schemes  led  him  to  recommend  j 
to  the  crown  that  all  the  American  colonies  j 
should  be  placed  under  a  viceroy,  and  that  a  i 
standing  army  should  be  maintained  among 
them  at  their  own  expense.  But  this  project 
was  not  approved  by  Queen  Anne  and  her 
ministers,  and  in  April  1705  he  was  recalled. 
During  the  next  fifteen  years  such  public 
services  as  he  discharged  were  of  a  military 
nature,  and  directed  against  the  French  in 
Canada.  As  early  as  1689  Colonel  Bayard,  ] 
one  of  the  leading  men  of  New  York,  had 
urged  on  Nicholson  the  need  for  active  opera- 
tions against  Canada.  In  1709  he  and  a 
Scottish  soldier,  Colonel  Veitch,  were  placed 
in  joint  command  of  a  force — partly  English, 
partly  to  be  supplied  by  the  colonists — which 
was  to  attack  Canada.  Nicholson,  in  com- 
mand of  fifteen  hundred  men,  advanced  from 
Albany  along  the  Hudson  to  Wood  Creek, 
near  Lake  Champlain.  There  he  was  de- 
layed, waiting  for  an  English  fleet  to  arrive 
at  Boston.  Sickness  seized  on  the  camp,  the 
force  melted  away,  and  the  expedition  was 
a  total  failure. 

Nicholson  returned  to  England,  commis- 
sioned by  the  Massachusetts  assembly  to  urge 
on  the  English  government  the  need  for  action 
not  against  Canada,  but  against  Acadia.  The 
ministry  approved  the  scheme.  A  force  con- 
sisting of  four  hundred  marines  and  fifteen 
hundred  colonial  militia,  supported  by  five 
ships,  was  sent  against  Port  Royal.  After  a 
short  siege  the  place  surrendered,  and  Acadia, 
having  no  other  stronghold,  became  English 
territory.  In  1711  the  operations  against 
Canada  were  resumed.  Again  Nicholson,  at 
the  head  of  a  land  force,  advanced  as  far  as 
Wood  Creek.  There,  hearing  of  the  failure 
which  attended  the  fleet  under  Sir  Hoveden 
Walker  in  its  attack  on  Quebec,  he  retreated 
to  Albany  and  disbanded  his  force. 

In  1713  Nicholson  was  appointed  governor 
of  Acadia.  There  he  seems  to  have  displayed 


that  arrogant  and  overbearing  temper  which 
constituted  the  worst  side  of  his  character. 
For  the  most  part,  however,  he  seems  to  have 
left  the  duties  of  his  post  to  be  fulfilled  by 
deputy. 

In  1719  the  privy  council  and  the  lords  of 
regency,  actingforthe  king,  then  in  Hanover, 
decided  that  the  proprietors  of  South  Carolina 
had  forfeited  their  charter,  and,  exercising 
the  rights  of  the  crown  in  such  a  case,  ap- 
pointed Nicholson  as  governor.  No  resist- 
ance was  made  to  the  exercise  of  his  authority 
either  by  the  proprietors  or  their  adherents. 
Nicholson's  conduct,  if  we  may  believe  the 
principal  historian  of  the  colony,  recalled  his 
best  days  as  an  administrator  in  Virginia. 
Under  the  feeble  rule  of  the  proprietors  the 
colony  had  wellnigh  drifted  into  anarchy, 
and  the  Cherokee  Indians  on  the  frontier 
were  threatening.  Nicholson  ingratiated  him- 
self with  the  colonists,  promoted  the  build- 
ing of  schools  and  churches,  and  succeeded 
in  conciliating  the  Cherokees.  In  June  1725" 
Nicholson  returned  to  England  on  leave,  and 
does  not  seem  again  to  have  visited  America. 
He  had  been  knighted  in  1720,  and  he  was 
now  promoted  lieutenant-general.  He  re- 
tained the  nominal  governorship  of  the  colony 
until  his  death,  which  took  place  in  London 
on  5  March  1728. 

Nicholson  was  author  of :  1.  'Journal  of 
an  Expedition  for  the  Reduction  of  Port 
Royal,'  London,  1711 :  a  rare  quarto,  which 
was  reprinted  by  the  Nova  Scotia  Historical 
Society  in  1879.  2.  '  An  Apology  or  Vindi- 
cation of  Francis  Nicholson ,  Governor  of 
South  Carolina,  from  the  Unjust  Aspersions 
cast  upon  him  by  some  of  the  Members  of 
the  Bahama  Company,'  London,  1724,  8vo. 

[Brodhead's  Hist,  of  New  York ;  New  York 
Colonial  Documents;  Colonial  Documents  and 
State  Papers  ;  Parkman's  Half-Century  of  Con- 
flict ;  Hewitt's  Hist,  of  South  Carolina  ;  Apple- 
ton's  Cyclop,  of  American  Biography;  Transac- 
tions of  Nova  Scotia  Historical  Soc. ;  Brit.  Mus. 
Cat.]  J.  A.  D. 

NICHOLSON,  FRANCIS  (1650-1731), 
theologian,  son  of  Thomas  Nicholson,  was 
baptised  on  27  Oct.  1650  at  the  collegiate 
church  at  Manchester,  and  admitted  a  ser- 
vitor of  University  College,  Oxford,  early  in 
1666.  He  graduated  B.A.  on  18  Jan.  1669, 
and  M.A.  on  4  June  1673,  and  after  his  ordi- 
nation '  preached  at  Oxford  and  near  Can- 
terbury '  (WooD).  Obadiah  Walker  [q.  v.] 
was  his  tutor  at  Oxford,  and  from  him  he 
appears  to  have  acquired  his  high  church  and 
Roman  catholic  views.  A  sermon  in  favour 
of  penance,  which  he  preached  at  St.  Mary's 
Church,  Oxford,  on  20  June  1680,  caused 
him  to  be  charged  before  the  vice-chancellor 


Nicholson 

with  spreading  false  doctrine,  and  he  wa 
ordered  to  recant,  This,  however,  he  de 
clined  to  do,  and  his  name  was  reported  tc 
the  bishop, '  to  stop  his  preference.'  On  tht 
accession  of  James  II  he  avowed  himself  a 
Roman  catholic,  and  became  an  arden 
champion  of  his  adopted  church.  He  at- 
tempted in  vain  to  persuade  John  Hudson 
of  University  College  to  become  an  adherent 
of  the  king  ('HEARXE).  In  1688  he  wrote  an 
appendix  to  Abraham  Woodhead's '  Discourse 
on  the  Eucharist,'  entitled  '  The  Doctrine  of 
the  Church  of  England  concerning  the  sub- 
stantial Presence  and  Adoration  of  our  B 
Saviour  in  the  Eucharist  asserted,'  &c.  On 
the  deposition  of  James  II  in  1688  Nicholson 
joined  the  English  College  of  Carthusians 
at  Niewport  in  the  Netherlands,  but  the 
austerities  of  their  rule  obliged  him  about 
four  years  afterwards  to  leave  the  order,  and 
he  returned  to  England.  Thence  he  shortly 
proceeded  to  Lisbon,  in  the  service  of  Queen 
Catherine,  widow  of  Charles  II.  He  spent 
some  years  at  the  Portuguese  court,  formed 
a  close  intimacy  with  the  heads  of  the  Eng- 
lish College  at  Lisbon,  and  afterwards  retired 
to  an  estate  which  he  had  purchased  at  Pera, 
a  suburb  of  Constantinople. 

About  1720  he  conveyed  the  whole  of  his 
property  to  the  Lisbon  College  on  the  under- 
standing that  his  debts  should  be  paid,  and 
that  board  and  lodging,  besides  a  sum  of  12/. 
a  year,  should  be  allowed  him  for  life.  He 
died  at  the  college  on  13  Aug.  1731,  aged 
nearly  81. 

[Wood's  Athenae  Oxon.  (Bliss),  iv.  449; 
Jones's  Chetham  Popery  Tracts  (Chetham  Soc.), 
ii.  359 ;  Hearne's  Collections  (Oxf.  Hist.  Soc.), 
i.  404,  ii.  61,93;  Gillow's  Bibl.  Diet.  vol.  iv., 
manuscript,  from  extract  kindly  communicated 
by  the  author  ;  Manchester  Cathedral  Reg.] 

C.  W.  S. 

NICHOLSON,  FRANCIS  (1753-1844), 
painter  in  water-colours,  born  on  14  Nov. 
1753  at  Pickering  in  Yorkshire,  was  son  of 
Francis  Nicholson,  a  weaver.  After  receiv- 
ing a  good  education  in  his  native  town, 
the  boy,  who  was  first  destined  by  his  father 
to  become  a  tailor,  was  placed  with  an  artist 
at  Scarborough  for  instruction.  After  a  three 
years'  residence  there  he  returned  to  Picker- 
ing, where  for  two  years  he  occupied  himself 
in  painting  portraits  and  pictures  of  horses, 
dogs,  and  game  for  local  patrons.  Seven 
months'  study  followed  in  London,  under  a 
German  artist  named  Metz,whowas  an  effi- 
cient figure-painter.  Returning  to  Yorkshire, 
he  increased  his  practice  by  taking  views 
about  the  houses  and  estates  of  the  gentry. 
After  nine  more  months  of  study  in  London 
he  again  returned  to  Pickering,  and  probably 


4  Nicholson 

about  this  time  began  his  practice  in  water- 
colour. 

In  1783  he  removed  to  Whitby,  and  was 
at  first  chiefly  employed  in  painting  por- 
traits. But  the  beauty  of  the  Mulgrave 
Woods  induced  him  to  devote  himself  to 
landscape,  and  during  the  next  nine  years 
he  gradually  made  a  reputation  by  selling 
his  drawings  in  Scarborough  during  the 
season,  as  well  as  in  London.  He  practised 
a  method  of  reproducing  his  views  by  etching 
on  a  soft  ground  and  taking  impressions  with 
black  lead.  In  1789  he  first  sent  drawings 
to  the  London  exhibitions. 

About  1792  he  left  Whitby  for  Knares- 
borough,  where  he  resided  three  years,  and 
found  many  patrons  in  Harrogate.  With  Sir 
Henry  Tuite  he  spent  some  time  each  year, 
sketching  in  his  company.  Another  patron, 
Lord  Bute,  not  only  bought  many  drawings, 
but  commissioned  him  to  make  a  set  of 
sketches  of  the  island  of  Bute.  Accordingly, 
in  1794  he  made  an  extensive  tour  through 
Bute  and  the  districts  round.  On  his  return 
to  Yorkshire  he  removed,  in  1798,  to  Ripon. 
Sir  Henry  Tuite  induced  him  in  1800  to 
settle  near  him  at  Weybridge,  and  shortly 
afterwards  he  purchased  No.  10  Titchfield 
Street.  London,  where  for  many  years  he 
carried  on  a  very  large  practice  as  an  artist 
and  a  teacher  of  drawing. 

Nicholson  was  one  of  the  ten  artists  who 
on  30  Nov.  1804  joined  together  to  form,  the 
Society  of  Painters  in  Water-colours.     Of 
this  society  he  was  a  member,  and  he  was  a 
very  large  contributor  to  its  exhibitions  till  its 
dissolution  in  1812.  The  Society  of  Painters 
in  Oil  and  Water-colours  was  immediately 
started  on  its  collapse,  and  of  the  new  so- 
ciety Nicholson  was  elected  president ;  but 
in  1813  he  resigned  his  office  and  severed 
liis  connection  with  the  society.     He  was 
specially  permitted  to  exhibit  as  a  member  in 
the  following  year,  but  after  that  date  his  name 
does  not  again  appear  in  their  catalogues.  He 
was  also  a  contributor  to  an  exhibition  of 
paintings  in  water-colours/beingrepresented 
n  1814  by  twenty-one  works,  and  in  its 
inal   exhibition  of  1815  by  three  works. 
Between  1789  and  1833  he  exhibited  with  the 
Society  of  Artists  six  works,  with  the  Royal 
Academy  eleven,  and  at  Suffolk  Street  one. 
Nicholson  published  in  1820 'The  Prac- 
tice of  Drawing  and  Painting  Landscapes 
from    Nature   in    Water-colours,'   London. 
The  book   passed  quickly  through   several 
enlarged  editions.     Profiting  by  the  newly 
nvented   art    of  lithography,   he  executed   • 
everal  hundred  drawings  on  stone,  which 
ie  used  as  drawing  copies.     Of  his  litho- 
graphs may  be  mentioned  eighty-one  sketches 


Nicholson  ] 

of  British  scenery,  obi.  fol.,  1821,  and  six 
views  of  Scarborough,  imp.  fol.,  1822.  Be- 
tween 1  Aug.  1792  and  2  Nov.  1801  he 
contributed  fourteen  drawings  to  Walker's 
'Copper  Plate  Magazine.'  Engravings  after 
his  works  also  appeared  in  the  '  Beauties  of 
England  and  Wales,' '  Havel's  Aquatints  of 
Noblemen's  and  Gentlemen's  Seats,'  'The 
Northern  Cambrian  Mountains,'  fol.,  1820, 
and  '  Facsimiles  of  Water-colour  Drawings,' 
published  by  Bowyer  in  1825. 

Nicholson  was  not  only  an  efficient  and 
industrious  artist,  but  interested  himself  in 
many  other  subjects.  He  had  a  good  know- 
ledge of  optics,  mechanics,  and  music.  His 
attainments  as  a  chemist  enabled  him  to  make 
successful  experiments  in  the  use  of  colours 
which  did  much  to  advance  water-colour  art. 
He  was  skilled  in  organ-building,  and  during 
his  last  years  wrote  his  autobiography.  He 
died  at  his  house,  52  Charlotte  Street,  Port- 
land Place,  6  March,  1844,  aged  90. 

Nicholson  well  deserves  the  name  gene- 
rally given  to  him  as  the  '  Father  of  Water- 
colour  Painting.'  He  advanced  that  art  from 
mere  paper-staining  with  light  tints  to  the 
production  of  a  depth  of  tone  and  variety  of 
shade  and  colour  that  the  earlier  practitioners 
of  the  art  never  dreamt  of.  With  harmony 
and  beauty  of  colouring  he  combined  an 
accurate  knowledge  of  drawing,  which  made 
his  work  popular.  In  1837  he  painted  a  portrait 
of  himself,  then  in  his  eighty-fifth  year, 
thirty  inches  by  twenty-five  inches,  which  he 
presented  to  his  brother  at  Pickering.  This  is 
(1894)  in  the  possession  of  a  collateral  de- 
scendant, Mr.  Geo.  Wrangham  Hardy,  who 
published  a  short  account  of  Francis  Nichol- 
son in  the  '  Yorkshire  County  Magazine,' 
April  1891.  Mention  is  also  made  there  of 
a  portrait  taken  from  a  lithograph  published 
about  1815. 

A  daughter,  Marianna,  in  1830  married 
Thomas  Crofton  Croker  [q.  v.],  and  apparently 
exhibited  two  Scotch  landscapes  at  Spring 
Gardens  in  1815. 

A  son,  ALFRED  NICHOLSON  (1788-1833), 
after  serving  in  the  royal  navy,  devoted  him- 
self to  art.  From  1813  to  1816  he  was  in 
Ireland,  but  about  1818  he  settled  in  Lon- 
don, where  he  practised  as  an  artist  and 
teacher  of  drawing.  In  1821  he  made  a  sketch- 
ing tour  through  North  Wales  and  a  part  of 
Ireland,  and  in  the  following  summer  visited 
Guernsey,  Jersey,  and  Yorkshire.  His  works, 
which  are  numerous  but  generally  small  in 
size,  are  accurately  drawn  and  highly  finished, 
and  in  style  much  resemble  those  of  his 
father. 

'  Six  Views  of  Picturesque  Scenery  in 
Goathland,'  1821,  and  '  Six  Views  of  Pic- 


5  Nicholson 

turesque  Scenery  in  Yorkshire,'  1822,  pub- 
lished at  Malton,  were  the  work  of  GEORGE 
NICHOLSON  (1787-1878),  probably  Francis's 
nephew  and  pupil,  who  died  at  Filey,  7  June 
1878,  in  his  ninety-first  year,  and  was  buried 
at  Old  Malton.  He  was  an  indefatigable 
artist,  but  his  pictures  never  attained  any 
great  excellence. 

[Roget's  History  of  the  Old  Water-colour 
Society,  vol.  i. ;  Yorkshire  County  Mag.  1891  ; 
Graves's  Diet,  of  Artists;  Eedgrave's  Diet,  of 
Artists  of  the  Engl.  School ;  Crofton  Croker's 
Walk  from  London  to  Fulham.]  A.  N. 

NICHOLSON,  GEORGE  (1760-1825), 
printer  and  author,  born  in  1760,  was  the  son 
of  John  Nicholson,  bookseller,  who  removed 
from  Keighley  in  Yorkshire  to  Bradford  in 
the  same  county  in  1781,  and  set  up  the  first 
printing  press  in  Bradford.  George  began 
business  with  a  brother  at  Bradford  about 
1784,  and  afterwards  acted  on  his  own  ac- 
count successively  at  Bradford,  Manchester, 
Poughnill,  near  Ludlow,  and  at  Stourport  in 
Worcestershire.  He  possessed  great  taste 
and  originality  as  a  typographer,  and  many 
of  the  productions  of  his  press,  especially 
those  written  or  edited  by  himself,  although 
published  at  a  low  price,  were  models  of  neat- 
ness and  even  of  beauty.  Many  of  them 
were  illustrated  by  pretty  vignettes  on  wood 
by  Thomas  Bewick  and  others,  and  on 
copper  by  Bromley.  Some  of  his  first  pub- 
lications at  Bradford  were  chap-books.  He 
produced  a  series  of  125  cards,  on  which 
were  printed  favourite  pieces.  These  cards 
were  sold  at  a  penny  and  three  halfpence 
each.  When  he  removed  to  Manchester  in 
1797,  or  earlier,  he  commenced  the  publica- 
tion of  his  '  Literary  Miscellany,  or  Selec- 
tions and  Extracts,  Classical  and  Scientific, 
with  Originals,  in  Prose  and  Verse.'  Each 
number  consisted  of  a  distinct  subject,  and 
the  whole  series  extended  to  about  sixty 
parts,  or  twenty  volumes.  Nicholson,  who 
was  a  convinced  vegetarian,  died  at  Stour- 
port on  1  Nov.  1825. 

He  was  author  or  compiler  of  the  follow- 
ing works :  1.  'On  the  Conduct  of  Man  to 
Inferior  Animals,' Manchester,  1797.  2.  '  On 
the  Primeval  Food  of  Man ;  Arguments  in 
favour  of  Vegetable  Food,'  Poughnill,  1801. 
3.  '  On  Food,'  1803.  4.  '  The  Advocate  and 
Friend  of  Woman.'  5.  '  The  Mental  Friend 
and  Rational  Companion.'  6.  '  Directions 
for  the  Improvement  of  the  Mind.'  7.  '  The 
Juvenile  Preceptor,  or  a  Course  of  Rudi- 
mental  Readme1,'  1806,  3  vols.  8.  '  Steno- 
graphy, or  a  New  System  of  Shorthand,' 
Poughnill,  1806.  This  was  written  with  the 
assistance  of  his  brother  Samuel,  school- 
master, of  Manchester.  The  system  is 


Nicholson 


16 


Nicholson 


Mayor's.  9. 'The  Cambrian  Traveller's  Guide,' 
Stourport,1808,12mo;  2nd  edition,  1812;  3rd 
edition,  revised  by  the  author's  son,  the  Rev. 
Emilius  Nicholson,  incumbent  of  Minsterley, 
Shropshire. 

[Gent.  Mag.  1825,  pt.  ii.  p.  642 ;  Timperley's 
Diet,  of  Printers,  1839,  p.  896;  Biog.  Diet. 
of  Living  Authors,  1816,  p.  251;  Manchester 
Guardian,  23  Nov.  1874  ;  Bradford  Antiquary, 
1888,  p.  281  ;  Williams's  Catena  of  Authorities 
on  Flesh  Eating,  1881,  p.  190;  Westby-Gibson's 
Bibliogr.  of  Shorthand,  1887,  p.  142.]  C.  W.  S. 

NICHOLSON,  GEORGE  (1795  P-1839  ?), 
artist,  was  son  of  Mrs.  Isabella  Nicholson 
(ne'e  Wilkinson),  and  brother  of  Samuel  and 
Isabella  Nicholson.  The  whole  family  en- 
gaged in  artistic  work.  The  mother  executed 
remarkable  copies  in  needlework  of  well- 
known  pictures.  These  were  wrought  in  silk 
with  the  finest  needles  ;  and  in  some  cases  of 
landscapes  the  sky  was  painted  on  a  back- 
ground of  silk  velvet.  A  specimen  of  her 
work  in  the  writer's  possession  is  a  copy  of 
'  The  Grecian  Votary,'  by  Nicholas  Poussin, 
in  the  National  Gallery.  A  similar  copy  of 
'  Belshazzar's  Feast '  and  a  portrait  of 
George  III  were,  with  many  other  examples 
of  Mrs.  Nicholson's  handicraft,  exhibited  in 
Liverpool,  and  disposed  of  there  about  1847. 

Between  1827  and  1838  George  exhibited 
at  the  Liverpool  Academy  exhibitions  some 
fifty  drawings,  mostly  landscapes  in  water- 
colour  or  in  pencil.  With  his  elder  brother 
Samuel  (who  drew  with  great  skill  with  the 
lead-pencil,  painted  in  water-colours,  and 
taught  drawing)  he  published  :  '  Twenty-six 
Lithographic  Drawings  in  the  Vicinity  of 
Liverpool,'  fol.  Liverpool,  1821 ;  and  '  Plas 
Newydd  and  Vale  Crucis  Abbey,'  1824, 
plates,  4to.  The  illustrations  were  drawn  in 
a  fine  line,  and  more  resemble  woodcuts  than 
was  usual  in  earlv  lithographs.  George  is 
believed  to  have  died  about  1839.  Samuel 
died  from  the  effects  of  the  bite  of  a  mad  dog 
about  1825.  A  sister,  Isabella  Nicholson, 
exhibited  drawings  in  water-colour  and  pencil 
of  flowers,  birds,  and  occasionally  landscapes, 
at  the  Liverpool  Academy  between  1829 
and  1846. 

[Liverpool  Exhibition  Catalogues ;  private  in- 
formation.] A.  N. 

NICHOLSON,  ISAAC  (1789-1848), 
wood-engraver,  born  at  Melmesby  in  Cum- 
berland, in  1789,  was  apprenticed  to  John 
Bewick  [q.  v.],  the  famous  wood-engraver,  at 
Newcastle-on-Tyne.  His  work  was  entirely 
in  the  manner  of  his  master,  whose  style  he 
imitated  more  successfully  than  many  of 
Bewick^  other  pupils.  He  copied  some  of 
Bewick's  '  Quadrupeds '  with  great  success, 


and  also  his  lithograph  of  '  The  Cadger's 
Trot.'  Other  woodcuts  by  Nicholson  are  to 
be  found  in  Hodgson's  'History  of  North- 
umberland,' Flower's  '  Visitation  of  the 
County  of  Durham,'  Watts's  '  Hymns,'  &c. 
He  also  engraved  on  copper  a  trade-card  for 
Robert  Spencer,  turner  and  carver,  of  New- 
castle. Nicholson  died  on  18  Oct.  1848, 
aged  59. 

[Redgrave's  Diet,  of  Artists;  Hugo's  Bewick 
Collector.]  L.  C. 

NICHOLSON,  JOHN   (d.   1538),  pro- 
testant  martyr.     [See  LAMBERT.] 

NICHOLSON,  JOHN  (1730-1796), 
Cambridge  bookseller,  son  of  a  farmer  at 
Mountsorrel  in  Leicestershire,  was  probably 
the  'John,  son  of  Edward  Nichols  (?)  and 
Mary  his  wife,'  who  was  baptised  at  St. 
Peter's  Church,  Mountsorrel,  on  19  Aprill730 
(parish  register).  On  28  March  1752  he  mar- 
ried Anne,  the  only  child  of  Robert  Watts 
(d.  31  Jan.  1751-2),  a  bookseller  in  Cam- 
bridge, who  started  the  first  circulating 
library  in  the  town  about  1745.  By  this 
marriage  he  succeeded  to  Watts's  business 
and  to  his  sobriquet  of  '  Maps,'  which  he 
had  gained  by  his  habit  of  announcing  him- 
self at  the  doors  of  his  customers  by  calling 
out  '  maps.'  Both  business  and  habit  were 
energetically  continued  by  Nicholson,  who 
acquired  a  large  connection  among  the  stu- 
dents of  the  university,  supplying  them  with 
their  class-books  by  subscription.  He  died 
on  8  Aug.  1796,  and  was  buried  in  the 
churchyard  of  St.  Edmund,  Cambridge. 
His  widow  lived  till  7  Feb.  1814.  Nicholson 
was  greatly  respected  in  Cambridge.  He 
was  both  a  good  tradesman  and  a  generous 
friend,  readily  allowing  the  free  use  of  his 
library  to  poor  students,  whom  even  his 
moderate  charges  would  have  debarred  from 
the  privilege/  His  portrait,  painted  by 
Reinagle,  hangs  on  the  staircase  of  the  uni- 
versity library.  It  was  engraved  by  Cald- 
well  in  1790,  and  the  engraving  was  sold  for 
the  benefit  of  Addenbrooke's  hospital  ;  an- 
other, engraved  by  Baldrey,  is  mentioned  by 
Bromley.  He  was  the  subject  of  the  follow- 
ing Greek  hexameter,  which  was  familiar  to 
the  undergraduates  of  his  time  : 
Moif  aurbv  KaXiovat  Qtoi,  Si/5pes  Se 


Some  verses  written  on  seeing  his  portrait 
over  the  door  of  a  country  library  were 
printed  in  the  '  Gentleman's  Magazine  ' 
(1816,  ii.  613).  Nicholson  was  succeeded  in 
his  business  by  his  son  John,  who  carried  it 
on  in  the  original  shop  in  front  of  King's 
College  till  1807,  when  he  removed  to  the 
corner  of  Trinity  Street  and  St.  Mary's 


Nicholson 


Nicholson 


Street.  Retiring  about  1821  (he  died  at 
Stoke  Newington  25  April  1825),  he  was 
succeeded  by  his  son,  the  third  JOHN  NICHOL- 
SON (1781-1822).  The  last-mentioned  was 
the  author  of  two  anonymously  published 
plays  :  1 .  '  Psetus  and  Arria,'  Cambridge, 
1809  ;  a  tragedy,  which  was  announced 
for  performance  at  Drury  Lane  on  2  Jan. 
1812,  but  was  never  acted,  and  is  described 
by  Genest  as  '  insipid  to  the  last  degree.' 
2.  'Right  and  Wrong,'  London,  1812,  a 
comedy.  William  Nicholson,  a  printer  of 
Wisbech,  who  died  in  1792,  was  a  brother 
of '  Maps.' 

[Gent.  Mag.  1792,  i.  91,  1796,  ii.  708  ;  Notes 
and  Queries,  3rd  ser.  iv.  170-1,  376-7;  Gun- 
ning's Reminiscences  of  Cambridge,  i.  198-200; 
Genest's  Account  of  the  English  Stage,  viii.  274, 
x.  230.]  B.  P. 

NICHOLSON,  JOHN  (1790-1843),  <  the 
Airedale  poet,'  eldest  son  of  Thomas  Nichol- 
son, was  born  at  Weardley,  near  Harewood, 
Yorkshire,  on  29  Nov.  1790.  Receiving  an 
elementary  education  at  Eldwick,  near 
Bingley,  whither  his  family  had  removed, 
and  at  Bingley  Grammar  School,  under  Dr. 
Hartley,  he  became  a  wool-sorter  in  his 
father's  factory  at  Eldwick,  and  followed 
that  occupation  to  the  end  of  his  life,  allow- 
ing for  intervals  when  he  was  hawking  his 
poems.  In  1818  he  left  Eldwick  for  Red 
Bech,  working  at  Shipley  Fields  mill  until 
1822,  when  he  removed  to  Harden  Beck, 
near  Bingley.  Remaining  for  a  short  time 
at  Hewnden,  he  went  in  1833  to  Bradford, 
and  was  employed  in  the  warehouse  of  Titus 
(afterwards  Sir  Titus)  Salt  [q.  v.]  Through 
life  Nicholson  spent  much  time  in  dissipation. 
He  married  his  first  wife,  a  Miss  Driver  of 
Cote,  in  1810,  and  her  death  shortly  after- 
wards changed  his  character  for  a  time,  and  he 
became  a  methodist  local  preacher.  Marry- 
ing again  in  1813,  he  gradually  resumed  his 
intemperate  habits,  and  had  several  times  to 
be  assisted  by  friends,  as  well  as  by  contri- 
butions from  the  Royal  Literary  Fund.  His 
death,  on  13  April  1843,  was  the  result  of  a 
cold  following  upon  immersion  in  the  Aire. 
He  is  buried  in  Bingley  churchyard.  His 
second  wife,  by  whom  he  had  a  large  family, 
survived  him  thirty  years,  when  she  was  ac- 
cidentally burned  to  death. 

Nicholson's  first  published  work  was  '  The 
Siege  of  Bradford'  (Bradford,  1821;  2nd 
edit.  1831),  a  dramatic  poem  which,  along 
with  a  three-act  drama,  '  The  Robber  of  the 
Alps,'  he  had  written  for  the  Bradford  old 
theatre.  There  were  one  or  two  short  poems 
in  this  work,  but  it  was  not  until  the  ap- 
pearance of  '  Airedale  in  Ancient  Times ' 

VOL.  XLI. 


(Bradford,  1825)  that  Nicholson's  claim  to 
rank  as  a  poet  was  generally  recognised. 
The  success  of  this  volume  was  unique.  The 
whole  impression  was  sold  in  a  few  months, 
and  a  second  edition  followed  in  the  same 
year.  The  poem,  which  gained  for  him  the 
title  of '  the  Airedale  poet,'  is  the  best  of  his 
larger  pieces.  It  contains  some  fine  descrip- 
tions of  the  scenery  of  the  district  and  of 
the  various  stirring  incidents  connected  with 
its  history.  It  was  followed  by  the  publi- 
cation, mostly  in  pamphlet  form,  of  separate 
pieces,  such  as  '  The  Poacher,' '  The  Lyre  of 
Ebor,'&c.,  which  were  collected  in  a  complete 
edition  of  his  '  Poems,'  with  a  life  by  John 
James,  F.S.  A.,  published  at  Bradford  in  1844 
(second  edit.,  Bingley,  1876).  Nicholson  was 
a  comparatively  uneducated  man ;  but,  despite 
the  consequent  defects  of  expression  and  com- 
position, some  of  his  minor  pieces  are  gems 
of  their  kind,  full  of  originality,  grace,  and 
feeling ;  and  the  local  colouring  of  his  verse 
has  naturally  made  his  name  a  '  household 
word  '  in  the  West  Riding. 

The  best  edition  of  Nicholson's  works, 
giving  portrait  and  photographic  illustrations 
of  the  text,  is  that  edited  by  W.  J.  Hird 
(Bradford,  1876).  His  portrait  was  painted 
by  his  friend,  W.  0.  Geller,  and  a  steel  en- 
graving of  it  appears  in  the  editions  of  1844 
and  1876. 

[Lives  by  John  James  and  W.  J.  Hird  as 
above;  Scruton's  Pen  and  Pencil  Sketches  of  Old 
Bradford,  which  gives  an  illustration  of  his  birth- 
place; private  notes  from  William  Scruton,  esq.] 

J.  C.  H. 

NICHOLSON,  JOHN  (1821-1857),  bri- 
gadier-general, eldest  son  of  Dr.  Alexander 
Nicholson,  a  physician  of  good  practice  in 
Dublin,  was  born  in  that  city  on  11  Dec.  1821. 
Dr.  Nicholson  died  in  1830,  leaving  a  widow, 
two  daughters,  and  five  sons.  The  family 
moved  to  Lisburn,  co.  Wicklow,  where  Mrs. 
Nicholson's  mother,  Mrs.  Hogg,  resided,  and 
thence  to  Delgany,  where  good  private  tuition 
was  obtained  for  the  children.  Nicholson  was 
afterwards  sent  to  the  college  at  Dungannon. 
His  uncle,  James  Weir  Hogg  [q.  v.l,  obtained 
a  cadetship  for  him  in  the  Bengal  infantry. 
He  was  commissioned  as  ensign  on  24  Feb. 
1839,  and  embarked  for  India,  arriving  in  Cal- 
cutta in  July.  He  joined  for  duty  at  Banaras, 
and  was  attached  to  the  41st  native  infantry. 
In  December  1839  he  was  posted  to  the  27th 
native  infantry  at  Firozpiir. 

In  October  1840  he  accompanied  the  regi- 
ment to  Jalalabad  in  Afghanistan.  In  July 
1841  he  went  with  the  regiment  to  Peshawar 
to  bring  up  a  convoy  under  Major  Broadfoot, 
and  on  the  return  of  the  regiment  to  Jalala- 
bad they  were  sent  on  to  Kabul,  and  thence 

c 


Nicholson 


18 


Nicholson 


to  Ghazni,  to  join  the  garrison  there  under 
Colonel  Palmer.     When  Ghazni  was  at- 
tacked in  December  1841  by  the  Afghans 
young  Nicholson  took  a  prominent  part  in 
the  defence.    The  garrison  was  greatly  out- 
numbered, and  eventually  had  to  withdraw 
to  the  citadel ;  there  it  held  out  until  the 
middle  of  March,  when  Palmer  felt  com- 
pelled to  make  terms,  and  an  agreement  was 
signed  with  the  Afghan  leaders,  by  which  a 
safe-conduct  to  the  Punjab   frontier  was 
secured  for  the  British  troops.    The  British 
force  was  then  placed  in  quarters  in  a  part 
of  the  town  just  below  the  citadel.    Afghan 
treachery  followed.    The  British  troops  were 
attacked  on  7   April.    Lieutenants  Craw- 
ford and  Nicholson,  with  two  companies  ol 
the  27th  native  infantry,  were  in  a  house  on 
the  left  of  those  occupied  by  the  British,  and 
received  the  first  and  sharpest  attack.    They 
were  cut  off  from  the  rest ;  their  house  was 
fired  by  the  enemy,  and  they  were  driven  from 
room  to  room,  fighting  against  odds  for  their 
lives,  until  at  midnight  of  9  April  they  found 
themselves  exhausted  with  fatigue,  hunger, 
and  thirst,  the  house  nearly  burnt  down,  the 
ammunition  expended,  the  place  full  of  dead 
and  dying  men,  and  the  position  no  longer 
tenable.    The  front  was  in  the  hands  of  the 
enemy,  but  Nicholson  and  Crawford  did  not 
lose  heart.    A  hole  was  dug  with  bayonets 
with  much  labour  through  the  wall  of  the 
back  of  the  house,  and  those  who  were  left 
of  the  party  managed  to  join  Colonel  Palmer. 
The  British  troops,  however,  were  ultimately 
made  prisoners,  the  sepoys  reduced  to  slavery, 
and  the  Europeans  confined  in  dungeons  and 
very  inhumanly  treated.      In  August  they 
were  moved  to  Kabul,  where  they  joined  the 
other  British  captives,  were  kindly  treated, 
and  after  a  few  days  moved  to  Bamian.    In 
the  meantime  Major-general  (afterwards  Sir) 
George  Pollock   [q.  v.]  and  Major-general 
(afterwards  Sir)  William  Nott  [q.  v.]  were 
advancing  on  Kabul,  the  one  from  Jalalabad, 
and  the  other  from  Kandahar,  and  the  pri- 
soners, having  opened  communication  with 
Pollock  and  bribed  their  gaolers,  on  17  Sept. 
met  the  force  which  Pollock  had  sent  to 
rescue  them. 

On  the  return  of  the  army  to  India,  Nichol- 
son was  made  adjutant  of  his  regiment  on 
31  May  1843.  In  1845  he  passed  the  in- 
terpreters' examination,  and  was  given  an 
appointment  in  the  commissariat.  In  this 
capacity  he  served  in  the  campaign  in  the 
Satlaj,  and  was  present  at  the  battle  of  Firoz- 
shah.  On  the  termination  of  the  war  Nichol- 
son was  selected,  with  Captain  Broome  of 
the  artillery,  to  instruct  the  troops  of  the 
Maharaja  of  Kashmir.  The  appointment  was 


made  by  the  governor-general,  Lord  Hardinge 
[see  HARDINGE,  SIR  HENRY,  first  VISCOUNT], 
at  the  request  of  Sir  Henry  Montgomery 
Lawrence  [q.  v.l  Nicholson  had  made  the 
acquaintance  of  both  Henry  and  George 
Lawrence  in  Afghanistan ;  the  latter  had 
been  a  fellow  captive,  and  the  former,  now 
at  the  head  of  the  council  of  regency  of  the 
Punjab,  had  not  forgotten  the  young  subal- 
tern he  had  met  at  Kabul. 

Nicholson   reached  Jammu  on  2  April 
1846,  and  remained  there  with  Maharaja 
Gulab  Singh  until  the  end  of  July,  when  he 
accompanied  him  to  Kashmir.     The   Sikh 
governor,  however,  refused  to  recognise  the 
new  maharaja,  and  Nicholson  only  avoided 
capture  by  hastily  making  his  escape  by  one 
of  the  southern  passes.      Lawrence  himself 
put  down  the  insurrection,  and  in  Novem- 
ber Nicholson  was  again  settled  at  Kashmir, 
officiating  in  the  north-west  frontier  agency. 
In  December  Nicholson  was  appointed  an 
assistant  to  the  resident  at  Lahore.     He  left 
Kashmir  on  7  Feb.  1847,  and  went  to  Mul- 
tan  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Indus.     Later 
he  spent  a  few  weeks  with  his  chief,  Henry 
Lawrence,  at  Lahore,  and  in  June  was  sent 
on  a  special  mission  to  Amritsar,  to  report 
on  the  general  management  of  that  district. 
In  July  he  was  appointed  to  the  charge  of 
the  Sind  Sagar  Doab,  a  country  lying  be- 
tween the  Jhelam  and  the  Indus.     His  first 
duty  was  the  protection  of  the  people  from 
the  chiefs ;  his  next,  the  care  of  the  army, 
with  attention  to  discipline  and  drill.     In 
August  he  was  called  upon  by  Captain  James 
Abbott  to  move  a  force  upon  Simalkand, 
whose  chief  had  in  vain  been  cited  to  answer 
for  the  murder  of  women  and  children  at 
Bakhar.     Nicholson  arrived  on  3  Aug.  and 
took  possession.     He  was  promoted  captain 
on  20  March  1848.     In  the  spring  of  1848 
Mulraj  rebelled,  and  seized  Multan.    As  the 
summer  advanced  the  rebellion  spread,  and 
Nicholson,  who  at  the  time  was  down  with 
fever  at  Peshawar,  hurried  from  his  sick  bed 
to  secure  Attak.     He  made  a  forced  march 
with  sixty  Peshawar  horse  and  150  newly 
raised  Muhammadan  levies,  and  arrived  at 
Attak  just  in  time  to  save  the  place.     From 
Attak  he  scoured  the  country,  putting  down 
rebellion  and  bringing  mutinous  troops  to 
reason.   But  he  felt  uneasy  at  leaving  Attak, 
and,  at  his  request,   Lawrence   sent  Lieu- 
;enant  Herbert  to  him  to  act  as  governor  of 
;he  Attak  Fort.     On  Herbert's  arrival  on 
I  Sept.,  Nicholson  at  once  started  off  for  the 
Margalla  Pass  to  stop  Sirdar  Chattar  Singh 
and  his  force,  and  turn  them  back.     The 
defile  was  commanded  by  a  tower,  which 
Nicholson  endeavoured  to  storm,  leading  the 


Nicholson 


Nicholson 


assault ;  but  he  was  wounded,  and  his  men  fell 
back.  The  garrison  were,  however,  suffi- 
ciently scared  to  evacuate  the  place  during 
the  night. 

When  the  second  Sikh  war  commenced 
Nicholson's  services  were  invaluable.  He 
provided  boats  for  Sir  Joseph  Thackwell  to 
cross  the  Chenab  and  supplies  for  his  troops, 
and  kept  him  informed  of  the  movements  of 
the  enemy.  At  Chilianwalah  he  was  with 
Lord  Gough  [see  GOUGH,  SIR  HENRY,  first 
VISCOUNT],  to  whom  he  rendered  services 
which  were  cordially  acknowledged  in  the 
despatch  of  the  commander- in-chief.  Again, 
at  the  crowning  victory  of  Gujrat,  he  earned 
the  thanks  of  his  chief.  With  a  party  of  irre- 
gulars on  23  Feb.  1849  he  secured  nine  guns 
of  the  enemy.  He  accompanied  Sir  Walter 
Raleigh  Gilbert  [q.  v.]  in  his  pursuit  of  the 
Sikhs,  and  day  by  day  kept  Lawrence  informed 
of  the  movements  of  the  force.  For  his  ser- 
vices he  was  promoted  brevet-major  on  7  June 
1849.  On  the  annexation  of  the  Punjab, 
Nicholson  was  appointed  a  deputy-commis- 
sioner under  the  Lahore  board,  of  which  Sir 
Henry  Lawrence  was  president.  In  De- 
cember 1849  he  obtained  furlough  to  Europe, 
and  left  Bombay  in  January  1850,  visiting 
Constantinople  and  Vienna,  and  arriving  in 
England  at  the  end  of  April.  During  his 
furlough  lie  visited  the  chief  cities  of  conti- 
nental Europe,  and  studied  the  military 
systems  of  the  different  powers.  He  re- 
turned to  India  at  the  end  of  1851,  and  for 
the  next  five  years  worked  as  an  administra- 
tive officer  at  Banmi,  being  promoted  brevet 
lieutenant-colonel  on  28  Nov.  1854.  The 
character  of  his  frontier  administration  was 
very  remarkable.  He  reduced  the  most  igno- 
rant and  bloodthirsty  people  in  the  Punjab 
to  such  a  state  of  order  and  respect  for  law 
that  in  the  last  year  of  his  charge  there 
was  no  crime  of  murder  or  highway  robbery 
committed  or  even  attempted.  Lord  Dal- 
housie  [see  RAMSAY,  JAMES  ANDREW  BROUN, 
1812-1860]  spoke  of  him  at  this  time  as 
'a  tower  of  strength.'  Sir  Herbert  Ben- 
jamin Edwardes  [q.  v.]  thought  him  as 
fit  to  ba  commissioner  of  a  civil  division 
as  general  of  an  army.  He  personally  im- 
pressed himself  upon  the  natives  to  such  an 
extent  that  he  was  made  a  demigod.  A 
brotherhood  of  fakirs  in  Hazara  abandoned 
all  forms  of  Asiatic  monachism,  and  com- 
menced the  worship  of '  Nikkul  Seyn.'  The 
sect  had  originated  in  1848,  when  Nicholson 
was  scouring  the  country  between  Attak 
and  the  Jhelam,  making  almost  incredible 
marches,  and  performing  prodigies  of  valour 
with  a  mere  handful  of  followers.  On  meet- 
ing Nicholson  the  members  of  the  sect  would 


fall  at  his  feet  as  their  spiritual  guide  (guru). 
In  spite  of  Nicholson's  efforts  to  stop  this 
by  imprisonment  and  whipping,  the  Nikkul 
Seynis  remained  as  devoted  as  ever.  The  last 
of  the  original  disciples  dug  his  own  grave, 
and  was  found  dead  in  Harripur  in  Hazara 
in  1858. 

When  the  Indian  mutiny  broke  out  and 
the  news  of  the  outbreak  at  Mirat  and  the 
seizure  of  Delhi  reached  the  Punjab  in  May 
1857,  Nicholson  was  deputy-commissioner  at 
Peshawar.  At  once  movable  columns  under 
Chamberlain  and  Read  were  formed,  while 
Cotton,  Edwardes,  and  Nicholson  watched 
the  frontier.  In  May  the  news  of  the  out- 
break of  two  native  regiments  at  Nawshahra 
reached  Peshawar.  The  sepoy  regiment  at 
Peshawar  was  at  once  disarmed,  and  Nichol- 
son accompanied  a  column  to  Mardan  to  deal 
with  the  mutinous  55th  native  infantry  from 
Nawshahra.  No  sooner  did  the  force  appear 
near  Mardan  than  the  mutineers  fled  towards 
the  hills  of  Swat.  Nicholson,  with  a  handful 
of  horsemen,  pursued  and  charged  them. 
They  broke  and  dispersed,  but  the  detached 
parties  were  followed  to  the  borders  of  Swat, 
where  a  remnant  escaped. 

On  the  appointment  of  Brigadier-general 
Chamberlain  to  the  post  of  adjutant-general, 
Nicholson  was  selected  to  succeed  him,  on 
22  June  1857,  in  the  command  of  the  Punjab 
movable  column,  with  the  rank  of  brigadier- 
general.  He  joined  the  column  at  Phillaur. 
There  were  two  suspected  sepoy  regiments 
in  the  force  whom  it  was  necessary  to  disarm 
without  giving  them  a  chance  to  mutiny 
and  massacre,  or  to  break  away  beforehand 
with  their  arms.  Nicholson  ordered  the 
whole  column  to  march  on  Delhi,  and  so 
arranged  the  order  of  march  that  the  sus- 
pected regiments  believed  themselves  to  be 
trusted,  but,  on  arriving  at  the  camping- 
ground,  found  themselves  in  front  of  the 
guns  and  surrounded  by  the  rest  of  the 
force.  They  were  at  once  ordered  to  pile 
arms,  and  only  eight  men  even  tried  to 
escape.  On  28  June  Nicholson,  with  the 
movable  column,  left  Phillaur  and  returned 
to  Amritsar,  arriving  on  5  July.  Here 
Nicholson  heard  that  a  regiment  had  risen 
at  Jhelam,  and  that  there  had  been  a  revolt 
at  Sialkot,  in  which  many  Europeans  had 
been  murdered.  These  mutineers,  having 
cast  off  their  allegiance  to  the  British  go- 
vernment, were  hastening  to  join  the  revo- 
lutionary party  at  Delhi.  Nicholson  deter- 
mined to  intercept  them.  He  made  a  rapid 
march  with  European  troops  under  a  July 
sun  to  Gurdaspiir.  At  noon  on  12  July 
he  found  the  rebels  at  Trimmu  Ghaut.  In 
less  than  half  an  hour  the  sepoys  were  in 

02 


Nicholson 


20 


Nicholson 


full  retreat  towards  the  Ravi  river,  leaving 
over  three  hundred  killed  and  wounded  on 
the  field.  Nicholson  had  no  cavalry,  and 
was  unable  to  give  chase.  lie  therefore 
withdrew  to  Gurdaspur.  The  rebels  re- 
formed on  the  other  side  of  the  river. 
Nicholson  found  on  the  14th  that  the  mu- 
tineers had  taken  up  a  position  on  an  island 
in  the  Ravi  river,  and  had  run  up  a  battery 
at  the  water's  edge.  By  the  16th  Nicholson 
had  prepared  boats  in  which  to  cross  to  the 
island.  He  advanced  his  guns  to  the  river- 
bank  and  opened  a  heavy  fire,  drawing  the 
attention  of  the  enemy,  while  he  got  his 
infantry  across  to  one  extremity  of  the 
island,  and,  placing  himself  at  their  head, 
advanced  upon  the  enemy.  The  battery  was 
carried  and  the  gunners  bayoneted.  Soon 
the  mutineers  were  all  either  killed  or  driven 
into  the  water. 

Nicholson  returned  to  Amritsar  with  the 
column,  and  then  went  on  to  Lahore.  He 
arrived  at  Lahore  on  21  July  and  received 
orders  to  march  his  force  on  Delhi  without 
delay.  On  24  July  he  rejoined  the  movable 
column.  The  following  day  he  crossed  the 
Bias  river,  and  pushed  on  rapidly.  When 
the  column  approached  Karnal  he  posted 
on  ahead,  by  desire  of  General  Wilson,  who 
was  commanding  at  Delhi,  in  order  that  he 
might  consult  with  him.  After  examining 
all  the  posts  and  batteries  round  Delhi  he 
rejoined  his  column,  and  marched  with  it 
into  the  camp  at  Delhi  on  14  Aug. 

Apprehending  that  the  enemy  were  man- 
oeuvring to  get  at  the  British  rear,  Nicholson 
was  directed  to  attack  them.  He  marched 
out  in  very  wet  weather;  the  way  was 
difficult,  and  he  had  to  cross  two  swamps 
and  a  deep,  broad  ford  over  a  branch  of  the 
Najafgarh.  In  the  afternoon  of  25  Aug. 
he  found  the  enemy  in  position  on  his  front 
and  left,  extending  some  two  miles  from  the 
canal  to  the  town  of  Najafgarh.  Nicholson 
attacked  the  left  centre,  forced  the  position, 
and  swept  down  the  enemy's  line  of  guns 
towards  the  bridge,  putting  the  enemy  (six 
thousand  strong)  to  flight,  and  capturing 
thirteen  guns  and  the  enemy's  camp  equipage. 
Congratulations  poured  in.  General  Wilson 
wrote  to  thank  him.  Sir  John  Lawrence 
telegraphed  from  Lahore :  '  I  wish  I  had  the 
power  of  knighting  you  on  the  spot.  It 
should  be  done.'  In  further  proof  of  his 
appreciation  of  Nicholson's  services,  the  chief 
commissioner  wrote  to  him  on  9  Sept.  that 
he  had  recommended  him  for  the  appoint- 
ment of  commissioner  of  Leia. 

On  the  morning  of  14  Sept.  the  assault  of 
Delhi  took  place,  and  Nicholson  was  selected 
to  command  the  main  storming  party.  The 


breach  was  carried,  and  the  column,  headed 
by  Nicholson,  forced  its  way  over  the  ram- 
parts into  the  city,  and  pushed  on.  The 
streets  were  swarming,  and  the  housetops 
alive  with  the  enemy,  and  Nicholson's  com- 
manding figure  at  the  head  of  his  men 
offered  only  too  easy  a  mark.  A  sepoy,  from 
the  window  of  a  house,  shot  him  through 
the  chest.  He  desired  to  be  laid  in  the 
shade,  and  not  to  be  carried  back  to  camp 
till  Delhi  had  fallen.  It  was  soon  apparent 
that  Delhi  would  not  fall  without  a  pro- 
longed struggle,  and  Nicholson,  who  was  in 
great  agony,  was  placed  on  a  litter  and 
carried  to  a  hospital  tent.  He  lingered  until 
23  Sept.  He  had  not  completed  Tils  thirty- 
sixth  year.  On  his  death-bed  he  was  in- 
dignant at  the  injustice  done  to  Alexander 
Taylor  the  engineer,  and  said :  '  If  I  live 
through  this,  I  will  let  the  world  know  that 
Taylor  took  Delhi.'  His  body  was  buried  in 
the  new  burial-ground  in  front  of  the  Kash- 
mir Gate,  and  near  Ludlow  Castle.  A 
marble  slab,  with  a  suitable  inscription,  was 
erected  over  his  grave  by  his  friends.  An 
obelisk  to  his  memory  was  afterwards  erected 
on  the  site  of  the  tower  which  commanded 
Margalla  Pass,  where  he  was  wounded. 

There  was  a  consensus  of  opinion  as  to 
Nicholson's  merits  among  those  best  qualified 
to  judge,  both  soldiers  and  civilians.  Bri- 
gadier-general Cotton  announced  his  death 
in  general  orders  in  terms  of  the  warmest 
eulogy,  while  Sir  Robert  Montgomery  wrote 
to  Sir  Herbert  Edwardes  on  2  Oct. :  '  Your 
two  best  friends  have  fallen,  the  two  great 
inert,  Sir  Henry  [Lawrence]  and  Nicholson. 
.  .  .  Had  Nicholson  lived,  he  would  as  a  com- 
mander have  risen  to  the  highest  post.  He 
had  every  quality  necessary  for  a  successful 
commander:  energy,  forethought,  decision, 
good  judgment,  and  courage  of  the  highest 
order.'  The  governor-general  in  council 
expressed  the  sorrow  of  the  government  at 
the  loss  sustained  in  the  death  of  this  very 
meritorious  officer,  whose  recent  successes 
had  pointed  him  out  as  one  of  the  foremost 
among  many  whose  loss  the  state  had  lately 
had  to  deplore.  The  queen  commanded  it  to 
be  announced  that  if  Nicholson  had  survived 
he  would  have  been  made  a  K.C.B.  The 
East  India  Company,  in  recognition  of  his 
services,  voted  his  mother  a  pension  of  500/. 
a  year. 

With  a  tall,  commanding  figure,  a  hand- 
some face,  and  a  bold,  manly  bearing,  Nichol- 
son looked  every  inch  a  soldier.  He  had  an 
iron  constitution,  was  fearless  in  danger,  and 
quick  in  action.  He  inspired  confidence  and 
won  affection,  and  throughout  life  was  ani- 
mated by  a  sincere  religious  faith. 


Nicholson 


Nicholson 


[India  Office  Records;  Despatches;  Kaye's 
Lives  of  Indian  Officers ;  Kaye's  History  of  the 
Sepoy  War ;  Malleson's  History  of  the  Indian 
Mutiny ;  Notes  on  the  Revolt  in  the  North- 
West  Provinces  of  India  ;  An  Officer's  Narrative 
of  the  Siege  of  Delhi.]  R.  H.  V. 

NICHOLSON,  JOSHUA  (1812-1885), 
silk  manufacturer  and  philanthropist,  son  of 
Joshua  and  Rachel  Nicholson,  was  born  on 
26  Oct.  181 2  at  Luddenden  Foot,  near  Halifax. 
He  exhibited  remarkable  business  aptitude 
during  his  apprenticeship  to  a  draper  at  Brad- 
ford, and  quickly  filled  a  responsible  position. 
From  his  earliest  years  he  devoted  much  time 
to  study.  After  leaving  Bradford  he  resided 
for  a  short  time  in  Huddersfield,  and  thence 
passed  to  Leek,  Staffordshire,  in  1837.  For 
many  years  he  travelled  over  the  United 
Kingdom  in  the  interests  of  the  celebrated 
silk  manufacturing  firm,  J.  &  J.  Brough  & 
Co.,  of  Leek.  He  was  soon  indispensable  to 
his  employers;  he  was  admitted  to  a  partner- 
ship ;  the  title  was  changed  to  J.  &  J.  Brough, 
Nicholson  &  Co.,  and  Nicholson  ultimately 
became  its  head.  He  had  worked  up  the 
business  into  the  most  important  house  in 
the  trade. 

Nicholson  was  a  nonconformist  from  prin- 
ciple, and  an  earnest  supporter  of  the  inde- 
pendent or  congregational  churches.  In 
politics  he  was  a  progressive  radical,  and  for 
many  years  was  president  of  the  North  Staf- 
fordshire Liberal  Association.  He  believed 
in  the  efficacy  of  education,  and  in  1881  he 
announced  his  intention  of  building  at  Leek 
an  institute,  which  was  to  include  a  free 
library,  reading-rooms,  art  galleries,  museum, 
and  lecture-rooms  and  an  art  school,  to  be  as 
nearly  free  as  possible.  The  Nicholson  In- 
stitute was  completed  in  1884  at  a  cost  of 
20,000/.,  and  was  opened  in  that  year.  In 
1887  the  town  of  Leek  took  it  over  in  part 
under  the  Free  Libraries  Act,  but  Nichol- 
son's family  continued  the  endowment  for  ten 
years.  The  library  contains  eight  thousand 
volumes,  and  350  students  attend  the  schools 
of  art,  science,  and  technology.  Nicholson 
died  on  24  Aug.  1885. 

[Leek  Times,  19  Nov.  1881;  Staffordshire 
Weekly  Sentinel,  16  Sept.  1882;  Leek  Times, 
18  Oct.  1884  ;  Staffordshire  Advertiser,  18  Oct. 
188-1;  Leek  Times,  29  Aug.  1885;  Leek  Post, 
10  Oct.  1891.1  K.  P. 

NICHOLSON,  SIB  LOTHIAN  (1827- 
1893),  general,  third  son  of  George  Thomas 
Nicholson  of  Waverley  Abbey,  Surrey,  and 
Anne  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  William  Smith, 
M.P.  for  Norwich,  was  born  at  Ham  Common, 
Surrey,  on  19  Jan.  1827.  He  was  educated 
at  Mr.  Malleson's  school  at  Hove,  Brighton. 


In  1844  he  entered  the  Royal  Military  Aca- 
demy at  Woolwich.  On  6  Aug.  1846  he  was 
gazetted  a  second  lieutenant  in  the  corps  of 
royal  engineers,  and  on  26  Jan.  1847  he 
was  promoted  first  lieutenant.  After  going 
through  the  usual  course  of  professional  study 
at  Chatham,  he  was  sent,  in  January  1849,  to 
North  America,  and  spent  the  following  two 
years  bet  ween  Halifax,  Nova  Scotia,  and  New 
Brunswick.  On  his  return  to  England  he 
was  quartered  at  Portsmouth,  and  on  1  April 
1855  was  promoted  second  captain.  In  July 
he  was  sent  to  the  Crimea.  He  served  in  the 
trenches  during  the  last  month  of  the  siege 
in  command  of  the  4th  company  royal  engi- 
neers. He  commanded  the  same  company  in 
the  expedition  to  Kinburn,  carried  out  the 
operations  for  the  demolition  of  the  docks 
of  Sebastopol,  was  twice  mentioned  in  des- 
patches (Lond.  Gazette,  21  Dec.  1858  and 
15  Feb.  1856),  and  received  for  his  services 
the  war  medal  with  clasp,  the  Turkish  medal, 
and  the  fifth  order  of  the  Medjidie.  While 
in  the  Crimea  he  was  promoted  brevet  major 
on  2  Nov.  1855. 

Nicholson  returned  home  in  June  1856, 
and  was  quartered  at  Aldershot,  where  he 
was  employed  in  laying  out  the  new  camp. 
On  6  Oct.  1857  he  embarked  with  the  4th 
company  royal  engineers  for  Calcutta  to  take 
part  in  the  suppression  of  the  Indian  mutiny. 
On  arrival  in  India  he  joined  Lord  Clyde,  and 
served  for  some  time  on  his  staff.  He  re- 
paired the  suspension  bridge  over  the  Kali 
A~addi,ontheroadtoFathgarh,and  so  enabled 
a  rapid  march  to  be  made  on  that  place,  and 
large  quantities  of  stores  and  other  govern- 
ment property  to  be  secured.  He  was  present 
at  the  engagement  of  the  Alambagh,  and  at 
the  siege  and  final  capture  of  Lucknow,  when 
he  was  in  command  of  the  royal  engineers  on 
the  left  bank  of  the  river,  and  constructed  the 
bridges  over  the  Gumti.  Nicholson  remained 
at  Lucknow  as  chief  engineer  to  Sir  Hope 
Grant.  He  was  engaged  in  the  operations 
in  Oudh,  was  present  at  the  action  of  Bari, 
and  took  an  active  part  in  the  subjugation  of 
the  Terai.  He  was  superintending  the  con- 
struction of  bridges  and  roads  when,  while 
out  shooting,  his  gun  exploded,  and  he  per- 
manently injured  his  hand.  For  his  services 
in  the  mutiny  he  received  the  medal,  and 
was  promoted  brevet  lieutenant-colonel  on 
20  July  1858.  He  was  five  times  mentioned 
in  despatches  by  Lord  Clyde,  Sir  James 
Outram,  and  Sir  Hope  Grant  (Lond,  Gazette, 
3  March,  30  April,  25  May,  28  July  1858, 
and  24  March  1859).  He  was  made  a  C.B. 
in  1859,  and  given  the  distinguished  service 
reward. 

Nicholson  returned  to  England  in  May 


Nicholson 


Nicholson 


1859,  and  on  20  June  became  a  first  captain 
in  the  corps.  He  was  stationed  in  the  Isle 
of  Wight,  and  was  employed  in  the  construc- 
tion of  the  defences  of  the  Solent.  In  1861 
he  was  appointed  commanding  royal  engi- 
neer of  the  London  or  home  district.  On 
20  July  1866  he  was  promoted  brevet  colo- 
nel, and  in  October  was  sent  to  Gibraltar. 
After  two  years  there,  Nicholson  was  sum- 
moned home  to  take  up  the  staff  appoint- 
ment of  assistant  adjutant-general  of  royal 
engineers  in  Ireland.  He  remained  in  Dub- 
lin for  nearly  four  years.  On  27  Jan.  1872  he 
was  promoted  regimental  lieutenant-colonel, 
and  given  the  command  of  the  royal  engineers 
at  Shorncliffe.  On  1  Oct.  1877  he  was  pro- 
moted major-general,  and  on  1  Oct.  1878  was 
appointed  lieutenant-governor  of  Jersey,  and 
to  command  the  troops  there.  He  held  the 
appointment  for  five  years.  On  19  Oct.  1881 
he  was  promoted  lieutenant-general. 

On  quitting  Jersey  in  1883  he  was  un- 
employed until  8  July  1886,  when  he  re- 
ceived the  appointment  of  inspector-general 
of  fortifications  and  of  royal  engineers  in 
succession  to  Lieutenant-general  Sir  Andrew 
Clarke.  During  the  time  Nicholson  held  this 
important  office  the  defence  of  the  coaling 
stations  abroad  was  in  progress,  and  he 
initiated  the  works  for  revising  and  improv- 
ing the  defences  of  the  United  Kingdom 
under  the  Imperial  Defence  Act,  and  for  the 
reconstruction  of  barracks  under  the  Bar- 
racks Act.  In  1887,  on  the  occasion  of  the 
queen's  jubilee,  he  was  made  a  K.C.B. 

On  26  March  1891  Nicholson  was  appointed 
governor  and  commander-in-chief  of  Gibral- 
tar. There  he  died  on  27  June  1893,  after  a 
short  attack  of  fever.  He  was  buried,  with  full 
military  and  civil  honours,  in  the  cemetery  at 
Gibraltar.  Nicholson  married  in  London,  on 
24  Nov.  1864,  Mary,  daughter  of  the  first 
Baron  Romilly.  By  her  he  had  seven  sons 
and  three  daughters,  who,  with  their  mother, 
survive  him. 

Possessed  of  a  good  constitution,  and  full 
of  energy,  Nicholson  enjoyed  an  active  life, 
and  delighted  in  field  sports.  With  an  intense 
esprit  de  corps  he  combined  a  wide  sympathy 
with  the  other  branches  of  the  service,  and 
he  interested  himself  in  many  philanthropic 
efforts. 

A  portrait  is  to  be  placed  in  the  mess  of 
thej*oyal  engineers  at  Chatham. 

Nicholson  contributed  the  following  papers 
to  '  The  Professional  Papers  of  the  Corps  of 
Royal  Engineers,'  new  ser.  vi.  21,  'Demoli- 
tion of  Docks  at  Sebastopol ; '  ib.  p.  130, '  Re- 
port on  Defences  of  Kinburn  and  the  Opera- 
tions which  led  to  their  Surrender ; '  viii.  54, 
'  Reports  on  the  Demolition  of  the  Fort  of 


Tutteah ; '  ib.  p.  94,  '  Bridge  of  Boats  across 
the  Gogra.' 

[Koyal  Engineers  Corps  Records ;  War  Office 
Records ;  Malleson's  Indian  Mutiny,  vol.  ii. ; 
Despatches  ;  Gibraltar  Gazette,  27  and  28  June 
1893:  Royal  Engineers'  Journ.  August  1893.1 

R.  H.  V. 

NICHOLSON,  MARGARET  (1750?- 
1828),  assailant  of  George  III,  daughter  of 
George  Nicholson,  a  barber,  of  Stockton-on- 
Tees,  Durham,  was  housemaid  in  three  or 
more  families  of  good  position,  one  of  her 
places  being  in  the  service  of  Sir  John  Sebright 
(Memoirs  of  Sir  JR.  M.  Keith}.  About  the  time 
of  her  leaving  her  last  place  she  was  deserted 
by  her  lover,  a  valet,  with  whom  she  is  said 
to  have  misconducted  herself  in  a  former 
situation.  She  then  lodged  in  the  house  of  a 
stationer  named  Fisk,  at  the  corner  of  Wig- 
more  Street,  Mary lebone,  where  she  remained 
about  three  years,  support  ing  herself  by  taking 
in  plain  needlework.  Although  Fisk  after- 
wards stated  that '  she  was  very  odd  at  times,' 
neither  he  nor  any  of  her  acquaintances  sus- 
pected her  of  insanity.  However,  in  July  1786 
she  sent  a  petition,  which  was  disregarded,  to 
the  privy  council,  containing  nonsense  about 
usurpers  and  pretenders  to  the  throne.  On 
the  morning  of  2  Aug.  she  stood  with  the 
crowd  that  waited  at  the  garden  entrance  to 
St.  James's  Palace  to  see  the  king  arrive  from 
Windsor.  As  he  alighted  from  his  carriage 
she  presented  him  with  a  paper,  which  he  re- 
ceived, and  at  the  same  moment  made  a  stab 
at  him  with  an  old  ivory-handled  dessert  knife. 
The  king  avoided  the  blow,  which  she  im- 
mediately repeated.  This  time  the  knife 
touched  his  waistcoat,  and,  being  quite  worn 
out,  bent  against  his  person.  One  of  the  royal 
attendants  seized  her  arm  and  wrenched  the 
knife  from  her.  As  she  was  in  some  danger 
from  the  bystanders,  the  king,  who  remained 
perfectly  calm,  cried  out,  '  The  poor  creature 
is  mad  ;  do  not  hurt  her,  she  has  not  hurt  me.' 
She  was  at  once  examined  by  the  privy  coun- 
cil, and,  Dr.  Monro  having  declined  to  state 
offhand  that  she  was  insane,  she  was  com- 
mitted to  the  custody  of  a  messenger.  It  was 
supposed  that  she  was  at  the  time  about 
thirty-six  years  old  (JESSE).  On  her  lodgings 
being  searched  letters  were  found  directed  to 
some  great  persons,  and  expressing  her  belief 
that  she  had  a  right  to  the  throne.  On  the 
8th  she  was  again  brought  before  the  privy 
council,  and  two  physicians  having  declared 
that  she  was  insane,  she  was  the  next  day  com- 
mitted, on  their  certificate,  to  Bethlehem,  or 
Bedlam,  Hospital,  orders  being  given  that  she 
should  work  if  in  a  fit  state  to  do  so.  On  the 
18th  she  was  reported  to  have  been  very  quiet 
in  the  hospital,  and  to  have  been  supplied 


Nicholson 


Nicholson 


with  writing  materials,  which  she  had  asked 
for.  She  remained  in  Bedlam  until  her  death 
on  14  May  1828  (date  kindly  supplied  by 
Dr.  11.  Percy  Smith,  chief  superintendent  of 
Bethlehem  Royal  Hospital).  Early  in  1811 
Percy  Bysshe  Shelley  [q.  v.]  and  Thomas 
Jefferson  Hogg  [q.  v.],  then  undergraduates 
at  Oxford,  published  a  thin  volume  of  bur- 
lesque verses,  entitled  '  Posthumous  Frag- 
ments of  Margaret  Nicholson,  edited  by  her 
nephew,  John  Fitz  Victor,'  Oxford,  1810, 4to. 
[Annual  Register,  1786,  pp.  233.  234 ;  Smyth's 
Memoirs  of  Sir  R.  M.  Keith,  ii.  189  ;  Auckland 
Correspondence,  i.  152,  389  ;  Sir  N.  W.  Wraxall's 
Memoirs,  i.  295,  iv.  353,  ed.  1884 ;  Burner's 
(Madame  d'Arblay's)  Memoirs,  iii.  45,47;  Jesse's 
Memoirs  of  George  III,  ii.  532-7 ;  Smeeton's 
Biographia  Curiosa,  with  portrait  and  drawing 
of  the  knife,  p.  91 ;  High  Treason  committed  by 
M.  N.,  fol.  sheet  (Brit.  Mus.)]  W.  H. 

NICHOLSON,  PETER  (1765-1844), 
mathematician  and  architect,  was  the  son  of 
a  stonemason,  and  was  born  at  Prestonkirk, 
East  Lothian,  on  20  July  1765.  He  was 
educated  at  the  village  school,  where  he 
showed  considerable  talent  in  mathematics, 
and  studied  geometry  by  himself  far  in  ad- 
vance of  what  was  taught  at  the  school.  At 
the  age  of  twelve  he  commenced  to  assist 
his  father,  but,  the  work  proving  uncongenial, 
he  was  soon  after  apprenticed  to  a  cabinet- 
maker at  Linton,  Haddingtonshire,  where 
he  served  for  four  years.  His  apprenticeship 
ended,  he  worked  as  a  journeyman  in  Edin- 
burgh, at  the  same  time  diligently  studying 
mathematics,  and  at  about  the  age  of  twenty- 
four  proceeded  to  London.  His  fellow  work- 
men, recognising  his  superior  ingenuity,  ap- 
plied to  him  for  instruction,  and  he  accord- 
ingly opened  an  evening  school  for  mechanics 
in  Berwick  Street,  Soho.  Succeeding  in  his 
enterprise,  he  was  enabled  to  produce  his  first 
publication,  'The  Carpenter's  New  Guide,'  for 
which  he  engraved  his  own  plates.  In  it  he 
made  known  an  original  method  of  construct- 
ing groins  and  niches  of  complex  forms.  In 
1800  he  proceeded  to  Glasgow,  where  he 
practised  for  eight  years  as  an  architect.  He 
removed  to  Carlisle  in  1805,  and,  on  the 
recommendation  of  Thomas  Telford  [q.  v.], 
he  was  appointed  architect  to  the  county  of 
C  umberland.  He  superintended  the  building 
of  the  new  court-houses  at  Carlisle,  from  de- 
signs by  Sir  Robert  Smirke  [q.  v.]  In  1810  he 
returned  to  London,  and  began  to  give  private 
lessons  in  mathematics,  land  surveying,  geo- 
graphy, navigation,  mechanical  drawing, 
fortification,  &c.,  and  produced  his  'Archi- 
tectural Dictionary.'  He  commenced  in  1827 
a  work  called  '  The  School  of  Architecture 
and  Engineering,'  designed  to  be  completed 


in  twelve  numbers,  but  the  bankruptcy  of  the 
publishers  prevented  more  than  five  numbers 
appearing.  Nicholson  lost  heavily,  and  pro- 
bably on  that  account  went  in  1829  to  reside 
at  Morpeth,  Northumberland,  on  a  small  pro- 
perty left  to  him  by  a  relative.  In  1832  he 
removed  to  Newcastle-on-Tyne,  where  he 
opened  a  school.  But  he  was  apparently  not 
pecuniarily  successful,  for  in  July  1834  a  sub- 
scription was  raised  in  the  town  and  320/. 
presented  to  him.  His  abilities  were  also  re- 
cognised by  his  election  in  1835  as  president  of 
the  Newcastle  Society  for  the  Promotion  of 
the  Fine  Arts,  and  many  other  local  honours 
were  bestowed  on  him.  He  died  at  Carlisle 
on  18  June  1844,  and  was  buried  in  Christ 
Church  graveyard,  where  a  plain  headstone 
marks  the  spot.  A  monument  to  his  memory, 
by  Robert  William  Billings  [q.v.],was  erected 
in  the  Carlisle  cemetery  in  1856  (cf.  Edin- 
burgh Building  Chronicle  for  1855,  p.  175). 

Nicholson  was  twice  married.  By  his  first 
wife,  who  died  at  Morpeth  on  10  Aug.  1832, 
he  had  one  son,  Michael  Angelo  (noticed 
below),  and  by  his  second  wife  a  son  and 
daughter,  who  survived  him. 

Nicholson's  life  was  devoted  to  the  im- 
provement of  the  mechanical  processes  in 
building.  His  great  ability  as  a  mathema- 
tician enabled  him  to  simplify  and  generalise 
many  old  methods,  besides  inventing  new 
ones.  He  formulated  rules  for  finding  sections 
of  prisms,  cylinders,  or  cylindroids,  which 
enabled  workmen  to  execute  handrails  with 
greater  facility  and  from  less  material  than 
previously.  For  his  improvements  in  the 
construction  of  handrailing  the  Society  of 
Arts  voted  him  their  gold  medal  in  April 
1814.  He  was  the  first  author  who  treated 
of  the  methods  of  forming  the  joints,  and 
the  hingeing  and  the  hanging  of  doors  and 
shutters,  and  was  also  the  first  to  notice  that 
Grecian  mouldings  were  conic  sections,  and 
that  the  volutes  of  Ionic  capitals  ought  to  be 
composed  of  logarithmic  spirals.  He  gene- 
ralised and  enlarged  the  methods  of  Philibert 
de  L'Orme  and  Nicholas  Goldmann  for  de- 
scribing revolutions  between  any  two  given 
points  in  a  given  radius,  and  was  the  in- 
ventor of  the  application  of  orthographical 
projection  to  solids  in  general.  His  invention 
of  the  centrolinead  for  use  in  drawing  per- 
spective views  procured  for  him  the  sum  of 
twenty  guineas  from  the  Society  of  Arts  in 
May  1814,  and  of  a  silver  medal  for  improve- 
ments in  the  same  instrument  in  the  follow- 
ing year. 

Nicholson  was  a  claimant  to  the  invention 
of  a  method  for  obtaining  the  rational  roots, 
and  of  approximating  to  the  irrational  roots, 
of  an  equation  of  any  order  whatsoever.  He 


Nicholson 


Nicholson 


had  been  led  to  the  effort  by  a  mathematician 
of  the  name  of  Theophilus  Holdred,  who 
showed  him  a  method  of  his  own,  which  to 
Nicholson  appeared  much  confused.  He  then 
devised  a  plan  on  different  lines,  which  the 
latter  agreed  to  publish  at  the  end  of  his 
own  tract.  Nicholson,  becoming  dissatisfied 
with  Holdred's  proceedings,  published  his 
own  plan  in  his  'Rudiments  of  Algebra'  in 
1819.  On  1  July  1819  a  paper  on  the  same 
subject  by  Leonard  Horner  [q.  v.]  was  read 
before  the  Royal  Society.  Nicholson  con- 
sidered that  Homer's  paper  contained  the 
substance  of  what  he  had  just  published,  and 
wrote  an  account  of  the  matter  in  the  intro- 
duction to  his  'Essay  on  Involution  and 
Evolution '  in  1 820.  The  question  of  priority 
of  invention  is  discussed  in  the  '  Companion 
to  the  British  Almanack,'  1839,  pp.  43-6. 
He  invented  a  new  method  of  extracting  the 
cube  root,  which  is  given  in  the  '  Civil  En- 
gineer,' 1844  (p.  427).  Nicholson  never  suc- 
ceeded in  turning  his  knowledge  to  pecuniary 
advantage.  He  was  too  apt  to  make  use  of 
his  materials  in  more  than  one  publication, 
and  was  involved  in  a  chancery  suit  for  some 
years,  having  violated  his  promise  of  making 
no  further  use  of  the  plates  in  his  'Architec- 
tural Dictionary.'  Towards  the  end  of  his  life 
he  entered  into  controversy  with  Sir  Charles 
Fox  [q.  v.l,  engineer,  as  to  his  claim  to  having 
discovered  a  sure  rule  for  the  construction 
of  the  oblique  arch.  But  Nicholson's  mind 
was  already  enfeebled,  and  he  proved  unable 
to  defend  himself. 

As  an  architect  Nicholson  did  some  useful 
work.  The  best  of  his  executed  designs  are 
those  for  Castleton  House  and  Corby  Castle, 
both  near  Carlisle,  a  coffee-house  at  Paisley, 
additions  to  the  university  of  Glasgow,  and 
he  laid  out  the  town  of  Ardrossan  in  Ayr- 
shire, intended  as  a  fashionable  bathing-place. 
Plans  and  elevations  of  all  these  are  given 
in  his  '  Architectural  Dictionary,'  ii.  102-3, 
774,  800.  He  also  erected  a  timber  bridge 
over  the  Clyde  at  Glasgow,  and  several  dwell- 
ing-houses in  the  city. 

His  useful  publications,  most  of  which 
went  through  several  editions  both  before  and 
after  his  death, include:  1.  'The  Carpenter's 
New  Guide,' London,  1792, 1797, 1801, 1805, 
1808,  1835;  Philadelphia,  1848, 1854;  Lon- 
don and  Philadelphia,  1854,  1856;  London, 
1857.  2.  'The  Carpenter's  and  Joiner's  As- 
sistant,' London,  1792,  1793,  1797,  1798, 
1810.  3.  'Principlesof  Architecture,' London, 
1795-8, 1809,  1836, 1841,  1848  (ed.  Joseph 
Gwilt  [q.v.])  4.  'The  Student's  Instructor,' 
London,  1804,  1823,  1837,  1845.  5.  '  Me- 
chanical Exercises/London,  1811, 1812, 1819, 
and  under  the  title  of '  The  Mechanic's  Com- 


panion,' London,  1824 ;  Oxford,  1825 ;  Phila- 
delphia, 1856.  6.  '  Architectural  Dictionary,' 
London,  1812-19,  1835,  1852-4  (edited  and 
largely  rewritten  by  Lomax  and  Gunyon, 
1855, 1857-62).  The  titles  vary  in  the  several 
editions ;  the  last  three  contain  portraits  from 
a  painting  by  W.  Derby.  7.  '  A  Treatise  on 
Practical  Perspective,'  London,  1 815.  8. '  An 
Introduction  to  the  Method  of  Increments,' 
London,  1817.  9.  '  Essays  on  the  Combina- 
torial Analysis,'  London,  1818.  10.  '  The 
Rudiments  of  Algebra,'  London,  1819,  1824, 
1837,1839.  11.  'Essay  on  Involution  and 
Evolution,' London,  1820  (for  which  Nichol- 
son received  the  thanks  of  the  Academie  des 
Sciences  at  Paris).  12.  '  Treatise  on  the  Con- 
struction of  Staircases  and  Handrails,'  Lon- 
don, 1820, 1847.  13.  '  Analytical  and  Arith- 
metical Essays,' London,  1820, 1821.  14.  'Po- 
pular Course  of  Pure  and  Mixed  Mathematics,' 
London,  1822,  1823,  1825.  15.  '  Rudiments 
of  Practical  Perspective,' London  and  Oxford1, 
1822.  16.  '  The  New  and  Improved  Prac- 
tical Builder  and  Workman's  Companion,' 
London,  1823, 1837  (edited  by  T.  Tredgold), 
1847,  1848-50,  1853,  1861  (with  a  portrait 
by  W.  Derby).  17.  '  The  Builder  and  Work- 
man's New  Director,'  London,  1824  (with 
portrait  by  T.  Heaphy),  1827,  1834,  1836; 
Edinburgh,  1843;  London,  1848.  18.  'The 
Carpenter  and  Builder's  Complete  Measurer,' 
London,  1827  (with  portrait).  19.  '  Popular 
and  Practical  Treatise  on  Masonry  and  Stone- 
cutting,'  London,  1827,  1828,  1835,  1838. 
20.  '  The  School  of  Architecture  and  En- 
gineering,' five  parts,  London,  1828  (with  por- 
trait). 21.  '  Practical  Masonry,  Bricklaying, 
and  Plastering'  (anon.),  London,  1830  (re- 
vised by  Tredgold.  The  portion  on  plaster- 
ing was  supplied  by  R.  Robson,  a  journeyman 
plasterer).  22.  '  Treatise  on  Dialling,'  New- 
castle, 1833,  1836.  23.  'Treatise  on  Pro- 
jection, with  a  Complete  System  of  Isome- 
trical  Drawing,'  Newcastle,  1837;  London, 
1840.  24.  '  Guide  to  Railway  Masonry,' 
Newcastle,  1839 ;  London,  1840,1846;  Car- 
lisle, 1846 ;  London,  1860  (with  portrait  by 
Edward  Train).  25.  '  The  Carpenter,  Joiner, 
and  Builder's  Companion,'  London,  1846. 
26.  'Carpentry'  (anon.),  London,  1849, 1857 
(edited  by  Arthur  Ashpitel ;  the  book  also 
contains  works  by  other  hands).  27.  '  Car- 
pentry, Joining,  and  Building,'  London,  1851. 

With  John  Rowbotham  Nicholson  pub- 
lished '  A  Practical  System  of  Algebra,' 
London,  1824, 1831, 1837,  1844,  1855,  1858, 
and  a  key  to  the  same  in  1825 ;  and  with 
his  son,  Michael  Angelo  Nicholson,  '  The 
Practical  Cabinet  Maker,  Upholsterer,  and 
Complete  Decorator,'  London,  1826. 

Nicholson  also  wrote  articles  on  architec- 


Nicholson 


Nicholson 


ture,  carpentry,  masonry,  perspective,  projec- 
tion, stereography,  stereotomy,  &c.,for  Rees's 
'  Cyclopaedia,'  and  on  carpentry  for  Brew- 
ster's  '  Edinburgh  Encyclopaedia.'  For  both 
these  works  he  prepared  many  of  his  own 
plates.  He  contributed  to  the  '  Philosophical 
Magazine'  in  1798  'Propositions  respecting 
the  Mechanical  Power  of  the  Wedge '  (pp. 
316-319). 

MICHAEL  AXGELO  NICHOLSON  (d.  1842), 
architectural  draughtsman,  son  of  Peter, 
studied  architectural  drawing  at  the  school 
of  P.  Brown  in  Wells  Street.  He  engraved 
plates  for  his  father's  works  and  articles  in 
cyclopaedias,  and  lithographed  in  1826  the 
folio  plates  for  Inwood's  'Erechtheion.'  Be- 
tween 1812  and  1828  he  exhibited  architec- 
tural drawings  at  the  Koyal  Academy.  A 
plan  and  elevation  for  a  house  at  Carstairs, 
Lanarkshire,  designed  by  him,  are  given  in  his 
father's  'New  Practical  Builder,'  1823, p. 566. 
On  the  title-page  of  his  'Five  Orders'  he 
describes  himself  as  professor  of  architecture 
and  perspective.  He  kept  a  school  for  archi- 
tectural drawing  in  Melton  Place,  Euston 
Square.  He  claims  to  have  improved  the 
centrolinead  invented  by  his  father,  and  to 
have  invented  the  inverted  trammel,  an  in- 
strument for  drawing  ellipses.  He  died  in 
1842,  leaving  a  large  family.  Besides  '  The 
Practical  Cabinet  Maker '  published  with  his 
father,  his  works  include:  1.  'The  Carpenter 
and  Joiner's  Companion,'  London,  1826  (with 
Derby's  portrait  of  his  father).  2.  'The  Five 
Orders,  Geometrical  and  in  Perspective,'  Lon- 
don, 1834.  3.  'The  Carpenter's  and  Joiner's 
New  Practical  Work  on  Handrailing,'  Lon- 
don, 1836. 

[Diet,  of  Architecture ;  Chambers's  and  Thom- 
son's Biog.  Diet,  of  Scotsmen ;  Civil  Engineer, 
1840  pp.  152-3,  1844  pp.  425-7;  memoir  sup- 
posed to  have  been  written  by  his  son-in-law, 
and  prefixed  to  the  Builder  and  Workman's  New 
Director  (reprintedin  the  Mechanics' Mag.  1825); 
Builder,  1 846  p.  514, 1849  pp.  615-6 ;  Philosophi- 
cal Mag.  1837  pp.  74,  167;  Report  of  the  British 
Association  .  .  .  held  in  Cambridge  in  1833,  Lon- 
don, 1834  p.  342;  Eoyal  Academy  Catalogues, 
1812,  1817,  1823,  1826,  1828;  bibliographies  of 
Watt,  Lowndes,  and  Allibone ;  library  catalogues 
of  Sir  John  Soane's  Museum,  Koyal  Institute  of 
British  Architects,  Institution  of  Civil  Engineers, 
Trin.  Coll.  Dublin,  South  Kensington  Museum, 
the  Advocates  at  Edinburgh,  Bodleian,  Brit. 
Mus. ;  information  from  the  Rev.  J.  T.  Suttie, 
of  Christ  Church,  Carlisle.]  B.  P. 

NICHOLSON,  RENTON  (1809-1861), 
known  as  the  Lord  Chief  Baron,  was  born  in 
a  house  opposite  to  the  Old  Nag's  Head  ta- 
vern in  the  Hackney  Road,  London,  4  April 
1809,  and  educated  under  Henry  Butter,  the 
author  of  the  '  Etymological  Spelling  Book.' 


At  the  age  of  twelve  he  was  apprenticed  to 
a  pawnbroker,  and  was  employed  until  1830 
by  various  pawnbrokers.  About  March  1830 
he  started  in  business  as  a  jeweller  at 
99  Quadrant,  Regent  Street,  but  on  1  Dec. 
1831  he  became  insolvent,  and  paid  the  first 
of  many  visits  to  the  King's  Bench  and  White- 
cross  Street  prisons.  On  one  occasion,  after 
being  released  from  the  latter  prison,  he  was 
in  so  destitute  a  condition  that  for  several 
nights  he  slept  on  the  doorstep  of  the  Bishop 
of  London's  house  in  St.  James's  Square.  He 
afterwards  picked  up  a  living  by  frequenting 
gambling-rooms  or  billiard-rooms,  and  in  the 
summer  months  went  speeling,  i.e.,  playing 
roulette  in  a  tent  on  racecourses.  He  after- 
wards kept  a  cigar  shop,  and  subsequently 
became  a  wine  merchant.  Finally,  a  printer 
named  Joseph  Last  of  Edward  Street,  Hamp- 
stead  Road,  employed  him  to  edit  '  The 
Town,'  a  weekly  paper,  the  first  number  of 
which  appeared  on  Saturday,  3  June  1837. 
It  was  a  society  journal,  dealing  with  flash 
life.  The  last  issue,  numbered  156,  appeared 
on  Saturday,  23  May  1840.  In  the  mean- 
time, in  conjunction  with  Last  and  Charles 
Pitcher,  a  sporting  character,  he  had  started 
'  The  Crown,'  a  weekly  paper  supporting  the 
beer-sellers,  which  came  to  an  untimely  end 
with  No.  42,  14  April  1839. 

In  partnership  with  Thomas  Bartlett 
Simpson,  in  1841  he  opened  the  Garrick's 
Head  and  Town  Hotel,  27  Bow  Street, 
Covent  Garden,  and  in  a  large  room  in  this 
house,  on  Monday,  8  March  1841,  established 
the  well-known  Judge  and  Jury  Society, 
where  he  himself  soon  presided,  under  the 
title  of  '  The  Lord  Chief  Baron.'  Members  of 
both  houses  of  parliament,  statesmen,  poets, 
actors,  and  others  visited  the  Garrick's  Head, 
and  it  was  not  an  uncommon  occurrence  to 
see  the  jury  composed  of  peers  and  mem- 
bers of  the  lower  house.  The  trials  were 
humorous,  and  gave  occasion  for  much  real 
eloquence,  brilliant  repartee,  fluent  satire, 
and  not  unfrequently  for  indecent  witticism. 
Nicholson's  position  as  a  mock  judge  was  one 
of  the  sternest  realities  of  eccentric  history. 
Attorneys  when  suing  him  addressed  him  as 
'  my  lord.'  Sheriffs'  officers,  when  executing 
a  writ,  apologised  for  the  disagreeable  duty 
they  were  compelled  to  perform '  on  the  court  / 
On  31  July  and  1  and  2  Aug.  1843  he  gave  a 
three  days'  fete  at  Cremorne  Gardens. 

In  1844  the  Judge  and  Jury  Society  was 
removed  to  the  Coal  Hole,  Fountain  Court, 
103  Strand,  and  the  entertainment  was 
varied  by  the  introduction  of  mock  elections 
and  mock  parliamentary  debates.  At  various 
times  Nicholson  '  went  circuit,'  and  held  his 
court  in  provincial  towns.  During  the  summer 


Nicholson 


Nicholson 


months  he  attended  Epsom,  Ascot,  Hampton, 
and  other  racecourses,  with  a  large  tent,  in 
which  he  dispensed  refreshments.  He  was 
also  a  caterer  at  Camberwelland  other  fairs, 
where  he  had  dancing  booths.  ,  ; 

In  1846  he  was  back  at  the  Garncks 
Head,  where  he  added  to  his  usual  attrac- 
tions poses  plastiques  and  tableaux  vmats. 
His  wife  died  at  Boulogne,  15  Sept.  1849, 
and  shortly  afterwards  he  rented  the  Justice 
Tavern  in  Bow  Street.  Again  in  difficulties, 
he  accepted  an  annual  salary  to  preside  at 
the  Garrick's  Head,  till  July  1851,  when  he 
became  landlord  of  the  Coal  Hole,  and  held 
his  court  three  times  a  night.  His  last  re- 
move was  to  the  Cider  Cellar,  20  Maiden 
Lane,  on  16  Jan.  1858,  opening  his  court 
and  his  exhibition  of  poses  plastiques  on 
22  Jan. 

He  died  at  the  house  of  his  daughter,  Miss 
Eliza  Nicholson,  proprietress  of  the  Gordon 
Tavern,  3  Piazza,  Covent  Garden,  on  18  May 
1861.  He  wrote:  1.  '  Boxing,  with  a  Chro- 
nology of  the  Ring,  and  a  Memoir  of  Owen 
Swift,' 1837.  2.  'Cockney Adventures,' 1838. 
3.  'Owen  Swift's  Handbook  of  Boxing,' 
1840,  anon.  4.  '  Miscellaneous  Writings  of 
the  Lord  Chief  Justice,' pt.  i.  May  1849,  with 
portrait ;  came  out  in  monthly  numbers. 
6.  'Nicholson's  Noctes,or  Nights  and  Sights 
in  London,'  1852,  eleven  numbers.  6.  'Dom- 
bey  and  Daughter :  a  Moral  Picture,'  1858. 
He  was  also  proprietor  and  editor  of '  Illus- 
trated London  Life,'  1843,  which  ran  to 
twenty-five  numbers. 

[The  Lord  Chief  Baron  Nicholson,  an  Auto- 
biography, 1860;  Notes  and  Queries,  1870  4th 
eer.  vi.  477,  1871  vii.  18,  286,  327,  and  7  Jan. 
1893,  pp.  3-5;  .Ross's  Painted  Faces  On  and  Off, 
1892,  pp.  103-8,  with  portrait;  Miles's  Pugilis- 
tica,  1880,  vol.  i.  p.  xii ;  Vizetelly's  Glances 
Back,  1893,  i.  168-70,  &c.  In  the  Bachelor's 
Guide  to  Life  in  London,  p.  8,  and  in  the  Illus- 
trated Sporting  News,  21  May  1864,  pp.  129, 
133,  are  views  of  the  Judge  and  Jury  Club.  In 
Illustr.  London  Life,  28  May  1843,  p.  126,  is  a 
view  of  the  Garrick's  Head  booth  at  Epsom,  and 
in  11  June,  p.  161,  a  view  of  Nicholson's  parlour 
in  the  Garrick's  Head.]  G.  C.  B. 

NICHOLSON,  RICHARD  (d.  1639), 
musician,  was  the  first  professor  of  music  at 
Oxford  under  the  endowment  of  William 
Heather  [q.  v.]  He  supplicated  for  the  de- 
gree of  Mus.  Bac.  at  Oxford  in  February 
1595-6  (WOOD),  and  about  the  same  time 
became  organist  and  chorus-master  of  Mag- 
dalen College.  The  music  lectureship  was 
founded  in  1626,  when  he  was  appointed 
professor.  He  resigned  his  post  of  organist 
in  1639,  and  died  in  the  same  year.  He 
composed  several  madrigals,  one  of  which 


Sing  Shepherds  all,'  is  printed  in  Morley's 
Triumphes  of  Oriana,'  1601. 

[Wood's  Athense  Oxonienses  (Bliss),  ii.  269  : 
Biog.  Diet,  of  Musicians,  1824;  Grove's  Diet,  of 
Musicians,  i.  735,  ii.  455 ;  Bloxam's  Register  of 
Magdalen  College,  Oxford  ;  "VVilliams's  Degrees 
in  Music,  pp.  36,  74.]  J.  C.  H. 

NICHOLSON,  SAMUEL  (Jl.  1600), 
poet  and  divine,  was  perhaps  the  Samuel 
Nicholson  of  Catharine  Hall,  Cambridge, 
who  graduated  B.A.  1597-8.  He  took  orders, 
and  describes  himself  in  1602  as  M.A.  Ni- 
cholson has  been  identified  with  the  author 
of  'Acolastus  his  After- Witte.  A  Poem  by 
S.  N.,'  London,  1600;  privately  reprinted 
by  J.  O.  Halliwell,  London,  1866,  and  by 
Dr.  Grosart  (1876).  The 'Epistle  Dedicatory' 
is  addressed  to  '  his  deare  Achates  Master 
Eichard  Warburton.'  The  poem  consists  of 
446  stanzas,  each  containing  six  decasyllabic 
or  hendecasyllabic  lines,  and  is  of  much  in- 
terest on  account  of  the  doubtless  conscious 
plagiarisms  from  Shakespeare  ('  Rape  of  Lu- 
crece '  and  '  Venus  and  Adonis '),  and  in  a 
smaller  measure  from  Nash's  '  Pierce  Penni- 
less '  and  other  works  (cf.  J.  P.  COLLIER, 
Bibl.  Account,  ii.  46,  and  GROSART,  Introd.) 
Nicholson,  in  his  dedication  to  Richard  War- 
burton,  describes  the  work  as  '  the  first  borne 
of  my  barren  invention,  begotten  in  my  an- 
ticke  age '  [i.e.  sportive  years]. 

Nicholson  also  published  :  '  God's  New 
Yeeres  Gift  sent  into  England,  or  the  Summe 
of  the  Gospell  contaynd  in  these  Wordes, 
"  God  so  loved  the  world  that  he  hath  given 
his  only  begotten  sonne  that  whosoever  be- 
leaveth  in  him  should  not  perish,  but  should 
have  life  everlasting,"  John  iii.  1 ;  the  First 
Part  written  by  Samuel  Nicholson,  M.  of 
Artes,'  London,  1602,  small  8vo.  It  is  a 
devotional  treatise,  puritan  in  tone,  but  not 
in  sermon  form. 

[Information  from  the  Rev.  R.  M.  Serjeantson, 
rector  of  St.  Sepulchre's,  Northampton,  and  from 
J.  \V.  Clark,  the  registrar,  Cambridge ;  Cooper's 
Athense  Cant.  ii.  309;  Collier's  Bibl.  Account  of 
Early  English  Lit.  ii.  46;  Hazlitt's  Handbook  of 
Early  English  Lit.  p.  420 ;  Reprints  of  Acolastus 
by  Grosart  and  Halliwell ;  Ames's  Typogr.  Antiq. 
(Herbert),  p.  1385;  Ritson's  Bibl.  Poet,  p.  287.] 

W.  A.  S. 

NICHOLSON,     THOMAS      JOSEPH 

(1645-1718),  the  first  vicar-apostolic  of  Scot- 
land, son  of  Sir  Thomas  Nicholson  of  Kemnay, 
Aberdeenshire,  by  Elizabeth  Abercromby  of 
Birkenbog,  Banftshire,  was  born  at  Birken- 
bog  in  1645.  Having  devoted  himself  to 
literary  pursuits,  he  was  chosen  one  of  the 
regents  or  professors  of  the  university  of 
Glasgow,  and  he  held  that  office  for  nearly 


Nicholson 


Nicholson 


fourteen  years.  In  1682  he  joined  the  Roman 
communion,  and  proceeded  to  Padua.  After- 
wards he  studied  theology  for  three  years, 
and  in  1685  was  admitted  to  holy  orders.  In 
December  1687  he  returned  as  a  missionary 
priest  to  Scotland.  At  the  revolution  in 
November  1688  he  was  apprehended,  and, 
after  being  in  prison  for  some  months,  was 
banished  to  the  continent.  For  three  years 
he  was  confessor  in  a  convent  of  nuns  at 
Dunkirk.  In  May  1694  the  Congregation 
De  Propaganda  Fide  resolved  that  a  bishop 
should  be  appointed  to  govern  the  Scottish 
mission,  and  on  24  Aug.  in  that  year  Nichol- 
son was  nominated  bishop  of  Peristachium 
in  partibus  infidelium,  and  the  first  vicar- 
apostolic  of  all  Scotland.  He  was  conse- 
crated at  Paris  on  27  Feb.  1694-5.  In  No- 
vember 1696  he  came  to  England,  but  was 
apprehended  in  London  immediately  on  his 
arrival,  and  kept  in  confinement  till  May 
1697.  On  his  liberation  he  proceeded  to 
Edinburgh,  and  entered  on  the  exercise  of 
his  episcopal  functions,  which  he  discharged 
without  much  molestation  for  upwards  of 
twenty  years.  During  his  latter  years  he 
resided  generally  at  Preshome,  in  the  Enzie, 
Banffshire,  where  he  died  on  23  Oct.  (N.S.) 
1718.  He  was  succeeded  in  the  vicariate- 
apostolic  by  James  Gordon  (1664-1746) 
[q.  v.],  bishop  of  Nicopolis. 

[Blakhal's  Brieffe  Narration  of  the  Services 
done  to  Three  Noble  Ladyes,  pref.  p.  xxviii ; 
Brady's  Episcopal  Succession,  iii.  456 ;  Catholic 
Directory,  1894,  p.  60 ;  London  and  Dublin 
Weekly  Orthodox  Journal,  1837,  iv.  82;  Sto- 
thert's  Catholic  Mission  in  Scotland,  p.  1.] 

T.  C. 

NICHOLSON,  WILLIAM  (1591-1672), 
bishop  of  Gloucester,  the  son  of  Christopher 
Nicholson,  a  rich  clothier,  was  born  at  Strat- 
ford St.  Mary,  Suffolk,  on  1  Nov.  1591.  He 
became  a  chorister  of  Magdalen  College,  Ox- 
ford, in  1598,  and  received  his  education  in 
the  grammar  school  attached  to  the  college. 
He  graduated  B.A.  in  1611,  and  M.A.  1615. 
He  was  a  bible  clerk  of  the  college  from  1612 
to  1615.  In  1614  he  was  appointed  to  the 
college  living  of  New  Shoreham,  Sussex.  He 
held  the  office  of  chaplain  at  Magdalen  from 
1616  to  1618.  He  was  also  chaplain  to 
Henry,  earl  of  Northumberland,  during  his 
imprisonment  in  the  Tower,  from  1606  to 
1621,  on  suspicion  of  complicity  in  the  gun- 
powder plot,  and  was  tutor  to  his  son,  Lord 
Percy.  '  Delighting  in  grammar,'  in  1616  he 
was  appointed  master  of  the  free  school  at 
Croydon,  'where  his  discipline  and  powers  of 
instruction  were  much  celebrated.'  He  held 
the  post  till  1629,  when  he  retired  to  Wales, 
having  been  presented  to  the  rectory  of  Llan- 


dilo-Vawr,  in  Carmarthenshire,  in  1626.  In 
1644  he  was  made  archdeacon  of  Brecon.  The 
year  before  he  had  been  nominated  a  member 
of  the  assembly  of  divines,  probably  through 
the  interest  of  the  Earl  of  Northumberland, 
but  he  speedily  withdrew,  together  with  the 
greater  part  of  the  episcopalian  clergy  (NEAt, 
Puritans,  iii.  47).  When  deprived  of  his  pre- 
ferments by  the  parliament  he  maintained 
himself  by  keeping  a  private  school,  which  he 
carried  on  in  partnership  with  Jeremy  Taylor 
[q.  v.]  and  William  Wyatt  [q.  v.],  afterwards 
precentor  of  Lincoln,  at  Newton  Hall  ('Col- 
legium Newtoniense'),  in  the  parish  of  Llan- 
fihangel,  in  Carmarthenshire.  Heber  says 
'  their  success,  considering  their  remote  situa- 
tion and  the  distresses  of  the  times,  appears  to 
have  been  not  inconsiderable '  (HEBER,  Life 
of  Jeremy  Taylor,  vol.  i.  pp.  xxvi,  cccxiii). 
Wood  speaks  of '  several  youths  most  loyally 
educated  there,  and  afterwards  sent  to  the 
universities.'  One  of  these  was  Judge  John 
Powell  [q.  v.], '  who  bore  a  distinguished  part 
in  the  trial  of  the  seven  bishops'  (ib.)  How 
long  this  scholastic  partnership  lasted  is  un- 
certain, but  it  came  to  an  end  long  before 
the  Restoration.  Meanwhile,  like  his  friend 
Taylor,  he  actively  employed  his  pen  in  the 
defence  of  the  doctrine  and  discipline  of  the 
church  of  England,  and  in  illustration  of  her 
teaching.  His  '  Exposition  of  the  Apostles' 
Creed '  and  '  Exposition  of  the  Church  Cate- 
chism '  were  both  written  for  the  instruction 
of  his  former  parishioners  at  Llandilo. 

At  the  Restoration  Nicholson  returned  to 
his  parish,  and  resumed  his  former  prefer- 
ments, to  which  was  added  a  residentiary 
canonry  at  St.  Davids.  In  1661  he  was  con- 
secrated bishop  of  Gloucester  by  Sheldon, 
bishop  of  London,  and  Frewen,  archbishop  of 
York,  on  6  Jan.,  in  Henry  VII's  chapel.  He 
is  said  to  have  owed  his  appointment  to  Lord 
Clarendon,  whom  Wood  maliciously  insinu- 
ates he  had  bribed  with  l,QQQl.(WooT),Athence 
Oxon.  iv.  825) .  Such  a  charge,  however,  is  en- 
tirely inconsistent  with  all  we  know  of  Nichol- 
son's character ;  his '  unshakenloyalty  and  bold 
and  pertinacious  defence  of  the  church  during 
its  most  helpless  and  hopeless  depression 
had  given  him  strong  and  legitimate  claims 
on  the  patronage  of  the  government'  (HEBER, 
Life  of  Taylor,  p.  cccxiii).  Nicholson  him- 
self, in  the  preface  to  his  '  Exposition  of  the 
Church  Catechism,'  with  greater  probability 
ascribes  his  promotion  to  Sheldon.  The 
revenue  of  the  see  being  small,  he  was  allowed 
to  hold  his  archdeaconry  and  canonry  together 
with  the  living  of  Bishops  Cleeve  in  commen- 
dam.  He  preached  in  Westminster  Abbey 
on  20  Dec.  1661,  at  the  funeral  of  Bishop 
Nicolas  Monk,  brother  of  the  Duke  of  Alhe- 


Nicholson 


Nicholson 


marie,  who  had  been  consecrated  with  him 
in  the  preceding  January.  Evelyn,  who  was 
present,  describes  it  as  '  a  decent  solemnity ' 
(EVELYN,  Diary,  i.  331).  He  was  appointed 
to  the  sinecure  rectory  of  Llansantfraid-yn- 
Mechan  in  Montgomeryshire  in  1663.  Ac- 
cording to  Baxter,  though  not  a  commissioner, 
he  attended  the  meetings  of  the  Savoy  con- 
ference, and  '  spake  once  or  twice  a  few  words 
calmly'  (KENNETT,  Register,  p.  508).  His 
treatment  of  the  nonconformists  in  his  diocese 
was  conciliatory.  He  connived  at  the  preach- 
ing of  those  whom  he  had  reason  to  respect, 
and  offered  a  valuable  living  to  one  of  them  if 
he  would  conform  (ib.  pp.  815, 817, 918).  He 
was  the  '  constant  patron'  of  the  great  theo- 
logian, Dr.  George  Bull  [q.  v.],  who,  at  his 
earnest  request,  was  presented  by  Lord  Cla- 
rendon to  a  living  in  his  diocese.  In  1663  he 
caused  a  new  font  to  be  erected  in  Gloucester 
Cathedral,  and  solemnly  dedicated  it.  For 
this  he  was  attacked  in  a  scurrilous  pamphlet, 
entitled  '  More  News  from  Rome'  (WooD, 
Athena  Oxon.  iii.  950  n.)  Nicholson's  name 
is  quoted  as  an  authority  in  the  controversy 
as  to  the  authorship  of '  Eikon  Basilike.'  After 
her  husband's  death  in  1662  the  widow  of 
Bishop  Gauden  settled  in  Gloucester,  and, 
on  the  occasion  of  her  receiving  the  holy 
communion,  the  bishop,  'wishing  to  be  fully 
satisfied  on  that  point,  did  put  the  question 
to  her,  and  she  solemnly  affirmed  that  it  was 
wrote  by  her  husband'  (WORDSWORTH,  Who 
wrote  Ikon  Basilike?  pp.  31,  32).  He  died  on 
5  Feb.  1672,  aged  72,  and  was  buried  in  a  side 
chantry  of  the  lady-chapel  at  Gloucester,  in 
which  his  wife  Elizabeth,  who  predeceased 
him  on  20  April  1663,  had  also  been  interred. 
A  monument  was  erected  by  his  grandson, 
Owen  Brigstocke,  of  Lechdenny,  Carmarthen- 
shire, with  an  epitaph  by  his  friend  Dr.  Bull, 
describing  him  as  '  legenda  scribens,  faciens 
scribenda '  (see  HEBEK,  Life  of  Taylor,  p. 
cccxiv).  He  is  described  as  one  who  'had  the 
reputation  of  a  right  learned  divine,  conver- 
sant in  the  fathers  and  schoolmen,  and  excel- 
lent in  the  critical  part  of  grammar ;  proved 
by  his  works  to  be  a  person  of  great  erudition, 
endowed  with  prudence  and  modesty,  and  of 
a  moderate  mind'  (WooD,  Athence  Oxon.  iii. 
950,  iv.  848 ;  SALMON,  Lice*  of  English  Bishops, 
p.  267).  '  He  had  all  the  merit  necessary  to 
fill  so  great  a  station  in  the  church  to  the 
best  advantage,  having  at  heart  the  good  of 
his  church  and  the  honour  of  his  clergy ;  a 
great  encourager  of  learning  and  of  learned 
men'  (NELSON,  Life  of  Bull,  pp.  44, 176). 

He  published:  1.  'A  plain  Exposition  of 
the  Church  Catechism,'  1655  (re-issued  in 
the  library  of  Anglo-catholic  theology). 
2. '  Apology  for  the  Discipline  of  the  Ancient 


Church,'  1659.  3.  '  Plain  Exposition  of  the 
Apostles'  Creed'  (dedicated  to  Bishop  Shel- 
don), 1661.  4.  '  Easy  Analysis  of  the  whole 
Book  of  Psalms,'  1662. 

[Bloxam's  Kegisters  of  Magdalen,  i.  29  ;  Fos- 
ter's Alumni  Oxon.  1500-1 7 14,  iii.  1072  ;  Godwin 
de  Praesul.  ii.  134;  Britton's  Gloucester  Cathe- 
dral, p.  38 ;  Memoir  prefixed  to  the  Exposition 
of  the  Catechism,  Lib.  Anglo-catholic  Theology.] 

E.  V. 

NICHOLSON,  WILLIAM  (1753-1815), 
man  of  science  and  inventor,  born  in  1753 
in  London,  where  his  father  practised  as  a 
solicitor,  was  educated  in  North  Yorkshire. 
At  the  age  of  sixteen  he  entered  the  service 
of  the  East  India  Company,  in  whose  ships 
he  made  two  or  three  voyages  to  the  East 
Indies  before  1773.  After  that  date  he  was 
employed  for  two  years  in  the  country  trade 
in  India.  Returning  home  in  1776,  he  be- 
came commercial  agent  in  Europe  for  Josiah 
Wedgwood,  the  celebrated  porcelain  manu- 
facturer, but  soon  afterwards  settled  in 
London,  where  he  started  a  school  of  mathe- 
matics. Here  he  pursued  his  scientific  studies 
and  experiments,  while  he  employed  his 
leisure  in  translating  from  the  French  and 
compiling  various  historical  and  philo- 
sophical works. 

His  first  publication  was  an  '  Introduction 
to  Natural  Philosophy,'  2  vols.,  London, 
1781,  a  book  which  soon  superseded  Row- 
ning's  '  System  of  Natural  Philosophy '  as  an 
elementary  class-book.  He  next  brought  out 
a  new  edition  of  '  Ralph's  Survey  of  the 
Public  Buildings  of  London  and  Westmin- 
ster, with  additions,'  London,  1782  ;  and  this 
was  followed  by  '  The  History  of  Ayder  Ali 
Khan,  Nabob  Buhader ;  or  New  Memoirs 
concerning  the  East  Indies,  with  Historical 
Notes,'  2  vols.,  London,  1783.  His  '  Navi- 
gator's Assistant,'  1784,  was  intended  to 
supersede  Moore's  '  Practical  Navigator,'  but 
met  with  little  success.  His  '  Abstract  of 
the  Arts  relative  to  the  Exportation  of 
Wool,'  1786,  was  followed  in  1787  by  his 
communication  to  the  Royal  Society  of '  The 
Principles  and  Illustration  of  an  advan- 
tageous Method  of  arranging  the  Differences 
of  Logarithms,  on  Lines  graduated  for  the 
purpose  of  Computation,'  1787  (Phil.  Trans. 
Ixxvii.  246).  There  Nicholson  gave  examples 
of  several  mathematical  instruments,  in- 
cluding a  rule  consisting  of  ten  parallel  lines, 
equivalent  to  a  double  line  of  numbers  up- 
wards of  twenty  feet  in  length ;  secondly,  a 
beam  compass  for  measuring  intervals ; 
thirdly,  a  Gunter's  scale  ;  and  fourthly,  a  cir- 
cular instrument,  which  was  a  combination 
of  the  Gunter's  line  and  sector,  with  im- 
provements rendering  it  superior  to  either. 


Nicholson  2 

In  1788  appeared  Nicholson's  '  Elements  of 
Natural  History  and  Chemistry,  translated 
into  English,  with  Notes,  and  an  Historical 
Preface,'  4  vols.,  a  work  taken  from  the  Count 
de  Fourcroy's  '  Lecons  d'Histoire  Naturelle 
etde  Chimie,'  1781,  together  with  a  supple- 
ment '  On  the  First  Principles  of  Chemistry,' 
1789.  It  was  about  this  time  that  he  in- 
vented an  ingenious  form  of  areometer,  and 
patented  an  instrument  which  bore  his  name, 
and  was  long  in  use  by  experimental  che- 
mists in  all  laboratories  until  superseded  by 
Beaume's  hydrometer.  In  1788  Jean  Hya- 
cinthe  de  Magellan  [q.  v.]  entrusted  to  Nichol- 
son the  manuscript  memoirs  of  the  Count  de 
Benyowsky,  a  Hungarian  adventurer  who 
was  shot  by  the  French  in  May  1786  at  Foule 
Point  in  Madagascar.  Nicholson  wrote  a  long 
introduction  to  these  memoirs,  which  were 
published  in  1790,  2  vols.  4to.  A  recent 
edition  of  the  first  part  of  this  work  was 
edited  by  the  present  writer  in  1893. 

In  scientific  research  Nicholson  attained 
some  important  results.  Like  Carlile  and 
Ritter,  he  discovered  the  chemical  action  of 
the  galvanic  pile  ;  and  he  communicated  to 
the  Royal  Society  in  1789  two  papers  on 
electrical  subjects :  '  A  Description  of  an 
Instrument  which,  by  the  turning  of  a  Winch, 
produces  the  two  States  of  Electricity  with- 
out Friction  or  Communication  with  the 
Earth'  (Phil.  Trans.  Ixxviii.  403)  ;  and 'Ex- 
periments and  Observations  on  Electricity ' 
(ib.  Ixxix.  265).  In  the  same  year  he  reviewed 
the  controversy  which  had  arisen  over  Richard 
Kirwan's  celebrated  essay  on  Phlogiston, 
and  published  a  translation  of  the  adverse 
commentaries  by  the  French  academicians 
Lavoisier,  Monge,  Berthollet,  and  Guyton 
de  Morveau,  viz.  '  An  Essay  on  Phlogiston, 
to  which  are  added  Notes.  .  .  .  Translated 
into  English,'  London,  1789. 

Nicholson  was  now  living  in  Red  Lion 
Square,  London,  where  he  acted  as  a  patent 
agent,  and  also  took  out  many  patents  for 
inventions  of  his  own.  On  29  April  1790  he 
patented  (No.  1748)  a  machine  for  printing 
on  linen,  cotton,  woollen,  and  other  articles, 
by  means  of  '  blocks,  formes,  types,  plates, 
and  originals,  which  were  to  be  firmly  im- 
posed upon  a  cylindrical  surface  in  the  same 
manner  as  common  letter  is  imposed  upon  a 
flat  stone.'  '  From  the  mention  of  "  colour- 
ing cylinder"  and  "paper-hangings,  floor- 
cloths, cottons,  linens,  woollens,  leather, 
skin,  and  every  other  flexible  material"  men- 
tioned in  the  specification,  it  would  appear,' 
writes  Dr.  Smiles,  '  as  if  Nicholson's  inven- 
tion were  adapted  for  calico-printing  and 
paperhangings,  as  well  as  for  the  printing 
of  books.  But  it  was  never  used  for  any  of 


>  Nicholson 

these  purposes.  It  contained  merely  the 
register  of  an  idea,  and  that  was  all.'  The 
scheme  was  never  in  practical  operation ;  but 
Bennet  Woodcroft,  in  his  introductory  chap- 
ter to  '  Patents  for  Inventions  in  Printing,' 
credits  Nicholson's  patent  with  producing 
'  an  entire  revolution  in  the  mechanism  of 
the  art.'  It  was  not  until  seventeen  years 
afterwards  that  Friedrich  Konig  consulted 
Nicholson  as  a  patent  agent  about  registering 
his  invention  of  a  cylinder  printing  press  for 
newspapers.  Nicholson's  next  published  work 
was  a  translation  of  Chaptal's  book,  'Ele- 
ments of  Chemistry,'  3  vols.,  London,  1795, 
and  he  also  brought  out  '  A  Dictionary  of 
Chemistry,  exhibiting  the  Present  State  of 
the  Theory  and  Practice  of  that  Science,  its 
Application  to  Natural  Philosophy,  the  Pro- 
cesses of  Manufactures  .  .  .  with  a  number 
of  Tables,'  2  vols.  4to,  London,  1795 ;  and 
two  years  afterwards  he  commenced  his  well- 
known  'Journal  of  Natural  Philosophy,  Che- 
mistry, and  the  Arts,  including  original 
Papers  by  Eminent  Writers,  and  Reviews  of 
Books,  illustrated  with  numerous  Engrav- 
ings,' 1797-1802,  4to  ;  1802-15,  8vo. 

About  1799  he  opened  a  school  in  Soho 
for  twenty  pupils ;  but  after  some  years  it 
declined,  owing  to  Nicholson's  diversified 
interests.  He  concentrated  much  of  his  at- 
tention on  planning  the  West  Middlesex 
waterworks,  and  he  sketched  arrangements 
for  the  supply  of  Portsmouth  and  Gosport 
from  the  springs  at  Bedhampton  and  Farling- 
ton,  under  the  Portsdown  Hills.  He  after- 
wards engaged  in  a  similar  undertaking  for 
the  borough  of  Southwark.  In  1799  he  also 
published  a  work  translated  from  the  Spanish 
'  On  the  Bleaching  of  Cotton  Goods  by  Oxy- 
genated Muriatic  Acid  ; '  and  '  Experimental 
Enquiries  concerning  the  Lateral  Communi- 
cation of  Motion  in  Fluids,'  1799,  from  the 
French  of  Jean  Baptiste  Venturi.  His  next 
publications  were  '  Elements  of  Chemistry,' 
1800;  '  Synoptic  Tables  of  Chemistry,'  fo'l., 
1801 ;  and  '  A  General  System  of  Chemical 
Knowledge,'  1804,  all  translated,  with  notes, 
from  Fourcroy's  '  Systeme  des  Connnissances 
Chimiques,'  &c.  An  account  of  '  Mr.  W. 
Nicholson's  attack  in  his  "  Philosophical 
Journal "  on  Mr.  Winsor  and  his  National 
Light  and  Heat  Company,'  12mo,  was  pub- 
lished anonymously  in  1807. 

In  1808  he  printed  '  A  Dictionary  of  Prac- 
tical and  Theoretical  Chemistry,  with 
Plates,'  &c.,  formed  on  the  basis  of  his  earlier 
'  Dictionary,'  but  '  an  entirely  new  work.' 
This  was  the  foundation  of  Ure's  '  Diction- 
ary,' which  was  published  in  1821,  avowedly 
on  '  the  basis  of  Mr.  Nicholson's ; '  a  book 
which  has  been  carried  on  in  successive 


Nicholson 


3° 


Nicholson 


editions  to  the  present  day  [see  URE,  AX- 
DREW].  Nicholson's  name  was  also  attached 
to  a  great  work,  '  The  British  Encyclopaedia, 
or  Dictionary  of  Arts  and  Sciences,'  6  vols., 
London,  1809 ;  but  this  was  an  undertaking 
of  some  London  booksellers,  framed  in  oppo- 
sition to  a  '  Dictionary  of  Arts  and  Sciences' 
t  hen  being  issued  under  the  name  of  Dr.  George 
Gregory.  Neither  Gregory  nor  Nicholson  took 
any  very  active  share  in  the  compilations  to 
which  their  names  were  attached. 

Nicholson  had  become  engineer  to  the 
Portsea  Island  Waterworks  Company,  and 
in  1810  he  quarrelled  with  the  directors.  He 
published  '  A  Letter  to  the  Proprietors  of 
the  Portsea  Waterworks,  occasioned  by  an 
Application  made  to  them  by  the  Assigns 
under  an  Act  for  bringing  Water  from  Far- 
lington.'  Soon  after  this  he  fell  into  ill-health, 
and,  after  a  lingering  illness,  died  in  Char- 
lotte Street,  Bloomsbury,  on  21  May  1815. 

Nicholson  shared  the  common  fate  of  pro- 
jectors :  he  was  continually  occupied  in  use- 
ful work,  but  failed  to  derive  any  material 
advantage  from  his  labours,  and  was  gene- 
rally in  embarrassed  circumstances.  His 
habits  were  studious,  his  manners  gentle, 
and  his  judgment  uniformly  calm  and  dis- 
passionate. The  soundness  of  the  numerous 
opinions  which  he  expressed  as  a  scientific 
umpire  was  unquestioned. 

[New  Monthly  Mag.  iii.  569,  iv.  76;  Gent. 
Mag.  1815  pt.  i.  p.  570,  1616  pt,  i.  pp.  70,  602  ; 
Biog.  Universelle;  Smiles's  Men  of  Invention  and 
Industry,  pp.  164, 177, 194,  202 ;  Biog.  des  Con- 
temporains,  1824 ;  Watt's  Bibl.  Brit. ;  Aikin's 
General  Biogr. ;  Biogr.  Diet,  of  Living  Authors, 
1816;  Phil.  Trans,  xc.  376;  Thomson's  Hist. 
Roy.  Soc. ;  Thomson's  Hist,  of  Chemistry,  183]  ; 
Nichols's  Lit.  Anecdotes,  v.  376.]  S.  P.  0. 

NICHOLSON,  WILLIAM,  (1781- 
1 844),  portrait-painter  and  etcher,  was  born 
at  Ovingham-on-Tyne  on  25  Dec.  1781.  He 
was  the  second  of  the  four  sons  of  James 
Nicholson,  schoolmaster,  of  Ovingham,  and 
Elizabeth  Orton  his  wife.  His  paternal  grand- 
father, John  Nicholson,  had  been  tenant  of 
the  farm  of  Whitelee,  in  the  parish  of  Els- 
don,  Northumberland.  His  father  having 
been  appointed  master  of  the  grammar  school 
in  Newcastle,  the  family  removed  to  that  city, 
and  at  an  early  age  William  went  to  Hull, 
where  he  made  his  earliest  attempts  in  art, 
executing  miniatures  of  several  of  the  officers 
of  a  regiment  stationed  there.  He  appears 
to  have  been  mainly,  if  not  entirely,  self- 
educated  in  art ;  but  his  sketch-books  show 
how  careful  and  constant  had  been  his  study 
of  the  works  of  the  best  masters  in  public 
and  private  galleries.  He  next  returned  to 
Newcastle,  and  began,  in  1808,  to  exhibit  in 


the  Royal  Academy  with  '  A  Group  of  Por- 
traits, &c.,  Servants  of  C.  J.  Brandling,  M.P. 
Gosforth  House,  Northumberland.'  In  1816 
his  contributions  included  a  seated,  full- 
length  portrait  of  Thomas  Bewick,  the  wood- 
engraver,  which  was  engraved  by  Thomas 
Ransom;  and  he  contributed  to  the  Royal 
Academy  for  the  last  time  in  1822.  Mean- 
while he  had  painted  many  portraits  of  mem- 
bers of  the  old  families  of  Northumberland. 
By  1814  he  had  removed  to  Edinburgh,  where 
he  practised  as  a  miniaturist  and  painter  in 
oils,  but  especially  attracted  attention  by  his 
very  delicate  and  spirited  water-colour  por- 
traits, which  were  his  finestworks,  and  where, 
in!821,he  married  Maria,  daughter  of  Walter 
Lamb  of  Edinburgh.  In  1814  he  sent  to 
the  seventh  of  the  Edinburgh  exhibitions  of 
pictures,  organised  by  the  Associated  Artists, 
eight  works — genre,  architectural,  animal, 
landscape  and  portraits,  including  the  above- 
mentioned  portrait  of  Bewick.  In  the  follow- 
ing year  he  was  represented  by  twenty  works, 
including  portraits  of  Hogg,  the  Ettrick 
Shepherd,  and  Tennant  the  poet,  and  his 
name  appears  in  the  catalogue  as  a  member 
of  the  Edinburgh  Exhibition  Society;  and 
in  1816  he  exhibited  portraits  of  Daniel  Terry 
the  actor,  the  Earl  of  Buchan,  and  a  second 
portrait  of  Hogg,  along  with  other  twenty 
works.  In  April  1818  he  began  to  publish, 
from  36  George  Street,  a  series  of '  Portraits 
of  Distinguished  Living  Characters  of  Scot- 
land, drawn  and  etched  by  William  Nichol- 
son,' from  his  portraits  and  those  by  other 
painters.  Two  parts  only,  with  text,  of  three 
plates  each  were  issued ;  but  further  publica- 
tion in  that  form  was  discontinued,  though 
the  artist  continued  to  produce  in  the  imme- 
diately succeeding  years  a  few  other  etchings 
from  his  portraits,  and  in  1886  an  edition  of 
seven  subjects  was  printed  in  America  by 
the  artist's  son,  Mr.  W.  L.  Nicholson,  of 
Washington  City,  who  possessed  the  original 
plates.  Nicholson's  etchings  include  por- 
traits of  Sir  Walter  Scott,  Hogg,  Lord 
Jeffrey,  George  Thomson,  Professor  Playfair, 
Professor  John  Wilson,  Sir  William  Allan, 
P.R.S.A.,  James  Watt  the  engineer  (in  his 
eighty-second  year,  1817)  ;  and  among  them 
was  a  reduced  copy  of  Nasmyth's  original 
portrait  of  Robert  Burns,  and  a  very  striking 
reproduction  of  one  of  Sir  Henry  Raeburn's 
own  portraits  of  himself.  In  his  prospectus 
the  artist  states  that '  in  the  mode  of  execution, 
he  has  endeavoured  to  follow  a  middle  style, 
combining,  to  the  utmost  of  his  power,  the 
freedom  of  the  painter's  etching  (and  in  this 
respect,  of  course,  holding  up  Vandyke  and 
Rembrandt  to  himself  as  his  models),  with 
the  finish  of  a  regular  engraving.'  The  heads 


Nicholson 


31 


Nicholson 


are  carefully  modelled,  and  they  were  con- 
sidered successful  as  likenesses.  In  1821 
Nicholson  sent  to  the  first  modern  exhibition 
of  the  Institution  (afterwards  the  Royal  In- 
stitution) for  the  Encouragement  of  the  Fine 
Arts  in  Scotland,  portraits  of  (Sir)  William 
Allan  (afterwards),  P.R.S.A.,  in  Tartar  cos- 
tume, Sir  Thomas  Dick  Lauder  and  his  wife, 
and  Sir  Adam  Ferguson;  and  in  1825  he  exhi- 
bited ten  works,  including  portraits  of  George 
Thomson,  and  the  Rev.  Dr.  Jamieson.  His 
name  first  appears  as  an  associate  of  the  In- 
stitution in  the  catalogue  of  their  exhibition 
(of  ancient  pictures)  in  1826.  It  was  Nichol- 
son who,  early  in  1826, '  handed  round  for  sig- 
nature a  document  in  which  it  was  proposed 
to  found  a  Scottish  academy,'  and  at  the  first 
general  meeting  of  the  Scottish  Academy  of 
Painting,  Sculpture,  and  Architecture,  held 
on  27  May  1826,  he  was  elected  secretary. 
He  and  Thomas  Hamilton,  the  architect  (in 
the  words  of  Sir  George  Harvey,  P.R.S.A.), 
'  were  the  real  founders  of  the  academy,  but 
for  whose  indomitable  will  and  wise  guid- 
ance the  vessel  would  have  been  upon  the 
rocks  before  it  had  well  got  under  way.' 
After  discharging  the  duties  of  the  position 
with  great  vigour  and  judgment  he  resigned 
on  26  April  1830,  finding  that  the  attention 
which  the  situation  required  was  incom- 
patible with  his  professional  pursuits.  He 
still,  however,  continued  a  valued  member 
of  the  Academy,  and  his  early  (gratuitous) 
exertions  as  secretary  were  at  a  later  day 
recognised  by  the  presentation  of  a  handsome 
set  of  silver  plate  from  his  fellow-academi- 
cians. He  had  sent  twenty-six  works  to  its 
first  exhibition  in  1827,  and  he  contributed 
liberally  to  every  one  of  its  succeeding  exhibi- 
tions, many  of  his  later  works  being  '  genre ' 
pictures  and  landscape  and  coast  subjects  in 
oils,  till  his  death  by  fever,  after  a  few  days' 
illness,  in  Edinburgh,  on  16  Aug.  1844.  He 
left  two  sons  and  two  daughters. 

Among  the  eminent  men  whose  portraits 
were  painted  by  Nicholson  was  Sir  Walter 
Scott,  of  whom  he  executed  four  water- 
colours.  The  earliest,  dated  181 5,  etched  by 
the  artist  in  1817,  is  in  the  possession  of  his 
son,  Mr.  W.  L.  Nicholson,  of  Washington 
City;  a  second,  with  the  position  of  the  head 
somewhat  altered,  and  with  no  objects  intro- 
duced in  the  background,  is  in  the  possession 
of  Mr.  Erskine  of  Kinnedder ;  a  third  (with- 
out the  dog, '  Maida ')  is  in  the  possession  of 
Lord  Young,  Edinburgh ;  and  the  fourth  is  at 
Abbotsford,  where  also  are  his  water-colours 
of  Scott's  daughters,  Sophia  (Mrs.  Lockhart) 
and  Anne,  of  which  there  are  engravings  in 
Lockhart's  '  Life '  by  G.  B.  Shaw.  A  slight, 
but  particularly  delicate,  example  of  his 


work  in  water-colours  is  the  head  of  the 
second  wife  of  Professor  Dugald  Stewart,  in 
the  possession  of  the  artist's  daughter,  Mrs. 
Duck.  He  is  represented  in  the  National 
Gallery  of  Scotland  by  an  oil  painting  of 
Hugh  W.Williams,  artist,  and  a  water-colour 
of  George  Thomson,  the  friend  of  Burns ;  in 
the  Scottish  National  Portrait  Gallery  by  an 
oil  portrait  of  Sir  Adam  Ferguson,  and  a 
sepia  sketch  of  Professor  John  Playfair ;  and 
in  the  collection  of  the  Royal  Scottish  Aca- 
demy by  oil  portraits  of  Thomas  Hamilton, 
R.S.A.,  architect,  William  Etty,  R.A.,  and  a 
portrait  of  a  lady. 

[Kedgrave's  Dictionary ;  Catalogue  of  Scott 
Exhibition,  1871  (Edinb.  1872),andof  theexhibi- 
tions  mentioned  above;  Harvey's  Notes  of  the 
Early  History  of  the  Royal  Scottish  Academy; 
information  from  the  artist's  daughter,  Mrs. 
Duck,  and  his  son,  Mr.  W.  L.  Nicholson  of  Wash- 
ington, U.S.A.]  ,T.  M.  G. 

NICHOLSON,  WILLIAM  (1782  P-1849), 
the  Galloway  poet,  son  of  a  carrier  between 
Dumfries  and  Galloway,  was  born  at  Tan- 
nymaas,  Borgue,  Kirkcudbrightshire,  15  Aug. 
1782  (or,  perhaps,  August  1783).  He  re- 
ceived a  little  school  education  at  Ringford, 
Kirkcudbrightshire,  but  his  shortness  of 
sight  and  his  indifference  to  systematic  study 
precluded  the  possibility  of  scholarship.  His 
mother,  a  farmer's  daughter,  interested  him  in 
reading,  and  he  was  soon  master  of  a  store  of 
chap-books,  ballads,  &c.  At  the  age  of  fourteen 
he  became  a  pedlar.  For  a  number  of  years 
he  had  a  varying  success,  occasionally  touch- 
ing low  levels  through  closer  attention  to 
romance  than  to  the  disposal  of  his  wares. 
Renowned  for  superior  stuff  for  ladies' 
dresses,  and  for  the  quality  of  his  tobacco- 
pipes,  he  attained  sufficient  prosperity  in  1813 
to  enable  him  to  buy  a  horse,  which,  how- 
ever, on  some  romantic  flight,  broke  its  neck 
at  a  fence.  Nicholson  had  habitually  written 
verses  '  as  a  consolation  in  his  solitary  wan- 
derings ; '  he  had  been  encouraged  by  Hogg ; 
and  now,  on  the  recommendation  of  Dr. 
Alexander  Murray  (1775-1813)  [q.  v.]  and 
Dr.  Duncan  of  Ruthwell,  Dumfriesshire,  he 
secured  fifteen  hundred  subscribers  to  a  col- 
lection of  his  poems,  distributing  the  volumes 
from  his  pack,  and  earning  thereby  about 
100(. 

Nicholson's  habits  subsequently  became 
less  steady.  A  skilful  piper,  he  would  some- 
times be  found  playing  to  young  cattle  and 
colts,  and  declaring  himself  better  pleased 
with  the  antics  of  the  animals  than  '  if  the 
best  leddies  in  the  land  were  figuring  before 
him '  (Memoir,  by  John  M'Diarmid).  Con- 
stantly restless  and  thriftless,  he  at  length 
yielded  to  tippling  habits.  Abandoning  his 


Nicholson 


32 


Nicholson 


attendances  at  fairs  and  country  gatherings 
as  singer  or  piper,  he  turned  his  attention  to 
theology,  and  conceived  himself  specially 
commissioned  to  urge  in  high  places  the  doc- 
trine of  universal  redemption.  In  1826  he 
visited  London,  and  was  much  disappointed 
on  failing  to  secure  an  interview  with 
George  IV.  Befriended  by  Allan  Cunning- 
ham and  other  Gallovidians,  he  had  some 
curious  adventures  before  returning  to  Scot- 
land in  the  autumn.  He  was  again  in  Eng- 
land a  year  later  as  a  drover.  Nicholson 
died  at  Kildarroch,  Borgue,  on  16  May  1849, 
and  was  buried  in  the  churchyard  of  Kirk- 
andrews,  Kirkcudbrightshire. 

Nicholson's  '  Tales  in  Verse  and  Miscella- 
neous Poems,  descriptive  of  Rural  Life  and 
Manners,'  appeared  in  1814,  with  a  manly 
and  unaffected  preface,  in  which  Hogg  is 
specially  thanked  for  his  '  generous  and  un- 
wearied attention.'  The  second  edition,  with 
a  memoir  by  John  M'Diarmid,  was  published 
in  1828,  and  a  third  edition,  with  new  me- 
moir by  Mr.  M.  M'L.  Harper,  appeared  in 
1878.  Nicholson's  highest  achievement  is 
the  '  Brownie  of  Blednoch,'  a  charming  con- 
tribution to  ballad  folk-lore,which  is  appre- 
ciatively noticed  in  John  Brown's  'Black 
Dwarf's  Bones'  (Hora  Subsecivce,  2nd  ser. 
p.  355,  ed.  1882).  With  a  befitting  air  of 
remoteness,  the  ballad  is  memorably  weird 
and  vivid  in  conception  and  development. 
'  The  Country  Lass,' '  The  Soldier's  Home,' 
and  others,  are  faithful  and  dexterous  nar- 
ratives ;  while  the  miscellaneous  pieces  and 
the  '  Ballads  and  Songs '  all  indicate  an 
energetic  fancy  and  a  poetical  and  tuneful 
temper.  '  Will  and  Kate  '  is  an  appropriate 
reply  to  the  '  Logan  Braes '  of  John  Mayne 
(1758-1836)  [q.v.j  Several  of  the  songs- 
such  as  '  Dark  Rolling  Dee '  and  '  Again  the 
Breeze  blaws  thro'  the  Trees ' — are  kindred 
in  spirit  with  Motherwell's  pathetic  lyrics, 
being  marked  by  sympathetic  tenderness  and 
graceful  melody. 

To  Nicholson's  memory  a  monument  was 
erected  by  his  brother,  John  Nicholson,  pub- 
lisher, of  Kirkcudbright.  JOHN  NICHOLSON 
(1777-1866)  had  been  a  handloom  weaver 
and  a  soldier,  but  he  found  his  true  voca- 
tion in  Kirkcudbright  as  antiquary,  local 
historian,  and  publisher.  He  owned  the 
'  Stewartry  Times,'  and  he  published  several 
works  of  local  importance,  especially  the 
*  History  of  Galloway '  and  the  '  Trades  of 
Galloway.'  He  died  at  Kirkcudbright  on 
11  Sept.  1866  (HARPER,  Rambles  in  Gallo- 
way, 1876). 

[Second  and  third  editions  of  Nicholson's 
Poems,  as  in  text ;  Harper's  Bards  of  Galloway; 
Rogers's  Modern  Scottish  Minstrel.]  T.  B. 


NICHOLSON,  WILLIAM  (1816-1865), 
Australian  statesman  and  '  father  of  the 
ballot,' son  of  Miles  Nicholson,  a  Cumberland 
farmer,  was  born  at  Tretting  Mill,  Lamp- 
lough,  on  27  Feb.  1816.  Educated  at  Hen- 
singham  and  Whitehaven,  he  became  a  clerk 
to  the  firm  of  M* Andrew  &  Pilchard,  fruit 
merchants  at  Liverpool,  about  1836.  Subse- 
quently he  went  out  to  Melbourne  in  October 
1841,  and  set  up  in  business  as  a  grocer.  '  By 
the  sheer  force  of  intellect,  energy,  and  cha- 
racter '  (KELLY)  he  rose  to  fortune,  developing 
his  business  into  the  mercantile  firm  of  W. 
Nicholson  &  Co.  of  Flinders  Street. 

In  Nov.  1848  Nicholson  was  elected  to 
the  city  council  of  Melbourne  for  Latrobe 
ward.  Early  in  1850  he  was  created  alder- 
man, and  on  9  Nov.  1850  became  mayor  of 
Melbourne.  His  year  of  office  was  one  of  the 
most  eventful  in  the  history  of  the  colony, 
being  that  of  the  gold  discoveries,  and  the 
erection  of  Victoria  into  a  separate  govern- 
ment. Resigning  his  seat  on  the  corporation 
soon  after  his  mayoralty  expired,  he  con- 
tested the  city  unsuccessfully  in  the  first 
election  to  the  mixed  legislative  council,  and 
in  October  1852  was  elected  for  North 
Bourke.  He  quickly  came  to  the  front  in 
the  council.  In  December  1852  he  seconded 
an  unsuccessful  vote  of  censure  on  the 
government.  During  the  same  session  he 
was  elected  a  member  of  the  committee  to 
inquire  into  the  state  of  the  goldfields,  and 
that  upon  the  Savings  Bank  Laws.  In  the 
following  session  he  was  on  the  commit- 
tee for  revision  of  the  constitution. 

It  is  stated  that  Nicholson,  as  mayor  of 
Melbourne,  defeated  by  his  casting  vote  in 
1852  a  motion  in  favour  of  vote  by  ballot 
(McCoMBiE),  and  that  in  his  first  address  to 
the  electors  he  had  declared  himself  opposed 
to  the  ballot ;  but  he  now  completely  changed 
his  views,  and  on  18  Dec.  1855,  after  unsuc- 
cessful suggestions  to  the  ministers  to  adopt 
the  ballot,  he  moved  a  resolution  to  the 
effect  that  any  electoral  act  should  be  based 
upon  the  principle  of  voting  by  ballot.  The 
ministry  made  this  a  test  question,  and, 
being  defeated  by  eight  votes  in  a  house  of 
fifty-eight,  resigned  office.  Nicholson  had 
previously  made  arrangements  to  visit  Eng- 
land, which  he  abandoned  with  some  reluc- 
tance on  being  unexpectedly  sent,  for  by  Sir 
Charles  Hotham  [q.  v.J,  amid  popular  accla- 
mation. His  attempt  to  construct  a  cabinet 
was  the  first  instance  of  the  kind  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  colony,  and  was  ultimately  un- 
successful, owing  to  the  divergence  of  views 
among  his  supporters.  On  the  governor's 
death  Nicholson  abandoned  the  attempt ; 
but,  in  spite  of  this  failure,  the  victory  of  the 


Nicholson 


33 


Nicholson 


ballot  was  won,  and  the  ministry  was  forced 
to  accept  it  as  part  of  their  electoral  act,  the 
cruder  form  of  Nicholson's  project  being 
superseded  by  the  method  afterwards  known 
as  the  '  Australian  ballot.' 

Shortly  afterwards  (1856)  Nicholson  re- 
turned to  England,  where  he  was  welcomed 
as  the  father  of  the  ballot,  not  yet  adopted 
in  the  old  country,  and  spoke  in  public  on 
the  subject  on  several  occasions.  On  14  April 

1858,  at  the  Freemasons'  Hall,  he  was  pre- 
sented by  the  council  of  the  Society  for  Pro- 
moting the  Adoption  of  the  Ballot  with  an 
address,  signed  by  Cobden,  Bright,  and  others, 
recognising  his  services  in  the  cause.     John 
Stuart  Mill,  writing  to  Henry  Samuel  Chap- 
man of  Victoria  in  the  same  year,  refers  to 
Nicholson's  fame,  and  the  interest  aroused 
in  England  by  the  adoption  of  the  ballot  in 
Victoria. 

Returning  in  July  1858  to  Melbourne,  he 
unsuccessfully  contested  one  of  its  districts, 
but  was  elected  to  the  assembly  for  Murray 
in  January  1859,  and  for  Sandridge  at  the 
general  election  in  August  of  the  same  year. 
He  became  chairman  of  the  Constitutional 
Association  formed  to  overthrow  the  existing 
(O'Shanassy)  government,  and  in  November 

1859,  at  the  opening  of  parliament,  defeated 
the  government  on  an   amendment  to  the 
address. 

Nicholson  now  became  premier,  and  formed 
a  strong  ministry,  with  James  (afterwards  Sir 
James)  McCulloch  [q.  v.]  in  charge  of  finance. 
He  set  himself  to  settle  the  land  question  on 
the  basis  of  throwing  open  the  colony's  lands 
in  blocks  to  free  selection,  and  of  payment 
by  instalments.  The  upper  chamber  emascu- 
lated his  bill,  and  Nicholson  resigned ;  but 
the  governor,  Sir  Henry  Barkly,  declined  to 
accept  his  resignation  on  public  grounds,  and 
he  continued  in  office,  sending  the  bill,  again 
amended,  back  to  the  council.  That  chamber 
cut  out  the  amendments  a  second  time,  and 
Nicholson  resigned;  but,  after  the  failure  of 
three  others  to  form  a  ministry,  returned  to 
office,  with  his  cabinet  impaired  by  the  loss 
of  two  leading  ministers.  Ultimately,  after  a 
riot  before  the  parliament  house  (28  May),  and 
compromise  on  both  sides,  the  bill,  consider- 
ably changed,  became  the  Land  Act  of  1860. 
After  a  short  recess  the  houses  met  again  in 
November  1860,  and  Nicholson,  defeated  on 
an  amendment  to  the  address,  resigned  office, 
and  became  the  leader  of  the  opposition.  In 
1862  he  joined  O'Shanassy's  second  adminis- 
tration, without  portfolio. 

In  January  1864  Nicholson  was  suddenly 
struck  down  by  paralysis,  and  he  died  at 
St.  Kilda  on  10  March  1865.  He  was  buried 
at  the  Melbourne  general  cemetery.  His 

VOL.   XLI. 


portrait  hangs  in  the  council  chamber  of  the 
Melbourne  town-hall. 

Nicholson  was  a  great  promoter  of  the 
benefit  building  society  systems,  a  founder  of 
the  Bank  of  Victoria,  and  chairman  of  the 
Australian  Fire  and  Life  Insurance  Com- 
pany. In  1859  he  was  chairman  of  the  Mel- 
bourne chamber  of  commerce.  He  held  a 
very  high  reputation  as  a  magistrate. 

Nicholson  married  Sarah  Fairclough,  and 
left  children,  who  remained  in  Australia. 

[Melbourne  Argus,  10  March  1865;  McCom- 
bie's  History  of  Victoria,  1858,  p.  294  ;  Kelly's 
Victoria,  1859,ii.  263  seq.;  Heaton's  Australian 
Dictionary  of  Dates  and  Men  of  the  Time,  1 879.1 

C.  A.  H. 

NICHOLSON,    WILLIAM     ADAMS 

(1803-1853),  architect,  born  on  8  Aug.  1803 
at  Southwell,  Nottinghamshire,  was  the  son 
of  James  Nicholson,  carpenter  and  joiner, 
who  relinquished  business  about  1838  and 
became  sub-agent  to  Sir  Richard  Sutton's 
estates  in  Nottinghamshire  and  Norfolk. 
William  was  articled  about  July  1821, 
for  three  years,  to  John  Buonarotti  Pap- 
worth  [q.  v.],  architect,  of  London.  In 
1828  he  established  himself  at  Lincoln,  and 
there  and  in  the  neighbouring  counties  he 
formed  an  extensive  practice.  Among  his 
numerous  works  he  designed  the  churches 
at  Glandford-Brigg,  at  Wragby,  and  at  Kir- 
mond,  both  on  the  estate  of  C.  Turner,  esq. 
Many  other  churches  were  restored  under 
his  supervision,  including  that  of  St.  Peter  at 
Gowts  in  Lincoln,  which  was  not  quite  com- 
pleted at  his  death.  Among  the  numerous 
residences  erected  from  his  designs  are  those 
of  Worsborough  Hall,  Yorkshire ;  the  Castle 
of  Bayons  Manor  for  the  Right  Hon.  C.  T. 
D'Eyncourt ;  and  Elkington  Hall,  near 
Louth.  He  also  designed  the  town-hall  at 
Mansfield.  The  village  of  Blankney,  near 
Lincoln,  was  almost  rebuilt  under  his  super- 
intendence ;  while  the  estates  of  General 
Reeve,  Sir  J.  Wyldbore  Smith,  bart.,  Mr.  C. 
Tumor,  Mr.  C.  Chaplin,  among  several  others, 
evince  his  skill  in  farm  buildings.  In  Lincoln 
he  erected  in  1837  the  Wesley  Chapel,  for  two 
thousand  persons,  and  subsequently  designed 
the  union  workhouse;  the  Corn  Exchange  in 
1847,  since  enlarged,  a  corn-mill,  and  seve- 
ral private  residences.  From  1839  to  1846, 
as  Nicholson  &  Goddard,  the  firm  carried  out 
many  works,  including  the  dispensary  at 
Nottingham.  He  joined  the  Royal  Institute 
of  British  Architects  as  a  fellow  at  its  com- 
mencement. In  the  'Transactions'  for  1842 
is  printed  his  '  Report  on  the  Construction 
of  the  Stone  Arch  between  the  West  Towers 
of  Lincoln  Cathedral,'  taken  from  very  care- 

D 


Nickle 


34 


Nickle 


ful  measurements  under  his  personal  direc- 
tion. He  was  a  member  of  the  Lincolnshire 
Literary  Society,  and  of  the  Lincolnshire 
Topographical  Society,  to  whose  volume  ol 
papers,  printed  in  1843,  he  contributed. 

Nicholson  was  in  attendance  at  Boston  as 
a  professional  witness  when  he  was  suddenly 
taken  ill,  and  died  there  on  8  April  1853 
He  was  buried  at  Lincoln,  in  the  churchyarc 
of  St.  Swithin,  in  which  parish  he  had  residec 
for  many  years.  In  1824  he  married  Leonora 
the  youngest  daughter  of  William  Say  [q.  v.] 
mezzotint-engraver,  of  Norton  Street,  Lon- 
don. His  second  wife,  Anne  Tallant,  sur- 
vived him. 

[Builder,  1853,  xi.  262  ;  Dictionary  of  Archi- 
tecture of  the  Architectural  Publication  Society; 
Gent.  Mag.  1853,  pt.  i.  p.  552,  refers  to  a  pedi- 
gree.] W.  P-H. 

NIOKLE,  SIE  ROBERT  (1786-1855), 
major-general,  was  the  son  of  Robert  Nicholl 
of  the  17th  dragoons,  who  afterwards  changed 
the  spelling  of  his  name  to  Nickle.  Nickle 
was  born  at  sea  on  12  Aug.  1786,  and  appears 
to  have  been  educated  at  Edinburgh.  He 
entered  the  army  when  less  than  thirteen 
years  old  as  an  ensign  in  the  royal  Durham 
fencibles,  serving  in  the  Irish  rebellion  of 
1798-9.  In  January  1801  he  was  gazetted  as 
ensign  to  the  60th  foot,  and  on  19  May  was 
transferred  to  the  15th  regiment,  becoming  a 
lieutenant  on  6  Jan.  1802;  he  was  transferred 
to  the  8th  garrison  brigade  on  25  Oct.  1803, 
and  to  the  88th regiment  (Connaught  rangers) 
on  4  Aug.  1804  ;  with  this  regiment  he  was 
ordered  to  South  America  in  1806,  and  was 
present  before  Buenos  Ayres  on  2  July  1807 ; 
on  5  July  he  volunteered  to  lead  the'forlorn 
hope,  and  in  the  advance  into  the  city  was 
severely  wounded,  the  rest  of  his  party  being 
either  wounded  or  killed  :  he  gave  proof  on 
this  occasion  of  the  greatest  coolness  and  in- 
trepidity. After  returning  for  a  few  months 
to  England,  his  regiment  embarked  for  the 
Peninsula,  arriving  at  Lisbon  on  13  March 
L809.  He  was  promoted  to  be  captain  on 
1  June  1809,  and  served  through  the  Penin- 
sular war,  except  for  five  months,  being 
present  at  nine  general  actions— Talavera  de 
la  Reyna,  Busaco,  Torres  Vedras,  Vittoria, 
Pyrenees,  Nivelle,  Nive,  Orthes,  and  Tou- 
louse ;  in  the  last  he  was  severely  wounded 
For  Nivelle  he  received  a  gold  medal,  and 

'  the  others  a  silver  medal.  He  usually 
commanded  the  light  company  of  the  88th 
and  was  equally  distinguished  for  generositv 
and  bravery.  His  conduct  towards  a  fallen 
lemy  at  Pampeluna  was  a  conspicuous  in- 
stance of  chivalry  (Ann.  Reg.  1855)  On 
another  occasion  he  carried  off  a  wounded 


comrade  in  the  face,  and  amid  the  applause, 
of  the  French,  who  ceased  firing.  On  15  June 

1814  he  sailed  from  the  Gironde  with  his 
regiment  for  America,  and  was  present  at  the 
affair  of  Plattsburg  and  at  the  crossing  of  the 
Savanna  River,  where  he  was  wounded.    In 

1815  he  was  present  at  Paris  with  the  army 
of  occupation. 

During  the  following  years  his  regiment 
was  in  Great  Britain — at  Edinburgh,  Hull, 
and  elsewhere.  On  21  Jan.  1819  he  became 
brevet-major,  and  on  28  Nov.  1822  major. 
On  30  June  1825,  when  he  became  lieutenant- 
colonel,  he  parted  with  his  old  regiment,  and 
was  unattached  till,  on  15  June  1830,  he 
took  command  of  the  36th  regiment,  with 
which  he  proceeded  to  the  West  Indies. 
From  14  July  1832  to  March  1833  he  ad- 
ministered St.  Christopher  in  the  governor's 
absence,  but  his  tenure  of  office  was  unevent- 
ful. In  the  latter  year  he  returned  to  London, 
and  for  a  time  was  again  unattached.  On 
the  outbreak  of  the  rebellion  in  Canada  in 
1838  he  volunteered  for  service  there,  was  de- 
tached for  'particular  service,'  and  did  good 
work  in  raising  several  volunteer  forces  in 
the  colony ;  in  recognition  of  these  efforts  he 
was  created  a  knight  of  the  Royal  Hanoverian 
Guelphic  Order.  On  28  June  1848  he  became 
brevet-colonel  and  on  11  Nov.  1851  a  major- 
general. 

In  1853  Nickle  was  appointed  commander 
of  the  forces  in  Australia,  where,  after  sundry 
perils  of  shipwreck,  he  arrived  early  in  1854: 
stationed  first  at  Sydney  and  later  at  Mel- 
bourne, he  was  called  upon  to  deal  with  the 
serious  disturbances  of  that  year  in  the  gold 
districts.  This  service  he  performed  with 
credit,  winning  the  respect  even  of  the  rioters, 
and  rapidly  restoring  peace.  The  exposure 
to  which  he  was  subjected  proved  too  severe ; 
:arly  in  1855  he  applied  for  leave  to  return 
home  on  account  of  his  health,  but  died  at  his 
residence,  Jolimont,  Melbourne,  before  relief 
could  reach  him,  on  26  May  1855.  He  was 
interred  with  military  honours  at  the  New 
cemetery. 

Nickle  was  a  thorough  soldier,  yet  a  man 
of  calm  judgment,  humane  and  courteous  in 
a  marked  degree.  He  was  twice  married : 
first,  on  15  Nov.  1818,  to  Elizabeth,  daughter 
of  William  Dallas,  writer  to  the  signet,  by 
whom  he  left  surviving  him  a  son  (who  was 
n  the  Indian  army)  and  two  daughters  (one 
of  whom  married  Sir  Charles  M'Grigor). 
tickle's  second  wife  was  the  widow  of  Major- 
general  Nesbitt. 

[Annual  Register,  1855;  Hist,  of  Connaught 
?angers ;  Melbourne  Morning  Herald,  28  May 
855;  Army  List;  official  records;  private  in- 
brmation.]  C.  A.  H. 


Nickolls 

NICKOLLS,  JOHN  (1710  P-1745),  anti- 
quary, son  of  John  Nickolls,  a  quaker  miller 
of  Ware,  Hertfordshire,  was  born  there  in 
1710  or  1711.  He  was  apprenticed  to 
Joseph  Wyeth  [q.  v.],  a  merchant  of  Lon- 
don, and,  after  serving  his  time,  became  a 
partner  with  his  father.  At  his  house  in 
Trinity  parish,  Queenhithe,  he  formed  an 
excellent  library.  He  also  collected  from  the 
bookstalls  about  Moorfields  two  thousand 
prints  of  heads,  which  afterwards  furnished 
Joseph  Ames  (1689-1759)  [q.v.jwith  mate- 
rial for  his  '  Catalogue  of  English  Heads,' 
London,  1 748.  From  the  widow  of  his  former 
master,  Joseph  Wyeth,  Nickolls  received  a 
number  of  letters  at  one  time  in  Milton's  pos- 
session; they  had  since  belonged  to  Milton's 
secretary,  Thomas  Ellwood  [q.  v.],  and  had 
been  used  by  Wyeth  in  the  preparation  for 
publication  of  Ellwood's '  Journal,'  which 
was  issued  in  1713.  Among  them  were 
letters  from  Sir  Harry  Vane,  Colonels  Over- 
ton,  Harrison,  and  Venables,  John  Brad- 
shaw,  Andrew  Marvel,  and  others,  with 
numerous  addresses  from  nonconformist  mi- 
nisters in  Norfolk,  Suffolk,  Bedfordshire, 
Herefordshire,  and  Kent,  Dublin,  and  else- 
where. William  Oldys  [q.  v.]  visited  Nickolls 
at  Queenhithe  on  22  Dec.  1737,  to  see  this 
collection  of  original  letters  '  all  pasted  into 
a  large  volume  folio,  in  number  about  130' 
(OLDYS,  Diary,  1862,  p.  17).  These  valuable 
documents  were  issued  by  Nickolls  in  1743 
under  the  title  of  '  Original  Letters  and 
Papers  of  State,  addressed  to  Oliver  Crom- 
well, concerning  the  Affairs  of  Great  Britain. 
From  the  Year  MDCXLIX  to  MDCLVIII,  found 
among  the  Political  Collections  of  Mr.  John 
Milton.  Now  first  published  from  the  Origi- 
nals.' 

Nickolls  was  elected  a  fellow  of  the  So- 
ciety of  Antiquaries  on  17  Jan.  1740.  He 
died  of  fever  on  11  Jan.  1745,  and  was  buried 
at  Bunhill  Fields  on  the  16th  of  the  same 
month. 

His  father  presented  on  18  Jan.  1746  the 
original  manuscripts  of  the  collection  to  the 
Society  of  Antiquaries,  to  be  by  them  pre- 
served for  public  use.  In  their  possession 
they  still  remain.  Oldys  says  in  his  '  Diary ' 
that  Nickolls  allowed  Thomas  Birch,  D.D. 
[q.  v.],  to  use  from  six  to  ten  of  them  in  his 
life  of  Oliver  Cromwell  contributed  to  the 
'  General  Dictionary,  Historical  and  Critical,' 
1731-41.  Nickolls's  prints  and  rare  pam- 
phlets were  purchased  by  Dr.  John  Fothergill 
[q.  v.] 

[Notes  and  Queries,  2nd  ser.  xi.  123  ;  Nichols's 
Literary  Anecdotes,  ii.  159,  160  ;  Smith's  Out. 
of  Friends'  Books,  ii.  238-9 ;  Minutes  of  the  So- 
ciety of  Antiquaries.]  C.  F.  S. 


35 


Nicol 


NICOL.  [See  also  NICHOLL,  NICHOL,  and 
NICOLL.] 

NICOL,  MRS.  (d.  1834?),  actress,  was 
about  1800  housekeeper  to  Colonel  and  the 
Hon.  Mrs.  Milner,  and  while  in  that  capacity 
became  a  member  of  the  Shakespearean  So- 
ciety of  London,  the  members  of  which  used 
to  act  in  a  little  theatre  in  Tottenham  Court 
Road.  She  played  Belvidera  for  a  charitable 
benefit  at  the  old  Lyceum,  and  was,  when  her 
dramatic  aptitude  was  discovered,  encouraged 
by  her  master  and  mistress,  who  allowed  her  to 
remain  in  their  service  until  she  had  gained 
enough  experience  to  take  to  the  boards  for 
a  livelihood.  This  she  did  in  the  provinces, 
and  married  soon  after.  Neither  her  maiden 
name  nor  the  spot  she  selected  for  her  profes- 
sional debut  has  been  recorded.  Nicol,  her 
husband,  was  a  printer,  and  easily  obtained 
a  situation  in  Edinburgh,  in  which  town  she 
made  her  first  appearance,  15  Dec.  1806,  as 
Cicely  in  'Valentine  and  Orson.'  On  3  Aug. 
1807  she  played  Miss  Durable  in  Kenney's 
farce  '  Raising  the  Wind,'  and  on  23  Nov.  in 
the  same  year  Cottager's  Wife  in  Mrs.  Inch- 
bald's  '  Lovers'  Vows.'  It  was  in  1807  that 
she  finally  succeeded  Mrs.  Charteris  in  the 
old-women  roles  which  the  latter  actress  had 
long  monopolised  at  the  Theatre  Royal.  Other 
parts  she  played  in  1 807-8  were :  Mrs.  Scant 
in  the  '  Village  Lawyer,'  Alice  in  the '  Castle 
Spectre,'  Lady  Mary  Raffle  in  '  Wives  as  they 
were,'  Winifred  in  '  Children  of  the  Wood,' 
Manse  in  the  '  Gentle  Shepherd,'  &c.  On 
2  May  1808  she  took  her  first  benefit,  When, 
in  1809,  the  management  was  taken  by 
Henry  Siddons,  she  went  with  him  to  the 
New  Theatre  Royal  in  Leith  Walk,  playing 
Monica,  an  old  woman,  in  Dimond's  'Flowers 
of  the  Forest.'  On  25  Feb.  1817  she  was  Mrs. 
M'Candlish  in  Terry's  adaptation  of  Scott's 
'Guy  Mannering,'  and  on  14  July  1817  Mrs. 
Malaprop  in  the  '  Rivals.'  At  the  first  pro- 
duction in  Edinburgh  of '  Rob  Roy'  (15  Feb. 
1819)  she  played  Jean  McAlpine,  and  the 
same  part  on  the  occasion  of  the  king's  visit 
to  the  theatre,  27  Aug.  1822.  On  3  Dec. 
1819,  the  first  occasion  when  gas  was  used, 
she  played  Mrs.  Hardcastle  in  '  She  stoops 
to  conquer.'  The  '  Scotsman'  newspaper  said 
about  this  time,  '  Mrs.  Nicol  is  extremely 
amusing  in  her  aged  department,  just  in  most 
of  her  conceptions,  and  quite  perfect  in  the 
acting  of  many  of  her  parts.'  Other  parts  she 
sustained  were  Mrs.  Glass  in '  Heart  of  Mid- 
lothian/23 Feb.  1820;  Miss  Grizelda  Old- 
buck  in  the  'Antiquary,'  20  Dec.  1820;  Mysie 
in  the  '  Bride  of  Lammermoor,'  1  May  1822. 
At  this  time  Mrs.  Nicol  was  receiving  21.  per 
week  for  her  services,  and  filling  all  the  first 

D  '2 


Nicol 


Nicol 


old-women  parts.  She  played  Dame  Elles- 
mere  in  '  Peveril  of  the  Peak,'  12  April  1823 ; 
Mrs.  Flockhart  in  the  'Pirate,'  29  March 
1824  ;  Tibbie  Howieson  in  '  Cramond  Brig,' 
27  Feb.  1826;  Mrs.  McTavish  in  'Gilderoy,' 
25  June  1827  ;  and  Audrey  in  '  As  you  like 
it,'  on  the  occasion  of  a  special  reproduction, 
with  costumes  designed  by  Planche,  27  Dec. 
1828.  During  the  summer  season  of  1833  she 
did  not  appear  at  the  Adelphi,  her  parts  being 
taken  by  Mrs.  Macnamara.  At  the  com- 
mencement of  the  season  1833-4  her  name 
was  included  in  the  official  list  of  the  com- 
pany, but  she  only  appeared  occasionally. 
At  her  farewell  benefit,  on  10  April  1834, 
she  played  three  parts — Mrs.  Malaprop,  Miss 
Durable,  and  Mrs.  Deborah  Doublelock — in 
Francis  Reynolds's  one-act  operetta  '  No.' 
She  was  a  sound  and  capable  actress  in  the 
line  of  parts  played  in  London  at  the  same 
date  by  Mrs.  Davenport,  upon  whose  acting 
she  seems  to  have  formed  her  style.  She 
especially  excelled  in  comic  parts.  The 
'Theatrical  Inquisitor'  said  she  was  of  great 
use  in  '  stiff,  aged  matrons,  and  old  maids 
full  of  wrinkles '  (iv.  163).  There  is  a  good 
portrait  of  her  as  Mrs.  Oldbuck  in  the  acting 
edition  (Edinburgh,  1823)  of  the  'Antiquary.' 
Mrs.  Nicol  died  soon  after  her  retirement  in 
1834. 

She  had  a  large  family ;  her  daughter  Emma 
is  not  iced  separately.  Other  of  her  daughters 
went  on  the  stage.  Miss  M.  Nicol  seems  to 
have  had  merit ,  as  she  was  accorded  a  benefit 
exclusively  for  herself  in  1823  ;  but  perhaps 
this  was  on  account  of  her  dancing,  which 
must  have  been  excellent.  Miss  C.  Nicol 
also  danced.  Miss  Julia  Nicol  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Theatre  Royal  and  Caledonian 
Theatre  companies,  Edinburgh,  for  some 
years,  and,  afterwards  attaining  a  good  posi- 
tion in  other  provincial  centres,  she  mar- 
ried John  Harris,  manager  of  the  Theatre 
Royal,  Dublin,  and  died  11  May  1894,  in  her 
ninetieth  year.  Mother  and  daughters  were 
all  respected  on  account  of  their  quiet  and 
industrious  lives. 

[Materials  supplied  by  Joseph  Knight,  esq., 
and  J.  C.  Dibdin,  esq. ;  Dibdin's  Annals  of 
the  Edinburgh  Stage;  Theatrical  Inquisitor; 
'Genuine  Gossip  by  an  Old  Actress,'  Era,  1853.] 

NICOL,  ALEXANDER  (Jl.  1739-1766), 
Scottish  poet,  was,  according  to  his  own 
statement,  the  son  of  a  packman,  and  was  left 
fatherless  at  the  age  of  six.  Although  only 
one  year  at  school,  he  succeeded  in  so  far 
educating  himself  that,  after  for  some  time 
following  the  occupation  of  packman,  he  be- 
came teacher  of  English  at  Abernyte,  Perth- 
shire. Afterwards  he  settled  at  Collace, 


Perthshire.  He  published  '  Nature  without 
Art :  or  Nature's  Progress  in  Poetry,  being- 
a  Collection  of  Miscellaneous  Poems,'  1739 ; 
and  '  Nature's  Progress  in  Poetry,  being  a 
Collection  of  Serious  Poems,'  1739.  These- 
volumes  were  reprinted  in  one  volume  in 
1766,  under  the  title  '  Poems  on  Several 
Subjects,  both  comical  and  serious.' 

[Poetical  account  of  himself  in  Nature  without 
Art]  T.  F.  E. 

NICOL,  EMMA  (1801-1877),  actress,, 
eldest  daughter  of  Mrs.  Nicol  [q.  v.J,  appeared 
at  Edinburgh,  when  seven  years  of  age,  on 
the  occasion  of  her  mother's  benefit  (2  May 
1808),  and  danced  '  a  new  pas  seul.'  On 
13  June  1808  she  played  Gossamer  in  the 
'  operatical '  romance  '  Forty  Thieves,'  and 
from  that  date  played  for  many  years  at 
Edinburgh,  either  in  the  Royal  or  in  th& 
Minor  Theatre,  which  was  known  at  different 
times  as '  Corri's  Rooms,'  the '  Pantheon,'  and 
the '  Caledonian.'  On  14  July  1817  she  played 
the  maid  in  the  '  Rivals,'  and  filled  the  small 
part  of  Martha  in  '  Rob  Roy '  on  its  produc- 
tion on  15  Feb.  1819.  When  the  king  visited 
the  Theatre  Royal  in  1822  she  played  Mattie. 
In  the  same  year  she  Avas  Madge  Wildfire  in 
the '  Heart  of  Midlothian,'  Maria  in '  Twelfth 
Night,'  Miss  Neville  in  '  She  stoops  to  con- 
quer,' and  many  other  good  parts.  From 
that  time  until  1824  she  was  playing  sou- 
brettes  and  walking  ladies.  She  then  left 
Edinburgh,  being  anxious  to  advance  herself 
in  her  profession.  On  9  Nov.  1824  she  played 
Flora  in  the  '  Wonder '  at  Drury  Lane ;  her 
name  also  appears  as  one  of  the  choristers  in 
the  same  place  on  5  July  1825 ;  Flora  in '  She 
wou'd  and  she  wou'd  not,'  26  Oct.  1825 ; 
Laurina  in  '  Trial  of  Love,'  1  March  1827, 
After  acting  at  Drury  Lane  till  1829,  she 
joined  the  company  at  the  Surrey  Theatre 
under  Elliston  in  1830-1,  and  there  confined 
herself  to  old-women  parts.  She  seems  to 
have  stayed  two  seasons  there.  In  December 
1833  she  was  a  member  of  Ryder's  Aberdeen 
company,  and  during  the  spring  and  summer 
of  1834  travelled  round  the  smaller  Scottish 
towns. 

She  now  devoted  herself  entirely  to  the  line 
of  characters  in  which  her  mother  had  made 
her  reputation.  She  was  re-engaged  by  Wil- 
liam Henry  Murray  [q.  v.]  for  the  Edinburgh 
Theatre  Royal  in  1834,  playing  (8  Nov.)  Mrs. 
Gloomly  in 'Laugh  when  you  can.'  She  never 
afterwards  left  the  city  for  more  than  a  few 
weeks  at  a  time  until  her  retirement.  She  soon 
became  a  great  favourite,  and  gained  as  much 
respect  in  private  life  as  her  mother.  Her  abili- 
ties in  her  particular  line  of  characters  were 
unquestionable,  and  several  noted  exponents 


Nicol 


37 


Nicol 


of  old-women  parts  were  content  to  play 
second  to  her  when  they  took  engagements  in 
Edinburgh.  Madame  Leroud  in  '102,  or  my 
Great-great-grandfather '  was  played  by  her 
on  28  Nov.,  and  Mrs.  Dismal  in  I^uckstone's 
<  Married  Life '  on  2  Dec.  On  27  Jan.  1835  she 
was  Miss  Prudence  Strawberry  in  Peake's 
'  Climbing  Boy ; '  at  the  Adelphi  (the  Edin- 
burgh summer  theatre),  30  May  1835,  Mrs. 
Humphries  in  '  Turning  the  Tables.'  On 
11  Nov.  1837,  at  the  Royal,  she  was  Mrs. 
Quickly  in  the  '  Merry  Wives  of  Windsor ; ' 
9  Aug.  1838  Madame  Deschappelles ;  and  on 
21  Jan.  1840  Madame  Mantalini  in  Edward 
•Stirling's  adaptation  of  'Nicholas  Nickleby ;' 
Mrs.  Corney  in  '  Oliver  Twist,'  23  March ; 
Mrs.  Montague  in 'His  last  Legs,' 3  July;  and 
Gertrude  in  '  Griselda,'  26  Jan.  1841.  She  re- 
ceived in  1842  from  Murray  forty-five  shillings 
(not  an  extravagant  salary  for  the  parts  she 
had  to  play)  a  week.  Betsy  Prigg  she  played  on 
28  Aug.  1844;  Mrs.  Fielding  in  the 'Cricket 
on  the  Hearth '  followed  on  27  Jan.  1846 ; 
third  witch  in  'Macbeth'  on  28  Dec.  1846. 
The  Duchess  of  York  in  « Richard  III,'  Mrs. 
Bouncer  in  '  Box  and  Cox,'  Nurse  in  '  Romeo 
and  Juliet '  are  among  many  parts  that  fell 
to  her.  For  Murray's  benefit  and  farewell 
appearance  on  22  Oct.  1851  she  played  Mrs. 
Malaprop.  When  in  1851-2  the  management 
of  the  Royal  passed  into  the  hands  of  Lloyd, 
and  that  of  the  Adelphi  into  those  of  Wrynd- 
ham ,  Miss  Nicol  remained  at  the  former  house. 
She  also  acted  under  the  Rollison  and  Leslie 
management  in  1852.  On  18  Sept.,  in  a  new 
adaptation  of  '  Waverley,'  she  played  Mrs. 
Macleary,  and  received '  a  splendid  ovation  on 
her  first  appearance  under  the  new  manage- 
ment,' and  on  4  Oct.  she  was  Marjory  in  the 
'  Heart  of  Midlothian.'  When  the  Adelphi 
was  burnt,  Wyndham  came  to  the  Theatre 
Royal,which  he  opened  on  1 1  June  1853.  Miss 
Nicol  was  retained.  In  Ebsworth's  comedy, 
1 150,000/.,'  she  was  on  1  Sept.  1854  the  ori- 
ginal Hon.  Mrs.  Falconer.  She  was  the  Old 
Lady  in  '  Henry  VIII,'  when  Mr.  Toole  played 
Lord  Sands.  On  7  June  1858  she  was  the 
original  Matty  Hepburn  in  Ballantine's  '  Ga- 
berlunzie  Man.'  At  the  New  Queen's  Theatre, 
where  Wyndham  had  gone  after  the  Royal 
was  finally  closed  (25  May  1859),  she  was,  on 
25  June  1859,  Mrs.  Major  de  Boots  in  Coyne's 
'  Everybody's  Friend.'  She  played  Queen 
Elizabeth  to  Henry  Irving's  Wayland  Smith 
in  the  burlesque  of '  Kenilwortb.,'6  Aug.  1859, 
and  was  associated  with  that  gentleman  in 
nearly  every  piece  in  which  he  appeared 
during  the  two  and  a  half  years  he  was  a 
member  of  the  stock  company.  In  May  1862 
the  last  nights  of  her  appearance  in  public 
were  specially  announced.  On  23  May  she 


took  her  farewell  benefit,  playing  Widow 
Warren  in '  Road  to  Ruin  '  and  Miss  Durable 
in  '  Raising  the  Wind.'  She  again  appeared 
on  31  May,  for  the  benefit  of  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Wyndham,  playing  the  Hostess  in  the 
'  Honeymoon,'  and  spoke  a  farewell  address 
to  the  audience. 

Miss  Nicol  was  one  of  that  class  of  pro- 
vincial actors  and  actresses  who  were  content 
with  a  comfortable  home  and  a  continuous 
engagement  without  any  chance  of  metropo- 
litan fame,  while  enjoying  the  full  confidence 
and  respect  of  their  managers  and  the  friend- 
liest regard  of  their  audience.  After  her  re- 
tirement she  removed  to  London,  where  she 
died  in  November  1877.  Several  witnesses 
of  her  acting  declared  her  to  be  quite  un- 
surpassed in  many  parts,  including  Mag  in 
'  'Twas  I,'  and  Miss  Lucretia  Mactab  in  the 
'  Poor  Gentleman.' 

[Materials  supplied  by  Joseph  Knight,  esq., 
and  J.  C.  Dibdin,  esq. ;  Dibdin's  Annals  of  the 
Edinburgh  Stage.] 

NICOL,  JAMES  (1769-1819),  poet,  son 
of  Michael  Nicol,  was  born  on  28  Sept.  1 769 
at  Innerleithen,  Peeblesshire.  Receiving  his 
elementary  education  at  the  parish  school, 
and  originally  destined  to  be  a  shoemaker,  he 
qualified  at  Edinburgh  University  for  the 
ministry  of  the  church  of  Scotland.  After 
acting  as  tutor  in  private  families  he  was  li- 
censed to  preach  by  the  presbytery  of  Peebles 
(25  March  1801)  ;  became  assistant  to  John 
Walker,  parish  minister  of  Traquair,  near 
Innerleithen  (15  May  1802),  and  succeeded 
to  the  charge,  on  the  death  of  the  incumbent, 
on  4  Nov.  following.  In  the  same  year  he 
married  Agnes,  sister  of  his  predecessor,  whose 
virtues  he  had  previously  celebrated  in  verse. 
Besides  contributing  poems  to  the  '  Edin- 
burgh Magazine,'  Nicol,  who  was  a  close 
student  of  ecclesiastical  history  and  forms, 
wrote  various  articles  for  the '  Edinburgh  En- 
cyclopaedia.' In  matters  of  law  and  medicine 
he  was  an  authority  among  his  parishioners ; 
he  regulated  their  disputes,  and  a  know- 
ledge of  medicine  acquired  at  the  university 
enabled  him  to  vaccinate  and  to  prescribe 
satisfactorily  for  ordinary  ailments.  In  1808 
he  founded  the  first  friendly  society  at  Inner- 
leithen. Owing  to  changes  in  his  religious 
views  he  contemplated  resigning  his  charge, 
when  he  died,  after  a  short  illness,  on  5  Nov. 
1819.  By  his  wife,  who  survived  til!19March 
1845,  he  had  three  sons  and  three  daughters ; 
his  son  James  became  professor  of  civil  and 
natural  history  in  Marischal  College,  Aber- 
deen. 

Nicol  published  at  Edinburgh  in  1805,  in 
two  volumes  12mo,  '  Poems,  chiefly  in  the 


Nicol  t 

Scottish  Dialect,'  and  he  is  represented  in 
Whitelaw's  '  Book  of  Scottish  Song,'  1844. 
He  has  a  good  grasp  of  the  Scottish  idiom  ; 
his  estimate  of  character  is  penetrating,  and 
his  idyllic  sense  is  pure.  Burns  is  doubt- 
less responsible  for  much  of  his  inspiration. 
'An  Essay  on  the  Nature  and  Design  of 
Scripture  Sacrifice '  appeared  in  London  in 
1823. 

[Rofrers's  Scottish  Minstrel ;  Whitelaw's  Book 
of  Scottish  Song;  Hew  Scott's  Fasti  Eccl.  Scot. 
pt.  i.  p.  258.]  T.  B. 

NICOL,  JAMES  (1810-1879),  geologist, 
born  12  Aug.  1810,  at  Traquair  Manse,  near 
Innerleithen,  Peeblesshire,  was  a  son  of  James 
Nicol  [q.  v.],  by  his  wife,  Agnes  Walker.  On 
the  latter's  death  in  1819  the  family  removed 
to  Innerleithen,  where  the  son  was  educated 
till  he  entered  the  university  of  Edinburgh  in 
1825.  Attendance  on  the  lectures  of  Professor 
Jameson  increased  an  interest  in  mineralogy, 
already  awakened,  and  young  Nicol,  after 
passing  through  the  arts  and  divinity  courses 
at  Edinburgh,  studied  that  subject,  among 
others,  at  the  universities  of  Bonn  and  Berlin. 

On  returning  home  he  devoted  himself  to 
investigating  the  geology  of  the  valley  of  the 
Tweed,  and  obtained  the  prizes  ofl'ered  by 
the  Highland  Society  for  essays,  first  on  the 
geology  of  Peeblesshire  and  then  of  Rox- 
burghshire. He  was  appointed  in  1847  as- 
sistant secretary  to  the  Geological  Society  of 
London,  after  nearly  eight  years'  service  in 
a  subordinate  position  ;  in  1849  professor  of 
geology  in  Queen's  College,  Cork,  and  in  1853 
professor  of  natural  history  in  the  university 
of  Aberdeen,  holding  this  post  till  he  re- 
signed it  in  1878.  He  was  elected  F.G.S.  and 
F.R.S.E.  in  1847.  He  died  in  London  on 
8  April  1879.  In  1849  he  married  Alexan- 
drina  Anne  Macleay  Downie,  who  survived 
him. 

Nicol  was  a  good  mineralogist,  and  pub- 
lished two  useful  text-books  on  that  subject, 
but  his  reputation  will  always  rest  on  his 
contributions  to  geology.  Some  of  his  earlier 
work  on  the  Scottish  uplands  was  of  much 
value,  but  he  has  the  high  honour  of  having 
been  the  first  to  perceive  the  true  relations 
of  the  rock-masses  in  the  complicated  region' 
of  the  highlands.  When  he  had  convinced 
himself  that  the  Torridon  sandstone  under- 
lay the  quartzite  and  limestone  of  Durness — 
a  point  on  which  much  uncertainty  had  ex- 
isted—Nicol  devoted  himself  to  a'  study  of 
the  position  of  these  strata  in  regard  to  the 
two  great  masses  of  gneisses  and  schists  in  the 
north-west  highlands.  As  the  result  of  four 
years  of  patient  labour  he  was  persuaded  that, 
contrary  to  the  views  expressed  by  Sir  R. 


5  Nicol 

Murchison  [q.  v.]  in  1858,  these  two  masses 
in  reality  belonged  to  a  single  group  of  pre- 
Cambrian  rocks,  and  that  the  apparent  super- 
position of  the  so-called  '  upper  gneiss '  to 
the  limestone  was  a  result  of  faulting.  He 
announced  this  conclusion  in  a  paper  read 
at  a  meeting  of  the  British  Association  in 
Aberdeen  in  1859,  and  in  one  communicated 
to  the  Geological  Society  of  London  in  1860. 
Murchison,  after  a  journey  in  company  with 
Andrew  C.  Ramsay  [q.  v.]  in  the  summer  of 
1859,  and  another  with  Archibald  Geikie  in 
1800,  persisted  in  asserting  that  the  upper 
gneiss  succeeded  the  limestone,  and  therefore 
must  be  a  metamorphosed  group  of  Lower 
Silurian  age.  Murchison  had  won  the  ear  of 
scientific  society;  so  his  views  were  generally 
adopted,  and  Nicol,  pained  at  the  personal 
feeling  evoked  by  his  opposition,  withdrew 
from  the  controversy,  though  he  continued  to 
work  steadily  at  the  question,  and  became  yet 
more  strongly  convinced  of  the  accuracy  of 
his  own  views.  He  met  with  a  common  fate, 
the  neglect  of  contemporaries  and  the  praise 
of  posterity.  It  is  now  universally  admitted, 
even  by  his  former  opponents,  that  substan- 
tially in  all  the  essential  points  of  this  con- 
troversy Nicol  was  right  and  Murchison  was 
wrong.  The  so-called  '  newer  gneiss  '  is 
nothing  more  than  a  part  of  the  mass,  to 
which  the  older  gneiss  belongs,  brought  up 
by  a  system  of  gigantic  folds  and  faults,  and 
thrust  over  the  admittedly  Cambrian  deposits, 
so  as  to  simulate  a  stratigraphical  sequence. 
One  point  only  Nicol  failed  to  recognise  (at 
that  date  it  is  not  surprising),  and  in  this 
lay  the  strength  of  his  opponent's  position : 
that  the  bedded  structure,  which  apparently 
made  such  an  important  distinction  between 
the  so-called  upper  gneiss  and  that  beneath 
the  Torridon  sandstone,  was  a  structure, 
not  original,  but  the  result  of  these  move- 
ments. 

Nicol  was  popular  with  his  pupils  and 
friends.  'His  sturdy  frame  and  indomitable 
strength  of  will  bore  him  unharmed  through 
countless  geological  journeys  that  wouldhave 
overtasked  the  majority  of  men.  .  .  .  Ever  of 
singleness  and  purity  of  purpose,  he  disdained 
to  swerve  from  what  he  felt  to  be  the  proper 
path,  either  in  the  interest  of  authority  or 
expediency ;  but  for  those  whom  he  could 
aid  by  his  friendship  or  example  his  patience 
was  inexhaustible,  and  his  generosity  un- 
bounded '  ('  Presidential  Address,'  Geol.  Soc. 
Proc.  1880,  p.  36).  A  portrait  in  oils  is  in 
the  possession  of  Mrs.  Nicol. 

Nicol  was  an  indefatigable  worker.  Under 
his  name  eighteen  papers  are  enumerated 
in  the  '  Royal  Society's  Catalogue,'  the  first 
being  the  prize  essay  on  the  'Geology  of 


Nicol 


39 


Nicol 


Peeblesshire,'  published  in  1843.  His  great 
paper  on  the  highland  controversy  appeared 
in  the  '  Quarterly  Journal  of  the  Geological 
Soci  ety ,'  1 86 1 ,  xv  ii.  85,  and  was  followed  by  an 
important  one  on  the  'Southern  Grampians' 
(xix.  180),  in  which  he  contends  (in  opposi- 
tion to  the  views  of  Murchison)  for '  the  great 
antiquity '  of  the  '  gneiss  and  mica-slate  '  of 
that  region.  In  the  same  journal  for  1869 
and  1872  appear  papers  on  the  '  Parallel 
lloads  of  Glenroy,'  in  which  Nicol  advocates 
the  marine  origin  of  these  terraces.  On  this 
question  also  the  last  word  has  not  yet  been 
said.  Nicol  also  contributed  numerous  articles 
to  periodicals,  and  to  the '  Encyclopaedia  Bri- 
tannica'  (8th  and  9th  edits.)  Among  his 
separately  published  works  are,  'A  Guide  to 
the  Geology  of  Scotland'  (1844),  'Manual  of 
Mineralogy'  (1849),  'Elements  of  Minera- 
logy '  (1858,  2nd  edit.  1873),  '  The  Geology 
and  Scenery  of  the  North  of  Scotland '  ( 1866), 
in  an  appendix  of  which  he  replies  to  some 
sweeping  strictures  which  had  been  passed 
upon  his  work  by  Murchison.  He  was  one 
of  the  editors  of  the  'Select  Writings  of 
Charles  Maclaren  '  (1869),  and  published 
an  excellent  geological  map  of  Scotland  in 
1858. 

[Obituary  notice  in  Proc.  Geological  Society, 
1880,  p.  33;  information  from  Mrs.  Nicol.  For 
a  summary  of  Nicol's  work  in  Scotland,  see 
Professor  J.  W.  Judd's  Address  to  Section  C, 
British  Association  Report,  1885,  p.  995.] 

T.  G.  B. 

NICOL  or  NICOLL,  JOHN  (f.  1590- 
1667),  diarist,  was,  according  to  statements 
in  his  '  Diary,'  born  and  brought  up  in  Glas- 
gow, the  year  of  his  birth  being  probably 
1590.  He  became  writer  to  the  signet  and 
notary  public  in  Edinburgh,  where  he  seems 
to  have  enjoyed  the  confidence  of  the  cove- 
nanting party.  Not  improbably  he  was  the 
John  Nicoll  who  was  nominated  as  clerk  to 
the  general  assembly  at  Glasgow  in  Novem- 
ber 1638,  when  Sir  Archibald  Johnstone  [q.  v.] 
of  Warriston  was  elected.  "VVodrow,  who 
in  his  '  Sufferings  of  the  Kirk  '  makes  large 
use  of  the  manuscript  of  Nicoll,  described  it 
in  the  list  of  his  papers  as  '  The  Journals  of 
John  Nicol,  writer  to  the  signet,  containing 
some  account  of  our  Scots  Kings,  with  some 
Extracts  as  to  China  and  the  West  Indies, 
and  a  Chronicle  from  Fergus  the  ffirst  to 
1562.  And  an  Abbreviat  of  Matters  in  Scot- 
land from  that  time  to  1637  ;  from  which  it 
contains  full  and  large  accounts  of  all  the 
Occurrences  in  Scotland,  with  the  Procla- 
mations and  Public  Papers  every  year.  Vol.  i. 
from  1637  to  1649,  original;  vol.  ii.  from 
1650  to  1657.'  Vol.  i.  has  been  lost.  Vol.ii. 
was  purchased  for  the  Advocates'  Library, 


Edinburgh,  and  was  printed  by  the  Banna- 
tyne  Club  in  1836,  under  the  title  '  A  Diary 
of  Public  Transactions  and  other  Occurrences, 
chieflv  in  Scotland,  from  June  1650  to  June 
1667.  The  '  Diary '  seems  to  have  been  com- 
posed partly  from  notes  of  what  happened 
within  his  immediate  experience,  and  partly 
from  accounts  in  the  newspapers  and  public 
intelligencers  of  the  time.  His  political 
bias  varies  with  the  changes  of  the  govern- 
ment, the  proceedings  and  conduct  of  those 
in  power  being  always  placed  in  the  best 
light.  He  probably  died  not  lone  after 
1667. 

[David  Laing's  Preface  to  Bannatyne  edition 
of  the  Diary.]  T.  F.  H. 

NICOL,  WILLIAM  (1744P-1797),  friend 
of  Burns,  was  son  of  a  Dumfriesshire  working 
man.  After  receiving  elementary  education 
in  his  parish  school,  he  earned  some  money 
by  teaching,  and  thus  was  able  to  pursue  a 
university  career  at  Edinburgh,  where  he 
studied  both  theology  and  medicine.  Al- 
lusions in  Burns's  '  Elegy  on  Willie  Nicol's 
Mare '  seem  to  indicate  that  he  was  a  licen- 
tiate of  the  church  (ScoiT  DOUGLAS,  Burns, 
ii.  291).  Throughout  his  college  course  he 
was  constantly  employed  in  tuition,  and  he 
was  soon  appointed  a  classical  master  in 
Edinburgh  High  School.  The  rector  was 
Dr.  Adams,  and  Walter  Scott  was  a  pupil. 
The  rector  disliked  and  condemned  Nicol  as 
'worthless,  drunken,  and  inhumanly  cruel 
to  the  boys  under  his  charge '  (LOCKHAKT, 
Life  of  Scott,  I  33,  ed.  1837).  Once,  when 
Nicol  was  considered  to  have  insulted  Adams, 
Scott  chivalrously  rendered  him  ridiculous  in 
the  class-room  by  pinning  to  his  coat-tail  a 
paper  inscribed  with  '  ^Eneid,'  iv.  10 — part 
of  the  day's  lesson — having  boldly  substituted 
vantts  for  novus  to  suit  his  man — 
Quis  vanus  hie  nostris  successit  sedibus  hospes  ? 

(ib.  p.  100). 

Burns  early  made  Nicol's  acquaintance — 
their  first  meeting  is  not  recorded — and  his 
various  letters  to  him,  and  his  allusions  to 
him  as  his  '  worthy  friend,'  prove  that  the 
poet  found  in  him  more  than  the  drunken 
tyrant  described  by  Scott,  or  the  pedantic 
boor  ridiculed  by  Lockhart  (Life  of  Burns, 
chap,  v.)  Nicol  was  one,  says  Dr.  Stevens 
in  his  '  History  of  the  High  School  of  Edin- 
burgh,' '  who  would  go  any  length  to  serve 
and  promote  the  views  and  wishes  of  a  friend,' 
and  who  was  instantly  stirred  to  hot  wrath 
'  whenever  low  jealousy,  trick,  or  selfish 
cunning  appeared.'  Burns  was  Nicol's  guest 
from  7  to  25  Aug.  1787  in  the  house  over 
Buccleuch  Pend,  from  which  he  visited  the 
literary  'howffs'  of  the  city.  Nicol  accom- 


Nicolas 


Nicolas 


panied  him  in  bis  three  weeks'  tour  through 
the  highlands,  Burns  at  the  outset  (accord- 
ing to  his  diary)  anticipating  much  entertain- 
ment from  his  friend's '  originality  of  humour.' 
Knowing  Nicol's  fiery  temper,  he  likened 
himself  to  '  a  man  travelling  with  a  loaded 
blunderbuss  at  full  cock'  (CHAMBERS,  Life 
and  Works  of  Burns,  ii.  107,  Library  ed.) 
The  harmony  of  the  trip  was  rudely  broken 
at  Fochabers.  Burns  visited  and  dined  at 
Gordon  Castle,  leaving  Nicol  at  the  village 
inn.  Incensed  at  this  apparent  neglect,  Nicol 
resolved  on  proceeding  alone,  and  Burns  sur- 
rendered the  pleasure  of  a  short  sojourn  at 
Gordon  Castle  in  order  to  join  his  irate  friend. 
He  made  reparation  with '  Streams  that.  Glide 
in  Orient  Plains,'  and  in  his  letter  to  the 
Castle  librarian  did  not  spare  the  'obstinate 
son  of  Latin  prose.' 

Nicol  is  immortalised  as  protagonist  in 
'  Willie  brewed  a  peck  o'  maut.'  He  had 
bought  the  small  estate  of  Laggan,  Dumfries- 
shire— had  become  in  Burns's  words  '  the 
illustrious  lord  of  Laggan's  many  hills' 
(ScoTT  DOUGLAS,  Burns,  vi.  55) — and  Burns 
and  Allan  Masterton,  an  Edinburgh  writing 
master  and  musical  composer,  visited  him 
when  spending  his  autumn  recess  there  in 
1789.  The  result  \vas  the  great  bacchanalian 
song,  of  which  Burns  wrote  '  The  air  is  Mas- 
terton's  ;  the  song,  mine.  .  .  .  We  had  such 
a  joyous  meeting  that  Mr.  Masterton  and  I 
agreed,  each  in  our  own  way,  that  we  should 
celebrate  the  business.'  Nicol  died  in  April 
1797,  'at  the  age,'  says  Chambers,  '  of  fifty- 
three  '  (Life  and  Works  of  Burns,  ii.  lOo, 
Library  ed.) 

[Currie's  Life  of  Burns,  i.  177;  editions  in 
text;  Steven's  Hist,  of  the  High  School  of 
Edinburgh;  Lockhart's  Lives  of  Burns  and 
Scott.]  T.  B. 

NICOLAS.     [See  also  NICHOLAS.] 

NICOLAS  BREAKSPEAR,  POPE 
ADRIAN  IV,  (d:  1159).  [See  ADRIAN.] 

NICOLAS,  JOHN  TOUP  (1788-1851), 
rear-admiral,  eldest  son  of  John  Harris  Ni- 
colas (1758-1844),  a  lieutenant  in  the  navy, 
was  born  at  Withen,  near  Helston,  Corn- 
wall, on  22  Feb.  1788.  Sir  Nicholas  Harris 
Nicolas  [q.  v.]  was  his  brother.  As  early  as 
1797  John  was  borne  on  the  books  of  one  or 
other  of  the  gun-vessels  stationed  on  the  coast 
of  Devonshire  and  Cornwall,  but  seems  to  have 
first  gone  to  sea  in  1799,  in  the  Edgar  with 
Captain  Edward  Buller,  whom  he  followed  in 
1801  to  the  Achille.  He  was  afterwards  in 
the  Naiad  frigate,  but  in  1803  was  again 
with  Buller  in  the  Malta  of  80  guns.  He 
was  made  lieutenant  on  1  May  1804,  and, 


remaining  in  the  Malta,  was  present  in  the 
action  off'  Cape  Finisterre  on  22  July  1805. 
From  1807  he  was  flag-lieutenant  to  Rear- 
admiral  George  Martin  [q.  v.]  in  the  Medi- 
terranean, and   in   October   1809  was   ap- 
!  pointed  acting  commander  of  the  Redwing. 
i  He  had  been  previously  promoted  from  home 
I  on  26  Aug.,  and  appointed  to  the  Pilot  brig, 
which  he  joined  at  Portsmouth  in  April 
1810. 

In  the  Pilot  he  went  out  again  to  the 
Mediterranean,  and  for  the  next  four  years 
was  employed  in  most  active  and  harassing 
service  on  the  coast  of  Italy,  capturing  or 
destroying  great  numbers  of  coasters,  and  of 
vessels  laden  with  stores  for  the  Neapolitan 
government.  Alone,  or  in  company  with 
the  Weasel  sloop,  or  the  Thames  frigate  [see 
NAPIER,  SIR  CHARLES],  he  is  said  to  have 
captured  or  destroyed  not  less  than  130  of 
the  enemy's  vessels  between  his  first  coming 
on  the  coast  and  July  1812.  He  afterwards 
went  round  to  the  Adriatic,  continuing  there 
with  the  same  activity  and  good  fortune.  He 
returned  to  England  towards  the  end  of  1814, 
but  on  the  escape  of  Napoleon  from  Elba 
was  again  sent  out  to  the  Mediterranean, 
where,  on  17  June,  off  jDape  Corse,  he  en- 
gaged the  French  sloop  Egerie.  After  seve- 
ral hours  both  vessels  had  suffered  severely, 
and  the  Eg6rie  had  lost  many  men,  killed 
and  wounded.  The  Pilot's  loss  in  men  had 
been  slight,  but  her  rigging  was  cut  to 
pieces,  and  the  Egerie  made  good  her  escape. 
The  Pilot's  first  lieutenant,  Keigwin  Nico- 
las, a  brother  of  the  commander,  was  among 
the  wounded.  On  4  June  1815  Nicolas  was 
nominated  a  C.B  ;  on  26  Aug.  he  was  pro- 
moted to  the  rank  of  post-captain,  in  Octo- 
ber he  received  from  the  king  of  Naples 
the  cross  of  St.  Ferdinand  and  Merit,  and 
in  the  following  April  was  made  a  knight- 
commander  of  the  order.  He  returned  to 
England  in  July  1816,  when  the  Pilot  was 
paid  off. 

From  1820  to  1822  Nicolas  commanded 
the  Egeria  frigate  on  the  Newfoundland 
station,  and  on  his  return  to  England  was 
sent  to  Newcastle,  where  a  dispute  between 
the  keelmen  and  shipowners  threatened  to 
give  rise  to  disturbance.  The  mere  presence 
of  the  frigate  in  the  Tyne  enforced  order, 
and  the  dispute  being  adjusted,  the  Egeria 
went  to  Sheerness  and  was  paid  off.  Nico- 
las's  conduct  and  tact  on  this  occasion  were 
highly  approved.  He  was  nominated  a 
K.H.  on  1  Jan.  1834.  From  1837  to  1839 
he  commanded  the  Hercules  of  74  guns,  on 
the  Lisbon  station  ;  from  1839  to  1841  the 
Belle-Isle  in  the  channel  and  the  Mediter- 

lean  ;  and  the  Vindictive,  on  the  East 


Nicolas 


Nicolas 


India  station,  from  1841  to  1844,  returning 
to  England  by  Tahiti,  where  he  was  sent  to 
protect  English  interests  during  the  arbi- 
trary proceedings  of  the  French  {Ann.  Reg. 
pt.  i.  p.  256).  On  30  Dec.  1850  Nicolas  was 
promoted  to  be  rear-admiral.  He  died  at 
Plymouth  on  1  April  1851,  and  was  buried 
in  St.  Martin's  Church.  He  married  in  1818 
Frances  Anna,  daughter  of  Nicholas  Were  of 
Landcox,  near  Wellington  in  Somerset,  by 
whom  he  had  issue.  He  was  the  author  of 
'  An  Inquiry  into  the  Causes  which  have 
led  to  our  late  Naval  Disasters,'  1814;  and 
of  '  A  Letter  to  Rear-Admiral  Du  Petit 
Thouars  on  late  events  at  Otaheite,'  Papeete, 
1843. 

GKANVILLE  TOTJP  NICOLAS  (d.  1894),  son 
of  the  above,  entered  the  navy  in  1848,  was 
promoted  lieutenant  in  1856  after  service  in 
the  Black  Sea,  and  in  the  following  year 
was  appointed  to  the  Leopard,  the  flagship 
of  Sir  Stephen  Lushington  [q.  v.],  on  the 
south-east  coast  of  America.  Thence  he  was 
appointed  to  Sir  James  Hope's  flagship,  the 
Imp£rieuse,  on  the  China  station.  He  was 
subsequently  left  in  command  of  the  gun- 
boat Insolent,  and  was  repeatedly  engaged 
in  the  operations  for  the  suppression  of  the 
Tae-ping  insurrection.  He  was  promoted 
commander  in  1867,  retired  as  captain  in 
1882,  and  died  at  Edinburgh  on  21  April 
1894  (Times,  25  April,  1894). 

[The  Memoir  in  Marshall's  Roy.  Nav.  Biog. 
viii.  (Suppl.  pt.  iv.)  53,  appears  to  have  been 
contributed  by  Nicolas,  and  contains  numerous 
letters  and  official  papers  which  give  it  a  dis- 
tinct value ;  Naval  Chronicle,  xl.  333  (with  a 
portrait) ;  O'Byrne's  Nav.  Biogr.  Diet. ;  Gent. 
Mag.  1851,i.  665;  James's  Naval  History  (1859), 
v.  257-8,  341-2;  Boase  and  Courtney's  Bibl. 
Cornub.]  J.  K.  L. 

NICOLAS,  SIR  NICHOLAS  HARRIS 

(1799-1848),  antiquary,  born  at  Dartmouth 
on  10  March  1799,  was  privately  baptised  by 
the  minister  of  St.  Petrox,  Dartmouth,  on 
1  April.  His  great-grandfather  came  to 
England  on  the  revocation  of  the  edict  of 
Nantes,  and  settled  at  Looe  in  Cornwall, 
and  he  himself  was  the  fourth  son  of  John 
Harris  Nicolas  (1758-1844),  R.N.  JohnToup 
Nicolas  [q.  v.]  was  his  eldest  brother.  His 
mother,  Margaret,  daughter  and  coheiress  of 
John  Blake,  was  granddaughter  of  the  Rev. 
John  Keigwin ,  vicar  of  Landrake,  whose  wife, 
Prudence  Busvargus,  was,  by  her  first  hus- 
band, the  Rev.  JohnToup,  mother  of  the  Rev. 
Jonathan  Toup  [q.  v.]  Nicolas  entered  the 
navy  as  a  first-class  volunteer  on  27  Oct.  1808, 
became  a  midshipman  in  the  Pilot  31  March 
1812,  served  on  the  coast  of  Calabria  for 
some  years,  and  on  20  Sept.  1815  was  pro- 


moted to  the  post  of  lieutenant.  In  1816 
he  was  put  on  half-pay,  and  compelled  to 
find  a  fresh  field  for  his  energies.  There- 
upon he  read  for  the  bar,  and  was  called  at 
the  Inner  Temple  on  6  May  1825,  but  did 
not  enter  into  general  practice,  confining 
himself  to  peerage  claims  before  the  House 
of  Lords. 

Nicolas  married  on  28  March  1822  Sarah, 
youngest  daughter  of  John  Davison  of  the 
East  India  House  and  of  Loughton  in 
Essex,  who  claimed  descent  from  William 
Davison  [q.  v.],  secretary  of  state  to  Queen 
Elizabeth.  This  circumstance  led  to  his 
investigating  the  career  of  that  minister, 
and  entering  upon  a  course  of  antiquarian 
study  which  he  never  abandoned.  Nicolas 
was  elected  F.S.A.  about  1824,  and  early  in 
1826  was  placed  upon  the  council ;  but  after 
he  had  attended  one  meeting  his  name  was, 
on  the  ensuing  anniversary  (23  April  1826), 
omitted  from  the  house  list.  He  then  started 
an  inquiry  into  the  state  of  the  society,  and 
endeavoured  to  effect  a  reform  in  its  consti- 
tution. But  his  efforts  were  defeated  by  the 
officials,  and  after  the  anniversary  in  1828  he 
withdrew  from  it  altogether.  In  1830  he 
turned  his  attention  to  the  record  commis- 
sion, criticising  its  constitution  and  the  cost 
of  the  works  which  it  had  issued.  He  issued 
in  1830  a  volume  addressed  to  Lord  Melbourne 
of  '  Observations  on  the  State  of  Historical 
Literature  and  on  the  Society  of  Antiquaries, 
with  Remarks  on  the  Record  Commission,' 
the  portion  of  which  relating  to  the  pur- 
chase by  the  British  Museum  of  the  Joursan- 
vault  Manuscripts  is  summarised  in  Ed- 
wards's  '  Founders  of  the  British  Museum,' 
ii.  535-42.  Sir  Francis  Palgrave  at  once  re- 
plied with  a  letter  of  '  Remarks  submitted 
to  Viscount  Melbourne,'  1831,  and  Nicolas 
promptly  answered  him  in  a  '  Refutation  of 
Palgrave's  Remarks,'  which  was  also  ap- 
pended to  a  reissue  of  his  '  Observations  on 
the  State  of  Historical  Literature.'  The 
titles  of  five  more  works  on  this  subject, 
three  of  which,  though  written  by  Nicolas, 
purported  to  be  by  Mr.  C.  P.  Cooper,  secre- 
tary to  the  record  commission,  are  given  in 
the '  Bibliotheca  Cornubiensis,'  i.  393.  It  was 
mainly  owing  to  his  exertions  that  the  select 
committee  of  1836,  under  the  presidency  of 
Charles  Buller  [q.  v.],  was  appointed  to  in- 
quire into  the  public  records.  His  evidence 
before  this  committee  is  printed  in  the  ap- 
pendix to  its  '  Report,'  pp.  342-57,  377-85, 
426.  His  evidence  before  the  select  com- 
mittee of  the  British  Museum  fills  pp.  290- 
304  of  the  appendix  to  its '  Report '  in  1836. 
He  had  in  1846  some  correspondence  with 
Sir  A.  Panizzi  'on  the  supply  of  printed 


Nicolas 


Nicolas 


books  from  the  library  to  the  reading-room 
of  the  British  Museum,'  which  provoked 
from  Pauizzi  a  pamphlet  with  that  title,  and 
from  Nicolas  a  counter-charge  of  '  Animad- 
versions on  the  Library  and  Catalogues  of 
the  British  Museum :  a  Reply  to  Panizzi's 
Statement.'  He  also  contributed  to  the 
'Spectator'  of  16,  23,  and  30  May  1846 
three  articles  on  the  same  subject. 

On  12  Oct.  1831  Nicolas  was  created  a 
knight  of  the  Guelphs  of  Hanover,  and  he 
became  chancellor  and  knight  commander, 
with  the  rank  of  senior  knight  commander, 
of  the  order  of  St.  Michael  and  St.  George 
on  16  Aug.  1832,  'being  promoted  to  the 
position  of  grand  cross  on  6  Oct.  1840. 
These  honours  brought  with  them  no  pecu- 
niary reward,  and  the  necessities  of  a  large 
family,  combined  with  laxity  in  managing 
his  resources,  forced  Nicolas  to  perpetual 
drudgery.  He  lived  for  some  years  at 
19  Tavistock  Place,  London,  but  his  last  re- 
sidence in  England  was  at  55  Torrington 
Square.  His  pecuniary  necessities  drove 
him  at  last  into  exile,  but  he  continued  at 
work  until  within  a  week  of  his  death.  He 
died  of  congestion  of  the  brain  at  Cape  Cure, 
a  suburb  of  Boulogne,  on  3  Aug.  1848.  He 
was  buried  in  Boulogne  cemetery  on  8  Aug., 
and  a  tablet  to  his  memory  was  placed  in 
the  church  of  St.  Martin,  near  Looe,  in  which 
parish  he  inherited  a  small  property.  He 
had  himself  erected  a  monument  in  the 
same  church  to  the  memory  of  his  uncle  and 
namesake  (d.  1816),  to  whom  he  was  executor. 
His  widow,  born  in  London  on  3  Aug.  1800,  j 
died  at  Richmond,  Surrey,  on  12  Nov.  1867. 
Nicolas  left  eight  children,  two  sons  and  six 
daughters  ;  and  two  others  died  young.  His 
second  son,  Nicholas  Harris,  received  almost 
immediately  a  clerkship  in  the  exchequer 
and  audit  department,  and  his  widow  was 
granted,  on  31  Oct.  1853,  a  civil  list  pension 
of  1001.  per  annum.  Four  of  the  children 
are  buried  in  Kew  churchyard. 

Nicolas  may  have  been  aggressive  and 
passionate,  but  he  was  animated  by  the  best 
motives,  and  his  fierce  attacks  on  the  abuses 
with  which  he  credited  the  record  commis- 
sion, the  Society  of  Antiquaries,  and  the 
British  Museum  produced  many  desirable  re- 
forms. The  debt  of  American  students  to 
Nicolas  for  the  increased  facilities  of  anti- 
quarian research  in  English  records  is  fully 
acknowledged  in  S.  G.  Drake's  '  Researches 
in  British  Archives,'  1860,  p.  8.  Nicolas  was 
remarkable  for  a '  beaming  face,  hearty  greet- 
ing, genial  conversation,  varied  knowledge, 
and  for  his  liberal  readiness  to  impart  it' 
(EDWARDS,  Libraries  and  Founders,  pp.  285- 
288) ;  but  he  sometimes  practised  his  sharp 


wit  on  his  friends.  Proof  of  the  contempo- 
rary belief  in  his  knowledge  of  genealogy, 
and  his  thoroughness  of  research,  is  given 
by  Hood,  who  suggests  that  the  pedigree  of 
Miss  Kilmansegg 

Were  enough,  in  truth,  to  puzzle  Old  Nick, 
Not  to  name  Sir  Harris  Nicolas. 

In  little  more  than  twenty-five  years  of 
literary  work  Nicolas  compiled  or  edited 
many  valuable  works.  They  comprised : 
1.  '  Index  to  the  Heralds'  Visitations  in  the 
British  Museum'  [anon.],  1823;  2nd  edit. 
1825.  2.  '  Life  of  William  Davison,  Secre- 
tary of  State  to  Queen  Elizabeth,'  1823. 

3.  '  Notitia  Histories  :  Miscellaneous  Infor- 
mation for  Historians,  Antiquaries,  and  the 
Legal  Profession,'  1824 ;  an  improved  edi- 
tion, called  '  The  Chronology  of  History,' 
was  included  in  1833  in  Lardner's  '  Cabinet 
Cyclopaedia,'  vol.  xliv.,  and  a  second  edition 
of    this    revised    issue    appeared   in   1838. 

4.  '  Synopsis  of  the  Peerage  of   England,' 
1825 ;  a  new  edition,  entitled  '  The  Historic 
Peerage  of  England,'  and  revised,  corrected, 
and  continued  by  William  Courthope,  was 
published  in  1857.    5.  '  TestamentaVetusta : 
illustrations  from  Wills  of  Ancient  Manners, 
Customs,  &c.,from  Henry  II  to  Accession  of 
Queen  Elizabeth,' 1826, 2  vols.    6.  'Literary 
Remains  of  Lady  Jane  Grey,'  1825.   7.  '  His- 
tory of  Town  and  School  of  Rugby,'  1826  ; 
left  unfinished.     8.   '  Poetical  Rhapsody  of 
Francis  Davison,'  1826,  2  vols  ;  portions  of 
this,   consisting  of  '  Psalms  translated  by 
Francis  and   Christopher  Davison '  and  of 
'  Biographical  Notices  of  Contributors  to  the 
"  Poetical  Rhapsody,' "  were  issued  for  private 
circulation  in  the  same  year.      9.  '  Flagel- 
lum  Parliamentarium :  Sarcastic  Notices  of 
200  Members  of  Parliament,  1661-78,'  1827. 
10.  '  Memoir  of  Augustine  Vincent,  Windsor 
Herald,'  1827.     11.  '  History  of  the  Battle  of 
Agincourt,  and  of  the  Expedition  of  Henry  V 
into  France,' 1827;  2nd  edit.  1832 ;  3rd  edit. 
1833.      12.    'Chronicle  of  London,    1089- 
1483,'  1827,  edited  by  Nicolas  and  Edward 
Tyrrel,  the  city  remembrancer.     13.  '  Privy 
Purse  Expenses  of  Henry  VIII  from   No- 
vember   1529    to    December    1532,'    1827. 
14.  '  Private  Memoirs  of  Sir  Kenelm  Digby/ 
1827  ;   the  '  Castrations  '  from   these  '  Me- 
moirs '  were  printed  for  private  circulation 
in  the  same  year.     15.  'Journal  of  one  of 
the  Suite  of  Thomas  Beckington,  afterwards 
Bishop  of  Bath  and  Wells,  on  an  Embassy 
to  the  Count  of  Armagnac,  1442,'  1828 ;  this 
was  adversely  criticised  by  the  Rev.  George 
Williams    in    'Official    Correspondence    of 
Bekynton,'    Rolls    Ser.,  1872.       16.   '  The 
Siege  of  Carlaverock,  1300,'  1828.    17.  'Roll 


Nicolas 


43 


Nicolas 


of  Arms  of  Peers  and  Knights  in  Reign  of 
Edward  II,'  1828.  18.  '  Statutes  of  Order 
of  the  Guelphs,'  1828;  only  one  hundred 
copies  printed,  and  not  for  sale.  19.  '  Sta- 
tutes of  Order  of  the  Thistle,'  1828 ;  limited 
to  fifty  copies,  not  for  sale.  '20.  '  Memoirs 
of  Lady  Fanshawe,'  1829.  21.  'Roll  of 
Arms  of  Reigns  of  Henry  III  and  Ed- 
ward III,'  1829;  fifty  copies  printed.  22. '  Re- 
port of  Proceedings  on  Claims  to  the  Barony 
of  L'Isle,'  1829.  23.  'Letter  to  the  Duke  of 
Wellington  on  creating  Peers  for  Life ' 
(anon.),  1830,  for  private  circulation  only; 
2nd  edit,  (anon.),  1830;  3rd  edit.,  by  Sir 
Harris  Nicolas,  1834.  24.  '  Privy  Purse  Ex- 
penses of  Elizabeth  of  York,  with  Memoir 
of  her,'  1830.  25.  '  Report  of  Proceedings 
on  Claims  to  Earldom  of  Devon,'  1832. 
26.  '  The  Scrope  and  Grosvenor  Controversy,' 
1832 ;  a  magnificent  work  of  150  copies 
only,  privately  printed  at  the  expense  of  an 
association  of  noblemen  and  gentlemen.  The 
first  volume  contained  the  controversy  be- 
tween Ricardus  le  Scrope  and  Robertus 
Grosvenor,  milites,  and  the  second  included 
a  history  of  the  Scropes  and  of  the  deponents 
in  their  favour :  the  third  volume,  to  con- 
tain notices  of  the  Grosvenor  deponents,  was 
never  published.  27.  '  Letters  of  Joseph 
Ritson,'  1833,  2  vols.  28.  '  Proceedings  and 
Ordinances  of  the  Privy  Council  of  Eng- 
land, 1386-1542,'  1884-7,  7  vols.  His  re- 
muneration for  this  work  was  150£.  per 
volume.  It  contained  a  mass  of  valuable 
matter,  and  after  an  interval  of  more  than 
fifty  years  the  labour  has  been  resumed  by 
Mr.  J.  R.  Dasent.  29.  'Treatise  on  Law 
of  Adulterine  Bastardy,'  discussing  the  claim 
of  William  Knollys  [q.  v.]  to  be  Earl  of  Ban- 
bury,  1836;  2nd  edit,  1838.  30.  'The  Com- 
plete Angler  of  Izaak  Walton  and  Charles 
Cotton,'  with  drawings  by  Stothard  and  In- 
skipp,  1836,  2  vols. ;  a  magnificent  work. 
The  lives  were  issued  separately  in  1837, 
and  the  whole  work  was  reprinted  in  1875. 
31.  '  History  of  Orders  of  Knighthood  of 
the  British  Empire  and  of  the  Guelphs  of 
Hanover,'  1841-2,  4  vols.  32.  '  History  of 
Earldoms  of  Strathern,  Monteith,  and  Airth, 
with  Report  of  Proceedings  of  Claim  of 
R.  B.  Allardice  to  Earldom  of  Airth,'  1842. 
33.  '  Statement  on  Mr.  Babbage's  Calculating 
Engines,' 18-1 3;  reprinted  in  Babbage's '  Life 
of  a  Philosopher,'  pp.  68  -96.  34.  '  Despatches 
and  Letters  of  Lord  Nelson,'  1844-6,  7  vols. ; 
another  issue  began  in  1845,  but  only  one 
volume  came  out.  35.  '  Court  of  Queen 
Victoria,  or  Portraits  of  British  Ladies,' 
1845 ;  only  three  parts  were  published. 
36.  'History  of  Royal  Navy,'  1847,  2  vols. ; 
incomplete,  extending  only  to  reign  of 


Henry  V.  37.  '  Memoirs  of  Sir  Christopher 
Hatton,'  1847. 

Nicolas  brought  out  the  '  Carcanet '  (1828 
and  1839)  and  the  '  Cynosure '  (1837),  both 
containing  select  passages  from  the  most 
distinguished  English  writers  ;  and,  in  con- 
junction with  Henry  Southern,  he  edited  the 
two  volumes  (1827  and  1828)  of  the  second 
series  of  the  '  Retrospective  Review.'  He 
drew  up  an  elaborate  analysis  of  the  writings 
of  Junius,  some  part  of  which  appeared  in 
Wade's  edition  of '  Junius  '  (Bohn's  Standard 
Library,  vols.  119  and  120),  and  the  whole 
manuscript  was  ultimately  sold  to  Joseph 
Parkes  [q.  v.]  For  Pickering's  Aldine  edition 
of  the  poets  Nicolas  contributed  lives  of 
Thomson,  Collins,  the  Earl  of  Surrey  and  Sir 
Thomas  Wyatt,  Henry  Kirke  White,  Burns, 
Cowper,  and  Chaucer,  the  last  being  especi- 
ally valuable  through  his  investigations  in 
contemporary  documents.  These  memoirs 
have  been  inserted  in  the  subsequent  issues 
of  that  series.  It  was  his  intention  to  have 
superintended  an  edition  of  Thomson's  poems, 
and  Lord  Lyttelton  furnished  him  with  con- 
siderable information  on  the  subject.  To  the 
'  Archseologia  '  and  the  '  Gentleman's  Maga- 
zine '  he  contributed  numerous  antiquarian 
papers,  most  of  them  in  the  latter  periodical 
being  signed  '  Clionas,'  and  relating  to  the 
Cornish  families  with  which  he  was  con- 
nected. He  also  wrote  the  long  preface  to 
its  hundredth  volume.  The  '  Westminster 
Review,'  '  Quarterly  Review,'  '  Spectator,' 
'  Athenaeum,'  and  '  Naval  and  Military  Ma- 
gazine '  were  among  the  other  periodicals  to 
which  he  occasionally  contributed. 

Nicolas  gave  assistance  to  Dallaway  and 
Cartwright's  '  History  of  Sussex,'  Cotman's 
'  Sepulchral  Brasses  in  Norfolk  and  Suffolk,' 
Samuel  Bentley's  '  Excerpta  Historica,'  and 
Emma  Roberts's  '  Rival  Houses  of  York 
and  Lancaster.'  The  voluminous  papers  of 
Sir  Hudson  Lowe  on  Napoleon's  captivity  at 
St.  Helena  were  sorted  and  arranged  by  him, 
and  at  the  time  of  his  death  a  mass  of  docu- 
ments to  September  1817  had  been  set  up  in 
type.  They  were  reduced  in  matter  by 
William  Forsyth,  Q.C.,  and  published  in 
three  volumes  in  1853.  Nicolas  edited  in 
1836  the  poetical  remains  of  his  friend  Sir 


.  E.  Croft,  and  compiled  in  1842  a  history 
f  '  The  Cornish  Club,'  with  a  list  of  its 
members,  which  was  reprinted  and  supple- 
mented by  Mr.  Henry  Paull  in  1877.  Letters 
by  him  are  in  Nichols's '  Illustrations  of  Lite- 
rary History,'  vol.  viii.  pp.  xlvi-xlvii,  and  the 
'  Memoir  of  Augustus  de  Morgan,'  pp.  70-3. 
Several  of  his  manuscripts  and  letters  are 
in  the  British  Museum  (Addit,  MSS.  6526, 
19704-8, 28847, 24872,  and  28894,  and  Eger- 


Nicolay 


44 


Nicoll 


ton  MS.  2241).  Several  others  were  dispersed 
in  the  sale  of  Sir  C.  Young's  collections 
December  1871. 

[Gent.  Mag.  1822  pt.  i.  p.  369,  1848  pt.  ii.  pp. 
425-9,  562  ;  Cunningham  and  Wheatley's  Lon- 
don, iii.  348,  385  ;  Burke's  Commoners,  ir.  138- 
140,  292-7 ;  O'Byrne's  Naval  Biogr.  Diet. ;  Boase 
and  Courtney's  Bibl.  Cornubiensis,  vols.  i.  and  iii. ; 
Boase's  Collect.  Cornubiensia,  pp.  626-7  ;  Brit- 
ton's  Autobiog.  iii.  179  ;  Tail's  Edinburgh  Mag. 
1848,  p.  640  ;  Notes  and  Queries,  2nd  ser.  vii. 
322-3,  4th  ser.  i.  36;  Dyce  Catalogue,  i.  218; 
Babbage's  Passages  from  the  Life  of  a  Philo- 
sopher, pp.  363-4 ;  Parochial  Hist,  of  Cornwall, 
iii  269-70.]  W.  P.  C. 

NICOLAY,  SIK  WILLIAM  (1771- 
1842),  colonial  administrator,  was  born  in 
1771  of  an  old  Saxe-Gotha  family  settled  in 
England.  He  entered  the  Royal  Military 
Academy,  Woolwich,  as  a  cadet  1  Nov.  1785, 
but  did  not  obtain  a  commission  as  second 
lieutenant  royal  artillery  until  28  May  1790. 
In  April  1791;he  embarked  for  India  with  two 
newly  formed  companies  of  royal  artillery, 
known  as  the  *  East  India  Detachment,' which 
subsequently  formed  the  nucleus  of  the  old 
sixth  battalion  (DUNCAN,  Hist.  Roy.  Artil- 
lery, ii.  2).  He  served  under  Lord  Corn- 
wallis  at  the  siege  of  Seringapatam  in  1792, 
and  was  an  assistant-engineer  at  the  reduc- 
tion of  Pondicherry  in  1793.  Meanwhile, 
with  some  other  artillery  subalterns,  he  had 
been  transferred  in  November  1792  to  the 
royal  engineers,  in  which  he  became  first- 
lieutenant  15  Aug.  1793  and  captain  29  Aug. 
1798.  He  was  present  at  the  capture  of  St. 
Lucia,  and  was  left  there  as  commanding 
engineer  by  Sir  John  Moore.  He  afterwards 
served  under  Sir  Ralph  Abercromby  at  To- 
bago and  Trinidad  until  compelled  to  return 
home  by  a  broken  thigh,  which  incapacitated 
him  for  duty  for  two  years.  When  the 
royal  staff  corps  was  formed,  to  provide  a 
corps  for  quartermaster-general's  and  engi- 
neer duties  which  should  be  under  the 
horse  guards  (instead  of  under  the  ordnance), 
Nicolay  was  appointed  major  of  the  new  corps 
from  26  June  1801,  and  on  4  April  1805  be- 
came lieutenant-colonel.  He  was  employed  on 
the  defences  of  the  Kent  and  Sussex  coasts 
during  the  invasion  alarms  of  1804-5,  and 
on  intelligence  duties  under  Sir  John  Moore 
in  Spain  in  1808,  and  was  present  at  Corunna. 
He  became  a  brevet-colonel  4  June  1813. 
In  1815  he  proceeded  to  Belgium  in  com- 
mand of  five  companies  of  the  royal  staff 
corps,  and  was  present  at  the  battle  of 
Waterloo  (C.B.  and  medal)  and  the  occupa- 
tion of  Paris.  There  he  remained  until  the 
division  destined  to  occupy  the  frontier,  of 
which  the  staff  corps  formed  part,  moved  to 


Carnbray.  He  became  a  major-general  12  Aug. 
1819.  He  was  governor  of  Dominica  from 
April  1824  to  July  1831,  of  St.  Kitts,  Ne- 
vis, Antigua,  and  the  Virgin  Islands  from 
January  1831  to  December  1832,  and  of 
Mauritius  from  1832  to  February  1840,  an 
anxious  time,  as,  owing  to  the  recent  abolition 
of  slavery  and  other  causes,  there  was  much 
ill-feeling  in  the  island  towards  the  English. 
Nicolay,  a  C.B.  and  K.C.H.,  was  promoted 
to  lieutenant-general  10  Jan.  1837,  and  was 
appointed  colonel,  1st  West  India  regiment, 
30  Nov.  1839.  He  died  at  his  residence, 
Oriel  Lodge,  Cheltenham,  on  3  May  1842. 
He  married  in  1806  the  second  daughter  of 
the  Rev.  E.  Law  of  Whittingham,  North- 
umberland. 

[Kane's  List  of  Officers  Roy.  Art.  1869  ed. 
p.  20 ;  Vibart's  History  Madras  Sappers,  vol.  i., 
for  accounts  of  sieges  of  Seringapatam  and 
Pondicherry.  Nicolay's  name  is  misspelt  Nicolas ; 
Philippart's  Royal  Military  Calendar,  1820,  iv. 
43 ;  Basil  Jackson's  Recollections  of  the  Waterloo 
Campaign  (privately  printed) ;  Gent.  Mag.  1842, 
ii.  205.]  H.  M.  C. 

NICOLL.    [See  also  NICHOL  and  NICOL.] 

NICOLL,  ALEXANDER  (1793-1828), 
orientalist,  youngest  son  of  John  Nicoll,  was 
born  at  Monymusk,  Aberdeenshire,  3  April 
1793.  After  attending  successively  a  private 
school,  the  parish  school,  and  Aberdeen  gram- 
mar school,  he  entered  Aberdeen  University, 
where  he  studied  two  years  with  distinction. 
In  1807  he  removed  to  Balliol  College,  Ox- 
ford, on  a  Snell  exhibition,  and  graduated 
B.A.  in  1811,  and  M.A.  in  1814.  He  began 
his  special  oriental  studies  in  1813,  and  was 
afterwards  appointed  sub-librarian  in  the 
Bodleian  Library.  In  1817  betook  deacon's 
orders,  and  became  a  curate  in  an  Oxford 
church.  In  1822  he  succeeded  Dr.  Richard 
Laurence  [q.  v.]  as  regius  professor  of  Hebrew 
and  canon  of  Christ  Church,  on  the  presenta- 
tion of  the  Earl  of  Liverpool,  prime  minister, 
and  was  made  D.C.L.  in  the  same  year.  He 
died  of  bronchitis  on  24  Sept.  1828.  He  was 
twice  married — first  to  a  Danish  lady,  who 
died  in  1825 ;  and,  secondly,  to  Sophia,  daugh- 
ter of  James  Parsons,  the  editor  of  the  Oxford 
'  Septuagint,'  who  prepared  a  posthumous 
volume  of  Nicoll's  sermons,  with  memoir,  in 
1830.  By  his  second  wife  he  left  three 
daughters. 

Nicoll's  main  work  was  his  catalogues  of 
the  oriental  manuscripts  in  the  Bodleian  Li- 
brary. He  first  arranged  those  brought  from 
the  east  by  Edward  Daniel  Clarke  [q.  v.],  and 
published  in  1815  a  second  part  of  the  cata- 
logue, which  dealt  with  the  oriental  manu- 
scripts; the  first  part,  dealing  with  the  classi- 


Nicoll 


45 


Nicoll 


cal  manuscripts,  had  been  issued  by  Gaisford 
in  1812.  In  1818  Nicoll  published  '  Notitia 
Codicis  Samaritano-Arabici  Pentateuchi  in 
Bibl.  Bodleiana,'  Oxford,  royal  8vo.  Finally, 
he  added  in  1821  a  second  part  to  the 
'  Bibliothecse  Bodleianae  Codicum  Manu- 
scriptorum  Orientalium  Catalogus,'  of  which 
the  first  part,  by  Joannes  Uri  [q.  v.],  the 
Hungarian  scholar,  had  appeared  in  1788. 
The  third  part,  by  Edward  Bouverie  Pusey 
[q.  v.],  was  printed  in  1835.  These  compila- 
tions gained  for  Nicoll  a  European  reputation, 
and  such  was  his  linguistic  fame  that  it  was 
commonly  said  of  him  that  he  might  pass  to 
the  Great  Wall  of  China  without  the  services 
of  an  interpreter. 

[Memoir  by  Rev.  J.  Parsons ;  Anderson's  Scot- 
tish Nation  ;  Foster's  Alumni  Oxon. ;  Chambers's 
Biogr.  Diet,  of  Eminent  Scotsmen,  pp.  218-19  ; 
Macray's  Annals  of  the  Bodleian  Library,  1889, 
2nd  ed.]  T.  B. 

NICOLL  or  NICOLLS,  ANTHONY 
(1611-1659),  parliamentarian,  born  at  St. 
Tudy,  Cornwall,  14  Nov.  1611,  was  eldest 
son  of  Humphry  Nicoll  of  Penvose,  in  that 
parish  (born  in  1577,  sat  in  parliament  for 
the  borough  of  Bodmin,  Cornwall,  March 
1627-8  to  March  1628-9,  and  buried  at  St. 
Tudy  31  March  1642),  who  married  at  St. 
Dominick  in  the  same  county,  in  May  1604, 
Philipp  or  Philippa,  daughter  of  Sir  Anthony 
Rous,  knt.  He  was  also  connected  with  the 
great  Cornish  families  of  Cavell,  Lower, 
Mohun,  and  Roscarrock,  and,  through  his 
mother,  he  was  a  nephew  of  John  Pym  (Bibl. 
Cornub.  ii.  595).  He  was  returned  for  the 
Cornish  borough  of  Bossiney  in  the  parlia- 
ment which  lasted  from  13  April  to  5  May 
1640,  and  in  the  Long  parliament  of  the 
same  year  he  sat  for  Bodmin.  This  return 
was  disputed  by  Sir  John  Bramston,  and 
Nicoll  was  declared  by  the  committee  of 
election  to  have  been  unduly  returned ;  but, 
through  Pym's  influence,  this  decision  was 
never  reported  to  the  house  itself.  In  after 
years  the  improper  retention  of  the  seat  was 
often  brought  up  against  him.  He  acted  for 
the  most  part  with  Denzil  Holies  [q.  v.]  and 
the  presbyterian  members,  and  was  often  ap- 
pointed on  conferences  and  committees. 

After  the  defeat  of  the  parliamentary  forces 
at  Stamford  Hill,  near  Stratton,  Cornwall,  on 
16  May  1643,  complaint  was  made  by  their 
commander,  the  Earl  of  Stamford,  that  Ni- 
coll's  action  in  withdrawing  the  cavalry  had 
contributed  to  the  disaster.  A  joint  com- 
mittee of  both  houses  was  appointed  to  in- 
quire into  the  matter,  but  no  result  was 
reached.  On  1  May  1647  he  was  nominated 
a  member  of  the  body  for  regulating  the  uni- 


versity of  Oxford.  Later  in  the  same  year 
the  army  made  specific  charges  against  eleven 
presbyterian  members,  of  whom  Nicoll  was- 
one ;  but  for  a  time,  owing  to  the  withdrawal 
of  the  independent  representatives,  his 
friends  were  victorious.  The  special  charges 
against  him  alleged  that  he  had  remained  in 
parliament  for  many  years  although  the  seat 
bad  been  declared  void  by  the  committee  of 
privileges,  that  he  had  influenced  the  elec- 
tion of  members  in  the  west,  and  that  he  had 
received  rewards.  These  accusations  he  de- 
nied ;  but  he  admitted  that  he  had  continued 
in  the  office  of  master  of  the  armoury  in  the 
Tower,  and  had  lost  the  lucrative  position  of 
'  Customer  of  Plymouth  and  of  the  Cornish 
ports.'  When  the  army  entered  London 
(6  Aug.  1647)  the  cause  of  the  indepen- 
dents triumphed,  and  Nicoll  was  ordered 
into  restraint.  He  had  procured  a  pass  from 
the  speaker  to  go  into  Cornwall,  but  could 
not  obtain  one  from  Fairfax.  On  the  way 
to  his  own  county  he  was  stopped  by  some 
troopers,  and  carried  on  16  Aug.  to  head- 
quarters at  Kingston.  Next  day  he  was 
brought  before  that  general,  and  on  18  Aug. 
a  letter  from  him  was  read  in  the  House  of 
Commons.  Fairfax  was  communicated  with, 
and,  after  debate,  it  was  ordered  that  Nicoll 
should  remain  in  custody.  When  it  came 
out  on  the  same  day  that  Nicoll  had  escaped, 
the  ports  were  stopped  against  him,  and  the 
speaker's  pass  revoked.  But  the  presbyte- 
rians  soon  regained  their  supremacy,  and  the 
disabling  orders  against  him  were  revoked. 
On  12  Oct.  1648  he  formed  one  of  the  com- 
mittee of  sequestrations  for  Cornwall,  and  on 
4  Nov.  the  office  of  master  of  the  armouries 
in  the  Tower  and  at  Greenwich  was  granted 
to  him  for  life  by  patent.  He  was  probably 
expelled  through  '  Pride's  purge.' 

Nicoll  sat  for  Cornwall  1654  to  1655,  and 
was  chosen  for  Bossiney  on  11  Jan.  1658-9, 
and  in  1657  he  became  sheriff  of  that  county. 
He  died  of  fever  on  20  Feb.  1658-9,  arid 
was  buried  at  the  Savoy  on  22  Feb.  An 
elaborate  monument,  with  a  Latin  inscrip- 
tion and  verses  in  English,  which  now  stands 
on  the  south  chancel  aisle,  was  erected  to- 
his  memory  in  St.  Tudy  church  by  his  wife 
Amy  in  1681.  It  contains  effigies  of  him- 
self, his  wife,  and  five  sons.  He  had  five 
sons  and  two  daughters ;  two  of  the  younger 
sons  were  at  that  time  buried  in  the  Savoy, 
and  two  of  the  elder  at  St.  Tudy.  His  wife 
Amy,  daughter  and  coheiress  of  Peter  Spec- 
cot  of  Speccot,  Devonshire,  married  in  1670 
John  Vyvyan  of  Trewan,  Cornwall.  Her 
will  was  proved  on  27  May  1685.  In  1640 
Nicoll  rebuilt  the  mansion  of  Penvose,  and 
filled  the  windows  with  stained  glass,  em- 


Nicoll 


46 


Nicoll 


blazoned  with  his  own  arms  and  those  of  the 
families  with  whom  he  was  connected. 
About  1740  the  family  estates  were  alienated. 

The  differences,  in  which  Nicoll  was  con- 
cerned, between  the  army  and  the  parliament, 
formed  the  subject-matter  of  several  pam- 
phlets. In  1643  there  were  published  'Two 
Letters,  one  from  Robert,  Earl  of  Essex,  to 
Anthony  Nicoll ;  the  other  to  Sir  Samuel 
Luke ; '  and  in  1646  there  came  out  '  Several 
Letters  to  William  Lenthal  on  the  Gallant 
Proceedings  of  Sir  Thomas  Fairfax  in  the 
West,'  one  of  which  was  from  Nicoll.  Mercer's 
'  Anglife  Speculum '  (1646)  contains  a  son- 
net to  him,  and  Captain  John  Harris  printed 
in  1651  a  petition  to  parliament  against 
the  proceedings  of  Rudyerd,  Alexander  Pym, 
and  Nicoll  as  trustees  '  for  the  payment  of 
M.  Pym's  debts,  and  raising  portions  for  two 
younger  children.'  Letters,  both  printed  and 
in  manuscript,  by  him  are  in  the  '  Thurloe 
State  Papers,'  iii.  227,  iv.  451  ;  Additional 
MSS.,  British  Museum  ;  Rawlinson  and 
Tanner  MSS.  at  the  Bodleian  Library ;  the 
House  of  Lords  MSS. ;  and  those  of  G.  A. 
Lowndes  (Hist.  MSS.  Comm.  7th  Rep.  App. 
pp.  552-65). 

[Maclean's  Trigg  Minor,  iii.  212,  322-5  ;  Bi- 
d^n's  Kingston-on-Thames,  pp.  28-9  ;  Wood's 
Univ.  of  Oxford,  ed.  Crutch,  vol.  ii.  pt.  ii.  pp. 
504,  545;  Thomas  Burton's  Diary,  iii.  450; 
Bramston's  Autobiogr.  (Camden  Soc.),  pp.  160-2  ; 
Hazlitt's  Supplement  to  Bibliogr.  Collections, 
1889,  p.  46  ;  Rushworth,  vol.  ii.  pt.  iv.  pp.  778- 
88 ;  Parochial  Hist,  of  Cornwall,  iv.  268.] 

W.  P.  C. 

NICOLL,  FRANCIS  (1770-1835),  Scot- 
tish divine,  third  son  of  John  Nicoll,  merchant, 
Lossiemouth,  Elgin,  was  born  there  in  1770. 
He  studied  at  King's  College,  Aberdeen,  gra- 
duated M.A.  in  1789,  and  was  licensed  as  a 
preacher  by  the  presbytery  of  Elgin  in  1793. 
After  spending  several  years  as  tutor  in  the 
family  of  Sir  James  Grant  of  Grant,  bart.,  he 
was  presented  by  the  Earl  of  Moray  to  the 
parish  of  Auchtertool  in  Fife,  and  ordained 
21  Sept.  1797.  Two  years  afterwards  he 
was  translated  to  the  united  parishes  of 
Mains  and  Strathmartine  in  Forfarshire, 
which  were  then  newly  conjoined,  and  he 
was  admitted  to  the  charge  on  19  Sept.  1799. 
The  church  of  Mains  was  built  for  him  in 
1800,  and  the  degree  of  D.D.  was  conferred 
upon  him  by  St.  Andrews  University  in 
1807.  He  held  a  high  position  in  the  church 
courts  both  as  a  debater  and  a  man  of  affairs, 
and  in  1809  he  was  elected  moderator  of  the 
general  assembly  of  the  church  of  Scotland. 
In  1819  he  was  presented  by  the  Prince 
Regent  to  the  parish  of  St.  Leonard's,  Fife, 
and  was  in  the  same  year  made  principal 


of  the  united  colleges  of  St.  Leonard's  and 
St.  Salvator's  in  the  university  of  St.  An- 
drews, in  succession  to  James  Playfair.  In 
March  1822  he  was  chosen  rector  of  St. 
Andrews  University,  and  he  drew  up  the 
address  presented  to  George  IV  during  the 
royal  visit  in  August  of  that  year.  Nicoll 
resigned  his  office  as  minister  of  St.  Leonard's 
parish  in  1824,  and  died  on  8  Oct.  1835.  In 
his  government  of  St.  Andrews  University 
he  proved  an  efficient  administrator. 

[Scott's  Fasti,  ii.  401,525,  iii.  721 ;  Grierson's 
Delineations  of  St.  Andrews,  pp.  188,  204 ; 
Millar's  Roll  of  Eminent  Burgesses  of  Dundee, 
p.  256.]  A.  H.  M. 

NICOLL,  ROBERT  (1814-1837),  poet, 
was  born  on  7  Jan.  1814  at  the  farmhouse 
of  Little  Tulliebeltane,  in  the  parish  of 
Auchtergaven,  Perthshire,  about  halfway 
between  Perth  and  Dunkeld,  and  was  the 
second  son  in  a  family  of  nine  children. 
When  he  was  only  five  his  father  was  re- 
duced to  the  condition  of  a  day  labourer  on 
his  own  farm  by  the  default  of  a  relative 
for  whom  he  had  become  security.  Robert's 
education  was  thus  exceedingly  imperfect, 
but  he  read  all  the  books  he  could  find,  and 
profited  by  the  opportunities  he  obtained  by 
his  removal  to  Perth,  where,  at  the  age  of 
sixteen,  he  apprenticed  himself  to  a  female 
grocer  and  wine  merchant.  By  a  small 
saving  he  enabled  his  mother  to  open  a 
shop,  and  greatly  improved  the  circum- 
stances of  his  family.  He  had  already  begun 
to  write  poetry,  but  destroyed  most  of  his 
compositions  in  despair  of  ever  attaining  to 
write  correct  English ;  and  his  first  lite- 
rary production  that  saw  the  light  was  a 
tale,  '  II  Zingaro,'  founded  on  an  Italian 
tradition,  which  appeared  in  '  Johnstone's 
Magazine '  in  1833.  In  the  same  year  his 
indentures  were  terminated  on  account  of 
ill-health,  and,  after  a  short  stay  at  home 
to  recruit  his  strength,  he  proceeded  to  Edin- 
burgh, where  he  met  with  considerable 
notice,  but  no  employment  beyond  that  of 
an  occasional  contribution  to  '  Johnstone's,' 
which  shortly  afterwards  became  '  Tait's 
Magazine  '  [see  JOHNSTONS,  CHRISTIAN  ISO- 
BEL].  He  had  meditated  emigrating  to 
America,  but  was  induced  to  remain  in 
Scotland  and  open  a  circulating  library  at 
Dundee,  which  did  not  eventually  prove 
successful.  In  the  autumn  of  1835  his 
poems,  printed  at  the  office  of  a,  Dundee 
newspaper,  were  published  by  Tait  of  Edin- 
burgh, and  proved  somewhat  of  a  com- 
mercial but  not  much  of  a  literary  success. 
In  1836  the  circulating  library  was  given 
up,  and  Tait  obtained  for  Nicoll  the  appoint- 


Nicoll 


47 


Nicoll 


ment  of  editor  of  the  '  Leeds  Times.'  The 
salary  was  only  100/.  a  year ;  nevertheless, 
before  leaving  Dundee  Nicoll  married  Alice 
Suter,  niece  of  a  newspaper  proprietor  in  the 
town,  who  is  described  as  beautiful  and  in- 
teresting, and  in  every  respect  suited  to 
him.  Nicoll  had  always  been  a  strong, 
even  a  violent,  radical  politician.  The  vigour 
which  he  introduced  into  the  '  Leeds  Times ' 
greatly  stimulated  the  sale  of  the  paper,  but 
wore  out  his  delicate  constitution,  which 
completely  broke  down  after  the  general 
election  in  the  summer  of  1837,  in  conse- 
quence of  his  arduous  and  successful  exer- 
tions in  the  cause  of  Sir  William  Moles- 
worth.  He  returned  to  Scotland  to  die. 
Everything  possible  was  done  for  him.  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Johnstone  received  him  into  their 
house.  Andrew  Combe  and  Robert  Cox 
attended  him  gratuitously.  Sir  William 
Molesworth  sent  him  50/.,  '  accompanied,' 
says  Mrs.  Johnstone,  '  by  a  letter  remark- 
able for  delicacy  and  kindness.'  But  his 
health  continued  to  decline,  and  he  died  at 
Laverock  Bank,  near  Edinburgh,  on  7  Dec. 
1837.  Two  days  before  his  death  his  father 
and  mother  left  their  home,  and,  walking 
fifty  miles  through  frost  and  snow,  arrived 
just  in  time  to  see  him  alive.  He  was  buried 
in  North  Leith  churchyard.  The  inappro- 
priateness  of  the  situation  to  the  last  resting- 
place  of  a  poet  is  the  subject  of  some  touching 
lines  by  his  brother  William,  who  a  few 
years  afterwards  was  himself  buried  in  the 
same  grave. 

It  is  probably  to  the  credit  of  Nicoll's 
lyrical  faculty  that  his  songs  in  the  Scottish 
dialect  should  be  so  greatly  superior  to  his 
poems  in  literary  English.  The  latter,  with 
some  well-known  exceptions,  are  of  small 
account,  but  as  a  Scottish  minstrel  he  stands 
very  high.  The  characteristics  of  the  native 
poetry  of  Scotland  are  always  the  same : 
melody,  simplicity,  truth  to  nature,  ardent 
feeling,  pathos,  and  humour.  All  these  ex- 
cellences Nicoll  possesses  in  a  very  high 
degree,  and  deserves  the  distinction  of  having 
been  a  most  genuine  poet  of  the  people.  He 
certainly  falls  far  short  of  Burns ;  but  Burns 
produced  nothing  so  good  as  Nicoll's  best 
until  after  attaining  the  age  at  which 
Nicoll  ceased  to  write ;  and  it  is  not  likely 
that  the  young  man  of  twenty-three  had 
arrived  at  the  limits  of  his  genius.  His 
mind  grew  rapidly,  and  he  might  have  pro- 
duced prose  work  of  abiding  value  when  his 
political  passion  had  been  moderated  and  his 
powers  disciplined  by  experience  of  the 
world.  Personally  he  was  amiable,  honour- 
able, enthusiastic,  and  warmly  attached  to 
•his  friends. 


[Nicoll's  poems  were  republished  in  1844 
with  copious  additions,  principally  of  pieces 
written  subsequently  to  the  original  publication 
in  1835,  and  an  anonymous  memoir  by  Mrs. 
Johnstone,  which  has  continued  to  be  prefixed 
to  more  recent  editions,  and  is  the  best  authority 
for  his  life.  An  independent  biography,  by 
P.  R.  Drummond.  1884,  adds  some  interesting 
letters  and  anecdotes,  but  does  not  materially 
modify  the  impression  left  by  Mrs.  Johnstone's 
memoir.  See  also  Chambers's  Biogr.  Diet,  of 
Eminent  Scotsmen,  1856,  v.  487 ;  Walker's  Bards 
of  Bon-Accord,  p.  438  ;  Charles  Kingsley,  in  the 
North  British  Review,  vol.  xvi. ;  and  Samuel 
Smiles,  in  Good  Words,  vol.  xvi.]  R.  G. 

NICOLL,  WHITLOCK  (1786-1838), 
physician,  son  of  the  Rev.  Iltyd  Nicoll, 
was  born  at  Treddington,  Worcestershire,  in 
1786.  His  father  was  rector  of  the  parish, 
and  died  before  Nicoll  was  two  years  old; 
his  mother  was  Ann,  daughter  of  George 
Hatch  of  Windsor.  He  was  educated  by 
the  Rev.  John  Nicoll,  his  uncle,  and  placed 
in  1802  to  live  with  Mr.  Bevan,  a  medical 
practitioner  at  Cowbridge,  Glamorganshire. 
In  1806  he  became  a  student  at  St.  George's 
Hospital,  and  in  1809  received  the  diploma 
of  membership  of  the  College  of  Surgeons  of 
England.  He  then  became  partner  of  his 
former  teacher  at  Cowbridge,  and  engaged  in 
general  practice.  He  went  to  live  in  Ludlow, 
Shropshire,  took  an  M.D.  degree  17  May 
1816  at  Marischal  College,  Aberdeen,  and 
was  admitted  an  extra-licentiate  of  the  Col- 
lege of  Physicians  of  London  8  June  181  G. 
He  commenced  physician,  received  in  1817 
the  degree  of  M.D.  from  the  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  and  began  to  write  as  an  autho- 
rity on  medicine  in  the  'London  Medical 
Repository '  in  1819.  His  first  separate  pub- 
lication, 'Tentamen  Nosologicum,'  had  ap- 
peared in  vol.  vii.  No.  39  of  the  '  Repository.' 
It  is  a  general  classification  of  diseases  based 
upon  their  symptoms.  His  three  main  divi- 
sions are  febres,  of  which  he  describes  three 
orders ;  neuroses,  with  seven  orders ;  and 
cachexise,  with  eleven  orders,  and  the  ar- 
rangement shows  nothing  more  than  the  in- 
genuity of  a  student.  '  The  History  of  the 
Human  (Economy '  appeared  in  1819,  and 
suggests  a  general  physiological  method  of 
inquiry  in  clinical  medicine.  '  Primary  Ele- 
ments of  Disordered  Circulation  of  the 
Blood'  was  also  published  in  1819,  and  con- 
tains one  hundred  obvious  remarks  on  the 
circulation.  '  General  Elements  of  Patho- 
logy' appeared  in  1820,  and  in  1821  'Prac- 
tical Remarks  on  the  Disordered  States  of 
the  Cerebral  Structures  in  Infants.'  This 
was  first  read  before  an  association  of  phy- 
sicians in  Ireland  on  6  Dec.  1819,  and  is  the 


Nicolls 


48 


Nicolls 


most  interesting  of  his  medical  writings. 
He  seems  to  have  noticed  some  of  the  now 
well-known  phenomena  of  the  reflection  of 
irritation  from  one  part  of  the  nervous  sys- 
tem to  another;  but  his  argument  is  con- 
fused, and  his  proposition  that  erethism  of 
the  cranial  brain  is  due  to  impressions  on  the 
anticerebral  extremities  of  nerves  is  im- 
perfectly supported  by  his  actual  observa- 
tions. At  this  time  he  became  a  member  of 
the  Royal  Irish  Academy.  On  17  March 
1826  he  graduated  M.D.  at  Glasgow,  then 
removed  to  London,  and  was  admitted  a 
licentiate  of  the  College  of  Physicians  on 
26  June  1826.  He  attained  some  success  in 
practice,  and  was  elected  F.R.S.  18  Feb. 
1830.  He  published  two  ophthalmic  cases 
of  some  interest — one  of  imperfection  of 
vision,  the  other  of  colour-blindness — in  the 
'  Medico-Chirurgical  Transactions,'  vols.  vii. 
and  ix.  In  1835  he  gave  up  practice,  and 
settled  at  Wimbledon,  Surrey,  where  he  died 
on  3  Dec.  1838. 

The  taste  for  Hebrew  and  for  theology 
which  he  acquired  in  boyhood  from  the 
learned  uncle  who  educated  him  remained 
through  life.  He  left  several  theological 
works  in  manuscript,  which  were  published 
in  1841,  with  a  short  prefatory  sketch  of  his 
life.  He  published  five  theological  treatises 
during  his  lifetime  :  '  An  Analysis  of  Chris- 
tianity,' 8vo,  London,  1823;  'Nugae  He- 
braicae '  and  '  Nature  the  Preacher,'  1837 ; 
'  Remarks  on  the  Breaking  and  Eating  of 
Bread  and  Drinking  of  Wine  in  Commemo- 
ration of  the  Passion  of  Christ,'  8vo,  Lon- 
don, 1837  ;  '  An  Inquiry  into  the  Nature  and 
Prospects  of  the  Adamite  Race,'  8vo,  Lon- 
don, 1838. 

[Munk's  Coll.  of  Pbys.  iii.  149  ;  Works.] 

N.  M. 

NICOLLS  or  NICHOLLS,  SIB  AUGUS- 
TINE (1559-1616),  judge,  born  at  Ecton, 
Northamptonshire,  in  April  1559,  was  the 
second  son  of  Thomas  Nicholls,  serjeant-at- 
law,  by  Anne,  daughter  of  John  Pell,  esq.,  of 
Ellington,  Huntingdonshire.  The  Wardour 
Abbey  manor  in  Ecton  had  been  in  the  family 
for  three  generations,  having  been  purchased 
by  Augustine's  grandfather, William  Nicolls 
or  Nicoll,  of  Hardwicke,  Northamptonshire, 
who  died  in  1 575,  at  the  age  of  ninety-six. 
Augustine's  father,  Thomas,  purchased  a  third 
part  of  the  manor  of  Hardwicke  in  the  reign 
of  Elizabeth.  His  elder  brother,  Francis, 
born  in  1557,  was  governor  of  Tilbury  Fort 
in  1588.  Augustine, '  bred  in  the  study  of 
the  common  law,'became  readerat  the  Middle 
Temple  in  the  autumn  of  1602.  On  11  Feb. 
1603  Elizabeth  summoned  him  to  take  the 


degree  of  the  coif;  but  the  queen  dying  before 
the  writ  was  returnable,  it  had  to  be  renewed 
by  James  I.  Nicolls  was  sworn  in  before 
the  lord  keeper  as  serjeant-at-law  on  17  May 
following  (NICHOLS,  Progresses  of  James  /, 
i.  157).  On  14  Dec.  1603  Nicolls  was  made 
recorder  of  Leicester  (cf.  ib.  ii.  464  n.)  In 
1610  he  was  attached  as  serjeant  to  the 
household  of  Henry,  prince  of  Wales.  An 
opinion  signed  by  him  and  Thomas  Stephens, 
advising  the  prince  not  to  entertain  a  pro- 
posal for  getting  a  grant  from  the  king  of 
forfeitures  from  recusants,  is  printed  by  Birch 
from  Harl.  MS.  7009,  fol.  23  (Life  of  Henry , 
Prince  of  Wales,  pp.  169-70).  On  11  June 
1610  Nicolls,  in  addition  to  the  manors  of 
Broughton  and  Faxton,  which  he  had  pur- 
chased, received  a  grant  in  fee  simple  of  the 
manor  of  Kibworth-Beauchamp,  Leicester- 
shire (State  Papers,  Dom.  1603-10,  p.  618). 
On  26  Nov.  1612  Nicolls  was  appointed 
justice  of  common  pleas  (DUGDA.LE,  Chron. 
Ser.  p.  102 ;  BRIDGES,  Northamptonshire,  ii. 
95 ;  but  cf.  Cal.  State  Papers,  Dom.  1611-18, 
p.  158).  He  was  knighted  at  the  same  time. 
Three  years  later  his  patent  was  renewed  on 
his  appointment  as  chancellor  to  Charles, 
prince  of  Wales.  He  died  of  the  '  new  ague  f 
while  on  circuit,  on  3  Aug.  1616,  at  Kendal, 
Westmoreland,  where  there  is  a  monument 
to  his  memory ;  his  tomb,  in  black  and  white 
marble,  is  in  Faxton  Church,  Northampton- 
shire. It  might  be  said  of  him,  writes  Fuller,. 
'  Judex  mortuus  est  jura  dans.'  Robert  Bolton 
[q.  v.],  whom  he  had  presented  to  the  living 
of  Broughton,  testifies  to  his  high  qualities, 
both  as  a  man  and  a  judge.  He  particularly 
dwells  upon  Nicolls's  '  constant  and  resolute 
heart  rising  against  bribery  and  corruption/ 
and  says  that  he  '  qualified  fees  to  his  own" 
loss,'  and  would  not  take  gratuities  even 
'  after  judgment  given.'  James  I  called  him 
'  the  judge  that  would  give  no  money.'  Bol- 
ton credits  him  with  a  good  memory,  great 
patience  and  affability,  and  '  a  marvellous 
tenderness  and  pitiful!  exactnesse  in  his  in- 
quisitions after  blood.'  He  had  also  'a 
mighty  opposition  of  popery ; '  and  in  the 
north  officers  observed  that  '  in  his  two  or 
three  yeares  he  convicted,  confin'd,  and  con- 
form'd  moe  papists  than  were  in  twenty 
years  before.'  He  delivered,  especially,  a 
very  weighty  charge  at  Lancaster  in  his  lasr 
circuit  but  one  against  '  popery,  prophane- 
ness,  non-residency,  and  other  corruptions  of 
the  times.'  He  would  not  travel  on  Sunday, 
and  liked  '  profitable  and  conscionable  ser- 
mons.' '  I  cannot  tell,  saies  he,  what  you 
call  Puritanicall  sermons ;  they  come  neerest 
to  my  conscience,  and  doe  mee  the  most 
good.' 


Nicolls 


49 


Nicolls 


He  married  Mary,  daughter  of  one  Hem- 
ings  of  London,  and  widow  of  Edward  Bag- 
shaw,  esq.  Having  no  children,  the  manor 
of  Faxtou  passed  to  his  nephew  Francis, 
son  of  Francis  Nicholls,  the  governor  of 
Tilbury,  by  Anne,  daughter  of  David  Sey- 
mour, esq. 

The  nephew,  FRANCIS  NICOLLS  (1585- 
1642),  matriculated  from  Brasenose  College, 
Oxford,  on  15  Oct.  1602,  and  entered  at  the 
Middle  Temple  in  the  same  year.  Either  he 
or  his  father  was  clerk  to  the  Prince  of 
Wales's  court  of  liveries,  and  receiver  of  his 
revenues  in  Buckinghamshire  and  Bedford- 
shire in  1628  (see  Col.  State  Papers,Doua.  Ser. 
1580-1625,  Addenda,  pp.  653,  659,  667).  In 
the  parliament  of  1628-9  he  represented 
Northamptonshire,  and  was  high  sheriff  of  the 
county  in  1631.  In  May  1640  he  was  secre- 
tary to  the  elector  palatine,  and,  with  Sir 
Richard  Cave,  was  carried  off  to  Dunkirk  by 
a  pirate  sloop  (the  crew  of  which  were 
English)  during  their  passage  from  Rye  to 
Dieppe  (ib.  1640,  p.  124).  After  being  de- 
tained three  days,  Nicolls  and  his  companion 
were  allowed  to  go  back  to  Dover,  whence 
after  a  day's  interval  they  proceeded  to  Paris, 
where  they  joined  the  elector  on  22  May  (see 
two  letters  of  Nicolls  to  Secretary  Winde- 
bank  in  Cal.  State  Papers,  Dom.  Ser.  1640, 
pp.  147,  209  :  cf.  ib.  1639-41  passim).  On 
28  July  1641  he  was  created  a  baronet.  He 
clied  4  March  1642.  By  his  wife  Mary,  daugh- 
ter of  Edward  Bagshaw,  esq.,  he  had  a  son, 
Sir  Edward  Nicolls  (1620-1682),  who  suc- 
ceeded him  as  second  baronet,  and  whose 
son  by  his  second  wife,  Sir  Edward  Nicolls, 
died  in  1717  without  issue. 

[The  main  authority  is  Bolton's  Funeral  Notes 
on  the  judge,  published  in  1633  with  his  Foure 
Last  Things,  and  Bagshawe's  Life  and  Death 
of  R.  Bolton.  Other  authorities  are  Fuller's 
Worthies,  ed.  Nichols,  ii.  168  ;  Dugdale's  Orig. 
Jud.  p.  219,  Chron.  Ser.  pp.  102,  104 ;  Cole's 
Hist,  of  Ecton,  pp.  56-7 ;  Bridges's  Northamp- 
tonshire, ii.  85,  87,  95-6;  Burke's  Extinct  Ba- 
ronetage; Foster's  Alumni  Oxon.  1500-1714, 
and  Inns  of  Court  Registers;  Brook's  Lives  of  the 
Puritans,  ii.  391 ;  Pennant's  Tour  from  Down- 
ing to  Alston,  p.  119;  Nicholson's  Annals  of 
Kendal,  p.  285 ;  Brasenose  Calendar ;  Foss's 
Judges  of  England ;  besides  Calendar  of  State 
Papers,  Domestic  Ser.,  Nichols's  Progresses  of 
James  I,  and  works  cited  in  the  text.] 

G.  LE  G.  N. 

NICOLLS,  BENEDICT  (d.  1433),  bishop 
of  St.  David's,  is  described  by  Godwin  as  a 
bachelor  of  laws ;  he  was  rector  of '  Staple- 
bridge  in  the  diocese  of  Salisbury '(?  Staple- 
ford,  Wiltshire)  in  1408,  when  he  was  made 
bishop  of  Bangorby  papal  bull  dated  18  April ; 

VOL.  XLI. 


he  received  the  temporalities  on  22  July,  and 
spiritualities  on  10  Aug.  In  1410  he  was 
one  of  those  who  tried  and  condemned  the 
lollard  John  Badby  [q.  v.],  and  in  1413  was 
assessor  to  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury 
when  Sir  John  Oldcastle  [q.  v.]  was  tried 
and  excommunicated.  Next  year  he  appears 
as  a  trier  of  petitions  from  Gascony  and  parts 
beyond  sea.  On  17  Dec.  1418  he  was  trans- 
ferred to  St.  David's  in  succession  to  Stephen 
Patrington  [q.  v.] ;  he  made  his  profession 
of  obedience  to  the  Archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury on  12  Feb.  following,  and  had  the  tem- 
poralities restored  on  1  June.  In  1419  he 
was  guarantee  for  a  loan  to  the  king  (Rolls 
of  Pad.  iv.  1176;  in  the  index  Nicolls  is 
confused  both  with  a  predecessor  at  St. 
David's,  John  Catrick,  and  his  successor, 
Thomas  Rodburn  [q.  v.]).  In  1425  he  was 
one  of  those  appointed  to  determine  the  claim 
of  precedence  between  the  earls  marshal  and 
Warwick ;  in  1427  he  was  present  at  the 
opening  of  parliament,  when  Henry  Chichele 
[q.  v.],  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  preached 
against  the  statute  of  pro  visors,  and  in  the 
following  year  subscribed  to  the  answer 
which  parliament  returned  to  Gloucester 
defining  his  position  as  protector  (cf.  STUBBS, 
Const.  Hist.  iii.  107).  In  1429  he  was  again 
a  trier  of  petitions.  He  died  on  25  June  1433, 
and  was  buried  in  St.  David's  Cathedral, 
where  he  had  founded  a  chantry.  His  will, 
made  on  14  June  1433,  was  proved  on  14  Aug. 
following. 

[Rolls  of  Parl.  vol.  iv. ;  Netter's  Fasciculi 
Zizaniorum  (Rolls  Ser.),  pp.  414,  442, 447;  Elm- 
hami  Liber  Metricus  (Rolls  Ser.),  p.  162;  Wil- 
kins's  Concilia,  iii.  351-7;  Foxe's  Acts  and  Mon. 
iii.  235,  329,  336,  346-7 ;  Burnet's  Hist,  of  Re- 
formation, ed.  Pocock,  i.  189,  iv.  159-60;  God- 
win, De  Praesulibus  Angliae,  ed.  Richardson,  pp. 
583,  623  ;  Gams's  Series  Episcoporum;  Brady's 
Episcopal  Succession;  Le  Neve's  Fasti,  ed.  Hardy, 
i.  101,  296 ;  Jones  and  Freeman's  History  of 
St.  David's,  pp.  102,  123,  307;  Stubbs's  Regis- 
trum  Sacrum  and  Constitutional  History,  iii. 
79,107.]  A.  F.  P. 

NICOLLS,  FERDINAXDO  (1598-1662), 
presbyterian  divine,  son  of  a  gentleman  of 
Buckinghamshire,  was  born  in  1598.  He 
matriculated  from  Magdalen  College,  Ox- 
f  jrd,  on  10  Nov.  1615,  graduated  B.A.  on 
15  Dec.  1618,  and  M.A.  on  14  June  1621.  On 
9  May  1629  Sir  Allen  Apsley,  lieutenant  of 
the  Tower,  writing  to  Secretary  Dorchester, 
described  him  as '  of  Sherborne.'  Nicolls  had 
applied  for  permission  to  see  some  of  Apsley's 
prisoners,  and  to  speak  to  them  at  the  win- 
dows, but  had  been  prevented. 

On  12  Nov.  1634  he  was  collated  by  Bishop 
Hall  to  the  rectory  of  St.  Mary  "Arches, 


Nicolls  : 

Exeter.  In  1641  he  convened  a  parish  meet- 
ing, '  by  order  of  the  House  of  Commons,'  to 
obtain  signatures  to  a  solemn  '  Protestation ' 
against  popery,  and  later  on  was  presented 
to  the  vicarage  of  Twickenham  by  the  West- 
minster assembly.  In  November  1645  he 
was  experiencing  difficulties  in  obtaining  the 
profits  of  his  vicarage,  and  was  granted  an 
order  for  payment  by  the  committee  for  plun- 
dered ministers.  In  1648  he  took  the  cove- 
nant and  signed  '  The  Joint  Testimonie  of 
the  Ministers  of  Devon .  .  .  unto  the  Truth 
of  Jesus,'  London,  1648 ;  but  complaint  was 
made  by  the  council  of  state  on  1  April  1650, 
in  a  letter  to  Major  Blackmore  at  Exeter, 
that  he  was  active  in  stirring  np  the  people 
to  disobedience  by  intemperate  declarations 
in  the  pulpit.  An  examination  was  ordered, 
but  Nicolls  remained  in  undisturbed  pos- 
session of  his  living.  In  1654  he  became 
one  of  the  assistants  to  the  commissioners  of 
Devonshire  and  the  city  of  Exeter  for  the 
ejection  of  scandalous  ministers.  In  1656 
when,  in  pursuance  of  an  act  for  the  uniting 
of  parishes  in  Exeter,  St.  Mary  Arches  was 
one  of  the  four  churches  retained  for  public 
worship  and  the  service  of  the  Directory, 
Nicolls  was  reinstituted  and  received  a  pre- 
sentation to  the  enlarged  parish  on  11  Aug. 
1657.  In  1662  he  was  unable  to  conform  to 
the  Act  of  Uniformity,  and  was  ejected,  and 
soon  after  died.  An  almost  illegible  in- 
scription on  a  stone  in  the  church  of  St.  Mary 
Arches  gives  the  date  of  his  death  as  10  Dec. 
16.  .  (1662  ?)  There  is  no  entry  in  the  parish 
register.  The  interment  appears  to  have 
taken  place  in  the  following  April  during 
the  night.  No  minister  was  present,  and 
resistance  was  offered  when  one  arrived,  so 
that '  a  dozen  men  were  bound  over  April  13 
1663  for  disturbance  of  the  public  peace.' 

Nicolls  was  an  able  and  fluent  preacher, 
and  intolerant  of  inattention  to  his  sermons 
in  church.  He  is  said  to  have  sat  down  on 
perceiving  some  of  his  congregation  asleep, 
and  to  have  continued  his  discourse  when 
the  noise  of  the  people  rising  awakened  them. 
He  published  '  The  Life  and  Death  of  Mr. 
Ignatius  Jourdain  [q.  v.],  one  of  the  Alder- 
men of  the  City  of  Exeter,'  London,  1654, 
1655,  which  was  afterwards  printed  in 
Clarke's  '  Collection  of  Lives,'  1662,  pp.  449- 
487. 

[Palmer's  Nonconformist's  Memorial,  ii.  36-7 ; 
Wood's  Athenae  Oxon.  ed.  Bliss,  iii.  cols.  620-1 ; 
Wood's  Fasti  (Bliss),  i.  cols.  380,  397 ;  Bloxam's 
Reg.  of  Magdalen  Coll.  vol.  ii.  pp.  cv,  cvi,  vol. 
£.  pp.  34,  36 ;  Eeg.  of  Univ.  of  Oxford  (Oxf. 
Hist.  Soc.),  vol.  ii.  pt.  ii.  p.  344,  pt.  iii.  p.  368 ; 
Foster's  Alumni  Oxon. ;  Cal.  of  State  Papers 
Dom.  Ser.  1628-9  p.  543, 1650pp.  74-5  •  Oliver's 


D  Nicolls 

Hist,  of  Exeter,  pp.  118-20,  159  ;  Addit.  MS. 
15669,  f.  73  ;  information  from  the  Rev.  A.  H. 
Hamilton.]  B.  P. 

NICOLLS,  SIR  JASPER  (1778-1849), 
lieutenant-general,  was  born  at  East  Far- 
leigh,  Kent,  on  15  July  1778.  His  father 
was  at  the  time  of  his  birth  a  captain  in  the 
1st  foot  (royal  Scots),  and  subsequently  be- 
came colonel  of  his  regiment  and  mayor  of 
Dublin.  His  mother  was  daughter  and  co- 
heiress of  William  Dan,  esq.,  of  Gillingham, 
Kent.  Jasper  was  educated  first  at  a  private 
school  kept  by  the  Rev.  A.  Derby  at  Bally- 
gall,  co.  Dublin,  and  afterwards  at  Dublin 
University.  Gazetted  ensign  in  the  45th 
regiment  on  24th  May  1793,  when  only  four- 
teen years  of  age,  he  nevertheless  continued 
at  college  till  September  1794,  when  he 
joined  his  regiment,  becoming  lieutenant  on 
the  25th  of  the  following  November.  He 
spent  five  or  six  years  in  the  West  Indies, 
attaining  the  rank  of  captain  on  12  Sept. 
1799.  In  1802  he  proceeded  to  India  as 
military  secretary  and  aide-de-camp  to  his 
uncle,  Major-general  Oliver  Nicolls,  com- 
mander-in-chief  in  the  Bombay  presidency  ; 
and  a  few  days  after  the  battle  of  Assaye 
joined  the  army  commanded  by  Sir  Arthur 
Wellesley.  It  is  not  clear  whether  he  went 
as  a  volunteer  or  was  appointed  to  the  staff; 
but,  according  to  Stocqueler,  he  was  employed 
in  the  quartermaster-general's  department. 
Present  at  the  battle  of  Argaum  and  the 
siege  and  capture  of  Gawilgurh,  he  returned 
home  soon  after  the  close  of  the  campaign,  and 
obtained  his  regimental  majority  on  6  July 
1804.  In  the  following  year  the  45th  formed 
part  of  Lord  Cathcart's  expedition  to  Han- 
over, and  Major  Nicolls  accompanied  it.  In 
1806  he  sailed  with  the  force  under  Briga- 
dier-general Crawford,  first  to  the  Cape  of 
Good  Hope,  and  afterwards  to  the  Rio  de  la 
Plata,  taking  part  in  the  unfortunate  cam- 
paign under  Lieutenant-general  Whitelocke 
which  ended  so  shamefully  at  Buenos  Ayres 
in  July  1807.  In  the  ill-organised  assault  of 
that  town  Nicolls  found  himself  isolated  with 
seven  companies  of  his  regiment,  -his  colonel 
having  become  separated  with  one  or  two 
companies  from  the  main  body  of  the  45th. 
In  this  trying  position  he  displayed  conspicu- 
ous resolution,  and,  repelling  the  attack  of 
the  enemy,  held  his  ground.  On  the  following 
day,  in  pursuance  of  a  disgraceful  arrange- 
ment between  Whitelocke  and  the  Spanish 
general  Linares,  Nicolls,  together  with  the 
other  isolated  bodies,  evacuated  the  town. 
The  45th,  iinlike  several  other  bodies  of 
British  troops,  did  not  surrender  ;  and  it  is 
the  legitimate  boast  of  his  family  that 
Nicolls  refused  to  give  up  the  colours  of  his 


Nicolls 


Nicolls 


regiment.  So  conspicuous  was  his  conduct 
on  this  occasion  that  Whitelocke  in  his  des- 
patches thus  writes  of  him  :  '  Nor  should  I 
omit  the  gallant  conduct  of  Major  Nichols 
[sic]  of  the  45th  regiment,  who,  on  the  morn- 
ing of  the  6th  instant,  being  pressed  by  the 
enemy  near  the  Presidentia,  charged  them 
with  great  spirit  and  took  two  howitzers  and 
many  prisoners.'  Nicolls  was  the  only  regi- 
mental officer  whose  name  appeared  in  the 
despatches.  At  the  subsequent  trial  by  court- 
martial  of  Whitelocke  he  was  one  of  the 
witnesses. 

On  disembarking  at  Cork  Nicolls  was 
appointed  lieutenant-colonel  of  the  York 
rangers  on  29  Oct.  1807.  Almost  immedi- 
ately afterwards  he  was  transferred  to  the 
command  of  the  second  battalion  of  the  14th 
regiment,  which  he  himself  was  chiefly  in- 
strumental in  raising  from  volunteers  in  the 
Buckinghamshire  militia.  In  1808  he  em- 
barked at  Cork  with  his  battalion,  which 
formed  part  of  the  reinforcements  taken  to  the 
Peninsula  by  Sir  David  Baird.  At  Coruiia  he 
was  in  the  brigade  of  Major-general  Rowland 
Hill,  and  well  earned  the  gold  medal  which 
he  received  for  that  action :  '  On  the  left 
Colonel  Nicholls  [sic],  at  the  head  of  some 
companies  of  the  14th,  carried  Palerio  Abaxo' 
(NAPIEE,  Peninsular  War).  He  was  again 
mentioned  in  despatches. 

In  the  summer  of  1809  Nicolls  took  part 
in  the  Walcheren  expedition,  and  on  12  Aug. 
led  his  battalion  to  the  assault  of  an  en- 
trenchment close  to  the  walls  of  Flushing. 
So  gallant  and  impetuous  was  the  rush  of 
the  14th  that  in  a  few  minutes  the  work 
was  taken  and  a  lodgment  established  within 
musket  shot  of  the  town.  In  September, 
after  the  fall  of  Flushing,  he  returned  to 
England  and  married. 

In  April  1811  Nicolls  was  appointed  by 
the  commander-in-chief  assistant  adjutant- 
general  at  the  Horse  Guards.  In  the  follow- 
ing February  he  was  promoted  to  the  posi- 
tion of  deputy  adjutant-general  in  Ireland, 
where  he  was  at  the  head  of  the  department, 
the  adjutant-general  being  absent  on  service. 
A  few  months  later  he  went  out  to  India  to 
,  take  up  the  appointment  of  quartermaster- 
general  of  king's  troops.  During  the  Nepaul 
of  1814-16  he  was  specially  selected  to 
command  a  column  destined  for  the  invasion 
of  the  province  of  Kumaon.  The  commander- 
in-chief  in  India  publicly  referred  to  'the 
rapid  and  glorious  conquest  of  Camoan  by 
Colonel  Nicolls.'  He  had  been  gazetted 
colonel  on  4  June  1814.  The  praise  was 
well  deserved,  for  in  a  few  days  he  had  cap- 
tured Almorah,  and  reduced  the  entire  pro- 
vince, with  the  exception  of  a  few  forts.  In 


the  Pindarree  and  Mahratta  war  of  1817- 
1818  Nicolls  commanded  a  brigade.  Pro- 
moted to  the  rank  of  major-general  on  9  July 
1821,  he  necessarily  vacated  his  appointment 
as  quartermaster-general  of  king  s  troops ; 
but  in  April  1825  he  resumed  his  connec- 
tion with  India,  having  been  appointed  to 
the  command  of  a  division  in  the  Madras 
presidency.  Soon  after  his  arrival  he  was 
selected  to  command  a  division  of  the  army 
which,  under  Lord  Combermere,  besieged 
and  captured  the  strong  fortress  of  Bhurt- 
pore.  He  commanded  one  of  the  assaulting 
columns,  and  took  a  prominent  part  in  the 
desperate  fighting  which  ensued.  His  column 
was  headed  by  the  grenadiers  of  the  59th, 
who  advanced  to  the  inspiriting  strains  of 
the  '  British  Grenadiers,'  played  by  the  gene- 
ral's express  orders.  As  Napier  said  of 
another  officer  who  stimulated  his  high- 
landers  in  the  Peninsula  with  the  bagpipes, 
'  he  understood  war.'  It  may  be  mentioned 
that,  although  the  59th  had  been  carefully 
trained  in  the  use  of  hand-grenades,  the 
general  ordered  that  no  powder  should  be 
used ;  for,  as  he  remarked,  the  lighted  match 
of  a  grenade  causes  a  moral  effect  on  the 
enemy  as  great  as  if  it  were  loaded,  while  if 
it  is  loaded  the  throwers  are  almost  as  likely 
to  be  injured  as  the  enemy.  For  his  dis- 
tinguished services  at  Bhurtpore  Nicolls  was 
created  a  K.C.B. 

After  the  fall  of  Bhurtpore  he  returned  to 
Madras,  where  he  remained  till  April  1829. 
At  that  date  he  was  transferred  to  Meerut. 
In  July  1831  he  returned  to  India.  In  1833 
he  was  appointed  colonel  of  the  93rd  high- 
landers. 

On  10  Jan.  1837  Nicolls  became  a  lieu- 
tenant-general, and  in  the  following  year 
once  more  went  out  to  India  as  commander- 
in-chief  in  Madras,  and  in  1839  was  trans- 
ferred to  Bengal  as  commander-in-chief  in 
India.  But  the  part  that  Nicolls  played  was 
not  very  important.  Lord  Ellenborough's 
somewhat  despotic  disposition  deprived  the 
commander-in-chief  of  the  power  of  influ- 
encing affairs.  Nicolls  seems,  however,  to 
have  taken  a  just  view  of  persons  and  things. 
When  the  gallant  but  physically  infirm  Gene- 
ral Elphinstone  was  appointed  to  the  com- 
mand at  Cabul,  Nicolls  was  most  anxious  that 
General  Nott  should  be  substituted  for  him. 
He  also,  in  a  series  of  minutes,  opposed  the 
continued  occupation  of  Cabul.  Sir  Charles 
Napier,  in  his  usual  energetic  language,  de- 
nounced him  furiously  because  he  expressed 
the  opinion  that  Meanee  should  not  have 
been  fought.  In  March  1843  Nicolls  resigned 
his  appointment  and  returned  to  England. 
In  1840  he  was  transferred  from  the  colonelcy 

E2 


Nicolls 


Nicolls 


of  the  93rd  highlanders  to  that  of  the  38th 
regiment,  and  four  years  later  again  trans- 
ferred to  that  of  the  5th  fusiliers.  On  4  May 
1849  he  died  at  his  residence  near  Reading 
in  Berkshire.  On  21  Sept.  1809  he  married 
Anne,  eldest  daughter  of  Thomas  Stanhope 
Badcock,  esq.,  of  Little  Missenden  Abbey, 
Buckinghamshire. 

[Army  Lists;  East  India  Register;  Manuscript 
Diary  of  Sir  J.  Nicolls;  Napier's  Peninsular 
War ;  Proceedings  of  the  General  Court-martial 
on  Lieutenant-general  Whitelocke ;  Memoirs  of 
Field-marshal  Lord  Combermere ;  Regimental 
Records  of  14th  Regiment;  Napier's  Life  and 
Letters  of  Sir  Charles  Napier;  Military  Sketches 
oftheGhoorkaWar;  Kaye'sHistory  of  the  Afghan 
War.]  W.  W.  K. 

NICOLLS,  MATHIAS  (1630  P-1687), 
jurist,  born  about  1630,  was  eldest  son  of 
Mathias  Nicolls,  'preacher  to  the  town  of 
Plymouth '  (BROOKiNG-RowE,  Eccl.  Hist,  of 
Old  Plymouth,  pt.  ii.  p.  33).  He  was  called 
to  the  bar,  but  not  from  Lincoln's  Inn,  as 
has  been  erroneously  stated,  and  was  ap- 
pointed in  1664  secretary  of  the  commission 
and  captain  in  the  forces  despatched  to 
America  under  the  command  of  Colonel 
Richard  Nicolls  [q.  v.]  On  the  surrender  of 
New  Netherlands  on  8  Sept.,  Nicolls  was 
made  the  first  secretary  of  the  province,  and 
subsequently  became  a  member  of  the  gover- 
nor's council. 

In  October  he  attended  at  Hempstead, 
Queen's  County,  the  promulgation  by  the 
governorof '  theDuke'sLaws,'the  first  codeof 
English  laws  in  New  York,  and  signed  them 
in  his  capacity  of  secretary.  This  code, 
mainly  the  work  of  Nicolls,  was  compiled 
from  the  law  of  England,  the  Roman-Dutch 
law  of  New  Netherlands,  and  the  local  laws 
and  regulations  of  the  New  England  colonies, 
and  is  described  as  a  '  liberal,  just,  and  sen- 
sible body  of  laws.'  After  being  submitted 
to  James,  duke  of  York,  and  his  council  in 
England,  the  code  was  printed  there,  and 
copies  sent  out  by  the  duke,  with  orders  to 
establish  it  as  the  law  of  New  York.  In 
the  court  of  assizes  established  under  the 
code  Nicolls  sat  as  presiding  judge,  and  he 
also  sat  with  the  justices  in  the  minor  courts 
of  session.  In  1672  he  was  chosen  the 
third  mayor  of  New  York,  where  he  was  the 
first  judge  of  the  court  of  common  pleas. 
Upon  the  remodelling  of  the  courts  under 
the  act  of  the  legislature  of  1683  he  was 
made  one  of  the  judges  of  the  supreme  court 
ot  the  colony;  he  also  acted  continually  as 
secretary  of  the  province,  and  occasionally 
as  captain  of  the  militia.  Having  bought 
and  on  Little  Neck  and  Great  Neck  in 
Queen  s  County,  he  formed  on  Little  Neck  a 


fine  estate  of  upwards  of  two  thousand  acres, 
called  Plandome,  where  he  died  on  22  Dec. 
1687. 

Nicolls  married  in  England,  and  left  a 
son,  William,  and  a  daughter,  Margaret  (b. 
1662),  who  became  the  wife  of  the  second 
Colonel  Richard  Floyd  of  Suffolk  county. 

His  son,  WILLIAM  NICOLLS  (1657-1723), 
jurist,  born  in  England  in  1657,  was  also  a 
lawyer,  and  in  1683  became  clerk  of  Queen's 
County.  In  1688  he  removed  to  New  York, 
where  for  opposing  the  usurpation  of  Jacob 
Leisler  he  was  imprisoned.  On  regaining 
his  liberty  in  March  1691  he  was  forthwith 
appointed  a  councillor  of  the  province.  In 
1695  he  was  sent  by  the  assembly  as  agent 
of  the  province  to  England  to  solicit  the 
crown  to  compel  the  other  American  colonies 
to  contribute  to  the  defence  of  the  country 
against  the  French,  the  cost  of  which  had 
been  hitherto  borne  by  New  York.  In  1698 
Governor  Bellomont,  a  member  of  the  Leis- 
lerian  faction,  suspended  him  from  the  coun- 
cil. In  1701  Nicolls,  having  been  elected  to 
the  assembly  from  Suffolk  county,  was  dis- 
qualified on  the  ground  of  non-residence. 
But  having  in  1683  purchased  land  from  the 
natives  on  Great  South  Bay  in  that  county, 
he  built  a  house  there,  called  Islip  Grange, 
and  that  estate,  along  with  other  property 
in  the  neighbourhood,  was  granted  to  him 
by  royal  patent  in  1697.  In  1702  he  was 
again  chosen  member  for  Suffolk  County, 
and  was  elected  to  the  speakership  of  the 
house,  an  office  which  he  only  resigned 
through  ill-health  in  1718,  though  he  still 
retained  his  seat  in  the  assembly.  In  his 
professional  capacity  Nicolls  was  engaged  in 
the  prosecution  of  Jacob  Leisler  in  1691,  in 
the  defence  of  Nicholas  Bayard  in  1702,  and 
in  that  of  Francis  Makemie  in  1707.  He 
died  on  Long  Island,  New  York,  in  May 
1723.  By  his  wife,  Anne,  daughter  of  Jere- 
mias  Van  Rensselaer,  and  widow  of  Kilian 
Van  Rensselaer,  her  cousin,  he  left  three 
sons  and  three  daughters. 

[Appleton's  Cyclop,  of  Amer.  Biogr. ;  New 
York  Documents,  1853,  iii.  186,  &c.;  Cal.  State 
Papers,  Colon.  Ser.  Amer.  and  W.  Indies,  1669- 
1674.]  G.  G. 

NICOLLS,  RICHARD  (1624-1672),  first 
English  governor  of  New  York,  fourth  son 
of  Francis  Nicolls  and  Margaret,  daughter 
of  Sir  George  Bruce  of  Carnock,  was  born  in 
1624  according  to  his  epitaph  at  Ampthill 
Church,  Bedfordshire,  and  began  his  mili- 
tary career  '  relictis  musarum  castris.'  At 
the  outbreak  of  the  civil  war  in  England 
he  commanded  a  troop  of  horse,  while  his 
two  brothers  had  each  a  company  of  infantry. 


Nicolls 


53 


Nicolls 


The  three  all  followed  the  Stuarts  into  exile, 
and  two  of  them  appear  to  have  died  abroad. 
The  survivor,  Richard,  was  attached  to  the 
household  of  the  Duke  of  York,  and  served 
with  him  under  Marshal  Turenne.  After 
the  Restoration  Nicolls  was  appointed  groom 
of  the  bedchamber  to  the  duke.  In  1663  he 
received  the  degree  of  doctor  of  civil  law 
from  the  university  of  Oxford. 

In  March  1664  the  whole  of  the  territory 
occupied  or  claimed  by  the  Dutch  on  the  At- 
lantic seaboard  was  granted  by  Charles  II 
to  the  Duke  of  York,  on  the  plea  that  it  was 
British  soil  by  right  of  discovery.  The  grant 
was  practically  a  declaration  of  war.  Simul- 
taneously measures  were  taken  to  inquire 
into,  and  if  necessary  regulate,  the  condition 
of  the  New  England  colonies.  The  scheme 
was,  in  fact,  a  step  towards  organising  the 
whole  seaboard  from  the  Kennebec  to  the 
Hudson  into  one  province.  To  this  end 
Nicolls  was  appointed  a  commissioner,  with 
three  colleagues,  Sir  Robert  Carr,  George 
Cartwright,  and  Samuel  Maverick.  Prece- 
dence was  given  to  Nicolls,  inasmuch  as  his 
presence  was  needed  in  a  quorum,  and,  in  the 
event  of  his  alone  surviving,  the  whole 
powers  of  the  commission  were  vested  in 
him.  It  is  clear  too  that,  as  far  as  military 
operations  went,  Nicolls  was  virtually  the 
sole  commander. 

In  June  1664  he  sailed  with  four  ships  and 
three  hundred  soldiers.  The  Dutch  West 
India  Company  had  wholly  neglected  the 
colony  of  New  Netherlands.  Their  adminis- 
tration had  been  directed  towards  the  finan- 
cial prosperity  of  the  colony  and  nothing  else. 
New  Amsterdam,  the  chief  town,  now  New 
York,  was  a  'colluvies  omnium  gentium,' 
bound  together  by  no  organic  tie  of  race  or 
religion.  There  were  no  popular  institutions ; 
the  colony  had  neither  the  advantage  of  an 
efficient  despotism  nor  of  self-government. 
The  recent  extirpation  of  the  Swedish  colony 
on  the  Delaware  had  drained  the  resources 
of  the  colony,  and  left  New  Netherlands  de- 
fenceless. All  the  attempts  of  the  Dutch 
governor — that  resolute  soldier,  Peter  Stuy- 
vesant — to  inspire  his  countrymen  with  some 
zeal  for  resistance  failed,  and  on  "21  Aug. 
the  colony  surrendered  to  Nicolls.  The  task 
of  subduing  the  outlying  territory  on  the 
Delaware  was  left  to  Carr,  whose  violence 
and  rapacity  contrasted  with  the  forbearance 
and  lenity  of  his  chief.  The  functions  of  the 
commission  were  practically  divided.  Cart- 
wright  and  Maverick  carried  out  the  regu- 
lation of  the  New  England  colonies,  while 
Nicolls  was  left  to  organise  the  newly  con- 
quered territory  as  an  English  province.  The 
absence  of  any  existing  political  institutions 


extending  throughout  the  colony  made  his 
task  comparatively  easy.  As  far  as  might  be 
he  retained  the  Dutch  officials,  and  left  the 
municipal  government  of  New  Amsterdam — 
or,  as  it  now  became,  New  York — unchanged. 
I  Already  the  whole  of  Long  Island  was  vir- 
j  tually  anglicised  by  the  influx  of  colonists 
from  Connecticut  and  Newhaven,  who,  with 
the  approval  of  Stuy  vesant,  had  formed  town- 
ships on  the  New  England  model,  enjoying 
much  local  independence.  The  policy  of  Ni- 
colls was  practically  to  treat  these  settle- 
ments and  the  Dutch  on  the  Hudson  as  two 
distinct  communities.  For  the  former  he 
established  a  court  of  assize  consisting  of 
magistrates,  and  modelled  on  the  quarter  ses- 
sions of  an  English  county.  At  the  same 
time  he  called  a  convention  of  delegates  from 
the  English  settlements  on  Long  Island  and 
the  adjacent  mainland,  and  laid  before  them 
a  code  of  laws  to  be  ratified.  Meanwhile 
New  York  and  Albany  retained  their  origi- 
nal officials.  Nicolls's  chief  difficulty  was 
caused  by  the  wrong-headed  conduct  of  his 
lieutenant  at  Albany,  Brodhead,  who  dealt 
with  the  colonists  as  a  conquered  people,  and 
made  arbitrary  arrests  on  trifling  charges. 
Nicolls,  with  characteristic  equity,  appointed 
a  commission  of  three,  two  of  whom  were 
Dutch,  to  deal  with  the  matter.  Brodhead 
was,  by  orders  of  the  governor,  suspended. 
The  chief  offenders  against  authority  were 
condemned  to  death  by  the  council,  but  the 
penalty  was  remitted  by  Nicolls.  This  was 
in  all  likelihood  prearranged,  to  emphasise 
the  clemency  of  the  governor. 

In  another  quarter  Nicolls  found  himself 
thwarted  by  the  folly  of  his  master.  Before 
the  conquest  of  New  Netherlands  Sir  George 
Carteret  [q.v.]  had,  in  conjunction  with  Lord 
Berkeley,  secured  from  the  Duke  of  York  a 
grant  of  that  portion  of  his  territory  which 
lay  along  the  Delaware,  and  which  had 
already  been  a  bone  of  contention  between 
Dutch  and  Swedes.  Nicolls  foresaw  that 
this  mangling  of  the  province  would  be  a 
sure  source  of  political  and  commercial  dis- 
pute, and  remonstrated.  His  warning  was 
unheeded;  but  the  later  history  of  New 
Jersey  amply  proved  its  wisdom. 

In  1667  Nicolls  returned  to  England. 
Amphibious  service  was  usual  in  those  days, 
and  in  1672,  when  war  broke  out  against  the 
Dutch,  Nicolls  served  as  a  volunteer  on 
shipboard.  He  was  killed  at  Solebay,  in 
the  same  action  as  that  in  which  Edward 
Montagu,  first  earl  of  Sandwich  [q.  v.],  lost 
his  life. 

Nicolls  was  buried  at  Ampthill,  where  the 
cannon-ball  which  killed  him  is  yet  to  be 
seen  above  his  monument. 


Nicols 


54 


Nicolson 


[The  principal  facts  about  Nicolls  have  been 
brought  together  by  Mr.  L.  D.  O'Callaghan  in  a 
very  full  note  to  Wooley's  Journal  in  New  York, 
forming  the  second  volume  in  Gowan's  Biblio- 
theca  Americana.  See  also  Brodhead's  Hist,  of 
New  York,  vol.  ii. ;  Sainsbury's  Cal.  of  Colonial 
State  Papers,  1661-8;  Pepys's  Diary;  Wood's 
Fasti  Oxon.  ed.  Bliss,  i.  316,  ii.  375.]  J.  A.  D. 

NICOLS,  THOMAS  (/.  1659),  writer  on 
gems,  was  a  native  of  Cambridge,  being  son 
of  John  Nicols,  M.D.,  who  practised  as  a  phy- 
sician in  that  town.  He  studied  for  some 
time  at  Jesus  College,  Cambridge.  He  wrote 
a  curious  work  on  precious  stones,  which  was 
thrice  published  in  his  lifetime,  each  time 
with  a  different  title,  viz. — 1.  '  A  Lapidary,  or 
the  History  of  Pretious  Stones,  with  Cautions 
for  the  undeceiving  of  all  those  that  deal 
with  Pretious  Stones.  By  Thomas  Nicols, 
sometimes  of  Jesus-Colledge  in  Cambridge. 
Cambridge :  printed  by  Thomas  Buck,  printer 
to  the  universitie  of  Cambridge,  1652.' 

2.  '  Arcula  Gemmea  :  a  Cabinet  of  Jewels. 
Discovering    the  nature,  vertue,   value  of 
pretious    stones,  with    infallible    rules    to 
escape  the  deceit  of  all  such  as  are  adulterate 
and  counterfeit.     By  Thomas  Nicols,  some- 
times of  Jesus-Colledge  in  Cambridge.    Lon- 
don: printed  for  Nath.  Brooke  .  .  .  1653.' 

3.  '  Gemmarius  Fidelius,  or    the    Faithful 
Lapidary,     experimentally    describing    the 
richest  treasures  of  nature  in  an  historical 
narration  of  the  several  natures,  vertues,  and 
qualities  of  all  pretious  stones.     With  an 
accurate  discovery  of  such  as  are  adulterate 
and  counterfeit.    By  J.  N.  of  J.  C.  in  Cam- 
bridge.  London,  printed  for  Henry  Marsh . . 
1659.' 

[Cooper's  Annals  of  Cambridge,  iii.  475;  Gent. 
Mag.  1842,  ii.  430,  594.]  T.  C. 

NICOLSON".    [See  also  NICHOLSON.] 

NICOLSON,  ALEXANDER  (1827- 
1893),  sheriff-substitute  and  Gaelic  scholar, 
son  of  Malcolm  Nicolson,  was  born  at  lisa- 
boat  in  Skye  on  27  Sept.  1827.  His  early 
education  was  obtained  from  tutors.  After 
the  death  of  his  father  he  entered  Edinburgh 
university,  intending  to  study  for  the  free 
church  of  Scotland.  He  graduated  B.A.  in 
1850,  and  in  1859  received  the  honorary 
degree  of  M.  A. '  in  respect  of  services  rendered 
as  assistant  to  several  of  the  professors.'  At 
college  Nicolson  had  a  distinguished  career. 
In  the  absence,  through  illness,  of  Sir  Wil- 
liam Hamilton,  Nicolson,  as  his  assistant, 
lectured  to  the  class  of  logic,  and  for  two 
years  he  performed  a  similar  service  for  Pro- 
fessor Macdougall  in  the  class  of  moral  phi- 
losophy. Abandoning  the  study  of  theology 


at  the  Free  Church  College,  he  took  to  lite- 
rature, and  for  some  time  acted  as  one  of  the 
sub-editors  of  the  eighth  edition  of  the  '  En- 
cyclopaedia Britannica.'  Shortly  afterwards 
he  became  one  of  the  staff  of  the  '  Edinburgh 
Guardian,'  a  short-lived  paper  of  high  literary 
quality.  For  a  year  he  edited  an  advanced 
liberal  paper  called  the  '  Daily  Express,' 
which  afterwards  merged  in  the  '  Caledonian 
Mercury.'  But  Nicolson  was  not  fitted  for 
the  career  of  a  journalist,  and,  turning  to  law, 
was  called  in  1860  to  the  Scottish  bar.  He 
had  little  practice,  however,  and  for  ten  years 
reported  law  cases  for  the  '  Scottish  Jurist,' 
of  which  he  was  latterly  editor.  He  acted 
as  examiner  in  philosophy  in  the  university, 
and  examiner  of  births,  &c.,  in  Edinburgh 
and  the  neighbouring  counties.  In  1865  he 
was  appointed  assistant  commissioner  by  the 
Scottish  education  commission,  in  which 
capacity  he  visited  nearly  all  the  inhabited 
western  isles  and  inspected  their  schools. 
His  report — published  as  a  blue-book — con- 
tained a  vast  amount  of  information  regard- 
ing the  condition  of  the  people  in  the  various 
islands.  In  1872  Nicolson,  despairing  of  a 
practice  at  the  bar,  accepted  the  office  of 
sheriff-substitute  of  Kirkcudbright,  and  de- 
clined an  offer  of  the  Celtic  chair  in  Edin- 
burgh University,  which  Professor  Blackie 
and  he  had  been  mainly  instrumental  in  found- 
ing. In  1880  he  received  the  degree  of  LL.D. 
from  Edinburgh  University.  In  1883  he  was 
one  of  the  commissioners  appointed  to  inquire 
into*  the  condition  of  the  crofters.  When 
the  gunboat  Lively,  with  the  commissioners 
on  board,  sank  off  Stornoway,  the  sheriff  had 
great  difficulty  in  saving  the  manuscript  of 
his  '  Memoirs  of  Adam  Black,'  on  which  he 
was  engaged  at  the  time. 

In  1885  he  became  sheriff-substitute  of 
Greenock;  but  he  retired  in  1889,  with  a 
pension,  on  the  ground  of  ill-health.  He  re- 
turned to  Edinburgh,  where  he  occupied  him- 
self in  literary  work  of  no  great  importance. 
He  died  suddenly  at  the  breakfast  table  on 
13  Jan.  1893,  and  was  buried  in  Warriston 
cemetery. 

It  is  as  a  Gaelic  scholar  that  Nicolson  has 
left  a  reputation  behind  him,  principally  ac- 
quired by  his  articles  in  '  The  Gael,'  a  Celtic 
periodical,  his  collection  of  Gaelic  proverbs, 
and  his  revised  version  of  the  Gaelic  Bible, 
which  he  undertook  at  the  request  of  the  So- 
ciety for  the  Propagation  of  Christian  Know- 
ledge. He  was  also  an  excellent  Greek  scholar. 
He  was  popular  in  society,  and  his  stories 
and  songs,  such  as  '  the  British  Ass  '  and 
'Highland  Regiments'  ditty,  live  in  the 
memory  of  those  who  heard  them  delivered 
by  their  author.  Nicolson  was  a  keen  lover 


Nicolson 


55 


Nicolson 


of  athletic  sports  and  an  enthusiastic  volun- 
teer. 

Besides  writing  many  articles  in  prose  am 
verse  for  '  Good  Words,' '  Macmillan's  Maga- 
zine/ 'Blackwood's  Magazine,'  'The  Scots- 
man,' and  other  periodicals  and  newspapers 
Nicolson's  chief  publications  were:  1.  'The 
Lay  of  the  Beanmohr :  a  Song  of  the  Sudre- 
yar,'  Dunedin  [Edinburgh],  1867, 4to.  2.  '  A 
Collection  of  Gaelic  Proverbs  and  Familiar 
Phrases.  Based  on  Macintosh's  Collection. 
Edited  by  Alexander  Nicolson,'  Edinburgh, 
1881,  8vo ;  2nd  edit,  1882.  3.  '  Memoirs  oi 
Adam  Black,'  Edinburgh,  1885,  8vo;  2nd 
edit.  1885.  4.  '  Verses  by  Alexander  Nicol- 
son, LL.D.,  with  Memoir  by  Walter  Smith, 
D.D.,'  Edinburgh,  1893,  8vo.  Nicolson  also 
edited  in  1857  a  volume  entitled  '  Edinburgh 
Essays,'  written  by  a  number  of  his  friends 
connected  with  the  university. 

[Obituary  notices  in  Times  and  Scotsman, 
14  Jan.  1893  ;  Ed wards's  Modern  Scottish  Poets, 
3rd  ser.  pp.  417-19;  Scottish  Law  Review,  ix. 
38-40  ;  Memoir  by  Dr.  Walter  Smith,  prefixed 
to  Nicolson's  Verses,  which  volume  contains  a 
portrait  of  their  author.]  G.  S-H. 

NICOLSON,  WILLIAM  (1655-1727), 
divine  and  antiquary,  probably  born  at 
Plumbland,  Cumberland,  on  Whit-Sunday, 
1655,  was  the  eldest  son  of  the  Rev.  Joseph 
Nicolson  (d.  1686),  rector  of  Plumbland,  who 
married  Mary,  daughter  of  John  Brisco  of 
Crofton  in  Thursby,  gentleman.  He  was 
educated  at  Dovenby  in  Bridekirk  (Miscel- 
lany Accounts,  pp.  84,  89)  and  at  Queen's 
College,  Oxford,  matriculating  on  1  July 
1670,  and  graduating  B.A.  23  Feb.  1675- 
1676,  and  M.A.  3  July  1679.  He  was  elected 
taberder  on  3  Feb.  1675,  and  fellow  on  6  Nov. 
1679,  vacating  his  fellowship  in  the  spring 
of  1682.  In  1678  he  visited  Leipzig,  at  the 
expense  of  Sir  Joseph  Williamson,  then 
secretary  of  state,  to  learn  German  and  the 
northern  languages  of  Europe,  and,  after 
undergoing  great  hardships,  returned  home 
through  France.  While  at  Leipzig  he  trans- 
lated from  English  into  Latin  an  essay  of 
Robert  Hooke  towards  a  proof  of  the  motion 
of  the  earth  from  the  sun's  parallax,  which 
was  printed  at  the  cost  of  the  professor  who 
suggested  it ;  and  after  his  return  to  England 
he  sent  some  letters  to  David  Hanisius, 
which  are  inserted  in  the  '  Historia  Biblio- 
thecse  Augustse/at  Wolifenbuttel,  by  Jacobus 
Burckhard,  pt.  iii.  chap.  iii.  pp.  297-8.  Sub- 
sequently he  contributed  descriptions  of  Po- 
land, Denmark,  Norway,  and  Iceland  to  the 
first  volume  of  Moses  Pitt's  'English  Atlas ' 
(Oxford,  1680),  accounts  of  the  empire  of 
Germany  to  the  second  and  third  volumes 
(1681  and  1683),  and  had  begun,  for  the  same 


undertaking,  the  supervision  and  completion 
of  the  description  of  Turkey  (THORESBT, 
Corresp.  i.  122).  Hearne  says  that  Nicolson 
had  '  ye  reputation  (and  not  undeservedly) 
of  a  drinking  fellow  and  boon  companion  ; ' 
but  his  industry  must  always  have  been  great, 
for  at  Oxford,  in  addition  to  the  labours 
already  specified,  he  transcribed  for  Bishop 
Fell  the  large  lexicon  of  Junius,  and  compiled 
a  '  Glossarium  Brigantinum.' 

Nicolson  was  ordained  deacon  in  Decem- 
ber 1679,  and  became  chaplain  to  the  Right 
Rev.  Edward  Rainbow,  bishop  of  Carlisle, 
who  soon  secured  his  advancement  in  the 
church.  In  1681  he  was  appointed  to  the 
vicarage  of  Torpenhow,  Cumberland,  and 
held  it  until  2  Feb.  1698-9,  when  he  re- 
signed, in  exchange  with  his  brother-in-law, 
for  the  vicarage  of  Addingham.  He  was  col- 
lated to  the  first  stall  in  Carlisle  Cathedral 
on  17  Nov.  1681,  and  to  the  archdeaconry  of 
Carlisle  on  3  Oct.  1682;  was  instituted  in  the 
same  year  to  the  rectory  of  Great  Salkeld, 
which  was  annexed  to  the  archdeaconry,  and 
in  February  1698-9  to  the  vicarage  of  Ad- 
dingham, retaining  the  whole  of  these  prefer- 
ments until  his  elevation  to  the  episcopal 
bench  in  1702.  From  1682  he  resided  at 
Great  Salkeld,  where  he  built  outhouses  at 
the  rectory,  constructed  new  school  build- 
ings, and  erected  a  wall  round  the  church- 
yard. Two  letters  by  him,  dated  November 
1685,  are  in  the '  Philosophical  Transactions,' 
xv.  1287-95.  The  first,  addressed  to  the  Rev. 
Obadiah  Walker,  master  of  University  Col- 
lege, Oxford,  related  to  a  runic  inscription 
atBeaucastle;  the  second,  written  to  Sir  Wil- 
liam Dugdale,  concerned  a  similar  inscription 
on  the  font  at  Bridekirk.  They  are  re- 
printed in  the  second  impression  of  Gibson's 
edition  of  Camden's  '  Britannia,' ii.  1007-10, 
1029-31.  He  was  elected  F.R.S.  on  30  Nov. 
1705. 

Nicolson,  if  we  may  rely  on  the  statement 
of  Hearne,  inclined  in  early  life  to  toryism 
and  high-church   principles  ;   but   he  soon 
changed  these  views,  '  courting  ye  figure  of 
ye  Loggerhead  at  Lambeth '  (HEARNE,  Col- 
lections, ii.  62).  Into  parliamentary  elections 
n  the  northern  counties  he  threw  all  his 
snergies ;  he  was  censured  by  the  House  of 
Commons  for  his  interference,  and  it  was 
rumoured  that  he  had  been  committed  for 
reason   (Bagot  MSS.,  Hist.  MSS.   Comm. 
Oth  Rep.  App.  iv.  pp.  332-6).     In  April 
702  he  applied  in  vain  for  the  deanery  of 
Carlisle,  but  through  the  interest   of  Sir 
Christopher  Musgrave  of  Edenhall,  the  pro- 
minent whig  in  Cumberland,  he  was  soon 
after  appointed  to  the  see  of  Carlisle.     He 
vas  consecrated  at  Lambeth  on  14  June  1702, 


Nicolson  5 

when  his  friend  Edmund  Gibson  (afterwards 
bishop  of  London)  preached  the  sermon. 

His  tenure  of  the  see  was  not  uneventful, 
for  Nicolson's  impetuosity  involved  him  in 
perpetual  warfare.  He  took  exception  in  the 
preface  to  the  first  part  of  the  '  English  His- 
torical Library '  (1696)  to  the  account  of  the 
manuscript  in  the  chapter  library  at  Carlisle, 
which  Dr.  Hugh  Todd  had  furnished  to  Dr. 
Edward  Bernard  for  insertion  in  the  '  Cata- 
logue Librorum  Manuscriptorum,'  and  this  led 
to  a  warm  controversy  (described  by  Canon 
Dixon  in  the '  Transactions  of  the  Cumberland 
and  Westmoreland  Antiquarian  Society,'  ii. 
312-23).  He  refused,  in  1704,  to  institute 
Atterbury  to  the  deanery  of  Carlisle  until  he 
had  recanted  his  views  on  the  regal  supre- 
macy ;  and,  although  on  the  advice  of  Arch- 
bishop Sharp  this  refusal  was  withdrawn, 
he  raised  doubts  on  the  validity  of  the  terms 
in  the  queen's  grant  of  the  deanery,  which 
were  referred  to  the  attorney-general  for  his 
judgment.  Ultimately,  on  an  intimation  from 
the  queen  that  she  did  not  approve  of  the 
bishop's  action,  the  new  dean  was  duly  in- 
stituted. This  matter  is  set  out  in  a  pam- 
phlet entitled  '  True  State  of  the  Contro- 
versy between  the  Present  Bishop  and  Dean  of 
Carlisle,'  1704 ;  2nd  edit.  1795.  In  1717  he 
committed  a  serious  blunder  in  spreading  the 
assertion  that  some  important  qualifications 
had  been  inserted  before  publication  in 
Hoadlv's  celebrated  sermon  on  'The  Nature 
of  the  Kingdom,  or  Church,  of  Christ,'  and 
he  gave  White  Kennet  as  his  authority ;  but 
the  statement  was  promptly  repudiated  by 
that  divine.  This  matter  formed  the  subject 
of  much  newspaper  correspondence  and  of  a 
variety  of  pamphlets.  The  dispute  is  de- 
scribed at  length  in  Newton's  '  Life  of  Ken- 
net,'  pp.  165-83,  and  214-88. 

Nicolson  was  translated  to  the  more 
lucrative  bishopric  of  Derry,  in  Ireland,  on 
21  April  1718.  He  was  enthroned  at  Derry 
on  22  June  in  that  year,  and  was  trans- 
lated to  the  archbishopric  of  Cashel  and 
Emly  on  28  Jan.  1726-7,  but  did  not  live  to 
take  charge  of  his  new  diocese.  As  he  sat 
in  his  chair  in  his  study  at  Derry  Palace  he 
was  seized  with  apoplexy,  and  died  on 
14  Feb.  1726-7.  He  was  buried  in  the  cathe- 
dral, but  no  monument  was  erected  to  his 
memory.  From  1715  to  1723  he  held  the  post 
of  lord  almoner.  Nicolson  married  Elizabeth, 
youngest  daughter  cf  John  Archer  of  Oxen- 
holme,  near  Kirkby  Kendal,  Westmoreland, 
and  had  eight  children,  one  of  whom,  the 
Rev.  Joseph  Nicolson,  chancellor  of  Lincoln 
Cathedral,  died  on  9  Sept.  1728. 

Archbishop  Boulter  expressed  great  regret 
at  the  bishop  s  death;  but  even  in  those  days 


i  Nicolson 

he  provoked  comment  in  Ireland  by  the  pre- 
ferments which  he  showered  upon  his  rela- 
tives. His  person  was  large.  A  portrait  of 
him  belongs  to  Colonel  J.  E.  C.  C.  Lindesay 
of  Tullyhogue,  in  Tyrone.  Copies,  made  in 
1890,  are  at  Rose  Castle,  Carlisle,  and  Queen's 
College,  Oxford.  His  will  is  printed  in  the 
fourth  volume  of  the  '  Transactions  of  the 
Cumberland  and  Westmoreland  Antiquarian 
and  Archaeological  Society.' 

Nicolson's  great  work  consisted  of  the 
'  Historical  Library.'  The  first  part  of  the 
English  division  came  out  in  1696,  the  second 
in  1697,  and  the  third  in  1699.  The  Scot- 
tish portion  was  published  in  1702,  and  the 
Irish  division  not  until  1724.  All  the  three 
parts  of  the  ' "  English  Historical  Library," 
corrected  and  augmented,'  were  issued  in  a 
second  edition  in  1714,  and  the  entire  work, 
the  English,  Scotch,  and  Irish  divisions,  in 
1736  and  1776.  Some  correspondence  re- 
specting the  proposed  edition  of  1736  is  con- 
tained in  the  '  Reliquiae  Hearnianse,'  ii.  839- 
841,  and  the  impression  of  1776  was  '  almost 
totally  destroyed'  by  fire  in  the  Savoy  in 
March  of  that  year.  Atterbury,  who  con- 
temptuously dubbed  Nicolson  '  an  implicit 
[i.e.  credulous]  transcriber,'  reflected,  in  the 
'  Rights,  Powers,  and  Privileges  of  an  Eng- 
lish Convocation,'  on  his  remarks  relating  to 
that  body.  The  preface  to  the  '  Scottish 
Historical  Library'  (1702)  contained  Nicol- 
son's answer  to  these  criticisms,  and  it  was 
also  issued  as  'A  Letter  to  the  Rev.  Dr. 
White  Kennet,  D.D.  .  .  .  against  the  un- 
mannerly and  slanderous  Objections  of  Mr. 
Francis  Atterbury,'  1702.  This  letter  was 
added  to  the  1736  and  1776  editions  of  the 
'  Libraries,'  and  reprinted  in  the  collection 
of '  Nicolson's  Letters,'  i.  228-62.  In  con- 
sequence of  this  controversy  some  demur  was 
made  at  Oxford  to  the  conferring  on  him  of 
the  degree  of  D.D.,  usually  taken  on  promo- 
tion to  a  bishopric,  but  it  was  ultimately 
granted  on  25  June  1702.  The  same  degree 
was  given  to  him  at  Cambridge. 

Thomas  Rymer  addressed  three  letters  to- 
the  bishop  on  some  abstruse  points  of  history 
which  were  referred  to  in  the  '  Scottish  His- 
torical Library,'  and  Sir  Robert  Sibbald  re- 
plied to  Rymer's  objections  (HALKETT  and 
LAING,  i.  126).  Jeremy  Collier  published  'An 
Answer  to  Bishop  Burnet's  Third  Part  of  the 
History  of  the  Reformation  :  with  a  Reply 
to  some  Remarks  in  Bishop  Nicolson's  "Eng- 
lish Historical  Library,"'  1715,  which  dealt 
with  Nicolson's  comments  on  Collier's  refer- 
ences to  the  pope  and  Martin  Luther.  The 
bishop  was  very  keen  in  pursuit  of  know- 
ledge, and  although  his  haste  in  speech  and 
in  print  led  him  into  many  mistakes,  notably 


Nicolson 


57 


Nicolson 


in  the  Irish  division  of  his  labours,  the  work 
was  of  immense  utility.  John  Hill  Burton, 
in  his  '  Reign  of  Queen  Anne,'  ii.  318-20, 
writes  of  the  '  Historical  Libraries '  as 
'  affording  the  stranger  a  guide  to  the  riches 
of  the  chronicle  literature  of  the  British  em- 
pire,' and,  while  praising  its  author  as  the 
possessor  of  '  an  intellect  of  signal  acuteness,' 
pleads  that  it  is  no  disparagement  of  the 
volumes  that  they  are  now  superseded  by 
the  more  detailed  undertaking  of  Sir  T.  D. 
Hardy.  Nicolson  showed  his  zeal  for  the 
preservation  of  official  documents  by  build- 
ing rooms  near  the  palace  gardens  at  Derry 
for  the  preservation  of  the  diocesan  records. 

Nicolson  wrote  many  sermons  and  anti- 
quarian papers.  He  contributed  to  Ray's 
'  Collection  of  English  Words,'  2nd  edit. 
1691,  pp.  139-52,  a  '  Glossarium  Northan- 
hymbricum.'  It  was  a  part  only  of  his  con- 
tributions, which  did  not  reach  Ray  until 
the  book  had  been  sent  to  the  press;  but 
a  few  other  words  by  him  were  inserted  in 
the  preface,  pp.  iv-vii.  Many  additions  to 
the  account  of  Northumberland,  as  well  as 
observations  on  the  rest  of  the  counties  in 
the  province  of  York,  were  supplied  by  him 
to  Gibson's  edition  of  Camden's  '  Britannia  ' 
(1695)  and  in  that  editor's  second  edition 
(1722)  of  the  '  Britannia '  Nicolson  improved 
the  descriptions  of  Northumberland,  Cum- 
berland, and  Westmoreland.  In  the  first  of 
these  editions  the  announcement  was  made 
that  Nicolson  had  a  volume  of  antiquities  on 
the  north  of  England  ready  for  the  press,  and 
its  contents  were  described  at  length  in  the 
subsequent  list  of  works  on  English  topo- 
graphy ;  but  in  1722  the  manuscripts  were 
stated  to  be  in  the  library  of  the  Carlisle 
chapter.  It  was  also  said  that  he  had  drawn 
up  a  '  Natural  History  of  Cumberland.' 

In  1705,  and  again  in  1747,  there  came  out 
'  Leges  Marchiarum,  or  Border-Laws,  con- 
taining several  Original  Articles  and  Trea- 
ties,' which  had  been  collected  by  Nicolson. 
The  first  essay,  appended  to  John  Chamber- 
layne's '  Oratio  Dominica  in  diversas  omnium 
fere  gentium  linguas  versa'  (1715),  was 
dated  by  him  from  Rose  [castle]  22  Dec, 
1713,  and  related  to  the  languages  of  the 
entire  world.  A  dissertation  by  him, '  De  Jure 
Feudali  veterum  Saxonum,'  was  prefixed  to 
the  '  Leges  Anglo-Saxonicse,  Ecclesiasticse  et 
Civiles'  of  David  Wilkins;  and  the  Rev.  Mac- 
kenzie E.  C.Walcott inserted  in  the '  Transac- 
t;ons  of  the  Royal  Society  of  Literature,'  vol. 
ix.  new  ser.,  a  'Glossary  of  Words  in  the 
Cumbrian  Dialect,' which  was  an  abridgment 
of  Nicolson's  '  Glossarium  Brigantinum,' 
1677,  now  among  the  manuscripts  in  Car- 
lisle chapter  library.  The  second  epistle, 


subjoined  to  Edward  Lhuyd's '  Lithophylacii 
Britannici  Ichnographica  '  (1699,  pp.  101-5, 
and  1760,  pp.  102-6),  was  addressed  by  him 
to  Nicolson.  The  preface  to  Hickes's  '  The- 
saurus'  (1706)  bears  witness  to  his  skill  in 
grappling  with  the  difficulties  which  Hickes 
had  submitted  to  him.  His  treatise  '  on  the 
medals  and  coins  of  Scotland '  is  summarised 
in  the  '  Memoires  de  TrSvoux,'  1710,  pp. 
1755-64.  White  Kennet  addressed  to  him 
in  1713  '  a  Letter  .  .  .  concerning  one  of  his 
predecessors,  Bishop  Merks ; '  and  the  '  En- 
quiry into  the  Ancient  and  Present  State  of 
the  County  Palatine  of  Durham '  (1729)  was, 
as  regards  the  first  part,  drawn  up  by  John 
Spearman  in  1697  at  his  solicitation. 

Two  volumes  of  letters  to  and  from  Nicolson 
were  edited  by  John  Nichols  in  1809,  and  his 
'  Miscellany  Accounts  of  the  Diocese  of  Car- 
lisle,with  the  Terriers  delivered  at  his  Primary 
Visitation,'  were  edited  by  Mr.  R.  S.  Ferguson 
in  1877  for  the  Cumberland  and  Westmore- 
land Antiquarian  Society.  Thoresby  stayed 
at  Salkeld  in  September  1694,  when  he  in- 
spected Nicolson's  curiosities  and  manu- 
scripts, and  Nicolson  returned  the  visit  in  No- 
vember 1701.  Many  communications  which 
passed  between  them  are  printed  in  Thoresby's 
'  Correspondence,'  i.  116  et  seq.  Twenty-one 
letters  from  him,  mainly  on  the  rebellion  of 
1715,  are  included  in  Sir  Henry  Ellis's  col- 
lection of '  Original  Letters,'  1st  ser.  iii.  357- 
396 ;  and  some  of  them  are  printed  at  greater 
length  in  the  'Miscellany  of  the  Scottish 
Historical  Society '  (1893),pp.  523-36.  Copies 
of  185  letters  to  Wake  are  among  the  Forster 
MSS.  at  the  South  Kensington  Museum.  A 
letter  from  him  is  in  '  Hearne's  Collections ' 
(ed.  Doble),  i.  209 ;  another  is  in  '  Letters 
from  the  Bodleian'  (1813),  i.  115-16;  and 
communications  from  Archbishop  Sharp  to 
him  on  the  religious  societies  of  the  day  are 
in  Thomas  Sharp's '  Life  of  the  Archbishop,' 
i.  182-9.  Many  more  letters  of  Nicolson 
are  in  manuscript,  especially  in  the  '  Rydal 
Papers'  of  S.  H.  Le  Fleming  (Hist.  MSS. 
Comm.  12th  Rep.  App.  pt.  vii.  p.  163,  &c.),  and 
among  the  'Lonsdale  Papers'  (id.  13th  Rep. 
App.  pt.  vii.  pp.  248-9). 

Nicolson's  collections  relative  to  the 
diocese  of  Carlisle,  comprised  in  four  folio 
volumes,and  theMachell  manuscripts,  which 
were  left  to  him  as  literary  executor,  and  were 
arranged  by  him  in  six  volumes  of  folio  size, 
are  in  the  cathedral  library  at  Carlisle  (id. 
2nd  Rep.  App.  pp.  1 24-5).  Many  other  papers 
by  him  on  the  northern  counties  formerly 
belonged  to  his  relation,  Joseph  Nicolson 
(NICOLSON  and  BURN,  Westmoreland  and 
Cumberland,  vol.  i.  pp.  i-iii).  Some  manu- 
script volumes  of  his  diary  are  in  the  posses- 


Nield 


Nieto 


sion  of  his  descendants,  the  Mauleverers;  his 
commonplace  book  is  preserved  in  the  library 
of  Trinity  College,  Dublin,  and  an  extract 
from  an  interleaved  almanac  containing  his 
memoranda  was  printed  in  'Notes  and 
Queries,'  2nd  ser.  xi.  165.  It  then  belonged 
to  Mr.  F.  Lindesay,  who  also  possessed  seve- 
ral volumes  of  journals  by  Nicolson.  A  small 
manuscript  of  plants  which  he  had  observed 
in  Cumberland  was  the  property  of  Arch- 
deacon Cotton.  His  diaries,  the  most  confi- 
dential passages  being  in  German,  are  being 
prepared  for  publication  by  the  Cumberland 
and  Westmoreland  Antiquarian  Society. 

[Foster's  Alumni  Oxon. ;  Le  Neve's  Fasti,  iii. 
244,  250,  252;  Cotton's  Fasti  Eccl.  Hibernioe, 
vol.  i.  pt.  i.  pp.  93-4.  iii.  322-3,  v.  3,  255 ;  Wood's 
Athene  Oxon.  ed.  Bliss,  iv.  534  ;  Nicolson  and 
Burn's  Cumberland  and  Westmoreland,  ii.  120, 
127,  208,293-7,  415,  451  ;  Rel.  Hearnianae,  ed. 
Bliss,  ii.  648 ;  Notes  and  Queries,  1st  ser.  iii. 
243,  397,  x.  245,  332,  xi.  262,  2nd  ser.  viii.  224, 
413-14;  Hearne's  Collections,  ed.  Doble,  ii.  62, 
72,  187,  iii.  434;  Sharp's  Life  of  Archbishop 
Sharp,  1825,  i.  235-50;  Thoresby's  Diary,  i. 
196,  275-6,  346,  ii.  27,  46  ;  Nichols's  Lit.  Anecd. 
i.  12,  82,  710 ;  Mant's  Church  of  Ireland,  ii. 
316-19;  386,  445,  456-8  ;  Nichols's  Atterbury, 
passim;  Williams's  Life  of  Atterbury,  i.  155- 
161  ;  Cumberland  and  Westmoreland  Antiq. 
Soc.  Trans,  iv.  1-3,  9  et  seq. ;  information  from 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Magrath,  Queen's  College,  Oxford, 
and  the  Worshipful  R.  S.  Ferguson  of  Carlisle.] 

W.  P.  C. 

NIELD,  JAMES  (1744-1814),  philan- 
thropist. [See  NEILD.] 

NIEMANN,  EDMUND  JOHN  (1813- 
1876),  landscape-painter,  was  born  at  Isling- 
ton, London,  in  1813.  His  father,  John 
Diederich  Niemann,  a  native  of  Minden  in 
Westphalia,  was  a  member  of  Lloyd's,  and 
young  Niemann  entered  that  establishment 
as  a  clerk  at  the  age  of  thirteen.  In  1839, 
however,  a  love  of  painting  induced  him  to 
adopt  art  as  a  profession.  He  took  up  his 
residence  at  High  Wycombe  in  Buckingham- 
shire, and  remained  there  until  1848,  when 
the  foundation  of  the '  Free  Exhibition,'  held 
in  the  Chinese  Gallery  at  Hyde  Park  Corner, 
of  which  he  became  secretary,  led  to  his  re- 
turn to  London.  He  began  to  exhibit  at  the 
Royal  Academy  in  1844,  when  he  sent  an 
oil  painting,  '  On  the  Thames,  near  Great 
Marlow,'  and  a  drawing  of  '  The  Lime  Kiln 
at  Cove's  End,  Wooburn,  Bucks.'  He  con- 
tinued to  exhibit  at  the  Academy  until  1 872 ; 
but  more  often  his  works  appeared  at  the 
British  Institution  and  the  Society  of  Bri- 
tish Artists,  as  well  as  at  the  Manchester, 
Liverpool,  and  other  provincial  exhibitions. 
His  pictures,  some  of  which  are  of  large  di- 


mensions, illustrate  every  phase  of  nature. 
They  are  characterised  by  great  versatility, 
but  have  been  described  as  at  once  dex- 
terous and  depressing.  The  scenery  of  the 
Swale,  near  Richmond  in  Yorkshire,  often 
furnished  him  with  a  subject.  One  of  his 
best  and  largest  works  was  '  A  Quiet  Shot,' 
afterwards  called  '  Deer  Stalking  in  the 
Highlands,'  exhibited  at  the  British  Insti- 
tution in  1861.  Amongothers  maybe  named 
'Clifton,'  1847;  'The  Thames  at  Maiden- 
head '  and  'The  Thames  near  Marlow,'  1848; 
'  Kilns  in  Derbyshire,'  1849  ;  '  Troopers 
crossing  a  Moss/  1852;  'Norwich,'  1853; 
'  The  High  Level  Bridge,  Newcastle,'  1863; 
'Bristol  Floating  Harbour,'  1864;  '  Hamp- 
stead  Heath,'  1865,  and '  Scarborough,'  1872. 
He  suffered  much  from  ill-health  during  the 
last  few  years  of  his  life,  and  there  is  a  con- 
sequent falling  off"  in  his  later  works. 

Niemann  died  of  apoplexy,  at  the  Glebe, 
Brixton  Hill,  Surrey,  on  15  April  1876,  in 
the  sixty-fourth  year  of  his  age.  Many  of 
his  works  were  exhibited  at  the  opening  of 
the  Nottingham  Museum  and  Art  Galleries 
in  1878.  The  South  Kensington  Museum 
has  a  landscape  by  him,  '  Amongst  the 
Rushes/  and  four  drawings  in  water-colours. 
A  '  View  on  the  Thames  near  Maidenhead ' 
is  in  the  Walker  Art  Gallery,  Liverpool. 

[Times,  18  April  1876  ;  Art  Journal,  1876, 
p.  203;  Royal  Academy  Exhibition  Catalogues, 
1844-72 ;  British  Institution  Exhibition  Cata- 
logues (Living  Artists),  1848-63;  Exhibition 
Catalogues  of  the  Society  of  British  Artists, 
1844-69  ;  Critical  Catalogue  of  some  of  the  prin- 
cipal Pictures  painted  by  the  late  Edmund  J. 
Niemann  (by  G.  H.  Shepherd),  1890-1 

R.  E.  a. 

NIETO,  DAVID  (1654-1728),  Jewish 
theologian,  was  born  at  Venice  on  10  Jan. 
1654  (KATSEKLING,  Gesch.  d.  Judent  in  Por- 
tugal, Leipzig,  1867).  In  a  Hebrew  letter 
addressed  to  Christian  Theophile  Unger  of 
Hamburg  (Magazin  fiir  die  Wissenxch.  d. 
Judenth.  iv.  85)  he  states  that  he  was  dayyan 
(judge),  and  preacher  to  the  Jewish  com- 
munity of  Leghorn,  but , when  free  fro m  official 
duties,  he  followed  the  profession  of  medi- 
cine. In  September  1701  he  went  to  London 
to  fill  the  vacant  post  of  'hakham,  or  rabbi, 
to  the  congregation  of  Spanish  and  Portu- 
guese Jews,  and  he  continued  his  practice  of 
medicine  there. 

Nieto  was  a  capable  writer,  and  his  lite- 
rary career  commenced  at  Leghorn  with  the 
treatise  '  Pascalogia,'  which  was  written  in 
1693  in  Italian,  and  printed  in  London  in 
1702.  Colonia  was  printed  on  the  title-page, 
because  '  he  was  afraid  Christians  in  Italy 
might  be  debarred  from  reading  a  work 


Nieto 


59 


Nigel 


coming  from  the  heretic  London.'  In  this 
•work  Nieto  explains  the  discrepancies  between 
the  Latin  and  the  Greek  churches  and  the 
Jewish  synagogue  as  regards  the  time  of 
Passover  or  Easter.  He  was  probably  in- 
duced to  discuss  the  question  by  the  fact  that 
in  1693  Easter  fell  on  22  March,  and  the 
Jewish  Passover  on  21  April. 

On  20  Nov.  1703  Nieto  preached  in  London 
a  sermon  (in  Spanish),  in  which  he  was 
understood  to  identify  God  and  nature. 
Charges  of  heresy  were  raised,  and  he  justified 
his  teaching  in  a  Spanish  treatise,  '  Tratado 
della  divina  Providencia,'  London,  1704,  by 
arguments  and  quotations  from  the  Bible, 
the  Talmud,  and  the  Midrash.  The  question 
was  referred  to  'Hakham  Zebi  Ashkenazi  of 
Amsterdam,  who  decided  in  Nieto's  favour. 
This  decision,  in  Hebrew  and  Spanish,  is 
annexed  to  Nieto's  j  ustificatory  treatise.  In 
1715  Nieto  wrote  in  Hebrew  '  Esh-dath' 
(Fire  of  the  Law),  but  published  it  in  a 
Spanish  translation,  '  Fuego  Legal,'  London, 
1715.  It  was  an  attack  on  Nehemiah 
'Hiyun,  who  was  suspected  of  being  an 
emissary  of  the  followers  of  the  Pseudo- 
Messiah  Sabbathai  Zebi,  and,had  lately  issued 
a  Kabbalistic  book,  '  Oz  la-elohim.'  His  Lon- 
don congregation  seems  to  have  prospered 
under  his  guidance,  and  several  charitable 
institutions  were  founded,  including  the  or- 
phan asylum,  sha'ar  orah  va-abi  yethomim 
(i.e. 'Gate  of  light  and  father  of  the  orphans'), 
in  1703,  and  the  society  for  visiting  the  sick, 
bikkur  'holim,  in  1709. 

Nieto  died  in  1728,  on  his  seventy-fourth 
birthday.  An  epitaph  describes  him  as  '  an 
eminent  theologian,  profound  scholar,  dis- 
tinguished doctor,  and  eloquent  preacher.' 

In  addition  to  the  works  already  noticed 
Nieto  wrote  :  1 .  '  Hebrew  Poems,'  'hiddoth 
(riddles),  annexed  to  '  Sermon  Oracion  y 
Problematical  London,  1703.  2.  '  Los 
triunfos  de  la  pobreza,'  London,  1709. 

3.  '  Matteh  Dan  '  (the  rod  of  Dan  =  David 
Nieto),  or  Second  Part  of  Khuzri ;  five  Dia- 
logues on  the  Oral  Law,  London,  1714,  being 
a  supplement  to   Rabbi  Jehudah  ha-levi's 
Khuzri.     Dr.  L.  Loewe  translated  the  first 
two  dialogues  into  English  (London,  1842). 

4.  'Binah  la-'ittim,'  a  Jewish  calendar  for 
1718-1700.     5.  '  Noticias  reconditas  de  la 
Inquisicion,'  by  Carlos  Vero  (  =  D.  Nieto). 
Villa  forma  (  =  London),  1722.    The  book 
consists  of  two  parts ;  the  first,  written  in 
Portuguese,  contains  documents  supposed  to 
have  been  written  by  an  official  of  the  In- 
quisition ;  the  second,  in  Spanish,  criticises 
the  cruelties  of  the  Inquisition.     6.  '  Re- 
epuesta  al  Sermon  predicado  por  el  ar^obispo 
de  Cargranor,'  i.e.  Reply  toa  Sermon  preached 


by  the  Archbishop  of  Cargranor  in  Lisbon  be- 
fore an  auto  defe,  6  Sept.  1705.  In  English, 
by  M.  Mocatta,  'The  Inquisition  and  Ju- 
daism,'London,  1845.  7.  'Sha'ar  Dan.'  A 
Talmudical  concordance ;  incomplete,  Bodl. 
MS.  2265  and  Gaster's  '  Cod.  Hebr.'  p.  60. 
A  portrait,  engraved  by  J.  McArdell,  is  in 
the  possession  of  Mr.  L.  van  Oven. 

[Wolfs  Bibl.  Hebr.  iii.  201  seq. ;  Kayserling's 
Gesch.  d.  Juden  in  Portugal,  p.  325;  Graetz, 
Gesch.  d.  Juden,  x.  322  seq.]  M.  F. 

NIGEL,  called  the  DANE  (d.  921  ?),  re- 
puted king  of  Deira,  has  a  contested  claim 
to  rank  among  the  Danes  who  ruled  in  North- 
umbria. The  existence  of  a  Danish  king  of 
Northumbria  of  this  name,  who  was  slain 
by  his  brother  Sitric  about  921,  is  vouched 
for  by  two  manuscripts  of  the  'Anglo-Saxon 
Chronicle'  (i.  195,  Rolls  Ser.),  by  Henry  of 
Huntingdon  (PETRIE,  Monumenta,  745  A, 
and  751  A),  by  Simeon  of  Durham  (ib. 
686  B),  by  Gaimar  (ib.  807  [21),  and  by  Hove- 
den  (i.  52,  Rolls  Ser.)  If  these  writers  are 
to  be  trusted,  Nigel  must  have  been  of  the 
famous  race  of  the  Hy  Ivar,  and  grandson  of 
the  Ivar  who  invaded  Northumbria  in  866. 

The  Irish  annalists,  on  the  other  hand,  who 
record  the  history  of  the  Danes  in  Dublin 
and  Deira,  are  unaware  of  the  existence  of  a 
Danish  king  of  Deira  of  Ivar's  race  named 
Nigel  or  Niel,  and  modern  writers  have  rea- 
sonably inferred,  from  entries  in  the  Irish 
annals,  that  the  English  chroniclers  are  in 
error,  and  that  Nigel  of  Deira  never  existed 
(ROBEETSON,  Early  Kings  of  Scotland,  i.  57; 
TODD,  War  of  the  Gaedhil  ivith  the  Gaill, 
p.  277,  Rolls  Ser.;  HODGSON,  Northumber- 
land, pt.  i.  pp.  138-9)  (Hinde). 

The  'Annals  of  Ulster,'  like  other  Irish 
chronicles,  record  that  in  888  Sitric,  son  of 
the  above-mentioned  Ivar,  slew  his  brother 
(O'CONOB,  Her.  Hibern.  Script,  iv.  238 ;  cf. 
Chron.  Scotorum,  p.  171,  Rolls  Ser.;  WAEE, 
Antiq.  Hibern.  p.  130).  In  919  the  same 
authorities  state  that  another  Sitric,  some- 
times called  Sitric  Gale,  grandson  of  Ivar, 
defeated  and  slew  Niall  (870  P-919)  £q.  v.l, 
called  Glundubh,  king  of  Ireland,  in  the 
battle  of  Kilmashogue  near  Dublin  {Ann. 
Ult.  iv.  252,  where  the  name  of  the  victor  is 
not  given ;  War  of  the  Gaedhil  vnth  the 
Gaill,  loc.  cit.  p.  35 ;  Ann.  Inisfalenses,  ap. 
O'CoNOE,  ii.  39,  ex  cod.  Dubl. ;  Chron.  Scot. 
p.  191 ;  The  Four  Masters,  an.  917  =919,  ii. 
593,  ed.  O'Donovan).  This  Sitric  afterwards 
attacked  Northumbria  and  became  king  there 
about  921.  The  writers  who  doubt  the  exist- 
nce  of  Nigel  of  Deira  argue  that  the  Eng- 
lish chroniclers  have  been  misled  by  these 
two  entries,  and  that  their  mention  of  Nigel 


Nigel 


Nigel 


or  Niel,  whom  they  call  king  of  Northumbria, 
is  a  confused  reference  to  Niall  Glundubh, 
king  of  Ireland.  The  latter,  of  course,  was 
neither  a  Dane  nor  a  brother  of  Sitric,  but 
an  Irishman  of  the  race  of  the  northern  Hy 
Neffl, 

[Authorities  cited  in  the  text.]     A.  M.  C-E. 

NIGEL  (d.  1169),  bishop  of  Ely,  states- 
man, was  a  nephew  of  Roger,  bishop  of 
Salisbury  [q.  v.J,  by  whom  he  was  committed 
for  education  to  Anselm,  abbot  of  Laon  (HER- 
MANNUS,  p.  539),  and  there  trained  for  official 
work  (WILL.  MALM.  ii.  658).  Although 
born,  it  would  seem,  scarcely  later  than  1100, 
he  is  not  mentioned  in  England  till  nearly 

1 1 30.  His  earliest  attestation  is  to  an  Abing- 
don  charter  (Chron.  Abb.  ii.  164),  which  is 
assigned  to  1124,  but  which  belongs  to  1126- 
1130  (Add.  MS.  31943,  fol.  60).     He  also 
attests  an  Abingdon  charter  of  1130  (Chron. 
Abb.  ii.  173),  one  granted  at  Rouen  in  May 

1131,  two  granted  at  the  council  of  North- 
ampton in  September  1131  (Sarum  Docu- 
ments ;  Mon.  Angl.  iv.  538),  one  of  1132  (ib.  vi. 
1271),  and  one  of  1133  (Cart.  Kiev.  p.  141), 
always  as '  nepos  episcopi.'  He  is  also  so  styled 
in  the  Pipe  Roll  of  1 130,  where  he  occurs  as 
connected  with  the  Norman  treasury,  and  as 
owning  over  fifty  hides  of  land  in  various 
counties,  besides  property  at   Winchester, 
where  doubtless  he  had  official  work.     He 
was  already  a  prebendary  of  St.  Paul's  (Ls 
NEVE,  ii.  377),  when  in  1133  he  was  pro- 
moted to  the  wealthy  see  of  Ely,  as  Henry  I 
was  leaving  England  for  the  last  time,  and 
consecrated  on  1  Oct.     He  was  present,  as 
bishop,  at  the  king's  departure  (MADOX,  i.  56). 
Resenting  as  a  court  job  the  selection  of '  the 
king's  treasurer,'  the  monks  of  Ely  have 
left  us,  through  their  spokesman  Richard,  no 
favourable  picture  of  his  rule. 

Residing  at  London,  as  treasurer  and  ad- 
ministrator, he  left  the  charge  of  his  see  to 
a  certain  Ranulf,  who  soon  quarrelled  with 
the  monks.  Nigel,  however,  from  his  official 
position,  was  able  to  recover,  at  the  end  of 
Henry's  and  the  beginning  of  Stephen's  reign, 
several  estates  Avhich  his  see  had  lost,  and 
which  he  enumerated  in  his  charter  (Cotton 
MS.  Tib.  A.  vi.  fol.  Ill),  but  when  he  turned 
his  attention  to  the  treasures  of  his  cathedral 
church  the  strife  between  Ranulf  and  the 
monks  became  acute.  For  two  years  they 
were  oppressed  by  his  exactions  till,  about  the 
beginning  of  1137,  a  mysterious  conspiracy 
in  which  he  was  involved,  and  which,  says 
Orderic,  was  revealed  through  Bishop  Nigel 
himself,  caused  Ranulf 's  sudden  flight  with 
some  of  his  ill-gotten  wealth,  whereupon 
Nigel  and  his  monks  became  reconciled.  His 


hands  were  strengthened  by  Pope  Innocent, 
who  in  successive  bulls  and  letters  (1139) 
insisted  on  the  complete  restoration  to  his 
see  of  all  her  possessions,  however  long  they 
had  been  lost  (ib.  1106-14). 

Meanwhile  the  bishop,  with  his  uncle  and 
brother,  had  accepted  Stephen's  succession, 
and  were  all  three  present  at  his  Easter  court 
in  1136,  and  witnessed  shortly  afterwards  his 
charter  of  liberties  at  Oxford  (Geoffrey  de 
Mandeville,  p.  262).  His  uncle  is  said  to 
have  bought  for  him  the  office  of  treasurer 
at  the  beginning  of  the  reign  (  WILL.  MALM. 
p.  559).  The  wealth  and  power  of  the  three 
prelates,  however,  exposed  them  to  the 
jealousy  of  the  king,  and  it  was  feared  by 
Stephen  that  they  were  intriguing  for  the 
support  of  the  pope.  Dr.  Liebermann  holds 
that  they  actually  attended  the  Lateran  coun- 
cil of  April  1139,  but  this  is  improbable. 
On  their  sudden  arrest  at  the  council  of  Ox- 
ford on  24  June  1139  Nigel  alone  escaped 
(Ann.  Mon.  iv.  23),  and  fled  to  his  uncle's 
stronghold  of  Devizes,  which,  however,  he  was 
forced  to  surrender  (WiLL.  MALM.  p.  549). 
The  breach  between  the  king  and  the  prelates 
was  now  virtually  irreparable,  and  Nigel  was 
tempted  by  the  strong  position  of  Ely  to  em- 
brace the  cause  of  the  empress  on  her  arrival 
in  England.  He  began  to  fortify  the  isle, 
and  secured  local  allies  (Historia  JEliensis, 
p.  620).  The  king  hearing  of  this  sent  forces 
against  him,  but  they  besieged  the  isle  in  vain 
till  Stephen  himself,  after  Christmas  1139, 
came  to  their  assistance  (HEN.  HUNT.  p. 
267),  and  with  the  help  of  boats  and  a  float- 
ing bridge  crossed  the  water.  At  the  onset 
of  his  troops  Nigel's  followers  gave  way  at 
once,  and  he  himself,  with  three  companions, 
fled  to  the  empress  at  Gloucester  (Historia 
Eliensis,  p.  620).  Forfeited  by  the  king,  he 
found  himself  in  poverty,  and  appealed  to 
the  pope  for  assistance.  Innocent  thereupon 
wrote  on  5  Oct.  1140  to  Theobald,  the  pri- 
mate, complaining  that  Nigel  was  '  absque 
justitia  et  ratione  a  sede  sua  expulsum  et 
rebus  propriis  spoliatum,'  and  insisting  on 
his  reinstatement  and  the  submission  of  all 
his  foes  clerical  and  lay  (Cotton  MS.  Tib.  A. 
vi.  ut  supra). 

But  his  fortune  was  now  suddenly  changed 
by  the  king's  capture  at  Lincoln  on  2  Feb. 
1141.  Accompanying  the  empress  in  her 
advance  from  Gloucester,  he  entered  Win- 
chester with  her  on  3  March,  was  with  her  at 
Reading  in  May,  and  at  Westminster  during 
her  short  visit  in  June.  When  her  scattered 
followers  reassembled  at  Oxford  in  July  he 
was  still  with  her,  but  after  the  release  of  the 
king  he  realised  the  hopelessness  of  her  cause. 
Early  in  1142,  his  knights  having  reassem- 


Nigel 


6r 


Nigel 


bled  in  the  meanwhile  at  Ely,  Stephen  sent 
against  them  the  Earls  of  Pembroke  and  Essex, 
who  dispersed  them ;  but  after  this  the  king 
restored  him  to  possession  of  his  see,  and  his 
monks  and  people  received  him  with  great 
rejoicing  after  his  two  years'  absence.  For 
a  time  he  applied  himself  quietly  to  the  affairs 
of  his  see,  but  having  condemned  a  clerk, 
named  Vitalis,  for  simony,  the  latter  appealed 
against  him  to  the  London  council  of  March 
1143,  where  the  legate  (Bishop  Henry  of 
Winchester)  favoured  him,  and  also  allowed 
Nigel  to  be  accused  of  raising  civil  war,  and 
of  squandering  the  estates  of  his  see  on 
knights.  Nigel,  cited  to  appear  before  the 
pope,  resolved  to  consult  the  empress  first. 
At  Wareham,  on  his  way  to  her  in  Wilt- 
shire, he  was  surprised  and  plundered  by  the 
king's  men,  but  succeeded  in  reaching  her, 
and  after  many  narrow  escapes  returned  in 
safety  to  Ely.  He  now  brought  pressure 
to  bear  on  the  monks,  desiring  to  use  the 
treasures  of  his  church  to  influence  the  court 
of  Rome.  Succeeding  at  length  in  this,  with 
great  difficulty,  he  made  his  way  to  Rome 
(whither  the  legate  had  preceded  him),  where, 
supported  by  Archbishop  Theobald  and  his 
own  treasures,  he  cleared  himself  before  Pope 
Lucius  II,  who  wrote  several  letters  (24  May 
1144),  acquitting  him  of  all  offences,  and  con- 
firming to  him  all  the  possessions  of  his  see 
(Cotton  MS.  Tib.  A.  vi.  fol.  117). 

Nigel's  triumph,  however,  was  shortlived. 
During  his  absence  the  Earl  of  Essex  (Geoffrey 
de  Mandeville)  had  seized  upon  Ely,  and 
made  it  the  centre  of  his  revolt  against  the 
king.  The  bishop,  hearing  of  this  at  Rome, 
had  induced  Lucius  to  protest,  and,  hearing 
on  his  return  of  the  ruin  brought  upon  the 
isle,  complained  further  to  the  pope,  who 
again  wrote  in  his  favour.  Such  of  his  pos- 
sessions as  had  escaped  Geoffrey  had  been 
forfeited  by  Stephen,  who,  mindful  of  Nigel's 
previous  treason,  accused  him  of  connivance 
in  the  revolt.  Geoffrey's  death  had  now 
strengthened  Stephen's  hands,  and  the  bishop 
was  unable  for  some  time  to  make  his  peace. 
At  length  a  meeting  was  arranged  at  Ipswich, 
but  it  was  only  on  paying  200/.,  and  giving 
his  beloved  son  Richard  Fitzneale  (after- 
wards bishop-treasurer)  as  hostage  for  his 
good  behaviour,  that  Stephen  forgave  and 
restored  him  (Cotton  MS.  Titus  A.  i.  fol. 
34  6).  To  raise  the  above  sum  he  further  de- 
spoiled his  church ;  and  the  subsequent  raids 
upon  its  treasure,  with  which  he  is  charged  by 
the  monks,  may  have  been  due  to  eagerness 
to  purchase  favour  at  court,  the  cause  of  the 
empress  seeming  hopeless.  There  are  clear 
traces  of  his  regaining  an  official  position  be- 
fore the  close  of  the  reign.  He  appears  as  a 


president  of  the  Norfolk  shiremoot  (BLOME- 
FIELD,  Norfolk,  iii.  28),  and  is  addressed  in 
royal  documents  (Mon.  Angl.  iv.  120,  216). 
He  was  also  a  witness  to  the  final  treaty  be- 
tween Stephen  and  Duke  Henry  on  6  Nov. 
1153  (RYMER);  he  was  present  at  the  conse- 
cration of  Archbishop  Roger  on  10  Oct.  1 154 
(Anglia  Sacra,  i.  72),  and  he  attended  the 
coronation  of  Henry  on  19  Dec.  1154. 

With  Henry's  accession  begins  the  most 
important  period  of  his  life.  The  sole  sur- 
vivor of  his  great  ministerial  family  and  de- 
pository of  its  traditions,  he  was  at  once 
called  upon  by  the  young  king  to  restore  his 
grandfather's  official  system.  He  also  pur- 
chased the  office  of  treasurer  for  his  son 
Richard,  to  whose '  Dialogus  de  Scaccario '  we 
are  indebted  for  information  on  his  official 
work.  The  king,  we  learn  from  the  preface, 
sent  to  consult  Nigel  on  the  exchequer,  his 
knowledge  of  which  was  unrivalled  (i.  8), 
and  he  was  at  once  employed  to  restore  it 
to  its  condition  before  the  civil  war.  He  is 
represented  as  having  been  very  zealous  for 
the  privileges  of  its  officers  (i.  11).  From 
the  earliest  pipe  rolls  of  Henry  II  his  official 
employment  is  manifest,  but  Eyton's  belief 
that  he  was  chancellor  at  Henry's  accession 
(p.  2)  was  based  on  an  error  exposed  by  Foss. 
Meanwhile  the  monks  had  gained  the  ear  of 
the  new  pope,  Adrian  IV  [q.  v.J,  who  (22  Feb. 
1156)  threatened  Nigel  with  suspension,  un- 
less within  three  months  he  restored  to  his 
church  all  that  had  been  taken  from  it  since 
his  consecration  (JAFFE,  10,149;  Cotton  MS. 
Titus  A.  i.  fol.  48).  Nigel  pleaded  the  absence 
of  the  king  from  England  as  an  obstacle  to  re- 
stitution, and  a  further  bull  (22  March  1157) 
granted  him  an  extension  of  time  (JAFFE, 
10265 ;  Cotton  MS.  Titus  A.  i.  fol.  48  *). 
The  king,  Theobald,  other  bishops,  and  John 
of  Salisbury  (Epist.  pp.  14, 30, 31)  interceded 
warmly  on  his  behalf,  but  it  was  not  till  1159 
(16  Jan.)  that  Adrian  at  length  relaxed  his 
suspension,  on  condition  of  his  swearing,  in 
the  presence  of  Theobald,  to  make  complete 
restitution  (JAFFE,  10535 ;  Cotton  MS.  Titus 
A.  1,  folios  49,  50).  The  monks  implied  that 
he  never  did  so,  and  could  not  forgive  him 
for  despoiling  their  church.  His  crowning 
offence  in  their  eyes  was  that  he  did  this 
in  the  interest  of  his  son  Richard,  for  whom 
they  alleged  he  bought  the  office  of  treasurer 
for  400J.  when  Henry  II  was  in  need  of 
money  for  his  Toulouse  campaign.  But  the 
pipe  rolls  do  not  record  the  transaction.  It 
may  be  that  John  of  Salisbury's  indignant 
rebuke  to  him  (Epist.  56)  is  connected  with 
this  scandal,  for  he  charges  Nigel  with  evad- 
ing the  canons  of  the  church.  Another 
scandal  was  caused  by  his  making  a  married 


Nigel 


Nigel 


clerk  sacrist  of  Ely.  Archbishop  Thomas 
wrote  to  him  strongly  on  this  matter,  and  at 
last  cited  him  to  appear  before  him  for  dis- 
regard of  his  letters  (Cotton  MS.  Titus  A.  i. 
folios  53,  536). 

Meanwhile  he  is  proved  by  charters  to 
have  been  in  constant  attendance  at  court, 
and  he  was  also  present  at  Becket's  consecra- 
tion (3  June  1162),  and  at  the  great  council 
of  Clarendon  (January  1 1 64).  But  his  chief 
work  was  at  the  exchequer,  and  it  is  as  '  Baro 
de  Scaccario'  that  he  directs  a  writ  to  the 
sheriff  of  Gloucester  (Nero,  c.  iii.  fol.  188). 
He  also  appears  as  the  presiding  justiciar  in 
the  curia  regis,  Mich.  1165,  at  Westmin- 
ster (MADOX,  Formulare,  p.  xix).  In  the 
great  Becket  controversy  he  took  no  active 
part,  his  sympathies  being  doubtless  divided 
between  the  privileges  of  his  order  and  the 
prerogatives  of  the  crown.  Struck  down  by 
paralysis,  it  would  seem,  at  Easter  1166,  he 
passed  the  last  three  years  of  his  life  in  quiet 
retirement  at  Ely,  where  he  died  on  30  May 
1169. 

A  churchman  only  by  the  force  of  circum- 
stances, his  heart  was  in  his  official  work, 
and  the  great  service  he  rendered  was  that 
of  bridging  over  the  era  of  anarchy,  and  re- 
storing the  exchequer  system  of  Henry  I. 
By  training  his  son  Richard  Fitzneale  [q.  v.] 
the  treasurer  in  the  same  school,  he  secured 
the  continuance  of  the  elaborate  system 
with  which  his  name  will  always  be  identi- 
fied. 

[The  chief  original  authority  for  Nigel's  life 
is  the  account  of  him  in  the  Historia  Eliensis 
(Anglia  Sacra,  i.  618-29).  The  best  modern 
biography  of  him  is  contained  in  Dr.  Lieber- 
mann's  Einleitung  in  den  Dialogus  de  Scaccario 
(1875),  a  work  of  minute  detail.  Subsidiary 
sources  are  Cottonian  MSS.  Tib.  A.  vi.,  Titus 
A.  i.,  Nero  C.  iii. ;  Hermannus  (in  D'Achery's 
Guibertus)  ;  William  of  Malmesbury,  the  Chro- 
nicle of  Abingdon,  Sarum  Documents,  Henry  of 
Huntingdon,  and  Annales  Monastici  (Bolls  Ser.); 
Madox's  Exchequer  and  Formulare  Anglica- 
num;  Dialogus  de  Scaccario  (Stubbs's  Select 
Charters) ;  Dugdale's  Monasticon ;  Le  Neve's 
Fasti ;  Rymer's  Foedera ;  Jaffe's  Regesta,  ed. 
Wattenbach  ;  John  of  Salisbury's  letters  (Giles's 
Patres  Ecclesiae  Anglicanae) ;  Eyton's  Court  and 
Itinerary  of  Henry  II ;  Round's  Geoffrey  de  Man- 
deville,  and  Nigel,  Bishop  of  Ely  (Engl.  Hist. 
Rev.  viii.  515).]  J.  H.  R. 

NIGEL,  called  WIREKER  (J,.  1190), 
satirist,  became  a  monk  at  Christ  Church 
priory,  Canterbury,  probably  some  time 
before  the  murder  of  Becket  in  December 
11 70;  for  he  claims  personal  acquaintance 
with  the  archbishop:  'we  have  seen  him 
with  our  eyes,  our  hands  have  touched  him, 


we  have  eaten  and  drunk  with  him '  (Anglo- 
Latin  Satir.  Poets,  ed.  Wright,  i.  155).  He 
calls  himself  old  in  line  1  of  the  '  Speculum 
Stultorum,'  which  may  be  assigned  to  the 
latter  part  of  Henry  II's  reign ;  but  there 
is  no  evidence  as  to  the  exact  date  of  his 
birth.  He  took  part  in  the  dispute  between 
Archbishop  Baldwin  [q.  v.]  and  the  monks  of 
Christ  Church  [see  under  NORREYS,  ROGER], 
being  one  of  the  delegates  from  the  convent 
to  King  Richard  in  November  1189,  and 
being  singled  out,  about  the  same  time,  for 
a  severe  rating  by  the  archbishop  (Epist. 
Cantuar.  Rolls  Ser.  pp.  312,  315).  In  his 
treatise,  'Contra  Curiales  et  Officiates  Cleri- 
cos '  (circ.  1 1 93) ,  he  describes  himself  as '  Can- 
tuariae  ecclesise  fratrum  minimus  frater  Ni- 
gellus,  veste  monachus,  vita  peccator,  gradu 
presbyter'  (Anglo-Latin  Satir.  Poets,  i.  153). 
In  that  work  (p.  211)  he  speaks  of  having 
visited  Coventry  after  the  expulsion  of  the 
monks  and  the  introduction  of  secular  canons 
in  their  place  (in  1191),  a  sight  which  grieved 
him  to  the  heart.  Leland  calls  him  precentor 
of  Canterbury  (  Collect,  iii.  8,  and  Scriptores, 
i.  228) ;  but  there  is  no  precentor  named 
Nigel  in  the  extant  obituaries  of  the  priory, 
although  the  entry  '  Nigellus,  sacerdos  et 
monachus,'  occurs  three  times,  viz.,  14  April, 
13  Aug.  and  26  Sept.  (Nero  C.  ix.  ff.  9$,  12  b; 
Lambeth  MS.  20,  ff.  180, 2096, 225;  Arundel 
MS.  68,  ff.  24,  38,  43). 

The  earliest  authority  for  the  surname 
Wireker  is  Bale  (Catalogus,  1557,  i.  245) 
who  refers  in  the  notes  prepared  by  him  for 
the  '  Catalogus '  now  in  the  Bodleian  (Seld. 
MS.  supra  64,  f.  134)  to  the  collections  of 
Nicholas  Grimald  [q.  v.] 

The  first  part  of  Vespasian  D.  xix.  is  a 
13th  century  manuscript,  which  originally 
belonged  to  Christ  Church  priory ;  it  con- 
tains a  number  of  Latin  poems  by  a  writer 
named  Nigel,  who  may  safely  be  identified 
with  the  subject  of  the  present  article.  The 
first  flyleaf  bears  the  inscription  'Nigelli 
de  Longo  Campo,'  in  a  hand  of  about  the 
same  period  as  the  manuscript  itself.  From 
this,  and  from  Nigel's  intimacy  with  Wil- 
liam Longchamp  [q.  v.],  bishop  of  Ely  and 
chancellor  of  England,  it  may  perhaps  be 
inferred  that  he  was  a  kinsman  of  the  bishop, 
or  that  he  came  from  the  same  place,  viz., 
Longchamp  in  Normandy.  The  latter  sup- 
position derives  some  slight  support  from  the 
fact  that  Nigel  speaks  in  the '  Contra  Curiales ' 
of  having  been  in  Normandy  (Anglo-Latin 
Satir.  Poets,  i.  203). 

His  best  known  work  is  the  '  Speculum 
Stultorum,'  a  satire  (in  elegiac  verse)  on  the 
vices  and  corruption  of  society  in  general, 
and  of  the  religious  orders  in  particular, 


Nigel 


Niger 


under  the  guise  of  a  narrative  of  the  adven- 
tures of  Burnellus,  or  Brunellus,  an  ass 
who  wants  a  longer  tail,  and  who  is  ex- 
plained in  a  prose  introduction  as  typifying 
the  discontented  and  ambitious  monk.  Both 
the  introduction  and  the  poem  itself  are  ad- 
dressed to  a  person  named  William,  pro- 
bably Longchamp  before  his  elevation  to 
episcopal  dignity.  An  allusion  to  King  Louis 
of  France  (ib.  i.  17)  seems  to  indicate  that 
the  poem  was  written  before  the  death  of 
Louis  VII  in  1180.  It  attained  great  popu- 
larity in  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  cen- 
turies, as  is  shown  by  the  large  number  of 
manuscripts  still  extant  in  continental  as 
well  as  English  libraries.  The  British  Mu- 
seum contains  two  copies  of  an  edition  printed 
at  Cologne  in  1499,  besides  three  or  four  un- 
dated editions  which  are  probably  earlier. 
The  only  recent  edition  is  that  of  Thomas 
Wright  in  the  Rolls  Series  (ib.  i.  3).  Chaucer 
refers  to  the  poem  as  '  Dan  Burnel  the  asse  ' 
in  the  '  Nonnes  Preestes  Tale  '  ( Canterbury 
Tales,  ed.  Tyrwhitt,  1.  15318). 

The  next  in  importance  of  Nigel's  works 
is  the  prose  treatise  *  Contra  Curiales  et  Offi- 
ciales  Clericos,' an  epistle  addressed,  together 
with  a  prologue  in  elegiac  verse,  to  Wil- 
liam Longchamp  as  bishop  of  Ely,  chancellor, 
and  legate  (printed  by  Wright,  Anglo-Latin 
Satir.' Poets,  i.  146).  It  was  written  after 
the  capture  of  King  Richard  at  the  end  of 
1192,  but  while  Longchamp  was  still  an 
exile  from  England  (ib.  i.  217,  224)  ;  and 
may  therefore  be  assigned  to  1193,  or  the 
beginning  of  1 1 94.  Nigel  addresses  the  chan- 
cellor in  terms  of  affection  and  intimacy ;  but 
he  does  not  exempt  him  from  his  strictures 
on  prelates  and  other  ecclesiastics  who  neg- 
lect their  sacred  calling  for  secular  pursuits : 
in  fact  the  work  is  largely  devoted  to  proving 
the  incompatibility  of  the  office  of  chancellor 
with  that  of  bishop. 

The  poems  in  Vespasian  D.  xix.  are : 
(1)  Several  short  pieces,  including  some 
verses  to  Honorius  (prior  of  Christ  Church, 
1186-8)  and  an  elegy  on  his  death  (21  Oct. 
1188);  (2)'  Miracula  S.  Maria;  Virginis ; ' 
(3)  'Passio  S.  Laurentii ;'  (4)  '  Vita  Pauli 
Primi  Eremitae.'  Among  them  is  also  a  copy 
of  the  well-known  poem  on  monastic  life, 
beginning  '  Quid  deceat  monachum,  vel 
qualis  debeat  esse,'  which  appears  in  many 
editions  of  the  works  of  Anselm  [q.  v.] 
It  was  ascribed  by  Wright  (ib.  ii.  175) 
to  Alexander  Neckam,  apparently  on  the 
sole  authority  of  Leland  (Collect,  iii.  28); 
it  has  also  been  attributed,  with  better  reason, 
to  Roger  of  Caen,  a  monk  at  Bee,  and  friend 
of  Anselm  (Hist.  Litt.  de  la  France,  viii. 
421).  Some  verses  on  the  succession  of 


archbishops  of  Canterbury,  from  Augustine 
to  Richard  (d.  1184),  seem  to  be  the  work 
ofNigel(VitelliusA.xi.f.376;  ArundelMS. 
23,  f.  66  b) ;  and  Leland  mentions  '  Liber 
distinctionum  super  novum  et  vetus  testa- 
ment um  '  and  '  Excerptiones  de  Warnerio 
Gregoriano  super  Moralia  Job,'  both  by  him, 
among  the  books  which  he  saw  at  Canter- 
bury (Collect,  iii.  8).  The  poem  '  Adversus 
Barbariem,'  ascribed  to  Nigel  by  Bale,  and 
afterwards  by  Wright  (Anglo-Latin  Satir. 
Poets,  i.  231),  is  really  the  'Entheticus  ad 
Polycraticum '  of  John  of  Salisbury  [q.  v.] 

[Wright's  Anglo-Latin  Satirical  Poets,  vol.  i., 
and  Stubbs's  Epist.  Cantuar.  p.  Ixxxv,  both  in 
Eolls  Ser.;  Wright'sBiogr.Brit.,  Anglo-Norman 
period,  p.  351 ;  Ward's  Catalogue  of  Romances, 
ii.  691,  695  ;  information  kindly  given  by  R.  L. 
Poole,  esq.]  J.  A.  H-T. 

NIGER,  RALPH  (fl.  1170),  historian 
and  theologian,  is  said  to  have  been  a  native 
of  Bury  St.  Edmunds,  where  manuscripts  of 
several  of  his  works  were  formerly  preserved. 
According  to  his  own  statement  in  the  pre- 
face to  the  second  part  of  his  '  Moralia  on 
the  Books  of  Kings,'  Ralph  studied  at  Paris 
under  Gerard  La  Pucelle,  who  began  to  teach 
in  or  about  1160.  Ralph  himself  possibly 
taught  rhetoric  and  dialectics  there.  lie  is  said 
to  have  been  archdeacon  of  Gloucester,  but  his 
name  does  not  appear  in  Le  Neve's  '  Fasti 
Ecclesise  Anglicanae.'  Ralph  was  a  supporter 
of  Thomas  Becket,  and  two  letters  written 
to  him  on  the  archbishop's  behalf  by  John  of 
Salisbury  in  1166  are  extant  (Materials  for 
History  of  Thomas  Becket,  vi.  1-8).  The 
continuator  of  his  second  chronicle  states 
that  Ralph,  having  been  accused  before 
Henry  II,  fled  into  exile,  and  in  revenge 
inserted  in  his  history  a  savage  and  unseemly 
attack  on  the  king.  Nothing  is  known  of 
Ralph's  later  life,  but  he  would  seem  to  have 
survived  till  after  the  accession  of  Baldwin 
to  the  see  of  Canterbury  in  1184  (Chron.  pp. 
166, 168).  He  can  hardly  be  the  Ralph  Niger 
who  was  afflicted  with  madness  as  a  penalty 
for  dissuading  his  shipmates  from  visiting 
the  shrine  of  St.  Thomas  at  Canterbury 
(Materials  for  History  of  Thomas  Becket,  i. 
303).  Ralph  Niger  has  been  constantly  con- 
fused with  another  Ralph  (Radulphus  Fla- 
viacensis),  who  was  a  Benedictine  monk  at 
Flaix,  in  the  diocese  of  Beauvais.  Alberic 
of  Trois  Fontaines  says  that  Ralph  of  Flaix 
flourished  in  1157,  and  was  the  author  of 
a  commentary  on  Leviticus;  but,  though  the 
two  Ralphs  were  contemporaries,  there  is  no 
sufficient  ground  for  treating  them  as  the 
same  person. 

Ralph  Niger  was  the  author  of  two 
chronicles :  1.  '  Chronicon  ab  orbe  condito 


Niger 


64 


Niger 


usque  ad  A.D.  1199.'  2.  'Chronicon  suc- 
cinctum  de  vitis  imperatorum  et  tarn  Francise 
quam  Angliee  regum.'  Both  were  edited  by 
Colonel  R.  Anstruther  for  the  Caxton  Society 
in  1851.  The  former  is  contained  in  Cotton 
MS.  Cleopatra,  C.  x. ;  the  latter  in  Cotton 
MS.  Vesp.  D.  x.,  Claud.  D.  vii.,  College  of 
Arms,  xi. ,  and  Reg.  13  A.  xii.  Ralph's  share 
in  the  latter  extends  only  to  1161 ;  from  this 
point  it  was  continued  by  Ralph  Coggeshall 
[q.  v.J  Neither  chronicle  contains  much 
notice  of  English  affairs,  and  what  there  is  is 
borrowed  from  Geoffrey  of  Monmouth,  Wil- 
liam of  Malmesbury,  and  Henry  of  Hunting- 
don. The  second  chronicle,  however,  is  of 
interest  for  the  savage  invective  against 
Henry  IT,  on  pp.  167-9.  Ralph  is  also 
credited  with  three  other  historical  works, 
namely,  'Gesta  Regis  Johannis,'  'Initia 
Regis 'Henrici  Tertii,'  and; '  De  regibus  a 
Gulielmo.'  But  the  first  two  are  really  ex- 
tracts from  Roger  of  Wendover,  and  the  third 
is  perhaps  an  extract  from  Ralph's  own 
chronicle. 

In  the  first  of  his  chronicles  Ralph  gives 
the  following  list  of  his  works :  1.  '  Septem 
digesta  super  Eptaticum.'  2.  'Moralia  in 
Libros  Regum.'  3.  '  Epitome Veteris  Testa- 
menti  sive  commentarii  in  Paralipomena.' 

4.  '  Remedia    in    Esdram    et    Nehemiah.' 

5.  '  De  re  Militari  et  de  tribus  viis  Hiero- 
solymse.'  6.  '  De  quattuor  festis  beatae  Mariae 
Virginis.'  7.  'De  interpretation  Hebraeorum 
nominum.'    The  last  six,  together  with  the 
second  chronicle,  were  formerly  in  the  ca- 
thedral library   at  Lincoln   (cf.   Catalogue 
ap  GIBALDUS  CAMBRESTSIS,  vii.  170) ;  only 
the  last   three  and  the    chronicle   appear 
to  be  there  now ;    the  fifth   is  contained 
in  Pembroke  College,  Cambridge,  MS.  76. 
Tanner  also  gives :    1.   '  Super  Pentateu- 
chum.'  2. '  Digestum  in  Numerum.'    3.  '  Di- 
gestum  in  Leviticum.'  4. '  Pantheologicum,' 
in  which  last  Ralph  was  styled  archdeacon 
of  Gloucester.     The  commentary  on  Levi- 
ticus referred  to  by  Tanner  seems  to   be 
really  the  voluminous  work  of  Ralph  of 
Flaix,  of  which  there  are  numerous  manu- 
scripts ;  it  was  printed  at  Cologne,  1536,  and 
in  the  '  Bibliotheca  Patrum  Maxima.'  Ralph 
of  Flaix  was  also  author  of  a  commentary, 
'  Super  Parabolas  Salomonis,'  in  Pembroke 
College,  Cambridge,  MS.  83,  which  has  been 
ascribed  to  Ralph  Niger ;  and  of  commen- 
taries on  Genesis,  Nahum,  the  Epistles  of 
St.  Paul,  and  Revelation.     Some  have  also 
ascribed  to  Ralph  of  Flaix  the  chronicles 
which  belong  to  Ralph  Niger. 

[Tanner's  Bibl.  Brit.-Hib.  p.  548;  Hardy's 
Descriptive  Catalogue  of  British  History,  ii.  287, 
496  ;  Wright's  Biogr.  Brit.  Litt.  Anglo-Norman, 


pp.  423-4 ;  Cave's  Script.  Eccl.  ii.  232  ;  Oudin, 
ti.441,iii.  94;  Histoire Li tterairede  France,  xii., 
information  kindly  supplied  by  Canon  Venables ; 
other  authorities  quoted.]  C.  L.  K. 

NIGER  or  LE  NOIR,  ROGER  (d.  1241), 
bishop  of  London,  was  perhaps  a  native  of 
Bileigh,  at  Little  Maldon,  Essex,  for  in  the 
copies  of  his  statutes  at  Cambridge  he  is  called 
Roger  Niger  de  Bileye.  His  father  and  mother 
were  called  Ralph  and  Margery.  He  founded 
a  chantry  for  them  at  St.  Paul's.  There  seems 
to  be  no  evidence  as  to  whether  he  was  con- 
nected with  Ralph  Niger  [q.  v.]  the  historian. 
Roger  is  first  mentioned  as  prebendary  of 
Ealdland,  St.  Paul's,  in  1192,  and  in  1218  he 
occurs  as  archdeacon  of  Colchester.  In  the 
latter  capacity  he  issued  acollection  of  statutes 
for  the  rectors  and  priests  of  his  archdeaconry, 
a  copy  of  which  is  preserved  in  the  university 
library  at  Cambridge— MS.  Gg.  iv.  32,  ff. 
108-16.  In  1228  he  was  elected  bishop  of 
London,  and  was  consecrated  10  June  1229, 
at  Canterbury,  by  Henry,  bishop  of  Rochester 
(MATT.  PARIS,  iii.  190).  On  25  Jan.  1230 
St.  Paul's  Cathedral  was  struck  by  lightning, 
while  Roger  was  celebrating  mass.  All  but 
one  deacon  fled  in  terror ;  the  bishop,  how- 
ever, remained  unmoved,  and  finished  the 
service.  In  June  1231  he  was  summoned  to 
meet  the  king  at  Oxford  to  consult  on  the 
affairs  of  Wales  (SHIRLEY,  Royal  and  Hist. 
Letters,  i.  400).  When  in  1232  Hubert  de 
Burgh  [q.  v.]  was  dragged  from  the  Boisars 
Chapel,  near  Brentwood,  Roger  went  to  the 
king,  and,  declaring  that  unless  Hubert  was 
sent  back  he  would  excommunicate  all  con- 
cerned in  the  matter,  obtained  his  restora- 
tion. This  same  year  the  bishop  had  excom- 
municated those  who  had  been  guilty  of 
violence  to  Roman  clerks.  He  was  neverthe- 
less accused  of  consenting  to  the  pillage  of 
the  Romans,  and  summoned  to  Rome,  where 
he  purged  himself  at  great  expense.  On  his 
way  thither  he  was  robbed  of  his  jewels  and 
money  at  Parma,  but  recovered  a  portion 
with  some  difficulty.  At  a  later  date  the  men 
of  Parma,  when  their  city  was  besieged  by 
Frederick  II  in  1247,  ascribed  their  sufferings 
to  Roger's  well-deserved  curse  for  their  ill- 
treatment  of  him  (MATT.  PARIS,  iv.  637). 

On  Roger's  return  in  the  autumn  of  1233, 
he  arrived  at  Dover  just  at  the  time  of  the 
arrest  of  Walter  Mauclerk  [q.  v.],  bishop  of 
Carlisle.     He  at  once  excommunicated  the 
offenders,  and  going  to  the  king  at  Hereford, 
remonstrated  with  him  for  having  orde 
the  arrest.     Roger  officiated  at  the  consec 
tion  of  Edmund  as  archbishop  of  Canterb 
on  2  April  1234.     In  1235  he  endeavou 
to  expel  the  Caursines  from  his  diocese, 
account  of  their  practice  of  usury.     But 


Nightingale 


Nightingale 


Caursines,  through  their  influence  with  the 
papal  see,  procured  Roger's  summons  to 
Rome,  and  the  bishop,  unable  through  ill- 
health  to  obey,  was  compelled  to  yield.  Roger 
was  a  witness  to  the  reissue  of  Magna  Charta 
in  1236,  and  quarrelled  with  Archbishop  Ed- 
mund (Rich)  [q.  v.]  as  to  his  right  of  episco- 
pal visitation  in  1239  (Ann.  Mon.  i.  103,  iii. 
151).  His  episcopate  was  marked  by  much 
progress  in  the  building  of  St.  Paul's,  and  the 
choir  was  dedicated  by  him  on  1  Oct.  1240. 

He  died  at  Stepney  on  29  Sept.  1241,  and 
was  buried  in  St.  Paul's  between  the  north 
aisle  and  the  choir.  An  engraving  of  his  tomb 
as  it  existed  before  the  great  fire  is  given  in 
Dugdale's '  St.  Paul's,'p.  58,  together  with  four 
lines  of  verse  and  a  prose  epitaph  that  were 
inscribed  on  it.  The  latter  describes  Roger 
as '  a  man  of  profound  learning,  of  honourable 
character,  and  in  all  things  praiseworthy;  a 
lover  and  strenuous  defender  of  the  Christian 
religion.'  This  epitaph  is  paraphrased  by 
Matthew  Paris  (iii.  164),  who  further  speaks 
of  him  as  '  free  from  all  manner  of  pride.' 
After  his  death  Roger  was  honoured  as  a 
saint,  and  miracles  were  alleged  to  have  been 
wrought  at  his  tomb  (ib.  v.  13 ;  Cont.  GER- 
VASE,ii.  130,  202).  In  1252  Hugh  de  North- 
wold  [q.  v.],  bishop  of  Ely,  in  granting  an 
indulgence  of  thirty  days  to  all  who  visited 
his  tomb,  describes  him  as  '  beatus  Rogerus 
episcopus  et  confessor.'  A  similar  indulgence 
was  granted  by  John  le  Breton,  bishop  of 
Hereford,  in  1269. 

A  treatise,  '  De  contemptu  mundi  sive  de 
bono  paupertatis,'has  been  ascribed  to  Bishop 
Roger  without  sufficient  reason;  it  was  edited 
under  his  name  by  Andreas  Schott  (Cologne, 
1619),  and  re-edited  in  1873  by  Monsignor 
J.  B.  Malon,  who  showed  the  incorrectness 
of  the  ascription.  A  translation  into  French 
by  1'AbbS  Picherit  appeared  under  Roger's 
name  in  1865  (BACKER,  Bibl,  des  Ecrivains 
de  la  Comp.  de  Jesus).  Pits  (Appendix,  p. 
406)  wrongly  identifies  the  bishop  with  Roger 
Black  or  Nigellus,  a  Benedictine  monk  of 
Westminster,  who  was  the  author  of  some 
sermons  beginning 'Sapientiavincit  malitiam 
Christus.' 

[Matthew  Paris,  Annales  Monastic!,  Con- 
tinuation of  Gervase  of  Canterbury  (all  in  Kolls 
Ser.) ;  Tanner's  Bibl.  Brit.-Hib.  pp.  102-3  ;  New- 
court's  Repertorium,  i.  13-14  ;  Le  Neve's  Fasti 
Eccl.  Angl.ii.  284,338,  382;  Dugdale's  St.  Paul's, 
ed.  Ellis,  pp.  8,  58  ;  Documents  illustrating  the 
History  of  St.  Paul's  (Camden  Soc.);  Wharton's 
De  Episcopis  Londiniensibus,  pp.  83-8.] 

C.  L.  K. 

NIGHTINGALE,  JOSEPH  (1775- 
1824),  miscellaneous  writer,  was  born  at 
Chowbent,  in  the  chapelry  of  Atherton, 

VOL.   XLI. 


parish  of  Leigh,  Lancashire,  on  26  Oct.  1775. 
He  became  a  Wesleyan  methodist  in  1796, 
and  acted  occasionally  as  a  local  preacher, 
but  never  entered  the  methodist  ministry, 
and  ceased  to  be  a  member  in  1804.  For  some 
time  he  was  master  of  a  school  at  Maccles- 
field,  Cheshire,  but  came  to  London  in  1805, 
at  the  suggestion  of  William  Smyth  (1765- 
1849)  [q.  vj,  afterwards  professor  of  modern 
history  at  Cambridge.  By  this  time  he  was 
a  Unitarian.  He  ranked  as  a  minister  of  that 
body,  preaching  his  first  sermon  on  8  Juno 
1806  at  Parliament  Street  Chapel,  Bishops- 
gate,  but  he  never  held  any  pastoral  charge, 
and  supported  himself  chiefly  by  his  pen. 
After  the  publication  of  his  '  Portraiture  of 
Methodism'  (1807)  he  was  exposed  to  much 
criticism.  An  article  in  the  '  New  Annual 
Register '  for  1807  characterised  him  as  '  a 
knave  ; '  he  brought  an  action  for  libelagainst 
John  Stockdale,  the  publisher,  and  recovered 
200/.  damages  on  11  March  1809.  In  1824 
he  was  again  received  into  membership  by 
the  methodist  body.  In  private  life  '  he 
was  of  a  kind  disposition,  lively  imagina- 
tion, and  possessed  a  cheerfulness  that  never 
deserted  him.'  This  description  is  confirmed 
by  his  portrait  prefixed  to  his '  Stenography.' 
He  died  in  London  on  9  Aug.  1824,  and  was 
buried  at  Bunhill  Fields.  He  married,  on 
I  17  Nov.  1799,  Margaret  Goostry,  and  had 
j  four  children;  his  son,  Joseph  Sargent 
Nightingale,  is  an  independent  minister. 

His  works  extend  to  about  fifty  volumes ; 
those  on  topography  have  much  merit. 
Among  them  are :  1 . '  Elegiac  Thoughts  on  the 
Death  of  Rev.  David  Simpson,'  Manchester, 
1797.  2.  '  The  Election,  a  Satirical  Drama,' 
Stockport,  1804.  3.  'A  Portraiture  of 
Methodism,'  1807,  8vo.  4.  '  Nightingale 
versus  Stockdale,'  &c.  [1809],  8vo.  5.  'A 
Guide  to  the  Watering  Places,'  1811.  6.  <  A 
Letter  to  a  Friend,  containing  a  Compara- 
tive View  of  the  Two  Systems  of  Shorthand, 
respectively  invented  by  Mr.  Byrom  and  Dr. 
Mavor,' 1811,  8vo.  7.  '  A  Portraiture  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  Religion,'  1812, 8vo.  8.  'Ac- 
counts of  the  Counties  of  Stafford,  Somerset, 
and  Salop,'  1813, 3  vols.,  forming  a  continua- 
tion of  the  '  Beauties  of  England  and  Wales,' 
by  E.  W.  Brayley  (1773-1854)  [q.v.]  9.'  Sur- 
veys of  the  City  of  London  and  the  City  of 
Westminster,'  1814-15,  4  vols.  10.  '  Eng- 
lish Topography,  consisting  of  Accounts  of 
the  several  Counties  of  England  and  Wales,' 
1816,  4to.  11.  'The  Bazaar,  its  Origin, 
Nature,  &c.,  considered  as  a  Branch  of 
Political  Economy,'  1810,  8vo.  12.  'His- 
tory and  Antiquities  of  the  Parochial  Church 
of  Saviour,  Southwark,'  1818, 4to.  13.  '  Me- 
moirs of  Caroline,  Queen  of  England,'  1 820- 

F 


Nightingall 


66 


Nightingall 


l-i'2.  >vo.  :',  vols.  1  k  '  Aii  Historical  Ac- 
count of  Kenilworth  Castle,'  &c.,  1821,  8vo. 
15.  'The  Religions  and  Religious  Ceremonies 
of  all  Nations  faithfully  and  impartially  de- 
scribed,' &c.,  1821, 12mo  (a  careful  compila- 
tion). 16.  'Trial  of  Queen  Caroline,'  1822, 
3  vols.  17.  '  An  Impartial  View  of  the  Life 
and  Administration  of  the  late  Marquis  of 
Londonderry,'  1822, 8vo.  18.  '  Mock  Heroics 
on  Snuff,  Tobacco,  and  Gin,'  published  under 
the  pseudonym  of  J.  Elagnitin,  1822,  8vo. 

19.  'The  Ladies'  Grammar,'    1822,  12mo. 

20.  '  Rational   Stenography,  or  Shorthand 
made   Easy  .  .  .  founded  on  ...  Byrom,' 
&c.,  1823,"  12mo.      21.   '  Historical  Details 
and    Tracts    concerning    the    Storekeeper- 
General's  Office.'    22.  '  The  Portable  Cyclo- 
paedia.'   23.  '  Report  of  the  Trial  of  Thistle- 
wood.'    24.  '  The  Political  Repository  and 
Magazine.'    25.  '  A  Natural  History  of  Bri- 
tish  Singing    Birds.'      26.    'The   Juvenile 
Muse,  original  Stories  in  Verse.'     27.  '  A 
Grammar  of  Christian  Theology.'     He  con- 
tributed frequently  to  early  volumes  of  the 
'  Monthly  Repository.' 

[Biogr.  Diet,  of  Living  Authors,  1816  ;  Gent. 
Mag.  1824,  pt,ii.p.568;  Westby-Gibson's  Biblio- 
graphy of  Shorthand,  1887,  p.  142  ;  prefaces  of 
bis  books  ;  information  from  his  son  and  from 
the  Rev.  A.  Gordon.]  C.  W.  S. 

NIGHTINGALL,  SIB  MILES  (1768- 
1829),  lieutenant-general,  born  25  Dec.  1768, 
entered  the  army  4  April  1787  as  ensign,  52nd 
foot,  and  joined  that  regiment  at  Madras,  from 
Chatham,  in  July  1 788.  He  served  with  the 
grenadier  company  at  the  capture  of  Dindigul, 
and  the  siege  of  Palicatcherry  in  1790,  and 
afterwards  was  brigade-major  of  the  1st  bri- 
gade of  Lord  Cornwallis's  army  at  the  siege 
of  Bangalore,  the  capture  of  the  hill-forts  of 
Severndroog  and  Ostradroog,  and  the  opera- 
tions before  Seringapatam.  In  August  1793 
he  was  at  the  taking  of  Pondicherry,  where 
his  knowledge  of  French  led  to  his  appoint- 
ment as  brigade-major.  Having  been  pro- 
moted to  a  company  in  the  125th  foot  in 
September  1 794,  he  returned  hom  e ;  was  aide- 
de-camp  to  Lord  Cornwallis  [see  CORXWALLIS, 
CHARLES,  MARQUIS],  then  commanding  the 
eastern  district ;  obtained  a  majority  in  the 
121st;  was  appointed  brigade-major  in  the 
eastern  district,  and  purchased  a  lieutenant- 
colonelcy  in  the  119th  foot.  He  volunteered 
for  the  West  Indies,  and  was  placed  in  com- 
mand of  the  old  92nd,  with  which  he  was 
present  at  the  capture  of  Trinidad  in  1797  ; 
was  extra-aide-de-camp  to  Sir  Ralph  Aber- 
cromby  [q.  v.]  at  Porto  Rico,  and  was  after- 
wards made  inspector  of  foreign  corps,  which 
appointment  he  resigned  on  account  of  ill- 
health.  He  returned  home  in  October  1797 ; 


was  transferred  as  lieutenant-colonel  to  the 
38th  foot ;  went  to  San  Domingo  in  December 
as  adjutant-general  with  Brigadier-general 
Maitland  [see  MAITLAND,  SIR  THOMAS]  ;  ar- 
ranged the  evacuation  of  Port-au-Prince  with 
M.  Herier,the  agent  of  Toussaint  1'Ouverture, 
and  was  sent  home  with  despatches.  Corn- 
wallis, then  lord-lieutenant  of  Ireland,  asked 
for  Nightingall  to  be  sent  over  to  command 
one  of  the  battalions  of  light  companies  under 
Major-general  (afterwards  Sir)  John  Moore 
(Cornwallis  Corresp.  ii.  415).  He  became 
aide-de-camp  to  Cornwallis,  and  commanded 
the  4th  battalion  of  light  infantry.  He 
again  accompanied  Major-general  Maitland 
to  the  West  Indies  and  America,  and  on  his 
ret  urn  was  appointed  assistant  adjutant-gene- 
ral of  the  forces  encamped  on  Barham  Down, 
near  Canterbury,  which  he  accompanied  to 
the  Helder.  He  was  present  in  the  actions 
of  2  Sept.  and  19  Oct.  1799,  but  had  to  re- 
turn home  through  ill-health.  He  was  de- 
puty adjutant-general  to  Maitland  in  the 
expedition  to  Quiberon  in  1800;  brought 
home  the  despatches  from  Isle  Houat ;  and 
was  assistant  quartermaster-general  of  the 
eastern  district  in  June  to  October  1801.  He 
was  on  the  staff  of  Lord  Cornwallis  when 
the  latter  went  to  France  as  ambassador  ex- 
traordinary to  conclude  the  peace  of  Amiens 
in  1802  ;  and  was  afterwards  transferred  to 
the  51st,  and  appointed  quartermaster-gene- 
ral of  the  king's  troops  in  Bengal. 

Nightingall  arrived  in  Calcutta  in  August, 
and  became  brevet-colonel  25  Sept.  1803. 
He  was  with  the  army  under  Lord  Lake 
[see  LAKE,  GERARD,  first  VISCOUNT  LAKE] 
at  Agra  and  Leswarree,  and  afterwards  re- 
turned to  Calcutta,  and  was  military  secre- 
tary to  Lord  Cornwallis  from  his  arrival  until 
his  death  at  Ghazipore,  17  Oct.  1805,  after 
which  Nightingall  reverted  to  the  duties 
of  quartermaster-general.  In  February  1807 
he  returned  home.  At  the  end  of  that  year 
he  was  appointed  to  a  brigade  in  the  secret 
expedition  under  Major-general  Brent  Spen- 
cer, which  went  to  Cadiz,  and  afterwards 
joined  Sir  Arthur  Wellesley's  force  in  Por- 
tugal. He  commanded  a  brigade,  consisting 
of  the  29th  and  82nd  regiments,  at  Rolica 
(Roleia)  and  Vimiero.  In  December  1808 
he  was  appointed  governor  and  command  er- 
in-chief  in  New  South  Wales,  but  a  serious 
illness  obliged  him  to  give  up  the  appoint- 
ment. He  held  brigade  commands  at  Hythe 
and  Dover  in  1809-10.  He  became  a  major- 
general  25  July  1810 ;  joined  the  army 
in  the  Peninsula  in  January  1811,  and  was 
appointed  to  a  brigade,  consisting  of  the 
24th,  42nd.  and  79th  regiments,  in  the  1st 
division.  It  was  known  as  the  '  highland 


Nimmo 


67 


Nimmo 


brigade '  or  the  '  brigade  of  the  line,'  the 
rest  of  the  division  consisting  of  guards  and 
Germans.  He  commanded  the  1st  division 
at  the  battle  of  Fuentes  d'Onoro,  6  May 
1811,  where  he  was  wounded  in  the  head. 
He  left  the  peninsular  army  at  Elvas  in  July 
that  year,  having  been  appointed  to  a  divi- 
sion in  India ;  but  before  he  could  take  up 
that  post  he  was  nominated  by  Lord  Minto 
to  the  command-in-chief  in  Java,  where  he 
arrived  in  October  1813.  He  organised  and 
commanded  a  couple  of  small  expeditions 
against  the  pirate  states  of  Bali  and  Boni 
in  Macassar  in  April  and  May  1814  (see  Col- 
burn's  United  Serv.  Mag.  1829).  Having 
established  British  authority  in  the  Celebes, 
he  returned  to  Java  in  June  1814,  and  re- 
mained there  until  November  1815,  when 
he  proceeded  to  Bombay.  He  became  a 
lieutenant-general  4  June  1814.  He  com- 
manded the  forces  in  Bombay,  with  a  seat  in 
council,  from  6  Feb.  1816  until  1819,  when 
he  returned  home  overland.  An  account  of 
his  overland  journey,  by  Captain  John  Han- 
son, was  published  in  1820. 

Nightingall  was  made  a  K.C.B.  4  Jan. 
1815.  He  had  gold  medals  for  Roleia,  Vi- 
miero,  and  Fuentes  d'Onoro,  and  was  colonel 
successively  of  the  late  6th  West  India  re- 
giment and  the  49th  foot.  He  was  returned 
to  parliament  for  Eye,  a  pocket  borough  of 
the  Cornwallis  family,  in  1820  and  again  in 
1826.  He  died  at  Gloucester  on  12  Sept. 
1829,  aged  61. 

Nightingall  married,  at  Richmond,  Surrey, 
on  13  Aug.  1800,  Florentia,  daughter  of  Sir 
Lionel  Darell,  first  baronet,  and  chairman 
of  the  East  India  Company. 

[Philippart's  Royal  Military  Calendar,  1820, 
vol.  ii. ;  Cornwallis's  Corresp.  vote.  ii.  and  iii. ; 
Gurwood's  Wellington  Desp.  iii.  53,  81,  92,  181, 
iv.  512,  796  ;  Gent.  Mag.  1829,  pt.  ii.  pp.  463- 
465  ]  H.  M.  C. 

NIMMO,  ALEXANDER  (1783-1832), 
civil  engineer,  born  at  Kirkcaldy,  Fifeshire, 
in  1783,  was  the  son  of  a  watchmaker,  who 
afterwards  kept  a  hardware  store.  Alex- 
ander was  educated  at  Kirkcaldy  grammar 
school  and  the  universities  of  St.  Andrews 
and  Edinburgh,  where  he  achieved  dis- 
tinction in  Latin,  Greek,  and  mathematics. 
At  nineteen  he  became  a  schoolmaster,  and 
was  appointed  rector  of  Inverness  Academy 
in  1802.  Telford  the  engineer  recommended 
Nimmo  to  the  parliamentary  commission 
appointed  to  fix  the  boundaries  of  the 
counties  of  Scotland,  and  he  accomplished 
the  work  during  his  vacations.  Interesting 
himself  in  his  new  occupation,  he  gave  up 
teaching  and  obtained  an  appointment  as 
surveyor  to  the  commissioners  for  reclaiming 


the  bogs  of  Ireland,  for  whom  he  constructed 
an  admirable  series  of  reports  and  maps. 
He  next  made  a  tour  of  France,  Germany, 
and  Holland  to  inspect  the  public  works  in 
those  countries  as  a  help  in  his  new  pro- 
fession. On  his  return  he  was  engaged  in 
the  construction  of  Dunmore  Harbour,  and 
was  employed  by  the  fishery  board  to  make 
surveys  of  the  harbours  of  Ireland,  and  build 
harbours  and  piers  at  various  points  on  the 
coast.  He  also  executed  an  accurate  chart 
of  the  coast,  and  compiled  a  book  of  sailing 
directions  for  Ireland  and  St.  George's 
Channel.  In  1822  he  was  appointed  en- 
gineer of  the  western  district,  and  between 
that  year  and  1830  the  sum  of  167,000/.  was 
spent  in  reclaiming  waste  land,  thus  giving 
employment  to  the  distressed  peasantry  at 
the  time  of  the  Irish  famine.  During  his  life 
upwards  of  thirty  piers  or  harbours  were  built 
under  his  direction  on  the  Irish  coast,  and 
a  harbour  at  Forth  Cawl  in  South  Wales.  The 
Wellesley  bridge  and  docks  at  Limerick  were 
designed  by  him ;  and  he  was  engaged  in  the 
construction  of  the  Liverpool  and  Leeds  rail- 
way, and  of  the  Manchester,  Bolton,  and  Bury 
Railway.  Nimmo  was  consulting  engineer 
to  the  Duchy  of  Lancaster,  the  Mersey  and 
Irwell  Navigation,  the  St.  Helen's  and  Run- 
corn  Gap  Railway,  the  Preston  and  Wigan 
Railway,  and  the  Birkenhead  and  Chester 
Railway.  Although  business  occupied  most 
of  his  time,  Nimmo  became  proficient  in 
modern  languages,  as  well  as  in  astronomy, 
chemistry,  and  geology.  To  the  '  Transac- 
tions of  the  Royal  Irish  Academy '  he  con- 
tributed a  paper  showing  the  relations  be- 
tween geology  and  navigation.  He  was  a 
fellow  of  the  Royal  Society,  and  a  member 
of  the  Institute  of  British  Architects.  In 
Brewster's  '  Cyclopaedia '  the  article  on  '  In- 
land Navigation '  is  from  his  pen ;  while, 
jointly  with  Telford,  he  is  responsible  for  that 
on  '  Bridges,'  and,  with  Nicholson,  for  that 
on  '  Carpentry.'  Nimmo  won  great  distinc- 
tion as  a  mathematician  in  the  trial  between 
the  corporation  of  Liverpool  and  the  Mersey 
company.  It  has  been  said  that  he  was '  the 
only  engineer  of  the  age  who  could  at  all 
have  competed  with  Brougham,  the  examin- 
ing counsel,  in  his  knowledge  of  the  higher 
mathematics  and  natural  philosophy,  on 
which  the  whole  subject  in  dispute  de- 
pended.' Nimmo  died  at  Dublin  on  20  Jan. 
1832. 

[Conolly's  Eminent  Men  of  Fife;  Chambers's 
Eminent  Scotsmen.]  G.  S-H. 

NIMMO,  JAMES  (1654-1709),  cove- 
nanter, only  surviving  son  of  John  Nimmo, 
factor  and  baillie  on  the  estate  of  Boghead, 

t-2 


Ninian 


68 


Ninian 


Linlithgowshire,  by  his  wife  Janet  Muir, 
was  born  in  July  1654.     He  was  sent  first 
to  the  school  at  Bathgate,  whence,  on  ac- 
count of  a  quarrel  of  his  father  with  the 
schoolmaster,  he  was  transferred  to  Stirling. 
He  joined  the  insurgents  after  Drumclog, 
and  was  among  those  defeated  at  Bothwell 
Bridge,  22  June  1679.     Being  on  this  ac- 
count proscribed,  he  fled  to  the  north  of 
Scotland,  and  was  taken  into  the  service  of 
the  laird  of  Park  and  Lochloy  in  Moray. 
There  he  married  Elizabeth  Brodie,  grand- 
daughter of  John  Brodie  of  Windiehills,  the 
marriage  being  celebrated  on  4  Dec.  1682  by 
the  '  blessed  Mr.  Hog.'     Shortly  afterwards, 
on  account  of  the  arrival  of  a  party  of  sol- 
diers in  search  of  outlawed  covenanters,  he 
had  to  go  into  shelter  in  the  old  vaults  of 
Pluscarden.      Ultimately  he  fled  south  to 
Edinburgh,  where  he  arrived  on  23  March 
1683.      Thence    he  went    to  Berwick-on- 
Tweed,  and  finally  he  took  refuge  in  Hol- 
land.    He  returned   to   Scotland  in  April 
1688,  and  after  the  revolution  obtained  a 
post  in  the  customs  in  Edinburgh.     Subse- 
quently he  was  appointed  treasurer  of  the 
city.     He  died  6  Aug.  1709.     He  had  four 
sons  and  a  daughter.     Of  the  sons,  John, 
like  his  father,  was  a  member  of  the  Edin- 
burgh town  council,  and  treasurer  of  the 
city.    The  '  Narrative  of  Mr.  James  Nimmo, 
written  for  his  own  Satisfaction,  to  keep  in 
some  Remembrance  the  Lord's  Ways,  Deal- 
ings, and  Kindness  towards  him,  1654-1709,' 
was  printed  under  the  editorship  of  W.  G. 
Scott-Moncrieff  by  the  Scottish  History  So- 
ciety, from  a  manuscript  in  possession  of 
Mr.  Pingle  of  Torwoodlee  in  Selkirkshire. 

[Nimmo's  Narrative,  and  the  Preface  by  W.  G-. 
Scott-Moncrieff;  Diary  of  the  Lairds  of  Brodie 
(Spalding  Club).]  T.  F.  H. 

NINIAN  or  NINIAS,  SAINT  (U432?), 
apostle  of  Christianity  in  North  Britain,  was 
sometimes  also  referred  to  in  Irish  hagiology 
under  the  names  Mancennus,  Mansenus,  Mo- 
nennus,  or  Moinennus.  According  to  Baeda, 
who  gives  the  earliest  extant  account  of  him, 
he  was  a  Briton  by  birth,  and  made  a  pilgimage 
to  Rome,  where  he  received  a  regular  training 
in  'the  facts  and  mysteries  of  the  truth.'  He 
was  consecrated  a  bishop,  and  established  his 
episcopal  seaton  the  present  site  of  Whithorn, 
on  the  northern  shore  of  the  Solway.  It  was 
here  that  he  built  a  church  of  stone,  instead  of 
wood,  as  was  'customary  among  the  Britons,' 
and  dedicated  it  to  St.  Martin  of  Tours.  He 
worked  successfully  in  evangelising  the 
southern  Picts,  who  inhabited  the  country 
south  of  the  Grampians.  In  his  church, 
commonly  called  Candida  Casa,  he  was  buried, 


and  there  also  several  of  his  coadjutors  found 
their  last  resting-place  (Eccles.  Hist.  iii.  4). 

Meagre  as  are  these  details,  they  may  be 
regarded  as  forming  a  trustworthy  tradition- 
of  the  outstanding  facts  of  Ninian's  career. 
Although  they  were  recorded  by  one  who- 
lived  two  and  a  half  centuries  after  the  period 
of  the  saint,  the  testimony  of  Alcuin,  in  a 
letter  to  the  brethren  serving  God  at  Candida 
Casa,  confirms  that  of  Bseda,  and  shows  that 
Ninian's  memory  formed  the  theme  of  monkish 
panegyric  a  century  afterwards. 

The  later  lives  add  little  to  our  scanty 
knowledge.  A '  Life '  written  by  an  Irish  monk 
is  now  lost.  It  was  known  to  Ussher  and  the 
Bollandists,  but,  to  judge  from  the  extract* 
preserved  by  them,  was  of  no  historic  value. 
Another,  in  metrical  form,  and  ascribed  with 
but  small  probability  to  the  poet  Barbour,  is 
important  merely  as  furnishing  an  account 
of  what  was  believed  regarding  him  in  the 
fourteenth  century,  when  Candida  Casa  had 
become  a  favourite  resort  of  pilgrims.  A 
third  biography,  bvAilred,  abbot  of  Rievaulx, 
in  Yorkshire  (1143-1166),  professes  to  give 
a  detailed  history,  founded  on  an  earlier 
'  Book  of  his  Life  and  Miracles,'  written  in  a, 
barbaric  speech  (sermo  barbaricus).  It  is 
merely  a  diffuse  amplification  of  the  para- 
graph in  Bseda.  It  was  composed  at  the  request 
of  Christianus,  the  then  bishop  of  Candida- 
Casa,  and  its  author  might  at  all  events 
claim  to  have  an  intimate  acquaintance  with 
the  local  tradition  of  his  time,  since  he  was 
educated  at  the  court  of  King  David  and 
paid  a  visit  to  the  south-west  of  Scotland. 
His  work  is  extremely  vague,  however,  and 
even  the  miracles,  which  he  revels  in,  are 
devoid  of  historic  colouring.  Posterity  is 
indebted  to  him,  however,  for  one  fact,  which 
is  important  as  fixing  approximately  the 
chronology  of  St.  Ninian's  life.  He  asserts 
that,  while  engaged  in  building  his  church 
at  Whithorn,  the  bishop  heard  of  the  death 
of  St.  Martin,  and  dedicated  his  church  to 
him  as  a  tribute  to  his  memory.  If,  on  the 
authority  of  Bseda,  we  accept  as  historic  his 
visit  to  Rome,  which  is  conjectured  to  have 
taken  place  during  the  pontificate  of  Da- 
masus  or  Siricius,the  tradition  of  his  intimate 
intercourse  with  St.  Martin  of  Tours,  men- 
tioned by  Ailred,  is  very  probably  authentic. 
St.  Martin's  death  occurred,  according  to 
Tillemont,  about  397,  so  that  the  mission  of 
Ninian  was  begun  in  the  last  decade  of  the 
fourth  century,  and  might  have  extended 
over  the  first  third  of  the  fifth.  Another 
circumstance,  noticed  by  Ailred,  relating  to- 
Ninian's  intercourse  with  the  Bishop  of  Tours, 
also  bears  the  aspect  of  fact.  St.  Martin,  we 
are  told,  at  Ninian's  request,  supplied  him 


Ninian 


69 


Nisbet 


with  masons  to  build  his  church.  Though 
Roman  Britain  could  not  have  been  destitute 
of  stone  churches  or  skilled  artisans,  this  was 
not  a  solitary  example,  as  we  learn  from  the 
pages  of  Bseda  at  a  later  time,  of  recourse 
being  had  to  the  superior  workmen  of  Gau' 
for  purposes  of  church  building  and  decora- 
tion. 

It  is  highly  probable  that,  in  addition  to 
building  a  mission  church,  Ninian  founded 
a  monastic  establishment  at  Candida  Casa,on 
the  model  of  the  community  at  Marmoutier, 
over  which  Martin  presided.  It  is  certain, 
at  any  rate,  that  Candida  Casa  appears  within 
a  century  after  his  death  as  a  celebrated  train- 
ing school  of  the  monastic  life,  at  which 
several  of  the  more  celebrated  Irish  saints 
were  educated.  The  '  Acts '  of  Tighernach, 
Eugenius,  Endeus,  and  Finan,  state  expressly 
that  these  saints,  whose  reputation  as  founders 
of  monasteries  in  their  native  Scotia  (Ireland) 
is  celebrated  by  the  old  annalists,  had  re- 
course as  students  to  the  monastery  of  Rosnat, 
or  the  Great  Monastery  (Magnum  Monas- 
terium),  as  Candida  Casa  was  called.  Several 
of  these  early  Irish  missionaries  are,  in  fact, 
mentioned  as  the  disciples  of  Ninian  [see  art. 
MO-NENNIUS].  This  statement,  though  in- 
volving an  anachronism,  may  be  regarded  as 
accentuating  the  fact  that  they  were  taught 
in  the  celebrated  institution  which  owed  its 
•discipline  and  educational  character  to  the 
apostle  of  the  southern  Picts. 

While  the  missionary  and  monastic  esta- 
blishment at  Candida  Casa  thus  retained  its 
fame  and  vigour  for  at  least  a  century  after 
its  founder's  death,  his  mission  among  the 
inhabitants  of  Galloway  and  the  district  be- 
tween the  Forth  and  the  Mouuth  appears  to 
have  borne  very  temporary  fruits.  St.  Patrick 
in  his  '  Epistle  to  Coroticus '  speaks  of  the 
'  apostate  Picts,'  and  the  lives  of  Kentigern  and 
Columba  contain  frequent  lamentation  over 
the  relapsed  condition  of  the  Pictish  inhabi- 
tants of  the  district  evangelised  by  Ninian. 
The  influences  of  the  age  were,  in  fact,  ad- 
verse to  the  permanent  development  of  such 
a  movement  as  his.  The  period  of  Ninian's 
activity  is  coincident  with  the  fall  of  the 
Roman  empire  in  Britain,  and  the  repeated 
incursions  of  Saxon,  Scotic,  and  Pictish  in- 
vaders. The  assertion  of  Bseda  that  the 
southern  Picts  renounced  idolatry  and  ac- 
cepted the  faith  through  his  preaching  is  thus 
only  relatively  accurate.  Their  conversion 
was  neither  so  effective  as  adequately  to 
maintain  itself  in  an  epoch  of  disorganisation, 
nor  was  it  so  thorough  as  to  amount,  accord- 
ing to  Ailred,  to  a  complete  organisation  of 
the  church  into  dioceses  and  parishes.  Bseda's 
assumption  involves  an  anachronism  of  several 


centuries.  Ninian  was  not  the  founder  of  the 
mediaeval  ecclesiastical  system  of  Scotland ; 
he  was  simply  the  first  missionary  and  mon- 
astic bishop  of  North  Britain. 

[An  exhaustive  examination  of  St.  Ninian's 
life  and  age  will  be  found  in  a  monograph  in 
German  by  James  MacKinnon,  Ph.  D.,  entitled 
Ninian  und  sein  Einfluss  auf  die  Ausbreitung 
des  Christenthums  in  Nord-Britannien.  See  also 
the  same  author's  Culture  in  Early  Scotland, 
bk.  ii.  ch.  iii. ;  Vita  Niniani  Pictorum  Australium 
Apostoli,  Auctore  Ailredo  Revallensi,  ed.  A.  P. 
Forbes  (in  vol.  v.  Historians  of  Scotland) ;  Tille- 
mont'sMemoires,tom.x.  p.  340 ;  Ussher's Works, 
vi.  209,  565 ;  Bollandist  Acta  SS.,  ed.  Ebrington, 
v.  321;  Colgan,  Acta  SS.  Hib.  p.  438;  Skene's 
Cetic  Scotland,  and  Diet,  of  Christian  Bio- 
graphy.] J.  M-N. 

NISBET,  ALEXANDER  (1657-1725), 
heraldic  writer,  was  son  of  Adam  Nisbet, 
writer  in  Edinburgh,  the  youngest  son  of  Sir 
Alexander  Nisbet  of  that  ilk  in  Berwick- 
shire. His  mother  was  Janet,  only  daughter 
of  Alexander  Aikenhead,  writer  to  the  sig- 
net (whose  father,  David  Aikenhead,  was 
provost  of  Edinburgh  1634-7).  He  was  the 
third  of  ten  children,  and  was  born  in  April 
1657,  beingbaptised  on  the  23rd  of  that  month. 
In  1675  he  matriculated  at  the  university  of 
Edinburgh,  and  was  laureated  in  1682.  Edu- 
cated for  the  law,  he  followed  for  some  years 
the  profession  of  a  writer,  but  devoted  him- 
self chiefly  to  heraldry  and  antiquities,  and 
was  described  by  contemporaries  as  a  '  pro- 
fessor '  and  '  teacher '  of  heraldry.  After 
laborious  research  he  proposed  in  1699  to 
publish  his  '  System  of  Heraldry '  by  sub- 
scription ;  but  the  response  to  his  appeal 
proving  inadequate,  he,  in  1703,  applied  to 
parliament  for  a  grant  in  aid,  and  was  voted 
a  sum  of  248/.  (5s.  8d.  Scots  (Acts  of  the 
Parliaments  of  Scotland,  xi.  50,  85,  195, 
203),  but  the  money  was  never  paid.  He 
died  on  7  Dec.  1725,  and  was  buried  in 
Greyfriars  churchyard,  Edinburgh.  He  was 
the  last  male  representative  of  his  family. 

His  published  works  were  :  1.  'An  Essay 
on  Additional  Figures  and  Marks  of  Ca- 
dency,' 1702.  2.  '  An  Essay  on  the  Ancient 
and  Modern  use  of  Armories,'  1718.  3.  'A 
System  of  Heraldry,  speculative  and  practi- 
:al,  with  the  true  art  of  blazon,'  1  vol.  folio, 
1722.  What  purported  to  be  a  second  volume 
was  issued  in  1742  by  R.  Fleming,  an  Edin- 
aurgh  printer,  but  it  only  contained  mutilated 
xtracts  from  Nisbet's  manuscripts.  Of  the 
;wo  volumes  folio  editions  were  issued  in 
1804  and  in  1816  at  Edinburgh. 

Nisbet  left  in  manuscript:  1.  'Part  of  the 
Science  of  Herauldrie  and  the  Exterior  Orna- 
ments of  the  Shield,'  272  pp.,  4to,  preserved 


Nisbet 


Nisbet 


in  the  Lyon  Office,  Edinburgh.  This  forms 
part  of  the  second  volume  of  the 'System,'  but 
was  largely  altered  by  the  compiler  of  that 
volume.  2.  'An  Ordinary  of  Arms,'  &c., 
76  pp.,  4to,  preserved  in  the  Laing  Collection 
of  MSS.,  University  Library,  Edinburgh. 
3.  'Genealogical  Collections,  with  some 
Heraldic  Plates,  preserved  in  the  Advocates' 
Library,  Edinburgh.'  These  plates,  with  a  col- 
lection recently  discovered  in  the  possession  of 
Mr.  Eliott  Lockhart  of  Cleghorn,  have  been 
reproduced  and  published  as  'Alexander 
Nisbet's  Heraldic  Plates,  originally  intended 
for  his  "  System  of  Heraldry," '  by  Andrew 
Ross,  Marchmont  herald,  and  Francis  J. 
Grant,  Carrick  pursuivant,  fol.,  1892. 

[Introduction  to  Alexander  Nisbet's  Heraldic 
Plates.]  H.  P. 

NISBET,  CHARLES  (1736-1804),_Scot- 
tish  divine,  was  the  son  of  William  Nisbet, 
schoolmaster  at  Long  Yester,  near  Hadding- 
ton,  East  Lothian,  where  he  was  born  21  Jan. 
1736.  He  was  educated  at  the  high  school 
and  the  university  of  Edinburgh,  and  was 
licensed  by  the  Edinburgh  Presbytery  in 
September  1760.  He  officiated  for  a  time  at 
Gorbals  chapel-of-ease,  and  was  called  to 
the  first  charge  of  Montrose,  Forfarshire,  in 
1764.  In  the  course  of  the  Avar  with  the 
American  colonies  he  advocated  the  colonial 
cause  in  such  a  way  as  to  make  his  position 
at  home  uncomfortable.  In  1783  he  was 
made  D.D.  of  the  college  of  New  Jersey  for 
his  advocacy  of  the  cause  of  the  colonists. 
Having  absented  himself  from  his  charge  by 
a  visit  to  America,  the  presbytery  declared  his 
church  vacant  on  5  Oct.  1785.  Meanwhile 
he  had  been  appointed  principal  of  Dickin- 
son College,  Carlisle,  Pennsylvania,  and  this 
post  he  held  till  his  death  on  18  Jan.  1804. 
In  1766  he  married  Anne  Tweedie,  who  died 
12  May  1807.  His  theological  lectures  de- 
livered at  Dickinson  College  were  the  first 
of  the  kind  in  America,  and,  in  addition,  he 
lectured  on  logic,  belles-lettres,  and  philo- 
sophy. He  was  an  excellent  classical  scholar, 
and  had  such  a  retentive  memory  that  at 
one  time  he  could  repeat  the  whole  of  the 
^Eneid  and  Young's  '  Night  Thoughts.'  His 
library  was  presented  by  his  grandson  to  the 
theological  seminary  at  Princeton.  He  left 
no  important  work,  but  some  miscellaneous 
productions  were  collected  and  published  in 
1806,  and  a  '  Memoir,'  by  Samuel  Miller,  ap- 
peared in  1840.  An  '  Address  to  the  Stu- 
dents of  Dickinson  College '  was  published 
at  Edinburgh  in  1786. 

[Miller's  Memoir  as  above;  Scott's  Fasti 
Eccles.  Scot.  iii.  845  ;  Appleton's  Cyclopaedia  of 
American  Biography ;  Irving's  Book  of  Scots- 


men ;  Anderson's  Scottish  Nation ;  Scots.  Mag. 
vol.  Ixvi.;  Cleland's  Annals,  vol.  i.  ;  Statistical 
Account,  vol.  i. ;  Presbytery  and  Synod  Re- 
cords.] J.  C.  H. 

NISBET,  JOHN  (1627  P-1685),  cove- 
nanter, bom  about  1627,  was  son  of  James 
Nisbet  of  Hardhill,  in  the  parish  of  Loudoun, 
Ayrshire.  On  attaining  manhood  he  took 
service  as  a  soldier  on  the  continent.  Re- 
turning to  Scotland  in  1650  he  witnessed 
the  coronation  of  Charles  II  at  Scone,  and 
took  the  covenants.  Shortly  afterwards  he 
married  Margaret  Law  and  settled  at  Hard- 
hill  as  a  farmer. 

After  the  Restoration  he  took  an  active 
and  prominent  part  in  the  struggles  of  the 
covenanters  for  religious  and  civil  liberty. 
He  refused  to  countenance  the  curates,  and 
attended  the  ministrations  of  the  '  outed ' 
ministers,  renewed  the  covenants  at  Lanark 
in  1666,  and  was  one  of  the  small  band  who 
published  the  declarations  of  the  Societies  at 
Rutherglen,  Glasgow,  and  Sanquhar.  He 
fought  at  Pentland  (28  Nov.  1666)  till, 
covered  with  wounds,  he  fell  down  and  was 
stripped  and  left  for  dead  upon  the  field. 
At  nightfall,  however,  he  crept  away  unob- 
served, and  lived  to  take  part  in  the  engage- 
ments at  Drumclog  (1  June  1679)  and  Both- 
well  Bridge  (22  June),  where  he  held  the 
rank  of  captain.  For  this  he  was  denounced 
as  a  rebel  and  forfeited,  three  thousand  merks 
(165Z.  sterling)  being  offered  for  his  head. 
In  November  1685  he  was  surprised,  with 
three  others,  at  a  place  called  Midland,  in 
the  parish  of  Fenwick,  Ayrshire,  his  captor 
being  a  cousin  of  his  own,  Lieutenant  Nis- 
bet. His  companions  were  instantly  shot, 
but  for  the  sake  of  the  reward  he  was  spared, 
and,  being  brought  to  Edinburgh,  was  tried 
and  condemned  to  death.  He  was  executed 
at  the  Grassmarket  there  on  4  Dec.  follow- 
ing, in  the  fifty-eighth  year  of  his  age.  His 
wife  predeceased  him  in  December  1683. 
They  had  several  children,  but  only  three 
sons  survived  him — Alexander,  Hugh,  and 
James,  the  last,  Sergeant  Nisbet,  being  the 
author  of  a  diary,  chiefly  of  his  own  reli- 
gious experiences,  in  which  he  relates  a 
number  of  incidents  respecting  his  parents. 

[Nisbet's  Manuscript  Diary  in  Signet  Library, 
Edinburgh;  Howie'sBiographia  Scoticana  (Scots 
Worthies),  2nd  edit.  1781,  pp.  472-85;  Cloud 
of  Witnesses,  pp.  327-41 ;  Wodrow's  Hist,  of 
the  Sufferings,  &c.,  Burns's  edit.,  iv.  235,  237; 
Lauder  of  FountainhalPs  Historical  Observes 
(Bannatyne  Club),  pp.  676,  681.]  H.  P. 

NISBET,  SIR  JOHN  (1609?-! 687),  lord- 
advocate  during  the  covenanting  persecu- 
tion, and  also  a  lord  of  session,  with  the  title 
of  Lord  Dirleton,  born  about  1609,  was  the 


Nisbet 


Nisbet 


son  of  Patrick  Nisbet  of  Eastbank.  The 
father — third  son  of  James  Nisbet,  merchant, 
Edinburgh,  by  Margaret  Craig,  sister  of 
Thomas  Craig  of  Kiccarton,  Midlothian,  was 
admitted  an  ordinary  lord  of  session  in 
place  of  Lord  Newhall,  on  1  Nov.  1635, 
when  he  took  the  title  of  Lord  Eastbank. 
He  was  knighted  by  the  royal  commissioner, 
the  Marquis  of  Hamilton,  14  Nov.  1638, 
but  on  13  Nov.  1641  he  and  three  other 
judges  were  superseded  by  the  estates  for 
certain  '  crimes  libelled  against  them '  (SiK 
JAMES  BALFOTTR,  Annals,  iii.  152).  The  son 
was  admitted  advocate  30  Nov.  1633.  In 
1639  he  was  named  sheriff-depute  of  the 
county  of  Edinburgh,  and  he  was  afterwards 
appointed  one  of  the  commissioners  of  Edin- 
burgh. At  the  request  of  Montrose  he  was 
along  with  John  Gilmore  appointed  one  of 
the  advocates  for  his  defence  in  1641  (ib.  p. 
22).  Subsequently  he  gradually  acquired  a 
lucrative  practice,  and  in  1663  he  purchased 
the  lands  of  Dirleton,  Midlothian.  On 
14  Oct.  1664  he  was  appointed  lord-advocate, 
and  he  was  at  the  same  time  raised  to  the 
bench  by  the  title  Lord  Dirleton. 

As  a  persecutor  of  the  covenanters,  the 
severity  of  Nisbet  almost  equalled  that  of  his 
successor,  Sir  George  Mackenzie  [q.  v.] ;  and 
although  he  enjoyed  the  reputation  of  being 
an  abler  lawyer,  he  was  no  more  scrupulous 
in  regulating  his  conduct  as  prosecutor  by  a 
semblance  of  legality.  After  the  Pentland 
rising  he,  on  15  Aug.  1667,  moved  that  fifty 
persons,  accused  of  being  concerned  in  the 
rising,  should  be  tried  in  their  absence.  This 
was  agreed  to  by  the  judges,  and  sentence  of 
death  was  passed  against  them ;  but  in  order  to 
remove  the  dissatisfaction  at  such  an  excep- 
tional method  of  procedure,  it  was  found  advis- 
able to  pass  an  act  declaring  that  the  judges 
had  done  right,  and  ratifying  the  sentence  of 
death.  As  an  instance  of  the  unscrupulous 
expedients  to  which  he  sometimes  had  re- 
course to  procure  evidence,  Wodrow  relates 
that  when  one  Robert  Gray  refused  to  re- 
veal the  hiding-place  of  certain  covenanters, 
Nisbet  took  off  a  ring  from  his  finger  and 
sent  it  to  his  wife  with  the  intimation  that 
her  husband  had  revealed  all  he  knew,  and 
had  sent  the  ring  to  her  as  a  token  that  she 
might  do  the  same.  She  thereupon  made 
known  the  places  of  concealment,  which  so 
affected  her  husband  that  he  '  sickened  and 
in  a  few  days  died '  (Sufferings  of  the  Kirk 
of  Scotland,  ii.  118).  It  must  however  be 
remembered  that  the  uncorroborated  testi- 
mony of  Wodrow  is  insufficient  to  authen- 
ticate such  a  story. 

In  1670  Nisbet  was  one  of  the  commis- 
sioners sent  to  London  to  confer  about  the 


union  of  the  kingdoms,  and  he  opposed  the 
proposal  for  the  abolition  of  the  separate  par- 
liament for  Scotland.  Having  incurred  the 
hostility  of  the  Maitlands,  Nisbet  was  ulti- 
mately forced  to  resign  his  office  in  1677. 
His  cousin,  Sir  Patrick  Nisbet  of  Dean, 
having  been  accused  before  the  privy  coun- 
cil of  perjury,  the  lord-advocate  was  sus- 
pected of  having  advised  him  to  pay  his 
accuser  four  thousand  merks  to  settle  the 
case ;  but  it  was  found  impossible  to  actually 
prove  the  collusion  on  his  part.  Shortly  after 
he  was,  however,  accused  by  Lord  Halton 
of  having  given  advice  and  taken  fees  on 
both  sides  in  a  case  relating  to  the  entail  of 
theLeven  estates.  The judges  of  the  court  of 
session  were  directed  to  investigate  the  case ; 
and  the  office  of  lord-advocate  was  offered 
to  Sir  George  Mackenzie.  At  first  Mackenzie 
refused  to  accept  the  office,  and  advised 
Nisbet  to  defend  himself  against  the  charge, 
promising  him  at  the  same  time  every  assist- 
ance ;  but  Nisbet,  says  Mackenzie,  '  fearing 
Halton's  influence,  and  finding  it  impossible 
to  stand  in  the  ticklish  employment  without 
the  iavour  of  the  first  ministers,  did  demit 
his  employment  under  his  own  hand '  {Me- 
moir?, p.  326).  He  died  in  April  1687.  He 
was  married  to  one  of  the  Monypennys  of 
Pitmilly,  Fifeshire. 

Burnet  declares  Nisbet  to  '  have  been  one 
of  the  worthiest  and  most  learned  men  of 
his  age '  (Own  Time,  ed.  1832,  p.  275) ;  and 
if  he  is  generally  admitted  to  have  been 
mercenary  and  time-serving,  allowance  must 
be  made  for  the  low  standard  of  public 
morality  at  this  time  in  Scotland.  He  was 
especially  devoted  to  the  study  of  Greek ; 
and  at  the  burning  of  his  house  is  said  to 
have  lost  a  curious  Greek  manuscript,  for 
the  recovery  of  which  he  offered  1,000/. 
sterling.  Lord  Dirleton's  '  Law  Doubts,' 
methodised  by  Sir  "William  Hamilton  of 
Whitelaw,  and  his  '  Decisions  from  7th  De- 
cember 1665  to  26th  June  1677,'  were  pub- 
lished in  1698.  A  portrait  in  water-colours 
of  Nisbet  by  an  unknown  hand  is  in  the  Na- 
tional Portrait  Gallery,  Edinburgh. 

[Lauder  of  FountainhaH'e  Historical  Notices ; 
Sir  James  Balfour's  Annals ;  Burnet's  Own  Time  ; 
Sir  George  Mackenzie's  Memoirs ;  Brunton  and 
Haig's  Senators  of  the  College  of  Justice,  pp. 
29o,  389-90  ;  Omond's  Lord-Advocates  of  Scot- 
land, pp.  196-9.]  T.  F.  H. 

NISBET,  WILLIAM,  M.D.  (fi.  1808), 
medical  writer,  practised  for  a  time  at  Edin- 
burgh, but  by  1801  had  settled  in  Fitzroy 
Square,  London.  He  was  fellow  of  the  Royal 
College  of  Surgeons,  Edinburgh. 

His  writings  are:  1.  'First  Lines  of  the 


Nisbett 


Nisbett 


Theory  and  Practice  in  Venereal  Diseases/ 
8vo,  Edinburgh,  1787,  being  the  substance 
of  a  course  of  lectures  delivered  at  Edin- 
burgh in  the  winter  of  1 786 ;  a  German  trans- 
lation was  published  at  Leipzig  in  1789. 
2.  l  The  Clinical  Guide ;  or,  a  concise  view 
of  the  leading  facts  on  the  history,  nature, 
and  cure  of  diseases ;  to  which  is  subjoined 
a  practical  pharmacopoeia,'  12mo,  Edinburgh, 
1793  (2nd  edit.  2  pts.  1796-9 :  another  edit., 
1800).  3.  'An  Inquiry  into  the  History, 
Nature,  Causes,  and  Different  Modes  of  Treat- 
ment hitherto  pursued  in  the  Cure  of  Scro- 
phula  and  Cancer,'  8vo,  Edinburgh,  1795. 
4.  '  A  practical  Treatise  on  Diet,'  12mo,  Lon- 
don, 1801.  5.  'The  Edinburgh  School  of 
Medicine ;  containing  the  preliminary  .  .  . 
branches  of  professional  education,  viz.  ana- 
tomy, medical  chemistry,  and  botany,'  4  vols. 
8vo,  London,  1802,  intended  as  an  introduc- 
tion to  the  '  Clinical  Guide.'  6.  '  A  Medical 
Guide  for  the  Invalid  to  the  principal  Water- 
ing Places  of  Great  Britain,'  8vo,  London, 
1804.  7.  '  A  General  Dictionary  of  Chemis- 
try,' 12mo,  London,  1805 ;  a  useful  little  book, 
revised  and  completed  by  another  writer. 
8.  'Two  Letters  to  the  Duke  of  York  on 
the  Medical  Department  of  the  Army,'  8vo, 
London,  1808. 

[Watt's  Bibl.  Brit. ;  Biogr.  Diet,  of  Living 
Authors  (181 6).]  G.  G. 

NISBETT,  LOUISA  CRANSTOUN 
(1812  P-1858),  actress,  the  daughter  of  Fre- 
derick Hayes  Macnamara  and  his  wife,  a 
Miss  Williams,  is  said  to  have  been  born  at 
Hackney,  London,  1  April  1812.  Her  father, 
a  man  of  good  family,  quitted  on  his  mar- 
riage the  52nd  foot,  and  joined  his  father-in- 
law  as  a  merchant,  an  occupation  of  which 
he  soon  wearied.  Under  the  name  of  Mor- 
daunt  he  joined  as  an  actor  the  Leicester  cir- 
cuit. On  2  March  1820  he  appeared  under 
that  name  at  Drury  Lane  during  Elliston's 
management  as  Maurice  de  Bracy  in  the 
'  Hebrew,'  Soane's  rendering  of  '  Ivanhoe.' 
After  playing  domestically  and  at  private 
theatres  in  Wilmington  Square  and  Berwick 
Street,  Miss  Mordaunt  appeared  at  the  Ly- 
ceum, then  the  English  Opera  House,  for  her 
father's  benefit,  as  Angela  in  the  'Castle 
Spectre'  of ' Monk ' Lewis,  and  afterwards,  a 
deplorable  character  for  a  child,  Jane  Shore. 
Two  of  her  sisters  were  also  on  the  stage. 
In  1826  she  began  at  Greenwich  her  public 
career  as  Lady  Teazle.  After  playing  a  round 
of  parts  in  '  elegant '  comedy,  together  with 
juvenile  roles  in  melodrama,  she  joined  the 
elder  Macready's  company  at  Bristol,  appear- 
ing in  '  Desdemona.'  In  Cardiff  she  was  first 
seen  as  Juliet,  and  she  subsequently  opened, 


under  Raymond,  the  Shakespearean  Theatre, 
Stratford-on-Avon,  as  Rosalind.  Here  she 
played  with  other  characters,  Queen  Kathe- 
rine,  Portia,  Lady  Macbeth,  Young  Norval, 
and  Edmund  in  the  '  Blind  Boy.'  Engage- 
ments followed  at  Northampton,  Southamp- 
ton, and  Portsmouth.  She  had  thus  obtained 
some  experience  when,  26  Oct.  1829,  she  ap- 
peared at  Drury  Lane,  selectingforher  first  ap- 
pearance Widow  Cheer ly  in  Andrew  Cherry's 
'  Soldier's  Daughter,'  a  part  which  she  had 
played  previously.  On  21  Oct.  she  was  Miss 
Hardcastle  in  '  She  Stoops  to  Conquer,'  and 
on  3  Nov.  the  original  Widow  Bloomly  in 
Buckstone's  '  Snakes  in  the  Grass.'  Olivia 
in  'A  Bold  Stroke  for  a  Husband  '  and  Lady 
Amaranth  in  '  Wild  Oats '  followed,  and  on 
28  Nov.  she  was  the  original  Lady  Splashton 
in  Tollies  of  Fashion,'  by  the  Earl  of  Glen- 
gall.  During  the  season  were  given  Char- 
lotte in  the  '  Hypocrite  ; '  Miss  Sally  Scraggs 
in  Dimond's '  Englishmen  in  India  ;  'Annette 
in  '  Blue  Devils  ; '  Julia,  an  original  part,  in 
the  'Spanish  Husband,  or  First  and  Last 
Love,'  an  unprinted  play ;  Lady  Elizabeth 
Freelove  in  the  '  Day  after  the  Wedding ; ' 
Zamine,  in  the  'Cataract  of  the  Ganges,'  to 
Webster's  Jack  Robinson,  and  possibly  one 
or  two  other  parts,  including  Lady  Teazle. 
As  Lady  Teazle  she  made,  18  June  1830,  her 
first  appearance  at  the  Haymarket,  where  also 
she  played  Beatrice  in  'Much  Ado  about 
Nothing ' ;  Lady  Contest  in  the  '  Wedding 
Day ; '  Angelique,  an  original  part,  in  '  Sepa- 
ration and  Reparation ; '  Lady  Racket  in 
'  Three  Weeks  after  Marriage  ; '  Matilda,  an 
original  part,  in  '  Force  of  Nature  ; '  Violante 
in  the  '  Wonder ; '  Letitia  Hardy  in  the 
'Belle's  Stratagem;'  Miss  Tittup  in  'Bon 
Ton ; '  Flora  in  '  She  would  and  she  would 
not ; '  Augusta  Polinsky  (a  girl  dressed  as  a 
boy),  an  original  part,  in  Buckstone's '  Hus- 
band at  Sight ; '  Miss  Dorillon  in  '  Wives  as 
they  were : '  Dinah  in  the  '  Quaker,'  and 
Theodore  in  'Two  Pages  of  Frederick  the 
Great.'  In  January  1831,  with  a  reputation 
already  established,  she  quitted  the  stage  and 
married  John  Alexander  Nisbett  of  Bretten- 
ham  Hall,  Suffolk,  a  captain  in  the  1st  life 
guards.  Seven  months  later  her  husband 
died  by  a  fall  from  his  horse.  His  affairs 
were  thrown  into  chancery,  and  some  years 
elapsed  before  she  obtained  any  provision 
under  his  will. 

In  October  1832,  accordingly,  Mrs.  Nisbett 
reappeared  as  Widow  Cheerly  at  Drury  Lane, 
where  she  played  a  round  of  characters  in 
comedy.  After  acting  in  various  country 
towns,  she  became  in  December  1834,  at  a 
salary  of  20/.  a  week,  the  nominal  manager, 
under  two  brothers  named  Bond  (one  of  them 


Nisbett 


73 


Nisbett 


a  known  money-lender),  of  the  little  theatre  in 
Tottenham  Street,  then  named  the  Queen's. 
Elton  and  Morris  Barnett  were  in  the  com- 
pany, which  included  Miss  Vincent,  Miss 
Murray,  Mrs.  Chapman,  and  Miss  Jane  Mor- 
daunt,  her  sister.  On  16  Feb.  1835  she 
played  Esther,  the  leading  female  part  in  the 
'  Schoolfellows,'  a  two-act  comedy,  by  Dou- 
glas Jerrold,  supported  by  her  two  sisters. 
Mrs.  Honey  and  Wrench  joined  the  company, 
and  the  '  Married  Rake,'  by  Selby,  in  which 
she  played  Captain  Fitzherbert  Fitzhenry, 
and  'Catching  an  Heiress,'  in  which  Mrs. 
Nesbitt  was  very  popular  as  Caroline  Gayton, 
were  produced.  In  November  Mrs.  Nisbett 
and  the  company  went  with  the  Bonds  to  the 
Adelphi,  where  she  was,  21  Dec.  1835,  the 
original  Mabellah  in  Douglas  Jerrold's  'Doves 
in  a  Cage.'  She  soon  returned  to  the  Queen's, 
which  she  reopened  with  five  light  pieces,  in 
three  of  which  she  played. 

In  1836  her  name  was  still  attached  to  the 
management  of  the  Queen's  Theatre.  But 
she  had  then  played  at  various  other  theatres. 
In  Gilbert  A'Beckett's  burletta,  the  '  Twelve 
Months,'  given  at  the  Strand  in  1834,  she  was 
Nature.  Here,  too,  under  W.  J.  Hammond, 
she  obtained  much  applause  in  'Poachers  and 
Petticoats.'  Engaged  by  Webster  for  the 
Haymarket,  she  obtained,  as  the  original 
Constance  in  the  '  Love  Chase  '  of  Sheridan 
Knowles,  10  Oct.  1837,  one  of  her  most  con- 
spicuous triumphs.  After  the  close  of  the 
season  she  visited  Dublin,  playing  at  the 
Hawkins  Street  Theatre.  On  30  Sept.  1839 
she  was  with  Madame  Vestris  (Mrs.  C.  J. 
Mathews),  at  Covent  Garden,  opening  in 
'  Love's  Labour's  Lost.'  In  the '  Merry  W  ives 
of  Windsor'  she  was  Mrs.  Ford,  and,  4  March 
1841,  she  was  the  original  Lady  Gay  Spanker 
in  '  London  Assurance,'  by  Lee  Moreton 
(Dion  Boucicault).  On  the  collapse  of  the 
Covent  Garden  management  in  1842  she  re- 
turned to  the  Haymarket,  but  reappeared  at 
Covent  Garden  in  Jerrold's  '  Bubbles  of  the 
Day  '  later  in  the  year.  At  this  period  she 
was  more  than  once  disabled  by  illness.  On 
1  Oct.  she  was  Rosalind  to  Macready's  Jaques 
at  Drury  Lane. 

Reports  concerning  forthcoming  marriages 
of  Mrs.  Nisbett  were  frequent  at  the  time. 
'  Actors  by  Daylight,'  2  Feb.  1839,  has  the 
startling  assertion  that  she  'has  formed  a 
second  matrimonial  connection  with  Feargus 
O'Connor,  the  late  Member  of  Parliament  for 
Cork.'  On  15  Oct.  1844  Mrs.  Nisbett  mar- 
ried, at  the  Episcopal  Chapel,  Fulham,  Sir 
William  Boothby,  bart.,  of  Ashbourne  Hall, 
Derbyshire,  receiver-general  of  customs.  Sir 
William,  then  sixty-two  years  of  age,  died 
on  21  April  1846.  On  12  April  1847  she 


reappeared  at  the  Haymarket  as  Constance 
in  the  '  Love  Chase.'  On  3  July  she  played 
Lady  Restless  in  a  revival  of  Murphy's  '  All 
in  the  Wrong.'  Lady  Teazle  was  repeated 
on  2  Oct.  for  the  reopening  of  the  theatre, 
and  on  the  5th  Mrs.  Nisbett  was  Helen  in 
the  '  Hunchback '  to  the  Julia  of  Miss 
Helen  Faucit  (Lady  Martin).  James  R. 
Anderson  included  Mrs  Nisbett  in  the  com- 
pany with  which,  26  Dec.  1849,  he  opened 
Drury  Lane.  With  her  sister,  Miss  Jane 
Mordaunt,  as  Helen,  she  played  Julia  in 
the  '  Hunchback '  at  the  Marylebone,  on 
21  Nov.  1850.  At  the  same  house  she  was, 
30  Nov.,  Catherine  in  Sheridan  Knowles's 
'  Love,'  her  sister  playing  the  Countess.  She 
also  played  Portia  and  other  parts.  At  Drury 
Lane  she  soon  afterwards  played  in  Sullivan's 
'  Old  Love  and  the  New.'  On  17  March  1851 
she  was  Mrs.  Chillington  in  Dance's'  Morning 
Call,'  imitated  from  Musset's  '  II  faut  qu'une 
porte  soit  ouverte  ou  ferm6e,'  and  was  pre- 
vented by  illness  from  taking  part  in '  Queen 
of  Spades,'  Boucicault's  adaptation  of  'La 
Dame  de  Pique.'  As  Lady  Teazle  she  made, 
8  May  1851,  her  last  appearance  on  the  stage. 
Her  health  had  quite  broken  down,  and  sne 
retired  to  St.  Leonard's-on-Sea,  where,  after 
undergoing  some  domestic  bereavements,  she 
.  died  of  apoplexy  on  16  Jan.  1858. 

Though  deficient  in  tenderness  and  passion, 
she  had  in  comedy  supreme  witchery.  Tall, 
with  a  long  neck,  a  lithe  and  elastic  figure, 
an  oval  face,  lustrous  eyes,  and  a  forehead 
wide  and  rather  low,  surmounted  by  wreaths 
of  dark  hair,  she  was  noted  for  her  beauty, 
dividing  with  Madame  Vestris  the  empire  of 
the  town.  She  had  more  power  than  Vestris 
of  entering  into  character,  had  boundless 
animal  spirits,  and  an  enchanting  gleeful- 
ness.  Her  laugh  was  magical.  Westland 
Marston's  earliest  recollections  of  her  are  in 
the  '  Married  Rake '  and  Caroline  Gayton  in 
'  Catching  an  Heiress,'  in  which  and  in  other 
parts  he  praises  her  'winning  archness/  '  the 
spirit  with  which  she  bore  herself  in  her 
male  disguises,  and  by  her  enjoyment  of  the 
fun.'  He  supplies  an  animated  picture  of 
her  performance  of  a  reigning  beauty  and 
heiress  of  the  days  of  Queen  Anne  in  the 
'  Idol's  Birthday,'  played  at  the  Olympic  in 
1838.  Her  Beatrice  was  gay  and  mischievous, 
and  carried  one  away  by  its  animal  spirits, 
but  it  lacked  poetry.  She  was  a 'whimsical, 
brilliant,  tantalising  Lady  Teazle,  without 
much  depth  in  her  repentance,'  and  an  ideal 
Helen  in  the'  Hunchback.'  Her  greatest 
part  was  Constance  in  the  'Love  Chase.'  So 
free  and  wild  in  this  were  her  spirits, '  that  ani- 
mal life  by  its  transports,  soared  into  poetry, 
and  the  joys  of  sense  rose  into  emotion ' 


Nithsdale 


74 


Nix 


(WESTLAND  MARSTON,  Some  Recollections  of 
our  Recent  Actors,  ii.  158).  Her  Lady 
Gay  Spanker  in  'London  Assurance'  was  a 
no 'less  distinct  triumph.  Portraits  of  Mrs. 
Nisbett  are  in  Mrs.  Baron  Wilson's  '  Our 
Actresses,'  showing  a  singularly  lovely  face, 
and  as  Constance,  in  '  Actors  by  Daylight, 
and  the  'Theatrical  Times.'  The  two  last 
are  little  better  than  caricatures. 

[Particulars  of  the  life  of  Mrs.  Nisbett  have 
not  hitherto  been  given  to  the  world.  Her 
earliest  efforts  at  Drury  Lane  are  chronicled  in 
Genest's  Account  of  the  English  Stage.  Mrs. 
Baron  Wilson's  Our  Actresses  gives  a  romantic 
account  of  her  life  up  to  1844.  Short  and  un- 
trustworthy biographies  are  supplied  in  Actors  by 
Daylight,  vol.  ii.,  and  the  Theatrical  Times,  vol.  ii. 
Supplementary  information  has  been  gleaned  from 
the Athenaeum.various  years;  DraraatieandMusi- 
cal  Review,  1842-8;  Tallis's Dramatic  Magazine; 
the  Dramatic  Magazine,  1829-30;  Pascoe's  Dra- 
matic List,  under  '  James  Anderson ; '  Burke's 
Peerage;  Pollock's  Macready ;  Scott  and  Ho  ward's 
E.  L.  Blanchard  ;  Dickens's  Charles  James  Ma- 
thews  ;  Barton  Baker's  The  London  Stage ;  History 
of  the  Dublin  Theatre,  1870;  Stirling's  Old  Drury 
Lane ;  Westland's  Marston's  Some  Recollections 
of  our  Recent  Actors ;  Era  Almanack,  various 
years;  Era,  24  Jan.  1858;  Times,  19  Jan.  1858.] 

J.  K. 

NITHSDALE,  LORD  OF.  [See  DOUGLAS, 
SIR  WILLIAM,  d.  1392  ?] 

NITHSDALE,  fifth  EAEL  OF.  [See  MAX- 
WELL, WILLIAM,  1676-1744,  Jacobite.] 

NITHSDALE,  COUNTESS  OF.  [See  under 
MAXWELL,  WILLIAM,  1676-1744.] 

NIX  or  NYKKE,  RICHARD  (1447  P- 
1535),  bishop  of  Norwich,  son  of  Richard 
Nix  and  his  wife  Joan  Stillington,  was  born 
in  Somerset ;  the  date  of  his  birth  must  have 
been  about  1447,  if  the  subsequent  estimates 
of  his  age  can  be  accepted.  He  was  educated 
at  Trinity  Hall,  Cambridge,  and  proceeded 
LL.D. ;  he  also  studied  at  Oxford  and  Bologna. 
In  1473  he  was  rector  of  Ashbury,  Berkshire ; 
in  September  1489  prebendary  of  Yattonin 
the  cathedral  of  Wells,  with  the  living  of 
Cheddon,  and  in  1490  he  received  by  royal 
patronage  the  living  of  Chedzoy.  On  3  Feb. 
1491-2  he  became  archdeacon  of  Exeter, 
and  a  year  later  vicar-general  to  Richard 
Foxe  [q.  v.],  then  bishop  of  Bath  and  Wells. 
Foxe  evidently  found  Nix  a  useful  official. 
On  10  July  1494  he  became  archdeacon  of 
Wells,  and  on  30  July  1494  prebendary  of 
Friday  Thorpe  in  the  cathedral  of  York. 
The  latter  preferment  was  presumably  due 
to  Foxe's  influence.  On  15  Feb.  1494-5  he 
was  further  made  vicar-general  in  spirituals 
to  Foxe  at  Durham,  and  23  Dec.  1495  rector 
of  Bishop  W'earmouth.  On  29  Nov.  1497 


he  was  appointed  canon  of  Windsor,  and 
soon  afterwards  registrar  of  the  order  of  the 
Garter  and  dean  of  the  Chapel  Royal.  On 
2  Oct.  1499  he  became  rector  of  High  Ham, 
Somerset,  and  held  the  living  till  he  became 
bishop.  Finally,  in  March  1500-1,  he  was 
made  Bishop  of  Norwich.  In  1501  he  was 
present  at  the  reception  of  Catherine  of 
Aragon,  and  in  1505  he  had  a  general  pardon 
granted  to  him. 

Nix  was  of  the  old  catholic  party,  and 
hence  his  long  tenure  of  his  bishopric  was 
adversely  criticised  by  historians  of  the  pro- 
testant  party.  He  is  stated  to  have  been  of 
irregular  life  ;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  he  was 
clearly  a  man  of  independence,  and  of  the 
greatest  activity.  Thus  in  1509  he  turned 
out  the  prior  of  Butley,  and  his  visitations 
were  conducted  with  regularity  and  strict- 
ness (cf.  JESSOPP,  Visitations  of  the  Diocese 
of  Norwich,  Camd.  Soc.)  He  was  appointed 
by  bull,  15  Sept.  1514,  to  receive  Wolsey's 
oath  on  his  translation  to  York,  and,  with 
the  Bishop  of  Winchester,  invested  him  with 
the  pallium.  In  1515  he  took  part  in  the 
ceremony  attending  the  reception  of  Wol- 
sey's cardinal's  hat.  When  the  ambassadors 
went  to  Rome  in  1528  about  the  divorce, 
one  of  them  (doubtless  Gardiner)  gave  an  ac- 
count to  the  pope  of  the  English  bishops, 
and  told  a  '  merry  tale  '  about  Nix,  showing 
that  his  age  had  not  affected  his  spirits. 

Nix  was  naturally  opposed  to  the  divorce ; 
but  later,  in  1533,  he  voted  for  Cranmer's 
propositions  in  convocation.  He  was  a 
staunch  opponent  of  the  reformers,  and  es- 
pecially disliked  the  introduction  of  heretical 
books,  which,  owing  to  the  situation  of  his 
diocese,  had  caused  him  much  trouble  there, 
(cf.  STKTPE,  Cranmer,  ii.  694).  He  is  said 
to  have  taken  a  leading  part  in  the  execu- 
tion of  Thomas  Bilney  [q.  v.],  who  belonged 
to  his  old  college.  Froude  says,  with  some 
justice,  that  he  burnt  Bilney  on  his  own 
authority,  without  waiting  for  the  royal 
warrant  ;  but  the  charge  of  infringing  the 
Act  of  Praemunire,  for  which  he  was  indicted 
in  1534  before  the  king's  bench  by  the  king's 
attorney,  did  not  originate  in  his  dealings 
with  Bilney,  but  in  his  proceedings  at  Thet- 
ford.  He  had  cited  the  mayor  of  Thetford 
to  appear  before  him  in  a  spiritual  case, 
whereas  the  town  enjoyed  an  exemption  of 
long  standing  from  the  bishop's  jurisdiction. 
This  invasion  of  privilege  was  proved,  and  on 
7  Feb.  1533-4  he  was  condemned  to  forfeit  his 
goods  and  was  at  the  royal  mercy.  Some 
thought  that  the  king  wished  to  find  the 
bishop's  '  nest  of  crowns,'  and  he  was 
fined  ten  thousand  marks.  He  was  com- 
mitted to  the  Marshalsea,  but  on  19  Feb. 


Nixon 

had  letters  of  protection  granted  to  him. 
Soon  afterwards  he  received  the  royal  pardon, 
which  was  ratified  by  parliament.  It  is 
significant  that  he  swore  to  recognise  the 
royal  supremacy  on  10  March  1533-4.  His 
diocese  was  visited  by  William  May  [q.  v.], 
afterwards  archbishop  of  York,  on  behalf  of 
Cranmer,  in  July  1534.  He  was  now  very 
infirm  and  almost  blind,  refused  help,  and  was 
pronounced  comtumacious.  He  began,  it  is 
said,  a  correspondence  with  the  papal  court ; 
but,  as  he  was  unable  to  write,  the  assertion 
is  probably  false.  He  was  summoned  to  ap- 
pear before  the  council  in  the  Star-chamber 
on  31  Jan.  1534-5,  and  excused  himself  on 
account  of  a  bad  leg.  He  evidently  was  fail- 
ing in  mind,  and  Thomas  Legh  reported  to 
Cromwell  that  he  was,  in  November  1535, 
distributing  his  goods  among  various  depen- 
dents. He  died  before  29  Dec.  1535  {Letters 
and  Papers,  Henry  VIII,  ix.  1032 ;  cf.  1042 
and  x.  79).  He  was  buried  on  the  south  side 
of  his  cathedral,  under  an  altar  tomb.  He 
founded  three  fellowships  at  Trinity  Hall, 
and  repaired  the  roof  of  his  cathedral.  A 
tradition  that  part  of  his  fine  was  used  to  pay 
for  the  windows  of  King's  College  Chapel  at 
Cambridge  has  been  disputed. 

[Letters,  &c.,  Kichard  III  and  Hen.  VII  (Rolls 
Ser.),  i.  251,  412  ;  Materials  for  Hist.  Hen.  VII 
(Rolls  Ser.),  ii.  50 ;  Wearer's  Somerset  Incum- 
bents, pp.  101,  331,  404  ;  Letters  and  Papers 
Hen.  VIII,  1509-36;  Cooper's  Athenae  Cantab. 
i.  56,  530 :  Strype's  Memorials  i.  ii.  84,  m.  i.  571, 
Smith,  p.  2,  Parker,  i.  p.  23,  Cranmer,  p.  40  &c. ; 
Froude's  Divorce  of  Catherine  of  Aragon,  p.  255 ; 
Friedmann's  Anne  Boleyn,  i.  143,  197  ;  Cal.  of 
State  Papers, Venetian,  1509-19,p.  791 ;  Nicolas's 
Privy  Purse  Expenses  of  Eliz.  of  York,  p.  90  ; 
Willis  and  Clarke's  Arch.  Hist,  of  the  Univ.  of 
Cambr.  i.  499  ;  Notes  and  Queries,  1st  ser.  v. 
276,  308 ;  Wood's  Athense  Oxon.  ed.  Bliss,  ii. 
744-5  ;  Gasquet's  Henry  VIII  and  the  English 
Monasteries,  i.  335  ;  Foxe's  Acts  and  Mon.  ed. 
Townsend.]  W.  A.  J.  A. 

NIXON,  ANTHONY  (fl.  1602),  pam- 
phleteer and  poet,  was  author  of  many  pam- 
phlets in  prose,  with  scraps  of  original  and 
translated  verse  interspersed.  Their  titles  run: 
1.  '  The  Christian  Navy.  Wherein  is  playnely 
described  the  perfit  Course  to  sayle  to  the 
Haven  of  eternall  happinesse.  Written  by 
Anthony  Nixon.'  Imprinted  at  London  by 
Simon  Strafford,  1602,  4to.  This  is  an  alle- 
gorical poem  in  seven-line  stanzas,  dedicated 
to  Archbishop  AVhitgift.  It  was  printed  again 
in  1605,  4to.  2.  '  Elizaes  Memoriall.  King 
James  his  Arrivall,  and  Homes  Downefall,' 
London,  printed  by  T.  C.  for  John  Baylie, 
1603, 4to.  This  consists  of  three  short  poems, 
and  is  dedicated  in  blank  verse  '  to  the  sur- 


75 


Nixon 


viving  late  wife  of  his  deceased  Maecenas/ 
3.  'Oxfords  Triumph:  In  the  Royall  En- 
tertainement  of  his  most  Excellent  Majestie, 
the  Queene,  and  the  Prince  :  the  27  of  August 
last,  1605.  With  the  Kinges  Oration  de- 
livered to  the  Universitie,  and  the  Incor- 
porating of  divers  Noble-men,  Maisters  of 
Arte,'n.d.,4to.  4.  'TheBlackeyeare.  Seria 
jocis,'  London,  printed  by  E.  Aide  forWilliam 
Timme,  1606, 4to.  Plagiarisms  from  Thomas 
Lodge,  and  references  to  Marston's  '  Dutch 
Curtesan  '  andDekker  and  Webster's  'West- 
ward Ho  '  have  been  pointed  out  in  this  tract. 
5.  '  The  Three  English  Brothers.  Sir  Thomas 
Sherley  his  Travels,  with  his  three  yeares 
imprisonment  in  Turkie ;  his  Inlargement  by 
his  Majesties  letters  to  the  great  Turke ;  and 
lastly,  his  safe  return e  into  England  this  pre- 
sent yeare,  1607.  Sir  Anthony  Sherley  his 
Embassage  to  the  Christian  Princes.  Master 
Robert  Sherley  his  wars  against  the  Turkes, 
with  his  marriage  to  the  Emperour  of  Persia 
hisNeece,'  London,  printed  by  John  Hodgets, 
1607, 4to.  '  The  Travels  of  the  Three  English 
Brothers,'  a  play  by  Day,  Rowley,  and  Wil- 
kins,  is  founded  on  Nixon's  pamphlet.  6. '  A 
True  Relation  of  the  Travels  of  M.  Bush,  a 
gentleman,  who,  with  his  owne  haudes,  with- 
out any  other  mans  helpe,  made  a  Pynace,  in 
which  hee  past  by  Ayr,  Land,  and  Water  : 
from  Lamborne,  a  place  in  Barkshire,  to  the 
Custom  house  Key  in  London,  1607,'  Lon- 
don, printed  by  T.  P.  for  Nathaniel  Butter, 
b.l.,  1608,  4to.  7.  '  The  Warres  of  Sweth- 
land.  With  the  Ground  and  Originall  of  the 
said  Warres,  begun  and  continued  betwixt 
Sigismond  King  of  Poland,  and  Duke  Charles 
his  Unkle,  lately  Crowned  King  of  Sweth- 
land.  As  also  the  State  and  Condition  of 
that  Kingdome,  as  it  standeth  to  this  day,' 
London,  printed  for  Nathaniel  Butter,  b.l., 
4to.  Nathaniel  Butter  also  published,  with- 
out date  or  author's  name, '  Swethland  and 
Poland  Warres,  a  Souldiers  Returne  out  of 
Sweden,  and  his  Newes  from  the  Warres,  or 
Sweden  and  Poland  up  in  armes,  and  the 
entertainment  of  English  Soulders  there,  with 
the  fortunes  and  successe  of  those  1200  men 
that  lately  went  thither,'  London,  4to,  b.l., 
with  woodcuts.  This  was  probably  by  Nixon. 
8.  '  Londons  Dove :  or  A  Memoriall  of  the 
Life  and  Death  of  Maister  Robert  Dove, 
Citizen  and  Merchant-Taylor  of  London,  and 
of  his  severall  Almesdeeds  and  large  bountie 
to  the  poore,  in  his  life  time.  He  departed 
this  life,  on  Saterday  the  2  day  of  this  in- 
stant Moneth  of  May,  1612,'  London,  printed 
by  Thomas  Creede  for  Joseph  Hunt,  1612, 
4to.  9.  '  The  Dignitie  of  Man,  Both  in  the 
Perfections  of  his  Soule  and  Bodie.  Shewing 
as  well  the  faculties  in  the  disposition  of  the 


Nixon 


76 


Nixon 


one :  as  the  Senses  and  Organs,  in  the  com- 
position of  the  other.  By  A.  N.,'  London, 
printed  by  Edward  Allde,  1612,  4to. ;  a 
second  edition  was  printed  at  Oxford  by 
Joseph  Barnes  for  John  Barnes,  1616,  4to. 
10.  '  Great  Brittaine's  Generall  Joyes.  Lon- 
dons  Glorious  Triumphes.  Dedicated  to  the 
Immortall  memorie  of  the  joyfull  Mariage 
•of  the  two  famous  and  illustrious  Princes, 
Fredericke  and  Elizabeth.  Celebrated  the  14 
of  Februarie,  being  S.  Valentine's  day.  With 
the  Instalment  of  the  sayd  potent  Prince 
Fredericke  at  Windsore  the  7  of  Februarie 
aforesaid,'  London,  Henry  Robertes,  1613, 4to. 
11. '  A  Straunge  Foot-Post  with  a  Packet  full 
of  strange  Petitions.  After  a  long  vacation  for 
a  good  Terme,'  printed  at  London  by  E.  A., 
b.l.,  1613,  4to  ;  a  reissue  of  this,  with  omis- 
sions and  additions,  appeared  as  '  The  Foot- 
Post  of  Dover.  With  his  Pocket  stuft  full  of 
strange  and  merry  Petitions,' London,  printed 
by  Edward  Allde  for  John  Deane,  1616, 4to. 
12.  '  The  Scourge  of  Corruption.  Or  a  Crafty 
Knave  needs  no  Broker.  Written  by  Anthony 
Nixon,'  printed  at  London  for  Henry  Gosson 
and  William  Hoalmes,  b.  1.,  1615,  4to.  A 
plagiarism  from  Thomas  Lodge  has  been  de- 
tected in  this  tract. 

[Collier's  Poetical  Decameron,  i.  302-3,  and  his 
Bibl.  Account  of  English  Lit.  ii.  48,  53 ;  W.  C. 
Hazlitt's  Handbook  to  Early  English  Literature, 
p.  420,  and  his  Collections  and  Notes,  p.  306, 
2nd  ser.  p.  426,  3rd  ser.  p.  177  ;  Hunter's  manu- 
script Chorus  Vatum,  ii.  92  (Addit.  MS.  24488).] 

K.  B. 

NIXON,  FRANCIS  RUSSELL  (1803- 
1879),  bishop  of  Tasmania,  son  of  the  Rev. 
Robert  Nixon  [see  under  NIXON,  JOHN],  was 
born  1  Aug.  1803,  and  was  admitted  into 
Merchant  Taylors'  School,  London,  in  March 
1810  (ROBINSON,  Register}.  In  1822  he  was 
elected  from  the  school  a  probationary  fellow 
•of  St.  John's  College,  Oxford,  whence  he  gra- 
duated B.  A.  (third  class  in  classics)  in  1827, 
M.  A.  1841 ,  and  D.D.  1842.  After  having  held 
several  minor  charges  and  acted  as  chaplain  to 
the  embassy  at  Naples,  he  was  made,  in  Ja- 
nuary 1836,  incumbent  of  Sandgate,  Kent, 
and  in  November  1838  was  preferred  to  the 
vicarage  of  Ash  next  Wingham  by  the  arch- 
bishop, who  also  appointed  him  one  of  the  six 
preachers  in  Canterbury  Cathedral.  Both  at 
Sandgate  and  Ash  he  was  much  beloved,  and 
in  the  latter  parish  was  instrumental  in  erect- 
ing a  chapel  of  ease.  On  24  Aug.  1842  he 
was  consecrated  in  Westminster  Abbey  by 
the  archbishop  as  bishop  of  the  newly  con- 
stituted see  of  Tasmania,  which  he  retained 
for  twenty-one  years  and  administered  with 
much  success.  Returning  to  England  in  1 863, 
he  was  presented  in  the  following  year  to  the 


valuable  rectory  of  Bolton-Percy,  York,  as  a 
recognition,  on  the  partof  Archbishop  Thom- 
son, of  his  services  to  the  colonial  church.  He 
resigned  this  charge  in  1865,  and  retired  to  a 
home  which  he  had  made  for  himself  on  Lago 
Maggiore,  where  he  died  on  7  April  1879. 

Nixon  was  an  accomplished  musician  and 
artist,  as  well  as  a  preacher  of  no  little 
eloquence.  The  little  history  of  his  old 
school,  which  he  published  after  he  had  left  it, 
is  of  interest  only  for  its  illustrations.  His 
'  Lectures  on  the  Catechism'  were  well  re- 
ceived, and  are  still  held  in  esteem.  Besides 
charges  and  pamphlets  issued  in  Tasmania 
between  1846  and  1856,  he  published  :  'The 
History  of  Merchant  Taylors'  School,'  with 
five  lithographic  views,  pp.  32,  London,  4to, 
1823;  'Lectures,  Historical,  Doctrinal,  and 
Practical,  on  the  Catechism  of  the  Church  of 
England,'  London,  8vo,  1843 ;  '  The  Cruise 
of  the  Beacon :  a  Narrative  of  a  Visit  to  the 
Islands  in  Bass's  Straits,' London,  8vo,  1857. 

[Personal  and  parochial  recollections  ;  Guar- 
dian, 16  April  1879.]  C.  J.  K. 

NIXON,  JAMES  (1741  P-1812),  minia- 
ture-painter, was  born  about  1741.  He  first 
exhibited  with  the  Society  of  Artists  in  1765, 
and  from  1772  to  1805  was  an  annual  con- 
tributor to  the  Royal  Academy.  Nixon  was 
one  of  the  ablest  miniaturists  of  his  time, 
and  held  the  appointments  of  limner  to  the 
Prince  of  Wales  and  miniature-painter  to  the 
Duchess  of  York ;  in  1778  he  was  elected 
A.R.A.  He  painted  Miss  Farren  and  other 
theatrical  celebrities,  as  well  as  fancy  figures 
of  Shakespearean  characters.  He  sent  to  the 
Academy  a  few  portraits  in  oil,  and  in  1786 
a  series  of  ten  designs  illustrating  '  Tristram 
Shandy.'  Nixon  resided  in  London  through- 
out his  professional  career,  but  died  at  Tiver- 
ton  on  9  May  1812,  aged  71 .  His  portraits  of 
Dr.  Willis,  the  Duchess  of  Devonshire,  Mrs. 
Hartley,  and  the  Misses  Jenny  and  Nelly 
Bennet  have  been  engraved,  as  well  as  some 
fancy  subjects. 

[Redgrave's  Diet,  of  Artists;  Sandby's  Hist, 
of  the  Royal  Academy,  i.  244  ;  Gent.  Mag.  1812, 
pt.  i.  p.  499  ;  Royal  Academy  Catalogues.] 

F.  M.  O'D. 

NIXON,  JOHN  (d.  1818),  amateur  artist, 
was  a  merchant  in  Basinghall  Street,  Lon- 
don. He  had  some  skill  as  an  artist,  and 
drew  landscapes  well.  He  also  executed  a 
number  of  clever  caricatures,  some  of  which 
he  etched  himself.  He  was  a  frequent  ex- 
hibitor at  the  Royal  Academy  from  1784  to 
1815.  Nixon  drew  a  number  of  views  of 
the  seats  of  the  nobility  and  gentry  in  Eng- 
land and  Ireland,  which  were  engraved  for  a 
series  published  by  William  Watts  [q.  v.]  the 


Nixon 


77 


Noad 


engraver.  Nixon  was  for  many  years  secre- 
tary to  the  Beefsteak  Club,  and  died  in  1818. 

Another  contributor  to  the  same  series  of 
views  was  ROBERT  NIXON  (1759-1837),  who 
was  curate  of  Foot's  Cray  in  Kent  from  1784 
to  1804,  and  was  an  honorary  exhibitor  at 
the  lloyal  Academy  and  the  Society  of 
Artists  from  1790  to  1818.  He  appears  to 
have  been  brother  of  the  above,  and  identical 
with  the  Robert  Nixon,  son  of  Robert  Nixon 
of  London,  who  graduated  at  Christ  Church, 
Oxford,  in  1780,  became  a  bachelor  of  di- 
vinity in  1790,  and  died  at  Kenmure  Castle, 
New  Galloway,  on  o  Nov.  1837,  aged  78. 
He  married  at  Foot's  Cray,  on  31  Jan.  1799, 
Ann  Russell,  by  whom  he  was  father  of  the 
Rev.  Francis  Russell  Nixon  [q.  v.],  bishop  of 
Tasmania.  It  was  in  Nixon's  house  that 
Turner,  when  a  boy,  in  1793  completed  his 
first  painting  in  oils. 

[Gent.  Mag.  1818  pt.  i.  p.  644,  1838  pt.  i.  p. 
104 ;  Foster's  Alumni  Oxon. ;  Watts's  Seats  of 
the  Nobility  and  Gentry  ;  Royal  Academy  Cata- 
logues.] L.  C. 

NIXON,  ROBERT  (fi.  1620?),  the  'Che- 
shire Prophet,'  who  is  stated  by  one  writer  to 
have  been  born  in  the  parish  of  Over,  Dela- 
mere,  Cheshire,  in  1467,  and  by  another  au- 
thority to  have  lived  in  the  reign  of  James  I, 
but  about  whose  existence  at  all  there  exists 
some  doubt,  was  the  reputed  author  of  cer- 
tain predictions  which  were  long  current  in 
Cheshire.  All  accounts  point  to  his  having 
been  an  idiot,  a  retainer  of  the  Cholmondeley 
family  of  Vale  Royal,  and  to  his  having  been 
inspired  at  intervals  to  deliver  oracular  pro- 
phecies of  future  events,  both  national  and 
local.  These  prognostications,  generally  of 
the  usual  vague  character,  were  first  published 
in  1714  by  John  Oldmixon.  A  further  ac- 
count of  Nixon  by' W.E.' was  issued  in  1716. 
Innumerable  subsequent  editions  have  been 
published,  and  the  various  versions  were  col- 
lated and  edited  in  1873,  and  again  in  1878, 
by  W.  E.  A.  Axon.  Nixon  is  said  to  have 
attracted  the  royal  notice,  and  to  have  been 
sent  for  to  court,  where  he  was  starved  to 
death  through  forgetfulness,  in  a  manner 
which  he  himself  had  predicted.  Dickens's 
allusion  in  '  Pickwick '  to  '  red-faced  Nixon ' 
refers  to  the  coloured  portraits  which  occur 
in  some  chap-book  editions  of  the  prophecies. 

[Nixon's  Cheshire  Prophecies,  ed.  Axon,  1873 
and  1878;  Axon's  Cheshire  Gleanings,  1884, 
p.  235  ;  cf.  also  '  An  Irish  Analogue  of  Nixon  ' 
in  Trans.  Lane,  and  Chesh.  Antiq.  Soc.  vii.  130.1 

C.  W.  S. 

NIXON,  SAMUEL  (1803-1854),  sculp- 
tor, was  born  in  1803.  In  1826  he  exhibited 
at  the  Royal  Academy  '  The  Shepherd,'  in 


1828  '  The  Reconciliation  of  Adam  and  Eve 
after  the  Fall,'  in  1830 '  The  Birth  of  Venus,' 
and  in  1831  '  The  Infant  Moses.'  He  was 
principally  employed  during  the  next  few- 
years  on  portrait  and  sepulchral  sculpture. 
When  Philip  Hardwick  [q.  v.]  the  architect 
was  engaged  on  building  Goldsmiths'  Hall, 
in  Foster  Lane,  Cheapside,  he  employed 
Nixon  to  do  the  sculptural  decorations  ;  the 
groups  of  the  four  seasons  on  the  staircase 
were  especially  admired.  Nixon  also  exe- 
cuted a  statue  of  John  Carpenter  for  the 
City  of  London  School,  and  one  of  Sir  John- 
Crosby,  to  be  placed  in  Crosby  Hall,  Bishops- 
gate  Street.  His  principal  work  was  the 
statue  of  William  IV  at  the  end  of  King 
William  Street  in  the  city,  on  the  exact  site 
of  the  famous  Boar's  Head  of  Eastcheap, 
set  up  in  December  1844.  This  statue,  which 
is  fifteen  feet  three  inches  in  height,  is  con- 
structed of  two  blocks  of  Scotch  granite,  and 
the  difficulty  of  the  work  severely  crippled 
Nixon's  health  and  resources  (cf.  Gent.  Mag. 
1844,  i.  179).  Nixon's  workshop  was  at 
2  White  Hart  Court,  Bishopsgate  Street,  and 
he  died  at  Kennington  House,  Kennington 
Common,  on  2  Aug.  1854,  aged  51.  A  brother 
was  a  glass-painter  of  repute. 

[Gent.  Mag.  1854,  ii.  405;  Redgrave's  Diet,  of 
Artists ;  Royal  Academy  Catalogues.]  L.  C. 

NOAD,  HENRY  MINCHIX  (1815- 
1877),  electrician,  born  at  Shawford,  near 
Frorne,  Somerset,  22  June  1815,  was  son  of 
Humphrey  Noad,  by  Miss  Hunn,  a  half-sister 
of  the  Rt.  Hon.  George  Canning.  He  was 
educated  at  Frome  grammar  school,  and  was 
intended  for  the  civilservice  in  India,  but  the 
untimely  death  of  his  patron,  William  Hus- 
kisson  [q.  v.],  caused  a  change  in  his  career, 
and  he  commenced  the  study  of  chemistry 
and  electricity.  About  1836  he  delivered 
lectures  on  these  subjects  at  the  literary  and 
scientific  institutions  of  Bath  and  Bristol. 
He  next  examined  the  peculiar  voltaic  condi- 
tions of  iron  and  bismuth  (Philosophical  Mag. 
1838,  xii.  48-52),  described  some  properties 
of  the  water  battery,  and  elucidated  that 
curious  phenomenon  the  passive  state  of  iron. 
In  1845  he  came  to  London,  and  studied 
chemistry  under  August  Wilhelm  Hofmann, 
in  the  newly  founded  Royal  College  of 
Chemistry.  While  with  Hofmann  he  made 
researches  on  the  oxidation  of  cymol  or 
cymene,  the  hydro-carbon  which  Gerhardt 
and  Cahours  discovered  in  1840  in  the  vola- 
tile oil  of  Roman  cumin.  The  results  were 
in  part  communicated  to  the  Chemical  So- 
ciety (Memoirs,  1845-8,  iii.  421-40)  at  the 
time,  and  more  fully  afterwards  to  the  '  Phi- 
losophical Magazine,'  1848,  xxxii.  15-35. 


Noad 


Noake 


Among  other  organic  products,  legurnine  and 
vitelline  also  formed  materials  for  his  in- 
vestigations. In  1847  he  was  appointed  to 
the  chair  of  chemistry  in  the  medical  school 
of  St.  George's  Hospital,  which  he  held  till 
his  death.  About  1849  he  obtained  the  de- 
gree of  doctor  of  physics  from  the  university 
of  Giessen,  and  in  '1850-1  conducted,  con- 
jointly with  Henry  Gra\ ,  an  inquiry  into  the 
composition  and  functions  of  the  spleen.  The 
essay  resulting  from  this  investigation  gained 
the  Astley  Cooper  prize  of  1852.  He  next 
experimented  on  the  chemistry  of  iron,  and 
in  1860  contributed  the  article  '  Iron '  to 
Robert  Hunt's  edition  of '  lire's  Dictionary.' 
This  led  to  his  appointment  as  consulting 
chemist  to  the  Ebbw  Vale  Iron  Company, 
the  Cwm  Celyn  and  Blaina,  the  Aberdare 
and  Plymouth,  and  other  ironworks  in  South 
Wales.  In  1868  he  became  examiner  of  malt 
liquors  to  the  India  office,  and  in  1872  an 
examiner  in  chemistry  and  physics  at  the 
Royal  Military  Academy,  Woolwich.  When 
the  Panopticon  of  Science  and  Arts  in  Leices- 
ter Square  was  opened  in  1854,  he  was  ap- 
pointed instructor  in  chemistry  there.  On 
5  June  1856  he  was  elected  a  fellow  of  the 
Royal  Society. 

In  1839  he  published  '  A  Course  of  Eight 
Lectures  on  Electricity,  Galvanism,  Magne- 
tism, and  Electro-Magnetism,' which  became 
a  recognised  text-book,  passing  through  four 
editions ;  in  1857  it  gave  place  to  '  A  Manual 
of  Electricity '  in  two  volumes,  which  was 
long  a  standard  book.  In  1848  he  wrote  a 
valuable  treatise  on  '  Chemical  Manipulation 
and  Analysis,  Qualitative  and  Quantitative,' 
for  the  Library  of  Useful  Knowledge,  and 
re- wrote  in  1875 '  A  Normandy's  Commercial 
Handbook  of  Chemical  Analysis,'  a  volume 
which  meets  the  wants  of  the  analyst  while 
discharging  his  duties  under  the  Adultera- 
tion Act. 

He  died  at  his  son's  residence  in  High 
Street,  Lower  Norwood,  Surrey,  on  23  July 
1877.  Charlotte  Jane,  his  widow,  died  on 
2o  March  1882,  aged  67. 

Besidesthe  works  already  mentioned,  Xoad 
was  the  author  of:  1.  'Lectures  on  Che- 
mistry, including  its  Applications  in  the 
Arts,  and  the  Analysis  of  Organic  and  In- 
organic Compounds,' 1843.  2. 'The Improved 
Induction  Coil,  being  a  Popular  Explanation 
of  the  Electrical  Principles  on  which  it  is 
constructed,'  1861 ;  3rd  edit.  1868.  '  A 
Manual  of  Chemical  Analysis,  Qualitative 
and  Quantitative,'  1863-4.  4.  '  The  Students' 
Text-Book  of  Electricity,  with  four  hundred 
illustrations,'  1867,  new  edit.  1879.  He  also 
issued  a  revised  and  enlarged  edition  of  Sir 
W.  S.  Harris's  'Rudimentary  Magnetism' 


in  1872,  and  wrote  many  papers  in  scientific 
journals. 

[Medical  Times.  4  Aug.  1877,  p.  130;  En- 
gineer, 3  Au£.  1877,  pp.  70,  76-77;  information 
kindly  supplied  by  his  son,  Henry  Garden  Noad, 
L.R.C.P.  London.]  G.  C.  B. 

NOAKE,  JOHN  (1816-1894),  antiquary, 
son  of  Thomas  and  Ann  Noake,  was  born  at 
Sherborne,  Dorset,  on  29  Nov.  1816,  but 
came  to  Worcester  in  1838  to  work  on  '  Ber- 
row's  Worcester  Journal,'  and  lived  in  that 
city  until  his  death.  He  was  afterwards 
engaged  on  the  '  Worcestershire  Chronicle,' 
and  his  last  appointment  was  as  sub-editor 
of  the  '  Worcester  Herald.'  About  1874  he 
severed  his  connection  with  the  newspapers 
of  the  city,  and  devoted  his  energies  to  its 
municipal  life  and  to  the  management  of  its 
principal  institutions.  He  was  in  turn  sheriff 
(1878),  mayor  and  alderman  (1879),  and 
magistrate  (1882)  for  Worcester.  As  mayor 
it  fell  to  his  lot  to  reopen  the  old  Guildhall 
originally  erected  in  1721-3,  which  had  been 
restored  and  enlarged  at  a  cost  of  about 
20,0007.  For  many  years  he  was  one  of  the 
honorary  secretaries  of  the  Worcester  Dio- 
cesan Architectural  and  Archaeological  So- 
ciety, and  on  his  retirement  in  July  1892  he 
was  presented  with  a  handsome  testimonial. 
He  died  at  Worcester  on  12  Sept,  1894,  and 
was  buried  at  the  cemetery  in  Astwood  Road 
on  15  Sept.  He  married,  first,  Miss  Wood- 
yatt  of  Ashperton,  Herefordshire,  by  whom 
he  had  a  son  Charles,  and  a  daughter,  now 
Mrs.  Badham ;  secondly,  Miss  Brown  of 
Shrewsbury ;  thirdly,  in  1873,  Mrs.  Stephens 
(d.  1893),  widow  of  a  Worcester  merchant. 

All  the  works  of  Noake  related  to  his 
adopted  county.  They  comprised :  1.  'The 
Rambler  in  Worcestershire ;  or  Stray  Notes 
on  Churches  and  Congregations,'  1848.  It 
was  followed  by  similar  volumes  in  1851  and 
1854.  2.  <  Worcester  in  Olden  Times,'  1849. 
3.  '  Notes  and  Queries  for  Worcestershire,' 
1856.  4.  '  Monastery  and  Cathedral  of  Wor- 
cester,'1866.  5.  '  Worcester  Sects :  a  History 
of  its  Roman  Catholics  and  Dissenters,'  1861. 
6. '  Guide  to  Worcestershire,'  1868.  7. '  Wor- 
cestershire Relics,'  1877.  8.  '  AVorcester- 
shire  Nuggets,'  1889.  He  contributed  many 
papers  on  subjects  of  local  interest  to  the 
'  Transactions '  of  the  Worcester  Architectural 
and  Archaeological  Society,  and  of  the  As- 
sociated Architectural  Societies.  A  careful 
examination  and  analysis  of  a  mass  of  docu- 
ments found  by  him  in  a  chest  in  the  tower 
of  St.  Swithin's  Church  at  Worcester  revealed 
much  information  on  the  history  of  the  city. 

[Barrow's  Worcester  Journal,  15  Sept.  1894  ; 
information  from  Mr.  Charles  Noake.  ] 

W.  P.  C. 


Nobbes 


79 


Nobbs 


NOBBES,  ROBERT  (1652-1706  ?),writer 
on  angling,  son  of  John  and  Rachel  Nobbes, 
was  born  at  Bulwick  in  Northamptonshire  on 
21  July  1652,  and  baptised  there  on  17  Aug. 
(parish  register).  He  was  educated  first 
at  Uppingham  school,  admitted  in  1668  to 
Sidney  Sussex  College,  Cambridge,  graduated 
B.A.  'in  1671  and  M.A.  in  1675.  He  was 
vicar  of  Apethorpe  and  Wood  Newton  in 
Northamptonshire  as  early  as  1676,  and  as 
late  as  1690.  He  was  made  rector  of  Saus- 
thorpe  in  Lincolnshire  on  4  Aug.  1702,  and 
his  successor  was  appointed  on  1  June  1706. 

He  published  '  The  Compleat  Troller,  or 
the  Art  of  Trolling,'  London,  1682.  His 
address  '  To  the  Ingenious  Reader  '  is  in 
great  part  taken  from  the  dedication  of 
Robert  Venables's  book,  'The  Experienc'd 
Angler,'  London,  1662.  Nobbes's  book  was 
republished  in  facsimile  in  1790.  It  was  re- 
printed in  the  '  Angler's  Pocket-Book,'  Nor- 
wich, 1800  (?),  and  again  in  a  work  with 
the  same  title,  London,  1805  ;  and  in  the  1  Oth 
edition  of  Thomas  Best's  '  Art  of  Angling,' 
London,  1814.  Chapters  iv.  to  xiii.  only 
were  used  by  Best  in  the  eleventh  edition  of 
his  book,  1822.  Nobbes's  work  is  preceded 
by  commendatory  verses  by  Cambridge  men, 
by  some  verses  of  his  own,  '  On  the  Anti- 
quity and  Invention  of  Fishing,  and  its 
Praise  in  General,'  and  by  a  few  lines,  '  The 
Fisherman's  Wish,'  of  which  he  may  also 
have  been  the  author.  In  '  Notes  and 
Queries '  (2nd  ser.  iii.  288)  there  is  an 
account  of  a  manuscript  volume  of  his,  con- 
taining an  article  on  fishing,  the  record  of 
the  baptisms  of  his  children  till  1701,  and 
miscellaneous  matter. 

[Graduati  Cantabrigienses  ;  Blakey's  Angling 
Literature,  p.  321  ;  information  from  Joseph 
Foster,  esq.,  and  from  the  Kev.  H.  S.  Bagshaw 
•of  Wood  Newton  ;  admission  registers  of  Sidney 
Sussex  College,  per  the  Master.]  B.  P. 

NOBBS,  GEORGE  HUNN  (1799-1884), 
missionary  and  chaplain  of  Pitcairn  Island, 
born  16  Oct.  1799,  was,  according  to  his  own 
account,  the  unacknowledged  son  of  a  mar- 
quis by  the  daughter  of  an  Irish  baronet. 
Through  the  interest  of  Rear-admiral  Mur- 
ray, one  of  his  mother's  friends,  he,  in  No- 
vember 1811,  entered  the  royal  navy,  and 
made  a  voyage  to  Australia.  Leaving  the 
navy  in  1816,  he  joined  a  vessel  of  18  guns, 
owned  by  the  patriots  in  South  America, 
and,  after  a  sixteen  months'  cruise,  while  in 
charge  of  a  prize,  he  was  captured  by  the 
Spaniards,  and  for  some  time  kept  a  prisoner 
at  Callao.  On  making  his  escape  he  rejoined 
his  ship.  In  November  1819  he  became  a 
prize  master  on  board  a  40-gun  vessel  bear- 
ing the  Buenos  Ayres  colours,  but,  soon 


deserting  her,  he  landed  at  Talcahuano  on 
1  April  1820.  On  5  Nov.  following  he  took 
part  in  cutting  out  the  Spanish  frigate  Es- 
meralda  from  under  the  Callao  batteries,  and 
for  his  brave  conduct  was  made  a  lieutenant 
in  the  Chilian  service.  Shortly  afterwards 
being  wounded  in  a  fight  near  Arica,  he  left 
America  and  returned  to  England.  His 
mother,  to  whom  he  had  several  times  re- 
mitted money,  soon  afterwards  died,  and  he 
took  the  name  of  Nobbs ;  but  it  is  not  stated 
what  he  had  previously  been  called.  In 
1823  and  following  years  he  made  several 
voyages  to  Sierra  Leone.  On  5  Nov.  1828 
he  settled  on  Pitcairn  Island,  and  was  well 
received.  John  Adams  [q.  v.],  the  well- 
known  pastor  and  teacher  of  the  Pitcairn 
islanders,  died  on  29  March  1829,  after  ap- 
pointing Nobbs  to  succeed  him.  The  latter 
possessed  some  knowledge  of  medicine  and 
surgery,  and  exercised  his  skill  with  much 
benefit  to  the  community.  In  addition,  he 
acted  as  chief  of  the  island,  as  pastor,  and  as 
schoolmaster.  In  August  1852  Rear-ad- 
miral Fairfax  Moresby  in  H.M.S.  Portland 
visited  the  island  and  conveyed  Nobbs  to 
England,  where,  in  October  and  November 
1852,  he  received  episcopal  ordination,  and 
was  placed  on  the  list  of  the  missionaries  of 
the  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gos- 
pel, with  a  salary  of  50/.  a  year.  On  14  May 
1853  he  relanded  on  Pitcairn  Island,  and  re- 
sumed his  duties.  In  course  of  time  the 
Pitcairn  fund  committee  suggested  to  the 
islanders  that  it  would  be  to  their  advantage 
to  remove  to  Norfolk  Island,  and,  after  con- 
sideration,Nobbs  and  those  under  him  settled 
on  the  latter  island  on  8  June  ]  856.  Here 
the  pastor  received  an  additional  50/.  a  year 
out  of  the  revenue  of  the  island,  and  his 
people,  except  a  few  who  returned  to  Pit- 
cairn Island,  lived  happily  under  a  model 
constitution  given  them  by  Sir  William 
Thomas  Denison  [q.  v.],the  governor-general 
of  the  Australian  colonies.  Nobbs  died  at 
the  chaplaincy,  Norfolk  Island,  on  5  Nov. 
1884,  and  was  buried  on  7  Nov.  He  married 
Sarah  Christian,  a  granddaughter  of  Flet- 
cher Christian  [q-  v.],  one  of  the  mutineers 
of  the  Bounty,  by  whom  he  had  several  chil- 
dren. Two  of  his  sons  were  educated  at 
St.  Augustine's  College,  Canterbury — Sidney 
Herbert  Nobbs,  who  became  curate  of  Pag- 
ham,  Chichester,  in  1882,  and  George  Raw- 
den  French  Nobbs,  who  was  rector  of  Lut- 
wyche,  Brisbane,  Queensland,  from  1887  to 
1890,  and  still  resides  in  Australia. 

[A  Sermon  preached  in  St.  Mary's  Chapel, 
Park  Street,  Grosvenor  Square,  on  Sunday, 
12  Dec.  1852,  by  the  Rev.  G.  H.  Nobbs,  to 
which  is  added  an  Appendix  containing  Notices 


Noble 


Noble 


of  Mr.  Nobbs  and  his  flock,  1853,  with  portrait ; 
Lady  Belcher's  Mutineers  of  the  Bounty,  1870, 
pp.  186  et  seq.,with  portraits  of  Nobbs  and  two 
of  his  daughters;  Bath  Chronicle,  22  Jan.  1885, 
n  3-  Tasmanian  Tribune,  13  March  1875.] 

G.  C.  B. 

NOBLE,  GEORGE  (fl.  1795-1806),  line- 
engraver,  was  a  son  of  Edward  Noble,  author 
of  'Elements  of  Linear  Perspective,'  and 
brother  of  Samuel  Noble  [q.  v.]  and  William 
Bonneau  Noble  [q.  v.]  The  dates  of  his  birth 
and  death  are  not  recorded.  He  engraved  for 
Boydell's  edition  of  '  Shakespeare,'  1802,  a 
scene,  '  Borachio,  Conrade,  and  Watchman,' 
after  Francis  Wheatley,  R.A.,  from  'Much 
Ado  about  Nothing;'  ' Bassanio,  Portia,  and 
Attendants,'  after  Richard  Westall,  R.A., 
from  the  '  Merchant  of  Venice  ; '  '  Orlando 
and  Adam,'  after  Robert  Smirke,  R.A.,  from 
'As  you  like  it;'  'Desdemona  in  bed  asleep,' 
after  Josiah  Boydell,  from  '  Othello  ; '  and 
'  Cleopatra,  Guards,  &c.,'  after  Henry  Tres- 
ham,  R.A.,  from  'Antony  and  Cleopatra.' 
He  engraved  also  the  following  subjects  for 
Bowyer's  sumptuous  edition  of  Hume's '  His- 
tory of  England,'  1806 :  '  Canute  reproving 
his  Courtiers,' '  Henry  VIII  and  Catharine 
Parr,'  '  Charles  I  imprisoned  in  Carisbrooke 
Castle,' '  Lord  William  Russell's  last  Inter- 
view with  his  Family,'  and  'The  Bishops  be- 
fore the  Privy  Council,' after  Robert  Smirke, 
R.A. ;  'William  I  receiving  the  Crown  of 
England,'  after  Benjamin  West,  P.R.A.;  and 
'The  Landing  of  William  III  at  Torbay,' 
after  Thomas  Stothard,  R.A.  His  works 
possess  considerable  merit,  and  include  also 
eighteen  oval  portraits  of  Admiral  Lord  Dun- 
can and  other  naval  officers,  from  miniatures 
by  John  Smart,  which  form  part  of  a  large 
plate  designed  by  Robert  Smirke,  R.A.,  and 
engraved  by  James  Parker,  in  commemora- 
tion of  the  battle  of  Camperdown  on  11  Oct. 
1797;  'Maternal Instruction,' after Bochardt;  | 
portraits  of  Lady  Jane  Grey  and  Rosamond  | 
Clifford  ;  and  illustrations  to  Goldsmith's  ' 
'  Miscellaneous  Works,'  from  drawings  by 
Richard  Cook,  R.A. 

[Redgrave's  Dictionary  of  Artists  of  the  Eng- 
lish School,  1878 ;  Dodd's  Memorials  of  En- 
gravers in  Great  Britain,  Brit.  Mus.  Add.  MSS. 
33394-407.]  R.  E.  G. 

NOBLE,  JAMES  (1774-1851),  vice- 
admiral,  was  the  grandson  of  Thomas  Noble, 
who  emigrated  from  Devonshire  to  North 
America,  joined  the  Moravians,  and  placed 
his  whole  property,  4,000/.,  in  the  funds  of 
the  sect.  Thomas's  son  Isaac  quitted  the 
Moravians,  but  could  only  recover  1,400^., 
with  which  he  bought  an  estate  of  1,400 
acres  in  East  Jersey.  He  married  Rachel 
de  Joncourt,  the  daughter  of  a  French  pro- 


testant,  and  had  a  large  family.  When  the 
revolutionary  war  broke  out,  he  took  ser- 
vice in  the  royal  army,  and  was  killed  in 
1778.  The  estate  was  forfeited  at  the 
peace,  and  the  widow  came  to  England, 
where  she  was  granted  a  pension  of  100/.  a 
year.  Three  only  of  the  sons  survived  their 
childhood.  Of  these,  the  eldest,  Richard,  a 
midshipman  of  the  Clyde  frigate,  was  lost  in 
La  Dorade  prize,  in  1797  ;  the  youngest 
De  Joncourt,  also  a  midshipman,  died  of 
yellow  fever  in  the  West  Indies.  James, 
the  second  of  the  three,  born  in  1774,  en- 
tered the  navy  in  1787,  and,  having  served 
in  several  different  ships  on  the  home  sta- 
tion, was  in  January  1793  appointed  to  the 
Bedford  of  74  guns,  in  which  he  went  to  the 
Mediterranean  ;  was  landed  at  Toulon,  with 
the  small-arm  men,  and  was  present  in  the 
actions  of  14  March  and  13  July  1795.  He 
was  then  moved  into  the  Britannia,  Hotham's 
flagship,  and  on  5  Oct.  was  appointed  to  the 
Agamemnon,  as  acting  lieutenant  with  Com- 
modore Nelson.  The  promotion  was  con- 
firmed by  the  admiralty,  to  date  from 
9  March  1796. 

The  service  of  the  Agamemnon  at  this 
time  was  particularly  active  and  dangerous 
[see  NELSON,  HORATIO,  VISCOUNT],  and 
Noble's  part  in  it  was  very  distinguished. 
On  29  Nov.  1795  he  was  landed  to  carry 
despatches  to  De  Vins,  the  Austrian  general, 
then  encamped  above  Savona.  He  was 
taken  prisoner  on  the  way  and  detained  for 
some  months,  when  he  was  exchanged.  He 
rejoined  the  Agamemnon  at  Genoa  about 
the  middle  of  April  1796.  A  few  days 
later,  25  April,  he  was  in  command  of  one 
of  the  boats  sent  in  to  cut  out  a  number  of 
the  enemy's  store-ships  from  under  the  bat- 
teries at  Loano.  WThile  cutting  the  cable 
of  one  of  these  vessels  Noble  was  struck  in 
the 
the 

to  mention 

most  worthy  and  gallant  officer,  is,  I  fear, 
mortally  wounded.'  Noble's  own  account 
of  it  is :  'I  was  completely  paralysed,  and 
my  coxswain  nearly  finished  me  by  clapping- 
a  "  tarnaket,"  in  the  shape  of  a  black  silk 
handkerchief,  on  my  throat  to  stop  the  loss 
of  blood.  Luckily  a  mate  stopped  me  from 
strangulation  by  cutting  it  with  his  knife, 
to  the  great  dismay  of  the  coxswain,  who 
assured  him  I  should  bleed  to  death.  The 
ball  was  afterwards  extracted  on  the  oppo- 
site side.' 

In  June  Noble  followed  Nelson  to  the 
Captain,  and  in  July  was  placed  in  temporary 
command  of  a  prize  brig  fitted  out  as  the 
Vernon  gunboat.  In  October  he  rejoined 


Noble 


81 


Noble 


the  Captain  as  Nelson's  flag-lieutenant ;  went 
with  Nelson  to  the  Minerve,  was  severely 
wounded  in  the  action  with  the  Sabina  on 
20  Dec.  1796,  and  on  the  eve  of  the  battle 
of  St.  Vincent  returned  with  Nelson  to  the 
Captain.  In  the  battle  he  commanded  a 
division  of  boarders,  and,  assisted  by  the 
boatswain,  boarded  the  San  Nicolas  by  the 
spritsail-yard.  For  this  service  he  was  pro- 
moted to  be  commander,  27  Feb.  1797.  On 
his  return  to  England  he  was  examined  at 
Surgeons'  Hall,  and  obtained  a  certificate 
that  '  his  wounds  from  their  singularity  and 
the  consequences  which  have  attended  them 
are  equal  in  prejudice  to  the  health  to  loss 
of  limb.'  The  report  was  lodged  with  the 
privy  council,  but, '  as  a  voluntary  contribu- 
tion to  the  exigencies  of  the  State,'  he  did 
not  then  apply  for  a  pension.  Some  years 
later,  when  he  did  apply,  he  was  told  that 
'  their  lordships  could  not  reopen  claims  so 
long  passed  where  promotion  had  been  re- 
ceived during  the  interval.'  In  March  1798 
he  was  appointed  to  the  command  of  the 
sea  fencibles  on  the  coast  of  Sussex,  and  on 
29  April  1802  was  advanced  to  post  rank. 
He  had  no  further  service,  and  on  10  Jan. 
1837  was  promoted  to  be  rear-admiral  on 
the  retired  list.  On  17  Aug.  1840  he  was 
moved  on  to  the  active  list ;  and  on  9  Nov. 
1846  became  a  vice-admiral.  He  died  in 
London  on  24  Oct.  1851.  He  was  three 
times  married,  and  left  issue. 

[His  autobiography  (privately  printed)  con- 
tains a  full  account  of  his  family  and  service 
career.  It  seems  to  have  been  written  from 
memory,  apparently  about  1830,  and  is  not 
accurate  in  details.  It  says,  for  instance,  that 
•when  made  prisoner  in  November  1795  he  was 
taken  before  Bonaparte  for  examination,  a  thin 
young  man  with  a  keen  glance.  Bonaparte  was? 
at  the  time,  in  Paris.  O'Byrne's  Naval  Biog. 
Diet.;  Gent.  Mag.  1852,  i.  92;  Nicolas's 
Despatches  and  Letters  of  Lord  Nelson  (see 
Index) ;  Tucker's  Memoirs  of  the  Earl  of  St. 
Vincent,  i.  285,  288.]  J.  K.  L. 

NOBLE,  JOHN  (1827-1892),  politician 
and  writer  on  public  finance,  was  born  at 
Boston,  Lincolnshire,  on  2  May  1827.  For 
seventeen  years  he  was  known  in  East  Lin- 
colnshire as  an  energetic  supporter  of  the 
Anti-Corn  Law  League.  He  came  to  Lon- 
don in  1859,  entered  for  the  bar,  and  engaged 
in  social  and  political  agitation.  He  was 
one  of  the  founders  of  the  Alliance  National 
Land  and  Building  Society,  and  joined  Wash- 
ington Wilks  and  others  in  establishing  the 
London  Political  Union  for  the  advocacy  of 
manhood  suffrage.  In  1861  he  was  active 
in  lecturing  on  the  free  breakfast-table  pro- 
gramme. In  1864  he  was  in  partnership 

VOL.  xu. 


with  Mr.  C.  F.  Macdonald  as  financial  and 
parliamentary  agents  promoting  street  rail- 
ways in  London,  Liverpool,  and  Dublin.  He 
actively  promoted  the  election  of  John  Stuart 
Mill  for  Westminster  in  1865,  and  advocated 
municipal  reform  in  London.  In  1870  he  be- 
came parliamentary  secretary  to  Mr.  Brogden, 
M.P.  for  Wednesbury.  On  the  formation  of 
the  County  Council  Union  in  1889  he  became 
its  secretary.  He  delivered  in  his  day  many 
hundreds  of  lectures  on  political,  social,  and 
financial  subjects,  habitually  took  part  in  the 
proceedings  of  the  Social  Science  Congress, 
and  was  lecturer  to  the  Financial  Reform 
Association.  He  died  on  17  Jan.  1892,  and 
was  buried  at  Highgate. 

Noble  wrote:  1.  'Arbitration  and  a  Con- 
gress of  Nations  as  a  Substitute  for  War  in 
the  Settlement  of  International  Disputes,' 
London,  1862,  8vo.  2. '  Fiscal  Reform  :  Sug- 
gestions for  a  further  Revision  of  Taxation,  re- 
printedfrom  the  "  Financial  Reformer," '  1865, 
8vo:  a  lecture  read  at  the  meeting  of  the 
National  Association  of  Social  Science  at 
Sheffield.  3.  '  Fiscal  Legislation  1842-65:  A 
Review  of  the  Financial  Changes  of  the  period 
and  their  Effects  on  Revenue,'  1867,  8vo. 
4.  '  Free  Trade,  Reciprocity,  and  the  Re- 
vivers :  an  Enquiry  into  the  Effects  of  the 
Free  Trade  Policy  upon  Trade,  Manufactures, 
and  Employment,' London,  1869, 8vo.  5.  'The 
Queen's  Taxes,'  London,  1870, 8vo.  6.  '  Our 
Imports  and  Exports,'  1870,  8vo.  7.  '  Na- 
tional Finance,'  1875, 8vo.  '  Local  Taxation,' 
1876,  8vo.  8.  '  Facts  for  Liberal  Politicians,' 
1880,  revised  and  brought  up  to  date  as  'Facts 
for  Politicians'  in  1892. 

[Works  in  Brit.  Mus.  Library;  Memoir  by 
Herbert  Ferris  prefixed  to  Facts  for  Politicians, 
1892.]  G.  J.  H. 

NOBLE,  MARK  (1754-1827),  biographer, 
born  in  Digbeth,  Birmingham,  in  1754,  was 
third  surviving  son  of  William  Heatley 
Noble,  merchant  of  that  city.  His  father 
sold,  among  many  other  commodities,  beads, 
knives,  toys,  and  other  trifles  which  he  dis- 
tributed wholesale  among  slave  traders,  and 
he  had  also  a  large  mill  for  rolling  silver  and 
for  plating  purposes.  Mark  was  educated  at 
schools  at  Yardley,  Worcestershire,  and  Ash- 
bourne,  Derbyshire.  On  the  death  of  his 
father  he  inherited  a  modest  fortune,  and 
was  articled  to  Mr.  Barber,  a  solicitor  of 
Birmingham.  On  the  expiration  of  his  in- 
dentures he  commenced  business  on  his  own 
account,  but  literature  and  history  proved 
more  attractive  to  him  than  law,  and  lie 
soon  abandoned  the  legal  profession.  In 
1781  he  was  ordained  to  the  curacies  of  Bad- 
desley  Clinton  and  l'ackwood,AVarwickshire. 


Noble  s 

On  the  sudden  death,  a  few  weeks  afterwards, 
of  the  incumbent,  Noble  was  himself  pre- 
sented to  the  two  livings  ('  starvations,'  he 
called  them).  Noble,  now  a  married  man, 
took  a  house  at  Knowle,  Warwickshire, 
conveniently  situated  for  both  his  parishes. 
Here  he  divided  his  interests  among  his  con- 
gregation, his  books,  and  a  farm. 

In  1784  Noble  produced  one  of  his  most 
valuable  compilations,  '  Memoirs  of  the  Pro- 
tectoral  House  of  Cromwell.'  The  Earl  of 
Sandwich  showed  much  approbation  of  his 
labours,  and  Noble  was  thenceforth  a  frequent 
guest  at  Hinchinbrook,  and  a  regular  corre- 
spondent of  Lord  Sandwich.  Lord  Leicester, 
afterwards  Marquis  of  Townshend,  likewise 
became  a  warm  patron,  and  appointed  Noble 
his  chaplain.  On  the  recommendation  of  Sand- 
wich and  Leicester  Lord-chancellor  Thurlow 
presented  Noble  to  the  valuable  rectory  of 
Banning,  Kent,  in  1786.  In  this  lovely  spot 
he  lived  for  forty-two  years.  He  was  elected 
F.S.A.  on  1  March  1781,  and  contributed  five 
papers  to  the  '  Archaeologia.'  He  was  also 
F.S.A.  of  Edinburgh.  He  died  at  Barming 
on  26  May  1827,  and  was  buried  in  the 
church,  where  a  monument  was  erected  to 
his  memory. 

Noble's  writings  are  those  of  an  imper- 
fectly educated,  vulgar-minded  man.  His 
ignorance  of  English  grammar  and  composi- 
tion renders  his  books  hard  to  read  and  occa- 
sionally unintelligible,  while  the  moral  re- 
flections with  which  they  abound  are  puerile. 
His  most  ambitious  work,  '  Memoirs  of  the 
Protectoral  House  of  Cromwell,'  2  vols.  8vo, 
London,  1784  (2nd  edit.,  '  with  improve- 
ments,' 1787),  contains  some  useful  facts  amid 
a  mass  of  error.  Both  editions  were  severely 
handled  by  Richard  Gough  in  the  preface  to 
his  '  Short  Genealogical  View  of  the  Family 
of  Oliver  Cromwell'  (printed  as  a  portion  of 
the  '  Bibliotheca  Topographica  Britannica' 
in  1785),  and  in  the  '  Gentleman's  Magazine' 
for  June  1787  (p.  516),  and  by  William 
Richards  of  Lynn  in  '  A  Review,'  &c.,  8vo, 
1787.  A  copy  containing  unpublished  cor- 
rections belongs  to  his  descendants.  Carlyle, 
however,  made  much  use  of  the  book  in  his 
'  Oliver  Cromwell's  Letters  and  Speeches,' 
though  he  treated  the  author  with  scant 
respect.  Out  of  his  spare  materials  Noble 
contrived  to  make  two  volumes  which  he 
called  '  The  Lives  of  the  English  Regicides,' 
8vo,  Birmingham,  1798,  a  worse  book  than 
the '  Memoirs,'  and  written  in  an  even  sillier 
strain.  From  the  material  s  left  by  the  author 
and  his  own  ample  collections  Noble  compiled 
a  useful 'Continuation '(3  vols.  8vo,  London, 
1806)  of  James  Granger's  'Biographical  His- 
tory of  England.' 


5  Noble 

His  other  works  are :  1.  '  Two  Disserta- 
tions on  the  Mint  and  Coins  of  the  Episcopal 
Palatines  of  Durham,' 4to,  Birmingham,  1780. 
2.  '  A  Genealogical  History  of  the  present 
Royal  Families  of  Europe,  the  Stadtholders 
of  the  United  States,  and  the  Succession  of 
Popes  from  the  Fifteenth  Century  to  the 
present  time,' 16mo,  London,  1781.  3.  'An 
Historical  Genealogy  of  the  Royal  House  of 
Stuarts  from  Robert  II  to  James  VI,'  4to, 
London,  1795.  4.  '  Memoirs  of  the  illus- 
trious House  of  Medici,'  8vo,  London,  1797. 
5.  '  A  History  of  the  College  of  Arms,'  4to, 
London,  1804  (some  copies  are  dated  1805). 

Noble's  library,  which  was  sold  in  Decem- 
ber 1827,  included  the  following  manuscripts 
by  him  (for  prices  and  purchasers'  names  see 
'Gentleman's  Magazine,' March  1828,pp.  252- 
253) :  '  Lives  of  the  Fellows  of  the  Society  of 
Antiquaries '  (resold  at  the  sales  of  the  libraries 
of  John  Gough  Nichols  in  1873,  and  Leonard 
Lawrie  Hartley  in  1885).  '  History  of  the 
Records  in  the  Tower  of  London,  with  the 
Lives  of  the  Keepers,  especially  since  the 
Reign  of  Henry  VIII.'  '  Catalogue  of  the 
Lord  Chancellors,  Keepers,  and  Commis- 
sioners of  the  Great  Seal.'  '  History  of  the 
Masters  of  the  Rolls.'  'Lives  of  the  Re- 
corders and  Chamberlains  of  the  City  of 
London.'  '  Catalogue  of  all  the  Religious 
Houses,  Colleges,  and  Hospitals  in  England 
and  Wales.'  '  Account  of  the  Metropolitans 
of  England,  commencing  with  Archbishop 
Wareham  in  1504.'  '  Catalogue  of  Knights 
from  the  Time  of  Henry  VIII.'  '  Catalogue 
of  all  the  Peers,  Baronets,  and  Knights 
created  by  Oliver  Cromwell.'  '  Catalogue  of 
Painters  and  Engravers  in  England  during 
the  Reign  of  George  III.'  '  Continuation  of 
the  Earl  of  Orford's  Catalogue  of  Engravers.' 
'  Account  of  the  Seals  of  the  Gentry  in  Eng- 
land since  the  Norman  Conquest.'  '  Annals 
of  the  Civil  Wars  of  York  and  Lancaster.' 
'  Life  of  Alice  Ferrers,  the  Favourite  of  Ed- 
ward III.'  '  Life  of  the  Family  of  Boleyn, 
particularly  of  Queen  Ann  Boleyn,  with  the 
Life  of  her  daughter,  Queen  Elizabeth.'  '  Life 
of  Queen  Mary,  exhibiting  that  part  only 
of  her  character  which  represents  her  as  a 
splendid  Princess.'  '  Relation  of  the  Am- 
bassadors and  Agents,  with  other  illustrious 
Foreigners  who  were  in  England  during  the 
Reign  of  King  James  I.'  '  The  Progresses 
of  James  I,  exhibiting  in  a  great  measure 
his  Majesty's  private  life.'  '  Memorabilia  of 
the  Family  of  Killigrew.'  '  Particulars  of 
the  Family  of  Wykeham,  Bishop  of  Win- 
chester, being  a  continuation  of  Lowth's  His- 
tory.' '  History  of  the  Dymokes,  Champions 
of  England.'  'Curious  Particulars  of  the 
learned  Dr.  Donne.'  '  Genealogical  Memoirs 


Noble 


Noble 


of  the  Imperial  and  Royal  House  of  Buona- 
parte, including  separate  Memoirs  of  the 
Ministers,  &c.  of  the  Emperor.'  'Memoirs 
of  the  Family  of  Sheridan.'  A  nother  manu- 
script by  Noble,  entitled  '  Biographical  Anec- 
dotes,' in  twelve  volumes,  was  also  in  the 
Hartley  Library  Sale  Catalogue,  1885. 

The  following  manuscripts  are  still  in  the 
possession  of  his  descendants :  '  A  History  of 
Banning,'  so  full  of  personal  allusions  to  the 
parishioners  that  the  executors  declined  to 
publish  it.  '  A  Catalogue  of  engraved  por- 
traits, great  seals,  coins,  and  medals,  &c., 
illustrative  of  the  History  of  England,  Scot- 
land, and  Ireland,'  six  vols.  4to.  '  Catalogue 
of  Artists,'  two  vols.  4to.  '  Catalogue  of  His- 
torical Prints,'  seven  vols.  8vo.  '  History  of 
the  illustrious  House  of  Brunswick,'  &c.  fol. 
'  Prelatical,  Conventual,  and  other  Ecclesi- 
astical Seals,'  4to.  '  Places  of  Coinage  and 
Moneyers,'  &c.,  4to.  '  A  History  of  the  Family 
of  Noble  from  1590.'  '  A  Collection  of  Let- 
ters written  to  Mr.  Noble  from  1765  to  the 
time  of  his  death,  including  as  many  as  three 
hundred  letters  from  Lord  Sandwich.' 

A  very  juvenile  portrait  of  Noble,  engraved 
by  R.  Hancock,  is  prefixed  to  the  first  edition 
of  his '  Memoirs  of  Cromwell.'  An  oval  por- 
trait, engraved  by  J.  K.  Sherwin,  is  prefixed 
to  the  second  edition. 

[Colvile's  Worthies  of  Warwickshire,  pp.  548- 
551;  Gent.  Mag.  1827  pt.  ii.  pp.  278-9;  Cham- 
bers's  Illustr.  of  Worcestershire.]  G.  G. 

NOBLE,  MATTHEW  (1818-1876), 
sculptor,  was  born  at  Hackness,  Yorkshire,  in 
1818.  He  studied  art  in  London  under  John 
Francis  [q.  v.],  a  successful  sculptor.  Noble 
exhibited  one  hundred  works — chiefly  busts 
— at  the  Royal  Academy.  In  1845  he  made 
his  first  appearance  there  as  the  exhibitor  of 
two  busts,  one  being  of  the  Archbishop  of 
York.  Later  subjects  included  J.  Francis, 
sculptor  (1847)  ;  the  Bishop  of  London 
(1849) ;  the  Archbishop  of  York,  a  statuette 
(1849) ;  W.  Etty,  R.A.  (1850)  ;  Sir  Robert 
Peel,  a  bust  (1851),  and  a  statuette  (1852) 
afterwards  executed  in  marble  for  St. 
George's  Hall,  Liverpool;  the  Duke  of  Wel- 
lington (1852) ;  the  Marquis  of  Anglesey 
and  Michael  Faraday  (both  in  1855);  Queen 
Victoria  (1857);  Joseph  Brotherton,  M.P. 
(1857);  Sir  Thomas  Potter,  and  the  Prince 
Consort.  The  four  last-mentioned  busts  be- 
long to  Manchester.  In  1854  he  executed  a 
relievo  in  bronze,  '  Bridge  of  Sighs,'  and 
another  of  '  Dream  of  Eugene  Aram,'  to 
form  part  of  a  monument  to  be  erected  over 
the  grave  of  Thomas  Hood.  In  1856  he 
gained  the  commission,  after  a  very  keen 
competition,  for  the  execution  of  the  Wel- 


lington monument  at  Manchester.  In  1858 
he  modelled  a  colossal  bust  of  the  Prince 
Consort,  to  be  executed  in  marble,  for  the  city 
of  Manchester.  He  was  afterwards  commis- 
sioned by  Thomas  Goadsby,  mayor  of  Man- 
chester, to  execute  a  statue  of  the  Prince  Con- 
sort in  marble,  nine  feet  high ;  the  monument 
was  presented  by  Goadsby  to  the  city,  and 
forms  part  of  the  Albert  memorial  in  Albert 
Square.  In  1859  he  executed  a  statue  of  Dr. 
Isaac  Barrow  in  marble  for  Trinity  College, 
Cambridge ;  it  was  engraved  in  the  'Art  Jour- 
nal J  for  1859.  There  is  also  an  engraving  in 
that  journal  for  1876  of  his  Oliver  Cromwell, 
which  was  executed  in  bronze,  and  was  pre- 
sented by  Mrs.  Elizabeth  S.  Heywood  to  the 
city  of  Manchester.  Other  works  by  him  in- 
clude the  statue  of  Sir  James  Outram  on  the 
Victoria  Embankment ;  of  the  queen  at  St. 
Thomas's  Hospital  (engraved  in  the  '  Art 
Journal') ;  of  the  first  Bishop  of  Manchester 
(Dr.  J.  Prince  Lee)  at  Owens  College ;  of 
the  Earl  of  Derby  in  Parliament  Square, 
Westminster ;  and  of  Sir  John  Franklin  in 
Waterloo  Place,  London.  Of  his  ideal  works, 
engravings  appeared  in  the  '  Art  Journal '  of 
'  Purity '  (1859) ; « The  Angels,' '  Life,  Death, 
and  the  Resurrection,'  a  mural  monument 
(1861);  'Amy  and  the  Fawn;'  and  'The 
Spirit  of  Truth,'  a  mural  monument  (1872). 
Noble  was  of  exceedingly  delicate  consti- 
tution. The  death  of  a  son  in  a  railway  acci- 
dent early  in  1876  ruined  his  health,  and  he 
died  on  23  June  1876.  He  was  buried  at  the 
cemetery  at  Brompton. 

[Art  Journal,  1876,  p.  275 ;  Royal  Academy 
Catalogues ;  Inauguration  of  the  Albert  Me- 
morial, Manchester,  1867;  Manchester  Official 
Handbook  ;  Graves's  Diet  of  Artists.]  A.  N. 

NOBLE,  RICHARD  (1684-1713),  crimi- 
nal, son  of  a  coffeehouse-keeper  at  Bath,  was 
born  in  1684,  and  received  a  good  education. 
He  was  articled  as  clerk  to  an  attorney,  and 
entered  the  profession  on  reaching  manhood. 
Of  bad  moral  character,  he  soon  began  to  use 
his  professional  position  to  cheat  his  clients. 
About  1708  Noble  was  applied  to  for  legal 
assistance  by  John  Sayer  of  Biddlesden  in 
Buckinghamshire,  owner  of  various  proper- 
ties worth  1,800 1.  a  year.  Sayer  had  married 
a  woman  of  profligate  disposition,  named 
Mary,  daughter  of  Admiral  John  Nevell 
[q.  v.],  and  was  on  very  bad  terms  with  his 
wife.  Noble  soon  became  unduly  intimate 
with  the  lady.  In  1709  he  was  empowered 
to  draw  up  a  deed  of  separation  between  her 
and  Sayer,  and  he  harassed  Sayer  by  various 
suits  in  chancery  connected  with  his  wife's 
separate  estate.  He  was  now  living  with 
Mrs.  Sayer,  who  on  5  March  1711  bore  him  a 

o  2 


Noble 


84 


Noble 


son.  Thereupon  Sayer  brought  an  action  for 
criminal  conversation  against  Noble,  and  in 
January  1713  he  procured  a  warrant  em- 
powering him  to  arrest  Mrs.  Sayer,  '  as  being 
gone  from  her  husband,  and  living  in  a  loose, 
dishonourable  manner.'  On  29  Jan.  Sayer, 
accompanied  by  two  constables,  proceeded  to 
a  house  in  George  Street,  the  Mint,  where 
Mrs.  Sayer  was  then  living  with  Noble  and 
her  mother, now  Mrs.  Salusbury.  The  visitors 
were  admitted,  but  Noble  no  sooner  saw  Sayer 
than  he  drew  his  sword  and  ran  him  through 
the  heart.  Noble  and  the  two  women  were 
arrested,  were  committed  to  the  Marshalsea, 
and  were  arraigned  at  Kingston  assizes. 
Noble  pleaded  self-defence,  but  was  con- 
demned to  death,  and  was  executed  at  Kings- 
ton on  29  March  1713.  The  two  women 
were  acquitted. 

[See  two  anonymous  pamphlets:  (1)  'A  full 
Account  of  the  Case  of  John  Sayer,  Esq.,  from 
the  time  of  his  unhappy  Marriage  with  his  Wife 
to  his  Death,  including  the  whole  Intrigue  be- 
tween Mrs.  Sayer  and  Mr.  Noble,' London,  1713; 
(2)  A  Full  and  Faithful  Account,  &c.,  with 
additional  details  relating  to  the  trial  and  to 
Noble's  behaviour  in  the  Marshalsea,  and  con- 
fession, London,  1713.  The  legal  aspects  of 
the  murder  are  also  treated  in  The  Case  of  Mr. 
Richard  Noble  impartially  considered,  by  a 
student  of  the  Inner  Temple,  London,  1713.] 

G.  P.  M-T. 

NOBLE,  SAMUEL  (1779-1853),  en- 
graver, and  minister  of  the  '  new  church,' 
was  born  in  London  on  4  March  1779.  His 
father,  Edward  Noble  (d.  1784),  was  a  book- 
seller, and  author  of  '  Elements  of  Linear 
Perspective,'  1772, 8vo.  His  brothers,  George 
and  William  Bonneau  Noble,  are  separately 
noticed.  His  mother  provided  him  with  a 
good  education,  including  Latin,  and  he  was 
apprenticed  to  an  engraver.  His  religious 
convictions  were  the  result  of  a  reaction,  in 
his  seventeenth  year  (1796),  against  Paine's 
'  Age  of  Reason ; '  he  appears  to  have  antici- 
pated, as  a  natural  deduction  from  Paine's 
premises,  that  denial  of  the  real  existence  of 
Jesus  Christ  which  Paine  did  not  publish  till 
1807.  About  1798  he  fell  in  with  Sweden- 
borgV  Heaven  and  Hell,' as  translated  (1778) 
by  William  Cookworthy  [q.  v.]  At  first  re- 
pelled, he  afterwards  became  fascinated  by 
Swedenborg's  doctrines,  and  attached  himself 
to  the  preaching  of  Joseph  Proud  [q.  v.],  at 
Cross  Street,  Hatton  Garden.  In  his  profes- 
sion he  acquired  great  skill  as  an  architectural 
engraver,  and  made  a  good  income. 

Proud  urged  him  to  the  ministry  of  the 
'  new  church'  as  early  as  1801,  and 'he  occa- 
sionally preached,  but  declined,  in  1805,  as 
being  too  young,  invitation  to  take  charge  of 


the  Cross  Street  congregation.  He  was  one 
of  the  founders  (1810)  of  the  existing  '  So- 
ciety for  printing  and  publishing  the  writ- 
ings of  Emanuel  Swedenborg ; '  and  assisted 
in  establishing  (1812)  a  quarterly  organ,  'The 
Intellectual  Repository  and  New  Jerusalem 
Magazine,'  of  which  till  1830  he  was  the  chief 
editor  and  principal  writer.  In  1819  he  re- 
signed good  prospects  in  his  profession  to  be- 
come the  successor  of  Thomas  F.  Churchill, 
M.D.,  a  minister  of  the  Cross  Street  congrega- 
tion (then  worshipping  in  Lisle  Street,  Leices- 
ter Square).  He  was  ordained  on  Whitsunday, 
1820.  His  ministry  was  able  and  effective, 
though  his  utterance  was  '  marred  by  some 
defect  in  his  palate'  (WHITE).  The  con- 
gregation, which  had  been  overflowing  under 
Proud,  and  had  since  declined,  was  raised 
by  Noble  to  a  more  solid  prosperity,  and  pur- 
chased (about  1829)  the  chapel  in  Cross 
Street,  then  vacated  by  Edward  Irving.  In 
addition  to  his  regular  duties  he  engaged  in 
mission  work  as  a  lecturer  both  in  London 
and  the  provinces.  His  '  Appeal,'  which 
'  among  Swedenborgians  .  .  .  holds  the  same 
place  that  Barclay's  "  Apology  "  does  among 
the  quakers '  (WHITE),  originated  in  lectures 
at  Norwich  in  reply  to  the  '  Anti-Sweden- 
borg '  (1824)  by  George  Beaumont,  minister 
at  Ebenezer  Chapel  (independent  methodist) 
in  that  city.  Coleridge  characterises  the 
'Appeal '  as  '  a  work  of  great  merit,'  and  re- 
marks that '  as  far  as  Mr.  Beaumont  is  con- 
cerned, his  victory  is  complete.' 

Noble's  leadership  of  his  denomination  was 
not  undisputed.  His  first  controversy  was 
with  Charles  Augustus  Tulk  (1786-1849) 
[q.  v.],  a  rationaliser  of  Swedenborg's  theo- 
logy, who  was  excluded  from  the  society. 
Noble  was  the  first  to  develope  a  doctrine 
which,  by  many  of  his  co-religionists,  was 
viewed  as  a  heresy.  He  held  that  our  Lord's 
body  was  not  resuscitated,  but  dissipated  in 
the  grave,  and  replaced  at  the  resurrection  by 
a  new  and  divine  frame.  Hence  the  contro- 
versy between  '  resuscitationists '  and  '  dissi- 
pationists ; '  John  Clowes  [q.  v.]  and  Robert 
Hindmarsh  [q.  v.]  rejected  Noble's  view, 
but  his  chief  antagonist  was  William  Mason 
( 1 790-1 863).  In  support  of  Noble's  position , 
a  '  Noble  Society '  was  formed. 

In  1848  Noble  suffered  from  cataract,  and, 
in  spite  of  several  operations,  became  per- 
manently blind.  He  revised,  by  help  of 
amanuenses,  the  translation  of  Swedenborg's 
'  Heaven  and  Hell,'  giving  it  the  title,  '  The 
Future  Life'  (1851).  He  died  on  27  Aug. 
1853,  and  was  buried  at  Highgate  cemetery. 
His  chief  publications  are:  1.  'The  Plenary 
Inspiration  of  the  Scriptures  asserted  and  the 
Principles  of  their  Composition  investigated.' 


Noble 


Noble 


London,  1825, 8vo;  2nd  edit.  1856.  2.  'An 
Appeal  on  behalf  of  the  .  .  .  Doctrines  .  .  . 
held  by  the  ...  New  Church,'  &c.,  1826, 
12mo;  2nd  edit.  1 838, 8vo,  was  enlarged  and 
remodelled,  omitting  personal  controversy; 
to  the  12th  edit.  1893,  16mo,  were  added 
indexes ;  French  transl.  St.  Amand,  1862. 
3.  'Important  Doctrines  of  the  True  Christian 
Keligion,'  &c.,  Manchester,  1846, 8vo.  4. '  The 
Divine  Law  of  the  Ten  Commandments,'  1848, 
8vo. 

[Memoir  by  William  Bruce,  prefixed  to  third 
(1855)  and  later  editions  of  the  Appeal;  White's 
Swedenborg,  1867,  i-  230,  ii.  613  sq. ;  information 
from  James  Speirs,  esq.]  A.  G. 

NOBLE,  WILLIAM  BONNEAU  (1780- 
1831),  landscape  painter  in  water-colours, 
born  in  London  on  13  Sept.  1780,  was 
youngest  son  of  Edward  Noble,  author  of 
'Elements  of  Linear  Perspective,' and  brother 
of  Samuel  and  of  George  Noble,  both  of  whom 
are  separately  noticed.  His  mother  was  sister 
of  William  Noble  (of  a  different  family),  a 
well-known  drawing-master,  who  succeeded 
to  the  practice  of  his  father-in-law,  Jacob 
Bonneau  [q.  v.l,  and  died  in  1805.  Young 
Noble  began  life  as  a  teacher  of  drawing,  and 
for  some  years  met  with  success,  but  being 
ambitious  of  obtaining  a  higher  position  in  his 
profession,  he  spent  two  successive  summers 
in  Wales,  and  made  many  beautiful  sketches 
of  its  scenery.  Several  water-col  our  paintings 
from  his  sketches  were  sent  to  the  Royal  Aca- 
demy, and  in  1809  three  of  these,  a  '  View 
of  Machynlleth,  North  Wales,' '  Montgomery 
Castle,'  and  a '  View  near  Dolgelly,'  were  hung. 
Next  year,  however,  his  drawings  were  re- 
jected, and  although  he  had  two  views  of 
Charlton  and  Bexley,  in  Kent,  in  the  exhibi- 
tion of  181 1 ,  he  never  recovered  from  what  he 
regarded  as  an  indignity.  Being  disappointed 
in  love  at  the  same  time,  he  took  to  dissipated 
courses,  and  in  November  1825  he  made  a 
desperate  but  unsuccessful  attempt  upon  his 
life  in  a  fit  of  delirium.  He  died  of  a  decline 
in  Somers  Town,  London,  on  14  Sept.  1831. 

Noble  left  in  manuscript  a  long  poem  en- 
titled '  The  Artist.' 

[Memorial  notice  by  his  brother,  the  Kev. 
Samuel  Noble,  in  Gent.  Mag.  1831,  ii.  374; 
Royal  Academy  Exhibition  Catalogues,  1809- 
1811.]  K.  E.  G. 

NOBLE,  WILLIAM  HENRY  (1834- 
1892),  major-general  royal  artillery,  eldest 
son  of  Robert  Noble,  rector  of  Athboy,  co. 
Meath,  and  grandson  of  Dr.  William  New- 
come,  archbishop  of  Armagh,  was  born  at 
Laniskea,  co.  Fermanagh,  14  Oct.  1834.  He 
studied  at  Trinity  College,  Dublin,  where  in 


1856  he  graduated  B.A.  with  honours  in  ex- 
perimental science,  and  proceeded  M.A.  in 
1859.  At  the  end  of  the  Crimean  war,  just 
before  taking  his  first  degree,  he  passed  for 
a  direct  commission  in  the  royal  artillery,  in 
which  he  was  appointed  lieutenant  6  March 
1856.  He  became  captain  in  1866,  major  in 
1875,  lieutenant-colonel  in  1882,  and  brevet 
colonel  in  1886.  From  1861  to  1868  he  served 
as  associate-member  of  the  ordnance  select 
committee  for  carrying  out  balistic  and  other 
experiments  in  scientific  gunnery.  He  was 
then  appointed  to  the  staff  of  the  director- 
general  of  ordnance,  and  subsequently  acted 
until  1876  as  a  member  of  the  experimental 
branch  of  that  department  at  Woolwich, 
serving  as  member  or  secretary  of  numerous 
artillery  committees,  on  explosives,  on  range- 
finders,  on  iron  armour  and  equipment,  &c. 
In  1875  he  received  the  rank  of  major,  and 
returned  to  regimental  duty.  He  was  posted 
to  a  field  battery,  but  immediately  after  was 
sent  to  the  United  States  as  one  of  the  British 
judges  of  weapons  at  the  Centennial  Exhibi- 
tion at  Philadelphia.  He  was  member  and 
secretary  of  the  group  of  judges  of  the  war 
section,  and  by  special  permission  of  the  com- 
mander-in-chief  of  the  United  States  army 
visited  all  the  arsenals,  depots,  and  manu- 
facturing establishments  of  war  material  in 
that  country.  In  June  1877  he  was  sent  to 
India  as  member  and  acting  secretary  of  a 
special  committee  appointed  by  the  Marquis 
of  Salisbury  to  report  on  the  reorganisation 
of  the  ordnance  department  of  the  Indian 
army  and  its  manufacturing  establishments 
in  the  three  presidencies.  He  was  employed 
on  this  duty  from  February  1876  to  Novem- 
ber 1878,  when,  on  the  breaking  out  of  the 
Afghan  war,  he  was  appointed  staff'  officer  of 
the  field  train  of  the  Candahar  field  force. 
He  organised  the  field  train  at  Sukhur,  and 
commanded  it  on  its  march  through  the  Bolan 
Pass  (medal).  In  1880  he  was  posted  to  a 
field  battery  at  Woolwich;  in  April  1881  be- 
came a  member  of  the  ordnance  committee, 
and  in  July  1885  was  appointed  superinten- 
dent of  Waltham  Abbey  royal  gunpowder 
factory.  On  reaching  his  fifty-fifth  birthday 
in  October  1889  he  was  retired  under  the  age 
clause  of  the  royal  warrant  with  the  rank  of 
major-general,  but  as  it  was  found  that  his 
experience  and  qualifications  could  not  be 
spared,  he  was  restored  to  the  active  list  in 
1890,  and  continued  at  Waltham.  Very  large 
quantities  of  prismatic  gunpowder  (E.  X.  E. 
and  S.  B.  C.)were  manufactured  at  Waltham 
Abbey  or  by  private  contract  from  his  disco- 
veries, which,  by  permission  of  the  war  office, 
were  protected  by  a  patent  granted  to  him  in 
1886.  The  manufacture  of  cordite,  which  ia 


Nobys 


86 


Nodder 


now  in  progress,  is  understood  to  have  been 
largely  due  to  Noble's  researches.  He  died 
at  Thrift  Hall,  Walt  ham  Abbey,  17  May 
1892,  aged  57.  Noble  married  in  1861  Emily, 
daughter  of  Frederick  Marriott,  one  of  the 
originators  of  the '  Illustrated  London  News,' 
by  whom  he  had  two  sons  and  four  daughters. 
Noble,  who  was  an  F.R.S.  London,  and  a 
member  of  various  other  learned  societies, 
was  author  of '  Report  of  various  Experiments 
carried  out  under  the  Direction  of  the  Ord- 
nance Select  Committee  relative  to  the  Pene- 
tration of  Iron  Armour-plates  by  Steel  Shot, 
with  a  Memorandum  on  the  Penetration  of 
Iron  Ships  by  Steel  and  other  Projectiles,' 
London,  1886;  'Useful  Tables  (for  Artil- 
lerymen). Computed  by  W.  H.  N.,'  London, 
1874 ;  '  Descent  of  W.  H.  Noble  from  the 
Blood  Royal  of  England,'  London,  1889. 

[Army  Lists ;  obituary  notice  in  Times  news- 
paper, 21  May  1892 ;  Roy.  Soc.  Cat.  Sc.  Papers  ; 
Brit.  Mas.  Cat  of  Printed  Books.]  H.  M.  C. 

NOBYS,  PETER  (/.  1520),  master  of 
Corpus  Christi  College,  Cambridge,  was  son 
of  John  Nobys,  sometime  of  Thompson, 
Norfolk,  and  of  Rose,  his  wife.  He  graduated 
B.A.  at  Cambridge  in  1501,  M.A.  1504,  be- 
came fellow  of  Christ's  College  in  1503,  and 
was  appointed  university  preacher  in  1514. 
On  18  Feb.  1515-6  he  obtained  the  rectory  of 
Landbeach,  Cambridgeshire,  and  by  1516-7 
had  proceeded  B.D.  In  the  same  year  he 
was  promoted  to  be  master  of  Corpus  Christi 
College,  and  graduated  D.D.  in  1519.  Ob- 
taining from  the  Bishop  of  Norwich  a  license 
of  absence  from  his  benefice  of  Landbeach, 
and  letters  testimonial  as  to  his  life  from  the 
university,  he  set  out  for  Rome  in  1519. 
During  his  visit  he  obtained  from  Leo  X  a 
privilege  dated  9  Cal.  Feb.  1519  (i.e.  24  Jan.), 
and  addressed  to  the  master  and  fellows 
of  Corpus  Christi  College,  granting  for  the 
term  of  twenty-five  years  apostolical  in- 
dulgences and  pardons  'to  all  sinners  of 
either  sex  who  shall  be  truly  penitent .  .  . 
if  so  be  they  should  attend  the  public  pro- 
cession of  the  college  on  Corpus  Christi,  or 
should  be  of  the  congregation  at  mass  in  St. 
Benedict's  on  that  day.'  Nobys  was  '  gene- 
rally reckoned  of  good  understanding  and 
sound  learning.  He  caused  to  be  compiled 
a  register  donationum,  called  "  the  whyte 
book  of  Dr.  Nobys,"  and  it  is  evident  from 
the  only  extract  remaining,  which  contains 
"  some  observations  of  keepeinge  courts," 
that  he  was  versed  in  the  laws  of  the  land.' 
It  was  during  his  mastership  that  the  tiled 
roofs  of  the  chambers  of  the  college  on  the 
east  side  were  repaired  (WILLIS  and  CLARK, 
i.  255).  He  further  gave  13/.  6s.  4rf.  for  the 


celebration  of  his  obsequies  and  those  of  his 
father  and  mother  in  St.  Benedict's  Church 
on  the  eve  of  St.  Martin,  and  a  large  collec- 
tion of  books,  of  which  a  catalogue  is  noticed 
in  Masters's  '  History  '  (p.  71).  Nobys  also 
co-operated  with  Sir  Thomas  Wyndham  in  a 
donation  of  130  works  to  the  prior  and  con- 
vent of  Thetford,  '  on  condition  of  paying  to 
Dr.  Nobys  five  marks  during  his  natural  life, 
and  finding  him  a  stable,  two  chambers,'  &c., 
failing  which  condition  Nobys  was  to  have 
a  right  of  distraint  on  the  manor  of  Lynforth 
and  Santon.  Nobys  was  a  legatee  under  the 
will  of  Sir  Thomas  Wyndham,  dated  22  Oct. 
1521. 

About  midsummer  1523  Nobys  resigned 
his  mastership  and  benefice.  He  reserved 
from  the  former  a  pension  of  fifty  marks  per 
annum.  In  the  rectory  he  was  followed  by 
'  Mr.  Cuttyng,  who  agreed  to  allow  him  five 
marks  a  year  out  of  the  profits  till  he  should 
obtain  some  other  ecclesiastical  preferment 
of  that  value.'  He  was  alive  at  least  two 
years  after,  when  he  was  an  executor  of  the 
will  of  John  Saintwarye.  Nobys's  will  is  not 
at  the  Prerogative  Court. 

[Cooper's  Athense  Cant.  i.  32  ;  Coles  MS.  vi. 
36 ;  Masters's  Hist,  of  Corpus  Christi  Coll.  ed. 
Lamb ;  Nicolas's  Test.  Vetusta,  p.  584 ;  Willis 
and  Clark's  Architect.  Hist,  of  the  University 
of  Cambridge ;  Cooper's  Annals  of  Cambridge  ; 
Martin's  Hist,  of  Town  of  Thetford,  p.  143,  App. 
p.  50 ;  Collins's  Peerage,  v.  209.]  W.  A.  S. 

NODDER,  FREDERICK?,  (d.  1800?), 
botanic  painter  and  engraver,  appears  to 
have  been  the  son  of  a  Mr.  Nodder  residing 
in  Panton  Street,  Leicester  Square,  who  from 
1773  to  1778  exhibited  some  paintings  on 
silk  and  pictorial  subjects  wrought  in  human 
hair  at  the  Society  of  Artists'  exhibitions. 
In  1786  Nodder  first  appears  as  an  exhibitor 
at  the  Royal  Academy  of  drawings  of  flowers, 
and  in  1788  he  is  styled  'botanical  painter  to 
her  Majesty.'  Nodder  supplied  the  illustra- 
tions, drawn,  etched,  and  coloured  by  himself, 
to  various  botanical  works,  such  as  Thomas 
Martyn's  'Plates  ...  to  illustrate  Linnaeus's 
System  of  Vegetables' (1788),  and  'Flora 
Rustica'  (1792-1794).  He  also  published, 
with  similar  engravings,  a  work  entitled 
'  Vivarium  Naturae,  or  the  Naturalist's  Mis- 
cellany,' the  text  of  which  was  edited  by 
George  Shaw  [q.  v.],  F.R.S.  This  work  en- 
tered over  twenty-four  volumes,  from  1789  to 
1813.  Nodder  appears  to  have  died  about 
1800,  and  the  publication  was  carried  on  by 
his  widow,  Elizabeth,  the  plates  being  sup- 
plied by  Richard  P.  Nodder,  apparently  a  son. 
The  latter  afterwards  obtained  some  repute 
as  a  painter  of  horses  and  dogs,  and  was  an 
occasional  exhibitor  at  the  Royal  Academy. 


Noel 


Noel 


[Dodd's  manuscript  Hist,  of  English  Engravers, 
Brit.  Mus.  Add.  MS.  33403)  ;  Graves's  Diet,  of 
Artists,  1760-1880;  Catalogues  of  the  Society 
of  Artists  and  Royal  Academy.]  L.  C. 

NOEL,  SIB  ANDREW  (d.  1607),  sheriff 
of  Rutland,  was  eldest  son  of  Andrew  Noel 
of  Dalby-on-the- Wolds,  Leicestershire,  by  his 
second  wife,  Elizabeth,  daughter  and  heiress 
of  John  Hopton  of  Hopton,  Staffordshire, 
and  widow  of  Sir  John  Perient.  The  father, 
Andrew,  on  the  dissolution  of  the  monasteries, 
obtained  a  grant  of  the  manor  and  site  of  the 
preceptory  of  Dalby-on-the-Wolds,  and  of 
the  manor  of  Purybeare,  Staffordshire.  He 
served  as  sheriff  for  Rutland  three  times — 
under  Henry  VIII,  Edward  VI,  and  Mary — 
and  represented  the  county  in  the  parliament 
of  1553.  He  died  in  156:2,  and  was  succeeded 
at  Dalby-on-the-Wolds,  and  Brooke,  Rut- 
land, by  his  son  Andrew. 

Andrew  served  three  times  as  sheriff  of 
Rutland  (1587,  1595,  and  1600),  and  repre- 
sented the  county  of  Rutland  in  three  of 
Elizabeth's  parliaments,  viz.  in  1586,  1588, 
and  1593.  He  was  also  elected  to  represent 
the  county  in  Elizabeth's  last  parliament,  in 
1601.  As  sheriff  at  the  time  he  made  his 
own  return.  The  return  was  accordingly 
questioned  in  the  house  by  Serjeant  Harris. 
Sir  John  Harington,  Noel's  colleague  in  the 
representation  of  the  shire,  affirmed  '  of  his 
own  knowledge  he  knew  [Noel]  to  be  very 
unwilling ;  but  the  freeholders  made  answer 
they  would  have  none  other.'  The  house 
declared  the  return  void  (D'EwES,  Journals 
of  Parliament,  p.  625).  Noel's  son  Edward 
•was  elected  in  his  place  (Parl.  Papers,  1878 ; 
Return  of  Members,  passim). 

He  was  dubbed  knight  at  Greenwich  by 
Elizabeth  on  2  March  1585  (METCALFE, 
Knights,  p.  136),  and  on  7  Feb.  1592  was 
included  in  a  commission  to  inquire  into  the 
death  of  Everard  Digby  (Cal.  State  Papers, 
Dom.  1592,  p.  181 ;  cf.  Hist.  MSS.  Comm. 
3rd  Rep.  p.  150).  He  died  on  19  Oct.  1607 
at  Brooke,  his  Rutland  seat,  and  was  buried 
at  Dalby  on 8  Dec.  (Harl.  Soc.  iii.  3).  Besides 
Brooke,  he  died  seised  of  the  manor  of  Brough- 
ton  alias  Nether  Broughton,  held  of  the  king 
in  capite  by  the  service  of  one  knight's  fee 
(Exch.  5,  Jac.  I),  and  also  of  the  manor  and 
parsonage  of  Dalby-on-the-Wolds,  and  cer- 
tain lands,  part  of  possessions  of  the  late 
dissolved  Hospital  of  St.  John  of  Jerusalem 
(Nic HOLS,  Leicestershire,  iii.  249).  He  also 
held  lands  in  Stathern  under  lease  from  Queen 
Elizabeth,  dated  11  May  1583  (ib.  ii.  357). 

Sir  Andrew  married  Mabel,  daughter  of 
Sir  James  Harrington  of  Exton,  Rutland 
(she  died  on  21  Jan.  1603,  and  was  buried  at 
Dalby).  By  her  he  left  four  sons  and  three 


daughters:  (l)SirEdward[q.v.];  (2)Charles, 
died  1619,  aged  28,  unmarried,  and  buried  at 
Brook;  (3)  Arthur,  born  1598;  (4)  Alex- 
ander, born  1602,  afterwards  seated  at  Whit- 
well  in  Rutland,  married  to  Mary,  daughter 
of  Thomas  Palmer  of  Carlton,  Northamp- 
tonshire, and  father  to  Sir  Andrew  Noel  of 
Whitwell. 

Of  the  daughters,  Lucy  married  William, 
lord  Eure;  Theodosia  married  Sir  Edward 
Cecil,  afterwards  viscount  Wimbledon  (she 
died  in  Holland,  and  was  buried  in  the  col- 
legiate church  of  Utrecht) ;  Elizabeth  mar- 
ried George,  lord  Audley  in  England  and 
earl  of  Castlehaven  in  Ireland. 

Sir  Andrew  is  usually  described  as  a  cour- 
tier, but  that  designation  belongs  to  his  next 
younger  brother,  HENRY  NOEL  (d.  1597), '  one 
of  the  greatest  gallants  of  those  times,'  who 
was  a  gentleman-pensioner  of  Queen  Eliza- 
beth. Fuller  describes  Henry  (  Worthies,  p. 
137 )  as '  for  person,  parentage,  grace,  gesture, 
valour,  and  many  other  excellent  parts, 
among  which  skill  in  music,  among  the  first 
rank  at  court.'  '  Though  his  lands  and  liveli- 
hoods,' Fuller  continues,  '  were  but  small, 
having  nothing  known  certain  but  his 
annuity  and  pension,  yet  in  state  pomp, 
magnificence,  and  expence  he  did  equalize 
barons  of  great  worth.'  Elizabeth's  dis- 
pleasure at  Henry  Noel's  extravagance  led 
her,  it  is  said,  to  compose  the  rebus : 

The  word  of  denial  and  letter  of  50 
Is  that  gentleman's  name  who  will  nerer  be 
thrifty 

(WALPOLE,  Royal  and  Noble  Authors,  and 
PECK'S  notes  on  Shakespeare  printed  with 
his  Life  of  Milton,  p.  225;  NICHOLS,  Pro- 
gresses of  Elizabeth,  ii.  452).  On  11  July 
1589  Henry  Noel  was  granted  lands  to  the 
yearly  value  of  one  hundred  marks  for  the 
term  of  fifty  years  (Cal.  Hatfield  MSS.  iii. 
424).  On  27  Sept.  1592  he  was  admitted 
M.A.  at  Oxford,  on  the  occasion  of  the  queen's 
visit  (WoOD,  Fasti,  i.  216).  He  died  on 
26  Feb.  1596-7  from  a  calenture  or  burning 
fever,  due  to  over-violent  exertion  in  a  com- 
petition with  an  Italian  gentleman  at  the 
game  called  balonne,  '  a  kind  of  play  with  a 
great  ball  tossed  with  wooden  braces  upon 
the  arm.'  By  her  majesty's  appointment  he 
was  buried  in  Westminster  Abbey,  in  the 
chapel  of  St.  Andrew  (NICHOLS,  Leicester- 
shire, ubi  supra). 

[For  genealogy  see  Hill's  Hist,  of  Market 
Harborough,  p.  217  ;  Dugdale's  Baronage  of 
England,  ii.  43o ;  Burke's  Extinct  Baronetage, 
387  ;  Collins's  English  Baronetage,  in.  i.  93 ; 
Camden's  Visitation  of  Leicester,  1619,  in  Harl. 
Soc.  iii.  3;  Nichols's  Leicestershire,  ii.  357,  1H. 


Noel 


88 


Noel 


iii.  249.  The  mistake  in  Burke's  Baronetage  and 
elsewhere  of  making  Sir  Andrew's  mother  his 
father's  first  wife  is  corrected  in  Camden's  Visita- 
tion, and  expressly  in  Collins's  Baronetage. 
See  also  Burke's  Commoners,  iv.  173;  Fuller's 
Worthies ;  Metcalfe's  Book  of  Knights ;  Betham's 
Baronetage,  i.  279,  465,  ii.  44  ;  Harl.  Soc.  ii.  3  ; 
Park's  Topogr.  and  Natural  Hist,  of  Hampstead, 
p.  117;  Wood's  Fasti  Oxon. ;  Nichols's  Pro- 
gresses of  Elizabeth  ;  State  Papers,  Dom. ;  Hist. 
MSS.  Comm.  Reports;  Eeturn  of  Members  of 
Parliament.]  W.  A.  S. 

NOEL,  BAPTIST,  second  BARON  NOEL 
OF  RIDLINGTON,  and  third  VISCOUNT  CAMP- 
DEN  and  BARON  HICKS  OF  ILMINGTON  (1611- 
1682),  eldest  son  and  heir  of  Edward  Noel, 
second  viscount  Campden  [q.  v.],  was  bap- 
tised at  Brooke,  Rutland,  on  13  Oct.  1611.  On 
Christmas-day  1632  he  was  married  to  Lady 
Anne,  second  daughter  of  William  Fielding, 
earl  of  Denbigh.  With  her  the  king  gave  a 
portion  of  some  3,0001.,  of  which  Noel  shortly 
lost  2,500/. '  at  tennis  in  one  day,  as  I  take 
it,  to  my  Lord  of  Carnarvon,  Lord  Rich,  and 
other  gallants '  (  Court  and  Times  of  Charles  I, 
ii.  219). 

On  9  Nov.  1635  a  warrant  was  issued  to 
him  for  keeping  his  majesty's  game  within 
ten  miles  of  Oakham,  Rutland  (Cal.  State 
Papers,  1635,  p.  470).  He  was  elected  knight 
of  the  shire  to  both  the  Short  and  Long  par- 
liaments ;  but,  being  a  royalist,  his  associa- 
tion with  the  latter  parliament  was  brief. 
He  was  made  captain  of  a  troop  of  horse 
and  company  of  foot  (1643)  in  the  royal 
army.  On  15  March  in  the  same  year  he  was 
made  colonel  of  a  regiment  of  horse,  and  on 
24  July  1643  brigadier  of  foot  and  brigadier 
of  horse  (DOYLE,  Official  Baronage,  i.  308). 
On  22  March  1642-3  Grey  suggested  to  the 
Earl  of  Manchester,  speaker  of  the  lords, 
the  seizure  of  the  rents  of  the  young  Viscount 
Campden,  who  had  raised  a  brave  troop  of 
horse,  and  was  at  Beever  Castle  (Hist.  MSS. 
Comm.  8th  Rep.  ii.  59).  In  June  1643  he 
plundered  Sir  William  Armyn's  house  at 
Osgodby  (ib.  7th  Rep.  p.  la).  On  19  July 
1643  it  was  reported  that '  Lord  Camden  in- 
tends to  set  before  Peterborough,  and  hath 
a  far  greater  force  come  into  Stamford  [which 
is]  fortifying  there '  (ib.  7th  Rep.  p.  555a). 
At  the  same  time  Campden  House,  Glouces- 
tershire, which  had  been  erected  not  long 
before  by  the  first  Viscount  Campden  at  a 
cost  of  30,000/.,  was  burnt  down  (Cal.  State 
Papers,  Dom.  1644-5,  passim  ;  CLARENDON, 
Rebellion,  ix.  32;  WALKER,  Hist.  Discourses, 
p.  126  ;  GARDINER,  Civil  War,  ii.  210).  In 
1645  Campden  was  a  prisoner  in  London. 
In  August  1646  he  had  been  released  on  re- 
cognizances (see  Lords'1  Journals,  vii.  460, 


477;  Hist.  MSS.  Comm.  6th  Rep.  p.  130); 
and  in  September  he  obtained  a  pass  to  visit 
Rutland. 

On  14  June  1644  he  was  assessed  by  the 
committee  for  the  advance  of  moneys  for  his 
'twentieth'  at  4,000/.  On  19  May  1648, 
after  a  long  negotiation,  his  assessment  was 
discharged  on  payment  of  100/.,  he  being 
greatly  indebted  (Cal.  of  Committee  for 
Advance  of  Money).  The  sequestration  of 
his  estates  was  ordered  on  24  Aug.  1644 
(Commons' Journals,  vol.  iii.)  On  9  July  1646 
his  fine  for  delinquency  was  set  at  19,558/. 
After  sundry  petitions  (see  Lords'  Journals, 
viii.  457;  Hist.  MSS.  Comm.  6th  Rep.  p. 
130),  this  was  on  22  Dec.  1646  reduced  to 
14,000/.,  and  on  2o  Oct.  1647  to  11,078/.  17*. 
On  1  Nov.  1647,  after  he  had  paid  a  moiety  of 
this  sum  and  had  entered  into  possession  of 
his  estates,  his  fine  was  reduced  to  9,000/. 
A  long  poem  among  the  Earl  of  Westmor- 
land's manuscripts  is  entitled  'A  Pepper 
Corn,  or  small  rent  sente  to  my  Lord  Camp- 
den for  ye  loan  of  his  house  at  Kensington, 
9  Feb.  1651.'  In  1651  Campden  was  again 
in  trouble  for  some  charge  laid  against  him 
before  the  committee  for  examinations  (State 
Papers,  Dom. ;  Council  Book,  i.  88,  p.  68, 
5  Feb.  1651).  On  8  March  he  was  dismissed 
on  entering  into  a  bond  of  10,000/.  for  him- 
self, and  in  sureties  of  5,000/.  each,  not  to  do 
anything  to  the  prejudice  of  the  Common- 
wealth and  the  government,  and  to  appear 
before  the  council  upon  summons  (ib.) 

On  the  Restoration  he  was  made  captain 
of  a  troop  of  horse,  lord-lieutenant  of  Rut- 
land (9  Aug.  1660),  and  justice  of  the  peace 
in  1661  (DoTLE ;  Hist.  MSS.  Comm.  5th  Rep. 
p.  403).  He  thenceforth  devoted  himself  to 
local  affairs. 

Noel  died  at  Exton  on  29  Oct.  1682,  and 
was  buried  on  the  north  side  of  the  church 
there.  The  noble  monument  to  his  memory 
is  by  Grinling  Gibbons  (AVALPOLE,  Anecd. 
of  Painting,  iii.  121).  He  was  married  four 
times.  His  first  wife  died  on  24  March  1636, 
and  was  buried  at  Campden  (register  at 
Campden  and  monument  at  Exton).  By 
her  he  had  three  children,  all  of  whom  died 
young.  By  his  second  wife,  Anne,  widow  of 
Edward  Bourchier,  earl  of  Bath,  and  daughter 
of  Sir  Robert  Lord  of  Liscombe  in  Bucks,  he 
left  no  issue.  His  third  wife,  Hester,  daugh- 
ter and  coheiress  of  Thomas  Watton,  lord 
Watton,  was  buried  at  Exton  on  17  Dec. 
1649,leaving,with  four  daughters,  two  sons — 
(1)  Edward,  first  earl  of  Gainsborough,  on 
whom  his  father  settled  8,000/.  a  year  when 
he  married,  in  1662,  Elizabeth  Wriothesley, 
daughter  of  the  Earl  of  Southampton,  lord- 
treasurer  ;  (2)  Henry  Noel  of  North  Lufien- 


Noel 


89 


Noel 


ham.  Campden's  fourth  wife,  Elizabeth 
Bertie,  daughter  of  Montague  Bertie,  earl  of 
Lindsay,  lord  great  chamberlain,  survived  her 
husband,  and  was  buried  at  Exton  on  16  Aug. 
1683.  By  her  he  had  nine  children,  among 
them  Catharine,  who  married  John,  earl  of 
Rutland  ;  and  Baptist  Noel,  ancestor  to  the 
later  Earl  of  Gainsborough. 

[For  authorities  see  under  NOEL,  SIR  ANDREW, 
and  text.  In  Wright's  Rutland  there  is  a  view 
of  Exton  House,  and  in  Hall's  Market  Har- 
borough  there  is  a  sketch  of  Brooke  Hall.] 

W.  A.  S. 

NOEL,  BAPTIST  WRIOTHESLEY 
(1798-1873),  divine,  born  at  Leightmount, 
Scotland,  on  16  July  1798,  was  the  sixteenth 
child  and  eleventh  son  of  Sir  Gerard  Noel- 
Noel,  bart.,  and  younger  brother  of  Gerard 
Thomas  Noel  [q.  v.]  Educated  at  West- 
minster School,  he  proceeded  to  Trinity  Col- 
lege, Cambridge,  where  he  was  created  M.A. 
in  1821.  In  the  same  year  he  made  a  tour 
on  the  continent.  On  his  return  Noel  began 
to  read  for  the  bar  with  a  special  pleader  in 
the  Temple,  but  changing  his  mind  he  took 
holy  orders  in  the  church  of  England.  For 
a  short  time  Noel  served  as  curate  of  Cos- 
sington  in  Leicestershire,  but  in  1827  he 
became  minister  of  St.  John's  Chapel,  Bed- 
ford Row,  London.  The  chapel  was  uncon- 
secrated,  but  its  pulpit  had  been  filled  for 
many  years  by  a  succession  of  able  men. 
Thomas  Scott,  Richard  Cecil,  and  Daniel 
"Wilson  had  been  its  ministers ;  the  Thorn- 
tons, William  Wilberforce,  and  Zachary  Mac- 
aulay  members  of  the  congregation.  De- 
spite his  comparative  youth  for  a  charge  so 
conspicuous,  Noel  was  an  immediate  and 
marked  success,  and  he  was  speedily  recog- 
nised as  a  leader  among  evangelical  church- 
men in  London.  In  1835  he  addressed  a 
letter  to  the  Bishop  of  London  on  the  spi- 
ritual condition  of  the  metropolis,  which  was 
fruitful  in  far-reaching  results.  Home  and 
foreign  missions  equally  enjoyed  his  aid ;  but 
he  declined  to  countenance  the  early  '  mani- 
festations'  associated  with  the  followers  of 
Edward  Irving.  In  1840  he  conducted  an 
inquiry,  under  the  direction  of  the  committee 
of  education,  into  the  condition  of  the  ele- 
mentary schools  in  Birmingham,  Manchester, 
Liverpool,  and  other  towns.  In  the  follow- 
ing year  he  brought  out  an  Anti-Cornlaw 
tract,  '  A  Plea  for  the  Poor,'  which  had  a 
wide  circulation,  and  called  forth  many  re- 
plies. In  the  same  year  Noel  was  gazetted 
one  of  her  Majesty's  chaplains.  In  1846  he 
visited  some  of  the  stations  of  the  Evan- 
gelical Society  in  France,  and  in  the  same 
year  helped  to  set  on  foot  the  Evangelical 
Alliance. 


His  intimate  relations  with  evangelical 
nonconformity  make  less  surprising  the  step 
which  Noel  took  in  1848.  The  result  of  the 
Gorham  case  [see  GORHAM,  GEORGE  COR- 
NELIUS], which  drove  some  high  churchmen 
into  the  fold  of  Rome,  helped  to  send  Noel 
into  the  ranks  of  the  baptists.  He  took  fare- 
well of  his  congregation  on  Sunday,  3  Dec. 
Early  in  1849  he  put  forth  a  long  essay  on 
the  union  of  church  and  state,  in  which, 
while  expressing  admiration  for  many  of  his 
'  beloved  and  honoured  brethren'  who  re- 
mained in  the  establishment,  he  sought  to 
prove  that  the  union  of  church  and  state  was 
at  once  unscriptural  and  harmful.  He  also 
ventured  a  confident  prophecy  that  the  esta- 
blishment was  '  doomed.'  At  first  he  seems 
to  have  hesitated  as  to  his  future  course. 
For  a  time  he  attended  the  parish  church  of 
Hornsey ;  but  on  25  March  1849,  in  answer 
to  an  invitation  conveyed  during  the  service, 
he  preached  at  the  Scottish  church  in  Regent 
Square,  his  first  appearance  in  a  noncon- 
formist pulpit.  He  then  took  the  oaths  pre- 
scribed by  52  Geo.  Ill,  and  in  May  preached 
in  the  Weigh  House  Chapel.  A  still  more 
decisive  step  followed.  On  9  Aug.  1849  he 
was  publicly  rebaptised  by  immersion  in 
John  Street  (baptist)  Chapel,  hard  by  the 
building  where  he  had  himself  long  preached. 
To  the  ministry  of  John  Street  Chapel  he 
accepted  a  call  in  the  following  September, 
and  continued  there  with  marked  success 
until  he  resigned  the  charge  on  entering  his 
seventieth  year  in  1868.  As  a  nonconformist, 
despite  his  strong  views  as  to  church  and 
state,  Noel  refrained  from  joining  the  Libe- 
ration Society,  or  appearing  on  its  platform. 
In  1854  he  again  visited  the  Vaudois.  During 
the  American  civil  war  he  vigorously  sup- 
ported the  cause  of  the  north,  particularly 
at  a  great  meeting  in  the  Free  Trade  Hall, 
Manchester,  in  June  1 863.  The  case  of  G.  W . 
Gordon,  who  was  executed  for  participation 
in  the  Jamaica  outbreak,  excited  his  warm 
sympathy  in  1865,  and  in  the  following  year 
he  vindicated  Gordon's  conduct  in  a  pam- 
phlet. Noel  was  president  of  the  Baptist 
Union  in  1855  and  in  1867.  The  last  few  years 
of  his  life  were  mainly  spent  in  retirement. 
After  some  months  of  ill-health  he  died  at 
Stanmore,  Middlesex,  on  19  Jan. 1873,  and  was 
there  buried .  Noel  married  in  1 826  the  eldest 
daughter  of  Peter  Baillie  of  Dochfour,  In- 
verness-shire. Of  imposing  mien,  with  a 
clear  voice,  a  good  delivery,  and  a  great 
command  of  forcible  language,  Noel  was 
one  of  the  most  popular  preachers  of  his  day. 
Throughout  his  life  he  was  an  ardent  con- 
troversialist, but  was  sometimes  wanting  in 
judgment. 


Noel 


9o 


Noel 


In  addition  to  many  other  tracts,  letters, 
and  sermons,  he  published:  1.  '  Meditations 
on  Sickness  and  Old  Age,'  1837.  2.  '  Notes 
of  a  Tour  through  the  Midland  Counties  of 
Ireland,'  1837.  3.  '  The  First  Five  Centuries 
of  the  Church,'  1839.  4. ' Infant  Piety,'  1840. 
6.  '  A  Plea  for  the  Poor,'  1841.  6. '  Christian 
Missions  to  Heathen  Nations,'  1842.  7.  '  The 
Case  of  the  Free  Church  of  Scotland,'  1844. 
8.  '  Doctrine  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  respect- 
ing Union,'  1844.  9.  '  Essay  on  the  Union  of 
Church  and  State,'  1848.  10.  'The  Messiah. 
Five  Sermons,'  1848.  11.  'Notes  of  a  Tour 
in  Switzerland,'  1848.  12. '  Sermons  preached 
in  the  Chapels  Royal  of  St.  James's  and 
Whitehall,'  1848.  13. '  The  Christian's  Faith, 
Hope,  and  Joy,' 1849.  14.  'Essay  on  Christian 
Baptism,'  1849.  15.  '  Essay  on  the  External 
Act  of  Baptism,'  1850.  16.  '  The  Church  of 
Rome,'  1851.  17.  '  Notes  of  a  Tour  in  the 
Valleys  of  Piedmont,'  1855.  18.  '  The  Doom 
of  the  Impenitent  Sinner,'  1859.  19.  '  Ser- 
mons,' 2  vols.,  1859.  20. '  England  and  India,' 

1859.  21.  '  The  Fallen  and  their  Associates,' 

1860.  22.   '  Freedom  and   Slavery  in  the 
United  States  of  America,'  1863.     23.  '  The 
Case  of  W.  Gordon,  Esq.,'  1866.    He  edited 
*  A  Selection  of  Psalms  and  Hymns,'  1853, 
and  '  Hymns  about  Jesus,'  1868. 

[The  Baptist  Handbook,  1874 ;  Debrett's  Genea- 
logical Peerage,  1844,  art.  'Gainsborough,  Earl 
of;'  Romilly's  Graduati  Cantabrigienses,  1856, 
p.  279 ;  Hist,  of  the  Free  Churches  of  England 
(Skeats  and  Miall),  1892,  pp.  509,  606  ;  Sunday 
at  Home,  1868,  pp.  391,  409  ;  Times,  24,  28, 
30  Nov.,  and  1  Dec.  1848 ;  Eecord,20  and  27  Jan. 
1873 ;  Proby's  Annals  of  the  Low  Church  Party, 
1888,  i.  336 ;  Julian's  Diet,  of  Hymnology,  1892, 
p.  809.]  A.  K.  B. 

NOEL,  EDWARD,  LORD  NOEL  OF  RID- 
LINGTON  and  second  VISCOT/NT  CAMPDEN 
(1582-1643),  eldest  son  and  heir  of  Sir 
Andrew  Noel  [q.  v.],  was  born  at  his  father's 
seat  of  Brooke,  being  baptised  there  on 
2  July  1582.  By  substitution  he  served  as 
knight  of  the  shire  for  Rutland,  in  place  of 
his  father,  in  the  parliament  of  1601.  He 
served  in  the  Irish  wars,  where  '  he  was  a 
knight  baneret '  (epitaph  at  Campden).  He 
was  knighted  by  Mountjoy  in  Ireland  in  1602 
(Soc.  Antiq.  MS.  ;  DOYLE,  Official  Baronage, 
i.  308).  On  13  Nov.  1609  he  received  a 
grant  in  fee  farm  of  the  manor  of  Claxton 
(Framland  Hundred,  Leicestershire)  along 
with  Thomas  Philipps,  gent.  This  manor 
shortly  after  passed  into  the  possession  of  the 
Earl  of  Rutland  (NICHOLS,  Leicestershire, 
ii.  133).  On  2  April  1611  an  inquisition  was 
taken  into  his  holding  in  Lyfield  Forest  (see 
Gal.  State  Papers,  Dom.  James  I,  cxciv.) 
Three  years  later  he  is  described  as  master  of 


the  game  in  Lyfield  Forest,  Rutland,  and  re- 
ceived instructions  trom  the  king  to  prohibit 
hunting  there  for  three  years  (ib.  Ixxviii. 
109).  The  bailiwick  of  the  forest  seems  to 
have  been  conferred  on  Noel  in  1623.  In 
1611  he  was  created  a  baronet,  being  the 
thirty-fourth  in  order.  The  patent  is  dated 
29  June  1611  (NICHOLS,  Progresses  of  James  I, 
ii.  426).  In  the  following  year  (1612)  the 
king  visited  Brooke,  Noel's  seat,  coming  from 
Apthorp  (Sir  Walter  Mildmay's),  and,  after 
a  night's  entertainment  there,  moved  to  Bel- 
voir. 

Five  years  later  (1617)  the  king,  being 
at  Burley-on-the-Hill,  created  Noel  Baron 
Noel  of  Ridlington,  by  letters  patent  dated 
23  March  1616-17,  the  patent  dispensingwith 
the  ceremony  of  investiture  (ib.  iii.  260).  He 
took  the  title  from  Ridlington,  which  came 
to  him  from  his  mother,  because  he  had 
lately  '  sold  his  manor  of  Dalby  in  Leicester- 
shire, being  his  patrimony  and  dwelling,  to 
the  Earl  of  Buckingham  for  29,000/.,  and  lies 
in  wait  to  buy  Burley  of  the  lady  of  Bed- 
ford, whereon  he  hath  lent  money  already, 
and  so  plant  himself  altogether  in  Rutland- 
shire '  (Court  and  Times  of  James  I,  ii.  2). 
Burley  was  soon  after  bought  by  Bucking- 
ham ('WEIGHT,  Rutland,  p.  30 ;  STOW,  Chro- 
nicle, p.  1027 ;  Hist.  MSS.  Comm.  12th  Rep. 
App.  i.  94  ;  Cal.  State  Papers,  Dom.  xc.  146, 
xcv.  22,  xc.  126,  where  the  name  is  incorrectly 
given  as  Sir  Andrew  Noel).  On  21  Feb. 
1620-1  Noel  was  one  of  the  thirty-three 
lords  who  signed  the '  petition  of  the  nobility 
of  England  taking  exception  to  the  prece- 
dence conferred  on  Irish  and  Scotch  peers,' 
which  the  king  took  very  ill  (NICHOLS,  Pro- 
gresses of  James,  iii.  655 ;  WALKER,  Hist. 
Discourses,  p.  307 ;  Camden  Annals).  In 
1624  Noel  was  one  of  the  eight  commissioners 
for  the  collecting  of  the  first  of  the  three 
entire  subsidies  (Hist.  MSS.  Comm.  5th  Rep. 
App.  p.  401).  On  23  March  1625  a  warrant 
was  issued  to  him  to  preserve  the  game 
within  six  miles  of  Burley-on-the-Hill 
(Hist.  MSS.  Comm.  10th  Rep.  App.  pt.  iv. 

L46).  On  5  Nov.  1628  the  Duchess  of 
nnox  and  others  in  Drury  Lane  petitioned 
the  council  to  give  Lord  Noel  the  control 
of  his  sister,  the  Countess  of  Castlehaven, 
who,  '  living  alone,  is  grown  not  well  in  her 
senses,  in  so  much  that  she  had  like  to  have 
fired  her  own  house.  Her  brother  could  do 
nothing  without  a  special  order  from  council ' 
(Cal.  State  Papers,  Dom.  Charles  I,  cxx.  15, 
and  ccclxxxviii.  47,  27  April  1638). 

Noel  married  Juliana,  eldest  daughter  and 
coheiress  of  Sir  Baptist  Hicks ;  and  on  the 
occasion  of  the  advancement  of  the  latter 
to  the  title  of  Lord  Hicks  of  Ilmington, 


Noel 


Noel 


Warwick,  and  Viscount  Campden  of  Camp- 
den,  Gloucester  (5  May,  4  Charles  I),  Noel 
obtained  a  grant  of  the  reversion  of  those 
honours  to  himself  and  his  heirs  male  in  case 
Sir  Baptist  should  die  without  male  issue.  His 
father-in-law  died  in  1629,  and  Noel  entered 
into  the  titles  on  7  Nov.  1629. 

On  13  March  1631  he  paid  into  the  ex- 
chequer 2,500/.  as  a  loan  for  the  public  ser- 
vice. In  April  1635  this  was  not  yet  repaid 
(Cal.  State  Papers,  Dom.  Charles  I,  clxxxvi. 
90,  cclxxxvi.  43).  Campden  favoured  and 
assisted  the  attempts  to  levy  ship-money  in 
his  county  (16  June  1636,  Hist.  MSS.  Comm. 
6th  Rep.  App.  p.  402;  29  March  and  6  April 
1637,  Cal  State  Papers,  Dom.  Charles  I, 
cccli.  37,  ccclii.  33).  Owing  apparently  to 
his  exertions,  an  unusual  surplus  of  800^. 
over  the  assessment  was  collected. 

Campden  was  consistently  royalist.  He 
followed  Charles  into  the  north  in  1639,  and 
formed  one  of  the  council  of  peers  at  York 
in  1640.  When,  on  25  Sept.  1640  (Cal. 
State  Papers,  Dom.  cccclxviii.  39),  the  lords 
at  York  determined  to  borrow  250,000/.  from 
the  city  for  the  support  of  the  army  till  the 
calling  of  parliament,  Campden  was  one  of 
the  six  lords  appointed  to  go  south  and  nego- 
tiate with  the  city.  The  city  unanimously 
granted  the  loan  (Cal.  State  Papers,  Dom. 
cccclxix.  20).  A  week  later  Campden,  being 
'scrupulous,' moved  that  the  peers  might  have 
their  security  from  the  king,  that  the  inferior 
peers  might  not  suffer  in  guaranteeing  the 
loan  more  than  the  councillors  (11  Oct.  1640, 
ib.  cccclxix.  84).  On  the  breaking  out  of  the 
civil  war  Campden  received  a  commission 
from  Charles  to  raise  five  hundred  horse,  and 
afterwards  another  for  three  regiments  of 
horse  and  three  of  foot,  but  died  before  he 
could  fully  accomplish  the  task  (DUGDA.LE, 
Baronage  of  England,  ii.  435).  On  18  Feb. 
1642-3  he  was  ordered  by  the  speaker  of  the 
House  of  Lords  to  contribute  towards  the 
charges  of  the  parliament  forces  (Lords' 
Journals,  v.  609:  Hist.  MSS.  Comm.  5th 
Rep.  App.  p.  73).' 

Campden  died  on  8  March  1642-3  in  the 
king's  quarters  at  Oxford,  and  was  buried  on 
12  March  at  Campden,  where  his  wife  sub- 
sequently (September  1664)  erected  a  monu- 
ment, with  an  epitaph  to  his  memory  by 
Joshua  Marshall  (NICHOLS,  Leicestershire, 
u.s.)  He  had  five  children  by  his  wife 
Juliana  :  (1)  Sir  Baptist,  third  viscount 
Campden.  (2)  Henry,  styled  esquire  of  North 
Luffenham,  Rutland :  baptised  at  Brooke  on 
30  Aug.  1615,  he  was  taken  prisoner  at  his 
house  by  the  forces  under  Lord  Grey  in  March 
1642-3  (Hist.  MSS.  Comm.  5th  Rep.  App. 
pp.  78, 79, 13th  Rep.  p.  1 ;  Lords' Journals,  v. 


645,  650 ;  Commons'  Journals,  ii.  989 ;  Lords' 
Journals,  vi.  64)  ;  he  died  a  prisoner  in  the 
parliamentary  quarters,  and  was  buried  at 
Campden  on  21  July  1643,  where  the  register 
by  mistake  calls  him  grandson  to  Edward, 
viscount  Campden.  (3)  Elizabeth,  married 
John  Chaworth,  lord  viscount  Chaworth  of 
Armagh.  (4)  Mary,  baptised  at  Brooke 
on  20  April  1609,  married  Sir  Erasmus  de  la 
Fontaine  of  Kirby-Bellars,  Leicestershire. 
(5)  Penelope,  baptised  on  22  Aug.  1610,  and 
buried  at  Campden  on  21  May  1633. 

After  his  death  Noel's  widow,  Juliana, 
viscountess  dowager  of  Campden,  resided  at 
Brooke.  In  April  1643  she  petitioned  to  be 
relieved  from  the  weekly  assessment  (Hist. 
MSS.  Comm.  5th  Rep.  App.  p.  82 ;  Lords' 
Journals,  vi.  17,  108).  After  the  sequestra- 
tion of  her  husband's  estates  she  was  as- 
sessed at  4,OOOJ.  for  her  composition  on 
30  Jan.  1646  (Cal.  of  Committee  for  Ad- 
vance of  Money,  p.  677).  She  made  an  in- 
effectual attempt  to  be  relieved  of  this  pay- 
ment. On  7  Nov.  1649,  having  paid  1,100/., 
she  was  ordered  to  pay  an  additional  900/. 
to  make  up  her  half  of  the  assessment.  On 
12  April  1650  the  proceedings  were  stayed. 
Thenceforth  she  maintained  great  state  and 
dispensed  much  hospitality  at  Brooke.  She 
died  there  on  26  Nov.  1680,  and  was  buried 
at  Campden  on  12  Jan.  1680-1  (registers  of 
Brooke  and  Campden). 

[Authorities  cited  in  text  and  under  NOEL, 
SIR  ANDREW.]  W.  A.  S. 

NOEL,  GERARD  THOMAS  (1782- 
1851),  divine,  born  on  2  Dec.  1782,  was 
second  son  of  Sir  Gerard  Noel-Noel,  bart., 
and  Diana,  only  child  of  Charles  Middleton, 
first  lord  Barham  [q.  v.],  and  was  elder  brother 
of  Baptist  WriothesleyNoel  [q.v.J  Sir  Gerard's 
eldest  son  Charles  was  created  in  1841  Earl  of 
Gainsborough,  and  thenceforth  the  brothers 
were  allowed  to  bear  the  courtesy  prefix  of 
'  honourable,'  as  in  the  case  of  sons  of  peers. 
Gerard  was  educated  at  Edinburgh  and  at 
Trinity  College,  Cambridge,  where  he  gra- 
duated B.A.  in  1805  and  M.A.  in  1808.  On 
taking  holy  orders  he  held  successively  the 
curacy  of  Radwell,  Hertfordshire,  and  the 
vicarage  of  Rainham,  Essex,  and  Romsey, 
Hampshire.  He  was  instituted  to  the  last 
in  1840.  He  was  also  appointed  in  1834  to 
an  honorary  canonry  at  Winchester.  At 
Romsey  he  restored  the  abbey  church.  Noel 
was  for  many  years  a  close  friend  of  Bishop 
Samuel  Wilberforce  [q.  v.l,  who  eulogises 
his  character,  influence,  and  worth  in  a  pre- 
face to  Noel's  '  Sermons  preached  at  Rom- 
sey.' Noel  was  twice  married,  first  in  1806 
to  Charlotte  Sophia,  daughter  of  Sir  Lucius 


Noel 


Noel 


O'Brien,  and  secondly  in  1841  to  Susan, 
daughter  of  Sir  John  Kennaway.  He  died 
at  Romsey  on  24  Feb.  1851.  His  published 
works  were:  1.  'A  Selection  of  Psalms  and 
Hymns  for  Public  Worship '\a  compilation 
which  includes  compositions  of  his  own), 
1810  2.  '  Arvendel,  or  Sketches  in  Italy 
and  Switzerland,' 1813.  3.  'Fifty  Sermons 
for  the  Use  of  Families,'  1826,  1827.  4.  '  A 
Brief  Inquiry  into  the  Prospect  s  of  the  Church 
of  Christ,'  1828.  5.  '  Fifty  Sermons  preached 
at  Romsey.'  Preface  by  Bishop  S.  Wilber- 
force,  1853. 

[Debrett's  Genealogical  Peerage,  1844,  art. 
•Gainsborough, Earl  of ;'  Romilly'sGraduati  Can- 
tabrigienses,  1856,  p.  279  ;  Foster's  Index  Eccle- 
siasticus,  1890,  p.  130;  preface  to  Sermons 
preached  at  Romsey;  Julian's  Diet,  of  Hymno- 
logy,  1892,  p.  809.]  A.  R.  B. 

NOEL,  RODEN  BERKELEY  WRIO- 
THESLEY  (1834-1894),  poet,  born  on 
27  Aug.  1834,  was  the  fourth  son  of  Charles 
Noel,  lord  Barham,  who  was  created  in  1841 
first  Earl  of  Gainsborough.  His  mother 
Frances,  second  daughter  of  Robert  Jocelyn, 
third  earl  of  Roden,  was  his  father's  fourth 
wife.  Noel  graduated  M.A.  from  Trinity 
College,  Cambridge,  in  1858.  In  1863  he 
married,  and  in  the  same  year  issued  his  first 
volume  of  verse,  '  Behind  the  Veil,  and  other 
Poems,'  London,  8vo.  His  next  book,  '  Bea- 
trice, and  other  Poems,'  1868,  8vo,  in  which 
the  influence  of  Shelley  was  strongly  marked, 
raised  higher  expectations.  Like  its  suc- 
cessors, it  was  distinguished  by  high  purpose 
and  refined  feeling ;  like  them  also,  it  lacked 
self-restraint,  compression,  form.  Among 
his  later  volumes  the  want  of  inspiration  and 
of  melody  is  least  felt  in  his  pathetic  '  Little 
Child's  Monument,'  1881.  The  ablest  of  his 
critical  writings  was  his  sympathetic,  if  some- 
what capricious,  '  Essays  upon  Poetry  and 
Poets,'  London,  1886,  8vo,  including  papers 
on  Chatterton,  Byron,  Shelley,  Wordsworth, 
Keats,  Hugo,  Tennyson,  and  Walt  Whit- 
man. A  selection  from  his  poems,  with  a 
prefatory  notice  by  his  friend,  Mr.  Robert 
Buchanan,  was  issued  in  the  series  known 
as  the  'Canterbury  Poets'  in  1892.  From 
1867  to  1871  Noel  performed  the  duties  of 
a  groom  of  the  privy  chamber  to  Queen 
Victoria.  He  died  very  suddenly  at  Mainz 
on  26  May  1894.  By  his  wife  Alice, 
daughter  of  Paul  de  Broe,  he  left  a  son, 
Conrad  Le  Despencer  Roden,  and  a  daughter, 
Frances. 

His  writings,  besides  those  mentioned,  in- 
clude :  1.  '  The  Red  Flag  and  other  Poems,' 
1872,  8vo.  2.  '  Livingstone  in  Africa :  a 
Poem,'  1874,  16mo.  3.  '  The  House  of  Ra- 
vensburg :  a  Drama,'  in  five  acts  and  in  verse, 


4. 


'  A  Philosophy  of  Immortality/ 
5.  '  Songs  of  the  Heights  and  Deeps,' 


1877. 

1882.    _____„_. 

1885,  8vo.  6.  '  A  Modern  Faust  and  other 
Poems,'  1888,  8vo.  7.  '  Life  of  Lord  Byron' 
(Great  Writers'  Series),  1890,  8vo.  8.  '  Poor 
People's  Christmas :  a  Poem,'  1890.  He  also 
edited  a  '  Selection  from  the  Poems  of  Ed- 
mund Spenser,'  1887,  8vo,  and  the  '  Plays 
of  Thomas  Otway'  for  the  Mermaid  Series, 
1888,  8vo. 

[Art.  by  J.  A.  Symonds  in  Miles's  Poets  of 
the  Nineteenth  Century;  Times,  28  May  1894; 
Athenaeum,  Academy,  and  Saturday  Review, 
2  June  1894;  Spectator,  lix.  755;  Noel's  works 
in  the  Brit.  Mus.  Library.]  T.  S. 

NOEL,  THOMAS  (1799-1861),  poet, 
eldest  son  of  the  Rev.  Thomas  Noel,  was 
born  at  Kirkby-Mallory  on  11  May  1799. 
His  father,  who  had  been  presented  to  the 
livings  of  Kirkby-Mallory  and  Elmsthorpe, 
both  in  Leicestershire,  by  his  kinsman  Thomas 
Noel,  viscount  Wentworth,  in  1798,  died  at 
Plymouth  on  22  Aug.  1854,  at  the  age  of 
seventy-nine.  The  son,  who  graduated  B.  A. 
from  Merton  College,  Oxford,  in  1824,  issued 
in  1833  a  series  of  stanzas  upon  proverbs  and 
scriptural  texts,  entitled  '  The  Cottage  Muse,' 
London  (printed  at  Maidenhead),  8vo ;  and 
in  1841  'Village  Verse'  and  'Rymes  and 
Roundelayes,'  London,  8vo.  The  latter 
volume  includes  a  version  of  the  '  Rat-tower 
Legend,'  the  '  Poor  Voter's  Song,'  the  once 
well-known  'Pauper's  Drive,'  often  wrongly 
attributed  to  Thomas  Hood,  and  pretty 
verses  on  the  scenery  of  the  Thames.  Noel 
lived  for  many  years  in  great  seclusion  at 
Boyne  Hill,  near  Maidenhead ;  but  in  the 
autumn  of  1858  he  went  to  live  at  Brighton, 
where  he  died  on  16  May  1861.  Miss  Mit- 
ford  corresponded  with  him  frequently,  al- 
though they  never  met.  Among  other  friends 
were  Thomas  Vardon,  the  librarian  of  the 
House  of  Commons,  and  Lady  Byron,  the 
wife  of  the  poet,  who  was  a  distant  connec- 
tion. By  his  wife  Emily,  youngest  daughter 
of  Captain  Halliday  of  Ham  Lodge,  Twicken- 
ham, Noel  left  two  children. 

The  '  Pauper's  Drive '  and  '  A  Thames 
Voyage'  are  quoted  in  extenso  and  justly 
praised  by  Miss  Mitford  in  her  '  Recollec- 
tions of  a  Literary  Life.'  The  former  was  set 
to  music  by  Mr.  Henry  Russell  in  1839. 
Noel  also  wrote  the  words  of  the  familiar 
song  '  Rocked  in  the  Cradle  of  the  Deep.' 

[Foster's  Alumni  Oxon.  1715-1886  ;  James 
Payn's  Literary  Recollections,  pp.  87-92  ;  Miss 
Mitford's  Recollections  of  a  Literary  Life,  1 859, 
p.29;  Gent.  Mag  1854,i.215;  Daily  Telegraph, 
30  June  1894 ;  Notes  and  Queries,  1st  ser.  x.  285, 
350,  453,  7th  ser.  xii.  486,  8th  ser.  i.  153,  vi.  52, 
150  ;  private  information.]  T.  S. 


Noel 


93 


Noke 


NOEL,  WILLIAM  (1695-1762),  judge, 
the  younger  son  of  Sir  John  Noel,  bart.,  of 
Kirby-Mallory,  Leicestershire,  by  his  wife 
Mary,  youngest  daughter  and  co-heiress  of 
Sir  John  Clobery,  kt.,  of  Bradstone,  Devon- 
shire, was  born  on  19  March  1695.  He  was 
educated  at  Lichfield  grammar  school,  under 
the  Rev.  John  Hunter  (  Works  of  Thomas 
Newton,  Bishop  of  Bristol,  1682,  i.  8),  and 
having  been  admitted  a  member  of  the  Inner 
Temple  on  12  Feb.  1716,  was  called  to  the  bar 
on  25  June  1721 .  At  a  by-election  in  October 
1722  he  was  returned  to  the  House  of  Com- 
mons for  the  borough  of  Stamford,  which 
he  continued  to  represent  until  June  1747. 
He  defended  Richard  Francklin,  who  was 
tried  before  Chief-justice  Raymond  in  De- 
cember 1731  for  publishing  a  libel  in  the 
'  Craftsman '  (HOWELL,  State  Trials,  1816, 
xvii.  662-3).  He  held  the  post  of  deputy- 
recorder  of  Stamford  for  some  years,  and  in 
1738  became  a  king's  counsel  and  a  bencher 
of  the  Inner  Temple  (28  April).  On  11  Dec. 
1746  he  was  appointed  a  member  of  the 
committee  for  preparing  the  articles  of  im- 
peachment against  Lord  Lovat  (Commons'1 
Journals,  xxv.  211),  and  during  the  trial  in 
March  1747  replied  to  some  objections  which 
Lovat  had  raised  in  his  defence  (HowELL, 
State  Trials,  xviii.  817-19).  At  the  general 
election  in  July  1747  Noel  was  returned  for 
the  borough  of  West  Looe,  Cornwall,  and 
on  25  Oct.  1749  was  appointed  chief  jus- 
tice of  Chester  (  Thirty-first  Annual  Report 
of  the  Deputy-Keeper  of  the  Public  Records, 
1870,  p.  227).  He  was  again  returned  for 
West  Looe  at  the  general  election  in  April 
1754.  Through  Lord  Hard wicke's  influence 
Noel  succeeded  Thomas  Birch  as  a  justice  of 
the  common  pleas  in  March  1757,  when  he 
retired  from  parliament,  but  retained  the 
post  of  chief-justice  of  Chester  (HARRIS, 
Life  of  Lord  'Chancellor  Hardwicke,  1847, 
iii.  110-11).  On  the  accession  of  his  nephew, 
Sir  Edward  Noel,  bart.,  to  thebarony  of  Went- 
worth  in  1745,  Noel  assumed  the  courtesy 
title  of '  honourable.'  He  was  never  knighted. 
No  speech  of  his  is  to  be  found  in  the  '  Par- 
liamentary History,'  and  but  few  of  his  judg- 
ments are  reported.  He  is  described  by 
Horace  Walpole  as  '  a  pompous  man  of  little 
solidity,'  and  he  is  held  up  to  ridicule  in 
'The  Causidicade'  (1743,  lines  95-106). 
Noel  died  on  8  Dec.  1762. 

Noel  married  Elizabeth,  third  daughter  of 
Sir  Thomas  Trollope,  bart.,  of  Casewick, 
Lincolnshire,  by  whom  he  had  four  daugh- 
ters, viz.  (1)  Susannah  Maria,  who  became 
the  second  wife  of  Thomas  Hill  of  Tern  Hall, 
Shropshire,  and  died  on  14  Feb.  1760,  aged 
41 .  Their  son,  Noel  Hill,  was  created  Baron 


Berwick  on  19  May  1784 ;  (2)  Anne,who  died 
unmarried ;  ( 3)  Frances,  who  married  Bennet, 
third  earl  of  Harborough,  on  3  July  1767, 
and  died  on  13  Sept.  1760;  and  (4)  Eliza- 
beth. 

[Foss's  Judges  of  England,  1864,  viii.  349-51 ; 
Martin's  Masters  of  the  Bench  of  the  Inner 
Temple,  1883,  p.  71  ;  Nichols's  Hist,  of  Leices- 
tershire, 1811,  vol.  iv.  pt.  ii,  pp.  767,  770,  772; 
Nichols's  Literary  Anecdotes,  vi.  102,  viii.  660; 
Nichols's  Illustrations  of  Literary  History,  ii. 
34,  iv.  498,  vi.  311  ;  Burke's  Extinct  Peerage, 
1883,  p.  578;  Burke's  Extinct  Baronetage,  1844, 
p.  389 ;  Gent.  Mag.  1 757  p.  338, 1 760  pp.  103,443, 
1 762  p.  600 ;  Official  Return  of  Lists  of  Members 
of  Parliament,  pt.  ii.  pp.  53,  65,  76,  89,  99,  110  ; 
Haydn's  Book  of  Dignities,  1890 ;  Notes  and 
Queries,  8th  ser.  ii.  387.]  G.  F.  R.  B. 

NOEL-FEARN,  HENRY  (1811-1868), 
miscellaneous  writer  and  numismatist.  [See 
CHRISTMAS.] 

NOEL-HILL,  WILLIAM,  third  LORD 
BERWICK  (d,  1842).  [See  HILL.] 

NOKE  or  NOKES,  JAMES  (d.  1692?), 
actor,  belonged  to  a  family  whose  name,  ac- 
cording to  Malone,  was  properly  Noke.  It  is 
variously  spelt  Noke,  Nokes, "  Noake,  and 
Noakes.  Thomas  Noke  was  yeoman  of  the 
guard  to  Henry  VIII,  and  Ashmole  supplies 
a  pedigree  of  Noke  or  Noake  of  Bray.  James 
was,  according  to  Thomas  Brown  ( '  Letters 
from  the  Dead  to  the  Living,'  Works,  ii.  18, 
ed.  1707),  in  early  life  the  keeper  of  a  'Nick- 
nackatory  or  toy-shop  .  .  .  over  against  the 
Exchange  '  in  Cornhill.  He  joined  in  1659 
the  company  assembled  at  the  Cockpit  by 
Rhodes,  being  one  of  six  boy  actors  who  com- 
monly acted  women's  parts  (DowNES,  Roscius 
Anglicanus).  In  the  same  company  was  Ro- 
bert Nokes  (d.  1673?),  an  elder  brother.  As 
Downes  speaks  of  both  simply  as  Nokes,  it 
is  at  times  impossible  to  tell  which  actor  is 
meant.  His  first  mention  of  Nokes  is  as 
Norfolk  in  '  King  Henry  VIII.'  Pepys  saw 
this  at  Lincoln's  Inn  Fields,  1  Jan.  1663-4. 
It  had  possibly  been  played  before.  On  ac- 
count of  the  insignificance  of  the  part, 
Davies  (Dramatic  Miscellanies},  and  after 
him  Bellchambers,  in  his  edition  of  Gibber's 
'  Apology,'  assume  this  to  have  been  Robert 
Nokes.  Curll,  in  '  The  History  of  the  Eng- 
lish Stage,'  which  he  attributes  to  Betterton, 
assigns  the  part  to  James,  and  says  that 
'  King  Charles  the  Second  first  discovered 
his  excellencies  as  he  was  acting  the  Duke 
of  Norfolk  in  Shakespeare's  "  Henry  VIII." ' 
The  first  part  that  can  safely  be  assigned 
him  is  Florimel  in  the  '  Maid  in  the  Mill '  of 
Beaumont  and  Fletcher,  which  he  played, 
1659,  as  a  member  of  Rhodes's  company  at 


Noke 


94 


Nok< 


the  Cockpit  in  Drury  Lane  (Dowras)  or 
elsewhere.  When  the  company  came,  as  the 
Duke's,  under  the  control  of  Sir  William 
D'Avenant  [q.  v.],  Nokes  was  the  original 
Puny  in  Cowlev's '  Cutter  of  Coleman  Street,' 
at  Lincoln's  Inn  Fields  (16  Dec.  1661).  The 
part  of  Menanthe  in  Sir  Robert  Stapleton's 
'Slighted  Maid,'  acted,  not  for  the  first 
time,  28  May  1663,  is  assigned  to  Nokes  the 
younger.  In  the  following  year  James  was  Sir 
Nicholas  Cully  in  Etherege's  '  Comical  Re- 
venge, or  Love  in  a  Tub,'  licensed  for  print- 
ing 6  July  1664,  and,  13  Aug.,  Constable  of 
France  in  Lord  Orrery's  'Henry  V.'  On 
16  Aug.  1667  he  was  Sir  Martin  Mar-all  in 
Dryden's  play  of  that  name,  based  on  a 
translation  by  the  Duke  of  Newcastle  of 
'  L'Etourdi '  of  Moliere.  Dryden  purposely- 
adapted  the  part  to  the  manner  of  Nokes's 
acting,  and  it  was  his  best  role.  With  one 
or  two  exceptions  the  parts  played  by  Nokes 
are  all  original.  On  6  Feb.  he  was  Sir  Oliver 
Cockwood  in  Etherege's  '  She  would  if  she 
could.'  Ninny  in  Shadwell's  '  Sullen  Lovers, 
or  the  Impertinents,'  followed,  5  May.  In 
1669  he  played  Sir  Arthur  Addel  in  '  Sir 
Solomon,  or  the  Cautious  Coxcomb,'  adapted 
by  Caryll  from  '  L'Ecole  des  Femmes.'  In 
the  piece  played  before  the  court  at  Dover,  in 
May  1670,  Nokes  wore  an  exceedingly  short 
laced  coat,  deriding  the  French  fashion  of 


that  Nokes  '  might  ape  the  French.'  At '  his 
first  entrance  he  put  the  king  and  court  into 
an  excessive  laughter,  and  the  French  were 
much  chagrined  to  see  themselves  aped  by 
such  a  buffoon  as  Sir  Arthur '  (DowNEs).  In 
Betterton's  'Amorous  Widow,  or  Wanton 
Wife,'  adapted  from  Georges  Dandin,  Nokes 
was  Sir  Barnaby  Brittle.  In  1671  the  com- 
pany migrated  to  Dorset  Garden.  Here,  in 
1671,  Nokes  was  Old  Jorden  in  the '  Citizen 
turn'd  Gentleman,  or  Mamamouchi,'  adapted 
by  Ravenscroft  from  '  M.  de  Porceaugnac ' 
and '  Le  Bourgeois  Gentilhomme'  of  Moliere. 
Nokes  in  this  '  pleased  the  king  and  court 
better  than  in  any  character  except  Sir  Mar- 
tin Marrall '  (Dowtf ES).  He  was  also  Mr. 
Anthony  in  the  Earl  of  Orrery's  play  of  that 
name.  Genest  assumes  that  in  1672  he  was 
Monsieur  de  Paris  in  Wycherley's '  Gentleman 
Dancing  Master.'  His  name  appears  to  Bisket 
in  Shadwell's  'Epsom  Wells,'  and  to  the 
Nurse  in  Nevil  Payne's  '  Fatal  Jealousy,' 
licensed  22  Nov.  1672.  So  much  laughter  did 
he  cause  in  the  last-named  part  that  he  was 
thenceforth  known  as  Nurse  Nokes.  It  was 
doubtless  due  to  the  success  of  this  impersona- 
tion that  he  played,  eight  years  later,  the  Nurse 


in  the  '  History  and  Fall  of  Caius  Marius,' 
Otway's  adaptation  of  '  Romeo  and  Juliet.' 
In  the  epilogue  to  this  piece  Mrs.  Barry 
said : — 

And  now  for  you  who  here  come  wrapt  in 

cloaks, 
Only  for  love  of  Underbill  [Sulpitius]  and 

Nurse  Nokes. 

Meanwhile  Nokes  had  played,  in  1673, 
Polonius,  and  originated,  in  1676,  Bubble,  in 
Durfey's  '  Fond  Husband,  or  the  Plotting 
Sisters ; '  Toby,  in  Durfey's  '  Madam  Fickle, 
or  The  Witty  False  One ; '  in  1677  Gripe  in 
Otway's  '  Cheats  of  Scapin ; '  in  1678  Sir 
Credulous  Easy  in  Mrs.  Behn's  '  Sir  Patient 
Fancy;'  Squire  Oldsappin  Durfey's  piece  of 
the  same  name;  and,  Genest  holds,  Limber- 
ham  in  Dryden's  '  Limberham,  or  the  Kind 
Keeper;'  also,  in  1679,  Sir  Signal  Buffoon 
in  Mrs.  Behn's  'Feigned  Courtezans,  or  a 
Night's  Intrigue.'  Another  female  character 
of  little  importance  was  played  in  1680 — 
viz.  Lady  Beardly  in  Durfey's  '  Virtuous 
Wife  or  Good  Luck  at  Last.'  In  1681  Nokes's 
name  appears  to  six  characters,  all  original, 
consisting  of  Fetherfool  in  Mrs.  Behn's 
'  Rover,  Pt.  ii.'  Vindicius  in  Lee's  '  Lucius 
Junius  Brutus,  the  Father  of  his  Country;' 
Sir  David  Dunce  in  Otway's  '  Soldier's  For- 
tune;' Gomez  in  Dryden's  'Spanish  Friar;' 
Sir  Timothy  Treatall  in  Mrs.  Behn's  'City 
Heiress ; '  and  Pol  trot  in  Lee's  '  Princess  of 
Cleves.'  In  1682  he  was  Doodle  in  Ravens- 
croft's  '  London  Cuckolds '  and  Francisco  in 
Mrs.  Behn's '  False  Count.'  After  the  union  of 
the  two  companies  (November  1682)  Nokes 
acted  at  the  Theatre  Royal  (Drury  Lane) 
Cokes  in  a  revival  of  Jonson's '  Bartholomew 
Fair.'  In  1 684  he  was  Cringe  in  the '  Factious 
Citizen '  (anon.)  ;  in  1686  Megaera,  '  an  old 
hag,'  in  Durfey's  '  Banditti,  or  a  Lady's  Dis- 
tress;'  in  1687  Sir  Cautious  Fulbank  in  Mrs. 
Behn's  '  Lucky  Chance,  or  an  Alderman's 
Bargain;'  in  1688  Cocklebrain  in  'Fool's 
Preferment,  or  the  three  Dukes  of  Dun- 
stable,'  Durfey's  alteration  of  Fletcher's 
'  Noble  Gentleman,'  and  the  Elder  Telford,  a 
part  subsequently  resigned,  in  Shadwell's 
'  Squire  of  Alsatia ; '  in  1689  Sir  Humphrey 
Noddy  in  Shadwell's '  Bury  Fair '  and  Spruce 
in  Carlile's  '  Fortune  Hunters,  or  two  Fools 
well  met ; '  in  1690  Don  Lopez  in  Mountfort's 
'  Successful  Strangers,'  and  Sosia  in  Dryden's 
'  Amphitryon ; '  and  in  1691  Serjeant  Either- 
side  in  '  King  Edward  the  Third,  with  the 
Fall  of  Mortimer,'  ascribed  to  Mountfort ; 
Raison  in  Mountfort's  '  Greenwich  Park,'  and 
Sir  John  in  a  revival  of  the  '  Merry  Devil  of 
Edmonton.'  These  are  all  the  characters 
that  can  be  traced.  Though  he  is  stated  to 


Noke 


95 


Nolan 


have  spent  much  of  his  time  at  the  '  tables 
of  dissipation '  (cf.  Notes  and  Queries,  I.  xi. 
365),  Nokes  retired  from  the  stage  with 
money  enough  to  purchase  an  estate  at  Tot- 
teridge,  near  Barnet,  worth  400/.  a  year,  which 
he  left  to  his  nephew.  Here  he  is  supposed  to 
have  died.  According  to  Colley  Gibber,  Nokes, 
Mountfort,  and  Leigh  all  died  in  the  same 
year— 1692. 

Nokes  was  an  excellent  comedian,  to  whose 
merit  Gibber  bears  ungrudging  testimony. 
His  person  was  of  middle  size,  his  voice  clear 
and  audible,  his  natural  countenance  grave 
and  sober,  but  the  moment  he  spoke  '  the 
settled  seriousness  of  his  features  was  utterly 
discharged,  and  a  dry  drollery,  or  laughing 
levity  took .  .  .  full  possession  of  him. ...  In 
some  of  his  low  characters  he  had  a  shuffling 
shamble  in  his  gait,  with  so  contented  an 
ignorance  in  his  aspect,  and  an  awkward  ab- 
surdity in  his  gesture,  that,  had  you  not  known 
him,  you  could  not  have  believed  that,  natu- 
rally, he  could  have  had  a  grain  of  common- 
sense  '  (ClBBER,  Apology,  ed.  Lowe,  i.  145). 
Gibber  also  says  that  the  general  conversation 
of  Nokes  conveyed  the  idea  that  he  was  re- 
hearsing a  play,  and  adds  that,  though  he 
has  in  his  memory  the  sound  of  every  line 
Nokes  spoke,  he  essayed  in  vain  to  mimic 
him.  To  tell  how  he  acted  parts  such  as 
Sir  Martin  Mar-all,  Sir  Nicholas  Cully, 
Barnaby  Brittle,  Sir  Davy  Dunce,  Sosia,  &c., 
is  beyond  the  reach  of  criticism.  On  his  first 
entrance  he  produced  general  laughter.  '  Yet 
the  louder  the  laugh  the  graver  was  his  look. 
...  In  the  ludicrous  dulness  which,  by  the 
laws  of  comedy,  folly  is  often  involved  in,  he 
sunk  into  such  a  mixture  of  piteous  pusil- 
lanimity, and  a  consternation  so  ruefully 
ridiculous  and  inconsolable,  that,  when  he 
had  shook  you  to  a  fatigue  of  laughter,  it 
became  a  moot  point  whether  you  ought  not 
to  have  pitied  him.  When  he  debated  any 
matter  by  himself,  he  would  shut  up  his 
mouth  with  a  dumb,  studious  powt,  and  roll 
his  eyes  into  such  a  vacant  amazement — 
such  a  palpable  ignorance  of  what  to  think 
of  it,  that  his  silent  perplexity  (which  would 
sometimes  hold  him  several  minutes)  gave 
your  imagination  as  full  content  as  anything 
he  could  say  upon  it '  (ib.  i.  141  et  seq.)  After 
a  parallel  with  Leigh,  Gibber  gave  Nokes 
the  preference.  Davies  conjectures  that 
Nokes,  '  whose  face  was  a  comedy,'  played 
the  Fool  to  Betterton's  Lear  (Dram.  Misc. 
ii.  267).  Tom  Brown  also  praises  Nokes's 
comic  gifts.  In  Lord  Orrery's  '  Mr.  Antony,' 
Nokes,  armed  with  a  blunderbuss,  fought  a 
comic  duel  with  Angel,  armed  with  a  bow 
and  arrow.  In  his  elegy  on  the  death  of 
Philips,  Edmund  Smith,  quoted  by  Davies, 


bears  tribute  to  Nokes's  burlesque  gifts.   No 
portrait  is  known. 

[Works  cited  ;  Genest's  Account  of  the  Stage  ; 
Betterton  or  Oldys's  History  of  the  English 
Stage.]  J.  K. 

NOLAN,  FREDERICK  (1784-1864). 
divine,  born  at  Old  Rathmines  Castle,  co. 
Dublin,  the  seat  of  his  grandfather,  on  9  Feb, 
1784,  was  third  son  of  Edward  Nolan  of  St. 
Peter's,  Dublin,  by  his  wife  Florinda.  In 
1796  he  entered  Trinity  College,  Dublin,  but 
did  not  graduate,  and  on  19  Nov.  1803  ma- 
triculated at  Oxford  as  a  gentleman  com- 
moner of  Exeter  College,  chiefly  in  order  to 
study  at  the  Bodleian  and  other  libraries. 
He  passed  his  examination  for  the  degree  of 
B.C.L.  in  1805,  but  he  did  not  take  it  until 
1828,  when  he  proceeded  D.C.L.  at  the  same 
time  (FOSTER,  Alumni  Oxon.  1715-1886,  iii. 
1026).  He  was  ordained  in  August  1806,  and 
after  serving  curacies  at  Woodford,  Hackney, 
and  St.  Benet  Fink,  London,  he  was  presented, 
on  25  Oct.  1822,  to  the  vicarage  of  Prittle- 
well,  Essex.  In  1814  he  was  appointed  to 
preach  the  Boyle  lecture,  in  1833  the  Bamp- 
ton  lecture  at  Oxford,  and  during  1833-6 
the  Warburtonian  lecture,  being  the  only 
clergyman  who  had  hitherto  been  selected 
to  deliver  these  three  great  lectures  in  suc- 
cession. 

Nolan  enjoyed  in  his  day  considerable  re- 
putation as  a  theologian  and  linguist.  His 
religious  views  were  evangelical,  and  he  was 
strongly  opposed  to  the  Oxford  movement. 
He  was  a  fellow  of  the  Royal  Society  in 
183S.  "Some  of  his  works  were  printed  at  i 
a  press  which  he  set  up  at  Prittlewell.  He 
died  at  Geraldstown  House,  co.  Navan,  on 
16  Sept.  1864,  and  was  buried  in  the  ances- 
tral vault  in  Navan  churchyard.  He  was 
married,  but  left  no  issue,  and  with  him  the 
family  became  extinct. 

His  chief  works  were :  1.  '  The  Romantick 
Mythology,  in  two  parts.  To  which  is  sub- 
joined a  Letter  illustrating  the  origin  of  the 
marvellous  Imagery,  particularly  as  it  ap- 
pears to  be  derived  from  Gothick  Mythology,' 
4to,  London,  1809.  2.  'An  Inquiry  into 
the  nature  and  extent  of  Poetick  Licence,' 
8vo,  London  1810 ;  published  under  the  pseu- 
donym of '  N.  A.  Vigors,  jun.,  Esq.'  3.  '  The 
Operations  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  illustrated 
and  confirmed  by  Scriptural  Authorities,  in 
a  series  of  sermons  evincing  the  wisdom  .  .  . 
of  the  Economy  of  Grace,'  8vo,  London,  1813. 
4.  'An  Inquiry  into  the  Integrity  of  the 
Greek  Vulgate,  or  Received  Text  of  the  New 
Testament,  etc.'  8vo,  London,  1815  (a '  Sup- 
plement'followed  in  1830).  5.  'Fragments 
of  a  civick  feast :  being  a  Key  to  Mr.  Volney's 


Nolan  96 


Nolan 


"  Ruins:  or,  the  Revolutions  of  Empires;  by  a 
Reformer," '  8vo,  London,  1819.  In  this  work 
the  'revolutionary  and  sceptical  opinions  '  of 
Volney  are  refuted.  6.  '  A  Harmonical  Gram- 
mar of  the  principal  ancient  and  modern 
Languages  ;  viz.  the  Latin,  Greek,  Hebrew, 
Chaldee,  Syriac,  and  Samaritan,  the  French, 
Italian,  Spanish,  Portuguese,  German,  and 
Modern  Greek,'  2  parts,  12mo,  London,  1822 
(most  of  these  grammars  na<^  been  published 
separately  in  1819  and  1821).  7.  '  The  Ex- 
pectations formed  by  the  Assyrians  that  a 
Great  Deliverer  would  appear  about  the  time 
of  our  Lord's  Advent  demonstrated,'  8vo, 
London  [Prittlewell  printed],  1826.  8.  '  The 
Time  of  the  Millennium  investigated,  and  its 
Nature  determined  on  Scriptural  Grounds,' 
8vo,  London  [Prittlewell,  privately  printed], 
1831.  The  last  two  works  form  part  of  Nolan  s 
'  Boyle  Lectures.'  After  their  delivery  mate- 
rials accumulated  under  his  researches  for  a 
•work  of  considerable  extent,  to  be  entitled '  A 
Demonstration  of  Revelation,  from  the  Sign 
of  the  Sabbath,'  but  he  did  not  complete  it. 
9.  '  The  Analogy  of  Revelation  and  Science 
established '  (Bampton  Lectures),  8vo,  Ox- 
ford, 1833.  10.  '  The  Chronological  Prophe- 
cies as  constituting  a  Connected  System ' 
(Warburton  Lectures),  8vo,  London,  1837. 
11.  'The  Evangelical  Character  of  Christi- 
anity . . .  asserted  and  vindicated,' 18mo,  Lon- 
don," 1838.  12.  '  The  Catholic  Character  of 
Christianity  as  recognised  by  the  Reformed  j 
Church,  in  opposition  to  the  corrupt  traditions  | 
of  the  Church  of  Rome,  asserted,'  18mo,  Lon-  j 
don,  1839 ;  this  was  the  first  work  published 
in  reply  to '  Tracts  for  the  Times.'  13.  '  The 
Egyptian  Chronology  analysed,  its  theory 
developed  and  practically  applied,  and  con- 
firmed in  its  dates  and  details,  from  its  agree- 
ment with  the  Hieroglyphic  Monuments  and 
the  Scripture  Chronology,'  8vo,  London,  Ox- 
ford [printed],  1848. 

[Gent.  Mag.  1864,  pt.  ii.  pp.  788-91.]  G.  G. 

NOLAN,  LEWIS  EDWARD  (1820  P- 
1854),  captain  15th  hussars  and  writer  on 
cavalry,  born  about  1820,  was  son  of  Major 
Babington  Nolan,  sometime  of  the  70th  foot, 
and  afterwards  British  vice-consul  at  Milan. 
Two  brothers,  like  himself,  lost  their  lives  in 
battle.  Obtaining  a  commission  in  an  Hunga- 
rian hussarregiment,  he  was  a  pupilof  Colonel 
Haas,  the  instructor  of  the  Austrian  imperial 
cavalry,  and  served  with  the  regiment  in  Hun- 
gary and  on  the  Polish  frontier.  Leaving  the 
imperial  he  entered  the  British  service  by 
purchase  as  ensign  in  the  4th  king's  own  foot 
15  March  1839,  and  on  23  April  was  trans- 
ferred to  the  15th  king's  hussars,  then  ordered 
to  India,  as  cornet,  paying  the  difference  in  the 


value  of  the  commission.  He  purchased  his 
lieutenancy  in  the  regiment  19  June  1841, 
and  his  troop  8  March  1850.  He  was  some 
time  aide-de-camp  to  Lieutenant-general  Sir 
George  Frederick  Berkeley,  commanding  the 
troops  in  Madras,  and  afterwards  extra  aide- 
de-camp  to  the  governor,  Sir  Henry  Pottin- 
ger.  When  the  regiment  was  ordered  home  in 
1853,  Nolan  got  leave  to  travel  in  Russia,  and 
visited  the  principal  military  stations.  He 
was  sent  to  Turkey  in  advance  of  the  eastern 
expedition  to  make  arrangements  for  the  re- 
ception of  the  cavalry  of  the  force,  and  to 
buy  up  horses.  He  landed  in  the  Crimea  as 
aide-de-camp  to  the  quartermaster-general, 
Colonel  Richard  (afterwards  Lord)  Airey 
[q.  v.],  and  was  present  at  the  Alma. 

At  Balaklava,  on  25  Oct.  1854,  by  express 
desire  of  Lord  Raglan,  the  commander-in- 
chief,  Nolan  carried  a  written  order  to  Lord 
Lucan,  the  officer  commanding  the  British 
cavalry,  bidding  him  prevent  the  Russians 
from  carrying  away  some  English  guns  which 
they  had  just  taken  from  Turkish  troops 
under  Liprandi.  The  guns  were  on  the  cause- 
way heights  away  on  the  front  of  the  light 
brigade  (KINGLAKE,  v.  218-19).  Lucan  ex- 
pressed doubt  about  the  meaning  of  the  order, 
and  subsequently  alleged  want  of  respect  to- 
wards himself  on  Nolan's  part.  '  Where  are 
we  to  advance?'  he  asked;  and  Nolan  re- 
plied, '  There's  your  enemy,  and  there  are 
the  guns,  my  lord ! '  Lucan,  in  after  years, 
always  asserted  that  the  guns  were  not  visible 
where  he  received  the  order,  although  they 
could  be  plainly  seen  by  Lord  Raglan's  staff 
on  the  higher  ground.  Lord  Cardigan  [see 
BETTDENELL,  JAMES  THOMAS],  in  command  of 
the  light  brigade,  received  the  order  direct 
from  Lucan  himself,  but  wrongly  understood 
the  instructions  to  mean  a  charge  straight 
down  the  valley,  past  the  guns,  against  the 
Russian  batteries  at  the  far  end.  The  brigade 
had  just  got  into  motion — Cardigan  leading, 
with  the  13th  light  dragoons  (now  hussars) 
and  the  17th  lancers  as  his  first  line — when 
Nolan  was  seen  riding  obliquely  across  the 
advance  and  gesticulating.  It  was  assumed 
that  he  was  making  an  excited  attempt  to 
hurry  on  the  charge,  but  in  reality  he  appears 
to  have  been  endeavouring,  as  an  officer  of  the 
quartermaster-general's  staff,  to  divert  the 
brigade  from  its  course  down  the  valley  to 
its  nearer  and  intended  objective  on  the  right 
front.  A  fragment  of  Russian  shell  from  the 
first  gun  fired  struck  him  on  the  chest,  laying 
it  open  to  the  heart.  For  a  moment  his  body, 
with  rigid  uplifted  sword-arm,  was  borne 
along  the  front,  and  then  dropped  from  the 
saddle  in  a  squadron  interval  of  the  13th  dra- 
goons as  the  brigade  swept  onward  into  the 


Nolan 


97 


Nollekens 


'valley  of  death.'  Twenty  minutes  later, 
when  the  survivors  of  the  '  six  hundred ' 
were  coming  in,  Cardigan  broke  out  in  a 
complaint  of  Nolan's  interference,  but  Lord 
Raglan  checked  him  by  remarking  that  just 
before  he  had  all  but  ridden  over  Nolan's 
lifeless  body. 

Nolan  was  a  most  accomplished  soldier — 
he  spoke  five  European  languages  and  seve- 
ral Indian  dialects ;  he  was  a  superb  rider 
and  swordsman,  winner  of  some  of  the  stiffest 
steeplechases  ever  ridden  in  Madras,  and  an 
enthusiast  in  all  relating  to  his  arm,  with 
unbounded  faith  in  its  capabilities  when 
rightly  handled.  He  was  the  author  of  a 
work  on  '  Breaking  Cavalry  Horses,'  an 
adaptation  of  Bauchir's  method  to  British 
military  requirements,  an  edition  of  which, 
revised  by  the  author,  was  published  pos- 
thumously in  1861,  and  also  of  a  book  on 
'Cavalry*  (London,  1851),  which  attracted 
a  good  deal  of  notice  at  its  first  appearance. 
But  although  a  dashing,  impetuous  soldier, 
Nolan,  in  the  eyes  of  most  of  the  officers  of 
the  cavalry  division,  was  '  a  man  who  had 
written  a  book,'  who  was  full  of  new-fangled 
ideas,  and  was  too  ready  at  expressing  them. 

[Hart's  Army  Lists ;  Kinglake's  Invasion  of 
the  Crimea,  cabinet  edition,  vols.  ii.  and  iii.  and 
vol.  v.  passim  ;  Lord  George  Pa  get's  Light  Bri- 
gade in  the  Crimea,  1881;  Nolan's  writings; 
Gent.  Mag.  1855,  pt.  i.  p.  88 ;  a  portrait  of 
Nolan  from  a  painting,  taken  in  India,  appeared 
in  the  Illustr.  London  News,  24  Nov.  1854.] 

H.  M.  C. 

NOLAN,  MICHAEL  (d.  1827),  legal 
author,  born  in  Ireland,  was  admitted  an 
attorney  of  the  court  of  exchequer  in  that 
country  about  1787,  and  was  called  to  the 
English  bar  at  Lincoln's  Inn  in  1792.  In 
1793  he  published '  Reports  of  Cases  relative 
to  the  Duty  and  Office  of  a  Justice  of  Peace 
from  1791  to  1793,'  London,  8vo.  He  prac- 
tised as  a  special  pleader  on  the  home  circuit 
and  at  the  Surrey  sessions,  gained  great  ex- 
perience of  the  details  of  the  poor  law,  and 
some  celebrity  in  the  legal  world  as  the  author 
of  '  A  Treatise  of  the  Laws  for  the  Relief 
and  Settlement  of  the  Poor,'  London,  1805, 
2  vols.  8vo ;  4th  edit,  in  1825,  3  vols.  8vo. 
As  member  for  Barnstaple  in  the  parliament 
of  1820-6  he  introduced  the  Poor  Law  Re- 
form Bills  of  1822-3-4.  He  retired  from 
parliament  in  March  1824  on  being  appointed 
justice  of  the  counties  of  Brecon,  Glamorgan, 
and  Radnor.  He  died  in  1827. 

Nolan  edited  the  '  Reports '  of  Sir  John 
Strange  [q.v.],  London,  1795,  2  vols.  8vo, 
and  was  one  of  the  joint  editors  of  the  '  Sup- 
plement '  to  Viner's  '  Abridgment,'  London, 
1799-1806,  6  vols.  8vo.  Besides  the  work 

VOL.   XLI. 


on  the  poor  laws  he  published :  '  A  Syllabus 
of  Lectures  intended  to  be  delivered  in  Pur- 
suance of  an  Order  of  the  Hon.  Soc.  of  Lin- 
coln's Inn  in  their  Hall,'  London,  1796,  8vo, 
and  a  '  Speech  .  .  .  delivered  in  the  House  of 
Commons,  Wednesday,  July  10,  1822,  on 
moving  for  leave  to  bring  in  a  Bill  to  alter 
and  amend  the  Laws  for  the  Relief  of  the 
Poor,'  London,  1822,  8vo. 

[Wilson's  Dublin  Registry,  1788,  p.  113; 
Rose's  Biogr.  Diet. ;  Webb's  Compend.  Irish 
Biog. ;  Marvin's  Legal  Bibliogr. ;  Hansard,  new 
ser.  vols.  vii.  x.]  J.  M.  R. 

NOLLEKENS,  JOSEPH  (1737-1823), 
sculptor,  second  son  of  Joseph  Franciscus 
Nollekens  [q.  v.],  was  born  in  Dean  Street, 
Soho,  11  Aug.  1737,  and  was  baptised  the 
same  day  at  the  Roman  catholic  chapel  in 
Duke  Street,  Lincoln's  Inn  Fields.  After  the 
death  of  '  Old  Nollekens '  in  1747,  his  widow 
married  a  Welshman  named  Williams,  and 
settled  with  her  husband  in  the  Principality, 
placing  the  boy  Joseph  with  the  sculptor 
Peter  Scheemakers,  who,  like  the  elder  Nol- 
lekens, was  a  native  of  Antwerp. 

Joseph  is  said  to  have  been  looked  upon  by 
the  denizens  of  Vine  Street,  Piccadilly,  where 
Scheemakers  had  his  studio,  as  '  a  civil,  in- 
offensive lad,  not  particularly  bright.'  The 
latter  part  of  this  description  is  borne  out  by 
what  we  learn  of  him  in  later  years.  Indeed, 
in  everything  outside  his  artistic  faculty  Nol- 
lekens seems  to  have  exhibited  not  only  the 
ignorance  due  to  a  neglected  education,  but 
a  perversity  akin  to  imbecility.  He  had  in- 
herited from  his  father  a  passionate  love  of 
money,  which  displayed  itself  even  in  child- 
hood. Yet  the  wife  of  his  master  said  of  him 
that  '  Joey  was  so  honest,  she  could  always 
trust  him  to  stone  the  raisins.'  He  took  a 
sincere  delight  in  modelling,  his  only  other 
diversion  being  bell-tolling.  The  lad  was  at- 
tracted by  the  prizes  offered  by  the  Society  of 
Arts,  and,  according  to  the  books  of  the  society, 
he  was  in  1759  adjudged  15/.  15*.  for  a  model 
in  clay  of  figures ;  in  1760,  for  a  model  in 
clay,  a  bas-relief,  31/.  10*.;  and  in  the  same 
year,  for  a  model  in  clay  of  a  dancing  faun, 
10/.  10*.  Having  amassed  a  little  hoard  dur- 
ing ten  years  of  hard  work,  Nollekens  deter- 
mined to  visit  Italy.  He  started  for  Rome 
in  1760.  His  small  stock  of  money  being 
reduced  to  twenty-one  guineas  on  his  arrival, 
he  sent  to  England  a  model,  for  which  he 
received  ten  guineas  from  the  Society  of  Arts ; 
and  in  1762  he  was  further  encouraged  by  a 
premium  of  fifty  guineas  for  a  marble  bas- 
relief  of  'Timocles  conducted  before  Alex- 
ander.' But  the  foundation  of  his  future 
wealth  was  probably  laid  by  his  introduction 


Nollekens 


98 


Nollekens 


in  Rome  to  Garrick,  by  whom  he  was  re- 
ceived with  great  cordiality.  The  actor  com- 
missioned him  to  execute  a  bust,  for  which 
twelve  guineas  '  in  gold '  were  paid.  This, 
Nollekens's  maiden  effort  in  portraiture,  was 
so  successful  that  Sterne,  who  was  in  Rome, 
also  consented  to  sit.  The  result  was  a  bust 
for  which  Nollekens  himself  had  a  great 
partiality.  Even  in  his  period  of  full  deve- 
lopment it  was  held  to  be  among  his  best 
achievements,  as  is  shown  by  its  intro- 
duction into  the  sculptor's  portrait  by  Dance. 
But  Nollekens  endeavoured  to  make  money 
by  other  means  during  his  sojourn  in  Rome. 
He  took  an  active  part  in  the  traffic  in,  and 
restoration  of,  antiques.  His  first  venture  in 
this  line  was  the  purchase  of  some  fine 
specimens  of  ancient  terra-cottas  from 
labourers  employed  in  the  gravel-pits  at  the 
Porta  Latina,  who  had  found  them  at  the 
bottom  of  a  disused  well.  These,  which  he 
secured  for  a  very  trifling  sum,  he  eventually 
sold  to  the  well-known  collector  Townley. 
They  were  included  amongthe  marbles  bought 
by  government  after  Townley's  death,  and 
are  now  in  the  British  Museum.  Other 
wealthy  men  employed  him  as  their  agent 
in  the  collection  of  antiques ;  and  he  is  said 
to  have  bought  great  numbers  of  fragments 
on  his  own  account,  to  have  supplied  them 
with  missing  heads  and  limbs,  which  he 
stained  with  tobacco- water,  and  then  to  have 
sold  them  as  dubious  treasures  for  imposing 
sums.  By  these  devices  Nollekens  amassed 
the  means  to  become  a  speculator  on  the  Stock 
Exchange,  where  he  was  so  successful  that 
on  his  return  to  England  in  1770  he  was 
able  to  take  the  house  vacated  by  Francis 
Milner  Newton,  R.A.  [q.  v.]  (No.  9  Mortimer 
Street),  and  to  set  up  a  studio.  He  brought 
over  a  large  collection  of  antiques,  drawings, 
coins,  and  casts  of  his  own  busts.  These 
last  he  characteristically  turned  to  account 
by  filling  them  with  silk  stockings,  lace 
ruffles,  and  other  articles  liable  to  duty. 

His  reputation  had  already  reached  Eng- 
land, and  his  busts  became  almost  as  popular 
among  fashionable  people  as  Sir  Joshua's 
portraits.  In  1771  he  began  to  contribute 
regularly  to  the  Royal  Academy,  and  in  that 
year  was  elected  an  associate.  In  1772  he 
became  a  full  member,  the  king  himself  con- 
firming the  choice,  on  signing  the  diploma, 
by  a  compliment,  and  a  commission  for  a 
bust.  In  the  same  year  the  sculptor  married 
Mary,  the  second  daughter  of  Saunders 
Welch.  Welch,  who  succeeded  Fielding  as 
one  of  the  justices  of  the  peace  for  West- 
minster, was  an  intimate  friend  of  Johnson, 
and  the  latter  extended  his  regard  to  his 
friend's  daughters.  Mrs.  Nollekens  is  de- 


scribed as  having  claims  to  be  considered  a 
beauty ;  her  elegant  figure  and  auburn  ring- 
lets, the  pride  she  showed  in  the  compliments 
of  Dr.  Johnson  (who  declared  he  would  him- 
self have  been  her  suitor  had  not  his  friend 
been  too  prompt),  her  avaricious  character, 
her  petty  jealousies,  and  the  exhibitions  of 
what  Nollekens  called  her '  scorney '  temper 
have  all  been  noted  by  the  pitiless  biographer 
of  her  husband.  Nollekens  had  chosen  a 
partner  who  ably  seconded  him  in  his  mania 
for  sordid  economies.  The  description  of 
their  household  is  almost  incredible,  when 
we  consider  that  Nollekens  was  reckoning 
his  income  by  thousands,  and  left  a  fortune 
of  200,000/.  Ludicrous  tales  are  told  of  his 
own  and  his  wife's  parsimony — how  when 
Lord  Londonderry  sat  for  his  bust  on  a  cold 
day,  and  put  coals  on  the  scanty  fire  in  the 
sculptor's  momentary  absence,  he  was  re- 
proved by  Mrs.  Nollekens  ;  how  Mrs.  Nol- 
lekens fed  her  dogs  by  taking  them  to  prowl 
round  the  butchers'  stalls  in  Oxford  Market ; 
how  Nollekens  pocketed  the  nutmegs  pro- 
vided for  the  hot  negus  at  the  Academy 
dinners,  and  purloined  the  sweetmeats  from 
dessert  when  he  dined  out ;  how  he  sat  in  the 
dark  to  save  a  candle,  and  wrangled  with  the 
cobbler  for  a  few  extra  nails  in  his  old  shoes  ; 
how  he  owned  but  two  shirts,  two  coats, 
and  one  pair  of  small  clothes.  Yet  Nol- 
lekens reckoned  Reynolds  and  Johnson 
among  his  friends ;  he  was  capable  of  sudden 
freaks  of  generosity,  and,  especially  towards 
the  close  of  his  life,  would  astonish  needy 
acquaintances  with  considerable  gifts.  In 
his  last  years,  when  partially  paralysed,  and 
in  a  state  of  senile  imbecility,  he  was  sur- 
rounded by  parasites  who  hoped  to  benefit  by 
his  will.  The  Caleb  Whitefoord  of  Gold- 
smith's '  Retaliation,'  or  rather,  perhaps,  of 
the  spurious  appendix  to  the  poem,  was 
among  the  more  assiduous  of  these.  After 
his  wife's  death  in  1817  his  house  was  man- 
aged mainly  by  an  old  female  servant,  known 
in  the  neighbourhood  as  'Black  Bet,'  but 
nicknamed  '  Bronze '  by  his  pupils,  from  the 
darkness  of  her  skin.  In  his  eightieth  year 
he  made  an  unsuccessful  offer  of  marriage 
to  Mrs.  Zoffany,  the  painter's  widow.  The 
ministrations  of  akind-heartedwomannamed 
Holt,  formerly  his  wife's  companion,  insured 
him  a  certain  degree  of  comfort  for  the  last 
two  years  of  his  life.  He  died  in  his  house  in 
Mortimer  Street  on  23  April  1823,  and  was 
buried  in  Paddington  parish  church.  He  had 
remained  through  life  a  member  of  the  church 
of  Rome,  but  was  never  a  rigid  observer  of 
its  forms.  His  will  was  a  curious  document, 
with  many  codicils.  The  bulk  of  his  large 
fortune,  after  deducting  a  host  of  small 


Nollekens 


99 


Nollekens 


legacies,  he  left  to  Francis  Russell  Palmer, 
Francis  Douce,  and  Thomas  Kerrich  [q.  v.j 
Sir  William  Beechey  and  John  Thomas 
Smith,  afterwards  keeper  of  the  prints  in  the 
British  Museum,  a  former  pupil,  who  became 
his  master's  biographer,  were  appointed  exe- 
cutors, each  receiving  a  legacy  of  1001.  All 
the  tools  and  marble  on  the  premises  were 
given  to  his  carver,  Alexander  Goblet.  His 
collection  of  antiques,  busts,  and  models 
were,  under  his  directions,  sold  by  Christie  in 
Mortimer  Street  on  3  July  1823,  and  at  the 
auctioneer's  own  rooms  in  Pall  Mall  on  the 
two  days  following  (see  Sale  Catalogue  in 
the  British  Museum  with  the  prices  realised 
on  the  first  day).  His  prints  and  drawings 
were  sold  by  Messrs.  Evans  of  King  Street. 

In  person  Nollekens  was  grotesquely  ill- 
proportioned.  His  small  stature  gained  him 
the  nickname  of  '  Little  Nolly '  among  his 
intimates  ;  but  his  head  was  of  unusual  size, 
his  neck  short,  his  shoulders  narrow,  and  his 
body  too  large.  His  nose,  we  are  told, '  re- 
sembled the  rudder  of  an  Antwerp  packet- 
boat,'  and  his  legs  were  very  much  bowed. 

The  record  of  Nollekens's  artistic  activity 
is  long  and  honourable.  From  1771  to  1816 
he  was  a  constant  contributor  to  the  Royal 
Academy.  His  last  works  shown  there  in- 
cluded busts  of  Mr.  Coutts  the  banker,  Lord 
Liverpool,  and  the  Duke  of  Newcastle.  He 
was  a  most  industrious  worker,  rising  always 
at  dawn  to  water  his  clay  and  begin  his 
day's  labour.  Even  when  infirmities  had 
reduced  him  to  dotage  he  was  fond  of 
amusing  himself  by  modelling,  and  shortly 
before  his  death  executed  a  little  group  from 
a  design  by  Beechey.  Among  his  sitters  for 
busts  were  George  III,  the  Prince  and  Prin- 
cess of  Wales,  the  Duke  and  Duchess  of 
York,  the  Duke  of  Cumberland,  the  Duchess 
of  Argyll,  Sir  Joseph  Banks,  the  Duke  of 
Bedford,  Dr.  Burney,  George  Canning,  Lord 
Castlereagh,  Lord  and  Lady  Charlemont, 
Charles  James  Fox,  Lord  Grenville,  David 
Garrick,  Oliver  Goldsmith,  Dr.  Johnson, 
General  Paoli,  William  Pitt,  the  Empress 
of  Russia,  and  the  Duke  of  Wellington.  By 
his  '  stock  pieces,'  the  busts  of  Pitt  and  Fox, 
he  made  large  sums.  Pitt  would  never  con- 
sent to  sit  to  him,  and  the  bust  was  modelled 
from  a  death-mask  and  from  the  well-known 
portrait  by  Hoppner.  Nollekens  is  said  to 
have  sold  seventy-four  replicas  in  marble  at 
120  guineas  each,  and  six  hundred  casts  at 
six  guineas.  His  statue  of  Pitt  in  the 
Senate  House  at  Cambridge,  for  which  he 
received  altogether  4,0001.,  was  carried  out 
from  the  same  materials. 

His  work  as  a  sculptor  of  monuments  was 
considerable,  the  best  known  being  the  monu- 


ment to  '  the  three  captains  '  in  Westminster 
Abbey,  and  that  to  Mrs.  Howard  in  Corby 
Church, Cumberland.  The  '  Captains '  monu- 
ment was  left  in  his  studio  for  fourteen 
years,  waiting  for  the  inscription.  Nollekens 
lost  patience  at  last,  and  forced  a  conclusion 
by  a  personal  appeal  to  George  III.  Of  his 
ideal  statues  the  most  popular  were  the 
nude  female  figures,  technically  known  as 
'  Venuses,'  the  best  of  which  were  perhaps 
the '  Venus  chiding  Cupid,'  executed  for  Lord 
Yarborough ;  the '  Venus  anointing  her  Hair,' 
bought  at  the  sale  by  Mrs.  Palmer;  the 
'  Venus  with  the  Sandal,'  and — his  own 
favourite  production — the  Venus  seated,  with 
her  arms  round  her  legs,  the  model  of  which 
was  bought  by  Lord  Egremont,  and  carved 
in  marble  after  its  author's  death  by  Rossi. 
It  is  now  at  Petworth.  For  Townley 
he  restored  the  small  Venus  now  in  the 
British  Museum  by  the  addition  of  a  pair  of 
arms.  A  figure  of  Mercury,  modelled  from 
his  pupil  Smith,  and  exhibited  at  the  Royal 
Academy  in  1783,  Walpole  describes  as  '  the 
hest  piece  in  the  whole  exhibition — arch — 
flesh  most  soft.'  An  indifferent  draughts- 
man, and  possessing  but  the  scantiest  know- 
ledge of  anatomy,  Nollekens  combined  taste 
with  felicity  in  seizing  upon  the  character- 
istic points  of  a  sitter.  His  busts  are  never 
without  vitality.  In  more  ambitious  things 
his  treatment  of  the  marble  is  excellent; 
his  conventional  draperies  are  well  cast,  and 
his  management  of  the  stock  motives  of  his 
time  is  governed  hy  a  real  sense  of  deco- 
rative coherence.  Modern  ideas  find  no 
presage  in  his  work,  but  he  treated  those  of 
his  day  with  skill  and  intelligence. 

Two  portraits  of  Nollekens — one  by  Lemuel 
F.  Abbott  and  the  other  by  James  Lonsdale 
— are  in  the  National  Portrait  Gallery.  A 
third  picture,  by  Harlow,  belongs  to  the 
Baroness  Burdett-Coutts ;  and  a  fourth,  by 
an  anonymous  artist,  is  in  the  Fitzwilliam 
Museum,  Cambridge. 

[Nollekens  and  his  Times,  by  John  Thomas 
Smith,  keeper  of  the  prints  in  the  British 
Museum  (a  candid  and  uncomplimentary  bio- 
graphy, from  which  some  deductions  have  to  be 
made ;  for  the  author,  although  intimate  with 
the  sculptor,  did  not.,  as  he  probably  expected  to 
do,  benefit  under  his  will),  1829— a  new  edition 
edited  by  Mr.  Edmund  Gosse,  1894;  Boswell's 
Life  of  Johnson,  ed.  Hill;  Leslie's  Life  and 
Times  of  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds,  continued  by  Tom 
Taylor  ;  Redgrave's  Dictionary  of  Artists  of  the 
British  School ;  Catalogue  of  the  Sale  of  Nol- 
lekens ;  Hints  to  Joseph  Nollekens,  esq.,  R.A., 
on  his  modelling  a  Bust  of  Lord  Grenville  ;  Prin- 
cess Lichtenstein's  Holland  House;  Walpole's 

Letters.]  w-  A- 

u  2 


Nollekens 


100 


Nonant 


NOLLEKENS,  JOSEPH  FRANCIS 
(1702-1748),  painter,  commonly  called '  Old 
Nollekens.'  was  born  at  Antwerp  on  10  June 
1702  and  baptised  as  Corneille  Francois  Nol- 
lekens. His  father,  Jean  Baptiste,  a  painter 
of  no  importance,  practised  for  a  time  in 
England,  but  eventually  settled  in  France. 
There,  it  is  said,  the  son  studied  under 
"Watteau,  whose  style  and  choice  of  subject 
he  to  some  extent  imitated.  He  certainly 
studied  for  a  time  under  Giovanni  Paolo 
Panini.  He  came  to  England  in  1733,  and 
married  one  Mary  Anne  Le  Sacq,  by  whom 
he  had  five  children,  viz.  John  Joseph,  Joseph 
(the  sculptor),  Maria  Joanna  Sophia,  Jacobus, 
and  Thomas  Charles.  Of  these  only  Joseph, 
the  sculptor,  settled  in  England. 

On  his  first  arrival  in  this  country  Old 
Nollekens  was  much  employed  in  making 
copies  from  Watteau  and  Panini.  He  also 
carried  out  decorative  works  at  Stowe  for 
Lord  Cobham,  and  painted  several  pictures 
for  the  Marquis  of  Stafford  at  Trentham. 
His  chief  patron,  however,  was  Sir  Richard 
Child,  earl  Tylney,  for  whom  he  painted  a 
number  of  conversation  pieces,  fetes  cham- 
petres,  and  the  like,  the  scenes  being  laid  as 
a  rule  in  the  gardens  of  Wanstead  House. 
Several  of  these  were  included  in  the  sale 
held  at  Wanstead  in  1822,  one,  an '  Interior  of 
the  Saloon  at  Wanstead,  with  an  assemblage 
of  ladies  and  gentlemen,'  fetching  the  com- 
paratively high  price  of  127  J.  Is.  At  Windsor 
there  is  a  picture  by  him  in  which  portraits 
of  Frederick,  prince  of  Wales,  and  his  sisters 
are  introduced. 

According  to  Northcote,  whose  authority 
is  said  to  have  been  Thomas  Banks  the 
sculptor,  Old  Nollekens  owed  his  death  to  his 
nervous  terrors  for  his  property.  The  fact 
that  he  was  a  Roman  catholic,  and  reputed 
to  be  a  miser,  contributed  to  increase  his 
anxiety.  Dread  of  robbery  finally  threw  the 
artist  into  a  nervous  illness ;  he  lingered, 
however,  until  21  Jan.  1743,  when  he  died 
at  his  house  in  Dean  Street,  Soho.  He  was 
buried  at  Paddington. 

[Walpole's  Aneed.  of  Painting  in  England ; 
Redgrave's  Diet,  of  Artists  of  the  British  School ; 
Bryan's  Diet,  of  Painters  and  Engravers ;  J.  T. 
Smith's  Nollekens  and  his  Times,  1829  and 
1894.]  W.  A. 

NON  FEXDIGAID,  i.e.  THE  BLESSED  (fl. 
550?),  mother  of  St.  David,  was,  according 
to  the  oldest  extant  life  of  that  saint  (thai 
by  Ricemarchus  [q.  v.],  printed  in  Cambro- 
British  Saints,  ed.  Rees,  1853),  a  nun  of 
Dyfed  or  West  Wales,  who  was  violated  by 
Sant,  kingofCeredigion(i.  e.  Cardiganshire). 
Various  genealogies  of  the  saints  make  her 


the  daughter  of  Cynyr  of  Caer  Gawch,  who 
was  apparently  a  chieftain  of  Pebidiog,  the 
region  in  which  St.  David's  now  stands,  and 
Rees  ( Welsh  Saints)  assumes  that  Sant  (or 
Sandde)  and  she  were  husband  and  wife. 
All  that  is  certainly  known  of  her  is  that 
her  memory  came  in  time  to  be  revered  to- 
gether with  that  of  her  son.  Four  churches 
in  South- West  Wales  are  dedicated  to  her : 
Llannon  and  Llanuwchaeron  in  Cardigan- 
shire, Llannon  in  Carmarthenshire,  and  a 
chapel  (near  which  is  St.  Non's  Well)  in  the 
vicinity  of  St.  David's.  She  was  also 
honoured  at  Alternon  in  Cornwall  and  Diri- 
non  in  Brittany  ;  a  Breton  mystery,  entitled 
'  Butez  Santez  Nonn,'  found  at  the  latter 
place  and  published  in  1837  (Paris,  ed.  Sion- 
net),  gives  her  legend  much  as  Ricemarchus. 
does.  Her  festival  was  3  March. 

[Rees's  "Welsh  Saints,  1836;  Cambro-British 
Saints,  ed.  W.  J.  Rees ;  Myvyrian  Archaiology, 
2nd  ed.  415,  423  ;  loloMSS.  101,  110,  124,  152.] 

J.  E.  L. 

NONANT,  HUGH  DE  (d.  1198),  bishop 
of  Lichfield  and  Coventry,  or  Chester,  was  of 
a  noble  Norman  family  of  Nonant,  a  bourg 
between  Argentan  and  Seez.  A  Hugh  de 
Nonant,  who  may  have  been  the  bishop's 
grandfather,  and  whom  Ordericus  Vitalis 
describes  as  '  pauper  oppidanus,'  was  a  pro- 
minent opponent  of  Robert  de  Bellesme  early 
in  the  twelfth  century  ( Hist.  Eccl.  iii.  423,  iv. 
181,  Soc.  de  1'Hist.  de  France).  A  Roger  de 
Nonant  occurs  as  holding  land  in  Devonshire 
between  1159  and  1170  (Pipe  Rolls,  sub  an- 
nis),  but  there  is  no  evidence  as  to  his  rela- 
tionship to  the  bishop.  Hugh's  mother  was 
sister  of  the  famous  Arn ulf,  bishop  of  Lisieux, 
a  see  which  had  been  held  by  Arnulf 's  uncle 
John  before  him  (ib.  iv.  161,  '  Annales  Uti- 
censes ').  Arnulf  says  that  he  brought  up 
Hugh  from  a  boy,  had  him  well  instructed, 
and  gave  him  five  livings  in  the  bishopric  of 
Lisieux,  worth  100J.,  as  well  as  a  prebend  of 
Lisieux  at  Vassy,  and  the  archdeaconry. 
Afterwards,  about  1182,  Arnulf  found  oc- 
casion to  complain  to  Henry  II  of  Hugh's 
ingratitude  (Epistola,  127).  Hugh  is  alleged 
by  Bale  to  have  been  educated  at  Oxford ;  this 
is  not  likely,  but  he  was  one  of  the  scholars 
in  the  service  of  Thomas  Becket  before  1164. 
He  was  already  archdeacon  of  Lisieux,  for 
William  Fitz-Stephen  and  Herbert  de  Bo- 
sham  distinctly  describe  him  as  holding  this 
office  when  in  the  archbishop's  service  (Ma- 
terials for  Hist,  of  Becket ,  Rolls  Ser.,  iii.  57, 
525).  It  would  appear  that  he  had  resigned 
the  archdeaconry  of  Lisieux  before  1181 
(ARNULF,  Epistola,  121).  Hugh  was  with 
Becket  at  Northampton  onlSOct.  1164,  when 


Nonant 


101 


Nonant 


he  asked  Gilbert  Foliot  [q.  v.]  why  he  suffered 
the  archbishop  to  bear  his  own  cross  (Mate- 
rials, &c.,  iii.  57).  He  accompanied  Becket 
in  his  exile,  but  before  1170  was  reconciled 
to  the  king  with  the  archbishop's  consent. 
Hugh  now  appears  to  have  entered  the  royal 
service,  and  was  closely  attached  to  the  court 
throughout  the  rest  of  the  reign  of  Henry  II ; 
he  is  referred  to  by  Giraldus  Cambrensis 
(Opera,  iv.  394)  and  in  the  '  Gesta  Henrici ' 
(ii.  3)as  aclerk  and  friend  of  the  king.  Arnulf 
•wrote  to  Henry  that  he  might  employ  Hugh 
with  confidence,  for,  though  devotion  would 
not  make  him  loyal,  fear  and  self-interest 
would  (Epistola,  127).  Hugh  was  made 
archdeacon  of  Oxford  in  1183  by  his  country- 
man, Walter  de  Coutances  (L.E  NEVE,  Fasti, 
ii.  64),  but  the  first  particular  mention  of  him 
in  Henry's  service  does  not  occur  till  1184, 
when  he  was  sent  to  Pope  Lucius  to  intercede 
with  him  on  behalf  of  Henry  the  Lion,  duke 
of  Saxony.  Hugh  found  the  pope  at  Verona. 
He  returned  to  Winchester  in  January  1185, 
and  was  rewarded  for  his  success  by  promo- 
tion to  the  see  of  Lichfield  and  Coventry,  or 
Chester,  as  it  was  then  commonly  styled. 
Gervase  of  Canterbury  (i.  326)  says  that 
Hugh  was  '  thrust  into  the  see,'  so  that  he 
was  probably  from  the  start  in  a  position  of 
antagonism  to  the  monks  at  Coventry,  to 
whom  the  right  of  election  belonged. 

In  1186  Hugh  was  sent  on  another  mission 
to  the  pope  to  procure  one  or  two  cardinals  to 
act  as  legates  with  him  in  Ireland  for  the  coro- 
nation of  Henry's  son  John.  In  December 
he  returned  with  the  Cardinal  Octavian;  on 
24  Dec.  the  two  legates,  though  neither  of 
them  was  a  bishop,  entered  the  cathedral  at 
Canterbury  with  their  mitres  on  and  their 
crosses  erect,  and  on  1  Jan.  1187  they  were 
received  by  the  king  at  Westminster.  They 
claimed  to  have  authority  in  all  ecclesiastical 
matters,  and  Archbishop  Baldwin,  taking 
alarm  at  their  pretensions,  persuaded  Henry  to 
postpone  the  coronation  and  take  the  legates 
over  to  Normandy  {Gesta  Henrici,  ii.  3,  4). 
However,  Hugh  was  first  sent  to  Canterbury 
with  the  bishops  of  Norwich  and  Worcester 
to  try  and  effect  an  arrangement  between  the 
archbishop  and  his  monks,  but  without  result. 
On  27  Feb.  Hugh  went  abroad  with  the 
king,  and  we  find  him  with  Henry  at  Alen- 
con  in  August,  and  at  Cherbourg  on  1  Jan. 
1188.  About  27  Jan.  Hugh  returned  with 
Baldwin  to  England,  and  on  31  Jan.  he  was 
at  length  consecrated  by  the  archbishop  at 
Lambeth.  Henry  himself  crossed  over  on 
30  Jan.,  and  Hugh  at  once  rejoined  him  at 
Otford.  On  11  Feb.,  at  the  council  of  Ged- 
dington,  Hugh  was  foremost  in  violence 
against  the  monks  ofCanterbury(i^p.  Cant. 


p.  259).  Immediately  afterwards  he  was  sent 
on  a  second  fruitless  errand  to  advise  sub- 
|  mission.  In  March  Hugh  went  over  to 
t  France,  and  was  present  at  the  enactment 
|  of  the  Saladin  tithe.  On  16  June  he  was  sent 
l  on  an  embassy  to  Philip  Augustus.  Probably 
he  remained  with  the  king  in  France,  and 
was  one  of  the  small  band  that  continued 
faithful  to  Henry  till  the  last ;  he  was  cer- 
tainly with  the  king  at  La  FertS  in  June 
1189.  Like  other  of  Henry's  courtiers,  Hugh 
seems  to  have  been  at  once  reconciled  to  the 
new  king,  and  was  sent  over  by  Richard  to 
England  in  August.  He  was  present  at  the 
coronation  on  3  Sept.,  and  at  the  council  of 
Pipewell  on  15  Sept.  On  1  Dec.  he  was  pre- 
sent at  the  pacification  of  Baldwin's  long 
quarrel  with  his  monks  at  Canterbury,  and 
on  5  Dec.  witnessed  the  charter  of  release  to 
William  the  Lion. 

Up  to  this  time  Hugh  had  remained  a 
court  official,  but  he  had  already  become 
involved  in  a  quarrel  with  his  monks  at 
Coventry,  similar  to  the  one  which  had  caused 
so  much  trouble  at  Canterbury.  William  of 
Newburgh  says  that  as  soon  as  Hugh  was 
made  bishop  he  attacked  the  monks,  and,  after 
stirring  up  discord  between  them  and  their 
prior,  took  advantage  of  the  scandal  to  expel 
them  by  force  (i.  395).  Gervase  of  Canter- 
bury (i.  461 )  says  that  Richard,  in  his  greed  to 
obtain  money  for  the  crusade,  sold  Coventry 
priory  to  Hugh  for  three  hundred  marks,  and 
that  the  monks  were  expelled  on  9  Oct.  1189. 
According  to  Giraldus  Cambrensis  (  Opera,  iv. 
64-7),  Hugh  was  repulsed  with  violence,  and, 
coming  to  London,  appealed  to  the  other 
bishops  in  the  council  held  at  Westminster 
on  8  Nov. ;  he  obtained  the  excommunication 
of  his  opponents,  and  advised  a  general  sub- 
stitution of  secular  clergy  for  monks,  pro- 
mising that  if  the  other  bishops  concerned 
would  give  two  thousand  marks  to  be  sent 
to  Rome,  he  would  add  another  one  thousand 
out  of  his  own  revenues.  Archbishop  Bald- 
win opposed  this  suggestion,  and  Hugh  then 
set  out  for  Rome  with  letters  from  his  col- 
leagues. It  hardly  seems  possible  that  Hugh 
went  to  Rome  in  person, for  in  March  1190  he 
joined  Richard  at  Rouen  (Epp.  Cant.  p.  324  ; 
RoG.IIov.  iii.  32).  The  expulsion  of  the  monks 
does  not  seem  to  have  been  finally  effected 
till  the  latter  part  of  1 190,  for  we  know  that 
their  exile  lasted  seven  and  a  half  years  (Ann. 
Mon.  i.  54).  From  Newburgh  we  learn  that 
Hugh  gained  his  end  through  the  assistance 
of  William  Longchamp.  Richard  of  Devizes 
says  that  the  ejection  of  the  monks  was 
ordered  in  the  council  held  by  Longchamp 
as  papal  legate  at  Westminster  on  13  Oct. 
1190.  On  the  receipt  of  Hugh's  request  the 


Nonant 


IO2 


Nonant 


pope  had  waited  six  months  to  give  the.  monks 
an  opportunity  to  appeal,  and,  on  their  failure, 
had  confirmed  the  new  arrangement  (WlLL. 
NEWS,  i.  395).  Richard  of  Devizes  accuses 
Hugh  of  having  tried  to  bribe  certain  car- 
dinals by  a  promise  to  attach  some  of  the 
new  canonries  at  Coventry  to  their  Roman 
churches  (iii.  440-2).  According  to  Gervase 
(i.  488)  the  final  expulsion  of  the  monks  took 
place  on  Christmas-day  1190,  after  which 
Moses,  the  prior  of  Coventry,  went  to  Rome 
in  1191.  This  agrees  with  William  of  New- 
burgh's  statement  that  the  appeal  of  the  monks 
arrived  too  late.  After  Hugh  had  fallen  out 
of  favour,  Hubert  Walter  restored  the  monks 
by  order  of  the  pope  on  11  Jan.  1198. 

Apart  from  his  quarrel  with  the  monks, 
Hugh  held  a  not  unimportant  place  in  Eng- 
lish politics  during  the  first  few  years  of  the 
reign  of  Richard.  He  obtained  from  Richard 
the  office  of  sheriff  of  Warwickshire  and 
Leicestershire.  Archbishop  Baldwin  at  once 
took  exception  to  the  tenure  of  such  a  post 
by  a  bishop,  and  Hugh  promised  to  resign 
after  Easter  1190.  When  he  failed  to  do  so, 
Baldwin  ordered  him  to  appear  before  the 
bishops  of  London  and  Rochester.  Hugh 
thereupon,  in  a  letter  to  the  former,  declared 
his  readiness  to  abide  by  their  decision.  He, 
however,  appears  as  sheriff'  of  these  counties 
in  1190-1,  and  again  in  1192-4  (RALPH  DE 
DICETO,  ii.  77-8).  On  the  latter  occasion  he 
was  no  doubt  acting  in  the  interest  of  Earl 
John.  In  September  1189  Hugh  was  com- 
missioned by  Richard  to  endeavour  to  induce 
Geoffrey,  the  king's  half-brother,  to  renounce 
his  election  to  the  archbishopric  of  York.  A 
little  later  he  was  again  sent  to  Geoffrey  at 
Dover  in  company  with  Longchamp  (GlR. 
CAMB.iv.376,378).  When  Geoffrey  returned 
to  England  in  September  1191,  Hugh  had 
quarrelled  with  Longchamp :  Giraldus  Cam- 
brensis  says  that  the  latter  had  tried  to  de- 
prive Hugh  of  his  London  house  (ib.  iv.  416). 
Newburgh  says  that  Hugh  was  reported  to 
have  instigated  John  in  his  rebellion.  Hugh 
certainly  took  part  in  the  pacification  at  Win- 
chester on  28  July,  when  he  received  the 
castle  of  the  Peak,  no  doubt  to  hold  it  in 
John's  interest.  When  Geoffrey  was  arrested 
at  Dover  on  18  Sept.  Hugh  was  foremost  in 
denouncing  the  chancellor,  and  at  once  ap- 
pealed to  John.  He  was  present  with  John 
at  the  conference  of  Longchamp's  opponents 
near  Reading  on  5-6  Oct.,  persuaded  the 
Londoners  to  proclaim  Longchamp  a  public 
enemy  (ib.  iv.  398,  403),  and  took  the  chief 
part  in  his  condemnation  in  the  council  of  St. 
Paul's  on  8  Oct.  Longchamp's  attempted 
flight  is  graphically  but  maliciously  described 
by  Hugh  in  a  letter  which  he  wrote  at  the 


time.  Hugh'streatment  of  a  man  with  whom 
he  had  but  recently  been  on  friendly  terms 
met  with  not  unnatural  censure.  Peter  of 
Blois  [q.  v.]  in  particular  remonstrated  with 
him  for  his  ingratitude,  saying  that  Long- 
champ  had  looked  on  him  as  his  other  self 
(Epistola,  89,  apud  MIGNE'S  Patrolor/ia,  ccvii. 
278).  Hugh  was  included  by  Longchamp  in 
the  list  of  his  opponents  whom  he  threatened 
with  excommunication  in  December  1191. 
On  27  Nov.  Hugh  was  at  Canterbury  for  the 
election  of  Baldwin's  successor,  Reginald 
Fitz-Jocelin  [q.  v.]  During  1192  he  was 
probably  busy  with  his  duties  as  sheriff  and 
with  his  new  buildings  at  Coventry  (Ri- 
CHABD  OF  DEVIZES,  iii.  440-2).  After  the 
news  of  Richard's  captivity  in  1193  Hugh 
started  for  Germany  with  horses  and  trea- 
sure for  the  king.  On  his  way  between 
Canterbury  and  Dover  he  was  robbed,  ac- 
cording to  the  statement  of  Giraldus,  by  men 
employed  by  Longchamp  (Opera,  iv.  417  ; 
RALPH  DE  DICETO,  ii.  111).  He,  however, 
made  his  way  to  Germany,  but,  finding  that 
Richard  was  hostile  to  him,  thought  it  pru- 
dent to  retire  to  France.  Meantime  Hugh's 
brother,  Robert  de  Nonant,  had  been  sent 
to  the  emperor  with  treasonable  letters  from 
John  and  Philip  Augustus.  The  emperor 
showed  the  letters  to  Richard,  who  never- 
theless asked  Robert  de  Nonant  to  become 
one  of  his  hostages ;  when  Robert  refused, 
the  king  ordered  him  to  be  imprisoned  (HovE- 
DEif,  iii.  232-3).  After  Richard's  return  to 
England  he  ordered,  on  31  March  1194  at 
Northampton,  that  Hugh  should  attend  to 
answer  before  the  bishops  for  his  acts  as 
bishop,  and  before  laymen  for  his  acts  as 
sheriff.  In  the  following  year  Hugh  obtained 
pardon  by  a  fine  of  five  thousand  marks,  but 
his  brother  Robert  was  kept  in  prison  at 
Dover,  where  he  died  (ib.  iii.  242,  287). 
Hugh  himself  probably  never  returned  to 
England,  but  remained  in  seclusion  in  Nor- 
mandy. Before  his  death  he  assumed  the 
habit  of  a  monk  in  the  Cluniac  abbey  of  Bee 
Hellouin.  There  he  fell  ill  in  the  autumn 
of  1197,  but  lingered  till  the  following  spring, 
occupied  with  prayer,  fasting,  and  almsgiving. 
He  died  on  25  or  27  March  1198,  and  was 
buried  in  the  abbey  at  Bee  (GlR.  CAMB.  iv. 
i  68-71 ;  Ann.  Mon.  i.  56,  ii.  67  ;  GERVASE  OF 
CANTERBURY,  i.  552). 

Hugh  is  not  a  bad  type  of  the  official 
prelate  of  the  latter  twelfth  century — mas- 
terful and  contentious,  but  sagacious  and 
j  learned.  As  one  who  '  never  loved  monks 
or  monkhood,'  he  finds  little  favour  with  the 
monastic  historians,  though  they  all  agree  in 
admitting  his  skill  in  letters  and  oratory. 
William  of  Newburgh  describes  him  as  'crafty, 


Nonant 


103 


Norcome 


bold,  and  shameless,  but  well  equipped  with 
learning  and  eloquence.'  His  uncle  Arnulf 
accuseshim  of  greed  and  ingratitude,  a  charge 
which  is  to  some  extent  justified  by  his  rela- 
tions with  Longchamp.  On  the  other  hand 
he  served  Henry  II  faithfully,  and  Giraldus 
Cambrensis  says  that, '  whatever  he  may  have 
appeared  in  his  public  career,  he  was  in  private 
acceptable  to  God  both  in  heart  and  deed.' 
His  reputation  for  eloquence  is  j  ustified  by 
the  graphic  report  which  Giraldus  gives  of 
his  speech  to  the  bishops  in  November  1189. 
He  was  witty,  and  had  a  bitter  tongue,  never 
losing  an  opportunity  to  carp  at  monks.  He 
told  Richard :  '  If  I  had  my  way  there  would 
not  be  a  monk  left  in  England.  To  the  devil 
with  all  monks ! '  On  another  occasion,  when 
Hubert  Walter  corrected  Richard  for  saying 
'coram  nobis'  instead  of  'coram  nos,'  Hugh 
showed  his  scholarship  by  saying :  '  Stick  to 
your  own  grammar,  sire,  for  it  is  the  better' 
(WILL.  NEWB.  i.  394 ;  GIK.  CAMS,  iii.  30,  iv. 
67,  71,  397. 

On  the  strength  of  his  unimportant  letter 
to  the  Bishop  of  London  in  1190,  and  his 
longer  account  of  Longchamp's  fall,  Hugh  is 
included  by  Bale  among  his  English  writers. 
The  latter  letter  is  given  in  the  '  Gesta  Ri- 
cardi,'  ii.  215-20,  and  Hoveden,  iii.  141-7. 
It  frequently  occurs  by  itself  in  manuscripts, 
e.g.  Bodleian  Add.  A  44,  where  it  is  accom- 
panied by  a  metrical  version  of  contemporary 
date,  which  has  been  printed  in  the  '  English 
Historical  Review,'  v.  317-19.  Arnulf,  in 
his  '  Carmen  ad  Nepotem  suum  cum  esset 
adolescens,'  speaks  of  Hugh  as  the  rising  poet 
of  Normandy ;  but  no  poetry  of  Hugh's  appears 
to  have  survived,  unless  indeed  the  metrical 
version  referred  to  above  is  by  him.  Some 
constitutions  originally  published  by  Hugh 
are  given  in  Wilkins's  'Concilia,'  i.  496-501, 
and  a  letter  from  him  to  Hubert  of  Salisbury 
is  in  the  '  Register  of  St.  Osmund,'  i.  266-7. 

[The  Gesta  Henrici  and  Gesta  Ricardi,  attri- 
buted to  Benedict  Abbas  ;  Roger  of  Hoveden ; 
Giraldus  Cambrensis;  Ralph  de  Diceto ;  Ralph  of 
Coggeshall ;  William  of  Newburgh  and  Richard 
of  Devizes,  ap.  Chron.  of  Stephen,  Henry  II  and 
Richard  I ;  Gerrase  of  Canterbury ;  Annales  Mo- 
nastici ;  Jocelin  de  Brakelond,  ap.  Memorials  of 
St.  Edmund's  Abbey,  i.  295-6  ;  Materials  for  the 
Hist,  of  Thomas  Becket ;  Epistolse  Cantuarienses, 
ap.  Memorials  of  Richard  I,  vol.  ii.  (all  these  are 
in  the  Rolls  Ser.)  ;  Arnulfs  Epistolse,  &c.,  ap. 
Migne's  Patrol ogia,  cci.  ;  Eyton's  Itinerary  of 
Henry  II;  Hist.  Litt.  de  France,  xv.  310-13; 
Le  Neve's  Fasti  Eccl.  Angl.  i.  546  (where  he 
is  called  '  prior  of  the  Carthusians,'  probably 
through  confusion  -with  his  contemporary,  St. 
Hugh  of  Lincoln),  and  ii.  64;  Tanner's  Bibl 
Brit.-Hib.  p.  552  ;  Madox's  Exchequer,  i.  ii. 
passim.]  C.  L.  K. 


NOORTHOUCK,  JOHN  (1746P-1816), 
author,  born  in  London  about  1746,  was  the 
son  of  Herman  Noorthouck,  a  bookseller  of 
some  repute,  who  had  a  shop,  the  Cicero's 
Head,  Great  Piazza,  Covent  Garden,  and 
whose  stock  was  sold  off  in  1730  (NICHOLS, 
Lit.  Anecdotes,  iii.  619,  649).  Early  in  life 
John  Noorthouck  was  patronised  by  Owen 
Ruffhead  and  William  Strahan  the  printer 
(ib.  iii.  395).  He  gained  his  livelihood  as 
an  index-maker  and  corrector  of  the  press. 
He  was  for  almost  fifty  years  a  liveryman 
of  the  Company  of  Stationers,  and  spent 
nearly  all  his  life  in  London,  living  in  1773 
in  Barnard's  Inn,  Holborn.  His  principal 
work  was  '  A  New  History  of  London,  in- 
cluding Westminster  and  Southwark,'  Lon- 
don, 1773,  4to,  with  copperplates.  This 
book  gives  a  history  of  London  at  all  periods 
and  a  survey  of  the  existing  buildings.  Noor- 
thouck also  published  'An  Historical  and 
Classical  Dictionary,'  2  vols.  London,  1776, 
8vo,  consisting  of  biographies  of  persons  of 
all  periods  and  countries.  In  1814  Noor- 
thouck was  living  at  Oundle,  Northampton- 
shire (tb.  viii.  455),  where  he  died  about  July 
1816,  aged  about  70. 

In  a  bookseller's  catalogue,  issued  by  John 
Russell  Smith  in  London,  April  1852,  '  the 
original  autograph  manuscript  of  the  life  of 
John  Noorthouck,  author  of  the  "  History  of 
the  Man  after  God's  own  Heart,"  "  History 
of  London,"  &c.,'  was  offered  for  sale,  and 
was  there  described  as  an  unprinted  auto- 
biography containing  many  curious  literary 
anecdotes  of  the  eighteenth  century  (Notes 
and  Queries,  1st  ser.  xii.  204).  In  the 
'  Biographical  Dictionary  of  Living  Authors  ' 
(1816,  p.  253)  is  attributed  to  John  Noor- 
thouck '  Constitutions  of  the  Free  and  Ac- 
cepted Masons,'  new  edit.  1784,  4to. 

[Gent.  Mag.  1816,  pt.  ii.  pp.  188-9;  Nichols's 
Lit.  Illustr.  viii.  488-9 ;  Brit.  Mus.  Cat.] 

W.  W. 

NOKBURY,  first  EARL  OF.  [See  TOLER, 
JOHN,  1740-1831.] 

NORCOME,  DANIEL  (1576-1647?), 
musician,  probably  the  son  of  Nurcombe  or 
Norcome,  lay  clerk  of  St.  George's  Chapel, 
Windsor,  between  1564  and  1587,  was  born 
at  Windsor  in  1576.  Like  his  father,  Nor- 
come is  said  to  have  been  singing-man  at 
Windsor  in  the  reign  of  James  I  (HAW- 
KINS), but  the  name  does  not  appear  in  the 
rolls  of  that  period,  and  there  is  evidence 
to  show  that  he  was  an  exile  on  account  of 
his  faith  in  1602,  that  he  was  admitted  as 
instrumentalist  to  the  arch-ducal  chapel  at 
Brussels,  and  that  he  was  still  there  in 
1647  (FETIS). 


Norcott 


104 


Norden 


Norcome's  madrigal,  in  five  parts,  '  AVith 
angel's  face  and  brightness,'  was  published  in 
Morley's  '  Triumphs  of  Oriana,'  1601. 

[Fetis's  Biographie  Universelle  des  Musiciens, 
vi.328  ;  Treasurers'  Kollsof  St.  George's  Cbapel, 
Windsor,  by  the  courtesy  of  Canon  Dalton  and 
W.  H.  St.  John  Hope,  esq.,  F.S.A.]  L.  M.  M. 

NORCOTT,  WILLIAM  (1770P-1820?), 
Irish  satirist,  was  born  about  1770,and  having 
entered  Trinity  College,  Dublin,  graduated 
B.A.  in  1795,  LL.B.  in  1801,  and  LL.D.  in 
1806.  He  was  called  to  the  Irish  bar  in  1797, 
and  practised  with  some  success  for  a  time, 
but  preferred  social  enjoyment  to  his  legal 
duties.  During  the  viceroyalty  of  the  Duke 
of  Richmond  he  was  very  popular  at  Dublin 
Castle,  and  was  generally  a  favourite  in  the 
best  society  of  the  city,  partly  on  account  of 
his  excellent  mimetic  talent.  With  his  friend, 
John  Wilson  Croker  [q.  v.],  he  was  largely 
concerned  in  the  production  of  the  many 
poetical  satires  which  appeared  in  Dublin 
after  the  passing  of  the  union.  The  follow- 
ing pieces  may  be  attributed  to  him  with 
confidence :  1.  '  The  Metropolis,'  an  attack  on 
various  Dublin  institutions,  dedicated  to  John 
Wilson  Croker,  12mo,  1805 ;  2nd  ed.  12mo, 

1805.  2.  '  The  Metropolis,'  pt.  ii.,  dedicated 
to  Thomas  Moore,  12mo,1806;  2nded.,  12mo, 

1806.  3.  '  The  Seven  Thieves :  a  Satire,  by 
the  author  of  "The  Metropolis,'"  dedicated 
to  Henry  Grattan,12mo,  1807  ;  2nded.,12mo, 

1807.  4.  'The  Law  Scrutiny;  or  the  At- 
tornie's  Guide,'  a  satire,  dedicated  to  George 
Ponsonby,  lord  chancellor  of  Ireland,  12mo, 
1807.     These  effusions  were  published  by 
Barlow  of  Bolton  Street,  the  publisher  of 
Croker's  '  Familiar  Epistles,'  and  caused  con- 
siderable stir  in  Dublin.     Besides  Norcott, 
Croker  and  Grady  were  each  suspected  of 
their  authorship,  and  Richard  Frizelle  was 
also  credited  with  '  The  Metropolis.'  A  writer 
in  the  '  Dublin  University  Magazine'  (Iviii. 
725)  unhesitatingly  names  Norcott  as  the 
author,  and    Barrington    and    Sheil    both 
acknowledged  his  responsibility. 

Norcott,  a  reckless  gambler  and  generally 
dissipated,  soon  fell  into  debt  and  disgrace ; 
but,  through  the  influence  of  Croker,  obtained 
about  1815  an  excellent  appointment  in 
Malta.  He  failed  to  hold  it  long,  and  fled 
from  Malta  entirely  discredited.  After  much 
wandering  he  reached  Smyrna,  where  he  was 
reduced  to  selling  opium  and  rhubarb  in  the 
streets,  thence  to  the  Morea,  and  ultimately 
to  Constantinople.  There  he  lived  in  desti- 
tution for  some  time,  becoming  a  Moham- 
medan, and  writing  '  most  heartrending ' 
letters  to  his  friends.  In  the  end  he  recanted 
his  Mohammedanism,  and  attempted  to  escape 


from  Constantinople,  but  was  pursued  and 
captured.  After  being  decapitated,  his  body 
was  thrown  into  the  sea.  This  took  place 
about  1820.  The  story  is  told  at  some  length 
in  Shell's  '  Sketches  of  the  Irish  Bar,'  and, 
with  some  modifications,  in  Barrington's '  Per- 
sonal Sketches.'  He  is  described  by  the  latter 
as  '  a  fat,  full-faced,  portly-looking  person.' 

[Haliday  Pamphlets,  Royal  Irish  Academy, 
1805-7;  Todd's  Dublin  Graduates;  Watson's 
Dublin  Directories,  1800-15  ;  Barrington's  Per- 
sonal Sketches,  i.  445-51 ;  Notes  and  Queries,  8th 
ser. ;  O'Donoghue's  Poets  of  Ireland,  pp.  177-8; 
authorities  cited  in  text.]  D.  J.  O'D. 

NORDEN,FREDERICK  LEWIS  (1708- 
1742),  traveller  and  artist,  born  on  22  Oct. 
1708  at  Gliickstadt  in  Holstein,  was  one  of 
the  five  sons  of  George  Norden,  a  Danish 
lieutenant-colonel  of  artillery  (d.  1728),  by 
his  wife,  Catharine  Henrichsen  of  Rendsburg. 
He  was  intended  for  the  sea,  and  in  1722 
entered  the  corps  of  cadets  for  instruction 
in  mathematics,  shipbuilding,  and  drawing. 
He  made  progress,  especially  in  drawing, 
and  attracted  the  attention  of  De  Lerche, 
grand  master  of  the  ceremonies,  who  em- 
ployed him  in  retouching  and  repairing  a 
collection  of  charts  and  plans  belonging  to 
Christian  VI,  king  of  Denmark.  In  1732 
De  Lerche  presented  him  to  the  king,  who 
made  him  second  lieutenant,  and  gave  him 
an  allowance  that  he  might  study  abroad 
the  art  of  shipbuilding,  especially  the  con- 
struction of  the  galleys  and  rowing  vessels 
of  the  Mediterranean.  Norden  first  visited 
Holland,  where  he  was  instructed  in  en- 
graving by  John  De  Ryter,  and  left  in  1734 
for  Marseilles.  At  Leghorn  he  made  models 
of  rowing  vessels,  which  were  afterwards  pre- 
served in  the  chamber  of  models  at  the  Old 
Holm,  Copenhagen.  He  spent  nearly  three 
years  in  Italy,  and  studied  art.  He  was 
made  an  associate  of  the  Academy  of  Draw- 
ing of  Florence,  and  in  that  city  became  ac- 
quainted with  Baron  de  Stosch,  with  whom 
he  afterwards  corresponded  on  Egyptian  an- 
tiquities. 

While  at  Florence  in  1737  he  was  com- 
manded by  Christian  VI  to  make  a  journey 
of  exploration  in  Egypt.  He  reached  Alex- 
andria in  June  1737,  but  was  detained  by  ill- 
ness at  Cairo.  Starting  on  17  Nov.,  he  went 
up  the  Nile  to  Girgeh  and  Assouan  (Syene). 
He  attempted  to  reach  the  second  cataract, 
but  was  unable  to  proceed  beyond  Derr.  He 
met  with  many  difficulties  on  the  journey, 
partly  through  his  ignorance  of  the  native 
language.  He  again  reached  Cairo  on  21  Feb. 
1738.  Norden  kept  a  journal  of  his  travels, 
and  made  sketches  and  plans  on  the  spot. 
In  1741  he  issued  in  London  a  folio  volume 


Norden 


Norden 


of  'Drawings  of  some  Ruins  and  Colossal 
Statues  at  Thebes  in  Egypt,  with  an  Account 
of  the  same  in  a  Letter  to  the  Royal  Society.' 
Norden's  Egyptian  journals  and  papers  were 
translated  from  the  Danish  manuscripts  into 
French  by  Des  Roches  de  Parthenay,  and 
published  (after  Norden's  death)  by  the  com- 
mand of  Christian  VI,  with  the  title  '  Voyage 
d'Egypte  et  de  Nubie,'  '2  vols.  Copenhagen, 
1755,  with  159  plates.  This  work  was  trans- 
lated into  English  by  Peter  Templeman  as 
'  Travels  in  Egypt  and  Nubia,' 2  vols.  London, 
1757,  fol.,  with  the  original  plates.  There 
was  a  German  translation  by  Steffens,Breslau, 
1779, 8vo,  and  the  French  text  was  reprinted 
at  Paris  1795-8, 3  vols.  4to.  A  '  Compendium ' 
•of  Norden's  travels  through  Egypt  was  pub- 
lished at  Dublin,  1757,  8vo.  Richard  Po- 
cocke's  'Travels  in  Egypt'  ('A  Description 
of  the  East,'  vol.  i.)  was  published  in  1743, 
but  Norden's  was  the  first  attempt  at  an 
elaborate  description  of  Egypt.  The  draw- 
ings are  interesting,  but  the  maps  of  the 
course  of  the  Nile  are  said  to  be  less  accurate 
than  other  portions  of  the  book.  Another 
posthumous  publication  was '  The  Antiquities, 
Natural  History,  Ruins  .  .  .  of  Egypt,  Nubia, 
and  Thebes,  exemplified  in  near  two  hundred 
Drawings,  taken  on  the  spot  by  F.  L.  Norden 
.  .  .  engraved  by  M.  Teuscher,'  London,  1792, 
fol.  (164  plates  without  letterpress). 

Norden  left  Egypt  in  May  1738,  and  re- 
turned to  Denmark,  where  he  was  ultimately 
advanced  to  the  position  of  captain  in  the 
royal  navy,  and  made  a  member  of  the  ship- 
building commission.  In  1740  he  came  to 
London,  where  he  was  well  received  by  the 
Prince  of  Wales  and  by  Martin  Folkes 
(NICHOLS,  Lit.  Anecdotes,  ii.  590)  and  other 
learned  men.  He  was  one  of  the  founders 
of  the  Egyptian  club  composed  of  gentlemen 
who  had  visited  Egypt  (ib.  v.  334).  He 
volunteered  to  serve  under  the  English  flag 
in  an  expedition  under  Sir  John  Norris, 
and  when  this  was  not  despatched  sailed  in 
October  1740  under  Sir  Challoner  Ogle.  He 
was  present  at  the  siege  of  Carthagena  on 
1  April  1741.  He  began,  but  did  not  com- 
plete, an  account  of  this  enterprise,  illus- 
trated by  his  own  sketches.  Returning  to 
England  in  the  autumn  of  1741,  he  spent 
the  winter  and  part  of  the  following  year  in 
London,  and  was  elected  a  fellow  of  the 
Royal  Society.  He  started  for  a  tour  in 
France  in  1742,  but  died  at  Paris  on  22  Sept. 
of  that  year  from  consumption.  An  engraved 
portrait  of  Norden  is  prefixed  to  vol.  ii.  of 
the  '  Travels  in  Egypt  and  Nubia.'  Beneath 
it  is  engraved  a  medal  of  Norden,  having  his 
portrait  on  the  obverse,  and  on  the  reverse 
a  pyramid. 


[Life  prefixed  to  Norden's  Voyage  d'Egypte, 
based  on  information  supplied  by  his  brother 
and  by  his  friend  Commander  De  Boemeling ; 
Nouvelle  Biographic  Generale,  s.  v.  'Norden;' 
Prince  Ibrahim-Hilmy's  Lit.  of  Egypt,  vol.  ii. 
'  Norden ;'  Brit.  Mus.  Cat.]  W.  W. 

NORDEN,  JOHN  (1548-1626  ?),  topo- 
grapher, born  in  1548,  was,  according  to 
Wood,  '  of  a  genteel  family '  (Athenee  Oxon. 
ii.  279).  But  neither  the  '  Visitation  of  Wilt- 
shire' of  1623  (Harl.  MSS.  1165  f.  b,  1444 
f.192  b)  nor  that  printed  by  Sir  Thomas 
Phillipps  in  1628  supports  Wood's  theory 
that  he  belonged  to  Wiltshire.  The  father 
was  probably  a  native  of  Middlesex.  The 
earliest  public  notice  of  Norden  is  found  in 
a  privy  council  order  dated  Hampton  Court, 
27  Jan.  1593,  declaring  '  To  all  Lieut',  etc., 
of  Counties '  that '  the  bearer,  John  Norden, 
gent.,'  was  '  authorised  and  appointed  by  her 
Majesty  to  travil  through  England  and  Wales 
to  make  more  perfect  descriptions,  charts, 
and  maps '  (Hist.  MSS.  Comm.  7th  Rep.  p. 
540  6).  The  outcome  of  this  order  was  Nor- 
den's first  work,  entitled  'Speculum  Bri- 
tannise,  firste  parte,  .  .  .  Middlesex,'  pub- 
lished in  1593,  4to.  A  manuscript  draft  in 
the  British  Museum  (Harl.  MS.  570),  with 
a  few  corrections  in  the  handwriting  of 
Burghley,  supplies  some  passages  that  were 
omitted  in  the  printed  book.  In  July  1594 
Burghley  issued  from  Greenwich  another 
order,  which  recommended  to  favourable 
public  notice  '  The  bearer,  John  Norden,  who 
has  already  imprinted  certain  shires  to  his 
great  commendation,  and  who  intends  to 
proceed  with  the  rest  as  time  and  ability  per- 
mit' (Hist.  MSS.  Comm. 7th Rep.  p.  5404;  cf. 
also  letter  of  20  May  1594,  EgertonMS.  2644, 
f.49,&c.) 

Norden  was  the  first  Englishman  who  de- 
signed a  complete  series  of  county  histories, 
and  he  essayed  his  task  with  boundless 
energy.  The  outcome  of  an  expedition  under- 
taken by  him  in  1595  is  extant  in  the  Bri- 
tish Museum  Additional  MS.  31853,  which 
is  dedicated  to  Queen  Elizabeth,  and  is  en- 
titled '  A  Chorographical  Discription  of  the 
severall  Shires  and  Islands,  of  Middlesex, 
Essex,  Surrey,  Sussex,  Hamshire,  Weighte, 
Garnesey,  and  Jarsay,  performed  by  the 
traveyle  and  uiew  of  John  Norden,  1695  ' 
(cf.  House  of  Lords'  MS.,  Hist.  MSS.  Comm. 
1st  Rep.  App.  316).  But  the  task  was 
beset  by  difficulties,  mainly  pecuniary.  In 
1596  he  published  a  '  Preparative  to  his 
Speculum  Britannise,'  which  he  described 
as  'a  reconciliation  of  sundrie  propositions 
by  divers  person  (critics,  wise  or  otherwise) 
tendered '  concerning  his  large  undertaking. 
The  book  was  dedicated  to  his  patron,  Burgh- 


Norden 


106 


Norden 


ley,  '  at  my  poore  house  neere  Fulham,'  and 
lie  complained  that  he  had  '  been  forced  to 
struggle  with  want.' 

Norden  had  a  garden  at  his  house  '  near 
Fulham,'  and  was  friendly  with  J.  Gerard, 
the  author  of  the  '  Herball.'  Before  1597 
Gerard  gave  Norden  some  red-beet  seeds, 
which,  although  '  altogither  of  one  colour,' 
'  in  his  garden  brought  foorth  many  other 
beautifull  colours '  (Herball,  1597,  p.  252). 
Between  1  Jan.  1607  and  27  March  1610 
Norden  lived  at  Ilendon  (cf.  Surveyors 
Dialogue,  1007  and  1610,  Dedications). 

Apart  from  the  first  part  of  his  '  Specu- 
lum, the  '  Middlesex,'  issued  in  1593,  Norden 
only  succeeded  in  publishing  his  account  of 
'  Hertfordshire  '  (1598).  The  manuscript 
of  the  latter  is  in  the  Lambeth  Library 
(codex  521).  But  he  finished  in  manuscript 
full  surveys  of  five  other  counties.  His  de- 
scription of  '  Essex,'  of  which  the  original 
manuscript  is  at  Hatfield,  was  edited  for  the 
Camden  Society  by  Sir  Henry  Ellis  in  1840 
(another  manuscript,  with  important  varia- 
tions, is  in  the  British  Museum,  Add.  MS. 
33769).  'Northampton'  was  completed  in 
1610,  but  was  not  published  until  1720. 
'  Cornwall '  (probably  visited  by  Norden  as 
early  as  1584)  was  also  written  in  1610  (Harl. 
MS.  6252),  but  was  not  published  until  1728. 
Descriptions  of  'Kent  and  Surrey  are  said  to 
exist  in  manuscript,  but  their  whereabouts 
are  unknown'  (WHEATLET,  p.  xcii).  The 
latter  may  be  identical  with  portions  of 
Additional  MS.  31853  (see  supra). 

In  1600  Norden  was  acting  as  surveyor  of 
the  crown  woods  and  forests  in  Berkshire, 
Devonshire,  Surrey,  and  elsewhere  (Add. 
MS.  5752,  f.  306),  and  on  6  Jan.  1605  he 
petitioned  for  the  surveyorship  of  the  duchy 
of  Cornwall,  and  complained  that  he  had  ex- 
pended 1,000/.  in  former  employments  with- 
out receiving  any  recompense.  On  30  Jan. 
a  satisfactory  reply  was  returned  ( Cal.  State 
Papers,  Dom.  Ser.  1603-10,  pp.  186,  191). 
'  A  Plott  of  the  Six  Escheated  Counties  of 
Ulster '  was  made  by  Norden  about  the  same 
time  (Cotton  MS.  Aug.  I.  ii.  44),  and  is 
interesting  as  the  only  evidence  of  his  being 
employed  in  Ireland.  In  1607  Norden  pub- 
lished his  '  Surveyors  Dialogue  '  (ABBER, 
iii.  331, 412),  which  was  republished  in  1610, 
1618,  and  1758,  and  it  was  re-edited  in  1855 
by  J.  W.  Papworth  in  the  '  Architectural 
Society's  Publications,'  vi.  409.  In  1607 
Norden  also  surveyed  Windsor  and  the 
neighbourhood.  The  result  is  extant  in  a 
vellum  folio  manuscript  (Harl.  MS.  3749) 
entitled  'A  Description  of  the  Honor  of 
"Winsor,  namely  of  the  Castle,  etc.,  taken 
and  performed  by  the  Perambulation,  View, 


and  Delineation  of  John  Norden,  anuo  1607.' 
This  is  dedicated  to  James  I,  and  contains 
eighteen  beautifully  coloured  maps,  includ- 
ing a  fine  '  Plan  or  Bird's-eye  View  of  Wind- 
sor Castle  from  the  North,'  with  maps  of 
Windsor  Forest,  Little  Park, '  Greate  Parke/ 
and  '  Moate  Parke.'  Five  of  these  maps, 
with  abstracts  from  the  manuscript  as  far  as 
they  relate  to  Windsor,  are  given  in  R.  R. 
Tighe  and  J.  C.  Davis's  '  Annals  of  Wind- 
sor,' 1858.  For  this  labour  Norden  received 
from  the  king  a '  Free  Gift  of  200/.'  (NICHOLS, 
Progresses  of  James  I,  1828,  ii.  247).  With 
E.  Gavell  he  surveyed  the  king's  woods  in 
Surrey,  Berkshire,  and  Devonshire  in  1608 
(Eyerton  MS.  806).  To  the  same  year  pro- 
bably belong  '  Certaine  necessary  Considera- 
tions touching  the  Raysing  and  Mayntayn- 
ing  of  Copices  within  his  Mates  Forests, 
Chases,  Parkes,  and  other  Wastes,  and  the 
increasing  of  young  Stores  for  Timber  for 
future  Ages,'  subscribed  '  John  Norden,'  n.d., 
and  '  A  Summary  Relation  of  the  Proceed- 
ings upon  the  Commission  concerning  New 
Forests,'  addressed  by  Norden  to  the  lorde 
highe  treasurer  (AshmoleanMS.  1148,ff.  239- 
242, 257-8).  On  2  Nov.  1612  Norden  received 
a  grant  in  survivorship  to  himself  '  and  Alex- 
ander Nairn  of  the  Office  of  Surueyors  of  the 
Kings  Castles,  etc.,  in  Kent,  Surrey,  Sussex, 
Hants,  Berks,  Dorset,  Wilts,  Somerset, 
Devon,  and  Cornwall'  (Cal.  State  Papers, 
Dom.  Ser.  1601-18,  p.  508).  In  1613  he 
made  *  Observations  concerning  Crown  Lands 
and  AVoods '  (Lansdowne  MS.  165,  No.  55). 
In  1616  and  1617  he  appears  to  have  held 
the  surveyorship  of  the  duchy  of  Cornwall 
jointly  with  his  son,  also  named  John  Nor- 
den. An  '  Abstract  of  the  general  Survey 
of  the  Soke  of  Kirketon  in  Lindesey,  in  the 
County  of  Lincoln,  with  all  Manors,  etc., 
being  Parcel  of  the  Inheritance  of  the  right 
worthy  Charles  Prince  of  Wales,  as  belong- 
ing unto  his  Dukedom  of  Cornwall,  1616,' 
folio,  is  in  the  Cambridge  University  Library 
(Ff.  iv.  30).  Although  not  ascribed  to  Nor- 
den in  the  library  catalogue,  it  is  probably  an 
original  work  of  his  or  a  contemporary  copy 
formerly  in  Bishop  Moore's  collection  (cf. 
Notes  and  Queries,  2nd  ser.  xi.  29  ;  lieliquice 
Heamiana,  2nd  ed.  1869,  ii.  260).  '  An  Ab- 
stract of  divers  Manors,  Lands,  etc., granted  to 
Prince  Charles  by  James  I,  and  surveyde  by 
John  Norden  the  elder  and  John  Norden  the 
younger,  June-Septr  1617 ;  with  Plans  of 
Binfield  and  Blowberie,  Berks,  Whitchwood 
andWatlington,Oxon,etc.,'is  extant  in  Addi- 
tional MS.  6027.  A  '  Supervisus  Manerii  de 
Blowberie,'  dated  1617,  is  in  the  Cambridge 
Library  MS.  (Dd.  viii.  9).  '  The  Present- 
ment and  Verdict  e  of  the  Jurie  for  the 


Norden 


107 


Norden 


Manner  of  Yale  and  Raglar,  being  Parcell 
of  the  Lordshipps  of  Bromfielde  and  Yale 
[county  of  Denbigh],  made  before  John  Nor- 
den the  Elder,  Esq.,  and  John  Norden  the 
Younger,  gent.,  by  vertue  of  a  Commission 
of  Survey  to  them  directed  from  the  Prince 
his  Highness '  (Charles),  June  1620,  is  in 
Additional  MS.  Sloane,  3241.  The  first  part 
of  '  Supervisus  Mannerii  de  Shippon  in  Com. 
Berk  .  .  .  Ducat,  suo  Cornub.  mine  spectan 
per  excamb.  pro  Byflet  &  Waybridge  in  Surr ' 
(among  Camb.  Univ.  MSS.  Dd.  viii.  9  (1. 2.)) 
is  ascribed  to  Norden  in  Bernard's '  Catalogue,' 
ii.  365.  In  the  same  collection  is  '  Bookes  of 
Survaies  delyvered  in  by  Mr.  Norden  and 
Mr.  Thorpe,'  a  list  of  manors  surveyed  by 
Norden  in  1617  and  1623,  and  at  the  end 
Norden  appeals  for  '  a  poore  and  meane  yet 
sufficient  mayntenance'  (M.  m.  iii.  15).  Nor- 
den, as  far  as  we  know,  was  publicly  em- 
ployed for  the  last  time  in  making  a  survey 
of  the  manor  of  Sheriff  Hutton  in  Yorkshire 
in  July  and  August  1624,  with  a  ground 
plan  of  the  park  (Harl.  MS.  6288).  Norden's 
latest  published  work  as  a  topographer  was 
'  England,  An  intended  Guyde  for  English 
Travellers/  1625,  4to,  a  series  of  distance 
tables  intended  to  be  used  with  Speed's  set 
of  county  maps.  Norden  probably  died  soon 
after  its  publication. 

Norden  made  numerous  contributions  to 
cartography  of  very  high  interest.  The  maps 
engraved  in  his  own  works  are  as  follows : 
1.  '  Myddlesex '  (in '  Speculum  Britannise  for 
Middlesex,'  1593),  and  re-engraved  by  J. 
Senex  for  the  reprint  in  1723.  2.  '  West- 
minster '  ($.)  3.  '  London '  ($.),  the  best 
plan  of  London  in  Shakespeare's  time  that 
has  come  down  to  us ;  republished  and  en- 
larged, accompanied  by  an  admirable  essay, 
by  Mr.  H.  B.  Wheatley,  for  the  New  Shak- 
spere  Society  in  1877.  4.  'Hertfordshire,' 
1598  (in  '  Speculum  Britanniae  for  Hertford- 
shire),' re-engraved  with  the  text  in  1723. 
5.  '  Essex,'  1594  (in  '  Survey  of  Essex,' 
1840),  engraved  for  the  first  time  by  J. 
Basire  in  1840.  6.  '  Cornwall'  (in  '  Specu- 
lum Britannise  for  Cornwall,'  1728),  with 
nine  maps  of  the  hundreds  of  East  (or  East 
Wivielshire),  Kerrier,  Losemouth,  Powder, 
Pyder,  Stratton,  Trigg,  and  West  hundred. 
Here  the  roads  were  indicated  for  the  first 
time  in  English  cartography. 

Norden  executed  maps  of  '  Hamshire, 
Hertfordiae,'  Kent,  Middlesex,  Surrey,  and 
'  Sussexia '  for  W.  Camden's  '  Britannia,' 
1607  (5th  edit.)  He  also  made  maps  of 
Cornwall,  Essex,  Middlesex,  Surrey,  and 
Sussex  for  J.  Speed  in  1610.  They  were 
afterwards  incorporated  with  those  by  Sax- 
ton  and  others  in  Speed's  '  Theatre  of  Great 


Britain,'  1626,  folio.  In  Hearne's  'Letter 
on  Antiquities,'  1734,  p.  34,  mention  is  made 
of '  A  Map  or  Draught  of  all  Battles  fought 
in  England  from  the  landing  of  William  the 
Conqueror  to  the  Reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth, 
in  sixteen  sheets,  done  with  a  pen  by  John 
Norden.'  It  was  formerly  preserved  in  the 
Bodleian  Gallery,  Oxford,  but  is  now  lost  or 
destroyed.  It  however  appears  to  survive 
in  '  The  Invasions  of  England  and  Ireland. 
WTith  al  [sic]  Civill  Wars  since  the  Con- 
quest,' Corn.  Danskertsz  sculpsit,  an  appen- 
dix to  the  '  Prospect  of  the  most  famous 
parts  of  the  World,'  by  J.  Speed,  1635,  folio. 
In  the  text  on  the  verso  of  the  map  Speed 
says  that  it  was  '  finished  in  a  farre  larger 
platforme,'  and  that  he  '  intended  there  to 
have  staid  it  from  further  sight  or  publica- 
tion '  (p.  5,  end).  Bagford,  in  a  letter  to 
Hearne,  writes :  '  Mr.  Norden  designed  a 
"  View  of  London "  in  eight  sheets,  which 
was  also  engraved.  At  the  bottom  of  which 
was  the  Representation  of  the  Lord  Mayor's 
Show,  all  on  Horseback.  .  .  .  The  View  was 
taken  by  Norden  from  the  Pitch  of  the  Hill 
towards  Dulwich  College  going  to  Camber- 
well  from  London,  in  which  College,  on  the 
Stair  Case,  I  had  a  sight  of  it.  Mr.  Secre- 
tary Pepys  went  afterwards  to  view  it  by 
my  recommendation,  and  was  very  desirous 
to  have  purchased  it.  But  since  it  is  decayed 
and  quite  destroyed  by  means  of  the  moist- 
ness  of  the  Walls.  This  was  made  about  the 
year  1604  or  1606  to  the  best  of  my  memory, 
and  I  have  not  met  with  any  other  of  the 
like  kind  '  p.  Ixxxii  (LELAND,  De  Rebus  Brit. 
Collectanea,  1770,  vol.  i.)  This  view  is  now 
lost.  There  is,  however,  preserved  in  the 
Crace  collection  (Portfolio  i.,  12  Views)  at 
the  British  Museum  an  earlier  view  of  Lon- 
don by  Norden,  wrongly  assigned  to  Mor- 
den,  apparently  taken  from  the  site  of  old 
Suffolk  House  in  Southwark.  It  is  inscribed 
'  Civitas  Londini.  This  Description  [View] 
of  the  moste  Famous  Citty  of  London  was 
performed  in  the  yeare  of  Christ  1600.  .  .  . 
By  the  industry  of  John  Norden,'  27£  in.  by 
14£  in.  About  the  same  period  Norden 
executed  '  The  View  of  [old]  London  Bridge 
from  East  to  West.'  Norden  was  fraudu- 
lently deprived  of  the  plate,  as  he  informs 
us,  for  twenty  years,  and  he  was  unable  to 
publish  it  until' 1624,  during  the  mayoralty 
of  John  Gore,  whose  arms  it  bears,  with  those 
of  James  I.  Even  now  it  is  only  known  to 
us  by  a  reprint  of  1804  (see  Grace  collection, 
Portfolio  vii.,  2  Views).  Another  missing 
map  is  recorded  by  Gough :  '  John  Norden 
made  a  survey  of  this  county  [Surrey],  which 
some  curious  Hollander  purchased  at  a  high 
price  before  the  Restoration.  The  map  was 


Norden 


108 


Norford 


•engraved  by  Charles  Whitwell,  at  the  ex- 
pense of  Robert  Nicholson,  and  was  much 
larger  and  more  exact  than  any  of  Norden's 
other  maps.  It  had  the  arms  of  Sir  William 
Waade,  Mr.  Nicholson,  and  Isabella,  countess 
dowager  of  Rutland,  who  died  in  1605,  and 
was  copied  by  Speed  and  W.  Kip  in  Cam- 
den's  "Britannia,"  1607.  Dr.  Rawlinson 
showed  it  to  the  Society  of  Antiquaries, 
1746 '  (British  Topography,  i.  261). 

There  were  several  contemporaries  of  the 
surveyor  besides  his  son  bearing  the  same 
name,  viz.:  (1)  John  Norden  of  Rainham, 
Kent,  who  died  in  1580  (HASTED,  Kent,  ii. 
535 ;  Add.  MS.  32490,  y  y.  6);  (2)  a  Middle- 
sex yeoman  (Chap,  of  Westminster  Marriage 
License,  23  Nov.  1580,  Harl.  Soc.  Publ.  xxiii. 
3)  ;  and  (3)  John  Norden  of  Rowde,  Wilt- 
shire (  Visitation  of  Wiltshire,  Harl.  MS.  1165, 
supra). 

A  fourth  JOHN  NORDEN  (Jl.  1600),  devo- 
tional author,  is  identified  by  Wood  with 
John  Norden,  commoner  of  Hart  Hall,  Ox- 
ford, 1564,  who  graduated  B.A.  on  15  Feb. 
1568,  and  M.A.  26  Feb.  1572  (Fasti  Oxon. 
«d.  Bliss,  pt.  i.  pp.  181, 189;  FOSTEK,  Alumni 
Oxon.  1500-1714).  He  was  author  of:  1.  'A 
Sinful  Mans  Solace '  (in  prose  and  verse), 
1585.  2.  '  A  Pensive  Mans  Practise,'  1585, 
1591,  1623,  1627,  1629,  1635,  1640.  3.  'A 
Mirror  for  the  Multitude,'  1586.  4.  'Anti- 
thesis orContraritiebetweenetheWicked  and 
the  Godlie,'  1587.  5.  '  A  Christian  familiar 
Comfort,'  1596.  6.  'Progress  of  Piety,  or 
Harberer  of  Heartsease,'  1596;  the  publi- 
cation of  this  work  at  the  same  time  as  the 
'  Preparative  to  the  Speculum  Britanniae ' 
proves  that  the  two  authors  were  not  identical. 
7.  'A  reforming  Glass,'  1596.  8. '  The  Mirror 
of  Honour,'  1597.  9.  'The  Pope's  Anatomye 
and  Eliza's  Glorye,'  1597.  10.  '  Prayer  for 
Earl  of  Essex  in  Ireland,'  1599.  11.  ' Vicis- 
situde Rerum :  an  elegiacall  Poeme,'  1600. 
12.  'The  Storehouse  of  Varieties,'  1601.  13.  'A 
Pensive  Soules  Delight '  (in  verse),1603-15. 
14.  '  The  Labrynth  of  Mans  Life,'  a  poem, 
1614.  15.  '  Loadstone  to  a  spiritual  Life,' 
1614.  16.  'An  Eye  to  Heaven  in  Earth,' 
1619.  17.  'Poor  Mans  Rest,'  1620,  1624, 
1631,  1641.  18.  '  Imitation  of  David,'  1620. 
19.  '  A  Godlie  Mans  Guide  to  Happiness,' 
1624.  20.  'Pathway  to  Patience,'  1626. 
21.  '  Help  to  true  Blessedness,'  n.d.,  quoted 
by  Wood. 

[Account  of  Norden  in  Speculum  Britanniae — 
pars  Cornwall,  by  C.  Bateman,  1728;  Gough's 
British  Topography,  1780;  Wood's  Athense  Oxon. 
(Bliss),  1813-20,  vol.  ii.;  life  in  Speculum  Bri- 
tannise— pars  Essex,  ed.  Sir  H.  Ellis  (Camden 
Soc.),  1840 ;  Rye's  England  as  seen  by  Foreigners, 
1865;  H.  B.  Wheatley  in  Harrison'slJescription  of 


England  (New  Shakspere  Soc.),  1877;  Bernard's 
Catalog!  Librorum  MSS.  Angliseet  Hibernise,  ii. 
365  ;  Todd's  Cat.  of  MSS.  at  Lambeth  Palace, 
1812;  W.  H.  Black's  Cat.  Ashmolean  MSS. 
1845;  Cambridge  Univ.  Libr.  MSS.  Cat.  1856; 
Hist.  MSS.  Comm.  1st  Rep.  p.  31  A,  3rd  Rep.  pp. 
1586,  1 75c ,  253  a,  5th  Rep.  p.  273  a,  7th  Rep.  p. 
5406;  Cal.  State  Papers,  Dom.  Ser.  1603-10  pp. 
186,  191,  508.  509,518.  544,553,  56  i,  616,  642, 
1611-18  pp.  45,  48,  76,  97,  108,  121,  158,  340. 
For  bibliography  see  Lowndes's  Bibl.  Man, 
(Bohn),  1864;  Hazlitt's  Handbook  and  Biblio- 
graphical Collections,  1867-82  ;  Arber's  Reg.  of 
the  Stationers'  Company,  1875-7,  ii.  434,  437 
568,  575,  632,  Hi.  78,  175,  281,  331,  412.] 

C.  H  C. 

NORFOLK,  DUKES  OF.  [See  HOWARD, 
JOHN,  first  DUKE  (of  the  Howard  line),  1430  ?- 
1485 ;  HOWARD,  THOMAS,  second  DUKE,  1443- 
1524;  HOWARD,  THOMAS,  third  DCKE,  1473- 
1554 ;  HOWARD,  THOMAS,  fourth  DUKE,  1536- 
1572;  HOWARD,  HENRY,  sixth  DUKE,  1628- 
1684;  HOWARD,  HENRY,  seventh  DUKE, 
1655-1701 ;  HOWARD,  CHARLES,  tenth  DUKE, 
1720-1786 ;  HOWARD,  CHARLES,  eleventh 
DUKE,  1746-1815 ;  HOWARD,  BERNARD  ED- 
WARD, twelfth  DUKE,  1765-1842 ;  HOWARD, 
HENRY  CHARLES,  thirteenth  DUKE,  1791- 
1856) ;  HOWARD,  HENRY  GRANVILLE  FITZ- 
ALAN-,  fourteenth  DUKE,  1815-1860 ;  MOW- 
BRAY,  THOMAS,  first  DUKE  (of  the  Mowbray 
line),  1366-1399;  MOWBRAY,  JOHN,  second 
DUKE,  1389-1432;  MOWBRAY,  JOHN,  third 
DUKE,  1415-1461.] 

NORFOLK,  ELIZABETH,  DUCHESS  OF 
(1494-1558).  [See  under  HOWARD,  THOMAS, 
third  DUKE.] 

NORFOLK,  EARL  OF  (/.  1070).  [See 
GUADER  or  WADER,  RALPH.] 

NORFOLK,  EARLS  OF.  [See  BIGOD, 
HUGH,  first  EARL,  d.  1176  or  1177 ;  BIGOD, 
ROGER,  second  EARL,  d.  1221 ;  BIGOD,  ROGER, 
fourth  EARL,  d.  1270 ;  BIGOD,  ROGER,  fifth 
EARL,  1245-1306;  THOMAS  OF  BROTHERTON, 
1300-1338.] 

NORFORD,  WILLIAM  (1715-1793), 
medical  writer,  was  born  in  1715,  and  was 
apprenticed  to  John  Amyas,  a  surgeon  in 
Norwich  '  of  the  first  character  and  in  full 
business'  (Letter  to  Sharpin).  He  began 
practice  at  Halesworth  in  Suffolk  as  a  sur- 
geon and  man-midwife.  In  1753  he  pub- 
lished in  London  '  An  Essay  on  the  General 
Method  of  treating  Cancerous  Tumours,'  8vo, 
dedicated  to  JohnFreke  [q.  v.],  senior  surgeon 
to  St.  Bartholomew's  Hospital.  He  had 
been  encouraged  to  write  by  some  remarks 
of  Freke,  and  by  the  example  of  Dale  Ingram 
[q.  v.],  also  a  country  practitioner.  He  en- 
deavours to  establish  rules  for  the  treatment 


Norgate 


109 


Norgate 


of  cancer,  which  had,  he  believed,  been  suc- 
cessful in  several  cases.  Some  of  his  sup- 
posed cures  were,  however,  followed  by  re- 
currence and  death ;  and  in  others  of  his 
cases  it  is  clear  that  abscesses  or  inflamed 
glands,  but  not  cancers,  were  present.  He 
discusses  the  views  of  Ledran,  Van  Swieten, 
and  Wiseman,  and  states  his  own  cases  with 
fairness.  He  believed  in  a  sulphur  electuary 
and  an  ointment  of  his  own.  He  married 
the  daughter  of  a  surgeon,  and  after  some 
years  moved  to  Bury  St.  Edmunds.  He 
became  an  extra-licentiate  of  the  College  of 
Physicians  on  26  Nov.  1761,  and  began  prac- 
tice as  a  physician.  He  had  a  quarrel  with 
a  Dr.  Sharpin  of  East  Dereham  over  a  case 
of  intestinal  obstruction,  and  defended  his 
own  conduct  in  a  sixpenny  pamphlet  entitled 
'  A  Letter  to  Dr.  Sharpin  in  Answer  to  his 
Appeal  to  the  Public  concerning  his  Medical 
Treatment  of  Mr.  John  Railing,  apothecary, 
of  Bury  St.  Edmund's  in  Suffolk.'  On  the 
strength  of  his  licence  he  styles  himself 
Doctor.  The  letter  is  dated  '  Bury,  Oct.  9, 
1764,'  and  the  case,  which  is  fully  described, 
has  considerable  medical  interest.  In  1780 
he  published  at  Bury  St.  Edmunds  '  Con- 
cisse  et  Practicae  Observationes  de  Intermit- 
tentibus  Febribus  curandis,'  4to.  He  died 
in  1 793.  His  portrait  was  painted  by  George 
Ralph,  and  engraved  in  1788  by  J.  Singleton. 

TMunk's  Coll.  of  Phys.  ii.  235  ;  Works.] 

N.  M. 

NORGATE,  EDWARD  (d.  1650),  illu- 
miner  and  herald-painter,  born  at  Cambridge, 
was  son  of  Robert  Norgate  [q.  v.],  master  of 
Corpus  Christ!  College,  Cambridge,  by  Eliza- 
beth, daughter  of  John  Baker  of  Cambridge. 
His  father  died  in  1587,  and  Edward  was 
brought  up  by  his  stepfather,  Nicholas  Felton 
[q.  v.],  bishop  of  Ely.  Edward  did  not  stay 
in  Cambridge  long  enough  to  take  a  degree, 
but  went  up  to  London  to  follow  the  career 
of  an  artist. 

On  25  Nov.  1611  Norgate  received  a  joint 
grant  with  one  Andrea  Bassano  of  the  office 
of  tuner  of  his  majesty's  '  virginals,  organs, 
and  other  instruments  '  (State  Papers,  Dom. 
Ser.  1611-18,  p.  93) ;  and  the  grantees  were 
employed  in  making  new  '  chaire '  (choir) 
organs  in  the  royal  chapels  at  Greenwich 
and  Hampton  Court  (Pell  Records,  ed.  Devon, 
p;  324 ;  State  Papers,  1637,  p.  442).  In  1616 
Norgate  was  made  Blue-mantle  pursuivant. 
He  soon  obtained  a  reputation  for  his  illu- 
minated penmanship,  and  taught  heraldry  to 
the  sons  of  Thomas  Howard,  earl  of  Arun- 
del,  earl  marshal. 

Meanwhile  Norgate  was  employed  as  illu- 
minator of  royal  patents,  and  obtained  the 


reversion  of  the  office  of  clerk  of  the  signet. 
On  10  July  1627  he  presented  a  petition  de- 
siringto  resign  the  reversion  to  Will  Richards 
(ib.  Dom.  Ser.  1627-8,  p.  247) ;  but  nearly 
four  years  later  (10  March  1631)  a  warrant 
addressed  by  the  king  to  the  secretaries  of 
state  recites  that  '  Edward  Norgate,  one  of 
the  clerks  of  the  signet  extraordinary,  has  for 
many  years  been  employed  in  writing  letters 
to  the  Emperor  and  Patriarch  of  Russia,  the 
Grand  Signior,  the  Great  Mogul,  the  Em- 
peror of  Persia,  and  the  kings  of  Bantam, 
Macassar,  Barbary,  Siam,  Achine,  Fez,  Susr 
and  other  far-distant  kings.  His  majesty 
requires  that  hereafter  all  such  letters  be  pre- 
pared by  the  said  Edward  Norgate  and  his 
deputies''  (ib.  1629-31,  p.  532).  In  1633 
Norgate  appears  to  have  been  employed  as  a 
deputy  to  Sir  W.  Heydon,  treasurer  of  the 
English  troops  in  the  Palatinate  (ib.  1633-4, 
p.  323).  In  the  same  year  (28  Oct.)  he  was 
appointed  Windsor  herald  by  the  earl  mar- 
shal, Lord  Arundel. 

Norgate's  name  appears  among  others  in  a 
commission  of  31  Jan.  1637  '  to  compound 
with  persons  willing  to  be  incorporated  for 
using  the  art  and  mystery  of  common 
maltsters '  (ib.  Dom.  Ser.  1636-7,  p.  404)  ; 
and,  later,  he  was  one  of  the  commissioners 
of  brewing  (ib.  1637-8,  p.  230).  On  24  Aug. 
1638  he  was  at  length  admitted  as  clerk  of 
the  signet  (ib.  1637-8,  p.  603).  In  that 
capacity  he  attended  Charles  I  in  his  expe- 
ditions against  the  Scots  in  1639  and  1640. 
During  the  earlier  expedition  he  sent  many 
highly  interesting  letters  either  to  his  friend 
Robert  Reade,  secretary  toWindebanek,  or  to 
the  secretary  of  state  himself  (ib.  Dom.  Ser. 
1639).  Among  his  other  duties  he  was  called 
on  by  the  king  '  to  make  certain  patterns  for 
four  new  ensigns  with  devices,  for  the  guard 
of  his  person'  (ib.  p.  164)  ;  and  on  19  June, 
when  the  king  gave  the  Scots  commissioners  a 
gracious  answer,  Norgate  wrote  it  out  twelve 
times,  spending  a  whole  night  on  the  work 
(ib.  p.  330). 

Norgate  obtained  constant  access  to  the 
finest  collections  of  pictures,  and  became  a 
connoisseur  in  pictorial  art.  His  taste  and 
knowledge  were  so  highly  valued  that  he  was 
employed  in  1639-40  to  negotiate  the  pur- 
chase of  pictures  for  the  cabinet  of  Queen 
Henrietta  Maria  at  Greenwich.  He  com- 
missioned work  from  Jordaens  in  preference 
to  his  master,  Rubens ;  but  Norgate  had  a 
personal  interview  with  the  latter  at  his 
house  in  Brussels  (Original  Papers  relating 
to  Rubens,  pp.  211-13).  Apparently  on  the 
same  visit  he  delivered  a  duplicate  despatch 
to  his  friend  Sir  Balthasar  Gerbier,  the  king's 
agent  in  Brussels  (State  Papers,  Dom.  Ser. 


Norgate  i 

1639—40,  pp.  43-4).    In  a  similar  capacity  he 
acted  for  his  patron,  Lord  Arundel,  in  whose 
interest  he  visited  Italy.    He  also  went  to  the 
Levant  for  an  uncle  of  Sir  W.  Petty  to  buy 
marbles,  some  of  which  are  now  at  Oxford. 
Fuller  relates  how  Norgate   was   stopped, 
through  failure  of  remittances,  at  Marseilles, 
and,  being  helped  by  a  French  gentleman  | 
with  money  and  clothes,  made  his  way  back  ' 
to  England  on  foot. 

As  Windsor  herald,  Norgate  had  been  ex- 
cused ship-money  (ib.  1634-5,  p.  517);  and 
in  October  1641  he  was  granted  an  em- 
broidered coat-of-arms  (ib.  1641-3,  p.  151). 
In  1646  he  was  in  Holland  (Lansdowne  MS. 
1238),  and  in  1648  doubtless  was  deprived 
of  his  heraldic  office.  He  died  at  the  Heralds' 
College  in  16»0,andwas  buried  at  St.  Benet's, 
Paul's  Wharf,  on  23  Dec.  '  He  became,'  says 
Fuller,  who  attended  his  death-bed,  '  the 
best  illuminer  and  limner  of  his  age.  .  .  . 
.  .  .  He  was  an  excellent  herald,  and,  which 
was  the  crown  of  all,  a  right  honest  man.' 
Among  the  best  examples  of  his  work  the 
patent  from  Charles  I  for  the  appointment  of 
Alexander,  earl  of  Stirling,  as  commander-in- 
chief  of  Nova  Scotia,  was  so  well  executed 
that  it  has  been  sometimes  attributed  to  Van- 
dyck,  who,  so  far  as  is  known,  never  illumi- 
nated. Another  good  specimen  is  a  letter  to 
the  king  of  Persia,  for  which  he  was  paid 
IQl.  by  warrant  from  the  privy  council  dated 
24  April  1613.  Walpole's  continuator  says 
of  other  works  by  Norgate  that  they  are  '  in- 
ferior in  no  great  degree  to  the  elaborate  bor- 
dures  which  enclose  the  miniatures  of  Giulio 
Clovio.'  There  is  in  the  Bodleian  Library 
a  manuscript  by  Norgate  (Tanner  MS.  326, 
undated)  entitled  '  Miniature,  or  the  Art  of 
Limning.'  It  has  not  been  printed.  He  is 
said  to  have  left  other  manuscripts  to  be  pub- 
lished by  his  friends.  Among  the  latter  was 
the  poet  Herrick,  who  wrote  some  very  flatter- 
ing lines  on  him  in  '  Hesper ides'  (No.  301,  ed. 
Pollard,  1891 ;  No.  302,  ed.  Saintsbury,  1893). 

Norgate  was  twice  married.  His  first  wife 
was  Judith,  daughter  of  John  Larner,  esq. ; 
the  second,  whom  he  married  at  St.  Mar- 
garet's, Westminster,  on  15  Oct.  1619,  was 
Ursula,  daughter  of  Martin  Brighouse  of 
Coleby,  Lincolnshire.  He  had  three  sons  and 
two  daughters  by  his  second  wife. 

Thomas,  his  eldest  son  (the  only  child  by 
his  first  wife),  born  in  1615,  matriculated  at 
Christ  Church,  Oxford,  from  Westminster 
School  on  29  Nov.  1633.  He  graduated  B.  A. 
26  April  1637,  M.A.  30  June  1640,  and  was 
created  B.D.  on  17  June  1646.  He  was  ex- 
pelled from  his  studentship  by  the  parlia- 
mentary visitors  on  2  Nov.  1648.  He  was  for 
some  time  chaplain  to  Sir  Thomas  Glemham, 


Norgate 


governor  of  Oxford.  A  copy  of  Latin  verses 
by  him  on  the  death  of  Lord  Bayning  is  in 
the  Oxford  collection  (Alumni  Westmon.  and 
Alumni  Oxon.) 

[Addit.  MS.  8934,  f.  74;  Karl.  MSS.  1154, 
1532;  Fuller's  Worthies  (Cambridgeshire);  State 
Papers,  Dam.  Ser.  1611-43,  passim;  Lloyd's 
Memoires,  1677,  pp.  1634-5  (give  wrong  date  of 
death) ;  Noble's  College  of  Arms,  pp.  251,  261 ; 
Sainsbury's  Original  Papers  illustrative  of  the 
Life  of  Rubens,  pp.  209.  211  «,  215,  217,  223, 
227,  228,  233,  234,  and  Pref.  p.  xl  (following 
Dallaway's  note  to  Walpole,  wrongly  corrects 
Fuller  as  to  date  of  death,  which  has  been  veri- 
fied from  St.  Benet's  parish  register) ;  Walpole's 
Anecdotes  of  Painters,  ed.  Wornum  (with  Dalla- 
way's note),  i.  230-3  ;  Notes  and  Queries,  5,  12, 
and  19  Jan.  1867,  30  Dec.  1876,  15  June  1878; 
Chalmers's  Biog.  Diet.]  G.  LE  G-.  N. 

NORGATE,  ROBERT  (d.  1587),  master 
of  Corpus  Christ!  College,  Cambridge,  is  said 
to  have  been  born  at  Aylsham  in  Norfolk. 
He  was  educated  at  St.  John's  College  in  the 
same  university,  where  he  was  admitted  a 
scholar  1  Nov.  1561.  He  was  admitted 
B.A.  in  1564-5,  and  in  1567  was  elected  to  a 
fellowship  at  Corpus  Christ!  College.  In 
1568  he  commenced  M.A.  He  was  probably 
aided  in  obtaining  his  fellowship  by  Arch- 
bishop Parker,  whose  chaplain  he  was,  and 
to  whom  he  was  related  by  marriage,  his  wife, 
Elizabeth  Baker,  being  the  daughter  of  the 
archbishop's  half-brother,  John  Baker  M.A. 
The  archbishop  also  presented  him  to  the 
rectory  of  Latchingdon,  with  the  chapel  of 
Lawley  in  Essex,  to  which  he  was  instituted 
27  Jan.  1573-4.  In  1575  he  was  presented 
by  the  crown  to  the  rectory  of  Marsham  in 
Norfolk.  In  1576  he  was  one  of  the  univer- 
sity preachers.  On  29  Jan.  1577-8,  he  was 
installed  prebendary  of  Decem  Librarum  in 
the  cathedral  of  Lincoln.  In  1578  he  was 
presented  by  the  crown  to  the  rectory  of 
Forncett  in  Norfolk.  He  was  installed  a 
canon  of  Ely  8  May  1579;  was  created 
D.D.  in  1581  ;  and  filled  the  office  of  vice- 
chancellor  of  the  university  in  1584.  On 
10  Nov.  in  the  same  year  he  was  ap- 
pointed to  the  rectory  of  Little  Gransden 
in  Cambridgeshire,  by  the  crown,  and  re- 
signed about  the  same  time  the  living  of 
Latchingdon.  He  died  on  2  Nov.  1587,  and 
was  buried  in  the  ancient  church  of  St.  Benet. 

Norgate  appears  to  have  discharged  his 
duties  as  master  with  singular  fidelity,  and 
also  in  a  thoroughly  independent  spirit.  Al- 
though anxious  on  every  ground  to  conciliate 
Burghley,  he  successfully  resisted  an  attempt 
made  by  the  latter  to  nominate,  contrary  to 
statute,  one  Booth  to  a  fellowship.  The 
numbers  of  the  college  increased  considerably 


Norgate 


Norie 


under  his  rule,  and  it  was  entirely  due  to  his 
efforts  that  the  new  chapel  was  built  in  1579. 
He  himself,  however,  died  so  poor,  that,  ac- 
cording to  Masters,  '  his  goods  were  sold  by 
a  decree  of  the  vice-chancellor  for  the  pay- 
ment of  his  debts  and  funeral  charges,  there 
being  then  large  arrears  due  to  the  college, 
which  of  many  years  were  not  cleared  oft' ' 
(Hist,  of  C.  C.  Coll.,  p.  118).  He  also  is  en- 
titled to  be  gratefully  remembered  by  all 
scholars  for  the  care  he  took  of  Parker's 
magnificent  library,  for  the  reception  of 
which  he  had  a  room  constructed  over  the 
chapel,  where  the  collection  was  safely  housed 
until  the  erection  of  the  new  library  in  1823. 
His  widow  was  married  to  Nicholas  Felton 
[q.  v.],  afterwards  master  of  Pembroke  Col- 
lege, and  bishop  of  Ely.  His  only  son,  Edward, 
is  separately  noticed. 

[Masters's  Hist,  of  Corpus  Christi  College,  and 
Append.  No.  xxxvi. ;  Cooper's  Athense  Cant.  ii. 
18  ;Mullinger'sHist.  of  University  of  Cambridge, 
ii.288.]  J.  B.  M. 

NORGATE,     THOMAS     STARLING 

(1772-1859),  miscellaneous  writer,  son  of 
Elias  Norgate,  surgeon,  and  Deborah,  daugh- 
ter of  Alderman  Thomas  Starling,  was  born 
at  Norwich,  20  Aug.  1772.  From  1780  to 
1788  he  attended  the  Norwich  grammar 
school,  where  Dr.  Samuel  Parr  was  head- 
master until  1785.  In  1789  he  was  sent  to 
the  '  New  College,'  which  had  recently  been 
established  in  the  independent  interest  at 
Hackney,  under  the  presidency  of  Dr.  Thomas 
Belsham,  and  he  was  subsequently  entered  at 
Lincoln's  Inn  ;  but  although  he  kept  the  re- 
quisite number  of  terms,  he  relinquished  the 
chances  of  a  legal  career,  and  returned  to  his 
native  city  without  any  very  definite  views 
for  the  future. 

While  in  London  he  was  a  frequent  guest 
at  the  house  of  William  Beloe  [q.  v.],  and 
at  his  instigation  he  contributed  to  an  early 
volume  of  the  '  British  Critic.'  A  year  or 
two  later,  on  the  invitation  of  William 
Enfield,  minister  at  the  Octagon  Chapel  in 
Norwich,  he  became  a  regular  contributor  to 
the  '  Analytical  Review  '  until  its  death  in 
1799,  and  he  supplied  a  few  papers  to  the 
'  Cabinet,'  a  short-lived  periodical  published 
(1795-6)  under  the  management  of  Charles 
Marsh,  William  Taylor,  and  other  literary 
inhabitants  of  Norwich.  He  was  a  writer  on 
various  topics  in  the  '  Monthly  Magazine,' 
and  supplied  the  '  Half-yearly  Retrospect  of 
Domestic  Literature'  from  1797  to  1807, 
when  the  publication  was  discontinued.  To 
Arthur  Aikin's  'Annual  Review '(1802-8) 
Norgate  was  a  large  contributor,  writing 
nearly  one-seventh  part  of  the  whole  work. 


Subsequently  his  intimate  friend  William 
Taylor  introduced  him  to  Griffiths,  the 
editor  of  the  '  Monthly  Review,'  for  which 
he  wrote  for  a  time  while  living  in  retire- 
ment on  his  estate  at  Hetherset  in  Norfolk. 

In  1829  he  wrote  the  introductory  chapter 
on  the  'Agriculture  of  the  County  f  for 
Chambers's  '  General  History  of  Norfolk,' 
2  vols.  8vo,  and  in  the  following  year,  in  con- 
junction with  Simon  Wilkin,  F.L.S.,  and 
another  friend,  established  the  'East-An- 
glian,' a  weekly  newspaper  published  at 
Norwich  (1830-3).  Norgate  was  assisted  as 
editor  by  his  eldest  son,  Elias  Norgate,  who 
also  joined  his  father  in  founding  (1829)  the 
Norfolk  and  Norwich  Horticultural  Society. 
Norgate  died  at  Hetherset,  7  July  1859,  in 
the  eighty-seventh  year  of  his  age. 

His  fourth  son,  THOMAS  STABLING  NOR- 
GATE (1807-1893),  born  30  Dec.  1807,  was 
educated  at  Norwich  grammar  school  under 
the  Rev.  Edward  Valpy,  and  graduated  B. A. 
from  Gonville  and  Caius  College,  Cambridge, 
in  1832.  He  was  curate  successively  of 
Briningham,  of  Cley-next-the-Sea,  and  of 
Banningham,  all  in  Norfolk,  and  was  collated 
rector  of  Sparham  in  the  same  county  in 
1840.  He  died  at  Sparham  on  25  Nov.  1893. 
He  was  the  author  of  three  volumes  of  blank- 
verse  translations  of  the  Homeric  poems : 
'  Batrachomyomachia,  an  Homeric  fable  re- 
produced in  dramatic  blank  verse,'  1863, 8vo ; 
'  The  Odyssey '  in  dramatic  blank  verse  1863, 
8vo  ;  and  '  The  Iliad,'  1864,  8vo. 

[Manuscript  autobiographical  memoranda  and 
personal  recollections.]  F.  N. 

NORIE,  JOHN  WILLIAM  (1772- 
1843),  writer  on  navigation,  born  in  Burr 
Street,  London,  on  3  July  1772,  was  son  of 
James  Norie  (1737-1793),  a  native  of  Moray- 
shire,  who,  after  being  trained  for  the  pres- 
byterian  church, migrated  to  London  in  1756, 
and  kept  a  flourishing  school  in  Burr  Street, 
Wapping.  Norie's  mother  was  Dorothy  Mary 
Fletcher(1753-1840),daughterofamerchant 
in  East  Smithfield.  The  son,  John  William, 
resided,  according  to  the  '  London  Directory  ' 
for  1803,  at  the  '  Naval  Academy,  157  Leaden- 
hall  Street.'  At  the  same  address  William 
Heather  carried  on  business  as  a  publisher  of 
naval  books  and  dealer  in  charts  and  nautical 
instruments  at  the  '  Navigation  Warehouse.' 
Heather's  name  disappears  in  1815,  and  the 
business  was  henceforth  conducted  by  Norie 
with  a  partner,  Charles  Wilson,  under  the 
style  of  Norie  &  Wilson.  The  '  Navigation 
Warehouse'  has  been  immortalised  by  Charles 
Dickens  in  '  Dombey  and  Son '  as  the  shop 
kept  by  Sol  Gills  (cf.  J.  Ashby-Sterry's 
article '  The  Wooden  Midshipman '  in  All  the 


Norman 


112 


Norman 


Year  Hound,  29  Oct.  1881,  p.  173).  Norie 
retired  about  1830,  but  the  business  was  car- 
ried on  in  the  same  place  until  1880,  when 
the  premises  were  taken  down  and  the  firm 
removed  to  156  Minories,  where  the  figure  of 
the  little  midshipman  which  decorated  Norie's 
house  of  business  still  exists.  Norie,  who  is 
variously  described  as  '  teacher  of  navigation 
and  nautical  astronomy,'  and  '  hydrographer,' 
died  at  No.  3  Coates  Crescent,  Edinburgh,  on 
24  Dec.  1843,  and  was  buried  in  St.  John's 
episcopal  church. 

Norie  wrote :  1.  '  Explanation  and  Use 
of  the  Planispherium  Celeste,  or  Map  of 
Zodiacal  Stars,'  1802.  2.  '  Complete  Set  of 
Nautical  Tables,'  1803.  3. '  Epitome  of  Prac- 
tical Navigation,'  1805.  4.  '  Sailing  Direc- 
tions for  St.  George's  and  Bristol  Channels,' 
1816.  5.  '  Naval  Gazetteer,'  1827,  together 
with  a  number  of  charts  and  sailing  directions 
for  different  parts  of  the  world.  His  books 
have  gone  through  a  large  number  of  editions, 
and  his '  Navigation '  is  still  a  standard  work, 
and  is  in  constant  demand. 

[Private  information  ;  Gent.  Mag.  1844,  pt.  i. 
p.  221 :  Caledonian  Mercury,  30  Dec.  1843.] 

R.  B.  P. 

NORMAN,  GEORGE  WARDE  (1793- 
1882),  writer  on  finance,  was  born  at  Brom- 
ley Common,  Kent,  on  20  Sept.  1793.  His 
father,  George  Norman,  born  on  24  June 
1756,  was  a  merchant  in  the  Norway  timber 
trade,  who  served  as  sheriff  of  Kent  in  1793, 
and  died  on  24  Jan.  1830,  having  married 
on  22  Nov.  1792  Charlotte,  third  daughter 
of  Edward  Beadon,  rector  of  North  Stone- 
ham,  Hampshire ;  she  died  on  18  Feb. 
1853.  George  Warde  was  educated  at  Eton 
from  1805  to  1810,  when  he  joined  his 
father  in  business,  spending  parts  of  1819-21 
in  Norway.  He  was  there  again  in  1826 
and  1828.  In  the  course  of  his  visits  he 
was  presented  to  the  king,  and  gained  the 
friendship  of  distinguished  Norwegians. 
With  some  of  them,  or  with  their  descend- 
ants, he  continued  on  intimate  terms  to  the 
end  of  his  life.  His  father  retired  in  1824, 
and  the  son  kept  in  the  timber  trade  till 
1830,  when  he  transferred  it  to  Sewell  &  Co., 
his  brother,  Richard  Norman,  becoming  a 
partner  in  the  new  firm.  From  1821  to  1872 
ne  was  a  director  of  the  Bank  of  England, 
and  in  1826  took  an  important  part  in  the 
establishment  of  branch  offices.  About  1840 
he  was  appointed  a  member  of  the  committee 
of  the  treasury  at  the  bank,  the  only  director 
who  has  filled  that  post  without  having 
passed  the  chair.  During  the  commercial 
crisis  of  1847  he  was  a  constant  attendant 
at  the  bank,  and  conferred  daily  with  Sir 


Charles  Wood  [q.  v.],  chancellor  of  the  ex- 
chequer, in  Downing  Street.  In  1832  he  was 
examined  before  Lord  Althorp's  committee 
of  the  House  of  Commons  to  inquire  into 
the  utility  of  a  great  central  issue,  and  into 
the  competency  of  the  Bank  of  England  to 
act  as  a  regulator  of  currency.  In  1840  he 
was  examined  for  six  days  before  Sir  Charles 
Wood's  committee  to  inquire  into  matters 
connected  with  circulation.  In  1848  he  was 
examined  before  a  committee  of  the  House 
of  Lords  on  currency  matters.  He  became 
an  exchequer  bill  commissioner  in  1831 ; 
was  renominated  a  commissioner  in  1842, 
when  the  business  was  transferred  to  the 
public  works  loan  commissioners,  and  served 
till  1876.  He  was  also  a  director  of  the  Sun 
Insurance  office  from  1830  to  1864,  was  for 
many  years  a  governor  of  Guy's  Hospital, 
and  the  last  surviving  original  member  of 
the  Political  Economy  Club,  founded  in  1821. 
In  politics  he  was  a  liberal,  and  an  advocate 
of  free  trade ;  in  1835  he  was  asked  to  stand 
for  the  city  of  London,  and  afterwards  to 
contest  West  Kent,  but  declined,  owing  to 
ill-health.  He  took  a  keen  interest  in  mat- 
ters connected  with  the  poor-law  adminis- 
tration. Of  the  Bromley  union,  one  of  the 
first  established,  he  was  vice-chairman  for 
nearly  forty  years,  and  often  acted  as  chair- 
man. 

Soon  after  leaving  Eton  he  formed  an 
intimate  friendship  with  George  Grote  the 
historian.  They  read  books  in  common, 
chiefly  on  historical  and  political  subjects, 
and  studied  political  economy.  In  1814 
Norman  introduced  Grote  to  Miss  Harriet 
Lewin,  who  afterwards  became  Grote's  wife, 
and  it  was  at  Norman's  suggestion  that 
Grote  undertook  to  write  the  history  of 
Greece  rather  than  that  of  Rome,  which  he 
had  originally  contemplated  (MRS.  GROTE, 
Life  of  George  Grote,  1873,  pp.  13-22, 32,  34, 
41  et  seq.)  In  the  development  of  cricket  in 
West  Kent  Grote  and  Norman  were  also 
jointly  interested. 

Norman  was  a  wide  reader,  not  only  of 
English  but  also  of  French,  Italian,  and 
Norwegian  literature ;  he  was  intimate  with 
the  works  of  the  later  Latin  poets  no  less 
than  with  those  of  mediaeval  French  and 
Italian  writers,  and  collected  a  library  of 
Norwegian  books.  In  1833  he  published 
'  Remarks  upon  some  prevalent  Errors  with 
respect  to  Currency  and  Banking,  and  Sug- 
gestions to  the  Legislature  as  to  the  Renewal 
of  the  Bank  Charter.'  The  pamphlet  con- 
tained views  which  have  suggested  most  im- 
portant changes  in  the  currency.  It  was 
criticised  by  Colonel  Torrens,  Samuel  Jones 
Loyd,  afterwards  first  Baron  Overston  [q.  v.lr 


Norman 


Norman 


•and  J.  H.  Palmer,  and  was  republished  in 
1838.  His  last  important  work,  in  1850, 
was  'An  Examination  of  some  prevailing 
Opinions  as  to  the  Pressure  of  Taxation  in 
this  and  other  Countries '  (4th  edition,  1864), 
in  which  he  combated  the  view  that  the  in- 
crease of  public  expenditure  was  a  proof  of 
heavier  taxation  of  the  people,  and  that  Eng- 
lish liberty  was  attained  by  an  amount  of 
taxation  which,  as  compared  with  that  borne 
by  our  neighbours,  was  excessive.  He  died 
at  Bromley  Common,  Kent,  on  4  Sept.  1882, 
within  a  few  days  of  completing  his  eighty- 
ninth  year,  having  married  in  1830  Sibella 
(1808-1887),  daughter  of  Henry  Stone,  of 
the  Bengal  civil  service,  and  afterwards  a 
partner  in  the  banking  firm  of  Stone  & 
Martin. 

Besides  the  works  already  mentioned,  Nor- 
man was  the  author  of:  1.  '  Letter  to  Charles 
Wood,  esq.,  M.P.,  on  Money,  and  the  Means 
of  economising  the  Use  of  it,'  1841.  2.  '  Re- 
marks on  the  Incidence  of  Import  Duties, 
with  special  reference  to  the  England  and 
Cuba  Case  contained  in  "  The  Budget," '  1860. 
3.  Papers  on  various  subjects,  1869.  4. 'The 
Future  of  the  United  States,'  a  paper  read 
before  the  British  Association  at  Belfast  in 
August  1874 ;  printed  in  the '  Journal  of  the 
Statistical  Society,'  March  1875.  5.  '  A  Me- 
moir of  the  Rev.  F.  Beadon,'  1879.  6.  '  Re- 
marks on  the  Saxon  Invasion,'  printed  in 
'  Archaeologia  Cantiana,'  vol.  xiii.  1880.  He 
also  at  one  time  frequently  contributed  to 
the  'Economist.' 

[Economist,  9  Sept.  1882,  p.  1125,  30  Sept.  pp. 
1209-11 ;  Times,  15  Sept.  1882,  p.  4;  Darwin's 
Life  of  C.  Darwin,  1887,  ii.  304;  Kecollec- 
tions  of  a  Happy  Life — the  Autobiography  of 
Marianne  North,  1892,  ii.  214-15;  Lord  Tolle- 
mache  and  his  Anecdotes  in  the  Fortnightly 
Review,  July  1892,  pp.  74-5 ;  information  from 
his  son,  Philip  Norman,  esq.]  G.  C.  B. 

NORMAN,  JOHN  (1491  P-1563P),  Cis- 
tercian, was  born  soon  after  1490,  and  gra- 
duated B.A.  at  Cambridge  in  1514.  He  be- 
came abbot  of  the  Cistercian  house  of  Bindon 
in  Dorset  some  time  after  1523,  in  succession 
to  John  Walys.  In  1536  Bindon,  having  a 
clear  income  of  only  147/.  7s.  9$d.  (GAIRD- 
NER,  Calendar  of  Letters  and  Papers  of 
Henry  VIITs  Reign,  x.  1238),  was  suppressed 
among  the  lesser  monasteries,  but  on  16  Nov. 
•of  the  same  year  John  Norman  was  formally 
reinstated  abbot  there  by  the  patent  of  re- 
foundation of  the  house  (ib.  xi.  1217 ;  the 
patent  is  printed  in  full  in  HUTCHINS,  Dorset, 
i.  356-8).  Norman  appears  to  have  held  the 
abbey  of  the  king  for  some  two  years  on  the 
tenure  of '  perpetual  alms,'  and  then  to  have 
finally  surrendered  it  to  John  Tregonwell, 

VOL.   XLI. 


one  of  the  clerks  in  chancery.  The  deed  of 
surrender,  preserved  among  the  records  of 
the  court  of  augmentations,  is  dated  14  March 
30  Henry  VIII,  1539  (Deputy  Keeper's 
Eighth  Report,  App.  ii.  p.  10),  but  the  Close 
Roll  gives  the  date  as  10  March  (BuBNET, 
Hist.  Reform.  I.  ii.  247,  ed.  1865).  To  John 
Tregonwell,  who  had  originally  petitioned 
Cromwell  for  the  farm  of  the  abbey  in  1536, 
Norman  and  his  convent  (1539)  demised  the 
farm  of  Hamburgh  for  the  term  of  eighty-one 
years  from  '  Michaelmas  last '  (GAIRDNER, 
Letters  and  Papers  of  Henry  VIII,  x.  388), 
and  Norman  received  a  pension  of  50/.  a 
year,  which  he  enjoyed  until  1553. 

[In  addition  to  the  authorities  mentioned 
above,  see  Cooper's  Athenae  Cantabr.  i.  70 ;  Rymer's 
Foedera,  xiv.  630 ;  Tanner's  Notitia  Monastica, 
p.  xl,  3  (ed.  1787);  Dugdale's  Monastieou,  v. 
656,  ed.  1830 ;  Willis's  Mitred  Abbeys,  ii.  69 ; 
Dixon's  Hist,  of  Church  of  England,  ii.  114-15.] 

A.  M.  C-E. 

NORMAN,  JOHN  (1622-1669),  presby- 
terian  divine,  born  on  15  Dec.  1622,  was  son  of 
Abraham  Norman  of  Trusham,  Devonshire, 
and  matriculated  on  16  March  1637-8  from 
Exeter  College,  Oxford,  where  he  was  ser- 
vitor to  the  rector,  Dr.  Conant.  He  gra- 
duated B.A.  on  21  Oct.  1641,  and  received 
presbyterian  ordination.  In  1647,  upon  the 
expulsion  of  George  Wotton,  he  became  pres- 
byterian vicar  of  Bridgwater,  and  remained 
there  until  ejected  by  the  Act  of  Uniformity 
in  1662.  He  was  the  bosom  friend  of  Joseph 
Alleine  [q.  vj,  the  ejected  vicar  of  Taunton, 
whose  sister  Elizabeth  seems  to  have  been  his 
first  wife.  Norman  was  probably  the  '  Py- 
lades '  to  whom  Alleine,  under  the  signature 
'  Orestes,'  wrote  a  very  remarkable  '  Letter 
from  Bath'  on  12  Oct.  1668,  smoothing  over 
some  'jealous  passages'  which  had  occurred 
between  the  writer  and  his  old  friend  and 
'  covenant  Pylades '  (Life  of  Alleine,  1822,  p. 
432,  letter  xxxvii.)  Soon  after  his  eject- 
ment, Norman  was  brought  before  Judge 
Foster  for  preaching  privately  to  his  people, 
and  was  sentenced  to  a  fine  of  100J.  and  to 
imprisonment  until  the  fine  was  paid.  He 
lay  in  Ilchester  gaol  for  eighteen  months, 
when  Sir  Matthew  Hale  [q.  v.],  on  circuit, 
compounded  the  fine  at  sixpence  in  the 
pound.  After  his  release  he  preached  in 
private.  He  had  good  natural  abilities,  was 
an  acceptable  preacher,  and  was  much  re- 
spected in  '  all  the  western  parts  of  the 
kingdom'  (CALAMY).  His  works  include 
'Cases  of  Conscience  practically  resolved.' 
London,  1673,  8vo,  to  which  an  account  of 
him  is  prefixed  by  William  Cooper ;  an  ordi- 
nation sermon, '  Christ's  Commission  Officer,' 
London,  1658,  12mo  ;  '  Christ  confessed  ' 

I 


Norman 


114 


Normandy 


(written  in  prison) ;  and  '  Family  Governors 
exhorted  to  Family  Godliness.' 

He  died  at  Bridgwater,  and  was  buried  at 
St.  Mary's  on  9  Feb.  1668-9.  His  wife  Eliza- 
beth had  died  in  1664,  and  he  seems  to  have 
married  a  second  wife,  who  survived  him 
A  son,  John,  born  in  1652,  matriculated  from 
Exeter  College,  Oxford  (8  May  1669).  Henry 
Norman,  master  of  Longport  grammar  school 
from  1706  to  1730,  may  have  been  the  minis- 
ter's grandson. 

[Norman's  Cases  of  Conscience;  Palmer's 
Nonconformist's  Memorial,  iii.  169 ;  Stanford's 
Joseph  Alleine,  his  Companions  and  Times,  1861, 
pp.  101,  243,  359;  Foster's  Alumni  Oxon.  1500- 
1714;  "Weaver's  Somerset  Incumbents,  p.  318  ; 
Notes  and  Queries,  8th  ser.  v.  149,  by  Mr.  John 
Kent.]  j.  C.  H. 

NORMAN,  ROBERT  (fi.  1590),  mathe- 
matical instrument  maker,  was  the  author 
of '  The  Newe  Attractive,  containing  a  short 
discourse  of  the  Magnes  or  Lodestone,  and 
amongest  other  his  vertues,  of  a  newe  dis- 
covered secret  and  subtill  propertie  con- 
cernyng  the  declinyng  of  the  Needle  touched 
therewith  under  the  plaine  of  the  Horizon,' 
black  letter,  small  4to,  1581.  This  book 
was  dedicated  to  William  Borough  [q.  v.], 
then  comptroller  of  the  navy,  to  whose  '  en- 
couragement, good  counsel,  accustomed 
courtesy,  and  friendly  affection  towards  me, 
an  unlearned  mechanician,'  Norman  attri- 
butes the  working  out  of  the  subject.  Borough 
added  an  appendix :  '  A  Discovery  of  the 
Variation  of  the  Compass,'  in  the  preface  to 
which  Norman  is  referred  to  as  '  the  expert 
artificer ; '  and  a  note  at  the  end  advertises 
that  thejnstruments  described  'are  made  by 
Robert  Norman,  and  may  be  had  at  his  house 
in  Radcliffe.'  The  book  was  often  reprinted, 
but  the  later  editions  want  both  the  dedica- 
tion and  Borough's  appendix.  Norman  was 
also  the  author  of  'Safegarde  of  Saylers,' 
8vo,  1590;  a  rutter,  or  sailing  directions, 
translated  from  the  Dutch.  It  was  re- 
printed in  1600,  and  several  times  after- 
wards. 

[His  own  -works,  as  cited  ;  Whiston's  Longi- 
tude and  Latitude,  found  by  the  Inclinatory  or 
Dipping  Needle.]  J.  K.  L. 

NORMANBY,  MARQUISES  OP.  [See 
SHEFFIELD,  JOHN,  1647-1721 ;  PHIPPS,  Coir- 
STANTINE,  first  MARQUIS,  1797-1863 ;  PHIPPS, 
GEORGE  AUGUSTUS  CONSTANTINE,  second 
MARQUIS,  1819-1890.] 

NORMANDY,  ALPHONSE  RENE  LE 
MIRE  DE  (1809-1864),  chemist,  was  born 
at  Rouen  on  23  Oct.  1809,  and  was  originally 
intended  for  the  medical  profession.  He  de- 
voted himself,  however,  to  chemistry,  and  on 


the  completion  of  his  medical  course  he  went 
to  Germany  and  studied  under  Gmelin.  He 
took  out  a  patent  in  1839  (No.  8175)  for 
indelible  inks  and  dyes,  and  in  1841  he 
patented  a  method  of  hardening  soap  made 
from  what  are  known  as  'soft  goods'  by  the 
addition  of  sulphate  of  soda  (No.  9081) ;  but 
for  some  years  he  was  prevented  from  using 
the  process  by  the  excise,  who  regarded  the 
addition  of  sulphate  of  soda  as  an  adultera- 
tion. The  restriction  was  at  length  removed, 
and  the  patent  was  prolonged  by  the  privy 
council  in  1855  for  three  years  to  compensate 
him  for  the  difficulties  which  had  been  thrown 
in  his  way  (cf.  Mechanics1  Mag.  Ixiii.  56). 
In  these  two  patents  he  is  described  as'  M.D., 
of  Rouen,'  with  a  temporary  residence  in 
London ;  but  he  seems  to  have  come  to  Eng- 
land permanently  about  1843,  taking  up  his 
residence  at  Dalston,  and  subsequently  at 
67  Judd  Street,  Brunswick  Square,  London, 
where  he  lived  until  1860.  His  apparatus 
for  distilling  sea-water  to  obtain  perfectly 
pure  water  for  drinking  is  very  largely  used 
on  board  ship,  and  formed  the  subject  of  a 
patent  granted  in  1851  (No.  13714).  Further 
patents  were  taken  out  for  improvements  in 
1852  (No.  275),  1856  (No.  1252),  1857  (No. 
3137),  1859  (No.  459),  1860  (No.  786),  and 
in  1861  (No.  1553).  The  great  merit  of  the 
invention  consists  in  conducting  the  opera- 
tion at  a  low  temperature,  and  causing  the 
condensed  water  to  absorb  a  large  quantity 
of  atmospheric  air,  which  renders  it  palatable. 
A  medal  was  awarded  to  him  for  this  appa- 
ratus at  the  exhibition  of  1862  (cf.  Reports 
of  the  Juries,  vii.  B,  31,  32).  The  manu- 
facture of  these  stills  became  an  important 
business,  which  is  still  carried  on  near  the 
Victoria  Docks  by  Normandy's  Patent  Marine 
Aerated  Fresh  Water  Company. 

For  some  years  he  had  a  considerable 
practice  as  a  consu  Iting  and  analytical  chemist, 
and  in  1855  and  1856  he  gave  some  startling 
evidence  before  a  committee  of  the  House  of 
Commons  on  the  adulteration  of  food  with 
reference  to  the  use  of  alum  in  the  manu- 
facture of  bread.  He  was  elected  a  fellow 
of  the  Chemical  Society  on  20  May  1854. 
He  died  at  Odin  Lodge,  Clapham  Park, 
London,  on  10  May  1864. 

Normandy  published  in  1849  a  translation 
of  Rose's  '  Practical  Treatise  on  Analytical 
Tiemistrv,'  and  he  wrote :  1 .  '  Guide  to  the 
Alkali-metrical  Chest,' 1849.  2.  'Introduc- 
ion  to  Rose's  Chemical  Analysis,'  1849. 
3.  '  Handbook  of  Chemical  Analysis,'  1850, 
2nd  ed.  by  Noad  in  1875.  4.  '  The  Chemi- 
cal Atlas,'  1855  (a  French  translation  ap- 
)eared  in  1857).  5.  '  The  Dictionaries  of 
he  Chemical  Atlas,'  1857.  He  contributed  a 


Normannus 


Norris 


paper  '  On  the  Spheroidal  State  of  Water  in 
Steam  Boilers '  to  the  '  Philosophical  Maga- 
zine,' 1854,  vii.  283. 

[PoggendorfFsBiographisch-LitererischesWor- 
terbuch ;  Mechanics'  Mac;.,  27  May  1864,  p. 
347  ;  Journal  of  the  Chemical  Society,  xviii.  345  ; 
Spon's  Diet,  of  Engineering,  iii.  1219.] 

R.  B.  P. 

NORMANNUS,  SIMON  (d.  1249). 
[See  CANTELUPE,  SIMON.] 

NORMANVILLE,  THOMAS  DE  (1256- 
1295),  judge,  born  in  1256,  was  the  son  of 
Ralph  de  Normanville  of  Empingham,  Rut- 
land, who  died  in  1259,  when  Thomas  was 
two  and  [a  half  years  old  (ROBERTS,  Cal. 
Genealogicum,  p.  81).  The  Normanvilles 
were  a  branch  of  the  family  of  Basset  of 
Normandy,  and  soon  after  the  conquest  are 
found  in  the  possession  of  the  manor  of  Emp- 
ingham ;  one  of  Thomas's  ancestors,  Gerold, 
was  a  benefactor  of  Battle  Abbey  in  the 
reign  of  Henry  I ;  another  Ralph  was  sent 
by  John  to  defend  Kenilworth  Castle  against 
the  barons ;  and  his  grandfather,  Thomas, 
was  a  crusader  {Battle  Abbey  Roll,  ed. 
Duchess  of  Cleveland,  ii.  362-3  ;  Cal.  Papal 
Letters,  i.  244).  Thomas  first  appears  in  1276 
as  governor  of  Bamborough  Castle,  seneschal, 
and  king's  escheator  beyond  Trent.  In  1279 
he  was  appointed  to  hear  the  disputes  be- 
tween Alexander,  king  of  Scots,  and  the 
Bishop  of  Durham,  and  in  1281  received  a 
grant  of  lands  in  Stamford,  Lincolnshire. 
In  January  1283  he  was  commissioned  to 
'  order  and  dispose  of '  the  services  granted 
by  the  knights,  freemen,  and  '  communitates ' 
beyond  the  Trent  (Parl.  Writs,  i.  761),  and 
in  1286  he  was  justice  in  eyre  to  hear  pleas 
of  the  forests  in  Nottinghamshire  and  Lan- 
cashire. In  1288  he  was  summoned  to  a 
council  at  Westminster  to  be  held  on  13  Oct., 
and  on  2  Sept.  in  the  following  year  he  was 
directed  to  report  on  the  condition  of  the 
daughters  of  Llywelyn  ab  Gruffydd  [q.  v.], 
then  nuns  at  Sempringham.  In  1292  he 
held  pleas  '  de  quo  warranto '  in  Hereford- 
shire and  Kent,  and  in  the  following  year 
in  Herefordshire,  Surrey,  and  Staffordshire. 
In  the  same  year  he  was  directed  to  grant 
John  Baliol  seisin  of  his  manors  in  Nor- 
manville's  '  balliva.'  Normanville  died  in 
129-"),  seised  of  various  lands  in  Nottingham- 
shire and  Yorkshire. 

By  his  wife  Dionysia,  who  brought  as  her 
dowry  a  third  of  the  manor  of  Kenarding- 
ton,  Kent,  and  survived  him,  Normanville 
had  one  son,  Edmund,  who  was  four  years 
old  at  his  father's  death  and  died  without 
issue  {Cal.  Genealogicum,  p.  500);  and  one 
daughter,  Margaret,  who  thus  became  his 


heiress,  and  married  William  Basing.  Ex- 
amples of  Normanville's  seal  are  in  theBritish 
Museum.  He  must  be  distinguished  from  a 
contemporary  Thomas  de  Normanville,  who 
held  lands  in  Kent  and  died  in  1283  (Cal. 
Genealogicum,  p.  331 ;  HASTED,  Kent,  iii. 
115,  &c.) 

[Foss's  Lives  of  the  Judges,  iii.  135-6;  Dug- 
dale's  Chron.  Ser. ;  Parl.  Writs,  i.  761 ;  Inqui- 
sitiones  post  mortem,  i.  124,  130 ;  Rotuli  Chart- 
arum,  p.  108;  Cal.  Patent  Rolls,  Edward  I, 
passim  ;  Placita  de  Quo  Warranto,  pp.  115,  266, 
352,  705;  Rot.  Origini.  Abbreviatio,  passim; 
Testa  de  Nevill,  p.  208;  Rymer's  Fcedera,  1816 
edit.  ii.  792 ;  Placitorum  Abbreviatio,  pp.  328-9 ; 
Gervase  of  Canterbury,  ii.  301;  John  deOxenedes 
(Rolls  Ser.),  pp.  328,  336 ;  Memoranda  de  Parl. 
(Rolls  Ser.),  pp.  39,  40,  79;  Archseologia  Can- 
tiana,  ii.  293,  xi.  366,xiii.  193,  353;  Marshall's 
Genealogist,  passim ;  Hunter's  South  Yorkshire, 
ii.  43, 127  ;  Wright's  Rutland  ;  Blore's  Rutland ; 
and  Plantagenet  Harrison's  Yorkshire,  passim.l 

A.  F.  P. 

NORREYS.    [See  NORMS.] 

NORRIS,  ANTONY  (1711-1786),  anti- 
quary, of  Barton  Turf,  Norfolk,  descended 
from  a  merchant  family  of  Norwich,  different 
members  of  which  had  filled  most  of  the 
municipal  offices  of  that  city,  was  the  third 
son,  but  eventual  heir,  of  the  Rev.  Stephen 
Norris,  by  his  wife  Bridget,  daughter  of 
John  Graile,  rector  of  Blickling  and  Wax- 
ham,  Norfolk.  John  Norris  (1734-1777) 
[q.  v.],  founder  of  the  Norrisian  professorship, 
was  his  cousin.  Born  17  Nov.  1711,  and 
baptised  at  St.  George  Tombland,  Norwich, 
Antony  was  educated  at  Norwich  grammar 
school,  proceeding  to  Cambridge  4  April 
1727  as  a  pensioner  at  Gonville  and  Caius. 

On  3  Nov.  1729  he  was  admitted  of  the 
Middle  Temple,  going  into  residence  27  April 
1730,  and  being  called  to  the  bar  29  Nov. 
1735,  at  the  age  of  twenty-four.  He  mar- 
ried Sarah,  daughter  of  John  Custance,  J.P. 
of  Nonvich  (who  had  been  mayor  of  that 
city),  on  18  May  1737,  and  had  one  son 
only,  John,  born  28  Jan.  1737-8,  and  edu- 
cated at  the  same  school,  college,  and  inn 
as  his  father.  This  son,  who  was  apparently 
a  young  man  of  the  greatest  promise,  a 
prize-winner  and  a  fellow  of  his  college,  fell 
into  a  consumption,  and  died  19  March  1762, 
to  the  great  grief  of  his  father,  whose  laments 
are  touchingly  expressed  in  his  history  of 
Tunstead  (p.  74).  Norris,  left  without  child 
at  the  comparatively  early  age  of  fifty-one, 
had  little  to  solace  him  but  his  love  for 
genealogy  and  county  history. 

Possessed  of  ample  means  and  leisure, 
'  Nature  having  given  him,'  as  he  says,  '  an 
almost  irresistible  propensity  for  inquiries 

12 


Norris 


116 


Norris 


after  the  ancient  state  and  inhabitants  of 
Norfolk,  his  native  county,'  he  devoted  an 
immense  deal  of  time,  trouble,  and  money  to 
compiling  what  is,  in  some  respects,  the 
most  perfect  piece  of  county  history  ever 
compiled. 

There  is  no  doubt  he  intended  to  write 
a  complete  county  history  of  the  whole  of 
the  eastern  part  of  Norfolk,  a  part  sadly 
neglected  by  Blomefield,  and  succeeded  in 
completing  the  Hundreds  of  East  and  West 
Flegg,  Happing,  and  Tunstead,  but  died 
before  he  had  done  more  than  seven  parishes 
in  North  Erpingham.  What  he  completed 
covers  1,615  very  close-written  folio  pages, 
and  is  now  ready  for  the  press  if  the  public 
spirit  of  the  county  called  for  it. 

Norris  worked  in  the  most  systematic 
and  laborious  way.  Being  a  friend  of  the 
Bishop  of  Norwich,  and  a  man  of  some  posi- 
tion in  the  county,  he  was  actually  allowed 
to  take  home  the  original  register  books  of 
wills  from  the  Norwich  registry,  and  went 
through  them  minutely,  taking  most  copious 
shorthand  notes  from  them  in  Dr.  Byrom's 
system,  the  notes  covering  1,753  folio  pages, 
and  containing  references  to  certainly  not 
less  than  sixty  thousand  surnames.  These  he 
indexed  up  carefully  from  time  to  time,  and 
was  thus  enabled  to  give  details  and  correct 
pedigrees  in  a  way  no  one  else  could  pos- 
sibly have  done.  Painfully  and  dispas- 
sionately he  demolished,  for  example,  the 
forged  pedigree  of  Preston  of  Beeston,  and 
dispelled  the  myth  of  a  royalist  ancestor 
present  on  the  scaffold  with  Charles  I,  by 
proving  step  by  step  their  real  descent  from 
a  puritan. 

He  also  collected  in  six  volumes  2,818 
pages  of  close  notes  of  monuments  and  arms 
in  Norfolk,  containing  very  many  thousand 
beautiful  pen-and-ink  sketches  of  arms  and 
monumental  brasses,  and  five  books  of  ex- 
tracts from  Norfolk  deeds,  consisting  of  472 
pages  of  notes.  From  these  and  other 
sources  he  compiled  two  volumes  of  Norfolk 
pedigrees  (305  in  all)  most  elaborately 
worked  out.  He  died  14  June  1786,  aged 
75,  'his  faculties  having  become  exhausted 
and  his  mind  having  ceased  to  be  active ' 
before  his  death,  as  we  learn  from  his  monu- 
mental inscription  in  Barton  Turf  Church ; 
his  widow  survived  him  a  year  only. 

The  greater  part  of  his  collections,  which 
belong  to  the  writer  of  this  notice,  are 
minutely  described  and  calendared  in  '  A 
Catalogue  of  Fifty  of  the  Norfolk  MSS.  in 
the  Library  of  Mr.  Walter  Rye,'  folio,  pri- 
vately printed  in  1889. 

[Private  information  and  Norris's  manuscripts 
in  the  possession  of  the  writer.]  W.  K-E. 


NORRIS,   CATHERINE   MARIA   (d. 

1767),  courtesan.     [See  FISHER.] 

NORRIS,  CHARLES  (1779-1858),  artist, 
born  on  24  Aug.  1779,  was  a  younger  son 
of  John  Norris  of  Marylebone,  a  wealthy 
London  merchant.  Having  lost  both  his 
parents  while  a  child,  Norris  was  educated 
at  Eton  and  Christ  Church,  Oxford,  where 
he  matriculated  on  26  Oct.  1797  (FOSTER, 
Alumni  Oxon.),  but  did  not  proceed  to  a 
degree.  For  a  short  time  he  held  a  com- 
mission in  the  king's  dragoon  guards,  but 
left  the  service  on  his  marriage  in  1800  to 
Sarah,  daughter  of  John  Saunders,  a  congre- 
gational minister  at  Norwich,  and  a  de- 
scendant of  Laurence  Saunders,  martyr  (d. 
1555).  After  residing  at  Milford,  Pembroke- 
shire, for  about  ten  years,  he  removed  in 
1810  to  Tenby,  and  died  there  on  16  Oct. 
1858.  By  his  first  wife  he  had  four  sons  and 
nine  daughters,  of  whom  only  two  survived ; 
and  by  his  second  wife  (Elizabeth  Harries  of 
Pembrokeshire,  whom  he  married  on  25  Jan. 
1832)  he  had  three  children. 

In  1810  Norris  issued  two  numbers  of  a 
very  ambitious  work,  entitled  '  The  Archi- 
tectural Antiquities  of  Wales,'  vol.  i.  Pem- 
brokeshire, London,  fol.  Its  design  was  that 
each  number  should  contain  six  oblong  folio 
plates  from  Norris's  own  drawings  (with 
letterpress  also  by  him)  ;  but,  owing  to  its 
great  costliness,  the  work  did  not  proceed 
beyond  the  third  instalment,  which  appeared 
in  1 8 1 1 .  At  the  same  date  the  three  numbers 
were  reissued  in  one  volume,  under  the  title 
of '  St.  David's,  in  a  Series  of  Engravings  illus- 
trating the  different  Ecclesiastical  Edifices  of 
that  ancient  City,'  London,  fol.  Five  draw- 
ings of  Pembroke  Castle  by  Norris,  engraved 
by  J.  Rawle,  and  originally  intended  to  form 
a  fourth  number,  were  published  in  1817. 
After  this  failure  Norris,  for  the  sake  of 
economy,  taught  himself  the  use  of  the 
graver,  and  in  1812  published  '  Etchings  of 
Tenby'  in  two  synchronous  but  distinct  edi- 
tions, London,  royal  8vo  and  demy  4to,  con- 
taining forty  engravings  both  drawn  and 
etched  by  the  artist  himself.  He  also  wrote 
'  An  Historical  Account  of  Tenby  and  its 
Vicinity,'  London,  1818 ;  2nd  edit,  1820,  con- 
taining six  plates  of  local  views  and  a  map. 
In  addition  to  these  he  left  unpublished  a 
large  collection  of  architectural  drawings, 
many  of  which  are  still  in  the  possession  of 
his  son,  Mr.  R.  Norris,  of  Rhode  Wood  House, 
Saundersfoot,  Pembrokeshire. 

In  person  Norris  was  middle-sized  and 
very  strong.  Walter  Savage  Landor — the 
Savages  were  connected  with  Norris — in 
writing  from  Paris  in  1802  to  his  sister  Eliza- 


Norris 


117 


Norris 


beth,  described  Napoleon's  '  figure  and  com- 
plexion '  as  '  nearly  like  those  of  Charles 
Norris.'  He  always  exhibited  a  spirit  of 
cynical  independence,  verging  often  upon 
eccentricity. 

[An  article  by  Mr.  E.  Laws  of  Tenby  in  Ar- 
chaeologia  Cambrensis,  5th  ser.  via.  305-11  ; 
Etchings  of  Tenby  in  Brit.  Mus.  Prinb-Eoom; 
private  communications.]  D.  LL.  T. 

NORRIS,  SIR  EDWARD  (d.  1603),  go- 
vernor of  Ostend,  third  son  of  Henry  Norris, 
baron  Norris  of  Kycote  [q.  v.],  seems  from 
an  early  age  to  have  engaged,  like  his  more 
distinguished  brother  John  (1547  P-1597) 
[q.  v.j,  in  military  service  abroad.  About 
1578,  with  his  brothers  John  and  Henry,  he 
joined  the  English  volunteers  in  the  Low 
Countries.  In  1584  he  was  in  Ireland  (cf. 
Cal.  State  Papers,  Ireland,  1574-85,  pp.  521- 
522 ;  Carew  MSS.  1575-88,  p.  377).  He  was 
elected  M.P.  for  Abingdon  in  1585.  In  the 
autumn  of  that  year  he  returned  to  Holland 
to  take  command  of  an  English  company,  and 
was  soon  made  lieutenant  to  Sir  Philip  Sidney, 
who  had  been  appointed  governor  of  Flush- 
ing, one  of  the  towns  temporarily  handed  over 
to  Queen  Elizabeth  as  surety  by  the  States- 
General.  Sidney  did  not  arrive  till  the  end 
of  the  year,  and  Norris  claimed  to  exercise  his 
military  prerogatives  in  his  absence.  Both 
Sir  Roger  Williams  and  the  English  envoy, 
William  Davison,  sent  to  Lord  Burghley 
bitter  complaints  of  his  overbearing  temper 
and  of  his  want  of  judgment  in  the  bestowal 
of  patronage  (11  Nov.  1585)  (MOTLEY,  United 
Netherlands,  i.  353-4).  But  on  Sidney's  ar- 
rival in  November  he  proved  compliant.  In 
the  following  April  Leicester  knighted  him 
at  Utrecht.  In  May  he  took  a  prominent  part 
in  erecting  on  the  island  where  the  Rhine  and 
Waal  divide  at  the  foot  of  the  hills  of  Cleves 
the  strong  earthen  fort  which  is  still  stand- 
ing, and  bears  its  original  name  of  Schenken 
Schanz  (MABKHAM,  Fighting  Veres,  p.  88). 

On  6  Aug.  1586  Sidney  and  Norris  arrived 
in  Gertruydenberg  to  discuss  the  military 
situation  with  the  governor,  Count  Ho- 
henlohe,  and  Sir  William  Pelham,  the  mar- 
shal of  the  English  army.  In  the  evening 
the  officers  supped  together  in  Hohenlohe's 
quarters.  Norris  fancied  that  a  remark  made 
by  Pelham  was  intended  to  reflect  on  the 
character  of  his  brother  John.  He  expressed 
his  resentment  with  irritating  volubility,  and 
was  ordered  by  Count  Hohenlohe  to  keep 
silence.  Norris  refused  to  obey,  whereupon 
the  count,  who  was  barely  sober,  '  hurled  a 
cover  of  a  cup  at  his  face,  and  cut  him  along 
the  forehead.'  Norris  next  morning  challenged 
his  assailant  to  a  duel,  and  induced  Sir  Philip 


Sidney  to  bear  the  cartel.  Leicester  was  in- 
formed of  the  circumstance,  and  began  an 
investigation.  He  wrote  home  that  Norris 
was  always  quarrelling  with  his  brother  of- 
ficers, and  was  jeopardising  by  his  insolent 
demeanour  those  good  relations  between  the 
Dutch  and  English  troops  which  were  essen- 
tial to  the  success  of  the  campaign.  The 
count  declared  that  no  inferior  officer  was 
justified  in  challenging  his  superior  in  com- 
mand. For  the  time  the  quarrel  was  patched 
up,  but  the  ill-feeling  generated  by  the  dis- 
pute between  the  allies  was  not  easily  dissi- 
pated. Just  before  Leicester  finally  returned 
to  England  in  November  1587,  Norris  re- 
newed the  challenge  to  Hohenlohe;  but 
the  count  was  ill  at  Delft,  and  no  meeting 
was  arranged  (Leycester  Correspondence, 
Camd.  Soc.  pp.  301,  391-4, 473).  Hohenlohe 
unreasonably  blamed  Leicester  for  Norris's 
persistence  in  continuing  the  dispute,  and 
reviewed  his  own  part  in  the  affair  in  a 
published  tract,  entitled  '  Verantwoordinge 
.  .  .  teghens  zekere  Vertooch  ende  Remon- 
strancie  by  zijne  Excie  den  Grave  van  Ley- 
cester '  (Leyden,  1587  ;  cf.  GRIMESTON, 
Netherlands,  1627,  p.  818). 

Leicester  left  Norris  at  Ostend,  another 
town  which  had  been  surrendered  to  the 
English  by  the  Dutch  in  1586  by  way  of 
surety.  The  English  governor,  Sir  John 
Conway  [q.  v.],  was  absent  through  1588, 
and  Norris  acted  as  his  deputy.  On  10  June 
1588  he  wrote  to  Leicester  that  the  town  was 
in  a  desperate  plight,  and  could  hardly  stand 
a  siege  (WRIGHT,  Queen  Elizabeth,  ii.  371-2). 
In  1589  he  accompanied  his  brother  John 
and  Sir  Francis  Drake  on  the  great  expedi- 
tion to  Portugal,  and  was  badly  wounded 
in  the  assault  on  Burgos.  His  life  was  only 
saved  by  the  gallantry  of  his  brother  (BiRCH, 
Memoirs,  p.  58 ;  SPEED,  History,  p.  864 ; 
MOTLEY,  ii.  855).  Next  year — in  July  1590 — 
he  was  regularly  constituted  governor  of 
Ostend  (MuRDiN,  State  Papers,  p.  794).  In 
December  he  received  reinforcements  and 
ammunitions  from  England,  in  anticipation 
of  a  siege  by  the  Spaniards  (Hatfield  MSS. 
iv.  77).  In  February  1591  he  captured 
Blankenbergh  (GRIMESTON,  p.  926).  But  in 
the  April  following  he  embroiled  himself 
with  the  States-General  by  levying  contri- 
butions on  the  villages  of  the  neighbourhood. 
Sir  Thomas  Bodley,  the  English  envoy,  de- 
clared his  conduct  unjustifiable,  and  Lord 
Burghley  condemned  it.  Accordingly  he  was 
summoned  to  London  to  receive  a  reprimand 
from  the  council,  and  was  ordered  to  keep 
his  house  (Sydney  Papers,  i.  322-31 ;  GRIME- 
STON, p.  931).  His  presence  was,  however, 
soon  needed  at  Ostend,  and  he  energetically 


Norris 


118 


Norris 


supervised  the  building  of  new  fortifications. 
In  1593,  when  the  town  was  believed  to  be 
seriously  menaced,  Elizabeth  sent  him  an 
encouraging  letter  in  her  own  hand,  address- 
ing him  as  '  Ned '  (MOTLEY,  iii.  267-8).  But 
the  danger  passed  away,  and  he  was  at  court 
again  in  December  1593.  The  visit  was  re- 
peated four  years  later,  when  he  and  Sir 
Francis  were  '  gallantly  followed  by  such  as 
profess  arms'  (cf.  BIRCH,  i.  146;  Sydney 
Papers,  ii.  66,  78).  In  September  1599  the 
queen  recalled  him  to  comfort  his  parents 
for  the  recent  loss  of  three  of  their  sons,  and 
he  does  not  seem  to  have  resumed  his  post 
abroad  (ib.ii.  120). 

On  settling  again  in  England  Norris  was 
granted  by  his  mother  some  small  property 
at  Englefield,  Berkshire,  with  the  manor 
of  Shinfield  and  much  neighbouring  land. 
Norris  resided  at  Englefield  in  a  house  which 
must  be  distinguished  from  the  chief  mansion 
there,  which  was  in  the  occupation  of  the 
Paulet  family.  He  married  on  17  July  1600, 
and  in  October  1600  he  presented  himself  to 
the  queen  after  his  marriage.  Dudley  Carle- 
ton  [q.  v.],  who  had  been  in  his  service  as 
private  secretary  at  Ostend,  remained  for  a 
time  a  member  of  his  household,  and  many 
references  to  his  domestic  affairs  appear  in 
the  letters  of  Carleton's  gossiping  correspon- 
dent, John  Chamberlain  [q.  v.]  On  27  May 
1601  Chamberlain  wrote  that  Norris  was 
dangerously  sick.  He  was  noted  '  of  late,' 
he  added, '  to  make  money  by  all  means  pos- 
sible, as  though  he  had  some  great  enterprise 
or  purchase  in  his  head'  (CHAMBERLAIN, 
Letters,  p.  109).  In  September  1601  Norris 
entertained  the  queen  at  dinner  at  Engle- 
field, and  Elizabeth  was  well  pleased  with 
the  entertainment  (Cal.  State  Papers,  Dom. 
1601-3,  p.  113). 

The  Christmas  of  1602  Norris  kept  in  great 
state  in  London,  and  was  '  much  visited  by 
cavaliers'  (ib.  p.  285).  He  died  in  October 
1603,  and  was  buried  on  the  15th  at  Engle- 
field. A  statue  of  him  adorns  the  Norris 
monument  in  Westminster  Abbey.  His 
nephew  Francis  [q.  v.]  succeeded  to  hi 
estates.  His  wife  Elizabeth,  by  whom  he 
had  no  issue,  was  the  rich  widow  of  one  Webb 
of  Salisbury.  She  was  a  distant  cousin  of  hi 
own,  being  daughter  of  Sir  John  Norris  oi 
Fyfield,  Berkshire  [see  under  NORRIS,  HENRY, 
BARON  NORRIS  OF  RYCOTE,  ad  fin.]  Lady 
Norris,  after  Sir  Edward's  death,  married  in 
1604  Thomas  Erskine,  first  viscount  Fenton 
and  earl  of  Kellie  [q.  v.],  and,  dying  on 
28  April  1621,  was  buried  at  Englefield. 

[Kerry's  Hist,  of  Bray,  1861,  p.  120  sq. ;  Lee's 
Hist,  of  Thame;  O'Byrne's  Representative  Hist, 
of  Great  Britain,  pt.  ii.,  Berkshire,  1848  ;  Dug- 


dale's  Baronage ;  Lysons's  Berkshire  in  Magna 
Britannia,  vol.  i.  pt.  ii.  p.  275  ;  Motley's  Hist, 
of  the  Dutch  Republic,  and  of  the  United  Nether- 
lands ;  Churchyard's  Discourse  of  the  Nether- 
lands, 1602;  cf.  Winwood's  Memorials,  iii.  45; 
authorities  cited.]  S.  L. 

NORRIS,  EDWARD  (1584-1659),  New 
England  divine,  born  in  1584,  was  sou  of 
Edward  Norris,  vicar  of  Tetbury,  Glouces- 
tershire. He  matriculated  at  Oxford  from 
Balliol  College  on  30  March  1599,  and 
graduated  B.A.  from  Magdalen  Hall  on 
23  Jan.  1600-7  and  M.A.  on  25  Oct.  1609. 
At  Tetbury  and  Horsley,  Gloucestershire, 
where  he  lived  successively  as  a  schoolmaster 
as  well  as  a  clergyman,  his  puritanism  sub- 
jected him  to  much  persecution.  At  length 
his  persistence  in  shipping  off  to  New  Eng- 
land those  of  his  parishioners  who  declined 
to  conform,  brought  him  under  the  unfavour- 
able notice  of  Laud,  and  in  1639  he  had  him- 
self to  seek  refuge  in  America.  On  18  March 
1640  he  was  chosen  pastor  of  Salem  Church, 
Massachusetts.  He  was  tolerant,  declined 
to  join  in  the  persecution  of  the  Gortonists 
or  anabaptists,  and,  when  a  severe  code  of 
church  discipline  was  adopted  by  the  assem- 
bly of  ministers  in  1648,  persevered  in  his 
own  rules  of  conduct  for  the  Salem  church. 
During  the  witchcraft  delusion  of  1651-4,  he 
used  his  influence  to  resist  the  persecutions. 
He  wrote,  however,  in  favour  of  making  war 
against  the  Dutch  settlers  (letter  dated  3  May 
1653  in  HAZARD,  Hist.  Coll.  ii.  256). 

Norris  died  in  1659.  By  his  wife  Eleanor 
he  had  a  son  Edward  (L615-1684),  school- 
master at  Salem  1640-76,  and  a  daughter 
Mary  (SAVAGE,  Genealog.  Diet.  iii.  288). 

While  he  remained  in  England  Norris  dis- 
tinguished himself  as  an  uncompromising 
opponent  of  John  Traske  [q.  v.]  and  his  fol- 
lowers. He  published:  1.  'Prosopopoeia,' 
4to,  1634  ;  answered  by  Rice  Boye  in  '  The 
Importunate  Begger,'  4to,  1635.  2.  'That 
Temporal  Blessings  are  to  be  asked  with  sub- 
mission to  the  Will  of  God,'  8vo,  London, 
1636.  3.  '  The  New  Gospel  not  the  True 
Gospel ;  or,  a  Discovery  of  the  Life  and  Death, 
doctrine,  and  doings  of  Mr.  John  Traske  .  .  . 
as  also  a  confutation  of  the  uncomfortable 
error  of  Mr.  Boye  concerning  the  Plague,' 
4to,  London,  1638.  He  often  spelled  his 
name  '  Norice  '  or  '  Norrice.' 

[Felt's  Eccl.  Hist,  of  New  England  ;  Felt's 
Annals  of  Salem  ;  Winthrop's  Hist,  of  New  Eng- 
land (ed.  Savage).]  G.  G. 

NORRIS,  EDWARD  (1663-1726),  phy- 
sician, born  in  1663,  fifth  son  of  Thomas  Norris 
of  Speke,  Lancashire,  and  younger  brother  of 
Sir  William  Norris  [q.  vij,  graduated  B.A. 


Norris 


119 


Norris 


from  Brasenose  College,  Oxford,  in  1686,  and 
proceeded  M.A.  1689,  M.B.  1691,  and  M.D. 
1695.  He  practised  medicine  at  Chester, 
and  his  scientific  reputation  is  attested  by  the 
fact  that  as  early  as  1698  he  was  a  fellow  of 
the  Royal  Society.  In  1699  he  accompanied 
his  brother,  Sir  William  Norris,  as  secretary 
of  his  embassy  to  the  mogul  emperor,  and 
visited  the  camp  of  Aurangzib  in  the  Deccan 
from  April  to  November  1701.  He  returned 
home  in  1702,  bringing  with  him  a  cargo 
valued  at  147,000  rupees,  partly  his  brother's 
property.  After  an  interval  of  mental  pro- 
stration induced  by  the  perils  and  anxieties  he 
had  gone  through,  he  resumed  the  profession 
of  medicine  at  Utkinton,  Cheshire,  and  was 
elected  a  fellow  of  the  Royal  College  of  Phy- 
sicians in  1716.  He  died  on  22  July  1726, 
and  was  buried  at  St.  Michael's  chapel,  at- 
tached to  Garston  Hall,  a  manor  of  the  Norris 
family,  near  Speke.  In  1705  he  had  married 
Ann,  daughter  of  William  Cleveland  of  Liver- 
pool, by  whom  he  left  one  son,  with  whose 
death,  some  time  before  1736,  the  family  of 
the  Norrises  of  Speke  in  the  male  line  became 
extinct. 

[Norris  Papers,  ed.  T.  Heywood,  in  Chetham 
Soc.  vol.  ix.;  Baine's  Lancaster,  ii.  757;  Munk's 
Coll.  of  Phys.  ii.  39 ;  Bruce's  Annals  of  East 
India  Company,  iii.  463,  &c.  Norris's  letters  as 
secretary  to  his  brother's  embassy  are  preserved 
in  the  India  Office.]  S.  L.-P. 

NORRIS,  EDWIN  (1795-1872),  orien- 
talist and  Cornish  scholar,  born  at  Taunton, 
Somerset,  on  24  Oct.  1795,  spent  his  youth 
in  France  and  Italy  as  tutor  in  an  English 
family.  At  a  very  early  age  he  showed  an 
exceptional  facility  for  acquiring  languages, 
and  soon  learned  Armenian  and  Romaic,  in 
addition  to  French  and  Italian.  In  1818  he 
was  appointed  to  a  clerkship  in  the  London 
offices  of  the  East  India  Company,  but  re- 
signed the  post  in  1837  to  become  assistant 
secretary  of  the  Royal  Asiatic  Society.  With 
that  institution  he  was  connected  till  his 
death,  becoming  secretary  in  1859,  and 
honorary  secretary  and  librarian  in  1861. 
For  many  years  he  edited  the  society's 
'Journal,'  and  conducted  a  large  correspond- 
ence with  Oriental  scholars  at  home  and 
abroad. 

Norris  seized  every  opportunity  of  making 
himself  familiar  with  the  least  known  lan- 
guages of  Asia  and  Africa.  In  1841  he  com- 
piled '  Outlines  of  a  Vocabulary  of  a  few  of 
the  principal  Languages  of  Western  and 
Central  Africa '  (obi.  12mo).  '  A  Speci- 
men of  the  Van  Language  of  West  Africa ' 
followed  in  1851.  Mainly  from  papers  sent 
home  by  the  traveller  James  Richardson 


[q.v.],  he  prepared  in  1853  '  Dialogues  and 
a  Small  Portion  of  the  New  Testament  in 
the  English,  Arabic,  Haussa,  and  Bornu 
Languages,'  as  well  as  '  A  Grammar  of  the 
Bornu  or  Kanuri  Languages,  with  Dialogues, 
Translations,  and  Vocabulary.'  In  1854  he 
edited  R.  M.  Macbrair's  '  Grammar  of  the 
Fulah  Language.' 

Norris  also  interested  himself  in  ethno- 
graphy. He  designed  in  1853  a  series  of 
works  entitled  'The  Ethnographical  Library,' 
but  only  two  volumes  appeared — G.  W. 
Earl's  '  Papuans,'  1853,  and  11.  G.  Latham's 
'  Native  Races  of  the  Russian  Empire,'  1854. 
Norris  edited  in  1855  the  fourth  edition  of 
Prichard's  'Natural  History  of  Man.' 

A  more  important  undertaking  was  the 
two  volumes  on  '  The  Ancient  Cornish 
Drama,'  published  by  Norris  at  Oxford  in 
1859.  They  include  a  'Sketch  of  Cornish 
Grammar,'  which  was  also  printed  sepa- 
rately, together  with  the  text  and  trans- 
lation of  three  Cornish  plays  preserved  in 
Bodleian  MS.  791 .  The  manuscript  of  Norris's 
first  volume,  with  some  unprinted  notes,  is 
preserved  in  Brit.  Mus.  Addit.  MS.  29730. 

But  it  was  as  an  Assyriologist  and  one 
of  the  earliest  decipherers  of  cuneiform  in- 
scriptions that  Norris  best  deserves  to  be 
remembered.  In  1845  he  deciphered  the 
rock  inscription  of  King  Asoka,  near  Kapur  di 
Giri,  faint  impressions  of  which,  taken  on 
cloth,  had  been  presented  to  the  Royal 
Asiatic  Society.  In  1846  he  saw  through 
the  press,  while  Sir  Henry  Rawlinson  was 
detained  by  official  duties  in  Bagdad,  Raw- 
linson's  copy  and  analysis  of  the  great 
cuneiform  record  of  Darius  Hystaspes  at 
Behistun  in  Persia.  In  1853  he  published 
in  the  '  Journal '  of  the  Asiatic  Society  a 
memoir  of  the  '  Scythic  Version  of  the 
Behistun  Inscription'  (1855,  vol.  xv.),  and 
between  1861  and  1866  he  gave  most  im- 
portant aid  to  Rawlinson  when  the  latter 
was  preparing  the  first  two  volumes  of 
cuneiform  inscriptions  issued  by  the  British 
Museum.  Norris  pursued  his  researches  with 
such  success  that  in  1868  he  was  able  to 
produce  the  first  volume  of  an  -'Assyrian  Dic- 
tionary.' Other  volumes  followed  in  1870 
and  1872  respectively,  bringing  the  work 
from  the  letter  Aleph  to  the  letter  Nun. 
Although  some  of  the  meanings  assigned  by 
Norris  to  the  words  have  been  rejected,  tlu> 
undertaking  marks  an  epoch  in  the  history 
of  cuneiform  philology. 

Norris  was  elected  a  foreign  member  of 
the  German  Oriental  Society,  and  was  created 
an  honorary  doctor  of  philology  at  Bonn. 
He  died  on  10  Dec.  1872  at  his  residence, 
6  Michael's  Grove,  Brompton. 


Norris 


I2O 


Norris 


[Royal  Asiatic  Society's  Journal,  vol.  vii. 
new  ser.  1875— Ann.  Rep.  May  1873,  p.  xix; 
Athenaeum,  1872,  pt.  ii.  p.  770.] 

NORRIS,  FRANCIS,  EARL  OF  BERK- 
SHIRE (1579-1 623),  born  on  6  July  1579,  and 
baptised  at  "Wytham,  Berkshire,  19  July,  was 
grandson  of  Henry,  lord  Norris,  and  son 
of  Sir  William  Norris  [see  under  NORRIS, 
HENRY,  BARON  NORRIS  OF  RYCOTE].  His 
father  died  in  1579,  and  Francis  succeeded 
to  the  barony  of  Norris  on  the  death  of  his 
grandfather  in  1600.  At  the  same  time  he 
inherited  much  landed  property  in  Oxford- 
shire and  Berkshire,  and  this  was  greatly 
increased  in  1604,  when  the  death  without 
issue  of  his  uncle,  Sir  Edward  Norris  [q.  v.], 
left  him  heir  to  Sir  Edward's  large  estates  in 
the  latter  county.  He  seems  to  have  early 
contemplated  playing  a  part  in  politics,  and 
his  great  wealth  gave  him  immediate  influ- 
ence. He  signed  the  proclamation  announcing 
Queen  Elizabeth's  death  and  James  I's  acces- 
sion on  24  March  1602-3  (STRYPE,  Annals, 
iv.  519).  He  was  made  a  knight  of  the  Bath 
at  the  creation  of  Prince  Charles  as  Duke 
of  York  on  6  Jan.  1604-5,  entered  Gray's 
Inn  on  26  Feb.  following,  and  was  from 
28  March  to  29  June  1605  in  Spain  in  attend- 
ance on  Charles  Howard,  earl  of  Nottingham, 
the  English  ambassador  there  (WlNWOOD, 
Memorials,  ii.  50).  In  1609  he  gave  to  Sir 
Thomas  Bodley  the  timber  of  twenty  oak 
trees  to  be  employed  in  building  the  Bod- 
leian Library  at  Oxford,  and  in  the  same 
year  Sir  Thomas  began  the  permanent  en- 
dowment of  his  library  by  conferring  on  it 
the  manor  of  Hindons  by  Maidenhead,  which 
he  purchased  of  Norris  (MACRAY,  Annals  of 
the  Bodleian  Library,  ed.  1890,  p.  37).  In 
1611,  according  to  Chamberlain,  Norris  gave 
to  the  university  '  Shotover,  and  those  walks 
about  Oxford,  gratis'  {Court  and  Times  of 
James  I,  i.  147). 

Of  impetuous  and  quarrelsome  disposition, 
Norris  had  a  long  dispute  with  Robert 
Bertie,  lord  Willoughby  de  Eresby  (after- 
wards Earl  of  Lindsey)  [q.  v.]  In  the  autumn 
of  1613  he  had  a  duel  with  Peregrine  Bertie, 
"Willoughby's  brother,  '  upon  an  old  reckon- 
ing, and  hurt  him  dangerously  in  the  shoulder ' 
(WiNWOOD,  Memorials,  iii.  154).  In  Sep- 
tember 1615  Willoughby  and  Norris  met  in 
the  churchyard  at  Bath,  and  their  retainers 
fought  with  swords.  One  of  Willoughby's 
servants  was  slain,  and  Norris  was  tried  and 
convicted  of  manslaughter.  But  the  king 
granted  him  a  free  pardon  (Letters  of  Sir 
George  Carew  to  Roe,  Camd.  Soc.  p.  16; 
Hist.  MSS.  Comm.  3rd  Rep.  p.  214).  On 
28  Jan.  1620-1  he  was  made  Viscount  Thame 
and  Earl  of  Berkshire,  at  the  suggestion  of 


Buckingham,  who  was  anxious  that  Norris's- 
only  daughter  should  marry  his  friend  Ed- 
ward Wray.  Very  soon  afterwards,  on 
16  Feb.  1620-1,  while  in  a  narrow  passage 
leading  to  the  House  of  Lords,  Lord  Scrope 
pushed  past  him.  Losing  his  temper,  Berk- 
shire thrust  himself  in  front  of  Scrope.  The 
house  was  sitting  at  the  moment,  and  Prince 
Charles  was  present.  The  encounter  between 
the  two  noblemen  was  brought  to  the  notice 
of  the  peers,  and  Berkshire  was  committed 
to  the  Fleet  prison.  He  did  not  recover  from 
the  humiliation.  Returning  to  his  house  at 
Rycote  in  Oxfordshire,  he  shot  himself  with, 
a  cross-bow,  and  died  of  the  self-inflicted  in- 
juries on  29  Jan.  1622-3. 

The  earl  left  by  his  wife  Bridget,  daugh- 
ter of  Edward  Vere,  seventeenth  earl  of 
Oxford,  an  only  child,  Elizabeth,  who,  as 
Buckingham  had  desired,  married  at  St.. 
Mary  Aldermary,  London,  on  27  March 
1622,  Edward,  younger  son  of  Sir  William 
Wray,  bart.,  of  Glentworth,  Lincolnshire. 
Her  husband  was  groom  of  the  bedchamber 
to  Charles  I.  Lady  Elizabeth  Wray  was 
buried  in  Westminster  Abbey  on  28  Nov. 
1645.  Her  husband  was  buried  at  Wytham 
29  March  1658.  She  left  an  only  child, 
Bridget  (1627-1657),  who  married,  first,  on 
24  Dec.  1645,  at  Wytham  church,  Edward 
(d.  1646),  second  son  of  Edward  Sackville, 
fourth  earl  of  Dorset ;  and  afterwards  Mon- 
tagu Bertie,  second  earl  of  Lindsey  (d.  1666). 
By  her  second  husband  she  was  mother  of 
James,  who  became  Baron  Norris  in  her 
right  in  1675  (with  precedence  from  1572), 
and  was  created  Earl  of  Abingdon  in  1682. 
She  was  buried  in  St.  Andrew's  Chapel, 
Westminster  Abbey,  on  24  March  1656-7. 
The  earldom  of  Abingdon  is  still  extant  in 
the  direct  line  of  descent  from  her  (CHES- 
TER, Westminster  Abbey  Register,  140,  149). 
To  her  William  Basse  [q.  v.]  dedicated  his 
poem  '  Polyhymnia,'  the  opening  verses  in 
which  are  addressed  to  her  grandfather,  the 
Earl  of  Berkshire  (BASSE,  Works,  ed.  Bond, 
pp.  153-4). 

The  Earl  of  Berkshire  also  left  an  ille- 
gitimate son,  SIR  FRANCIS  NORRIS  (1609— 
1669).  His  mother  was  Sarah  Rose,  after- 
wards wife  of  Samuel  Haywarde,  who  was- 
also  known  as  Francis  Rose,  alias  Norreys. 
By  an  indenture  dated  1  June  1619  the  earl 
settled  on  the  boy  Francis  the  manors  of 
Weston-on-the-Green  and  Yattendon  with 
lands  at  Cherrington,  Chilswell,  and  else- 
where. To  this  property  Francis  succeeded 
on  his  father's  death  in  1623.  On  27  Aug. 
1633  he  was  knighted  at  Abingdon  (MET- 
CALFE,  Knights,  p.  193),  and  in  1635-6  served 
as  high  sheriffof  Oxfordshire.  In  that  capa- 


Norris 


121 


Norris 


city  he  endeavoured  to  collect  ship-money 
amid  much  opposition.  He  was  elected  M.P. 
for  the  county  in  1656,  and  was  returned  for 
the  same  constituency  to  Richard  Cromwell's 
parliament  in  December  1 658 ;  but  in  February 
1658-9  the  house  resolved  that  the  return 
was  invalid,  and  declared  Henry  Carey, 
viscount  Falkland,  duly  elected  in  his  place 
(DAVENPORT,  Sheriffs  of  Oxfordshire,  p.  46). 
By  his  wife  Jane  (d.  1713),  daughter  of  Sir 
John  Rouse,  he  was  father  of  Sir  Edward 
Norris  of  Weston-on-the-Green,  who  was 
knighted  on  22  Nov.  1662,  and  was  M.P.  for 
Oxfordshire  in  six  parliaments  (1675-1679, 
1700-8),  and  for  Oxford  in  four ;  while  his 
son  Francis  (d.  1706)  was  M.P.  for  Oxford 
in  three  parliaments  (1700-5). 

[Brydges's  Memoirs  of  Peers  during  the  Reign 
of  James  I,  1802,  i.  465;  Doyle's  Baronage; 
C[okayne's]  Complete  Peerage,  i.  43 ;  Lee's 
Hist,  of  Thame;  Dugdale's  Baronage;  Geut. 
Mag.  1797,  pt.  i.  p.  654  (for  entries  in  Wytham 
Parish  Register) ;  Gardiner's  Hist.]  S.  L. 

NORRIS,  HENRY  (d.  1536),  courtier, 
was  second  son  of  Sir  Edward  Norris  or 
Norreys  who  took  part  in  the  battle  of  Stoke 
in  1487,  and  was  then  knighted,  by  his  wife 
Frideswide,  daughter  of  Francis,  viscount 
Lovel.  The  eldest  son,  John  Norris,  was  an 
esquire  of  the  body  to  Henry  VIII,  and  was 
afterwards  usher  of  the  outer  chamber  both 
to  Henry  VIII  and  Edward  VI.  He  was 
afterwards  promoted  as  '  a  rank  papist''  to  be 
chief  usher  of  the  privy  chamber  to  Queen 
Mary  (STRYPE,  Memorials,  in.  i.  100-1,  and 
Annals,  I.  i.  8).  He  married  Elizabeth,  sister 
of  Edmund, lord  Braye ;  but  dying,  according 
to  Dugdale,  on  21  Oct.  1564,  left  no  legiti- 
mate issue,  and  his  property  descended  to 
his  brother's  son. 

The  family  was  connected  with  the  Norrises 
of  Speke,  Lancashire,  a  member  of  which, 
Richard  de  Norreys,  cook  to  Eleanor,  queen 
of  Henry  III,  had  been  granted  in  1267  the 
manor  of  Ockholt  in  the  parish  of  Bray, 
Berkshire,  at  a  fee-farm  rent  of  40s.  More 
than  a  century  later  this  property  at  Bray 
fell  to  John,  the  second  son  by  a  second  mar- 
riage of  Sir  Henry  Norris  of  Speke.  This 
John  Norris  must  be  regarded  as  the  founder 
of  the  chief  Berkshire  family  of  Norris. 
(His  half-brother  William  was  great-great- 
grandfather of  another  John  Norris  who 
founded  in  the  sixteenth  century  another 
family  of  Norris  at  Fyfield,  also  in  Berkshire.) 
The  great-grandson  of  John,  founder  of  the 
Bray  line,  also  named  John,  was  first  usher 
to  the  chamber  in  Henry  VI's  reign,  squire 
of  the  body,  master  of  the  wardrobe,  sheriff' of 
Oxford  and  Berkshire  in  1442  and  1457,  and 
squire  of  the  body  to  Edward  IV.  He  built 


at   Bray  the   ancient   mansion   at  Ockholt 
known  as  Ockwells,and  through  his  marriage 
with  Alice  Merbrooke,  his  first  wife,  added 
to  his  estates  the  manor  of  Yattendon,  Berk- 
shire.    He  died  on  1  Sept.  1467,  and  was 
buried  at  Bray  in  an  aisle  of  the  church 
which  he  had  himself  erected.     His  will  is 
printed  in  Charles  Kerry's  '  History  of  Bray,' 
1861  (pp.  116  seq.)     By  his  second  wife, 
Millicent,  daughter  and  heiress  of  Ravens- 
croft  of  Cotton-End,  Hardingstone,  North- 
amptonshire, he  had  several  children.     One 
son,  John  of  Ockholt,  was  sheriff  of  Oxford- 
shire and  Berkshire  in  1479.     Another  son, 
Sir  William,  inherited  the  manor  of  Yatten- 
don, was  knighted  in   early  youth  at  the 
battle  of  Northampton  on  9  July  1458  (MET- 
CALFE,  Knights,  p.  2),  and  was  afterwards 
knight  of  the  body  to  Edward  IV.     He 
was   sheriff"  of  Oxfordshire  and  Berkshire 
in  1468-9,  1482-3,  and  1486.      In  October 
1483  he  joined  in  the  rebellion  of  the  Duke 
of  Buckingham  [see  STAFFORD,  HENRY],  and 
was  attainted  of  high  treason  (Rot.  Part.  vi. 
245  b).     But  he  escaped  to  Brittany,  where 
he  joined  Henry  of  Richmond,  and  returned 
in  1485,  when  Henry  became  king.     In  1487 
he  commanded  at  the  battle  of  Stoke.     Dug- 
dale  assumed  that  he  was  '  learned  in  the 
laws  '  because  in  1487  John,  duke  of  Suffolk, 
granted  him  '  pro  bono  consilio  impenso  et 
impendendo '  an  annuity  of  twenty  marks 
out  of  the  manor  of  Swerford,  Oxfordshire, 
while  Henry  VII,  in  1502,  '  for  the  like  con- 
sideration of  his  counsel,'made  him  custodian 
of  the  manor  of  Langley,  and  steward  of  the 
manors  of  Burford,  Shipton,  Spellesbury,  and 
the  Hundred  of  Chadlington,  all  in  Oxford- 
shire, and  the  property  of  Edward,  the  infant 
heir  of  George,  duke  of  Clarence.     A  manor 
adjoining  Yattendon,  of  which  Sir  William 
became  possessed  about  1500,  was  thence- 
forth known  as  Hampstead  Norris.     (It  had 
been  previously  called  successively  Hamp- 
stead Cifrewast  and  Hampstead  Ferrers  (cf. 
LYSONS,  Berkshire,  p.  287).  Sir  William  mar- 
ried twice.  By  his  first  wife,  Isabel,  daughter 
and  heiress  of  Sir  Edmund  Ingoldesthorpe  of 
Borough  Green,  near  Newmarket,  and  widow 
of  John  Neville,  marquis  of  Montagu  [q.  v.], 
he  was  father  of  William  (knighted  in  1487), 
Lionel  (knighted  in  1529),  and  Richard  (all 
of  whom  died  young),  and  of  three  daughters. 
By  his  second  wife,  Jane,  daughter  of  John 
Vere,  twelfth  earl  of  Oxford,  he  had  a  son 
Edward,  who  alone  of  his  sons  lived  to  middle 
age  and  was  father  of  the  subject  of  this 
notice  (cf.  DAVENPORT,  Sheriffs  of  Oxford- 
shire; KERRY,  Hist,  of  Bray). 

Henry  Norris  came  to  court  in  youth,  was 
appointed  gentleman  of  the  king's  chamber, 


Norris 


122 


Norns 


and  was  soon  one  of  the  most  intimate  friends 
of  Henry  VIII.     The  king  made  him  many  j 
grants,  and  his   influence   at   court    grew  j 
rapidly.     On  8  June   1515   he  was  made  j 
keeper  of  the  park  of  Foley  John,  an  office  j 
which  had  been  held  by  his  father.      On  | 
17  Feb.    1518  he   became  weigher  at   the  ' 
common   beam  at  Southampton,  then   the 
great  mart   of  the  Italian  merchants;   on 
28  Jan.  1518-9  he  was  appointed  bailiff  of 
Ewelme.     He  was  also  keeper  of  the  king's 
privy  purse.     In  1519  he  received  an  annuity 
of  fifty  marks,  and  he  was  at  the  Field  of 
the  Cloth  of  Gold  in  1520.     On  12   Sept. 
1523  he  received  the  keepership  of  Langley  j 
New  Park,  Buckinghamshire,  and  was  made 
bailiff  of  Watlington.     He  early  took  the 
side  against  Wolsey,  and  was  one  of  the 
main  instruments  in  bringing  about  his  fall. 
Wolsey  certainly  recommended  him  for  pro- 
motion in  the  letter  of  5  July  1528;  but  it 
may  be  assumed  from  the  letter  itself  that 
this  was  rather  done  to  secure  Xorris's  favour 
for  the  writer  himself  than  with  the  idea  that 
Norris  had  any  need  of  the  cardinal's  influence 
{State  Papers,  i.  309  ;  BREWER,  Hen.  VIII, 
ii.  326 ;  cf.  BAPST,  Deux  Gentilshommes  poetes 
de  la  cour  de  Henry  VIII,  p.  127). 

Norris  adhered  closely  to  Anne  Boleyn 
while  she  was  gaining  her  position  at  court, 
and  became  one  of  her  intimate  friends  and 
a  leader  of  the  faction  that  supported  her 
proud  pretensions  to  control  the  state.  He 
had  the  sweating  sickness  in  1528,  and  on 
25  Oct.  1529  gratified  his  enmity  to  Wolsey 
by  being  present  when  he  resigned  the  great 
seal.  On  24  Oct.  he  was  the  only  attendant 
on  Henry,  when  the  king  went  with  Anne 
and  her  mother  to  inspect  Wolsey's  property. 
He  was  the  bearer  of  Henry's  kind  message 
to  Wolsey  at  Putney  about  the  same  time, 
and  seems  to  have  been  affected  by  Wolsey's 
fallen  condition.  In  the  same  year  he  re- 
ceived a  grant  of  100/.  a  year  from  the 
revenues  of  the  see  of  Winchester,  and  was 
soon  promoted  to  be  groom  of  the  stole.  In 
1531  he  was  made  chamberlain  of  North 
Wales;  in  November  1532  he  was  again  ill; 
in  1534  he  was  appointed  constable  of  Beau- 
maris  Castle;  in  1535  he  received  various 
manors  which  Sir  Thomas  More  had  held. 
He  was  present  at  the  execution  of  the  Char- 
terhouse monks  on  4  May  1535,  and  Henry 
granted  him  the  important  constableship  of 
Wallingford  (29  Nov.  1535) ;  and  he  was 
generally  regarded  as  the  king's  agent  in  the 
promotion  of  the  new  marriage  with  Lady 
Jane  Seymour.  In  April  1536  Anne  had 
some  talk  with  Sir  Francis  Weston,  who 
hinted  to  her  that  Norris  loved  her ;  she 
afterwards  spoke  to  Norris  about  it,  and 


jokingly  said  that  he  was  waiting  for  dead 
men's  shoes.     He  protested,  and  in  the  end 
she  asked  him  to  contradict  any  rumours  he 
might  hear  about  her  conduct.     But  Norris 
had  many  enemies,  and  his  alleged  intimacy 
with  Anne  was  carefully  reported  to  Crom- 
well.    On  1  May  1536  Norris  took  part  in 
the  tournament   at  Greenwich  [see  AITNE, 
1507-1536],  and  at  the  close  Henry  spoke 
to  Norris,  telling  him  that  he  was  suspected 
of  an  intrigue  with  Anne,  and  urging  him 
to  confess.     He  was  then  arrested  and  taken 
to  the  Tower  by  Sir  William  Fitzwilliain. 
He  was  tried  on  12  May  in  Westminster 
Hall.   He  pleaded  not  guilty,  but  was  found 
guilty,  and  executed  on  17  May.     He  was 
buried   in   the   churchyard   of   the   Tower. 
There  is  little  reason  to  think  that  he  had 
behaved  in  any  way  improperly  with  the 
queen.     Most  of  the  jury  seem  to  have  been 
officials  or  open  to  suspicion  of  partiality. 
According  to   Naunton,   Queen    Elizabeth 
always  honoured  his  memory,  believing  that 
he  died  '  in  a  noble  cause  and  in  the  justifi- 
cation of  her  mother's  innocence.'    At  the 
time   of  his   arrest   he  was   contemplating 
a  second  marriage  with  Margaret  Shelton 
[q.  v.],  and  both  his  interest  and  his  long 
experience   as   a  courtier  would  doubtless 
have   deterred  him  from  encountering  the 
danger  certain  to  spring  from  a  liaison  with 
Anne  Boleyn.      His  knowledge  of  Henry 
j  would  also  have  taught  him  that  his  ruin 
and  death  must  be  the  consequence  of  such 
j  desperate  adventures.     He  married  Mary, 
j  daughter  of  Thomas  Fiennes,  lord  Dacre  of 
the  South.     She  died  before  1530,  and  by 
her  he  had  a  son  Henry,  first  baron  Norris  of 
Rycote,  who  is  separately  noticed.     A  son 
Edward,  born  in  1524,  had  died  16  July  1529. 
A  daughter  Mary  married  (1)  Sir  George 
Carew,  and  (2)  Sir  Arthur  Champernowne. 

[Letters  and  Papers,  Hen.  VIII,  1509-36; 
State  Papers,  Hen.  VIII,  vol.  i.  passim,  vii.  143  ; 
Friedmann's  Anne  Boleyn,  passim ;  Nicolas's 
Privy  Purse  Expenses  of  Henry VIII,  pp.  30, 1 75, 
224,  275  ;  Chron.  of  Calais  (Camd.  Soc.),  p.  26  ; 
Wriothesley's  Chron.  (Camd.  Soc.),  i.  36,  40 ; 
Notes  and  Queries,  6th  ser.  ix.  374  ;  Strick- 
land's Queens  of  England,  iv.  156,  &c. ;  Lin- 
gard's  Hist,  of  Engl.  v.  63  ;  Froude's  Divorce  of 
Catherine  of  Aragon  ;  Dugdale's  Baronage ; 
Banks's  Extinct  Baronage  of  England,  iii.  396  ; 
Cavendish's  Wolsey,  ed.  Singer;  Napier's  Hist, 
of  Swyncombe  and  Ewelme,  p.  341  ;  Gregson's 
Portfolio,  p.  199  ;  Lee's  Hist,  of  Thame,  p.  442  ; 
Hasted's  Kent,  ed.  Drake,  xvi.  &c. ;  Brewer's 
Eeign  of  Henry  VIII,  vol.  ii.]  W.  A.  J.  A. 

NORRIS,  SIR  HENRY,  BARON  NORRIS 
OF  RYCOTE  (1525  P-1601),  was  son  and  heir  of 
Henry  Norris  (d.  1536)  [q.  v.]  who  was  exe- 


Norris 


123 


Norris 


cuted  and  attainted  as  the  alleged  lover  of 
Anne  Boleyn.  He  seems  to  have  been  born 
about  1525.  His  age  was  officially  declared 
in  1564  to  be  only  thirty  (DUGDALE),  but 
this  statement  is  irreconcilable  with  the  re- 
cords of  his  early  years.  Henry  VIII  re- 
stored to  him  much  of  his  father's  confiscated 
estate,  'with  some  strict  conditions  respecting 
the  estate  of  his  grandmother,  who  was  one 
of  the  heirs  of  Viscount  Lovell '  (CAMDEN,  p. 
636).  As  a  young  man  he  seems  to  have 
become  an  attendant  in  the  private  chamber 
of  Edward  VI,  and  to  have  sat  in  parliament 
in  1547  as  M.P.  for  Berkshire  (Return  of 
Members,  i.  423).  He  signed,  on  21  June 

1553,  the  letters  patent  drawn  up  by  the 
Duke  of  Northumberland  in  order  to  limit 
the  succession  to  the  crown  to  Lady  Jane 
Grey  (Queen  Mary  and  Queen  Jane,  Camd. 
Soc.,  p.  100).     In  early  life,  before  1545,  he 
married  Marjorie,  daughter  of  JohnWilliams, 
who  was  created  Lord  Williams  of  Thame  in 

1554.  During  Mary's  reign  Norris  resided 
at  Wytham,  Berkshire,  one  of  the  manors  of 
his  father-in-law.     In  1555-6  the  site  and 
lands  of  the  monastery  of  Little   Marlow, 
Buckinghamshire,  were  alienated  to  Norris 
and    Lord    Williams    jointly.      Williams's 
death  in  1559  put  Norris  and  his  wife  into 
possession  of  the  estate  and  manor-house  of 
Rycote,  near  Thame,  Oxfordshire,  where  he 
chiefly  resided  thenceforth. 

WTilliams  had  shared  with  Sir  Henry 
Bedingfield  the  duty  of  guarding  Elizabeth 
while  she  was  imprisoned  at  Woodstock 
during  Queen  Mary's  reign.  He  had  treated 
the  princess  leniently,  had  invited  her  occa- 
sionally to  Rycote,  and  his  kindness  was 
gratefully  remembered  by  Elizabeth.  She 
consequently  showed,  after  her  accession  to 
the  throne,  exceptional  favour  to  Norris  and 
his  wife.  The  latter  she  playfully  nick- 
named her  '  black  crow '  in  reference  to  her 
dark  complexion.  Nor  was  Elizabeth  un- 
mindful of  the  fate  of  Norris's  father,  whom 
she  believed  to  have  sacrificed  his  life  in  the 
interests  of  her  mother,  Anne  Boleyn.  She 
at  once  restored  to  him  all  the  property  which 
Henry  VIII  had  withheld  (CAMDEN).  Ac- 
cording to  Sir  Robert  Naunton  and  Fuller, 
the  attentions  Elizabeth  bestowed  on  Norris 
and  his  kinsfolk  excited  the  jealousy  of  Sir 
Francis  Knollys  [q.  v.]  and  his  sons,  whom 
she  also  admitted  to  friendly  relations.  The 
bickerings  at  court  between  the  two  families 
continued  through  the  reign. 

In  1561  Norris  was  sheriff  of  Oxford- 
shire and  Berkshire.  In  1565  he  took  part 
in  a  tournament  in  the  queen's  presence  on 
the  occasion  of  the  marriage  of  Ambrose 
Dudley,  earl  of  Warwick  (STETPE,  Cheke,  p. 


134).  In  September  1566  the  queen  visited 
him  at  his  house  at  Rycote  on  her  return 
from  Oxford,  and  knighted  him  before  her 
departure.  In  the  autumn  of  1566  she  ap- 
pointed him  ambassador  to  France.  Norris 
did  what  he  could  to  protect  the  French 
protestants  from  the  aggressions  of  the  French 
government,  but  early  in  1570  warned  the 
English  ministers  that  the  French  govern- 
ment threatened  immediate  war  with  Eng- 
land if  Elizabeth  continued  to  encourage  the 
Huguenots  in  attacks  upon  their  princes. 
Although  he  fulfilled  his  duties  prudently, 
he  was  recalled  in  August  1570  to  make 
way  for  Sir  Francis  Walsingham,  who  was 
commissioned  to  make  a  firmer  stand  in 
behalf  of  the  French  protestants.  By  way 
of  recompense  for  his  services  abroad,  Norris 
received  a  summons  to  the  House  of  Lords, 
as  Baron  Norris  of  Rycote,  on  8  May  1572. 
In  September  1582  he  was  disappointed  of 
a  promised  visit  from  the  queen  to  Rycote, 
and  was  not  well  pleased  when  Leicester 
arrived  in  her  stead;  but  his  guest,  wrote 
that  Norris  and  his  wife  were '  a  hearty  noble 
couple  as  ever  I  saw  towards  her  highness ' 
(NICOLAS,  Life  of  Hatton,  pp.  269-70).  In 
September  1592  the  queen  revisited  Rycote 
on  her  journey  from  Oxford. 

In  October  1596  Norris  was  created  lord 
lieutenant  of  Oxfordshire.  He  already  held 
the  same  office  for  Berkshire.  In  1597  the 
grief  of  Norris  and  his  wife  on  the  death  of 
their  distinguished  son,  Sir  John,  was  some- 
what assuaged  by  a  stately  letter  of  con- 
dolence from  the  queen  to  'my  own  dear 
crow,'  as  Elizabeth  still  affectionately  called 
Lady  Norris  (Cal.  State  Papers,  Dom.  1595- 
1597,  p.  502).  Norris  died  in  June  1601, 
and  was  temporarily  buried  on  the  21st  in  the 
church  at  Englefield,  where  his  son  Edward 
was  living.  Finally,  on  5  Aug.,  he  was  in- 
terred at  Rycote,  in  a  vault  beneath  the 
chapel  of  St.  Michael  and  All  Angels,  which 
was  founded  in  1449  by  Richard  Quatremains 
and  Sybilla,  his  wife,  in  the  grounds  of 
Rycote  house.  The  chapel,  which  is  now 
disused  and  neglected,  remained  the  chief 
burying-place  of  the  Norrises  and  their  de- 
scendants, the  Berties,  till  about  1886.  The 
house  at  Rycote  was  burnt  down  in  1747, 
but  some  remnants  of  it  form  part  of  the 
fabric  of  the  farmhouse  which  now  occupies 
its  site  (cf.  LEE,  Hist,  of  Thame,  pp.  325  seq. ; 
BASSE,  Works,  ed.  R.  W.  Bond,  1893,  p.  xvi). 
Norris's  will  was  dated  24  Sept.  1589.  His 
wife  died  in  December  1599,  and  both  she 
and  himself  are  commemorated  in  the  monu- 
ment erected  in  honour  of  them  and  their  six 
sons  in  St.  Andrew's  Chapel  in  Westminster 
Abbey.  Life-size  figures  of  Lord  and  Lady 


Norris 


124 


Norris 


Norris  lie  beneath  an  elaborate  canopy  sup- 
ported by  marble  pillars,  and  they  are  sur- 
rounded by  kneeling  effigies  of  their  children. 

'Although  himself  of  a  meek  and  mild 
disposition,'  Norris  was  father  of  '  a  brood  of 
spirited,  martial  men '  (CAMDEN).  His  six 
sons  all  distinguished  themselves  as  soldiers, 
fighting  in  France,  Ireland,  or  the  Low 
Countries.  Norris  outlived  five  of  them ; 
Edward,  who,  with  John,  the  second  son,  and 
Thomas,  the  fifth  son,  is  separately  noticed, 
alone  survived  his  parents. 

The  eldest  son,  William,  was  with  Walter 
Devereux,  earl  of  Essex,  in  Ulster  in  1574, 
and  was  on  one  occasion  rescued  from  death 
by  his  brother  John  (Slow,  Chron.  p.  805). 
He  was,  it  appears,  temporarily  appointed  in 
1576  marshal  of  Berwick  in  succession  to 
Sir  William  Drury  [q.  v.],  but  soon  returned 
to  Ireland.  He  died  of  a  violent  fever  at 
Newry  on  25  Dec.  1579,  and  is  said  to  have 
accurately  foretold  his  own  death  (cf.  Cal. 
State  Papers,  Ireland,  1574-85,  p.  201 ;  Carew 
MSS.  1575-88,  188,  191,  193).  The  queen 
sent  his  mother  a  letter  of  condolence  (Cal. 
State  Papers,  Dom.  1547-80,  p.  639).  He 
married  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Sir  Richard 
Morison  [q.  v.],  by  whom  he  left  a  son  Francis 
[see  NORRIS,  FRANCIS,  EARL  OF  BERKSHIRE]. 

Henry  (1554-1599),  Lord  Norris's  fourth 
son,  matriculated  from  Magdalen  College,  Ox- 
ford, in  1571,  and  was  created  M.A.  in  1588. 
He  was  captain  of  a  company  of  English 
volunteers  at  Antwerp  in  June  1583  (Hist. 
MSS.  Comm.  2nd  Rep.  p.  73),  and  while  serv- 
ing with  his  brothers  John  and  Edward  in 
the  Low  Countries  in  1586  was  knighted  by 
the  Earl  of  Leicester  after  the  battle  of  Zut- 
phen  (September).  He  was  sent  to  Brit- 
tany in  May  1592  to  report  on  the  condition 
of  the  English  forces,  and  in  December  1593 
was  captain  of  a  regiment  of  nine  hundred 
Englishmen  there  (cf.  HatfieldMSS.  iv.  202 ; 
Cal.  State  Papers,  Dom.  1591  -4,  p.  397).  He 
was  M.P.  for  Berkshire  in  1588-9  and  1597- 

1598,  but  spent   his  latest  years  with  his 
brothers  John  and  Thomas  in  Ireland.     In 
1595   he  was  colonel-general    of   infantrv 
(Carew  MSS.  1589-1600,  p.  113).     Taking 
part  under  Robert  Devereux,  second  earl  of 
Essex,  in  the  campaign  in  Munster  in  June 

1599,  he  was  wounded  in  the  leg  in  an  en- 
gagement with  the  Irish  at  Finniterstown. 
He    bore  '  amputation  with    extraordinary 
patience,'  but  died  a  few  weeks  later.      The 
youngest  of  Lord  Norris's  sons,  Maximilian, 
was  slain  while  fighting  in  Brittany  under 
his  brother  John  in  1593. 

The  family  of  Lord  Norris  of  Rycote  must 
be  carefully  distinguished  from  that  of  the 
contemporary  John  Norris  of  Fyfield,  Berk- 


shire, as  well  as  from  that  of  the  contem- 
porary Sir  William  Norris  of  Speke,  Lanca- 
shire. The  Fyfield  family  descended  from 
the  first  marriage  of  Sir  Henry  Norris  of 
Speke  (fl.  1390),  while  the  Rycote  family  de- 
scended from  Sir  Henry's  second  marriage  [see 
under  NORRIS,  HENRY,  rf.  1536].  John  Norris 
of  Fyfield,  in  the  sixteenth  century,  was 
succeeded  by  his  son,  SIR  WILLIAM  NORRIS 
(1523-1591).  Sir  William  was  a  member  of 
Queen  Mary's  household,  was  M.P.  for  Wind- 
sor (1554-7),  and  was  sent  to  France  as  her 
herald  in  1557  to  declare  war  against  Henri  II 
(cf.  Discours  de  ce  qu'a  faict  en  France  le 
Heraut  d1  Angleterre,  Paris,  1557).  He  was 
continued  in  office  by  Queen  Elizabeth,  and 
was  usher  of  the  parliament-house,  gentle- 
man-pensioner, controller  of  the  works  of 
Windsor  Castle  and  Park,  and  J.P.  for  Berk- 
shire. He  died  on  9  Aug.  1591,  being  buried 
at  Bray  (AsHMOLE,  Berkshire  [1723],  iii.  1). 
By  his  wife  Mary,  daughter  of  Adrian  For- 
tescue,  he  left  six  sons  and  six  daughters. 
His  eldest  son,  John  (d.  1612),  was  knighted 
at  Reading  in  1601,  and  was  sheriff  of  Berk- 
shire in  the  same  year ;  by  his  wife  Mary, 
daughter  of  George  Bashford  of  Rickmans- 
worth,  he  was  father  of  Elizabeth,  wife  of 
Sir  Edward  Norris  [q.  v.] 

To  the  Speke  family  belonged  Sir  William 
Norris,  who  is  credited  with  having  carried 
away  at  the  capture  of  Edinburgh  in  1543 
some  volumes  from  James  IV's  library  at 
Holyrood,  which,  after  remaining  long  at 
Speke,  are  now  in  the  Liverpool  Athenaeum. 
By  his  first  wife  he  was  father  of  another 
William  who  was  slain  at  Musselburgh  in 
1547,  and  by  his  second  wife  he  had  a  son 
Edward,  the  builder,  in  1598,  of  Speke  Hall, 
whose  younger  son,William,  was  made  K.B. 
at  the  coronation  of  James  I,  had  the  reputa- 
tion of  a  spendthrift,  died  in  1626,  and  was 
great-grandfather  of  William  Norris  (1657- 
1702)  [q.  v.]  (BAINES,  Lancashire  [1836],  iii. 
754-5  ;  Norris  Papers,  Chetham  Soc.,  Pref. ; 
cf.  WHATTON,  Archceologia  Scotica  [1831], 
vol.  iv.  pt.  i.) 

[Kerry's  Hist,  of  Bray;  Lee's  Hist,  of  Thame ; 
Nichols's  Progresses  of  Queen  Elizabeth  ;  Dug- 
dale's  Baronage  ;  Davenport's  Lord  Lieutenants 
and  High  Sheriffs  of  Oxfordshire;  Fuller's 
Worthies.]  S.  L. 

NORRIS,  HENRY  (1665-1730?),  known 
as  JUBILEE  DICKY,  actor,  was  the  son  of 
Norris,  an  actor,  who  joined  Sir  William 
D'Avenant's  company,  known  as  the  king's 
servants,  and  was  the  original  Lovis  in 
Etherege's  '  Comical  Revenge,  or  Love  in  a 
Tub,'  licensed  1664.  Henry's  mother,  Mrs. 
Norris,  said  by  Davies  to  have  been  the  first 
English  actress  on  the  stage,  was  the  original 


Norris 


125 


Norris 


Lady  Dupe  in  '  Sir  Martin  Marrall,  or  Feigned 
Innocence,'  a  translation  of  '  L'Etourdi '  of 
Moliere  by  the  Duke  of  Newcastle  and  Dry- 
den.  The  son  was  born  in  1665  in  Salisbury 
Court,  near  the  spot  on  which  the  Dorset 
Garden  Theatre  subsequently  stood.  In  1695 
he  was  engaged  by  Ashbury  to  play  in  Dublin 
at  Smock  Alley  Theatre  comic  parts  such  as 
were  taken  in  London  by  Nokes.  This  jus- 
tifies the  assumption  that  he  must  have  had 
previous  experience,  but  his  name  is  not  pre- 
viously traceable  in  London.  In  Dublin  he 
played  about  1695  (HITCHCOCK)  Sir  Nicholas 
Cully  in  Etherege's  '  Comical  Revenge,'  Sir 
Oliver  Cockwood  in  his  '  She  would  if  she 
could,'  and  Handy  in  his  '  Man  of  Mode,  or 
Sir  Fopling  Flutter.' 

In  the  latter  part  of  1699  he  was  in  Lon- 
don, and  played  at  Drury  Lane  Dicky  in  Far- 
quhar's '  Constant  Couple,  or  a  Trip  to  the 
Jubilee.'  His  success  in  this  was  so  remark- 
able that  the  name  Jubilee  Dicky  stuck  to 
him,  and  was  often  inserted  in  the  playbills 
in  place  of  his  own.  Next  year  he  was  the 
Mad  Welchman  in  a  revival  of  the  '  Pilgrim,' 
and  was  the  original  Pizalto  in  the  '  Perjured 
Husband'  of  Mrs.  Carroll  (Centlivre),  and  on 
9  July  the  first  Sir  Anthony  Addle  in  Crau- 
ford's  '  Courtship  a  la  Mode.'  In  Gibber's 
*  Love  makes  a  Man,'  1701,  he  was  the  first 
Sancho,  and  he  resumed  his  part  of  Dicky  in 
'  Sir  Harry  Wildair,'  Farquhar's  sequel  to  his 
'  Trip  to  the  Jubilee.'  Sir  Oliver  Oldgame  in 
D'Urfey's  '  Bath,  or  the  Western  Lass,'  Petit 
in  Farquhar's '  Inconstant,  or  the  Way  to  win 
him,'  and  Mrs.  Fardingale  in  Steele's  '  Fune- 
ral, or  Grief  a  la  Mode,'  belong  to  1702  ;  and 
Symons  in  Estcourt's '  Fair  Example,'  Martin 
in  Mrs.  Carroll's  '  Love's  Contrivance,'  and 
Ralph  in  Wilkinson's  '  Vice  Reclaimed  '  to 
1703.  He  probably  went  with  the  company 
to  Bath  in  the  summer.  On  26  Jan.  1704  he 
was  the  Priest  in  '  Love  the  Leveller.'  He 
played  on  16  Feb.  1705  Duenna  in  Dennis's 
'  Gibraltar,'  and  on  18  March  Sir  Patient 
Careful  in  Swiney's  '  Quacks,'  also  23  April 
Tipkin  in  Steele's  'Tender  Husband,  or  the 
Accomplished  Fools.'  He  was,  moreover, 
Prigg  in  an  adaptation  from  Beaumont  and 
Fletcher  called '  The  Royal  Merchant,  or  the 
Beggars'  Bush.'  In  1706  Norris  was  Trust- 
well  in  the  '  Fashionable  Lover,'  and  on 
8  April  the  first  Costar  Pearmain  in  Far- 
quhar's '  Recruiting  Officer.'  With  a  detach- 
ment of  Drury  Lane  actors,  he  accompanied 
Swiney  to  the  Hay  market,  where  on  13  Nov. 
1706  he  performed  Gomez  in  a  revival  of  Dry- 
den's  '  Spanish  Friar.'  Here  he  played  a  round 
of  comic  characters,  including  Sir  Politick 
Wouldbe  in  '  Volpone,'  Testimony  in  '  Sir 
Courtly  Nice,'  Cutbeard  in  the  '  Silent 


Woman,'  Moneytrap  in  the  'Confederacy/ 
and  many  others,  and  was  the  original  Equi- 
page in  Mrs.  Carroll's  '  Platonick  Lady ^ on 
25  Nov.  1700,  and  Scrub  on  8  March  1707  in 
Farquhar's  '  Beaux'  Stratagem.'  The  follow- 
ing season  he  added  to  his  repertory  Snap  in 
Gibber's  '  Love's  Last  Shift,  Bookseller  in 
the  '  Committee,'  Calianax  in  the  '  Maid's 
Tragedy/  the  first  witch  in '  Macbeth/  J  ustice 
Clack  in  Brome's  '  Jovial  Crew/  and  was, 
1  Nov.  1707,  the  original  Sir  Squabble  Split- 
hair  in  Gibber's  4  Double  Gallant.'  At  Drury 
Lane  or  the  Haymarket  he  played,  among 
many  other  characters,  Learchus  in  '  ./Esop/ 
Dapper  in  the  'Alchemist/  Sir  Francis  Gripe, 
Obediah,  Foresight,  Nurse  in  '  Caius  Marius/ 
Otway's  rendering  of '  Romeo  and  Juliet/  Old 
Woman  in  '  Rule  a  Wife  and  have  a  Wife/ 
Setter  in  the '  Old  Bachelor/  Sir  Jasper  Fidget 
in  the  '  Country  Wife/  Gripe  in  '  Love  in  a 
Wood/  Fondlewife,  and  Pistol  in  the  second 
part  of '  King  Henry  IV.'  His  original  parts 
include  Roger  in  Taverner's  '  Maid's  the  Mis- 
tress/5 June  1708;  Shrimp  in  D'Urfey's '  Fine 
Lady's  Airs/ 14  Dec.  1708;  and  Squire  Crump 
in  D'Urfey's  '  Modern  Prophets/  3  May  1709. 
In  the  summer  of  1710  he  played  at  Green- 
wich. Lorenzo,  in  Mrs.  Centlivre's '  Marplot/ 
Drury  Lane,30Dec.l710,was  an  original  part, 
as  were  Flyblow  in  Charles  Johnson's'  Gene- 
rous Husband/  20  Jan.  1711;  Spitfire  in  the 
'  Wife's  Relief/  an  alteration  by  Johnson  of 
Shirley's  '  Gamester/  12  Nov.  1711  ;  Chicane 
in  Johnson's  '  Successful  Pirate/  7  Nov.  1712 ; 
Sir  Feeble  Dotard  in  Taverner's  'Female  Ad- 
vocates/ 6  Jan.  1713;  First  Trull  in  Charles 
Shadwell's  '  Humours  of  the  Army/  29  Jan. 
1713;  Sir  Tristram  Gettall  in  'Apparition/ 
25  Nov.  1713;  Don  Lopez  in  Mrs.  Centlivre's 
'  Wonder/  27  April  1714  ;  Tim  Shacklefigure 
in  Johnson's  '  Country  Lasses/  4  Feb.  1715; 
Peter  Nettle  in  Gay's  '  What  d'ye  call  it  ?  ' 
23  Feb.  1715 ;  Gardiner  in  Addison's  '  Drum- 
mer/ 10  March  1716 ;  Dr.  Possum  in  '  Three 
Hours  after  Marriage/  assigned  to  Gay,  Pope, 
and  Arbuthnot,  16  Jan.  1717 ;  Buskin  in 
Breval's '  The  Play  is  the  Plot/ 19  Feb.  1718 ; 
Whisper  in  Charles  Johnson's  '  Masquerade/ 
16  Jan.  1719;  Henry  in  Smythe's  'Rival 
Modes/  27  Dec.  1726;  First  Shepherd  in  the 
'  Double  Falsehood/  attributed  by  Theobald 
to  Shakespeare,  13  Dec.  1727;  and  Timothy 
in  Miller's  '  Humours  of  Oxford/  9  Jan.  1730. 
He  probably  died  before  the  end  of  the  year. 
Norris  was  one  of  the  actors  who  were  seen 
at  Bartholomew  Fair.  Addison,  in  the  '  Spec- 
tator/ No.  44,  says  that  Bullock  in  a  short 
coat  and  Norris  in  a  long  one  '  seldom  fail '  to 
raise  a  laugh  (cf.  HENRY  MORLET,  Bartho- 
lomew Fair,  p.  282).  Norris  indeed  had  a 
little  formal  figure  which  looked  droll  in  a 


Norris 


126 


Norris 


long  coat,  and  a  thin  squeaking  voice  that 
raised  a  smile  when  heard  in  private.  Ac- 
cording to  Chetwood  he  spoke  tragedy  with 
propriety,  but  seldom  assumed  any  important 
part,  for  which  his  stature  disqualified  him. 
He  acted  Cato,  however,  gravely  to  Pinketh- 
man's  Juba  at  Pinkethman's  theatre  at  Rich- 
mond, and  in  1710  played  at  Greenwich  the 
Dervise  in '  Tamerlane.'  Victor  declared  him 
the  best  Gomez  in  the  '  Spanish  Friar '  and 
Sir  Jasper  Fidget  in  the  '  Country  Wife ' 
that  he  ever  saw.  When  Gibber  played  Bar- 
naby  Brittle  in  the  '  Wanton  Wife,'  he  was 
commended.  Mrs.  Oldfield,  however,  an- 
nounced her  preference  for  Norris,  who  seemed 
predestined  to  wear  the  horns.  Davies  speaks 
of  him  as  an  excellent  comic  genius,  and  says 
that  his  delivery  of  the  two  lines  assigned 
him  in  the  rehearsal  in  which  he  played 
Heigh  ho !  caused  him  to  be  called  some- 
times in  the  bills  by  that  name  as  well  as 
Jubilee  Dicky.  He  was  also  spoken  of  as 
Nurse  Norris. 

Norris  married  about  1705  Mrs.  Knapton, 
an  actress,  a  sister  of  the  first  Mrs.  Wilks. 
Her  name  appears  occasionally  in  the  bills. 
She  was  a  fine  and  personable  woman,  a  great 
contrast  to  her  husband,  whose  stature  was 
diminutive.  By  her  Norris  had  issue.  The 
marriage  was  announced  on  28  Jan.  1731  of 
'  Mr.  Henry  Norris  of  Drury  Lane '  and  Mrs. 
Jenny  Wilks,  daughter  of  Mrs.  Wilks  of  the 
same  house.  This  was  probably  the  son  of 
Norris  who  on  15  Nov.  1731  at  Goodman's 
Fields,  as  Norris  from  Dublin,  '  son  of  the 
late  famous  comedian  of  that  name,'  played 
Gomez  in  the  '  Spanish  Friar.'  A  second  son 
of  Norris  was  on  the  country  stage.  Neither, 
however,  had  anything  in  common  with  the 
father  but  diminutive  stature.  No  portrait 
of  Norris  can  be  traced. 

[Works  cited  ;  Chetwood's  General  History  of 
the  Stage  ;  Genest's  Account  of  the  English 
Stage ;  Victor's  History  of  the  Theatre ;  Davies's 
Dramatic  Miscellanies ;  Hitchcock's  Irish  Stage.] 

J.  K. 

NORRIS,  HENRY  HANDLEY  (1771- 
1850),  theologian,  son  of  Henry  Handley 
Norris  of  Hackney,  by  Grace,  daughter  of 
the  Rev.  T.  Hest  of  Warton,  Lancashire, 
was  born  at  Hackney  on  14  Jan.  1771.  Edu- 
cated at  Peterhouse,  Cambridge,  where  he 
graduated  B. A.  1797,  M.A.  1806,  he  was  ad- 
mitted ad  eundem  at  the  university  of  Oxford 
on  23  Jan.  1817.  In  1806  a  chapel  of  ease 
was  built  by  subscription  in  Hackney  parish, 
and  dedicated  to  St.  John  of  Jerusalem. 
Norris  liberally  contributed  to  the  cost,  and 
in  1809,  on  becoming  the  perpetual  curate 
of  the  chapel,  made  over  to  trustees  a  fee- 
farm  rent  of  21/.  a  year  as  an  endowment, 


and  erected  at  his  own  expense  a  minister's 
residence  in  Well  Street.  In  1831  the  per- 
petual curacy  became  a  rectory,  and  in  this 
incumbency  Norris  remained  till  his  death. 
His  influence  in  the  religious  world  was 
far-reaching.  He  came  to  be  known  as  the 
head  of  the  high  church  party,  and  Hack- 
ney was  regarded  as  the  rival  and  counter- 
poise of  the  evangelical  school  in  Clapham. 
The  statement  has  been  made,  but  is  pro- 
bably not  true,  that  during  Lord  Liver- 
pool's long  premiership  every  see  that  fell 
vacant  was  offered  to  Norris,  with  the  re- 
quest that  if  he  would  not  take  it  himself, 
he  would  recommend  some  one  else ;  and 
this  rumour  secured  for  him  the  title  of  the 
Bishop-maker.  From  1793  to  1834,  as  a 
member  of  the  committee  of  the  Society  for 
Promoting  Christian  Knowledge,  he  largely 
ruled  its  proceedings  ;  but  in  1834  there  was 
a  revolt  against  his  management,  and  he  was 
left  in  a  minority.  He  became  a  prebendary 
of  Llandaff  on  22  Nov.  1816,  and  a  pre- 
bendary of  St.  Paul's  on  4  Nov.  182o.  In 
May  1842  the  parishioners  of  St.  John's  pre- 
sented Mrs.  Norris  with  a  portrait  of  her  hus- 
band after  thirty  years'  service  in  the  church. 
Inheriting  from  his  father  an  ample  fortune, 
he  was  able  to  aid  many  students  in  their  uni- 
versity and  professional  careers.  Norris  died 
at  Grove  Street,  Hackney,  on  4  Dec.  1850. 

On  19  June  1805  he  married  Henrietta 
Catherine,  daughter  of  David  Powell,  by 
whom  he  had  a  son,  Henry,  born  on  28  Feb. 
1810,  and  now  of  Swancliffe  Park,  Oxford- 
shire. 

Norris's  best  known  work  is  '  A  Practical 
Exposition  of  the  Tendency  and  Proceed- 
ings of  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible  So- 
ciety, in  a  Correspondence  between  the  Rev. 
H.  H.  Norris  and  J.  W.  Freshfield,  Esq./ 
1813;  with  an  Appendix,  1814;  2nd  edit. 
1814.  This  correspondence  arose  from  an 
attempt  made  by  Freshfield  to  form  an 
Auxiliary  Bible  Society  in  Hackney,  to 
which  Norris  strongly  objected.  A  pamphlet 
war  ensued,  and  among  the  controversialists 
were  Robert  Aspland  [q.  v.]  (1813)  and 
William  Dealtry  [q.  v.]  (1815). 

His  other  writings  were :  1.  'A  Respect- 
ful Letter  to  the  Earl  of  Liverpool,  occa- 
sioned by  the  Speech  imputed  to  his  Lordship 
at  the  Isle  of  Thanet  Bible  Society  Meeting,' 
1822.  2.  '  A  Vindication  of  a  Respectful 
Letter  to  the  Earl  of  Liverpool,'  1823. 
These  two  works  also  gave  rise  to  rejoinders 
by  Schofield  in  1822  and  Paterson  in  1823. 

3.  '  The  Origin,  Progress,  and  Existing  Cir- 
cumstances of  the  London  Society  for  Pro- 
moting Christianity  among  the  Jews,'  1825. 

4.  ( The  Principles  of  the  Jesuits  developed 


Norris 


127 


Norris 


in  a  Collection  of  Extracts  from  their  own 
Authors/  1839.  5.  '  A  Pastor's  Legacy  : 
or  Instructions  for  Confirmation/  1851. 

[Overton's  English  Church,  1894,  pp.  35-8, 
347;  Churton's  Memoir  of  Joshua  Watson,  1861, 
i.  54,  ii.  20,  325;  Churton's  Christian  Sincerity : 
Sermon  on  death  of  H.  H.  Norris,  1851 ;  T.  Moz- 
ley's  Keminiscences,  1882,  i.  335-40;  Lysons's 
Environs  of  London,  1811,  ii.  307;  Robinson's 
Hackney,  1843,  ii.  119,  171-7,  265.]  G.  C.  B. 

NORRIS,  ISAAC  (1671-1735),  mayor  of 
Philadelphia,  was  born  in  London  on  21  July 
1671.  His  father,  Thomas  Norris,  emigrated 
to  Jamaica  in  1678.  In  1690  Isaac  was  sent 
to  Philadelphia  to  arrange  for  the  settlement 
of  the  family  there,  but  on  his  return  to 
Jamaica  found  that  they  had  all  perished  in 
the  great  earthquake  at  Port  Royal.  He  then 
went  back  to  Philadelphia,  entered  into  busi- 
ness, and  became  one  of  the  wealthiest  pro- 
prietors in  the  province.  During  a  visit  to 
England  in  1706  he  assisted  William  Penn 
in  his  difficulties.  On  his  return  in  1708  he 
was  elected  to  the  governor's  council.  He 
sat  in  the  assembly  for  many  years,  was 
speaker  of  the  house  in  1712,  justice  for 
Philadelphia  county  in  1717,  and,  on  the 
establishment  of  the  high  court  of  chancery, 
became  a  master  to  hear  cases  with  the  lieu- 
tenant-governor. In  1724  he  was  elected 
mayor  of  Philadelphia,  and  in  1731  was 


(CHURCHYARD,  Netherlands,  1602,  p.  154). 
Lord  Willoughby,  who  was  born  on  12  Oct. 
1555,  stated  less  probably  that  Norris  was  of 
the  same  age  as  himself  (BEKTIE,  Life  of 
Willoughby,  p.  187)';  while  the  epitaph  on 
N  orris's  tomb  in  Yattendon  Church  suggests 
the  impossible  date  1529  as  the  year  of  his 
birth.  Norris  is  said  to  have  spent  some 
time  in  youth  at  a  university ;  but  a  soldier's 
life  attracted  him  as  a  youth,  and  he  received 
his  first  military  training  in  1571,  when  he 
served  as  a  volunteer  under  Admiral  Coligny 
in  the  civil  wars  in  France.  In  1573  he 
joined,  as  captain  of  a  company,  the  army  of 
English  volunteers  which  was  enlisted  by- 
Walter  Devereux,  first  earl  of  Essex  [q.  v.], 
in  his  attempt  to  colonise  Ulster.  In  the 
tedious  struggle  with  the  native  Irish  and 
their  Scottish  allies  Norris  displayed  much 
military  skill.  Almost  the  last  incident  in 
Essex's  disastrous  enterprise  was  the  despatch 
of  Norris,  at  the  head  of  1150  men,  from 
Carrickfergus  to  the  island  of  Rathlin,  with 
directions  to  drive  thence  the  Macdonnells 
who  had  taken  refuge  there.  Norris's  little 
army  was  transported  in  three  frigates,  of 
one  of  which  Francis  Drake  was  commander. 
The  islanders  fled  before  him  to  the  castle ; 
but  after  four  days'  siege  (22  to  26  July 
1575)  Norris  effected  an  entrance,  and  mas- 
sacred the  men,  women,  and  children  within 


unanimously  chosen  justice  of  the  supreme    its  walls.     Such  rigorous  procedure  was  ap- 


court,  but  declined  the  office.  It  is  recorded 
of  him  that  '  although  a  strict  quaker,  he 
lived  in  great  luxury  for  that  age,  and  drove 
a  four-horse  coach,  on  which  was  emblazoned 
a  coat  of  arms.'  He  owned  the  '  slate-roofed 
house '  in  which  Penn  resided  during  his 
second  visit  to  Pennsylvania.  His  house  on 
Fair  Hill, '  one  of  the  handsomest  buildings 
of  the  day,'  was  burnt  by  the  British  during 
the  revolution.  For  many  years  Norris  was 
one  of  the  chief  representatives  of  the  pro- 
prietaries, and  by  the  will  of  Penn  he  was 
named  a  trustee  of  the  province  of  Pennsyl- 
vania. He  died  in  Philadelphia  on  4  June 
1735.  In  1694  he  married  Mary,  daughter 
of  Thomas  Lloyd,  governor  of  Pennsylvania. 
Their  son,  Isaac  Norris  (1701-1766),  was  a 
prominent  statesman  in  America. 

[J.  Parker  Norris's  Genealog.  Record  of  the 
Norris  Family  (1865);  Hepworth  Dixon's 
WilliamPenn  (1851), p. 410;  Appleton's Cyclop, 
of  Amer.  Biogr.]  Gr.  G-. 

NORRIS,  SIR  JOHN  (1547  P-1597),  mili- 
tary commander,  second  son  of  Henry  Norris, 
baron  Norris  of  Rycote  [q.  v.],  was  born 
about  1547.  This  date  agrees  with  the 
statement  of  his  servant,  Daniel  Gyles,  as 
given  in  the  contemporary  tract  entitled  '  A 
Memorable  Service  of  Norris  in  Ireland ' 


proved  by  the  English  government ;  but  the 
easy  victory  failed  to  stem  Essex's  misfor- 
tunes. A  useless  fort  was  erected  on  the 
island,  and  Norris  evacuated  it.  Within 
three  months  he  and  his  troops  were  recalled 
to  Dublin  and  the  colonisation  of  Ulster  for 
the  time  abandoned.  But  Norris  had  then 
reached  the  conclusion,  which  in  later  years 
he  often  pressed  upon  his  superiors,  that 
'  Ireland  was  not  to  be  brought  to  obedience 
but  by  force/  and  that  on  large  permanent 
garrisons  England  alone  could  depend  for  the 
maintenance  of  her  supremacy  (cf.  BAGWELL, 
Ireland  under  the  Tudors,  iii.  131). 

In  July  1577  Norris  crossed  to  the  Low 
Countries  at  the  head  of  another  army  of 
English  volunteers  (CHURCHYARD,  p.  27). 
Fighting  in  behalf  of  the  States-General  in 
the  revolt  against  their  Spanish  rulers,  Norris 
found  himself  opposed  to  a  far  more  serious 
enemy  than  any  he  had  encountered  hitherto ; 
but  he  proved  himself  equal  to  the  situation. 
On  1  Aug.  1578  the  Dutch  army,  with  which 
he  was  serving,  was  attacked  at  Rymenant 
by  the  Spanish  commander,  Don  John  of 
Austria.  The  Dutch  troops  broke  at  the 
first  onset  of  the  Spanish.  But  Norris,  with 
three  thousand  English  soldiers,  stood  his 
ground;  and  after  a  fierce  engagement,  in 


Norris 


128 


Norris 


which  he  had  three  horses  killed  under  him, 
the  Spaniards  fell  back,  leaving  a  thousand 
dead  upon  the  field  (FROUDE,  Hist,  of  Eng- 
land). Through  1579  he  co-operated  in 
Flanders  with  the  French  army  under  Fran- 
^ois  de  la  Noiie  (cf.  Correspondance  de  F.  de 
la  Noiie,  ed.  Kervyn  de  Volkaersbeke,  1854, 
pp.  143  sq.,  183  sq.)  On  20  Feb.  1580  he 
displayed  exceptional  prowess  in  the  relief 
of  Steenwyk,  which  was  besieged  by  the 
Spaniards  under  the  Count  von  Rennenberg  ; 
and  in  operations  round  Meppel  he  proved 
himself  a  match  for  the  Spanish  general 
Verdugo  (STRADA,  De  Bello  Belgico,  x.  560- 
562 ;  VAN  DER  AA,  Woordenboek  der  Neder- 
landen,  xiii.  323).  His  fame  in  England  rose 
rapidly,  and  William  Blandie  bestowed  ex- 
travagant eulogy  on  him  in  his  'Castle  or 
Picture  of  Pollicy,'  1581  (cf.  p.  256). 

Norris  remained  in  the  Netherlands — 
chiefly  in  Friesland — until  March  1583-4; 
but  the  war  was  pursued  with  less  energy  in 
the  last  two  years.  When  he  was  again  in 
England,  it  was  reported  at  court  that  he  was 

*  not  to  return  in  haste '  (BiRCH,  Memoirs,  i. 
37,47).  In  July  1584  he  was  sent  for  a  second 
time  to  Ireland,  and  the  responsible  office  of 
lord-president  of  Munster  was  conferred  on 
him.     He  at  once  made  his  way  to  his  pro- 
vince ;  but  the  misery  that  he  found  prevail- 
ing there  he  had  no  means  of  checking,  and 
his  soldiers  deserted  him  in  order  to  serve 
again  in  the  Low  Countries  (cf.  Cal.  State 
Papers,  Ireland,  1574-85,  pp.  xci,  xcii,  554). 
In  September  1584  Norris  accompanied  the 
lord-deputy  Perrot  on  an  expedition  against 
his  earlier  opponents,  the  Scottish  settlers 
in  Ulster.     With  the  Earl  of  Ormonde  he 
set  about  clearing  the  country  of  cattle,  the 
Scots'  chief  means  of  support,  and  seized  fifty 
thousand  cattle  round  Glenconkein  in  Lon- 
donderry.   No  decisive  results  followed,  and 
Norris  returned  to  Munster  to  urge  the  home 
government  to  plant  English  settlers  there. 
In  the  following  winter  the  Ulster  Scots  grew 
more  threatening  than  before,  and  Norris 
was  summoned  to  Dublin  by  Perrot.     He 
complained  that  the  lord-deputy  would  not 
permit  him  to  go  north ;  but  as  M.P.  for  co. 
Cork    he    attended   the   parliament  which 
Perrot  opened  on  26  April  1585,  and  dis- 
tinguished himself  by  the  forcible  eloquence 
with  which  he  supported  measures  to  confirm 
the  queen's  authority  over  the  country  (ib. 
pp.  563,  565). 

But  Norris's  ambition  was  directed  to 
other  fields.  He  had  no  wish,  he  admitted, 

*  to  be  drowned  in  this  forgetful  corner '  (ib. 
p.  557) ;  and  the  news  that  the  Spaniards 
were  besieging  Antwerp  and  likely  to  cap- 
ture it  from  the  Dutch  aroused  all  his  en- 


thusiasm in  behalf  of  his  former  allies.  He 
was  anxious  that  Queen  Elizabeth  should 
directly  intervene  in  the  struggle  of  the 
Dutch  protestants  with  Spain.  Obtaining  a 
commission  by  which  his  office  as  president 
of  Munster  was  temporarily  transferred  to  his 
brother  Thomas,  he  hurried  to  London  in  May 
1585.  On  10  Aug.  a  treaty  was  concluded 
between  Elizabeth  and  the  States-General, 
whereby  four  thousand  foot  soldiers  and  four 
hundred  horse  were  to  be  placed  at  their  dis- 
posal. On  12  Aug.  Norris  was  appointed  to 
the  command  of  this  army,  and  left  England 
twelve  days  later.  The  queen,  when  inform- 
ing the  States-General  of  his  appointment, 
reminded  them  of  his  former  achievements  in 
their  service.  '  We  hold  him  dear,'  she  added ; 
'  and  he  deserves  also  to  be  dear  to  you ' 
(MOTLEY,  United  Netherlands,  i.  334).  Soon 
after  his  arrival  in  Holland  Norris  stormed 
with  conspicuous  gallantry  a  fort  held  by  the 
Spaniards  near  Arnhem ;  but  the  queen,  who 
still  preferred  her  old  policy  of  vacillation, 
resented  his  activity,  and  wrote  to  him  on 
31  Oct.  that  he  had  neglected  his  instruc- 
tions, '  her  meaning  in  the  action  which  she 
had  undertaken  being  to  defend,  and  not  to 
offend.'  Nevertheless,  Norris  repulsed  Alex- 
ander of  Parma,  the  Spanish  leader,  in  another 
skirmish  before  Arnheim  on  15  Nov.,  and 
threatened  Nymegen,  which  '  he  found  not 
so  flexible  as  he  had  hoped.'  But  he  was 
without  adequate  supplies  of  clothing,  food, 
or  money,  and  soon  found  himself  in  a  des- 
perate plight.  There  was  alarming  mortality 
among  his  troops,  and  his  appeals  for  aid 
were  disregarded  at  home.  In  December  the 
Earl  of  Leicester  arrived  with  a  new  Eng- 
lish army,  and,  accepting  the  office  of  gover- 
nor of  the  Low  Countries,  inaugurated  the 
open  alliance  of  England  with  the  Dutch, 
which  the  queen  had  been  very  reluctant  to 
recognise. 

In  February  1586  Norris  left  Utrecht  to 
relieve  Grave.  The  city  was  besieged  by 
Alexander  of  Parma,  and  formed  almost  the 
only  barrier  to  the  advance  of  the  Spaniards 
into  the  northern  provinces  of  Holland. 
Norris  was  joined  by  native  troops  under 
the  command  of  Count  Hohenlohe.  Three 
thousand  men  thus  formed  the  attacking 
force.  A  desperate  encounter  followed  on 
15  April,  and  Norris  received  a  pike-wound 
in  the  breast  (GRIMESTON,  Hist,  of  Nether- 
lands, p.  827) ;  but  he  succeeded  in  forcing 
the  Spanish  lines  and  provisioning  the  town. 
Leicester  described  the  engagement  as  a 
great  victory,  and  knighted  Norris  during  a 
great  feast  he  gave  at  Utrecht  on  St.  George's 
day  (26  April).  Owing,  however,  to  the 
treachery  of  Count  Hemart,  the  governor 


Norris 


129 


Norris 


of  Grave,  the  Spaniards  immediately  after- 
wards were  admitted  within  its  walls. 
Leicester  ordered  Hemart  to  be  shot.  Norris 
urged  some  milder  measure,  a  course  which 
Leicester  warmly  resented.  Leicester  in- 
formed Lord  Burghley  that  Norris  was  in 
love  with  Hemart's  aunt,  and  had  allowed 
his  private  feelings  to  influence  his  conduct 
of  affairs  (MOTLEY,  ii.  24).  Norris's  real 
motive  was  doubtless  a  desire  to  conciliate 
native  sentiment. 

Meanwhile  Leicester's  inexperience  as  a 
military  commander  rendered  the  English 
auxiliaries  almost  helpless,  and  their  camp 
was  torn  by  internal  dissensions.  Jealous  of 
Norris's  superior  skill,  Leicester  was  readily 
drawn  into  an  open  quarrel  with  him,  and  its 
continuance  throughout  the  campaign  of  1586 
was  largely  responsible  for  the  want  of  suc- 
cess. Leicester  complained  to  Walsingham 
that  Norris  habitually  treated  him  with  dis- 
respect. Norris  '  matched,'  he  said,'  the  late 
Earl  of  Sussex,'  his  old  enemy  at  court.  '  He 
will  so  dissemble,  so  crouch,  and  so  cunningly 
carry  his  doings  as  no  man  living  would 
imagine  that  there  were  half  the  malice  or 
vindicative  mind  that  doth  plainly  his  deeds 
prove  to  be.  ...  Since  the  loss  of  Grave  he 
is  as  coy  and  as  strange  to  give  any  counsel 
or  any  advice  as  if  he  were  a  mere  stranger 
to  us '  (Leycester  Correspondence,  Camd. 
Soc.,  p.  301  seq.)  Leicester  surmised  that 
Norris  aspired  to  his  command.  Could  not 
Walsingham  secure  Norris's  recall?  Was 
there  no  need  of  him  in  Ireland  ?  Walsing- 
ham took  seriously  these  childish  grumblings 
which  formed  a  main  topic  of  Leicester's  des- 
patches, and  he  appealed  to  Norris  to  treat 
Leicester  in  more  conciliatory  fashion.  But 
the  queen  understood  Norris's  worth,  and 
declined  to  recall  him.  She  openly  attributed 
Leicester's  complaints  to  private  envy,  and 
the  earl  found  it  politic  to  change  his  tone. 
In  August  (ib.  p.  385)  he  wrote  home  that  he 
had  always  loved  Norris,  and  at  length  found 
him  tractable.  In  the  sight  of  other  observers 
than  Leicester,  Norris  combined  tact  with 
his  courage.  Writing  to  Burghley  on  24  May 
from  Arnhem,  Thomas  Doyley  commended 
his  valour  and  wisdom, '  but  above  the  rest, 
his  especial  patience  in  temporising,  wherein 
he  exceedeth  most  of  his  age  '  (BERTIE,  pp. 
101-522  ;  cf.  MOTLEY,  ii.  259). 

Despite  his  uncongenial  environment, 
Norris  did  good  service  in  May  1586  in  driv- 
ing the  Spaniards  from  Nymegen  and  the 
Betwe.  But  when  he  was  ordered  to  Utrecht, 
in  August,  to  protect  South  Holland,  Lei- 
cester foolishly  excluded  from  his  control  the 
regiment  of  Sir  William  Stanley,  who  was 
in  the  neighbourhood  at  Deventer,  and  thus 

VOL.   XLI. 


deprived  the  operations  of  the  homogeneity 
which  was  essential  to  success.  Immediately 
afterwards  he  received  from  home  a  commis- 
sion as  colonel-general  of  the  infantry,  with 
powers  to  nominate  all  foot  captains. 

On  22  Sept.  Norris  took  a  prominent  part 
jointly  with  Stanley  in  the  skirmish  near 
Zutphen,  in  which  Sir  Philip  Sidney  was 
fatally  wounded.  On  6  Oct.  Leicester 
wrote :  '  Norris  is  a  most  valiant  soldier 
surely,  and  all  are  now  perfect  good  friends 
here.  But  before  the  end  of  the  year 
Norris  was  recalled  to  England,  despite  the 
protests  of  the  States-General,  from  whom  his 
many  achievements  in  their  service  had  won 
golden  opinions  (GRIMESTOX,  p.  834,  cf.  p. 
931).  At  court  the  queen,  despite  her  pre- 
vious attitude,  treated  him  with  some  dis- 
dain as  the  enemy  of  Leicester,  but  in  the 
autumn  of  1587  he  was  recalled  to  Holland. 
Lord  Willoughby,  who  succeeded  Leicester 
in  the  command  in  November  1587,  wisely 
admitted  that  Norris  was  better  fitted  for 
the  post ;  but  he  resented  the  presence  of 
Norris  in  a  subordinate  capacity  on  the  scene 
of  his  former  triumphs.  Disputes  readily 
arose  between  them.  The  queen  treated  Norris 
with  so  much  consideration  that  Willoughby 
declared  him  to  be '  more  happy  than  a  Caesar.' 
'  If  I  were  sufficient,'  he  argued, '  Norris  were 
superfluous'  (BERTIE,  p.  187).  This  view 
finally  prevailed,  and  at  the  beginning  of 
1588  Norris  was  at  home  once  more.  In 
April  he  was  created  M.A.  at  Oxford,  on 
the  occasion  of  Essex's  incorporation  in  that 
degree  (Woon,  Fasti,  i.  278).  During  the 
summer,  while  the  arrangements  for  the  re- 
sistance of  the  Spanish  Armada  were  in  pro- 
gress, he  was  at  Tilbury,  and  acted  as  mar- 
shal of  the  camp  under  Leicester.  He  was 
also  employed  in  inspecting  the  fortifications 
of  Dover,  and  in  preparing  Kent  to  meet  in- 
vasion (Cal.  State  Papers,  Dom.  1581-90,  pp. 
501,  511).  But  his  active  services  were  not 
required.  After  the  final  defeat  of  the  Armada, 
he  strongly  recommended  an  invasion  of  Spain , 
and  offered  to  collect  troops  in  Ireland.  In 
October  he  was  ordered  to  the  Low  Countries 
in  a  new  capacity,  as  ambassador  to  the  States- 
General,  to  thank  them  for  their  aid  in  resist- 
ing the  Armada,  to  consider  with  them  the 
further  prosecution  of  the  war,  and  to  arrange 
the  withdrawal  of  troops  to  take  part  in  an 
expedition  to  Portugal  (BERTIE,  pp.  225-6). 
Willoughby,  still  the  commander-in-chief  in 
Holland,  was  directed  to  give  Norris  all  the 
assistance  in  his  power ; '  but  he  is  so  sufficient,' 
Willoughby  wrote, '  to  debate  in  this  cause  as 
my  counsels  are  but  drops  in  the  sea.' 

In  April  1589  Norris  took  command, 
along  with  Drake,  of  the  great  expedition 


N  orris 


130 


Norris 


despatched  to  destroy  the  shipping  on  the 
coasts  of  Spain  and  Portugal,  and  to  place 
the  pretender  Antonio  on  the  throne  of 
Portugal.  Twenty-three  thousand  men  were 
embarked  under  the  two  commanders.  The 
enterprise  excited  in  England  almost  as 
much  enthusiasm  as  the  struggle  with  the 
armada  in  the  preceding  year.  The  drama- 
tist, George  Peele,  gave  expression  to  the 
confidence  popularly  placed  in  Norris  in  '  A 
Farewell.  Entituled  to  the  famous  and  fortu- 
nate Generalls  of  our  English  Forces:  Sir 
lohn  Norris  and  Syr  Frauncis  Drake,  Knights, 
and  all  theyr  brave  and  resolute  followers,' 
1589,  8vo.  Peele  reminded  the  soldiers — 

You  follow  noble  Norris,  whose  renown, 
Won  in  the  fertile  fields  of  Belgia, 
Spreads  by  the  gates  of  Europe  to  the  courts 
Of  Christian  kings  and  heathen  potentates 

(PEELE,  Works,  ed.  Bullen,  ii.  240).  On 
20  April  Norris  landed  near  Corunna,  sur- 
prised and  burnt  the  lower  part  of  the  town, 
and  beat  off  in  a  smart  encounter  at  Burgos 
a  Spanish  force  eight  thousand  strong  under 
the  Conde  de  Altemira.  Putting  to  sea  again, 
Norris  directed  an  attack  on  Lisbon ;  but  the 
enemy  declined  a  general  engagement,  and  the 
expedition  returned  to  Plymouth  on  2  July, 
without  having  achieved  any  decisive  result. 

In  April  1591  Norris  left  England  with  three 
thousand  foot-soldiers  to  aid  in  Henry  IVs 
campaign  in  Brittany  against  the  forces  of  the 
League.  He  landed  at  St.  Malo  on  5  May, 
and  joined  the  army  of  Prince  Dombes,  son 
of  the  Due  de  Montpensier.  On  24  May  the 
town  of  Guingamp  surrendered  after  a  brief 
siege  to  Norris  and  Dombes,  and  Henry  IV 
extolled  Norris's  valour  in  a  letter  to  Queen 
Elizabeth.  On  11  June  he  defeated  a  body 
of  Spanish  and  French  soldiers  at  Chateau 
Laudran.  Shortly  afterwards  six  hundred  of 
his  men  were  transferred  to  Normandy,  where 
the  Earl  of  Essex  wassimilarly  engaged  about 
Rouen  in  fighting  with  Henry  IVs  enemies 
(BiRCH,  i.  65).  Thenceforth  Norris's  cam- 
paign proved  indecisive,  and  at  the  end  of  Fe- 
bruary 1591-2  he  returned  home  (cf.  A  Jour- 
nail  of  the  honourable  Service  of  the  renowned 
Knight,  S.  John  Norrice,  General!  of  the  Eng- 
lish and  French  Forces,  performed  against  the 
French  and  Spanish  Leaguers  in  France,  1591, 
in  Churchyard's  translation  of  Van  Meteren's 
'  Civil  Wars  in  the  Netherlands,'  1602,  pp. 
119-33 ;  The  True  Reporte  of  the  Seruice  in 
Britanie,  1591,  4to;  A  Journall  or  Brief e 
Report  of  the  late  Seruice  in  Britaigne,  1591, 
4to ;  Union  Correspondence,  Roxburghe  Club, 
pp.  7  sq.) 

In  September  1593  Norris  again  set  foot 
in  Brittany.  In  November  he  and  the  Due 


D' Aumont  seized  the  great  fortress  of  Crozon, 
which  the  enemy  had  built  to  protect  Brest. 
The  victory  was  well  contested,  and  Norris 
was  wounded  (cf.  Newes  from  Brest.  A 
Diurnal  of  all  that  Sir  J.  Norreis  hath  doone 
since  his  last  arrivall  in  Britaine,  London, 
1594, 4to).  In  February  1593-4  he  had  four- 
teen hundred  well-trained  men  under  his 
command,  who  '  wanted  nothing  but  a  good 
opportunity  to  serve  upon  the  enemy '  (BiECH, 
i.  157).  But  there  were  dissensions  in  the 
camp  between  Norris  and  his  French  col- 
leagues, and  in  May  1594,  to  the  regret  of 
Henri  IV.  he  was  finally  recalled  (cf.  Sis- 
MOXDI,  Hist,  de  France,  xxi.  309  sq.,  419 ; 
MARTIN,  Hist.  x.  360;  MORICE  and  TAIL- 
LASTDIER,  Hist.  deBretagne,  1836,  xii.  468,  xiii. 
22,  147  ;  CHTTRCHYARD,  Civil  Wars,  134  sq.) 

Next  year  Norris  was  summoned  to  Ireland, 
which  he  never  quitted  again  alive.  The  lord- 
deputy,  Sir  William  Russell,  had  proved  him- 
self unable  to  resist  the  power  of  O'Neill,  earl 
of  Tyrone,  in  Ulster,  and,  after  proclaiming 
him  a  traitor,  had  appealed  in  April  1595  to 
the  English  government  to  send  him  a'mili- 
tary  commander  to  exercise  unusually  wide 
powers.  The  queen's  advisers  selected  Norris, 
who  was  still  nominally  lord-president  of 
Munster.  Norris's  military  reputation  stood 
so  high  that  many  believed  that  the  native 
Irish  would  be  reduced  to  impotency  by  the 
terror  of  his  name.  Norris  was  under  no  such 
delusion.  His  health  was  bad,  and  he  knew, 
too,  that  his  appointment  was  unpopular  in 
many  circles.  With  Sir  William  Russell  he 
had  an  old-standing  quarrel,  and  he  had 
many  enemies  in  the  queen's  councils.  The 
Earl  of  Essex  endeavoured  to  nominate  his 
friends  to  the  subordinate  offices  on  Norris's 
new  staff,  and  Norris's  free  expressions  of  re- 
sentment increased  the  antipathy  with  which 
Essex's  friends  at  court  regarded  him. 

Norris  arrived  at  Waterford  on  4  May 
1595,  but  was  disabled  on  disembarking  by 
an  attack  of  ague.  After  some  delay  he 
arrived  at  Dublin,  and  set  out  on  his  first 
campaign  in  June.  He  made  Newry  his 
headquarters.  Russell  followed  closely  in 
his  track;  but  Norris  had  no  desire  for 
Russell's  aid,  and  declined  all  responsibility 
as  long  as  Russell  was  with  the  army.  In, 
July,  however,  Russell  returned  to  Dublin, 
asserting  that  he  left  Norris  to  undertake 
the  conquest  of  Ulster  by  whatever  means 
he  chose.  But  Norris  deemed  the  task  im- 
possible without  reinforcements.  Scarcely 
fifteen  hundred  men  were  at  his  disposal,  and 
in  letters  to  Burghley  and  Cecil  he  charged 
Russell  with  secretly  endeavouring  to  thwart 
him,  and  with  concealing  the  imperfections 
of  his  army  from  the  home  government.  On 


Norris  i 

the  other  hand,  the  Earl  of  Tyrone  recognised 
in  Norris  an  opponent  to  be  feared,  and  was 
easily  persuaded  to  forward  to  him  a  signed 
paper,  which  he  called  his  submission.  But 
the  terms  demanded  a  full  acknowledgment 
of  Tyrone's  local  supremacy,  and  were  at  once 
rejected  by  Norris,  with  the  approval  of  the 
queen's  advisers. 

Norris,  after  making  vain  efforts  to  bring 
Tyrone  to  an  open  engagement,  resolved  to 
winter  in  Armagh.  The  place  was  easily 
occupied,  but  while  engaged  in  fortifying 
a  neighbouring  pass  between  Newry  and 
Armagh  on  4  Sept.  Norris  was  attacked  by 
the  Irish,  and  was  wounded  in  the  arm  and 
side.  The  home  government  thereupon  sug- 
gested that  Norris  should  reopen  negotia- 
tions. Norris,  impressed  by  the  defects  in 
his  equipment,  had  already  suggested  that 
Tyrone  should  be  granted  a  free  pardon 
on  condition  that  he  renounced  Spain  and 
the  pope.  If  further  hostilities  were  at- 
tempted, it  was  needful  that  all  the  English 
forces  in  Ireland  should  be  concentrated  in 
Ulster.  Meanwhile  a  truce  was  arranged 
with  Tyrone  to  last  until  1  Jan.  1596,  and  one 
month  longer  if  the  lord-deputy  desired  it. 

Next  year  Norris  was  instructed  to  renew 
negotiations  for  a  peace,  and  a  hollow 
arrangement  was  patched  up  at  Dundalk. 
Sir  William  Russell  plainly  recognised  that 
Tyrone  was  only  seeking  to  gain  time  until 
help  came  from  Spain,  and  complained  with 
some  justice  that  '  the  knaves '  had  over- 
reached Norris.  But  for  the  moment  Ulster 
was  free  from  disturbance,  and  Norris  was 
ordered  to  proceed  with  Sir  Geoffrey  Fenton 
to  Connaught  to  arrange  terms  with  the  Irish 
chieftains  there  (Cal.  State  Papers,  Ireland, 
1596-7,  pp.  2  sq.)  He  censured  the  rigorous 
iolicy  of  the  governor,  Sir  Richard  Bingham 
q.  v.],  who  was  sent  to  Dublin  and  detained. 
3ut  his  efforts  at  a  pacification  of  the  pro- 
vince proved  futile.  He  remained  there  from 
June  until  the  middle  of  December,  when  he 
returned  to  Newry ;  but  as  soon  as  he  left  the 
borders  of  Connaught  the  rebellion  blazed  out 
as  fiercely  as  of  old.  Russell  protested  that 
Norris's  'course  of  pacification'  was  not  to 
the  advantage  of  the  queen's  government, 
and  the  dissensions  between  them  were  openly 
discussed  on  both  sides  of  the  Channel.  Each 
represented  in  his  official  despatches  the  state 
of  affairs  in  a  different  light,  and  Tyrone  took 
every  advantage  of  the  division  in  the  Eng- 
lish ranks.  On  22  Oct.  1596  Anthony  Bacon, 
whose  relations  with  Essex  naturally  made 
him  a  harsh  critic  of  Norris,  informed  his 
mother  that  '  from  Ireland  there  were  cross 
advertisements  from  the  lord-deputy  on  the 
one  side  and  Sir  John  Norris  on  the  other, 


i  Norris 

the  first,  as  a  good  trumpet,  sounding  con- 
tinually the  alarm  against  the  enemy;  the 
latter  serving  as  a  treble  viol  to  invite  to 
dance  and  be  merry  upon  false  hopes  of  a 
hollow  peace,  and  that  these  opposite  ac- 
counts made  many  fear  rather  the  ruin  than 
the  reformation  of  the  state  upon  that  in- 
fallible ground  "quod  omne  regnum  divisum 
in  se  dissipabitur "  '  (  BIRCH,  ii.  180).  In 
December  1596  Norris,  in  letters  to  Sir  Ro- 
bert Cecil,  begged  for  his  recall.  He  com- 
plained that  all  he  did  had  been  misrepre- 
sented at  Whitehall,  his  health  was  failing, 
and  the  unjust  treatment  accorded  to  him 
was  likely  to '  soon  make  an  end  of  him '  (  Cal. 
State  Papers,  Ireland,  1596-7,  pp.183-6). 

Until  April  1597  Norris,  who  remained  at 
Newry,  continued  his  negotiations  with  Ty- 
rone, in  the  absence,  he  complained,  of  any 
definite  instructions  from  Dublin;  but  the 
chieftain  had  no  intention  of  surrendering 
any  of  his  pretensions,  and  it  was  plain 
that  diplomacy  was  powerless  to  remove 
the  danger  that  sprang  from  his  predomi- 
nance. At  length  the  queen's  patience  was 
exhausted.  She  recognised  that  the  war 
must  be  resumed.  The  suggestion  that  both 
Russell  and  Norris  should  be  recalled  was 
practically  adopted.  Although  Burghley's 
confidence  in  Norris  was  not  wholly  dissi- 
pated, Thomas,  lord  Borough,  was  despatched 
in  May  to  fill  Russell's  place  as  lord-deputy, 
and  to  take  the  command  of  the  army.  The 
new  viceroy  belonged  to  Essex's  party  at  the 
English  court,  and  had  been  on  bad  terms 
with  Norris  in  Holland.  Norris,  although 
not  recalled,  was  effectually  humiliated,  and 
he  felt  the  degradation  keenly.  '  He  had,' 
he  declared,  'lost  more  blood  in  Her  Majesty's 
service  than  any  he  knew,  of  what  quality 
soever,' '  yet  was  he  trodden  to  the  ground 
with  bitter  disgrace  '  owing  to  '  a  mistaken 
information '  of  his  enemies.  But  he  met 
Borough  on  his  arrival  in  Dublin '  with  much 
counterfeit  kindness,'  and  no  rupture  took 
place  between  them.  In  June  he  retired  to 
Munster,  where  he  still  held  the  office  of 
president.  His  health  was  precarious;  no 
immediate  danger  threatened  his  province, 
and  he  asked  for  temporary  leave  in  order 
to  recruit  his  strength.  In  his  absence  the 
rebels  might  be  easily  kept  in  check,  he  said ; 
and,  he  added,  '  I  am  not  envious,  though 
others  shall  reap  the  fruits  of  my  travail — 
an  ordinary  fortune  of  mine.'  Before  any 
reply  was  sent  to  his  appeal  he  died,  on 
3  July,  in  the  arms  of  his  brother  Thomas, 
at  the  latter's  house  in  Mallow.  The  imme- 
diate cause  of  death  was  gangrene,  due  to 
unskilful  treatment  of  his  old  wounds,  but  a 
settled  melancholy  aggravated  his  ailments  ; 

v  Q 


Norris 


'32 


Norris 


and  it  was  generally  believed  that  he  died 
of  a  broken  heart,  owing  to  the  queen's  dis- 
regard of  his  twenty-six  years'  service.  His 
body  was  embalmed,  and  he  is  reported  to 
have  been  buried  in  Yattendon  Church, 
Berkshire,  but  there  is  no  entry  in  the  parish 
register.  His  father  is  said  to  have  given 
him  the  neighbouring  manor-house,  but  he 
had  had  little  leisure  to  spend  there.  A 
monument,  with  a  long  inscription  which 
very  incorrectly  describes  his  services,  still 
stands  in  the  church,  and  his  helmet  hangs 
above  it  (Newbury  and  its  Neighbourhood, 
1839,  p.  229).  His  effigy  also  appears  in  the 
Norris  monument  in  Westminster  Abbey. 
The  queen  sent  to  his  parents  a  stately  letter 
of  condolence  (  Cal.  State  Papers,  Dom.  1595- 
1597,  p.  502 ;  NICHOLS,  Progresses,  iii.  420). 
Popularly  he  was  regarded  as  one  of  the 
most  skilful  and  successful  military  officers 
of  the  day,  and  his  achievements  in  Holland 
and  Brittany  fully  supported  his  reputation. 
But  his  failure  in  Ireland  in  later  life  proved 
him  incapable  as  a  diplomatist,  and  prone  to 
dissipate  his  energy  in  futile  wrangling  with 
colleagues  whom  it  was  his  duty  to  conciliate. 
A  portrait  by  Zucchero  has  been  engraved 
by  J.  Fane. 

[Authorities  cited ;  Bagwell's  Ireland  under 
the  Tudors,  vols.  ii.  and  iii.  passim  ;  Cal.  of  State 
Papers,  Domestic  and  Ireland,  esp.  1595-7 ; 
Cal.  of  Carew  Papers ;  Bertie's  Life  of  Lord  Wil- 
loughby  in  Five  Generations  of  a  Noble  House; 
Birch's  Memoirs ;  Fuller's  Worthies  ;  Collins's 
Sydney  Papers ;  Motley's  Dutch  Kepublic  and 
United  Netherlands ;  Markham's  Fighting 
Veres ;  Edwards's  Life  of  Raleigh ;  Church- 
yard's Civil  Wars  in  the  Netherlands,  1602, 
which  includes  chapters  on  Norris's  services  in 
both  Brittany  and  Ireland.]  S.  L. 

NORRIS,  JOHN  (1657-1711),  divine, 
was  the  son  of  John  Norris,  incumbent  of 
Collingbourne-Kingston,  Wiltshire,  where 
the  son  was  born  in  1657.  The  elder  Norris 
afterwards  became  rector  of  Ashbourne,  Wilt- 
shire, and  died  on  16  March  1681.  A  tract 
written  by  him  against  conventicles  was  pub- 
lished by  the  son  in  1685.  The  younger  Norris 
was  educated  at  Winchester,  and  in  1676 
entered  Exeter  College,  Oxford.  He  gra- 
duated B.A.  on  16  June  1680.  A  dispute 
was  going  on  at  this  time  between  the  warden 
and  the  fellows  of  All  Souls',  the  fellows  re- 
fusing to  take  an  oath  which  would  prevent 
them  from  disposing  of  their  offices  for  money. 
The  warden  forbade  an  election,  and  the  ap- 
pointment thereupon  lapsed  to  the  visitor, 
Archbishop  Sancroft,  who  at  the  warden's 
suggestion  appointed  Norris  to  one  of  the 
vacant  places.  The  warden  described  him 
as  an  '  excellent  scholar,'  and  he  soon  became 


a  prolific    author.      His    earliest  writings 
(see  below)  show  that  he  was  already  of 
mystical  tendencies,  and  was  a  student  of 
Platonism.    In  1683-4  he  had  a  correspond- 
ence with  the  famous  Platonist,  Henry  More 
[q.v.],  upon  metaphysical  problems  (appended 
to  his  '  Theory  of  Love ').     A  sermon  on  the 
'  Root  of  Liberty,'  published  in  1685,  is  dedi- 
cated to  More,  with  whom  he  had  discussed 
the  theory  of  the  freedom  of  the  will  con- 
tained in  it.    Other  early  writings  show  that 
he  was  a  decided  churchman,  opposed  both 
to  whigs  and  nonconformists.     On  22  April 
1684  he  took  his  M.A.  degree,  and  was  soon 
afterwards  ordained.     In  1687  he  published 
his  most  popular  book,  the  '  Miscellanies.' 
It  includes  some  poems  characteristic  of  his 
religious  views,  one  of  which  ('  The  Parting ') 
contains  a  line  about  'angels'  visits,  short 
and  bright,'  afterwards  adopted  in  Blair's 
'  Grave '  and  Campbell's  '  Pleasures  of  Hope.' 
In  1689  he  accepted  the  living  of  Newton  St. 
Loe,  Somerset,  and  married.    In  the  follow- 
ing year  he  published  his  '  Christian  Blessed- 
ness,' the  appendix   to  which  contains  his 
criticism   upon  Locke's   recently  published 
'  Essay.'     In  1692  he  became  rector  of  Be- 
merton,  near  Salisbury — the  former  home 
of  George  Herbert.     The   income,  we   are 
told,  was  200/.  or  300/.  a  year,  and  welcome 
to  a  man  with  a  growing  family.     He  saysr 
however,  himself  in  1707  that  his  clear  income 
was  little  more  than  70/.  a  year,  and  that 
the  world  ran  '  strait  and  hard  with  him.' 
He  remarks  also  that  he  had  no  chance  of 
preferment  in  the  diocese,  of  which  Burnet 
was  then  bishop  (AUBREY,  Letters,  &c.,  1813, 
pp.  156-8,  and  see  anecdote  in  NICHOLS'S  Lit. 
Anecd.  i.  640).      Some   of  his  books  were 
popular,  and  went  through  many  editions, 
but  apparently  brought  him  little  profit.   Ac- 
cording to  John  Dunton  [q.  v.]  he  supplied 
many  hints  to  the  '  Athenian  Gazette,'  and 
would  take  no  reward,  though  his  strong 
memory  and  wide  reading  made  him  very 
useful.     His  theories  led  him  into  various 
controversies.     He  attacked  the  quakers  for 
what  he  held  to  be  their  'gross  notion'  of 
the  inner  light  as  compared  with  his  phi- 
losophy, and  he  replied  to  Toland's  attack 
upon  Christian  mysteries.    He  corresponded 
with  the  learned  ladies,  Mary  Astell  and 
Locke's  friend,  Lady  Masham,  with  the  last 
of  whom  he  had  a  controversy  upon  the  ex- 
clusive love  of  God.     He  then  devoted  his 
time  to  his  chief  performance,  the  '  Essay 
towards  the  Theory  of  an  Ideal  and  Intelli- 
gible World,'  which  appeared  in  two  parts 
in  1701  and  1704.     Norris  was  a  disciple  of 
Malebranche,  and  expounds  his  master's  doc- 
trine of  the  vision  of  all  things  in  God,  in 


Norris 


133 


Norris 


opposition  to  the  philosophy  of  Locke.  He 
is  interesting  as  the  last  offshoot  from  the 
school  of  Cambridge  Platonists,  except  so 
far  as  the  same  tendency  is  represented  by 
Shaftesbury.  His  Platonism  was  radically 
opposed  to  the  methods  which  became  domi- 
nant in  Locke's  exposition,  and  Locke  made 
some  remarks,  first  published  in  the  '  Collec- 
tion' of  1720,  upon  Norris's  earlier  criticisms 
(LOCKE,  Works,  1824,  ix.  247-58).  Locke 
and  Molyneux  refer  rather  contemptuously 
to  Norris,  '  an  obscure,  enthusiastic  man,'  in 
their  correspondence  (ib.  viii.  400,  404 ;  see 
also  Locke's  '  Examination  of  Malebranche,' 
ib.  pp.  211-55).  Norris,  though  an  able  writer, 
is  chiefly  valuable  as  a  solitary  representative 
of  Malebranche's  theories  in  England. 

In  other  respects  he  seems  to  have  been 
a  very  amiable  and  pious  man,  with  much 
enthusiasm,  whether  in  the  good  or  the  bad 
sense,  and  of  pure  and  affectionate  character. 
He  published  one  or  two  other  works  of  a 
practical  and  devotional  kind,  and  died  at 
Bemerton  in  1711.  He  is  commemorated  by 
a  marble  tablet,  bearing  the  words  '  Bene 
latuit,'  on  the  south  side  of  Bemerton 
Church.  He  left  a  widow,  two  sons,  both 
afterwards  clergymen,  and  a  daughter,  who 
married  Bowyer,  vicar  of  Martock,  Somer- 
set. A  bust  was  placed  in  the  library,  built 
by  the  bequest  of  Christopher  Codrington 
[q.  v.],  at  All  Souls. 

Norris's  works  are :  1.  '  The  Picture  of 
Love  unveiled,'  1682  (translated  from  the 
Latin  of  Robert  Waring's  '  Effigies  Amoris'). 
2.  '  Hierocles  upon  the  Golden  Verses  of  the 
Pythagoreans'  (translation),  1682.  3.  'An 
Idea  of  Happiness,  in  a  Letter  to  a  Friend,' 
1683  (reprinted  in  'Miscellanies').  4.  'A 
Murnival  of  Knaves,  or  Whiggism  planely 
displayed  and  laughed  out  of  Countenance,' 
1683  (refers  to  Rye  House  plot).  5.  'Tractatus 
adversus  Reprobationis  absolutse  Decretum 
...  in  duos  libros  digestus,'  1683  (includes 
a  declamation  in  the  schools).  6.  '  Poems 
and  Discourses  occasionally  written,'  1684 
(reprinted  in  the  '  Miscellanies  of  the  Ful- 
ler Worthies  Library  '  edited  by  Dr.  Grosart 
in  1871).  7.  '  The  Root  of  Liberty,'  1685 
(a  sermon  dedicated  to  H.  More).  8.  '  Pas- 
toral Poem  on  Death  of  Charles  II,' 
1685  (reprinted  in  'Miscellanies').  9.  'A 
Collection  of  Miscellanies,  consisting  of 
Poems,  Essays,  Discourses,  and  Letters,' 
1687  (5th  edit.,  revised  by  author  in  1705). 
10.  '  The  Theory  and  Regulation  of  Love,  a 
Moral  Essay,  to  which  are  added  Letters  Phi- 
losophical and  Moral  between  the  Author 
and  Dr.  Henry  More,'  1688.  11.  '  Reason 
and  Religion,  or  the  Grounds  and  Measures  of 
Devotion ...  in  several  Contemplations,  with 


Exercises  of  Devotion  applied  to  every  Con- 
templation,' 1689.  12.  '  Christian  Blessed- 
ness, or  Discourses  upon  the  Beatitudes,  to 
which  is  added  Reflections  upon  a  late 
[Locke's]  Essay  concerning  the  Human  Un- 
derstanding,' 1690.  To  a  second  edition, 

1692,  is  added  a  reply  to  some  remarks  by 
the  'Athenian   Society.'     13.  'Reflections 
upon  the  Conduct  of  Human  Life,  with  re- 
ference to  the  Study  of  Learning  and  Know- 
ledge, in  a  Letter  to  an  excellent  Lady' 
[Masham],  1690.  [Lady  Masham's  name  given 
in  the  2nd  edit.  1691.]     14.  '  The  Charge  of 
Schism  continued,  being  a  Justification  of  the 
Author  of  "  Christian  Blessedness  " '  (in  wh  ich 
nonconformists  were  accused  of  schism),  1691. 
15.  '  Practical  Discourses  on  several  Divine 
Subjects,'  first  vol.  1691,  second,  1692,  third, 

1693.  In  1707  these  appeared  with  'Christian 
Blessedness,'  now  entitled  'Practical  Dis- 
courses on  the  Beatitudes,'  and  forming  the 
first  of  the  four  volumes.    16.  '  Two  Treatises 
concerning  the  Divine  Light ;   the  first  an 
Answer  to  a  Letter  of  a  learned  Quaker 
[Vickriss] .  .  .  the  second  a  Discourse  con- 
cerning the  Grossness  of  the  Quakers'  notion 
of  the  Light  within .  .  .1692'  [refers  to  an 
attack  upon  the  '  Reflections '].  17. '  Spiritual 
Counsel,  or  the  Father's  Advice  to  his  Chil- 
dren,' 1694.      18.  '  Letters  concerning  the 
Love  of  God,  between  the  author  of  the  "  Pro- 
posal to  the  Ladies"  [Mary  Astell,  q.  v.]  and 
Mr.  John  Norris,  wherein  his  late  Discourse 
(i.e.  in  "  Practical  Discourses  "),  showing  that 
it  ought  to  be  entire  and  exclusive  of  all 
other  loves,  is  further  cleared  and  justified,' 
1695  (replies  to  criticisms  by  Lady  Masham 
and   others  printed  in  appendix  to   fourth 
volume  of  '  Practical  Discourses '  in  later  edi- 
tions). 19.  'An  Account  of  Reason  and  Faith 
in  relation  to  the  Mysteries  of  Christianity,' 
1697,  13th  edit,  in  1728,  and  14th  in  1790 
(in  answer  to  Toland's '  Christianity  not  Mys- 
terious').   20.  '  Essay  towards  the  Theory  of 
the  Ideal  and  Intelligible  World,  design'd 
for  two  parts.     The  first  considering  it  in 
itself  absolutely,  and  the  second  in  relation 
to  the  human  understanding,  part  i.  1701. 
The  Second  Part,  being  the  relative  part  of 
it,  wherein  the   intelligible  World  is  con- 
sidered in  relation  to  the  Human  Understand- 
ing...  .'  1704.     21.  'A  Practical  Treatise 
concerning  Humility.  .  .'1707.  22.  'A Phi- 
losophical Discourse  concerning  the  Natural 
Immortality  of  the  Soul .  .  .  .'  1708,  in  an- 
swer to  Henry  Dodwell  the  elder  [q.  v.],  who 
replied  in '  The  Natural  Mortality  of  the  Hu- 
man Soul  clearly  demonstrated,'  &c.    23.  '  A 
Treatise  concerning  Christian  Prudence  . .  .' 
1710.      He  translated  Xenophon's   '  Cyro- 
paedia'  in  1685  with  Francis  Digby. 


Norris 


134 


Norris 


[Wood's  Athenae  (Bliss),  iv.  583-6 ;  Biogr.  Bri- 
tannia ;  Burrows's  All  Souls,  p.  267  ;  Boase's 
Kegister  of  Exeter  Coll.  p.  213  ;  Hearn's  Col- 
lections (Doble),  ii.  62,  104,  iii.  455;  Nichols's 
Lit.  Anecd.  i.  137,  6-10 ;  Julian's  Dictionary  of- 
Hymnology ;  Pyladesand  Corinna,  1732,  ii.  199- 
216,  gives  some  letters  from  Norris  to  Mrs. 
Thomas.]  L.  S. 

NORRIS,  SIR  JOHN  (1660  P-1749),  ad- 
miral of  the  fleet,  was  apparently  the  third 
son  of  Thomas  Norris  of  Speke,  Lancashire, 
and  his  wife,  Katherine,  daughter  of  Sir 
Henry  Garraway  [q.  v.]  His  arms  were 
those  of  the  Speke  family.  His  brother,  Sir 
William  Norris  (1657  P-1702),  is  separately 
noticed.  John  was  probably  born  about  1660 
(BAINES,  County  of  Lancaster,  iii.  754 ;  LE 
NEVE,  Knights,  p.  491).  His  first  promotion 
is  said  by  Charnock  to  have  been  slow :  but 
whatever  his  early  service,  which  cannot  now 
be  traced,  he  was  in  August  1689  lieutenant 
of  the  Edgar,  with  Captain  Sir  Clowdisley 
Shovell  [q.  v.]  Early  in  1690  he  followed 
Shovell  to  the  Monck,  which  was  employed 
on  the  coast  of  Ireland,  and  did  not  join  the 
fleet  till  towards  the  end  of  the  year.  It 
was  possibly  for  service  under  the  immediate 
eye  of  the  king,  but  certainly  not  '  for  very 
meritorious  behaviour  at  the  battle  of  Beachy 
Head,'  that  on  8  July  1690  Norris  was  pro- 
moted to  the  command  of  the  Pelican  fire- 
ship.  In  December  1691  he  was  moved  to 
the  Spy  fireship,  in  which  he  was  present  at 
the  battle  of  Barfleur  and  the  subsequent 
operations  in  the  Bay  of  La  Hogue  [see 
RIJSSELL,  EDWARD,  EARL  OF  ORFORD],  though 
without  any  active  share  in  them.  On 
13  Jan.  1692-3  he  was  posted  to  the  Sheer- 
ness  frigate,  attached  to  the  squadron  under 
Rooke,  and  present  with  it  in  the  disastrous 
loss  of  the  convoy  off  Lagos  in  June  1693 
[see  ROOKE,  SIR  GEORGE].  Norris's  activity 
in  collecting  the  scattered  remains  of  the 
convoy  was  rewarded  in  September  with  ad- 
vancement to  the  command  of  the  Royal  Oak. 
After  a  couple  of  months  he  was  appointed 
to  the  Sussex,  and  then  to  the  Russell,  in 
which  he  went  out  with  Admiral  Russell  to 
the  Mediterranean.  In  December  1694  he 
was  moved  to  the  Carlisle,  one  of  the  squa- 
dron under  James  Killigrew[q.  v.],  which  on 
18  Jan.  1694-5  captured  the  French  ships 
Content  and  Trident.  Russell  afterwards 
assigned  much  of  the  credit  to  Norris,  and 
appointed  him  to  command  the  Content, 
added  to  the  navy  as  a  70-gun  ship. 

Early  in  1697  Norris  was  sent  with  a 
small  squadron  to  recover  the  settlements  in 
Hudson's  Bay  which  had  been  seized  by  the 
French.  At  St.  John's,  Newfoundland,  how- 
ever, on  23  July,  he  had  intelligence  of  a 


French  squadron,  reported  to  be  sent  out  to 
reduce  St.  John's.  A  council  of  war,  said  to 
have  consisted  mainly  of  land  officers,  de- 
cided to  act  on  the  defensive.  Norris,  it  is 
said,  had  further  intelligence  that  the  French 
ships  were  the  squadron  of  M.  de  Pointis 
[see  NEVELL,  JOHN]  escaping  from  the  West 
Indies  with  the  plunder  of  Cartagena ;  but 
the  council  of  war  declined  to  depart  from 
their  defensive  attitude.  In  October  Norris 
returned  to  England,  where  the  inaction  of 
his  squadron  was  made  the  subject  of  popular 
outcry  and  parliamentary  inquiry.  Norris, 
however,  was  held  guiltless,  though  his  ex- 
culpation was  generally  attributed  to  the 
influence  of  Russell,  the  first  lord  of  the 
admiralty,  and  suspicions  of  corruption  and 
faction,  if  not  treachery,  in  the  conduct  of  the 
navy  were  widely  expressed  (BURNET,  Hist, 
of  his  Own  Time,  Oxford  edit.  iv.  348).  That 
Norris  was  backed  up  by  strong  interest 
seems  certain.  He  was  appointed  to  the 
Winchester,  which  he  commanded  during 
the  peace,  and  in  1702  to  the  Orford,  one  of 
the  fleet  under  Rooke  in  the  unsuccessful 
attempt  on  Cadiz.  During  this  time,  22  Aug., 
Norris  had  a  violent  quarrel  with  Ley,  the 
first  captain  of  the  Royal  Sovereign,  Rooke 's 
flagship,  beat  him,  threw  him  over  a  gun, 
and  drew  his  sword  on  him  on  the  Royal 
Sovereign's  quarter-deck.  For  this  he  was 
put  under  arrest,  but,  by  the  good  offices  of 
the  Duke  of  Ormonde,  was  allowed  to  apolo- 
gise and  return  to  his  duty  on  30  Aug.  The 
affair  passed  over  without  further  notice,  and 
Ley  died  very  shortly  afterwards  (HooTce's 
Journal). 

Still  in  the  Orford,  Norris  was  in  the 
Mediterranean  with  Shovell  in  1703,  and  in 
1704  was  one  of  Shovell's  seconds  in  the 
battle  of  Malaga.  In  1705  he  was  taken  by 
Shovell  as  first  captain  of  the  Britannia, 
carry  ing  the  flag  of  the  joint  commanders-in- 
chief,  Shovell  and  Charles  Mordaunt,  third 
earl  of  Peterborough  [q.  v.]  In  this  capacity 
he  assisted  in  the  capture  of  Barcelona,  and 
was  afterwards  sent  home  with  the  des- 
patches, when  he  received  a  present  of  a 
thousand  guineas,  and  was  knighted  on 
5  Nov.  (LE  NEVE,  Knights,  p.  491).  But 
Peterborough,  who  wrote  of  him  as  '  a  go- 
verning coxcomb,'  had  conceived  a  strong 
dislike  to  him  (Letters  to  General  Stanhope, 
p.  6).  Probably  on  that  account  he  was  not 
employed  during  the  following  year. 

On  10  March  1706-7  Norris  was  promoted 
to  be  rear-admiral  of  the  blue,  and,  with  his 
flag  on  board  the  Torbay,  accompanied 
Shovell  to  the  Mediterranean.  In  command 
of  a  detached  squadron  he  forced  the  passage 
of  the  Var,  and  afterwards  took  a  prominent 


Norris 


135 


Norris 


part  in  the  operations  before  Toulon.  He 
returned  to  England  in  October,  narrowly 
escaping  the  fate  of  the  commander-in-chief, 
the  error  in  navigation,  due  to  the  unwonted 
strength  of  Kennel's  current,  having  been 
common  to  the  whole  fleet  [see  SHOVELL,  SIR 
CLOWDISLEY].  On  26  Jan.  1707-8  Norris  was 
promoted  to  be  vice-admiral  of  the  white, 
and  again  went  to  the  Mediterranean,  with 
his  flag  in  the  Ranelagh,  commanding  in  the 
second  post  under  Sir  John  Leake  [q.  v.J  In 
the  same  year  he  entered  parliament  as  mem- 
ber for  Rye,  for  which  he  sat  until  1722, 
when  he  was  elected  for  Portsmouth.  For 
Portsmouth  he  was  again  returned  in  1727, 
and  for  Rye  in  1734 ;  he  represented  the 
latter  constituency  until  his  death  (Official 
Returns).  In  1709  he  commanded  a  small 
squadron  sent  to  stop  the  French  supply 
of  corn  from  the  Baltic.  He  lay  for  some 
time  offElsinore,  and  stopped  several  Swedish 
ships  laden  with  corn,  nominally  for  Holland 
or  Portugal.  Against  this  line  of  conduct 
the  Danish  government  protested,  and  the 
governor  of  Elsinore  acquainted  him  that 
'  if  he  continued  to  stop  ships  from  passing 
the  Sound,  he  should  be  obliged  to  force  him 
to  desist.'  In  July  a  Dutch  squadron  arrived 
to  convoy  the  ships  for  Holland,  and  Norris, 
conceiving  that  the  object  of  his  coming 
there  had  been  secured,  returned  to  Eng- 
land (BTTRCHETT,  pp.  726-7). 

On  19  Nov.  he  was  promoted  to  be  ad- 
miral of  the  blue,  and  early  in  1710  went 
out  to  the  Mediterranean  as  commander-in- 
chief.  This  office  he  held  till  October  1711, 
blockading  the  French  coast  and  assisting  the 
military  operations  in  Spain,  in  acknowledg- 
ment of  which  services  the  Archduke  Charles, 
the  titular  king  of  Spain,  on  19  July  1711 
conferred  on  him  the  title  of  duke, '  to  be 
reserved  and  kept  secret  until  he  should  think 
it  proper  to  solicit  the  despatches  for  it  in 
due  form,'  and  also  an  annual  pension  of  four 
thousand  ducats  for  ever,  placed  upon  the 
produce  of  the  confiscated  estates  in  the  king- 
dom of  Naples  (Home  Office,  Admiralty, 
vol.  42).  No  further  action  seems  to  have 
been  taken  in  the  matter  of  the  title,  and  it 
does  not  appear  that  the  pension  was  ever 
paid. 

In  May  1715  Norris,  with  a  strong  fleet, 
was  sent  to  the  Baltic,  nominally  to  protect 
the  trade,  but  in  reality  to  give  effect  to  the 
treaty  with  Denmark,  and  force  the  king  of 
Sweden  to  cede  Bremen  and  Verden  to  the 
Elector  of  Hanover  (STANHOPE,  Hist,  of 
England,  Cabinet  edit.  i.  225).  The  only 
effect  was  to  induce  Charles  XII  to  intrigue 
with  the  English  Jacobites,  and  to  stay  such 
English  merchant  ships  as  came  within  his 


reach.  The  approach  of  winter  forced  Norris 
to  return  to  England,  but  in  the  summer  of 
1716  he  was  back  at  Copenhagen,  and  a  com- 
bined fleet  of  English,  Russian,  and  Danish 
ships,  under  the  nominal  command  of  the 
tsar  in  person,  Norris  acting  as  vice-admiral, 
made  a  demonstration  in  the  Baltic,  but 
without  meeting  an  enemy  or  attempting  a 
territorial  attack.  In  1717  Sir  George  Byng 
took  command  of  the  fleet  in  the  Baltic, 
while  Norris  was  sent  on  a  special  mission 
to  St.  Petersburg  as  'envoy  extraordinary 
and  minister  plenipotentiary.'  In  March 
1718  he  was  appointed  one  of  the  lords  of 
the  admiralty,  a  post  he  held  till  May  1730 ; 
but  in  the  summer  of  1718  he  was  again  sent 
to  the  Baltic,  always  with  the  object  of 
exerting  pressure  on  Sweden. 

But  after  the  death  of  Charles  XII  Norris 
was  in  1719  again  sent  to  the  Baltic  as  an 
intimation  to  the  tsar  that  he  could  not 
be  permitted  to  crush  the  independence  of 
Sweden.  It  was  probably  thought  that 
Norris,  being  personally  known  to  and  es- 
teemed by  the  tsar,  was  a  peculiarly  fit 
person  to  command  the  fleet  under  the  diffi- 
cult circumstances,  and  that  he  might  be 
better  able  to  mediate  between  the  belli- 
gerents. For  the  greater  part  of  the  season 
he  remained  at  Copenhagen,  and  during  the 
time  his  correspondence  was  that  of  a  diplo- 
matist rather  than  of  an  admiral.  In  August, 
however,  he  went  further  into  the  Baltic, 
and  made  an  armed  demonstration  in  con- 
junction with  the  Swedish  fleet.  In  1720 
he  arrived  off  Stockholm  by  the  middle  of 
May,  having  a  commission  to  mediate  a 
peace.  In  June  he  anchored  off  Revel,  but 
as  Peter  refused  his  letters,  as  the  place  could 
not  be  attacked  by  the  fleet  alone,  and  as 
the  Swedes  were  not  prepared  to  throw  an 
army  on  shore,  he  returned  to  Stockholm, 
where  he  continued  till  the  end  of  October. 
It  was  not  till  the  22nd— which  by  the  re- 
vised calendar  was  2  Nov. — that  he  sailed 
from  Elfsnabben,  arriving  at  Copenhagen  on 
the  30th.  The  course  of  service  in  1721  was 
much  the  same,  but  led  to  better  results. 
The  tsar,  convinced  that  he  would  not  be 
permitted  to  destroy  Sweden,  consented  to 
make  peace,  and  by  20  Sept.  Norris  was  able 
to  represent  to  the  Swedish  government  that, 
as  the  treaty  was  virtually  concluded  and  the 
Russian  ships  were  laid  up,  he  proposed  to 
sail  at  once  (Horns  Office,  Admiralty,  vols. 
50  and  51).  In  1726,  when  the  attitude  of 
Russia  seemed  again  threatening  to  the  peace 
of  the  north,  she  was  overawed  by  the  pre- 
sence of  a  fleet  under  Sir  Charles  Wager 
[q.  v.],  and  in  1727  Norris  again  took  the 
command.  It  was  known  that  Russia  was 


N  orris 


136 


Norris 


a  party  to  the  treaty  of  Vienna,  and  might 
be  expected  to  aid  Spain  by  supporting  the 
Jacobites  ;  but  '  a  strong  resolution  rendered 
unnecessary  strong  measures,'  and  the  mere 
sight  of  the  English  fleets  induced  a  more 
pacific  temper  (STANHOPE,  ii.  8.1,  103). 

On  20  Feb.  1733-4  Norris  was  promoted 
to  be  admiral  and  commander-in-chief,  and 
during  the  summer  commanded  the  large 
fleet  which  was  mustered  in  the  Downs,  or 
at  Spithead,  with  the  union  flag  at  the  main. 
The  next  year  the  fleet  visited  Lisbon  as  a  sup- 
port to  the  Portuguese  against  the  Spaniards. 
In  1739  and  the  following  years  Norris  com- 
manded the  fleet  in  the  Channel.  Public 
opinion  was  very  indignant  that  nothing  was 
done  ;  but,  as  the  Spaniards  had  no  western 
fleet  at  sea,  there  was  no  opportunity  of 
achieving  or  even  attempting  anything. 
Early  in  1744  it  was  known  that  the  French 
were  going  to  become  parties  in  the  war. 
An  army  of  invasion,  with  a  flotilla  of  small 
craft,  was  assembled  at  Dunkirk,  and  this 
was  to  be  supported  by  the  fleet  from  Brest, 
under  the  command  of  M.  de  Roquefeuil, 
which  actually  put  to  sea  on  26  Jan.  1743-4. 
On  2  Feb.  Norris  was  ordered  to  go  at  once 
to  Portsmouth,  and,  in  command  of  the 
ships  at  Spithead,  to  take  the  most  effective 
measures  to  oppose  the  French.  Afterwards 
some  ships,  reported  as  French  men-of-war, 
were  seen  at  the  back  of  the  Goodwin  Sands, 
and  Norris  was  ordered  to  come  round  to 
the  Downs.  He  insisted  that  these  ships 
had  nothing  to  do  with  the  Brest  fleet,  which 
was  certainly  to  the  westward,  but  the  order, 
repeated  on  14  Feb.,  was  positive.  On  the 
18th  he  had  intelligence  that  the  French 
fleet  had  been  seen  off  the  Isle  of  Wight : 
and  on  the  19th  he  wrote  that  the  Dunkirk 
transports  ought  to  be  destroyed  as  soon  as 
the  weather  moderated,  and  then  he  would 
go  to  look  for  the  Brest  fleet.  '  If  we  re- 
main without  attempting  anything  we  leave 
the  French  at  liberty  to  do  what  they  please 
in  the  Channel,  and  perhaps  an  invasion  may 
be  carried  on  from  La  Hogue,  as  was  in- 
tended before  my  Lord  Orford's  battle  there ' 
(Norris  to  Newcastle,  19  Feb.,  Home  Office, 
Admiralty,  vol.  84).  But  he  was  sorely 
afraid  that  his  force  was  insufficient.  '  Had 
I  been  believed,'  he  wrote,  '  in  what  I  repre- 
sented last  spring,  we  had  been  now  in  a 
condition  to  have  driven  the  Brest  ships  out 
of  the  Channel,  and  at  the  same  time  been 
covered  from  any  insult  or  attempt  from 
Dunkirk ;  but  I  was  treated  then  as  an  old 
man  that  dreamed  dreams'  (ib.  13  Feb.) 
Thus  the  fleet  was  still  in  the  Downs  when, 
on  24  Feb.,  Norris  had  news  of  the  near  ap- 
proach of  the  French.  On  that  afternoon 


they  had  come  to  off  Dungeness,  to  wait  for 
the  tide,  and  Avere  disagreeably  surprised  to 
find  themselves  met  by  a  very  superior  Eng- 
lish force  tiding  round  the  South  Foreland 
against  a  south-westerly  wind.  When  the 
tide  turned  the  English  anchored  about  eight 
miles  from  the  French.  The  night  set  in  wild 
and  dark.  At  eight  o'clock  the  wind  flew 
round  to  the  north  and  north-east,  and  blew 
a  fierce  gale,  which  increased  in  strength  till, 
about  one  o'clock  in  the  morning,  the  storm 
broke  out  with  excessive  violence.  Most  of 
the  English  ships  parted  their  cables  and 
were  driven  out  to  sea ;  but  the  French  ships, 
which  had  shortened  in,  parted  their  cables 
at  the  first  of  the  gale,  about  nine  o'clock, 
and,  leaving  their  anchors,  went  away  be- 
fore the  wind  unperceived  and  unfollowed. 
Three  days  later  Norris  wrote  to  the  Duke  of 
Newcastle :  '  If  they  can  escape  out  of  our 
Channel,  I  believe  they  will  have  so  great 
a  sense  of  their  deliverance  as  not  to  venture 
again  into  it  at  this  season  of  the  year '  (26, 
28  Feb.  Home  Office,  Admiralty,  vol.  84). 

The  same  storm  that  drove  the  French  ships 
out  of  the  Channel  destroyed  the  transports 
at  Dunkirk,  and  the  admiralty,  seeing  that 
the  danger  at  home  was  past,  ordered  several 
ships  from  the  Channel  to  reinforce  Thomas 
Mathews  [q.  v.]  in  the  Mediterranean.  Norris 
was  very  angry  ;  on  18  March  he  requested 
permission  to  resign  the  command,  and  on 
the  22nd  wrote  that  his  retirement  was 
as  necessary  for  the  king's  service  under 
the  present  management  of  the  admiralty  as 
for  his  own  reputation  and  safety  (ib.  Norris 
to  Newcastle).  His  resignation  was  accepted, 
and  he  retired  from  active  service.  He  had 
long  been  known  in  the  navy  as  'Foul- 
weather  Jack.'  He  died  on  19  July  1749. 
He  had  married  Elizabeth,  elder  daughter 
of  Matthew,  first  lord  Aylmer,  and  by  her 
had  issue  a  daughter  and  two  sons,  the  elder 
of  whom,  Richard,  a  captain  in  the  navy, 
was  cashiered  for  misconduct  in  the  action 
of  11  Feb.  1743-4;  the  younger,  Harry, 
served  with  some  distinction,  and  died  a 
vice-admiral  in  1764. 

A  portrait  by  George  Knapton  is  at  the  ad- 
miralty. There  is  a  mezzotint  by  T.  Burford. 

[Charnock's  Biogr.  Nav.  iii.  341 ;  Burchett's 
Transactions  at  Sea  ;  Lediard's  Naval  History  ; 
Beatson's  Nav.  aud  Mil.  Memoirs ;  Official 
Papers  in  the  Public  Eecord  Office.  Cf.  also 
Stanhope's  and  Lecky's  Histories  of  England; 
Torrens's  Hist,  of  Cabinets ;  Coxe's  Memoirs  of 
Sir  R.  Walpole  ;  Walpole's  Letters,  ed.  Cunning- 
ham; Gent.  Mag.  1749,  p.  284;  Official  Returns 
of  Members  of  Parl. ;  Norris's  MSS.  in  Brit.  Mus., 
esp.  Add.  28126-57,  logs,  journals,  and  letter- 
books,  of  little  biographical  value.]  J.  K.  L. 


Norris 


137 


Norris 


NORRIS,  JOHN  (1734-1777),  founder 
of  the  Norrisian  professorship  at  Cambridge, 
born  in  1734,  was  the  only  son  of  John  Norris, 
(d.  1761),  lord  of  the  manor  of  Witton  in 
Norfolk,  by  his  wife,  a  Suffolk  lady  named 
Carthew.  He  was  educated  at  Eton  and  at 
Caius  College,  Cambridge,  where  he  gradu- 
ated B.A.  in  1760  (Graduati  Cantabr.)  He 
was  member's  prizeman  in  1761.  On  leaving 
the  university  he  settled  at  Great  Witching- 
ham,  Norfolk,  and  built  a  house  which  he 
partly  pulled  down  on  the  death  of  his  first 
wife  in  1769.  Coming  to  live  at  Witton,  he 
began  in  1770  to  build  Witton  House  and 
to  lay  out  grounds.  About  1773  Richard 
Person  [q.  v.],  who  lived  in  the  neighbour- 
ing village  of  East  Ruston,  was  brought  to 
his  notice  by  the  Rev.  C.  Hewitt.  Norris 
caused  Person  to  be  examined,  and,  on  a 
favourable  report,  raised,  and  contributed 
largely  to,  a  fund  for  sending  him  to  school. 
By  this  means  Porson  went  to  Eton  (J.  S. 
WATSON,  Life  of  Porson).  Norris  died  of 
fever  on  5  Jan.  1777  (Gent.  Mag.  1777, 

L47)  at  his  house  in  Upper  Brook  Street, 
ndon.  He  was  fond  of  inquiring  into 
religious  subjects.  He  is  described  as  being 
of  a  gloomy  and  reserved  disposition,  and 
it  is  said  (Europ.  Mag.  1784,  p.  334)  that 
though  he  was  '  respected  by  all,  there  were 
few  who  were  easy  and  cheerful  in  his  so- 
ciety.' 

Norris  married  first,  in  1758,  Elizabeth, 
only  daughter  of  John  Playters  of  Yelverton. 
She  died  1  Dec.  1769,  leaving  one  son,  who 
died  in  infancy,  and  Norris  erected  a  monu- 
ment to  her  with  an  eccentric  epitaph  in 
St.  Margaret's  Church,  Witton  (Notes  and 
Queries,  2nd  ser.  viii.  286).  Secondly,  on 
12  May  1773,  he  married  Charlotte,  fourth 
daughter  of  Edward  Townshend,  D.D.,  dean 
of  Norwich,  and  by  her  had  one  daugh- 
ter, Charlotte  Laura,  who  married,  17  Nov. 
1796,  Colonel  John  Wodehouse,  afterwards 
second  baron  Wodehouse.  By  his  will,  dated 
26  June  1770,  Norris  charged  the  Abbey 
Farm,  in  the  parish  of  Bacton,  Norfolk,  with 
an  annuity  of  120/.  for  the  foundation  of  a 
professorship  of  divinity  at  Cambridge,  and 
of  an  annual  prize  of  1 21.  in  money  and  books 
for  an  essay  on  a  sacred  subject,  and  also  for 
providing  a  sermon  at  Great  St.  Mary's  every 
Good  Friday.  The  1051.  annually  assigned 
to  the  professorship  has  since  been  aug- 
mented from  other  sources,  and  the  prize  is 
(by  statute  of  6  April  1858)  now  awarded 
every  five  years.  The  first  'Norrisian  '  pro- 
fessor was  appointed  in  1780,  and  the  '  Nor- 
risian Prize '  was  first  awarded  in  the  same 
year.  Norris  also  left  10/.  per  annum  to 
the  vicar  of  Witton  for  the  performance  of 


service  on  every  Sunday  during  Lent,  and 
endowed  two  schools  for  twelve  children 
each  at  Witton  and  Witchingham.  Norris's 
estate  of  nearly  4,000/.  per  annum  descended 
to  his  daughter. 

[European  Mag.  May  1 784,  pp.  333-4 ;  Cooper's 
Annals  of  Cambridge,  anno  1777;  Bloraefield's 
Norfolk;  Norfolk  Tour,  i.  237-9,  ii.  966;  Cam- 
bridge University  Calendar  ;  Potts's  Cambridge 
Scholarships.]  W.  W. 

NORRIS,  JOHN  PILKINGTON  (1823- 
1891),  divine,  born  at  Chester  on  10  June 
1823,  was  the  son  of  Thomas  Norris,  physician 
of  Chester.  Educated  first  at  Rugby  under 
Arnold,  he  proceeded  to  Cambridge,  where 
he  gained  an  open  scholarship  at  Trinity  Col- 
lege. He  came  out  in  the  middle  of  the  first 
class  of  the  classical  tripos  in  1846,  and  in 
the  same  year  graduated  B.A.  He  became 
M.A.  in  1849,  B.D.  in  1875,  and  D.D.  in 
1 88 1 .  N  orris  obtained  a  fellowship  at  Trinity 
in  1848,  and  in  the  same  year  carried  off  one 
of  the  members'  prizes  for  the  Latin  essay. 
He  was  ordained  deacon  by  the  Bishop  of  Ely 
in  1849,  and  priest  in  the  following  year.  In 
1849  he  accepted  one  of  the  newly  created 
inspectorships  of  schools.  The  high  tradi- 
tions of  that  office  owe  much  to  the  spirit  in 
which  Norris  and  others  entered  upon  the 
work.  His  own  district  comprised  Stafford- 
shire, Shropshire,  and  Cheshire.  His  enthu- 
siasm was  unbounded ;  his  thoroughness  and 
mastery  of  detail  so  great  that  he  was  said, 
by  a  pardonable  exaggeration,  to  know  not 
merely  all  the  teachers,  but  all  the  children 
who  came  under  his  eye.  The  work  began, 
however,  to  tell  upon  him,  and  in  1863  he 
removed  to  a  smaller  district  in  Kent  and 
Surrey.  But,  finding  himself  unequal  to  this, 
he  in  1864  resigned  his  inspectorship,  and 
became  curate-in-charge  of  Lewknor,  a  small 
Oxfordshire  parish.  In  1864  he  was  ap- 
pointed a  canon  of  Bristol,  and  incumbent 
of  Hatchford,  Surrey,  where  he  remained 
until  1870.  In  that  year  there  fell  vacant 
the  vicarage  of  St.  George,  Brandon  Hill, 
Bristol.  The  parish  was  large,  the  people 
poor,  the  income  small.  The  dean  and  chan- 
ter were  the  patrons,  and  Norris  felt  it  his 
duty  to  take  the  parish  himself.  He  there- 
fore moved  permanently  to  Bristol.  His 
own  church  and  people  were  admirably  cared 
for,  and  he  also  threw  himself  zealously  into 
diocesan  work.  In  1876  he  became  rural 
dean  of  Bristol,  and  in  1877  vicar  of  the  his- 
toric church  of  St.  Mary  Redcliffe.  In  1881 
the  bishop  made  him  archdeacon  of  Bristol,  a 
post  which  led  in  the  following  year  to  the 
resignation  of  his  incumbency. 

Norris  filled  other  positions  with  unvary- 


Norris 


138 


Norris 


ing  success.  He  was  a  friend  and  confidential 
correspondent  of  Bishop  Fraser  of  Manchester, 
whose  examining  chaplain  he  was  from  1870 
to  1885.  He  was  inspector  of  church  train- 
ing colleges  from  1871  to  1876.  He  was  a 
member  of  convocation,  as  proctor  for  the 
chapter  of  Bristol,  from  1879  to  1881,  and 
afterwards  as  archdeacon.  Towards  the  end 
of  December  1891  he  fell  ill  of  bronchitis. 
On  29  Dec.  his  appointment  to  the  deanery 
of  Chichester  was  announced,  but  he  died  on 
the  same  evening.  He  was  buried  in  the 
graveyard  adjoining  Bristol  Cathedral,  and  a 
tablet  within  its  walls  bears  testimony  to  his 
worth  ;  upwards  of  o,000/.  was  subscribed 
as  a  memorial  to  him  to  be  devoted  to  the 
augmentation  of  the  Bristol  bishopric. 

Norris  was  a  hard  and  successful  worker 
for  the  restoration  of  the  cathedral,  the  nave 
of  which  must  always  be  associated  with  his 
name.  He  was  one  of  the  first  to  move  for 
the  revival  of  the  old  see  of  Bristol,  as  distinct 
from  that  of  Gloucester,  and  was  a  vigorous 
promoter  of  church  extension  in  and  around 
the  cathedral  town.  His  most  important 
literary  work  was  in  the  form  of  popular 
handbooks  for  students  in  theology,  and  two 
remarkable  volumes  of  notes  on  the  New 
Testament. 

Norris  married  in  1858  Edith  Grace,  daugh- 
ter of  the  Right  Hon.  Stephen  Lushington 
(second  son  of  the  first  baronet),  who  sur- 
vived him,  and  by  whom  he  left  issue. 

His  chief  works,  in  addition  to  separate 
sermons,  essays,  and  charges,  were :  1.  'Trans- 
lation of  Demosthenes,  De  Corona,'  1849. 
2.  '  Report  on  the  Iron  and  Coal  Masters' 
Prize  Scheme  for  the  Encouragement  of  Edu- 
cation,' 1854.  3.  '  On  the  Inspiration  of  the 
New  Testament,'  1864.  4.  '  The  Education 
of  the  People,'  1869.  5.  '  A  Key  to  the  Nar- 
rative of  the  Four  Gospels,'  1869.  6.  'A 
Catechist's  Manual,'  1869.  7.  '  A  Key  to  the 
Acts  of  the  Apostles,'  1871.  8.  <  Manual  of 
Religious  Instruction,'  3  vols.  1874.  9.  '  A 
Catechism  forYoung  Children,'  1874.  10. '  Ru- 
diments of  Theology,'  1875.  11.  '  Studia 
Sacra  ;  Theological  Remains  of  John  Keble,' 
edited,  1877.  12.  '  Easy  Lessons  on  Con- 
firmation,' 1877.  13.  '  New  Testament,  with 
Introduction  and  Notes,'  1880.  14.  'The 
Patriarchs  Joseph  and  Moses,'  1880.  15. '  The 
Church  of  St.  Mary  RedclifF,  and  Handbook 
to  Bristol  Cathedral,'  1882.  16.  '  Lectures 
on  Pastoral  Theology,'  1884.  17.  '  Lectures 
on  Butler's  Analogy,'  1886.  18.  '  A  Key  to 
the  Epistles  of  St.  Paul,'  1890. 

[Times,  29  and  30  Dec.  1891 ;  Guardian,  6  Jan. 
1892;  Record,  8  Jan.  1892;  Crockford's  Clerical 
Directory,  1890  ;  Memoir  of  James  Fraser  by 
Thomas  Hughes,  1887,  pp.  177,  178.]  A.  K.  B. 


NORRIS,   PHILIP  (d.  1465),  dean  of 
St.  Patrick's,  Dublin,  was  probably  born  at 
Dundalk.     When  quite  young,  on  29  July 
L427,  he  was  presented  to  the  vicarage  of 
St.  Nicholas,  Dundalk.   Shortly  after  he  ob- 
;ained  leave  of  absence  for  seven  years  in 
order  to   complete  his   studies  at  Oxford. 
Entering  at  University  College,  he  studied 
for  a  time  in  '  the  great  hall '  of  that  college, 
and  later,  during   1429  and  two  following 
years,   he    presided   over  '  the  little   hall ' 
until  he  obtained  the  degree  of  doctor  of 
divinity.     He   is   said  to  have   acquired  a 
£0od  knowledge  of  philosophy  and  theology, 
and  to  have  been  learned  in  canon  and  civil 
law  and  proficient  in  rhetoric.     While  at 
Oxford  he   adopted  very  decided   opinions 
regarding  the  misconduct  and  abuses  of  the 
mendicant  orders   of  friars,  and  became  a 
strenuous  advocate  for  their  reform  or  sup- 
pression.    His  opinions  on  this  subject  were 
similar  to  those  promulgated  during  the  pre- 
vious century  by  Richard  Fitzralph  [q.  v.] 
Norris  in  his  sermons  and  writings  sharply 
attacked   the    habits  of  these   orders,  and 
maintained  that  it  was  scandalous  for  a  priest 
to  beg.  The  friars  were  not  slow  in  retorting. 
Thomas  Hore,  a  Dominican,  made  a  com- 
plaint against  him,  in  the  name  of  the  four 
orders,  to  Pope  Eugenius  IV,  who  directed 
Dominic,    cardinal-deacon    of    St.    Mary's, 
Rome,  to  make  inquiry  into  the  matter,  and 
report   to   him  in   secret  consistory.     This 
was  done,  and  the  statements  of  Norris  were 
condemned  as  heretical  and  erroneous  by  a 
bull  issued  in  1440.     He  was  also  censured, 
and  declared  to  be  incapable  of  holding  any 
church  benefice.     Norris  appealed  from  the 
pope's  decision  to  the  council  of  Basle,  and 
the  bull  does  not  seem  to  have  been  enforced. 
Bale  says  he  was  protected  by  several  arch- 
bishops.    His  opponents,  however,  not  only 
complained  to  the  pope,  but  also  to  Henry  VI. 
They  alleged  that  Thomas  Walsh,  bachelor 
of  laws,  had  obstructed  Richard  Talbot[q.v.], 
archbishop  of  Dublin,   and  prevented  him 
from  reading  and  promulgating  certain  bulls 
issued  on  their  behalf  against  Norris.    Legal 
inquiry  followed,  and  Walsh  was  declared  to 
be  innocent  of  the  charge.     William  Mus- 
selwyke,  an  Augustin  friar,   who   made   a 
further  .complaint  at  Rome  against  Norris  in 
the  name  of  his  order,  was,  with  his  abettors, 
suspended  by  the  chancellor  of  Oxford  for 
having  submitted  a  cause  to  be  tried  abroad 
that  came   within    the   jurisdiction  of  the 
university  court.  Norris  was  thus  able  to  set 
at  defiance  both  the  friars  and  the  pope's 
bull.     But  in  1458  Nicholas  V  addressed 
another  bull  concerning  him  to  the  Arch- 
bishops of  Canterbury,  London,  and  Dublin, 


Norris 


139 


Norris 


further  accusing  him  of  contumacy,  and 
declaring  that  if  he  continued  in  his  errors 
he  should  be  excommunicated,  handed  over 
to  the  civil  authority,  and  kept  in  custody 
until  he  recanted  and  had  paid  the  expenses 
of  the  proceedings  undertaken  against  him. 
This  bull  seems  also  to  have  remained  in 
abeyance.  Norris,  having,  however,  exceeded 
his  term  of  seven  years'  absence  from  his 
benefice,  was  proceeded  against  under  the 
statute  of  Richard  II  regarding  Irish  ab- 
sentees. The  profitof  his  benefice  at  Dundalk 
was  distrained  by  order  of  the  court  of  ex- 
chequer, and  two-thirds  of  it  forfeited  to  the 
crown.  On  his  return  to  Ireland  he  was 
made  prebendary  at  Yago  (St.  Jago),  in  the 
county  of  Kildare,  and  in  1457  dean  of  St. 
Patrick's,  Dublin.  For  about  seven  years 
previous  to  his  death  in  1465  his  health  was 
very  precarious,  and  he  was  incapable  of 
making  his  will.  He  is  credited  with  the 
authorship  of  1.  '  Declamationes  qusedam.' 
2.  '  Lecturge  Scripturarum.  3.  '  Contra 
Mendicitatem  Validam,'  none  of  which  are 
known  to  be  extant. 

[Tanner's  Bibl.  Brit.-Hib.;  Wood's  Hist. 
Oxon.  ii.  62 ;  Wadding's  Annales  Minorum, 
xi.  104,  xii.  8  ;  Monck  Mason's  Hist.  Annals  of 
the  Collegiate  Church  and  Cathedral  of  St. 
Patrick,  Dublin,  1820-1  J.  G.  F. 

NORRIS,  ROBERT  (d.  1791),  African 
traveller,  son  of  John  Norris  of  Nonsuch, 
Wiltshire,  and  brother  of  William  Norris, 
secretary  to  the  Society  of  Antiquaries  [q.  v.], 
•was  a  Guinea  trader,  whose  personal  know- 
ledge of  the  African  coast  appears  to  have 
reached  back  at  least  to  1755  (Memoir,  p. 
120).  In  February  1772  he  visited  the  king 
of  Dahomey.  He  was  well  received,  and 
gives  a  curious  account  of  the  country  and 
its  murderous  '  customs.'  He  revisited  it  in 
December  of  the  same  year.  In  1788,  when, 
owing  to  the  vigorous  action  of  the  advo- 
cates of  abolition,  a  committee  of  the  privy 
council  was  appointed  to  inquire  into  the 
slave  question,  Norris  was  delegated  to  lay 
before  it  the  views  of  the  Liverpool  trade,  a 
circumstance  which  probably  led  to  the  pub- 
lication of  his '  Memoir  of  the  Reign  of  Bossa 
Ahadee,  King  of  Dahomey  .  .  .  with  an  Ac- 
count of  the  Author's  Visit  to  Abomey, 
the  Capital,  and  a  Short  Account  [2nd  edi- 
tion] of  the  African  Slave  Trade '  (London, 
1789).  His  account  of  the  slave  trade  is  a 
defence  of  slavery.  A  map  of  the  African 
coast  between  Capes  Verga  and  Formosa  is 
indexed  under  the  same  name  and  date  in 
the  British  Museum  maps.  Norris  died  in 
Liverpool  (from  the  effects  of  a  damp  bed 
on  his  journey  from  London)  on  27  Nov. 
1791. 


[Brit.  Mus.  Catalogues ;  Gent.  Mag.  1789  pt.  i. 
p.  433  (review  of  book),  1791  pt.  ii.  p.  1161, 
1792  pt.  i.  p.  88  ;  Brydges's  Censura  Literaria, 
v.  222.]  H.  M.  C. 

NORRIS,  NORREYS,  or  NOREIS, 
ROGER  (d.  1223),  abbot  of  Evesham,  was 
a  monk  of  Christchurch,  Canterbury,  at  the 
time  when  Archbishop  Baldwin  (d.  1190) 
[q.v.]  was  endeavouring  to  make  his  authority 
prevail  in  the  government  of  the  convent 
against  the  strenuous  resistance  of  the  monks. 
In  1187  Norris  was  one  of  the  three  trea- 
surers of  the  convent  (Ep.  Cant.  Rolls  Ser. 
No.  xcvi),  and  was,  with  the  aged  sacristan 
Robert,  deputed  to  appeal  to  Henry  II,  who 
was  then  in  France,  against  the  archbishop's 
pretensions.  They  were  expressly  warned  by 
the  convent  to  refuse  to  hold  office  from, 
the  archbishop,  but  while  at  Alencon  they 
treacherously  agreed  to  acknowledge  his  sway 
(ib.  No.  cxi),  and  the  king  regarded  them  as 
fully  authorised  to  treat  lor  the  convent  (ib. 
No.  cxiv).  Norris  was  accordingly  made  cel- 
larer by  the  archbishop.  On  28  Aug.  1187  he 
returned  home,  but  the  convent  refused  to 
acknowledge  his  title  to  the  office,  and  con- 
fined him  in  the  infirmary.  At  the  end  of 
January  1188  he  escaped  through  the  sewer 
of  the  monastery,  and  joined  the  archbishop 
at  Otford  (GERVASE  OF  CANT.  i.  404).  On 
6  Oct.  Baldwin  appointed  him  prior  of  the 
convent.  On  8  Nov.  the  con  vent  assembled 
before  the  king  at  Westminster  and  asked  for 
Roger's  removal.  A  compromise  was  arrived 
at :  the  convent  begged  the  archbishop's 
pardon,  and  Roger,  whose  character  was 
notoriously  bad,  was  deposed. 

In  1191,  through  the  agency  of  King 
Richard  I  (Chron.  Evesham,  p.  103),  he  be- 
came abbot  of  Evesham,  and  was  conse- 
crated by  William,  bishop  of  Worcester  (ib. 
p.  134).  For  four  years  he  tyrannised  over 
the  abbey,  and  then  complaint  was  made  to 
Archbishop  Hubert  as  legate.  Norris  escaped 
retribution  by  bribery,  amended  his  ways 
for  a  year,  and  made  friends  with  great 
men,  especially  the  chief  justiciar,  Geoffrey 
Fitz-Peter ;  and  when  in  1198  a  second 
complaint  was  made,  he  was  able  to  hush 
the  matter  up.  In  1202  he  had  to  cope  with 
the  question  of  the  Bishop  of  Worcester's 
right  to  visit  the  abbey.  By  skilfully  play- 
ing off  the  jealousy  of  the  monks  against  the 
bishop,  Norris  succeeded  both  in  excluding 
the  bishop  and  tightening  his  own  hold  on 
the  abbacy.  He  was  thus  free  to  continue 
his  oppressions,  which  took  the  usual  form  of 
depriving  the  convent  of  its  share  of  the 
estates.  The  monks,  led  by  Thomas  de  Mar- 
leberge  [q.  v.],  made  efforts  to  recover  their 
property;  but  in  1203,  when  inquiry  was 


Norris 


140 


Norris 


made  by  the  archbishop,  the  abbot  triumphed, 
and  the  rebellious  monks  received  a  nominal 
punishment. 

Part  of  the  question  of  exemption  from 
•episcopal  visitation  was  in  1205  referred  to 
Rome.  The  astute  lawyer  Marleberge  and 
the  abbot  met  there  in  March  1205,  and  they 
agreed  to  act  together ;  but  Marleberge  went 
in  fear  of  his  life  because  of  the  abbot's  plots 
against  him.  The  bishop  had  been  accorded 
jurisdiction  over  the  abbey  pending  the  de- 
cision from  Rome,  and  he  excommunicated 
Norris  when  he  and  the  convent  closed  their 
gates  against  him.  But  the  papal  decision  in 
favour  of  the  convent's  exemption  left  the 
abbot  free  on  his  return  to  continue  his  old 
courses.  In  1206  the  convent  was  visited 
by  the  legate ;  complaint  was  then  made  of 
Norris's  misconduct,  but  the  inquiry  which 
followed  was  partial.  He  next  attempted  to 
expel  the  ringleaders  of  the  rebellious  monks ; 
but  thirty  monks  elected  to  join  them,  and  in 
an  armed  encounter  the  abbot's  party  was  de- 
feated, and  Norris  had  to  submit  to  his  own 
monks.  Still  for  six  years  more  the  abbey 
continued  to  suffer  at  his  hands,  and  not  till 
1213  did  Marleberge  tell  the  whole  story  of 
the  abbot's  iniquities  to  the  legate  Pandulph. 
Full  inquiry  was  made,  and  charges  of 
robbery  and  neglect  of  the  convent,  of  simony, 
homicide,  and  notorious  unchastity  were  es- 
tablished. The  abbot  was  on  22  Nov.  1213 
ordered  to  resign  and  restore  the  conventual 
property.  After  five  days  the  convent  peti- 
tioned the  legate  that  he  should  be  made 
prior  of  Penwortham,  and  he  held  this  office 
five  months,  when  the  legate  deprived  him 
of  it  on  account  of  his  excesses.  He  pro- 
ceeded to  Rome,  and  strove  to  win  back  the 
abbacy,  without  success.  On  returning  to 
England  he  tried  in  vain  to  make  friends  with 
the  Bishop  of  Worcester  and  the  legate 
Oualo  in  1216.  He  sought  to  get  money 
from  the  convent,  and  rather  than  that  he 
should  become  one  of  the  vagabond  monks 
(gyrovagii)  condemned  by  St.  Benedict,  the 
legate  Pandulph  in  1218  restored  the  priory 
of  Penwortham  to  him.  He  died  on  19  July 
1223.  His  enemy  Marleberge  admits  that 
he  was  courageous,  and  adds  that  his  flow 
of  words  gave  him  the  appearance  of  learning. 
Not  only  the  monks  of  Christchurch  (Up. 
Cant.  p.  253),  and  chief  among  them  Gervase 
the  historian,  but  also  Alan  of  Tewkes- 
bury,  Giraldus  Cambrensis,  and  Thomas  de 
Marleberge,  all  agree  in  condemning  his 
vices. 

[Ep.  Cant.,  ed  Stubbs,  Rolls  Ser.  loc.  cit. ;  Ger- 
vase of  Canterbury,  ed.  Stubbs,  Rolls  Ser.,  i.  382, 
&c. ;  Chron.  Evesham,  ed.  Macray,  passim ;  Giral- 
dus Cambrensis,  ed  Brewer,  iv.  91.]  M.  B. 


NORRIS,  SYLVESTER,  D.D.  (1572- 
1630),  catholic  controversialist,  born  in 
Somerset  in  1572,  was  educated  in  the  Eng- 
lish College  at  Rheims,  where  he  arrived  on 
24  March  1584-5.  He  received  minor  orders 
there  in  1590,  entered  the  English  College  at 
Rome  for  his  higher  course  of  studies  on 
23  Oct.  1592,  was  ordained  priest,  and  left 
for  the  English  mission  in  May  1596.  Being 
apprehended  after  the  discovery  of  the  gun- 
powder plot,  he  was  committed  prisoner  to 
Bridewell,  whence,  on  1  Dec.  1605,  he  ad- 
dressed a  letter  to  the  Earl  of  Salisbury,  in 
consequence  of  which  he  was  released,  and 
sent  into  banishment  with  forty-six  other 
priests.  Arriving  at  Douay  on  24  July  1606, 
he  proceeded  direct  to  Rome,  where  he  was 
admitted  into  the  Society  of  Jesus.  Previ- 
ously to  this  he  had  been  created  D.D.  After 
being  professor  of  theology  and  sacred  scrip- 
ture in  several  Jesuit  colleges  on  the  conti- 
nent he  returned  to  England,  and  was  pro- 
fessed of  the  four  vows  on  6  Dec.  1618. 
While  engaged  on  the  mission  he  frequently 
passed  under  the  name  of  Smith.  In  1621 
he  was  superior  of  the  Hampshire  district, 
and  he  died  in  it  on  16  March  1629-30.  He 
was  a  very  learned  man  and  a  noted  preacher. 

His  works  are :  1 .  '  An  Antidote  or  Sove- 
raigne  Remedie  against  the  Pestiferous 
Writings  of  all  English  Sectaries.  And  in 
particuler  against  D.  Whitaker,  D.  Fvlke,  D, 
Bilson,  D.  Reynolds,  D.  Sparkes,  and  D. 
Field,  the  chiefe  vpholders,  some  of  Protes- 
tancy,  some  of  Puritanisme. .  .  .  By  S.  N. 
Doctour  of  Diuinity,'  3  parts  [St.  Omer],  1615, 
4to,  pp.  322.  The  second  part,  pp.  247,  ap- 
peared in  1619  ;  and  the  third  part,  entitled 
'  The  Guide  of  Faith/  pp.  229,  in  1621,  with 
an  appendix,  pp.  107,  'conteyning  a  Catalogue 
of  the  visible  and  perpetuall  Succession  of 
the  Catholique  Professours  of  the  Roman 
Church .  .  .  togeather  with  a  Counter-Cata- 
logue discouering  the  interruption  of  Here- 
ticall  Sectes.'  The  first  two  parts  were  re- 
printed (probably  at  St.  Omer)  in  1622,  4to, 
pp.  307,  under  the  title  of  '  An  Antidote,  or 
Treatise  of  Thirty  Controversies.'  2.  '  The 
Pseudo  Scripturist,'  2  pts.  1623,  4to.  Dodd 
asserts  that  Norris  was  the  author  of  '  A 
Treatise  proving  the  Scriptures  not  to  be  the 
sole  judge  of  Controversies,'  1623,  4to ;  but 
this  is  probably  the  same  work  as  the  '  Pseudo 
Scripturist.'  3.  'A  trve  report  of  the  Priuate 
Colloquy  betweene  M.  Smith,  alias  Norrice, 
and  M.  Walker.  Held  in  the  presence  of  two 
Worthy  Knights,  and  of  a  few  other  Gentle- 
men, some  Protestants.  With  a  briefe  Con- 
futation of  the  false  and  adulterated  summe, 
which  M.  Walker,  Pastour  of  S.  lohn  Euan- 
gelist  in  Watling-streete,  hath  diuulged  of  the 


Norris 


141 


Norris 


same,'  s.l.  1624,  4to,  pp.  63.  This  was  pub- 
lished by  way  of  reply  to  '  The  Sum  of  a 
Disputation  between  Mr.  [George]  Walker, 
Rector  of  St.  John  Evangelist,  &c.  and  a 
Popish  Priest  calling  himself  Mr.  Smith,  but 
indeed  Norris,'  1623  (NEWCOTTKT,  Reperto- 
rium,  i.  375). 

[De  Backer's  Bibl.  des  Ecrivains  de  la  Cora- 
pagnie  de  Jesus  ;  Dodd's  Church  Hist.  ii.  402  ; 
Douay  Diaries,  p.  434 ;  Foley's  Records,  iii.  301, 
vi.  184,  vii.  552  ;  Lowndes's  Bibl.  Man.  (Bohn), 
p.  1702;  Notes  and  Queries,  3rd  ser.  x.  247, 
279;  Oliver's  Cornwall,  p.  367;  Oliver's  Col- 
lectanea S.  J.  p.  1 5 1 ;  Southwell's  Bibl.  Scriptorum 
Soc.  Jesu,  p.  741.]  T.  C. 

NORRIS,  SIR  THOMAS  (1556-1599), 
president  of  Munster,  fifth  son  of  Henry, 
baron  Norris  of  Rycote  [q.  v.],  matriculated 
from  Magdalen  College,  Oxford,  in  1571,  aged 
15,  and  graduated  B.A.  on  6  April  1576 
(FOSTER,  Alumni  Oxon.  1500-1714).  Sir  John 
Norris  (1547  P-1597)  [q.  v.],  and  Sir  Edward 
Norris  [q.  v.]  were  his  brothers.  In  Decem- 
ber 1579  he  became,  through  the  death  of 
his  eldest  brother  William  and  the  influence 
of  Sir  William  Pelham  [q.  v.],  captain  of 
a  troop  of  horse  in  Ireland.  He  took  an 
active  part  in  the  following  year  in  the  cam- 
paign against  Gerald  Fitzgerald,  fifteenth  earl 
of  Desmond  [q.  v.] ;  but  during  the  absence  of 
Sir  Nicholas  Malby  [q.  v.],  president  of  Con- 
naught,  in  the  winter  of  1580-1,  he  acted  as 
governor  of  that  province,  and  gave  great 
satisfaction  by  the  energetic  way  in  which 
he  prosecuted  the  Burkes  and  other  disturbers 
of  the  peace.  In  1681-2  he  was  occupied, 
apparently  between  Clonmel  and  Kilmal- 
lock,  in  watching  the  movements  of  the 
Earl  of  Desmond,  and  on  the  retirement,  of 
Captain  John  Zouche  [q.  v.]  in  August  1582, 
on  account  of  ill-health,  he  became  colonel 
of  the  forces  in  Munster.  He  compelled  the 
Earl  of  Desmond  to  abandon  the  siege  of 
Dingle,  but,  owing  to  insufficient  means,  he 
was  unable  to  accomplish  anything  of  im- 
portance. In  consequence  of  the  appoint- 
ment of  the  Earl  of  Ormonde  as  governor  of 
Munster,  Norris  was  able,  early  in  1583,  to 
pay  a  brief  visit  to  England.  On  his  return 
he  found  employment  in  Ulster  in  settling 
a  dispute  between  Hugh  Oge  O'Neill  and 
Shane  MacBrian  O'Neill  as  to  the  posses- 
sion of  the  castle  of  Edendougher  (Shane's 
Castle),  which  he  handed  over  to  the  latter 
as  captain  of  Lower  Clandeboye.  He  was 
warmly  commended  by  Lords-justices  Loftus 
and  Wallop  for  his '  valour,  courtesy,  and  dis- 
cretion.' In  the  autumn  of  1584  he  took  part 
in  Perrot's  expedition  against  the  Scots  in 
Antrim,  and  in  scouring  the  woods  of  Glen- 
conkein  in  search  of  Sorley  Boy  MacDonnell 


[q.  v.]  he  was  wounded  in  the  knee  with  an 
arrow. 

He  returned  to  Munster,  and  in  1585-6 
represented  Limerick  in  parliament.  In 
December  1585  he  was  appointed  vice-presi- 
dent of  Munster  during  the  absence  in  the 
Low  Countries  of  his  brother  John.  It  was 
not  an  enviable  post.  His  soldiers  were 
ill  clad  and  badly  paid,  and  took  every 
opportunity  to  desert.  The  plantation  of 
Munster  progressed  at  best  very  slowly, 
and  every  day  brought  fresh  rumours  of  in- 
vasion. The  defences  of  the  province  were 
weak  in  the  extreme,  and,  though  the  general 
appearance  of  things  was  tranquil,  the  embers- 
of  the  rebellion  still  smouldered ;  and  in 
consequence  of  instructions  from  England, 
Norris,  in  March  1587,  arrested  John  Fitz- 
edmund  Fitzgerald  [q.  v.],  seneschal  of  Imo- 
killy ;  Patrick  Condon,  and  others,  whose 
loyalty  was  at  least  doubtful.  The  marriage 
of  Ellen,  daughter  and  sole  heiress  of  the  Earl 
of  Clancar,  was,  from  the  extent  of  the  pro- 
perty and  interests  involved,  a  subject  which 
at  this  time  much  occupied  the  attention  of 
government.  Norris  himself  had  been  sug- 
gested as  a  suitable  husband  for  the  lady, 
but,  'after  some  pains  taken  he  in  the  end 
misliked  of  it,  being,  as  it  seemed,  otherwise 
disposed  to  bestow  himself.'  In  June  1588 
the  matter  became  serious,  when  Florence 
MacCarthy  [see  MACCARTHY  REAGH,  FLO- 
RENCE], seizing  the  opportunity  to  marry  the 
lady,  who  was  also  his  cousin,  succeeded  in 
uniting  in  himself  the  two  main  branches  of 
the  clan  Carthy,  and  in  accomplishing  the 
very  object  it  had  been  the  intention  of 
government  to  obviate.  Norris  at  once 
arrested  Florence,  but  was  easily  induced  to 
believe  that  he  had  acted  without  evil  inten- 
tion, and  was  '  very  penitent  for  his  fault.' 
In  December  he  was  knighted  by  Sir  William 
Fitzwilliam  (1526-1599)  [q.  v.];  and  Sir  John 
Popham  [q.  v.]  having  consented  to  resign  his 
seignory  in  the  plantation  of  Munster,  Norris 
obtained  a  grant  of  six  thousand  acres  in  and 
about  Mallow.  The  Spanish  Armada  had 
failed  in  its  object,  but  the  air  was  still  full  of 
rumours  of  invasion,  and  in  1589-90  Norris 
was  engaged  with  Edmund  Yorke,  an  engineer 
who  had  been  sent  over  from  England  ex- 
pressly for  the  purpose,  in  strengthening  the 
fortifications  of  Limerick,  Waterford,  and 
Duncannon.  His  chief,  and  indeed  perennial, 
difficulty  was  the  want  of  money.  He  was 
constantly  in  arrears  with  his  soldiers,  and 
a  detachment  of  them  stationed  at  Limerick, 
taking  advantage  of  his  absence  in  May 
1590,  mutinied,  and  marched  to  Dublin,  with 
the  intention  of  insisting  on  the  payment  of 
their  arrears,  but  were  promptly  reduced  to 


Norris 


142 


Norris 


submission  and  the  ringleaders  punished,  by 
Sir  William  Fitzwilliam. 

The  plantation  of  Munster,  from  which  so 
much  had  been  hoped,  not  progressing  accord- 
ing to  Elizabeth's  expectations,  Norris,  who 
was  '  well  acquainted  with  all  the  accidents 
and  services  of  Munster,'  was,  in  the  winter 
of  1592-3,  sent  over  to  England  to  give  a 
detailed  report  of  all  the  proceedings  of  the 
commissioners  of  plantation.  He  returned 
apparently  about  May  1593.  "With  the  ex- 
ception of  some  slight  disturbances,  caused 
during  that  summer  by  Donnogh  MacOarthy, 
the  Earl  of  Clancar's  bastard  son,  nothing 
occurred  for  some  time  to  break  the  peace  of 
the  province,  and  the  work  of  the  plantation 
accordingly  proceeded  apace.  On  10  Aug. 
1594  Norris  went  to  Dublin  to  meet  the  new 
lord-deputy,  Sir  William  Russell  [q.v.],  whom 
he  attended  in  his  progress  through  Ulster. 
In  the  following  year  he  served  under  his 
brother,  Sir  John  Norris,  against  the  Earl  of 
Tyrone,  and  was  wounded  in  the  thigh  in 
the  engagement  that  took  place  halfway 
between  Newry  and  Armagh  on  4  Sept.  He 
was  naturally  involved  in  the  quarrel  between 
his  brother  and  Sir  William  Russell,  and  was 
charged  by  the  latter  with  neglecting  the 
duties  of  his  office  at  a  time  of  great  danger.  He 
assisted  Sir  John  Norris  as  commissioner  for 
the  pacification  of  Connaught  in  June  1596 ; 
but  in  August  he  was  engaged  in  repelling  an 
incursion  of  the  MacSheehys  and  O'Briens 
into  Munster.  He  hanged  ninety  of  them 
within  ten  days ;  but  it  was  only  after  repeated 
exertions  that  he  managed  to  rid  the  province 
of  them.  He  again  in  September  accompanied 
Sir  John  Norris  into  Connaught,  and,  Sir 
Richard  Bingham's  disgrace  having  tempo- 
rarily deprived  that  province  of  its  governor, 
he  was  appointed  by  his  brother  provisional 
president  of  Connaught :  '  more,  I  protest/  Sir 
John  wrote, '  to  follow  Sir  Geoffrey  Fenton's 
advice  than  my  own,  fearing  lest  his  remove 
hereafter  should  be  a  disgrace  unto  us  both.' 
The  arrival  shortly  afterwards  of  the  new 
president,  Sir  Conyers  Clifford  [q.  v.],  enabled 
him  to  return  to  his  own  province,  and  in 
June  1597  it  was  reported  that  he  had  re- 
duced Munster  to  tolerable  quietness,  and 
had  '  happily  cut  off,  both  by  prosecution  and 
justice,  many  of  the  most  dangerous  rebels 
of  that  province.' 

On  the  death  of  Sir  John  Norris  in  that  year 
he  succeeded  him  on  20  Sept.  as  president  of 
Munster,  and  in  consequence  shortly  after- 
wards of  the  sudden  death  of  the  lord-deputy, 
Lord  Borough,  he  was  on  29  Oct.  elected  by  the 
council,  as  being  '  in  their  conceits  a  person 
tempered  both  for  martial  affairs  and  civil 
government,'  lord  justice  of  Ireland.  The 


election  was  not  confirmed  by  Elizabeth,  on 
the  ground  that  his  presence  was  specially 
required  in  Munster.  Accordingly,  Loftus 
and  Gardiner  having  been  appointed  lords 
justices,  Norris  returned  to  Munster  on 
29  Nov.  On  the  general  insurrection  of  the 
Irish  after  the  battle  of  the  Yellow  Ford,  on 
14  Aug.  1598,  and  the  irruption  into  Munster 
of  the  Leinster  Irish,  under  Owny  MacRory 
O'More,  Norris  concentrated  his  forces  in 
the  neighbourhood  of  Mallow;  but,  not  feel- 
ing sufficiently  strong  to  encounter  Owny 
MacRory,  he  withdrew  to  Cork.  He  was 
much  blamed  for  his  precipitate  retreat. 
'  Sir  Thomas  Norris,'  wrote  John  Chamber- 
lain on  22  Nov.  1598, 'hath  his  part  with  the 
rest,  and  is  thought  to  have  taken  the  alarm 
too  soon,  and  left  his  station  before  there  was 
need,  whereby  the  enemy  was  too  much  en- 
couraged, and  those  that  were  well  affected 
or  stood  indifferent  forced  to  follow  the  tide.' 
Things  went  rapidly  from  bad  to  worse. 
Norris  himself  suffered  severely :  his  Eng- 
lish sheep  were  stolen,  his  park  wall  broken 
down,  and  his  deer  let  loose.  Towards  the  end 
of  December,  however,  he  managed,  though 
fiercely  attacked  by  William  Burke,  to  re- 
lieve Kilmallock.  But  a  second  expedition 
on -27  March  1599  merely  resulted  in  the 
capture  of  Carriglea  Castle,  and  on  4  April  he 
returned  to  Cork,  skirmishing  with  the  Irish 
to  the  very  walls  of  the  city.  The  arrival 
of  the  Earl  of  Essex  afforded  him  a  slight 
breathing  space.  He  went  to  Kilkenny  to 
meet  the  lord-lieutenant,  and,  returning  to 
Munster,  was  on  his  way  from  Buttevant  to 
Limerick  on  30  May,  when,  at  a  place  conjec- 
tured to  be  Kilteely,  near  Hospital,  co. 
Limerick,  he  encountered  a  body  of  Irish 
under  Thomas  Burke.  In  the  skirmish  'he 
received  a  violent  and  venomous  thrust  of  a 
pike  where  the  jaw-bone  joins  the  upper  part 
of  the  neck.'  The  Burkes  were  completely 
routed,  '  which  service,'  wrote  Chamberlain, 
4  is  much  magnified  by  her  majesty  herself  to 
the  old  Lord  and  Lady  Norris,  with  so  many 
good  and  gracious  words  to  them  in  particular 
as  were  able  to  revive  them  if  they  were  in 
swoune  or  half  dead.'  Norris's  wound  was 
not  at  first  thought  likely  to  prove  fatal.  He 
reached  Limerick  apparently  on  4  June,  and, 
having  revictualled  Askeaton,  he  joined 
Essex  at  Kilmallock,  and  attended  him  in 
his  progress  through  the  province  till  his  de- 
parture on  20  June.  But  with  the  exertion 
his  wound  became  rapidly  worse.  He  was 
taken  to  his  house  at  Mallow,  and,  after  lin- 
gering for  some  time  in  great  pain,  he  died 
there  on  20  Aug.  1599. 

Norris  was  apparently  a  man  of  literary 
tastes,  and  is  mentioned  by  Lodowick  Brys- 


Norris 


Norris 


kett  [q.  v.]  as  one  of  the  company  to  whom 
Spenser  on  a  well-known  occasion  unfolded 
his  project  of  the  '  Faerie  Queen.'  According 
to  Edmund  Yorke — and  he  seems  to  have  ex- 
pressed the  general  opinion — Norris  was  '  a 
gentleman  of  very  great  worth,  modesty,  and 
discretion.'  He  married  Bridget,  daughter  of 
Sir  William  Kingsmill  of  Sydmonton,  II  amp- 
shire,  by  whom  he  had  one  daughter,  Eliza- 
beth, his  sole  heiress,  who  married  Sir  John 
Jephson  of  Froyle  in  Hampshire.  Their  son, 
William  Jephson,  is  separately  noticed. 

[Burke's  Extinct  Peerage ;  Cal.  of  State  Papers, 
Irel.  Eliz. ;  Cal.  of  Carew  MSS. ;  Cal.  of  Fiants, 
Eliz. ;  Harl.  MS.  1425,  f.  51;  Annals  of  the 
Four  Masters,  ed.  O'Donovan  ;  MacCarthy's  Life 
and  Letters  of  Florence  MacCarthy  Reagh;  Tre- 
velyan's  Papers  and  Chamberlain's  Letters  in 
Camden  Society ;  Smith's  Antient  and  Present 
State  of  County  Cork;  O'Sullivan's  Historise  Ca- 
tholica?  Hibernise  Compendium,  ed.  M.  Kelly, 
1850;  Moryson'sItinerary(Rebellionin  Ireland) ; 
Gibson's  Hist,  of  Cork ;  Peter  Lombard,  De 
Regno  Hibernise  Commentarius  ;  "Wiffen's  House 
of  Kussell ;  Brady's  Records  of  Cork,  Cloyne,  and 
Ross ;  Liber  Hiberniae ;  Cox's  Hibernia  Angli- 
cana ;  Bryskett's  Discourse  of  Civill  Life ;  Bag- 
well's Ireland  under  the  Tudors  ;  Devereux's 
Lives  of  the  Earls  of  Essex.]  R.  D. 

NORRIS,  THOMAS  (1741 -1790), singer, 
son  of  John  Norris  of  Mere,  Wiltshire,  was 
baptised  there  on  15  Aug.  1741  (church  re- 
gister). He  became  a  chorister  in  Salisbury 
Cathedral  under  Dr.  Stephens,  and  attracted 
the  notice  of  James  Harris  [q.  v.],  the  author 
of '  Hermes,'  who  wrote  a  pastoral  operetta  for 
the  purpose  of  introducing  him  to  the  pub- 
lic. He  sang  as  a  soprano  at  the  Worcester 
and  Hereford  festivals  of  1761-2,  and  at 
Drury  Lane  in  a  pasticcio,  'The  Spring.'  In 
1765  he  was  appointed  organist  of  Christ 
Church  and  of  St.  John's  College,  Oxford, 
where,  in  the  same  year,  he  graduated  Mus. 
Bac. ;  and  in  1771  was  admitted  a  lay  clerk 
of  Magdalen  College.  He  appeared  as  a 
tenor  at  the  Gloucester  festival  in  1766,  and 
sang  at  the  festivals  of  the  Three  Choirs 
until  1788.  He  was  one  of  the  principal 
singers  at  the  first  Handel  commemoration 
festival  in  1784,  and  his  success  then  led  to 
frequent  engagements  for  oratorio  in  Lon- 
don. His  last  appearance  was  at  the  Bir- 
mingham festival  of  1790,  the  strain  oi 
which  caused  his  death,  at  Himley  Hall,  near 
Stourbridge,  on  5  Sept.  An  early  disap- 
pointment had  driven  him  to  convivial  ex- 
cesses, which  greatly  injured  his  voice  anc 
impaired  his  health.  He  was  an  excellent 
musician,  a  skilful  performer  on  several  in- 
struments, and  while  at  Oxford  a  favourite 
teacher  with  the  students.  His  compositions 


nclude  several  anthems,  one  only  of  which 
las  been  printed ;  glees  and  other  pieces, 
ome  of  which  are  included  in  Warren's 
Collections ; '  and  six  symphonies  for  strings, 
oboes,  and  horns.  A  portrait  was  engraved 
ad  vivum  by  J.  Taylor  in  the  year  of  his 
death. 

[Diet,  of  Musicians,  1824,  where  he  is  erro- 
neously called  '  Charles '  Norris  ;  Parr's  Church 
of  England  Psalmody ;  Love's  Scottish  Church 
Music  ;  Grove's  Diet,  of  Musicians ;  Abdy 
Williams's  Degrees  in  Music,  p.  89  ;  information 
from  the  Vicar  of  Mere.]  J.  C.  H. 

NORRIS,  WILLIAM  (1670  P-1700  ?), 
composer,  was  born  about  1670.  In  1685  he 
was  the  last  in  procession,  and  therefore  the 
oldest,  of  the  children  of  the  Chapel  Royal, 
present  at  the  coronation  of  James  II  (SAND- 
FORD).  In  September  1686  he  was  one  of  the 
junior  or  lay  vicars  of  the  choir  of  Lincoln 
Cathedral,  on  28  Oct.  he  became  poor  clerk, 
and  in  1690  was  appointed  master  of  the 
choristers  on  probation,  his  appointment,  'ma- 
gister  choristarum  in  arte  cantandi,'  being 
confirmed  in  1691,  while  John  Cutts  taught 
the  boys  instrumental  music,  and  Hecht  was 
organist.  In  1693  the  responsible  post  of 
steward  of  the  choristers  was  given  to  Norris. 
His  name  does  not  occur  in  the  chapter  rolls 
after  1700  (MADDISON).  He  is  said,  however, 
to  have  been  the  composer  of  a  St.  Cecilia's 
Festival  Ode  performed  in  1702.  A  correspon- 
dent of  'The  Harmonicon'  had  seen  the  auto- 
graph manuscript,  which  was  afterwards  sold 
with  the  other  contents  of  Benjamin  Jacobs's 
library.  No  trace  of  it  remains  (GROVE). 

Some  of  Norris's  compositions  extant  in 
manuscript  are  :  1 . '  Morning  Service  in  G  flat, 
for  verses  and  chanting.'  2.  Anthem  for 
solo  and  chorus,  '  Blessed  are  those  that  are 
undefiled,'  with  '  I  will  thank  Thee,'  in  Tud- 
way's  collection  (Brit.  Mus.  Harl.  MS.  7340). 

3.  Anthems  '  Sing,  0  Daughter  of  Sion,'  solo 
and  chorus  (Brit.  Mus.  Addit.  MS.  30932). 

4.  '  My  Heart  rejoiceth  in  the  Lord,'  in  four 
parts  (ib.  31444).  5.  '  I  will  give  thanks,'  and 
'  Hallelujah,'  soli  and  chorus,  four  voices  on  a 
ground.    6.  '  God  sheweth  me  His  goodness,' 
in  three  parts  (ib.  31445).  7. '  In  Jewry  is  God 
known,'  solo  and  chorus.     8.  'Behold  how 
good  and  joyful,'  in  three  parts  (ib.  17840). 
Manuscript  parts  of  several  anthems  and  a 
setting  of  the  '  Cantate  Domino'  by  Norris 
are  in  Lincoln  Cathedral  library. 

[Sandford's  Hist,  of  the  Coronation  of  James  II 
and  Queen  Mary,  p.  69  ;  Grove's  Diet,  of  Music, 
ii.  465 ;  Husk's  Musical  Celebrations  on  St. 
Cecilia's  Day,  p.  51  ;  Harmonicon,  1831,  p.  290; 
the  Rev.  A.  R.  Maddison's  Papers  on  Lincoln 
Cathedral  Choir  in  Lincoln  Arch.  Soc.'s  Reports, 
vols.  xviii.  and  xx.]  L.  M.  M. 


Norris 


144 


Norris 


NORRIS,  SIR  WILLIAM  (1657-1702), 
British  envoy  to  India,  born  in  1657,  was  the 
second  son  of  Thomas  Norris  of  Speke  Hall, 
Lancashire,  by  Katherine,  daughter  of  Sir 
Henry  Garraway  [q.  v.]  [Some  of  his  ances- 
tors and  kinsmen  are  noticed  under  HENRY 
NORMS,  d.  1536,  and  under  HENRY  NORRIS, 
BARON  NORRIS  OF  RYCOTE,  ad  fin.]  The 
father,  like  his  brother  Edward,  had  taken  the 
king's  side  in  the  war  with  the  parliament. 
The  family  consisted  of  seven  sons  and  four 
daughters';  the  eldest  son,  THOMAS  NORRIS 
(1653-1700),  was  M.P.  for  Liverpool,  1688- 
1690  and  1690-5,  and  procured  the  charter  for 
the  town  in  the  latter  year.  He  was  a  whig, 
and  in  1696  served  as  high  sheriff  of  Lanca- 
shire. He  died  in  June  1700,  and  was  buried  at 
Childwall,  near  Speke,  having  married  Mag- 
dalene, second  daughter  of  Sir  Willoughby 
Aston ;  his  only  child,  Mary,  became  heiress 
of  the  whole  Speke  property  about  1736,  and 
married  Lord  Sidney  Beauclerc,  fifth  son  of 
the  first  Duke  of  St.  Albans.  The  third  son, 
Sir  John  Norris  (1660  P-1749),  admiral,  and 
the  fifth  son,  Edward  Norris  (1663-1726),  are 
separately  noticed.  The  sixth  son,  Richard 
(b.  1670),  was  bailiffin  Liverpool  1695,  mayor 
1700,  and  M.P.  1708-1710;  he  was  sheriff  of 
Lancashire  in  1718,  and  was  alive  in  1730. 

William  succeeded  his  eldest  brother, 
Thomas,  as  member  for  Liverpool  in  1695, 
and  held  the  seat  till  1701,  being  so  much 
esteemed  that  he  was  re-elected  during  his 
absence  in  India,  but  unseated  on  petition. 
In  1698  the  new  General  Society  or  English 
Company  obtained  an  act  of  parliament  and 
letters  patent  from  the  crown  for  the  purpose 
of  trading  to  the  East  Indies,  and  in  order 
to  obtain  the  necessary  privileges  from  the 
mogul  emperor,  Sir  William  Norris,  specially 
created  a  baronet  for  the  mission,  was  sent 
out  to  India  as  king's  commissioner  in  a  ship 
of  war,  at  a  salary  of  2,000/.  a  year,  paid  by 
the  company. 

Norris's  task  was  from  the  first  almost 
hopeless.  He  was  expected  to  obtain  the 
protection  and  privileges  of  the  mogul  autho- 
rities in  favour  of  a  new  and  unknown 
company,  in  face  of  the  determined  opposi- 
tion of  the  officers  of  the  old  or  '  London ' 
East  India  Company,  which  had  been  the 
accredited  representative  of  British  commerce 
in  India  for  a  century,  and  which  was  armed 
not  only  with  royal  charters  and  grants  of 
territory  from  the  crown  of  England,  but 
with  firmans  from  the  mogul  emperors  con- 
ferring special  privileges  of  trading.  In  en- 
deavouring to  supersede  the  old  company, 
the  English  company  had  undertaken  a  task 
beyond  its  resources,  and  parliament  and 
king  had  entered  upon  a  noxious  policy  in 


encouraging  a  struggle  which  seemed  likely 
to  end  in  the  destruction  of  the  commercial 
position  which  a  century  of  persistent  effort 
had  Avon  in  the  East  Indies.  To  the  native 
authorities  the  distinction  between  the  two 
companies,  both  trading  under  authority  from 
the  king  of  England,  was  a  point  too  fine  to 
be  easily  explained. 

The  mogul  emperor  was  not  indisposed 
to  recognise  any  company  which  was  pre- 
pared to  contribute  handsomely  to  his  ex- 
chequer; but  even  his  recognition  would 
not  give  the  new  company  the  position 
which  long  occupation  had  secured  for  the 
old.  The  matter  was  complicated  by  the 
precipitate  action  of  Sir  Nicholas  Waite,  the 
English  company's  representative  at  Siirat, 
who  had  written  to  the  mogul  emperor, 
Aurangzib,  before  Norris's  arrival,  to  request 
firmans  of  privileges,  and  offering  to  suppress 
piracy  on  the  Indian  seas  in  return  for  such 
favour,  an  offer  which  the  English  company 
was  wholly  incompetent  to  carry  into  effect. 
Norris  landed  on  25  Sept.  1699  at  Masuli- 
patam,  where  he  found  Consul  Pitt  of  the 
English  company  expecting  him.  The  con- 
sul had  procured  the  services  of  'Nicolao 
Manuchi '  (Manucci,  the  authority  for  Ca- 
trou's  'Histoire  de  1'empire  du  Mogol,'  who, 
however,  shortly  begged  to  be  excused  on  the 
ground  of  his  '  age,  blindness,  and  other  in- 
firmities ')  as  interpreter,  but  had  prepared  no 
'  equipage '  for  the  ambassador's]  ourney  inland 
to  the  camp  of  Aurangzib.  After  waiting 
many  months,  and  quarrelling  with  Consul 
Pitt,  as  well  as  with  the  officers  of  the  rival 
company,  Norris  assented  to  the  representa- 
tions of  Sir  Nicholas  Waite,  and  resolved 
to  make  his  journey  from  Siirat  on  the  other 
side  of  the  peninsula,  a  much  easier  route  to 
the  quarters  then  occupied  by  the  emperor. 
He  accordingly  sailed  from  Masulipatam  on 
23  Aug.  1700,  after  reporting  Pitt's  conduct 
to  the  directors,  and  reached  S  wally  on  10  Dec. 
Here  fresh  difficulties  arose,  partly  from  the 
intemperate  conduct  of  the  ambassador  and 
Sir  Nicholas  Waite,  who  both  treated  the 
London  company's  agents  as  positive  enemies, 
forcibly  hauled  down  their  ships'  flags,  and 
imprisoned  their  servants.  The  old  company 
met  force  by  force,  ran  the  flags  up  again, 
and  refused  to  recognise  the  king's  am- 
bassador in  any  way.  They  had  their  own 
royal  letters  patent,  and  possessed,  what 
Norris  lacked,  the  formal  concessions  of  the- 
native  authorities,  and  they  defied  his  ex- 
cellency to  interfere  with  them.  In  order  to 
emphasise  his  official  dignity,  Norris,  who 
seems  to  have  been  very  tenacious  of  his  own 
importance,  made  a  state  entry  into  Surat, 
after  paying  for  the  permission  eighteen  hun- 


Norris 


'45 


Norris 


dred  gold  mohurs  to  the  mogul  governor 
and  his  assistants.  On  27  Jan.  1700-1  the 
ambassador  set  out  from  Siirat  on  his  journey 
to  the  emperor's  camp,  which  was  then  some 
way  south  of  Burhanpuri  on  the  Bhima.  He 
was  escorted  by  over  sixty  Europeans  and 
three  hundred  natives,  and  this  force,  in  spite 
of  a  mutiny  among  the  peons,  commanded  by 
.its  discipline  and  arms  the  respect  not  only 
of  the  Mogul  troops,  but  of  the  marauding 
Marathas  who  infested  the  country.  A  me- 
morandum preserved  in  thelndia  Office  traces 
l  he  route  which  the  embassy  proposed  to  take, 
and  the  identification  of  the  various  stages  is 
of  some  interest  as  showing  the  roads  of  that 
time.  Some  of  the  halting-places  are  iden- 
tified without  much  difficulty,  but  a  few  may 
be  doubtful.  The  route  included  '  Barnoly ' 
(Bardoli?),  'Balor'  (Valod),  'Beawry'  (Bu- 
hari),  'Pohunnee'  (Poanni),  'Chundnuporee' 
(Ohandanpiir),  '  Suckoree  '  (Sakora),  '  Dee- 
gawn '  (Deogaon), '  Doltabad '  (Dawlatabad), 
Vurengabad,  '  Mossee  Gelgewn '  (Jelgaon), 
*  Mossee  Pohsee '  (Bohsa),  '  Shawgur '  (Shao- 
garh,  Shewgaon),  'Devrawee'  (Adabwari?), 
'Beer'  (Bed?),  'Chow  Salee'  (Chausala), 
'  Bohum  '  (Bhum),  '  Perenda  '  (Paranda), 
Anghur,  and  Chowkee,  close  to  'Bourhawn- 
poree  '  or  '  Bramporee.'  The  total  distance 
from  Siirat  to  Burhanpuri  is  estimated  in 
the  memorandum  at  234  kos,  which  may  be 
roughly  translated  into  470  miles ;  and  the 
journey  was  accomplished  in  thirty-eight 
days.  The  slowness  is  accounted  for  by  the 
1  ruggedness  of  the  roads,'  which  not  only 
impeded  the  progress  of  the  caravan,  but  so 
j  ••rced  the  carts  that,  to  the  ambassador's  great 
distress,  nearly  all  the  wine  was  lost,  save 
'  two  chests  of  old  hock.'  At  last  Burhanpuri 
(not  to  be  confused  with  the  important  city  of 
the  same  name  on  the  north-east  frontier  of 
Khandesh)  was  reached  on  6  March.  Here 
resided  Aurangzib's  chief  vizier,  Asad  Khan, 
the  only  man  who  could  have  influenced 
the  mogul  in  favour  of  the  embassy.  Nor- 
ris,  however,  threw  away  the  opportunity 
of  conciliating  the  statesman,  by  declining 
to  visit  him  unless  Asad  Khan  consented  to 
receive  him  in  the  European  fashion,  which 
t  lie  vizier  refused  to  do.  In  his  report  to  the 
company  the  ambassador  seeks  to  cover  this 
rebuff,  due  to  his  own  exaggerated  self-im- 
portance, by  explaining  that  his  funds  did  not 
permit  him  to  conciliate  Asad  with  adequate 
presents,  and  adds  that  he  is  convinced  that 
nothing  could  make  the  vizier  friendly  or 
serviceable  to  the  objects  of  the  mission. 
Setting  him  aside,  therefore,  Norris  left 
Uurhanpuri  on  27  March,  and  proceeded 
on  his  journey  to  the  camp  of  Aurangzib, 
some  sixty  kos  farther  south.  He  found  the 

VOT,.   XLI. 


emperor,  with  a  following  of  '400,000  souls,' 
engaged  in  besieging '  the  castle  of  Parnello' 
or '  Pernallo '  (Panalla  fort,  near  Miraj,  about 
halfway  between  Kolapiir  and  Bijapiir),  one 
of  the  Maratha  strongholds  which  had  given 
him  so  much  trouble  for  the  past  twenty 
years.  Pitching  his  camp  near  Panalla  on 
4  April,  the  ambassador  and  his  suite  entered 
the  emperor's  'laskar'  (el-'askar,  camp)  a 
week  later,  and  was  accorded  quarters  within 
the  enclosure.  After  some  tedious  negotia- 
tions with  the  officers  of  the  court,  an  audi- 
ence was  granted  on  28  April.  The  embassy 
was  marshalled  in  a  state  procession,  pre- 
ceded by  Mr.  Cristloe,  the  'commander  of  his 
excellency's  artillery,'  and  twelve  brass  guns 
destined  for  presentation  to  the  Great  Mogul, 
'  five  hackeries,  with  the  cloth,  &c.,  for  pre- 
sents,' Arabian  horses,  the  union  flag,  the  red, 
white,  and  blue  flags,  the  king's  and  his  excel- 
lency's crests,  'the  musick,  with  richliverys, 
on  horseback,' and  numerous  guards,  servants, 
trumpeters,  and  coats  of  arms.  Behind  the 
sword  of  state  'pointed  up'  came  the  ambas- 
sador in  a  rich  palanquin,  followed  by  pages 
and  by  his  brother,  Edward  Norris  [q.  v.l, 
secretary  to  the  embassy,  carrying  the  king  s 
letter  to  the  emperor,  and  the  attaches.  The 
presents  included,  besides  two  hundred  mo- 
hurs, quantities  of  cloth,  clocks  and  watches, 
looking-glasses,  'ribbed  hubble- bubbles,' tea- 
pots,'  essence  violls,'  double  microscopes,  six 
'  extraordinary  christiall  reading-glasses  with 
fish-skin  cases,'  an  eight-foot  telescope,  &c. 
(Norris  Correspondence,  Manuscript,  India 
Office,  ff.  61-7).  Aurangzib  readily  promised 
to  grant  firmans  to  the  three  presidencies  of  the 
new  company,  together  with  total  exemption 
from  duties  for  the  Bengal  factory,  and  permis- 
sion to  establish  a  mint  there.  But  it  soon  ap- 
peared that  the  firmans  were  to  be  granted  on 
condition  that  Sir  Nicholas  Waite's  unautho- 
rised offer  of  suppressing  piracy  should  be 
carried  into  effect,  a  point  upon  which  the 
Mohammedan  emperor  laid  peculiar  stress, 
since  these  piracies  had  been  directed  against 
pilgrim  ships  bound  for  Mecca.  Norris  could 
not  honestly  make  an  engagement  which  he 
was  aware  the  company  would  be  unable  to 
fulfil.  The  three  trading  nations  of  Europe, 
he  observed,  had  already  given  the  mogul 
security  against  loss  by  piracy,  but  it  was 
impossible  to  guarantee  the  suppression  of 
all  pirates,  many  of  whom  were  the  em- 
peror's own  subjects.  He  offered  Aurangzib 
a  lac  of  rupees  (ll,250/.  at  the  exchange  of 
the  time)  if  he  would  pretermit  this  con- 
dition, and  a  long  duel  of  bribes  ensued 
between  the  agents  of  the  rival  companies, 
each  bidding  for  the  mogul's  favour.  The 
only  result  of  this  was  to  excite  doubts  in 


Norris 


146 


North 


the  emperor's  mind  as  to  which  was  the  real 
English  company,  and  to  make  him  adhere 
the  more  resolutely  to  a  stipulation  which 
appeared  to  elicit  so  much  jealousy  among 
the  merchants,  and  to  promise  considerable 
profits  in  bribes  to  the  mogul  authorities. 
When  Norris  held  firmly  to  his  refusal  to 
give  the  necessary  engagement,  he  was  told 
4  that  the  New  English  knew  whether  it  was 
best  for  them  to  trade  or  noe,  .  .  .  and  that 
if  the  English  Embassador  would  not  give 
an  obligation  for  the  sea,  he  knew  the  way  to 
return.'  Norris  accepted  this  dismissal,  and 
without  taking  formal  leave  of  the  emperor 
departed,  5  Nov.  1701,  from  the  mogul  camp, 
which  he  had  been  following  from  place  to 
place  after  the  fall  of  Panalla,  over  the  Kistna 
to  '  Cattoon,'  and  finally  to  '  Murdawnghur ' 
(Mardangarh),  where  the  camp  had  been  fixed 
since  July.  The  mission  had  been  almost 
doomed  to  failure  from  the  first,  and  its 
chances  of  partial  success  had  been  further 
diminished  by  the  action  of  Sir  Nicholas 
Waite,  by  the  difficulties  placed  in  Norris's 
way  by  want  of  adequate  funds  for  bribes, 
and  by  the  incompetence  of  his  interpreter, 
Adiell  Mill,  who  is  stated  to  have  been 
ignorant  of  Persian,  the  official  language  of 
the  mogul  empire.  The  ambassador  himself 
appears  to  have  been  wanting  in  tact  and 
suppleness,  and  his  conduct  was  generally 
censured  by  English  opinion  in  India ;  but 
it  may  be  doubted  whether  any  other  man 
could  have  succeeded  in  the  circumstances 
in  which  he  was  placed.  His  troubles  were 
not  over  when  he  was  dismissed  by  Aurang- 
zib,  for  he  was  forcibly  detained  for  two 
months  at  Burhanpuri,  probably  in  the  hope 
of  extorting  the  required  engagement  about 
piracy,  and  was  not  suffered  to  proceed  until 
8  Feb.  1701-2,  when  Aurangzib  sent  him  a 
letter  and  sword  for  the  king,  and  a  promise 
that,  after  all,  the  firmans  would  be  sent.  On 
the  following  day  the  ambassador  resumed  his 
iourney,and  arrived  on  12  March  intheneigh- 
bourhood  of  Surat,  where  he  immediately  en- 
tered upon  an  acrimonious  dispute  with  Sir 
Nicholas  Waite,  to  whose  action  he  ascribed 
the  failure  of  the  mission.  On  5  May  1702  he 
sailed  for  England  in  the  Scipio,  paying  ten 
thousand  rupees  for  his  passage.  His  brother 
and  suite  embarked  in  the  China  Merchant, 
with  a  cargo  valued  at  87,200  rupees  on 
Norris's  account  (whence  derived  it  is  not 
stated),  and  sixty  thousand  rupees  belonging 
to  the  company.  The  former  proved  a  fertile 
source  of  litigation  among  his  relatives.  At 
Mauritius  the  two  ships  met  on  11  July,  but 
soon  afterwards  the  Scipio  parted  company, 
and  when  she  came  to  St.  Helena  it  was 
ascertained  that  Norris  had  been  attacked 


with  dysentery,  and  had  died  at  sea  on  10  Oct 
1702.  He  married  the  widow  of  a  Pollexfen 
but  left  no  issue. 

[Norris  Correspondence  in  India  Office,  ex-i 
tending  over  nearly  the  whole  period  of  thej 
mission  (except  23  Aug.  1700  to  5  March  1701J 
when  Norris  was  on  his  way  from  Masulipatani 
to  Burhanpuri) ;  Bruce's  Annals  of  East  India. 
Company,  iii.  343-7,  374-9,  390,  394-406,  426; 
456-75  (which  requires  verification  with  original 
authorities) ;  Norris  Papers,  ed.  T.  Heywood 
(Chetham  Soc.  vol.  ix.),  pp.  xvi-xviii,  and  letters? 
from  Norris,  pp.  28-35, 40-5  ;  information  from. 
Mr.  W.  Foster  of  the  India  Office.]  S.  L.-P. 

NORRIS,  WILLIAM  (1719-1791), 
secretary  to  the  Society  of  Antiquaries,  was 
apparently  son  of  John  Norris,  Nonsuch, 
Wiltshire,  and  matriculated  from  Mertor.^ 
College,  Oxford,  on  12  March  1735-6.  Ror 
bert  Norris  [q.  v.]  was  his  brother.  He  was 
elected  F.S.A.  on  4  April  1754,  and  that 
year  commenced  to  assist  Ames  as  secretary 
to  the  society.  On  Ames's  death,  in  1759, 
Norris  became  sole  secretary,  and  held  the 
post  till  1786,  when  he  retired  on  accounr, 
of  ill- health.  His  secretaryship  was  charac- 
terised by  great  diligence  and  energy.  Gougb 
speaks  of  his  '  dragon-like  vigilance '  (Nl- 
CHOLS,  Lit.  Anecd.  vi.  128).  He  was  for 
several  years  corrector  for  the  press  to  Bas- 
kett,  the  royal  printer.  In  1766  he  appears 
to  have  been  residing  in  Chancery  Lane. 
He  died  in  Camden  Street,  Islington,  in 
November  1791,  and  was  buried  in  the 
burial-ground  of  St.  James's,  Pentonville, 
on  29  Nov.  Letters  by  him,  written  in 
1756  to  Philip  Carteret  Webb,  are  inl>Se 
British  Museum  (Lansdowne  MS.  841,  ff. 
86,  87). 

[Gent.  Mag.  1 792,  pt.  i.  p.  88;  Foster's  Alumni 
Oxon.;    Nichols's  Lit.   Anecd.  vi.    127;    Hist.  * 
MSS.    Comm.  oth  Rep.    p.    359 ;    registers  of 
St.  James's,  Pentonville,  per  the   Rev.   J.    H. 
Rose.]  B.  P. 

NORTH,  BROWNLOW  (1741-1820), 
bishop  of  Winchester,  was  the  elder  son  of 
Francis  North,  first  earl  of  Guilford  [q.  v.], 
by  his  second  wife,  Elizabeth,  only  daughter 
of  Sir  Arthur  Kaye,  and  widow  of  George, 
viscount  Lewisham.  He  was  born  in  Lon- 
don on  17  July  1741,  and  educated  at  Eton 
and  Oxford,  matriculating  11  Jan.  1760  a? 
a  fellow-commoner  of  Trinity,  the  college 
founded  by  his  ancestor,  Sir  Thomas  Pope^ 
[q.  v.]  Here  he  graduated  B.A.  in  1762 ;  and 
some  verses  which  he  wrote  as '  Poet  Laureate ' 
of  the  bachelors'  common-room  are  preserved 
in  manuscript.  He  was  elected  fellow  of 
All  Souls'  as  founder's-kin  in  1763  (Stem-  \ 
mata  Chicheleana,  i.  No.  125) ;  lie  proceeded 


North 


147 


North 


M.A.  in  1766,  and  was  made  D.C.L.  in  1770. 
In  1768  he  succeeded  Shute  Barrington  as 
canon  of  Christ  Church,  and  in  1770  was 
made  dean  of  Canterbury.  He  was  pre- 
sented in  1771  to  the  vicarages  of  Lydd  and 
Bexley  in  Kent,  which  he  subsequently  re- 
tained in  commendam  with  his  first  bishopric ; 
attention  was  called  to  this  by  C.  J.  Fox 
when  attacking  Lord  North  in  the  House  of 
Commons  in  1772  (WALPOLE,  Journal,  i.  '22). 

North's  rapid  preferment  was  due  to  his 
half-brother,  Frederick,  lord  North  [q.  v.],  who 
is  said  to  have  observed,  when  it  was  com- 
mented upon,  that  his  brother  was  no  doubt 
young  to  be  a  bishop,  but  when  he  was  older 
he  would  not  have  a  brother  prime  minister. 
In  1771  North  succeeded  John  Egerton  as 
Bishop  of  Coventry  and  Lichfield,  being  con- 
secrated by  Archbishop  Cornwallis  at  Lam- 
beth on  8  Sept.  In  1774  he  was  translated 
to  Worcester  on  the  death  of  James  Johnson, 
and  in  1781  to  Winchester  on  the  death  of 
John  Thomas.  Wraxall  says  that  Lord  North 
secured  this  see  for  his  brother  by  urging  his 
claims  to  the  archbishopric  of  York,  on  the 
death  of  Dr.  Drummond  in  1777,  against  those 
of  William  Markham,  bishop  of  Chester. 

North  seems  to  have  been  a  dignified  and 
generous  man  and  popular  in  his  dioceses. 
At  Worcester  in  1778  he  founded  a  society 
for  the  relief  of  distressed  widows  and  or- 
phans of  clergymen  in  connection  with  the 
festival  of  the  Three  Choirs,  and  organised 
other  clerical  charities  (GREEJT,  Worcester, 
i.  217  ;  SMITH  AND  ONSLOW,  Dioc.  of  Wore., 
p.  337).  As  Bishop  of  Winchester  he  im- 
proved Farnham  Park,  and  in  1817  spent 
over  6,000/.  on  the  castle.  In  his  time  (1818) 
40,OOOJ.  was  laid  out  rather  injudiciously  on 
the  restoration  of  the  cathedral ;  and  from  1800 
to  1820  about  twenty  new  churches  were 
consecrated  in  his  diocese.  For  the  opening 
of  St .  James's,  Guernsey,  in  1818,  he  composed 
a  sermon  on  1  Cor.  i.  10,  which,  as  he  was 
unable  to  deliver  it,  was  published  in  Eng- 
lish and  French  under  the  title  of  'Uni- 
formity and  Communion.'  With  his  wife, 
who  was  '  well  known  in  the  fashionable 
world '  (cf.  anecdote  in  WALPOLE,  Letters, 
vii.  63),  he  passed  many  years  in  Italy ;  to- 
wards the  end  of  his  life  he  became  very  deaf, 
and  Jus  'amiable,  generous,  and  yielding 
temper '  was  frequently '  mistaken  for  weak- 
ness' (Gent.  Mag.  1820,  ii.  183).  He  died  at 
Winchester  House,  Chelsea,  after  a  long  ill- 
Bees,  on  12  July  1820,  and  was  buried  in 
Winchester  Cathedral,  where  a  monument 
by  Chantry,  with  a  kneeling  effigy  in  high 
relief,  was  erected  to  his  memory  on  the  north 
side  of  the  altar  in  the  lady-chapel. 

He  married,  on  17  Jan.  1771,  Henrietta 


Maria,  daughter  and  coheiress  of  John  Bannis- 
ter. She  died  in  1796,  and  was  buried  in  the 
cathedral,  with  a  monument  by  Flaxman.  He 
left  three  daughters  and  two  sons,  of  whom 
the  elder,  Francis,  became  sixth  Earl  of  Guil- 
ford  on  the  death  of  his  cousin  Frederick,  fifth 
earl  [q.  v.]  The  sixth  earl  was  master  of  St. 
Cross  Hospital  (on  his  father's  presentation) 
from  1808  to  1855;  his  malversations  formed 
the  subject  of  a  judicial  inquiry  in  1853. 
The  younger  son.  Charles  Augustus,  was 
made  prebendary  of  Winchester,  and  his  son 
Brownlow  [q.  v.J  was  appointed  by  his  grand- 
father, while  still  an  infant,  registrar  of  the 
diocese.  The  bishop  also  granted  to  mem- 
bers of  his  family  very  long  leases  of  the 
property  of  the  see  at  nominal  fines  (BENHAM, 
Winchester  Diocese,  p.  228). 

North  published  nine  sermons.  He  is  said 
to  have  been  generous  to  literary  men  (Hasted 
dedicated  to  him  the  fourth  volume  of  the 
'  History  of  Kent'),  and  he  used  his  influence 
with  his  half-brother  on  behalf  of  Thomas 
Warton  (NICHOLS,  Lit.  Anecd.  v.  658).  He 
was  F.S.A.  and  F.L.S. 

His  portrait  was  twice  painted  by  Henry 
Howard,  R.A.  Both  pictures  were  three- 
quarter-lengths  in  the  robes  of  the  Garter.  Of 
the  earlier,  in  which  he  is  represented  stand- 
ing, there  is  a  large  engraving  by  J.  Bond, 
and  a  small  adaptation  in  Nichols's '  Literary 
Anecdotes,'  ix.  668-9,  which  corresponds  to 
a  reduced  replica  of  the  picture  by  Howard, 
now  at  Wroxton ;  of  the  later  picture,  painted 

1819,  there   are   copies  at  All  Souls  and 
Trinity  Colleges,  and  a  large  engraving  by 
S.  W.  Reynolds.  A  third  portrait  by  Natha- 
niel Dance  is  at  Hampton  Court.   His  wife's 
portrait  by  Romney  was  engraved  by  J.  R. 
Smith  in  1782. 

[Le  Neve's  Fasti,  ed.  Hardy;  Burke's  Peerage ; 
Baker's  Northamptonshire,  p.  526 ;  Gent.  Mag. 

1820,  ii.  183  (mainly  copied  from  Nichols,  ix. 
668-9);  Benham's  Dioc.  Hist.  Winchester;  Mit- 
ford's Farnham  Castle;  Watt's Bibl.  Brit.;  Hope 
Collection  of  Engraved  Portraits  in  the  Bodleian 
Library;  Valentine  Green's  History  of  Worces- 
ter; Cassan's  Bishops  of  Winchester;  Smith  and 
Onslow's  Dioc.  Hist.  Worcester ;  Abbej's  Eng- 
lish Church  and  its  Bishops.]          H.  E.  D.  B. 

NORTH,  BROWNLOW  (1810-1875), 
lay-preacher,  born  at  Winchester  House, 
Chelsea,  on  6  Jan.  1810,  was  the  only  son  of 
Charles  Augustus  North,  rector  of  Alver- 
stoke,  Hampshire,  and  prebendary  of  Win- 
chester, grandson  of  Brownlow  North,  bishop 
of  Winchester  fq.  v.],  and  was  grand-nephew 
of  Frederick,  lord  North,  second  earl  of 
Guilford  [q.  v.]  In  1817  he  was  appointed 
to  the  sinecure  office  of  registrar  of  the 
diocese  of  Winchester,  in  reversion  upon  the 

L2 


North 


148 


North 


death  of  his  father.  When  nine  years  of  age 
he  went  to  Eton,  where  his  conduct  was  far 
from  exemplary,  and  on  the  death  of  his  father 
in  1825  he  was  sent  to  Corfu  to  be  under  the 
influence  of  his  cousin,  the  Earl  of  Guilford, 
chancellor  of  the  Ionian  Islands.  At  Corfu 
he  attended  a  theological  college  founded 
by  his  cousin,  but  owing  to  bad  behaviour 
he  had  to  be  sent  back  to  England,  and 
subsequently  travelled  abroad  under  a  tutor 
for  purposes  of  study.  While  in  Paris  he 
chanced  to  meet  his  tutor  one  evening  in  a 
gambling  saloon,  and  extracted  a  promise, 
under  threat  of  exposure,  that  they  should 
have  no  more  to  do  with  books.  Later  on, 
while  journeying  to  Rome,  North  won  from 
his  guardian  at  cards  the  money  which  was  to 
pay  the  expenses  of  their  tour.  Returning  to 
England,  he  became  notorious  for  his  fast  life. 
In  1828  he  went  to  Ireland,  and  in  that  year 
met  and  married  Grace  Anne,  second  daugh- 
ter of  the  Rev.  Thomas  Coffey,  D.D.,  of  Gal- 
way.  The  second  marriage  of  his  uncle, 
Francis,  sixth  Earl  of  Guilford,  barred  North 
from  the  title,  to  which  he  had  hoped  to  suc- 
ceed, and  placed  him  in  considerable  financial 
difficulties.  He  again  took  to  gambling  to  in- 
crease his  income,  but,  losing  instead  of  gain- 
ing, removed  to  Boulogne,  and,  misfortune 
still  attending  him,  joined  Don  Pedro's  army 
at  Oporto  in  1832.  On  the  close  of  the  cam- 
paign next  year  North  went  home,  and  for  five 
years  lived  the  life  of  an  English  gentleman, 
spending  most  of  his  time  on  Scottish  shoot- 
ing estates.  Influenced  by  the  Duchess  of 
Gordon  in  1839,  he  resolved  to  enter  holy 
orders,  and  after  consulting  his  friend,  Frede- 
rick Robertson  (afterwards  of  Brighton,  then 
at  Cheltenham)  [q.  v.],  he  went  to  Magdalen 
College,  Oxford,  and  graduated  in  1842.  An 
unwillingness  on  the  part  of  the  Bishop  of 
Lincoln  to  ordain  him,  together  with  some 
misgivings  of  his  own,  led  North  to  abandon 
his  project,  and  for  twelve  years  longer  he 
continued  in  his  youthful  ways.  One  night  in 
November  1854,  as  he  sat  playing  cards  in 
his  house  at  Dallas,  Morayshire,  he  was 
seized  with  a  sudden  illness,  and,  fearing  he 
was  to  die,  resolved  to  mend  his  life.  Speedily 
recovering,  he  kept  his  resolve,  and  retiring 
to  the  quiet  town  of  Elgin,  gradually  drifted 
into  religious  society,  and  subsequently  con- 
ducted evangelical  meetings.  His  success 
as  an  evangelist  was  rapid,  and  during  his 
later  years  he  visited  every  important  town 
in  Scotland.  He  also  visited  some  places  in 
England,  and  spoke  several  times  in  London. 
In  1859  the  Free  Church  of  Scotland  formally 
recognised  him  as  an  evangelist  by  resolution 
of  its  general  assembly,  and  in  that  year  he 
took  part  in  revivalist  meetings  in  Ulster. 


He  died  on  9  Nov.  1875  at  Tillechewan  Castle 
in  Dumbartonshire,  whither  he  had  gone  to 
fulfil  a  preaching  engagement.  He  was  buried 
in  the  Dean  cemetery,  Edinburgh. 

By  his  marriage  he  had  three  sons,  only 
one  of  whom  survived  him. 

North  published,  apart  from  tracts  and 
separately  issued  discourses:  1.  '  Ourselves' 
(1865),  an  evangelical  exhortation  suggested 
by  the  history  of  Israel,  which  reached  a 
10th  edition.  2.  <  Yes  or  No '  (1867),  which 
reached  a  3rd  edition.  3.  '  The  Rich  Man 
and  Lazarus '  (1869).  4.  '  The  Prodigal  Son  ' 
(1871). 

[Brownlow  North's  Records  and  Recollections, 
by  the  Rev.  K.  Moody-Stuart ;  Brit.  Mus,  Cat.] 

J.  R.  M. 

NORTH,  CHARLES  NAPIER  (1817- 
1869),  colonel,  born  12  Jan.  1817,  was  eldest 
son  of  Captain  Roger  North  (rf.  1822),  half- 
pay  71st  foot,  who  had  served  in  the  50th 
foot  under  Sir  Charles  James  Napier  [q.  v.] 
His  mother  was  Charlotte  Swayne  (d.  1843). 
On  20  May  1836  he  obtained  an  ensigncy  by 
purchase  in  ths  6th  foot,  became  lieutenant  on 
28  Dec.  1838,  and  served  with  that  regiment 
against  the  Arabs  at  Aden  in  1840-1.  He 
exchanged  to  the  60th  royal  rifles,  in  which 
he  got  his  company  on  28  Dec.  1848,  and 
served  with  the  1st  battalion  in  the  Punjab 
war  of  1849  at  the  second  siege  of  Multan 
(Mooltan),  the  battle  of  Goojerat  and  pur- 
suit of  the  enemy  to  the  mouth  of  the  Khyber 
Pass  (medal  and  two  clasps).  He  landed  at 
Calcutta  from  England  on  14  May  1857,  two 
days  before  the  arrival  of  the  news  of  the 
mutinies  at  Meerut  and  Delhi.  He  started 
to  join  his  battalion,  which  had  been  at 
Meerut,  and  in  which  he  got  his  majority  on 
19  June  1857,  but  on  the  way,  on  11  July, 
obtained  leave  to  join  the  column  under 
Havelock  [see  HAVELOCK,  SIR  HENRY],  and 
with  it,  first  as  a  volunteer  with  the  78th 
highlanders,  and  from  21  July  as  deputy 
judge  advocate  of  the  force,  was  present  in 
all  the  operations  ending  with  the  relief  of 
the  residency  of  Lucknow  on  25  Sept.  1857, 
and  the  subsequent  defence  until  the  arrival 
of  Sir  Colin  Campbell's  force  [see  CAMPBELL, 
SIR  COLIN,  LORD  CLYDE].  North  was  thanked 
by  the  governor-general  in  council  and  by 
General  Outram  for  '  the  readiness  and  re- 
source with  which  he  established  and  super- 
intended the  manufacture  of  Enfield  rifle 
cartridges,  a  valuable  service,  which  he  ren- 
dered without  any  relaxation  of  his  other 
duties,  in  the  course  of  which  he  was 
wounded '  (medal  and  clasp,  brevet  of  lieu- 
tenant-colonel, 1858,  and  a  year's  service  for 
Lucknow).  North  wrote  a  '  Journal  with 


North 


149 


North 


the  Army  in  India '  (London,  1858),  an 
accurate  little  narrative  of  personal  observa- 
tion from  May  1857  to  January  1858,  when 
he  was  invalided  home.  He  became  colonel 
by  brevet  on  30  March  1865,  ftnd  sold  out 
of  the  army  on  26  Oct.  1868.  He  died  at 
Bray,  co.  Wicklow,  on  20  Aug.  1869,  aged 
62.  By  his  directions  his  remains  were 
brought  to  England,  and  were  laid  by  his 
old  regiment  in  the  cemetery  at  Aldershot. 

[Information  supplied  by  the  war  office ; 
North's  Journal  with  the  Army  (London,  1858) ; 
Army  and  Navy  Gazette,  August  1869.] 

H.  M.  C. 

NORTH,  CHRISTOPHER  (pseudonym). 
[See  WILSON,  JOHN,  1785-1854,  professor  of 
moral  philosophy  at  Edinburgh.] 

NORTH,  DUDLEY,  third  LORD  NORTH 
(1581-1666),  eldest  son  of  Sir  John  North 
[q.  v.],  was  born  in  London  in  1581,  and 
succeeded  his  grandfather  Roger,  second  lord 
[q.  v.],  at  the  age  of  nineteen.  After  com- 
pleting his  education  at  Cambridge,  where, 
however,  he  did  not  graduate,  he  married,  in 
1599,  Frances,  daughter  of  Sir  John  Brockett 
of  Brockett  Hall,  Hertfordshire,  a  wife  not 
altogether  of  his  own  choice ;  she  was  barely 
sixteen  at  the  time.  He  tells  how  his  grand- 
father, after  a  desperate  illness,  lived  just 
long  enough  to  arrange  the  marriage,  while 
he  was  himself  disposed  to  wait  until  the 
age  of  thirty  at  the  least.  He  was,  according 
to  his  grandson  Roger,  a  person  full  of  spirit 
and  flame,'  and  he  chafed  at  the  thought  of 
finding  himself  'pent  and  engaged  to  wife 
and  children '  before  he  had  crossed  the 
sea  or  tasted  independence.  In  the  spring 
of  1602,  however,  he  set  forth  to  the  Low 
Countries  for  the  summer's  campaign,  ac- 
companied by  Mr.  Saunders,  a  cousin  of 
Sir  Dudley  Carleton.  Saunders  died  of  the 
plague  in  Italy,  and,  soon  after,  North  jour- 
neyed to  London  alone.  To  escape  the  in- 
fection, he  had  largely  dieted  himself  on  hot 
treacle,  and  to  the  immoderate  use  of  this 
preventive  he  repeatedly  ascribes  his  im- 
paired health  in  after  life.  On  his  return  to 
England  he  threw  himself  with  ardour  into 
the  extravagant  amusements  of  the  court, 
and  became  one  of  the  most  conspicuous 
figures  there.  He  was  a  finished  musician 
and  a  graceful  poet,  while  at  tilt  or  masque 
he  held  his  own  with  the  first  gallants  of  the 
day.  Congenial  tastes  had  won  for  him  the 
close  friendship  of  Prince  Henry ;  but  a  hasty 
and  imperious  temper,  on  the  other  hand, 
made  him  enemies.  Once  there  were  '  rough 
words  between  my  lord  chancellor  [Bacon] 
and  my  Lord  North  ;  the  occasion,  my  Lord 
North's  finding  fault  that  my  lord  chancellor, 


coming  into  the  house,  did  no  reverence,  as 
he  said  the  custom  was.' 

In  the  spring  of  1606  North's  health 
failed  him,  and  he  retired  to  Lord  Aberga- 
venny's  hunting  seat  of  Bridge  in  Kent.  The 
whole  of  the  surrounding  district  then  con- 
sisted of  uncultivated  forest,  without  a  single 
habitation  save  Bridge  itself  and  a  neigh- 
bouring cottage  on  the  road  to  London. 
While  returning  to  the  metropolis,  North 
noticed  near  the  cottage  a  clear  spring  of 
water,  which  bore  on  its  surface  a  shining 
scum,  and  left  in  its  course  down  a  neigh- 
bouring brook  a  ruddy,  ochreous  track.  He 
tasted  the  water,  at  the  same  time  sending 
one  of  his  servants  back  to  Bridge  for  some 
bottles  in  which  to  take  a  sample  to  his 
London  physician.  A  favourable  judgment 
was  pronounced  upon  the  quality  of  the 
springs,  which  became  known  as  Tunbridge 
Wells,  and  North  thus  first  discovered  the 
waters  of  that  subsequently  famous  resort. 
The  wells  grew  steadily  in  favour  until,  in 
1630,  the  fortunes  of  the  place  were  esta- 
blished by  a  visit  from  Queen  Henrietta 
Maria,  acting  under  the  advice  of  her  phy- 
sicians. North  also  made  known  the  virtues 
of  the  waters  of  Epsom,  and  counted  this  no 
small  boon  to  society;  for,  he  says,  'the 
Spaw  is  a  chargeable  and  inconvenient 
journey  to  sick  bodies,  besides  the  money  it 
caries  out  of  the  Kingdome,  and  inconvenience 
to  Religion.'  After  returning  to  drink  the 
waters  of  Tunbridge  Wells  lor  about  three 
months,  he  again  settled  in  London,  com- 
pletely healed  of  his  disorder.  On  4  June 
1610  he  was  in  attendance  on  Prince  Henry 
at  his  creation  as  Prince  of  Wales,  and  took 
part  in  the  tournament  by  which  the  occasion 
was  celebrated.  North's  impoverished  con- 
dition in  after  life  was  in  large  measure  due 
to  his  participation  in  such  entertainments. 
On  23  March  1612,  while  tilting  with  the 
Earl  of  Montgomery,  he  was  wounded  in  the 
arm  by  a  splintered  lance,  and  was  prevented 
from  taking  part  in  the  tournament  on 'Kings 
Day,'  the  anniversary  of  the  accession.  On 
27  April  1613  he  was  one  of  the  performers 
in  '  a  gallant  masque '  on  the  occasion  of  th« 
queen's  visit  to  Lord  Knollys  at  Caversham 
House. 

When  his  younger  brother  Roger  (1585  ?- 
1652  ?)  [q.  v.J  projected,  in  1619,  a  voyage  of 
exploration  to  Guiana,  North,  with  the  Earls 
of  Arundel,  Warwick,  and  others,  supplied 
funds  for  the  venture.  Roger  sailed  with- 
out leave,  and  North  was  committed  for  two 
days  to  the  Fleet,  on  the  charge  of  abetting 
his  brother.  His  warm  support  of  Roger's 
enterprise  also  led  him  into  a  quarrel  with 
John,  lord  Digby  [q.  v.] 


North 


North 


North  soon  regained  the  king's  favour.  He 
took  part  in  the  state  procession  to  St.  Paul's 
on  26  March  1620,  when  his  majesty  attended 
a  solemn  service  there, '  to  give  countenance 
and  encouragement  to  the  repairs  of  that 
ruinous  fabric  ;'  and  in  1622  he  conducted 
the  Venetian  and  Persian  ambassadors  to 
audiences  with  the  king.  But  he  was  no 
blind  supporter  of  the  new  king,  Charles, 
and  the  favourite,  Buckingham.  In  the  par- 
liament of  1626  he  was  prominent  among  the 
peers  in  opposition  in  the  House  of  Lords, 
and  was  closely  allied  with  William  Fiennes, 
lord  Saye  and  Sele.  Lord  Holland  said  of 
him  in  his  public  career,  '  he  knew  no  man 
less  svrayed  with  passion,  and  sooner  carried 
with  reason  and  justice.' 

Subsequently  North  spent  much  time  at 
Kirtling,  and  was  soon  content  to  learn 
what  was  passing  in  London  from  the  letters 
of  his  brother,  Sir  John  North,  the  king's 
gentleman-usher.  In  March  1637  he  vainly 
protested  against  the  demolition  of  the  church 
of  '  St.  Gregory  by  Paul's,'  which  was  the 
burial-place  of  his  father,  and  wrote  two 
poems  lamenting  its  destruction. 

In  February  1639  North  attended  Charles  I 
at  York,  in  the  expedition  to  Scotland ;  but 
he  soon  returned  to  Kirtling,  resolved  to 
devote  himself  exclusively  to  'the  oeconomy 
of  his  soule  and  family.'  Nevertheless  public 
affairs  caused  him  continual  anxiety,  and, 
after  the  dissolution  of  the  Short  parliament, 
he  signed,  in  August  1640,  with  seventeen 
other  peers,  a  petition  praying  that  a  par- 
liament might  be  summoned  with  all  speed. 
In  November  1640  the  calling  of  the  Long 
parliament,  which  required  North's  presence 
in  London,  filled  him  with  new  hope.  In 
his  letters  to  his  family  and  friends  he  ex- 
pressed his  faith  in  the  king's '  wisdom,  good- 
ness, and  constancy,'  and  was  ready  to  vote 
plentiful  supplies.  He  was  no  bitter  partisan 
in  church  matters.  '  I  would  be  sorry,'  he 
says, 'to  see  cutting  of  throats  for  Discipline 
and  Ceremonie  ;  Charity  ought  to  yeeld  farre 
in  things  indifferent.  But  must  all  the 
yeelding  be  on  the  governours'  part  ?  '  At 
the  close  of  the  year  he  returned  to  Kirtling, 
but  the  course  of  affairs  apparently  drew 
him  to  the  side  of  the  Commons,  although 
he  took  no  part  in  the  civil  war.  In  1645  he 
was  placed  by  the  parliament,  with  the  Earls 
of  Northumberland,  Essex,  Warwick,  and 
others,  on  a  commission  for  the  manage- 
ment of  the  affairs  of  the  admiralty,  and 
he  served  as  lord-lieutenant  of  Cambridge- 
shire. 

His  later  years,  owing  to  ill-health  and  a 
greatly  impaired  fortune,  were  passed  quietly 
m  the  country  at  Kirtling,  where  also  re- 


sided his  son  Sir  Dudley,  with  his  wife  and 
children;  Roger,  and  Francis,  the  future 
lord-keeper,  and  North's  widowed  eldest 
daughter,  Lady  Dacres.  Sir  Dudley's  wife 
made  it  a  grievance  that  her  husband  was 
required  by  his  father  to  contribute  from 
200/.  to  300£  a  year  towards  household  ex- 
penses. When  his  fortune  and  family  in- 
creased, the  sum  touched  400/.,  sinking  again 
in  1649  to  300Z.  His  son's  children  took 
part  with  their  mother,  and  his  grandson 
Roger  gave  him  a  grim  aspect  in  his  '  Life  of 
the  Lord-keeper  Guilford.'  Francis  was  at 
one  time  an  especial  favourite  with  his 
grandfather,  who,  when  the  young  man  was 
rising  at  the  bar,  loved  to  hear  from  him  all 
the  gossip  from  town,  to  listen  to  his  fiddling, 
or  play  a  game  of  backgammon  with  him. 
But  he  gave  offence  by  some  interference  with 
the  domestic  arrangements,  and  the  old  lord 
cut  him  out  of  his  will,  and  professedly  cast 
him  off  altogether,  but  had  still  a  lurking 
affection  for  him,  '  and  was — teeth  outwards 
— kind  to  him,'  as  Roger  puts  it.  To  his  son 
Dudley,  North  finally  gave  up  the  control 
of  his  estates,  receiving  only  an  annual  pay- 
ment. '  I  have  made  myself  his  pensioner,' 
wrote  the  old  man, '  and  I  wish  no  worldly 
happiness  more  than  his  prosperity.'  He  was, 
however,  long  an  active  justice  of  the  peace  ; 
and,  besides  interesting  himself  in  gardening, 
'  found  employment  with  many  airy  enter- 
tainments,' his  grandson  Roger  wrote,  '  as 
poetry,  writing  essays,  building,  making 
mottoes  and  inscriptions.'  He  was  an  accom- 
plished player  on  the  treble  viol,  and  de- 
lighted to  gather  his  family  and  household 
to  join  in  concert  with  him,  singing  songs 
the  words  of  which  he  had  himself  composed. 
About  a  mile  from  Kirtling  lay  a  wood  called 
Bansteads,  in  Avhich  he  cut  glades  and  made 
arbours,  and  '  no  name  would  fit  the  place 
but  Tempe.  Here  he  would  convoke  his 
musical  family,  and  songs  were  made  and 
set  for  celebrating  the  joys  there,  which  were 
performed,  and  provisions  carried  up.' 

North  was  an  author  on  divers  subjects. 
An  excellent  French  scholar,  he  translated 
into  that  language  many  passages  from  scrip- 
ture, which  he  committed  to  memory,  and 
repeated  each  morning  before  rising.  Of  his 
essays  and  other  prose  works,  the  greater 
number  were  written  during  the  years  1637- 
1644 ;  the  poems,  he  tells  us,  were,  for  the 
most  part,  of  earlier  date.  '  The  idle  hours 
of  three  months  brought  them  forth,  except 
some  few,  the  children  of  little  more  than 
my  childhood.'  In  1645  he  made  a  miscel- 
laneous collection  of  his  essays,  letters, poems, 
devotional  meditations,  and '  characters.'  This 
very  rare  and  curious  work  was  privately 


North 


North 


printed,  under  the  title  of  'A  Forest  of 
Varieties.'  A  copy,  which  belonged  to  the 
late  C.  A.  North,  bears  a  dedication  to 
Elizabeth,  queen  of  Bohemia.  After  correc- 
tion and  expurgation  it  was  published,  in 
1657,  under  the  title  of  'A  Forest  promis- 
cuous of  various  Seasons'  Productions,'  with 
a  dedication  addressed  to  the  university  of 
Cambridge. 

North  died  at  Kirtling,  aged  85,  on  16  Jan. 
1666.  His  wife  outlived  him  till  1677,  and 
was  buried  by  his  side  at  Kirtling.  Three  of 
Lord  North's  six  children  survived  him : 
Sir  Dudley,  who  succeeded  his  father  in 
the  barony,  and  is  noticed  separately  ;  John, 
who  married  Sara,  widow  of  Charles  Drury 
of  Rougham,  Suffolk,  and  was  afterwards 
twice  married,  to  wives  whose  names  are 
unrecorded ;  and  Dorothy,  who  married  in 
St.  Margaret's  Church,  Westminster,  4  Jan. 
1625,  Richard,  lord  Dacres  of  the  South, 
and,  secondly,  Challoner  Chute  of  the  Vyne, 
Hampshire :  '  no  great  preferment,'  writes 
Chamberlain  of  the  first  match,  '  for  so  fine 
a  gentlewoman  to  have  a  widower  with  two 
or  three  sons  at  the  least.'  Three  children 
died  unmarried  during  their  father's  lifetime — 
namely,  Charles,  Robert,  and  Elizabeth.  The 
latter  caught  '  a  spotted  fever  akin  to  the 
plague,'  which  was  raging  in  London  in  the 
summer  of  1624;  and,  being  sent  with  her 
mother  to  Tunbridge  Wells,  died  there  in 
August,  almost  immediately  on  her  arrival, 
before  she  had  tasted  the  waters. 

There  are  two  portraits  of  North,  by 
Cornelius  Janssen  ;  one  of  these  is  at  Wal- 
dershare,  the  other  at  Wroxton.  In  the 
latter  he  is  represented  in  an  elaborately 
embroidered  suit  of  black  and  silver.  A  third 
portrait  of  him  is  in  the  collection  at  Kirt- 
ling. These  pictures  show  him  to  have  been 
tall  and  handsome,  with  abundant  hair  of 
a  warm  colour,  inclining  to  red. 

[A  Forest  of  Varieties,  by  Dudley,  third  lord 
North;  A  Forest  promiscuous  of  several  Seasons' 
Productions,  by  Dudley,  third  lord  North ; 
Autobiography  of  the  Hon.  Roger  North,  ed. 
Jessopp,  pp.  68-9  ;  Cal.  State  Papers  (addenda), 
vol.  clxxi.  No.  66,  Dom.  vol.  cccclxv.  No.  19 ; 
Camden's  Annals;  Gardiner's  History  of  Eng- 
land ;  Hume's  History  of  England,  vi.  259 ; 
Letters  of  Dorothy  Osborn,  ed.  Parry,  p.  25  ; 
Letters  of  Sir  John  North,  K.B.  (unpublished) ; 
North's  Life  of  the  Lord-keeper  Guilford  ;  Lin- 
gard's  History  of  England,  ix.  361;  Nichols's 
Progresses  of  King  James  I,  ii.  324,  361,  497, 
629,  729,  iii.  964,  iv.  594,  768 ;  Sidney  State 
Papers,  ii.  223,  575  ;  State  Papers.  Dom.  Eliz. 
vol.  cclxxxiv.  Nos.  14,  37,  James  I,  vol.  Ixviii. 
No.  83,  vol.  cxv.  No.  33.  Charles  I,  vol.  ccccxiii. 
No.  3 ;  Owen's  Weekly  Chronicle  and  West- 
minster Journal,  5-12  July  1766;  Pepys's  Diary 


(Braybrooke's  edit.),  p.  25 ;  Walpole's  Royal  and 
Noble  Authors,  p.  o70 ;  Will  of  Dudley,  third 
lord  North.]  j\  jj_ 

NORTH,  DUDLEY,fourthBARox  NORTH 
(1602-1677),  eldest  son  of  Dudley,  third  lord 
North  [q.v.],  by  Frances,  daughter  of  Sir  John 
Brockett,  was  born  in  1602,  probably  at  the 
Charterhouse,  and  seems  to  have  been  in  fre- 
quent attendance  even  from  childhood  at  the 
court  of  James  I.  On  the  creation  of  Charles, 
prince  of  Wales,  in  November  1616,  he  was 
made  knight  of  the  Bath,  being  one  of  four 
youths,  the  eldest  of  whom  was  fifteen  and 
the  youngest  in  his  tenth  year.  About  1619 
he  entered  as  a  fellow  commoner  at  St.  John's 
College,  Cambridge,  but  never  proceeded  to 
any  degree.  His  university  career  was  brought 
to  a  close  by  hi  s  j  oining  the  regiment  of  volun- 
teers who  embarked,  under  the  command  of 
Sir  Horace  Vere,  on  22  July  1620  for  the 
relief  of  the  Palatinate,  and  he  was  probably 
with  the  remnants  of  the  force  that  were 
allowed  to  march  out  of  Mannheim  with 
military  honours  when  Vere  was  compelled 
to  surrender  the  town  on  28  Oct.  1622. 
During  the  next  ten  years  he  disappears  from 
our  notice.  He  travelled  in  Italy,  France, 
and  Spain,  and  for  three  years  '  served  in 
Holland,  commanding  a  foot  company  in  our 
sovereign's  pay.'  During  this  period  he  was 
but  little  in  England. 

On  24  April  1632  he  married  Anne,  one  of 
the  daughters  of  Sir  Charles  Montagu  of 
Cranbrook  Hall  in  Essex,  brother  of  Sir 
Henry  Montagu,  first  earl  of  Manchester 
[q.  v.],  and  with  her  received  a  considerable 
fortune.  During  the  first  few  years  of  his 
married  life  he  lived  with  his  wife  and  family 
at  Kirtling, Cambridgeshire,  payinghis  father 
a  handsome  allowance  for  his  board.  In  1638 
he  bought  an  estate  at  Tostock  in  Suffolk, 
and  here  some  of  his  children  were  born.  He 
entered  parliament  as  knight  of  the  shire  for 
the  county  of  Cambridge  in  1640,  and  'went 
along  as  the  saints  led  him,' says  his  son  Roger, 
'  till  the  army  took  off  the  mask  and  excluded 
him  from  the  Parliament '  in  1653.  After  the 
Restoration  he  wrote  a  brief  account  of  his 
experience  in  the  House  of  Commons,  under 
the  title  of  '  Passages  relating  to  the  Long 
Parliament,'  which  is  printed  in  the  '  Somers 
Tracts.'  In  1669  there  appeared  his  'Ob- 
servations and  Advices  Economical,'  Lon- 
don, 8vo,  a  treatise  dealing  with  the  manage- 
ment of  household  and  family  affairs.  His 
remaining  work, '  Light  in  the  Way  to  Para- 
dise: with  other  Occasionals' (London,  8vo, 
Brit.  Mus.),  appeared  posthumously  in  1682. 
It  consists  of  essays  on  religious  subjects,  and 
to  it  are  appended  '  A  Sunday's  Meditation 
upon  Eternity,'  '  Of  Original  Sin,' '  A  Dis- 


North 


152 


North 


course  some  time  intended  as  an  addition  to 
my  Observations  and  Advices  Q^conomical,' 
and  '  Some  Notes  concerning  the  Life  of 
Edward,  Lord  North.'  In  an  '  Essay  upon 
Death '  contained  in  this  work,  he  deplores 
that  in  England,  'where  Christianity  is  pro- 
fessed, the  number  of  those  who  believe  in 
subsistence  after  death  is  very  small,  and 
especially  among  the  vulgar,'  and  the  work 
contains  some  interesting  remarks  upon  the 
various  forms  of  faith  in  vogue  at  the  time. 

When  the  Convention  parliament  was  sum- 
moned to  meet  in  April  1660,  he  was,  under 
strong  pressure  of  his  fat  her  and  much  against 
his  own  inclination,  induced  to  contest  the 
county  of  Cambridge  in  the  royalist  interest ; 
he  and  his  colleague,  Sir  Thomas  Willis,  were, 
however,  defeated  at  the  poll,  and  he  had  to 
content  himself  with  a  seat  as  representative 
for  the  borough.  When  the  parliament  was 
dissolved  in  December  he  did  not  seek  re- 
election, and  from  this  time  he  lived  in  retire- 
ment at  Kirtling,  except  that  in  1669  he  was 
summoned  to  take  his  seat  in  the  House  of 
Lords,  two  years  after  his  father's  death.  He 
was  a  man  of  studious  habits  and  of  many  ac- 
complishments, an  enthusiastic  musician,  and 
fond  of  art ;  but  he  is  chiefly  to  be  remem- 
bered as  the  father  of  that  remarkable  brother- 
hood, of  whom  Roger,  the  youngest,  has  given 
so  delightful  an  account  in  the  well-known 
'  Lives  of  the  Norths.'  North  died  at  Kirt- 
ling, and  was  buried  there  on  27  June  1677. 

His  wife,  a  lady  of  noble  and  lofty  charac- 
ter, survived  till  February  1683-4 ;  by  her 
he  had  a  family  of  fourteen  children,  ten  of 
whom  grew  to  maturity,  while  four — Francis, 
Dudley,  John,  and  Roger — are  noticed  sepa- 
rately. Charles,  the  eldest  son,  who  was 
granted  a  peerage  during  his  father's  life- 
time as  Lord  Grey  of  Rolleston,  eventually 
succeeded  his  father  as  fifth  Baron  North ; 
Montagu,  the  fifth  son,  was  a  London  mer- 
chant, whose  career  was  spoilt  by  his  having 
been  made  a  prisoner  of  war,  and  confined 
for  three  years  in  the  castle  of  Toulon  at  the 
beginning  of  the  reign  of  William  and  Mary. 
Of  the  daughters,  Mary,  the  eldest,  was  mar- 
ried to  Sir  William  Spring  of  Pakenham, 
Suffolk ;  the  second,  Ann,  married  Mr.  Ro- 
bert Foley  of  Stourbridge  in  Worcestershire ; 
Elizabeth,  the  third,  married,  first,  Sir 
Robert  Wiseman,  dean  of  the  arches,  and 
after  his  death  William,  second  earl  of  Yar- 
mouth; Christian,  the  youngest  daughter, 
married  Sir  George  Wyneyve  of  Brettenham, 
Suffolk. 

[For  this  article  Lady  Frances  Bushby  has 
placed  at  the  writer's  disposal  a  valuable  manu- 
script memoir  drawn  up  by  herself.  See  also 
Lives  of  the  Norths  in  Bonn's  Standard  Library 


1890,  ed.  Jessopp ;  Nichols's  Progresses  of  King 
James  I ;  Cooper's  Annals  of  Cambridge  (Roger 
North's  mistake  of  confounding  Sir  Francis  Vere, 
who  died  in  1608,  with  his  younger  brother,  Sir 
Horace,  has  been  copied  by  all  writers  since) ; 
parish  register  of  Kirtling.]  A.  J. 

NORTH,  SIR  DUDLEY  (1641-1691), 
financier  and  economist,  was  born  in  King 
Street,  Westminster,  on  16  May  1641.  He 
was  the  third  son  of  Dudley,  fourth  lord 
North  [q.  v.],  by  Anne,  daughter  of  Sir 
Charles  Montagu  [q.  v.]  In  his  childhood  he 
was  stolen  by  a  beggar-woman  for  the  sake 
of  his  clothes,  but  was  soon  recovered  from 
her  clutches.  He  was  sent  to  school  at 
Bury  St.  Edmunds  under  Dr.  Stevens,  who 
took  a  strong  dislike  to  the  boy,  and  treated 
him  so  harshly  that  he  continued  through 
life  to  entertain  for  his  old  schoolmaster 
a  feeling  of  deep  animosity.  He  showed 
no  taste  for  books,  and  was  early  intended 
for  a  mercantile  life,  and,  after  spending 
some  time  at  a  'writing  school'  in  London, 
he  was  bound  apprentice  to  a  Mr.  Davis,  a 
Turkey  merchant,  who  appears  to  have  been 
in  no  very  large  way  of  business,  though 
trading  with  Russia  and  in  the  Mediter- 
ranean. In  1661  North  was  sent  as  super- 
cargo in  a  vessel  bound  for  Archangel.  On 
the  return  voyage  she  sailed  for  Leghorn,  and 
finally  to  Smyrna,  where  he  took  up  his  re- 
sidence for  some  years  as  agent  or  factor  for 
his  master's  firm,  and  soon  made  himself 
so  necessary,  and  managed  the  business  so 
adroitly,  that  he  contrived  not  only  to  increase 
his  employer's  trade,  but  to  add  materially  to 
his  own  small  capital.  In  consequence  of 
some  disagreement  with  his  partner  he  came 
back  to  England  to  make  new  friends,  and 
shortly  after  his  return  to  Smyrna,  about 
1662,  he  received  an  oft'er  to  take  the  manage- 
ment of  an  important  house  of  business  in  Con- 
stantinople, and  rapidly  became  the  leading 
merchant  in  the  Turkey  Company,  of  which 
he  was  elected  treasurer.  His  influence  at 
Constantinople  was  so  great  that  there  was 
at  one  time  some  likelihood  of  his  being  ap- 
pointed ambassador  at  Constantinople,  in  the 
room  of  Sir  John  Finch  (1626-1682)  [q.  v.]r 
whose  mission  was  not  a  success.  He  came 
back  to  England  finally  in  the  autumn  of 
1680,  having  taken  care  previously  to  commit 
his  business  to  the  charge  of  his  brother 
Montagu,  and  he  appears  to  have  already 
realised  a  large  fortune,  though  he  was  not 
yet  forty  years  old.  His  brother  Francis 
was  at  this  time  chief  justice  of  the  common 
pleas,  and  looking  forward  to  the  woolsack, 
and  Dudley  may  well  have  thought  that  a 
career  at  home  was  open  to  himself.  He 
arrived  to  find  his  mother  still  alive,  though. 


North 


153 


North 


his  father  had  died  three  years  before,  and 
his  eldest  brother,  Charles,  had  succeeded  to 
the  peerage.  He  took  a  large  house  in  Basing- 
hall  Street,  and  at  once  became  a  leading 
man  in  the  city  of  London.  .  When  in  the 
judgment  of  the  court  party  it  became  de- 
sirable that  at  least  one  of  the  sheriffs  of 
London  should  be  a  supporter  of  the  crown, 
it  was  resolved  that,  to  insure  this  end, 
the  custom  should  be  revived  of  allowing  the 
lord  mayor  to  appoint  one  of  the  sheriffs, 
while  the  choice  of  the  other  was  left  to  the 
livery.  The  king  determined  that  Dudley 
North  should  be  nominated  by  the  lord  mayor, 
and,  after  much  turmoil  and  violent  opposi- 
tion, he  was  sworn  sheriff  accordingly  in  June 

1682  (Examen,  pp.  598-610).    He  conducted 
himself  in  his  year  of  office  with  remarkable 
courage  and  tact,  and  the   hospitalities  of 
his  position  were  unbounded.     During  his 
shrievalty  he  was  knighted,  and  about  the 
same  time  he  married  Ann,  the  widow  pf  Sir 
Robert  Gunning  of  Cold  Ashton,  Gloucester- 
shire, and  only  child  of  Sir  Robert  Cann, 
a  wealthy  merchant  of  Bristol.     This  lady 
brought  him  a  large  accession  of  fortune.    In 

1683  he  was  appointed  one  of  the  commis- 
sioners for  the  customs,  and  subsequently  was 
removed  to  the  treasury.     In  both  these  de- 
partments of  the  public  service  he  was  enabled 
to  carry  out  important  administrative  reforms. 
On  the  death  of  Charles  II  it  was  thought 
advisable  that  he  should  return  to  the  com- 
mission of  the  customs,  and  he  then  entered 
parliament  as  member  for  Banbury.     During 
the  next  three  years  he  found  need  for  all  his 
caution  and  vigilance ;  but  he  continued  to 
be  respected  by  James  II,  though  Lord  Go- 
dolphin  found  him  by  no  means  as  pliable  as 
he  desired,  and  quarrelled  with  him  accord- 
ingly.  When  William  of  Orange  landed,  and 
the  majority  of  the  tories  who  had  been  more 
or  less  compromised  as!  Jacobites  fled  across  the 
Channel,  North  refused  to  leave  London ;  he 
even  increased  his  trading  ventures,  and  re- 
tained his  post  at  the  customs  for  some  time 
after  the  new  king's  election  to  the  throne  had 
become  an  established  fact.  When  the '  murder 
committee  '  began  its  inquiries  (MACATJLAY, 
Hist,  of  England,  chap,  xv.),  Sir  Dudley  was 
subjected  to  a  severe  examination  for  the  part 
which  it  was  assumed  he  had  taken  in  packing 
the  juries  who  condemned  Algernon  Sidney, 
lord  Russell,  and  other  prominent  whigs  in 
1682.   No  evidence  was  forthcoming,  and  the 
inquiry  was  allowed  to  drop.   From  this  time 
till  his  death  he  appears  to  have  occupied 
himself  chiefly  in  commercial  ventures  on  a 
large  scale,  and  in   managing  the  money 
matters  of  the  lord-keeper's  children.    Roger 
North  gives  an  amusing  account  of  the  two 


brothers'  way  of  life  in  those  years  when 
both  were  practically  shelved  men,  and  vet 
found  ample  occupation  for  their  time.  He 
died  in  what  had  been  formerly  Sir  Peter 
Lely's  house  in  Covent  Garden  on  31  Dec. 
1691.  He  was  buried  in  Covent  Garden 
church,  whence  twenty-five  years  later  his 
body  was  removed  to  Glemham  in  Suffolk, 
where  he  had  purchased  an  estate  and  spent 
large  sums  in  rebuilding  the  house  and  im- 
proving the  property.  His  widow  survived 
him  many  years,  and  never  married  again. 
By  her  he  had  two  sons.  The  younger  died 
early  and  unmarried,  while  the  elder,  Dudley, 
of  Little  Glemham,  Suffolk,  succeeded  to  the 
family  property,  and  left  sons,  who  died  with- 
out issue,  and  two  daughters,  Ann  and  Mary. 

Macaulay,  though  entertaining  a  fierce  bias 
against  the  Norths,  cannot  withhold  the  tri- 
bute of  admiration  for  Sir  Dudley's  genius, 
and  pronounces  him  'one  of  the  ablest  men 
of  his  time.'  The  tract  on  the  'Currency,' 
which  he  printed  only  a  few  months  before 
his  death,  anticipated  the  views  of  Locke  and 
Adam  Smith,  and  he  was  one  of  the  earliest 
economists  who  advocated  free  trade.  In 
person  he  was  tall,  and  of  great  strength  and 
vigour.  He  was  a  remarkable  linguist,  with 
a  perfect  command  of  Turkish  and  the  dialects 
in  use  in  the  Levant.  A  younger  son  of  a 
father  of  very  straitened  means,  his  career 
was  of  his  own  making.  By  sheer  ability 
and  force  of  character  he  had  won  for  him- 
self a  place  in  English  politics  before  he  was 
forty,  after  being  absent  in  the  east  for  more 
than  twenty  years ;  and  had  he  been  anything 
but  the  staunch  Jacobite  he  was,  his  place  in 
history  would  have  been  more  conspicuous, 
though  hardly  more  honourable. 

A  portrait  by  Sir  Peter  Lely  was  engraved 
by  G.  Vertue  in  1743  for  the  'Lives  of  the 
Norths.' 

[Roger  North's  Examen  and  Lives  of  the 
Norths,  and  the  sources  given  in  the  Life  of  the 
Lord-keeper  Guilford.  See  also  Roger  North's 
Autobiography;  Macpherson's  Annals  of  Com- 
merce, ii.  342  et  seq.,  iii.  598  et  seq. ;  Burnet's 
Hist,  of  his  Own  Time,  pp.  621,  622  ;  Complete 
Hist,  of  England,  fol.,  1706,  vol.  iii.;  Howell's 
State  Trials,  ir.  187  ;  McCulloch's  Discourses,  p. 
37.]  A.  J. 

NORTH,  DUDLEY  LONG  (1748-1 829), 
politician,  baptised  14  March  1748,  was  the 
second  son  of  Charles  Long  (b.  1705,  d.  16  Oct. 
1778),  who  married  Mary,  second  daughter 
and  coheiressof  Dudley  North  of  Little  Glem- 
ham, Suffolk,  and  granddaughter  of  Sir  Dud- 
ley North  [q.  v.]  She  died  on  10  May  1770, 
aged  55,  and  her  husband  was  buried  in  the 
same  vault  with  her,  in  the  south  aisle  of 
Saxmundham  Church.  Dudley  was  educated 


North 


North 


at  the  grammar  school  of  Bury  St.  Edmunds, 
and  at  Emmanuel  College,  Cambridge,  gra- 
duating B.A.  1771,  M.A.  1774,  and  attaining 
much  popularity  among  its  members  (Notes 
and  Queries,  2nd  ser.  ix.  510).  On  the  death, 
in  1789,  of  his  aunt  Anne,  widow  of  the 
Honourable  Nicholas  Herbert,  he  assumed, 
in  compliance  with  the  terms  of  her  will,  the 
name  and  arms  of  North,  and  acquired  the 
estate  of  Little  Glemham ;  and  in  1812,  when 
his  elder  brother,  Charles  Long,  of  Hurts  Hall, 
Saxmundham,  died,  he  resumed  the  name 
and  arms  of  Long,  in  addition  to  those  of 
North.  Being  possessed  of  considerable 
wealth  and  family  influence,  he  sat  in  par- 
liament for  many  years.  On  the  nomination 
of  the  Eliots  he  represented  the  Cornish 
borough  of  St.  Germans  from  1780  to  1784. 
From  1784  to  1790,  and  from  that  year  un- 
til 1796,  he  was  returned  for  Great  Grimsby, 
his  election  in  June  1790  being  declared  void  ; 
but  the  electors  returned  him  again  on  1 7  April 
1793.  As  a  distant  relative  of  Frederick 
North,  second  earl  of  Guilford  [q.  v.],  who 
then  ruled  the  constituency,  he  sat  for  Ban- 
bury  from  1790  to  1802,  and  from  1802  to 
1806.  At  the  general  election  in  1806  he  was 
defeated,  by  ten  votes  to  six,  by  William 
Praed,  jun. :  but  when  they  renewed  the  con- 
test at  the  dissolution  in  1807  there  was  an 
equality  of  votes.  A  double  return  was  made, 
and  afresh  election  took  place,  when  North, 
who  had  also  been  returned  for  the  borough 
of  Newtown  in  the  Isle  of  Wight,  but  had 
accepted  the  Chiltern  Hundreds,  was  again 
chosen  for  Banbury  by  five  votes  to  three, 
and  represented  it  until  1812.  He  was  mem- 
ber for  Richmond  in  Yorkshire  from  1812  to 
1818,  and  for  the  Jedburgh  boroughs  from 
1818  to  1820.  In  the  latter  year  he  was 
again  returned  for  Newtown,  but  took  the 
Chiltern  Hundreds  on  9  Feb.  1821.  After 
an  illness  which  had  for  some  years  secluded 
him  from  society,  he  died  at  Brompton,  Lon- 
don, on  21  Feb.  1829,  without  issue.  A 
full-length  statue  of  him,  sculptured  in  Italy, 
is  in  Little  Glemham  Church.  He  married 
on  6  Nov.  1802,  by  special  licence,  at  her 
father's  house  in  Arlington  Street,  London, 
the  Hon.  Sophia  Pelham,  eldest  daughter  of 
Charles  Anderson  Pelham,  the  first  lord 
Yarborough  (Hanover  Square  Registers,  H  ar- 
leian  Soc.  ii.  269). 

North  was  a  prominent  whig,  one  of  the 
chief  associates  in  parliament  of  Fox,  and  a 
trusted  adviser  in  the  consultations  of  his 
party.  His  dinners  were  famous  in  the  poli- 
tical world,  and  helped  to  keep  the  whigs 
together.  An  impediment  in  his  speech  pre- 
vented him  from  speaking  in  the  House  of 
Commons,  but  his  sound  judgment  led  to  his 


being  selected  as  one  of  the  managers  of  the 
trial  of  Warren  Hastings.  He  was  a  mourner 
at  the  funeral  of  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds,  and  a 
pallbearer  at  Burke's  funeral.  A  long  letter 
from  Burke  to  him  on  the  death  of  Lord  John 
Cavendish  is  printed  in  Burke's  '  Works'  (ed. 
1852,  ii.  362-3) ;  and  he  is  often  mentioned  in 
Wyndham's  'Diary '(pp.  76-83, 219).  A  sharp 
sarcasm  of  North  on  the  acceptance  by  Tierney 
of  office  in  the  Addington  administration  is 
preserved  in  the  account  of  Gillray's  '  Cari- 
catures '  by  Wright  and  Evans  (p.  106) ;  and 
it  was  North  who,  when  asked  by  Gibbon  to 
repeat  to  him  Sheridan's  words  of  praise,  re- 
plied, '  Oh !  he  said  something  about  your 
voluminous  pages.'  As  a  friend  of  Mrs.Thrale, 
he  was  introduced  to  Dr.  Johnson,  who  jested 
on  his  name,  and  described  him  as  '  a  man  of 
genteel  appearance,  and  that  is  all ; '  but,  as 
Bos  well  hastens  to  add,  he  was '  distinguished 
amongst  his  acquaintance  for  acuteness  of 
wit.'  North  helped  Crabbe  with  gift  s  of  money 
and  supported  his  application  for  holy  orders. 
[Gent.  Mag.  1829,  pt.  i.  pp.  208,  282;  Beesley's 
Banbury,  pp.  539-42  ;  Page's  Suppl.  to  the  Suf- 
folk Traveller,  pp.  183,  191  ;  Courtney's  Parl. 
Kepresentati  on  of  C  ornwall ,  p .  2  9  3 ;  Tom  Moore's 
Memoirs,  iv.  231,  v.  30,  223  ;  Boswell,  ed.  Hill, 
iv.  75-82;  Madame  d'Arblay's  Diary,  ii.  14; 
Dr.  Barney's  Memoirs,  iii.  241;  Crabbe's  Works 
(1851  ed.),  pp.  13, 28, 43, 58  ;  Leslie  and  Taylor's 
Sir  J.  Eeynolds,  ii.  633.]  W.  P.  C 

NORTH,  EDWARD,  first  BAKOX  NOETH 
(1496  P-1564),  chancellor  of  the  court  of 
augmentations,  born  about  1496,  was  the  only 
son  of  Roger  North,  a  citizen  of  London,  by 
Christian,  daughter  of  Richard  Warcup  of 
Sconington,  Yorkshire,  and  widow  of  Ralph 
Warren.  He  was  brought  up  at  St.  Paul's 
School  under  William  Lily  [q.  v.]  His  father 
died  in  1509,  when  the  boy  was  in  his  four- 
teenth year,  and  he  was  entered  some  time 
afterwards  at  Peterhouse,  Cambridge ;  but 
he  seems  never  to  have  proceeded  to  any 
degree,  though  he  retained  till  the  end  of 
his  life  an  affectionate  regard  for  his  old 
college.  He  entered  early  at  one  of  the 
inns  of  court,  and  appears  to  have  enjoyed 
some  considerable  practice  on  being  called 
to  the  bar,  and  became  counsel  for  the  city 
of  London,  probably  through  the  influence 
of  Alderman  Wilkinson,  who  had  married 
his  sister  Joan.  About  his  thirty-third  year 
he  took  to  wife  Alice,  daughter  of  Oliver 
Squier  of  Southby,  Hampshire,  and  widow 
of  John  Brockenden  of  Southampton,  with 
whom  he  acquired  a  fortune  large  enough 
to  enable  him  to  purchase  the  estate  of  Kirt- 
ling,  near  Newmarket,  which  still  remains 
in  the  possession  of  his  descendants.  In  1531 
he  was  appointed  clerk  of  the  parliament, 


North 


155 


North 


being  associated  in  that  office  with  Sir  Brian 
Tuke.  It  is  to  be  presumed  that  shortly  after 
this  he  was  raised  to  the  degree  of  serjeant- 
at-law,  for  in  1536  he  appears  as  one  of  the 
king's  Serjeants.  In  1541  he  resigned  his 
office  as  clerk  of  the  parliament,  on  being  ap- 
pointed treasurer  of  the  court  of  augmenta- 
tions, a  court  created  by  the  king  for  dealing 
with  the  enormous  estates  which  had  been 
confiscated  by  the  dissolution  of  the  monas- 
teries. In  1541  he  was  knighted,  and  became 
one  of  the  representatives  for  the  county  of 
Cambridge  in  parliament.  On  the  resigna- 
tion of  the  chancellorship  by  Sir  Thomas 
Audley  in  1544,  he  was  deputed,  together 
with  Sir  Thomas  Pope,  to  receive  the  great 
seal,  and  to  deliver  it  into  the  hands  of  the 
king.  In  1545  he  was  one  of  a  commission  of 
inquiry  as  to  the  distribution  of  the  revenues 
of  certain  cathedrals  and  collegiate  churches, 
and  about  the  same  time  he  was  promoted, 
with  Sir  Richard  Rich,  chancellor  of  the  court 
of  augmentations,  and  on  the  resignation  of 
his  colleague  he  became  sole  chancellor  of 
the  court.  In  1546  he  was  made  a  member 
of  the  privy  council,  received  some  extensive 
grants  of  abbey  lands,  and  managed,  by  great 
prudence  and  wisdom,  to  retain  the  favour  of 
his  sovereign,  though  on  one  occasion  towards 
the  end  of  his  reign  Henry  VIII  was  induced 
to  distrust  him,  and  even  to  accuse  him  of  pe- 
culation, a  charge  of  which  he  easily  cleared 
himself.  He  was  named  as  one  of  the  exe- 
cutors of  King  Henry's  will,  and  a  legacy  of 
300/.  was  bequeathed  to  him.  On  the  ac- 
cession of  Edward  VI  North  was  induced, 
under  pressure,  to  resign  his  office  as  chan- 
cellor of  augmentations.  He  continued  of  the 
privy  council  during  the  young  king's  reign, 
and  was  one  of  those  who  attested  his  will, 
though  his  name  does  not  appear  among  the 
signatories  of  the  deed  of  settlement  disin- 
heriting the  Princesses  Mary  and  Elizabeth. 
North  was,  however,  among  the  supporters 
of '  Queen  Jane,'  but  was  not  only  pardoned 
by  Mary,  but  again  sworn  of  the  privy  council, 
and  on  5  April  1554  he  was  summoned  to 
parliament  as  a  baron  of  the  realm  by  the 
title  of  Lord  North  of  Kirtling.  He  was 
chosen  among  other  lords  to  receive  Philip 
of  Spain  at  Southampton  on  19  July  1554, 
and  was  present  at  the  marriage  of  the  queen. 
In  the  following  November  he  attended  at 
the  reception  of  Cardinal  Pole  at  St.  James's, 
and  he  was  in  the  commission  for  the  sup- 
pression of  heresy  in  1557.  On  the  accession 
of  Elizabeth  she  kept  her  court  for  six  days 
(23  to  29  Nov.  1558)  at  Lord  North's  mansion 
in  the  Charterhouse,  and  some  time  after- 
wards he  was  appointed  lord-lieutenant  of 
the  county  of  Cambridge  and  the  Isle  of 


Ely.  He  was  not,  however,  admitted  as  a 
privy  councillor,  though  his  name  appears  as 
still  taking  part  in  public  affairs.  In  the 
summer  of  1560  he  lost  his  wife,  who  died 
at  the  Charterhouse,  but  was  carried  with 
great  pomp  to  Kirtling  to  be  buried.  Lord 
North  entertained  the  queen  a  second  time 
at  the  Charterhouse  for  four  days,  from  10  to 
13  July  1561.  Soon  after  this  he  retired 
from  court,  and  spent  most  of  his  time  at 
Kirtling  in  retirement.  He  died  at  the  Char- 
terhouse on  31  Dec.  1564,  and  was  buried  at 
Kirtling,  beside  his  first  wife,  in  the  family 
vault.  His  monumental  inscription  may  still 
be  seen  in  the  chancel  of  Kirtling  Church. 

Lord  North  was  twice  married.  By  his 
first  wife  he  had  issue  two  sons — Roger, 
second  lord  North  [q.  v.],  and  Sir  Thomas 
North  [q.v.],  translator  of  Plutarch's  '  Lives,' 
and  two  daughters :  Christiana,  wife  of  Wil- 
liam, earl  of  Worcester,  and  Mary,  wife  of 
Henry,  lord  Scrope  of  Bolton.  His  second 
wife  was  Margaret,  daughter  of  Richard 
Butler  of  London,  and  widow  of,  first,  Sir 
David  Brooke,  chief  baron  of  the  exchequer; 
secondly,  of  Andrew  Francis ;  and,  thirdly, 
of  Robert  Charlsey,  alderman  of  London.  She 
survived  till  2  June  1575.  This  lady,  like  his 
first  wife,  brought  her  husband  a  large  fortune, 
which  he  left  to  her  absolutely  by  his  will, 
together  with  other  tokens  of  his  affection. 

[For  this  article  Lady  Frances  Bushby  has 
kindly  placed  at  the  writer's  disposal  a  valuable 
manuscript  memoir  drawn  up  by  herself.  The 
main  source  is  the  fragment  of  biography  written 
by  his  descendant  Dudley,  the  fourth  lord.  This 
is  to  be  found  in  the  University  Library,  Cam- 
bridge. See  also  Calendars  of  State  Papers,  Dom. 
Ser. ;  Nichols's  Progresses  of  Queen  Elizabeth, 
vol.  ii. ;  Strype's  Annals  and  Memorials  ;  Bear- 
croft's  History  of  the  Charterhouse,  p.  201 ;  Col- 
lins's  Peerage,  iv.  454.]  A.  J. 

NORTH,  FRANCIS,  LORD  GTHLFORD 
(1637-1685),  lord  chancellor,  was  born  at 
Kirtling  in  Cambridgeshire  in  1637,  and 
baptised  on  2  Nov.  in  the  parish  church 
there.  He  was  the  third  son  of  Dudley, 
fourth  lord  North  [q.  v.],  by  Anne,  daughter 
and  coheiress  of  Sir  Charles  Montagu  [q.  v.] 
of  the  Boughton  family.  His  first  school- 
master was  a  Mr.  Willis  of  Isleworth,  a  sour 
fanatic ;  himself  a  rigid  presbyterian,  his  wife 
a  furious  independent.  The  boy  imbibed 
under  such  influences  a  strong  dislike  to  the 
country  ways  of  his  early  teachers.  He  seems 
to  have  been  moved  from  one  school  to  another, 
all  of  the  same  type,  till  he  was  at  last 
sent  to  be  '  finished'  under  Dr.  Stevens,  a 
sturdy  royalist,  who  was  head  master  of  the 
then  famous  grammar  school  of  Bury  St.  Ed- 
munds. Here  he  gave  proof  of  his  great 


North 


156 


North 


abilities,  and  was  remarkable  for  his  studious 
habits.  On  8  June  1653,  being  then  in  his 
sixteenth  year,  he  was  admitted  at  St.  John's 
College,  Cambridge,  as  a  fellow  commoner. 
He  took  no  degree  at  the  university,  and, 
as  he  had  early  been  intended  for  the  pro- 
fession of  the  law,  he  entered  at  the  Middle 
Temple  on  27  Nov.  1655.  Chaloner  Chute 
[q.  v.],  the  speaker  of  the  House  of  Commons 
in  the  Long  parliament,  was  treasurer  of  the 
inn  this  year,  and,  inasmuch  as  he  had  married 
Lady  Dacres,  the  young  man's  aunt,  he  gave 
him  back  the  fees  for  admission,  in  happy 
augury  of  his  future  success  at  the  bar. 

From  the  first  North  gave  himself  up  to 
hard  and  unremitting  study.  He  knew  that 
his  father  was  a  needy  man,  burdened  with 
a  large  family,  and  with  very  small  chance 
of  being  able  to  provide  for  them  all,  and 
he  had  made  up  his  mind  to  carve  out  a 
career  for  himself  if  it  could  be  done.  His 
brother  gives  an  elaborate  account  of  his 
habits  and  industry  during  these  early  years. 
Long  before  he  was  called  to  the  bar,  and 
while  a  mere  student  of  his  inn,  his  grand- 
father, the  third  Lord  North,  with  whom  he 
was  a  great  favourite,  made  him  steward  of 
his  various  manors  in  Cambridgeshire  and 
elsewhere,  and  this  office  brought  him  in  a 
substantial  income.  The  young  man  kept 
the  courts  in  person,  dispensing  with  any 
deputy,  and,  while  taking  all  the  fees  he 
could  get,  availed  himself  of  the  opportunities 
afforded  him  to  become  acquainted  with  the 
procedure  of  the  courts  baron  and  leet,  which 
stood  him  in  good  stead  as  time  went  on. 
He  was  called  to  the  bar  on  28  June  1661. 
Up  to  this  time  his  allowance  from  home  had 
never  exceeded  80/.  a  year.  This  was  now 
curtailed  by  his  father,  who  was  somewhat 
pinched  for  money;  but  it  is  clear  that  North 
had  managed  to  get  into  practice  very  early, 
and  when  the  attorney-general  Sir  Geoffrey 
Palmer  took  him  up  very  warmly,  and  began 
to  throw  business  into  his  way,  his  success 
was  assured,  and  the  more  so  as  he  speedily 
justified  all  the  expectations  that  had  been 
formed  of  him  by  his  friends.  His  first  great 
case  was  when,  in  the  absence  of  the  attorney- 
general,  he  was  called  upon  to  argue  in  the 
House  of  Lords  for  the  King  v.  Holies  and 
others.  He  acquitted  himself  so  well  that 
he  at  once  rose  into  favour  with  the  court. 
He  was  appointed  king's  counsel,  and  when 
the  benchers  of  his  inn  demurred  to  elect  him 
into  their  body,  the  king  overruled  their 
objection  by  a  significant  hint,  the  force  of 
which  they  could  well  understand.  This  was 
in  1668.  Before  this  North  had  kept  the  Nor- 
folk circuit,  and  had  made  his  way  steadily. 
He  became  chairman  of  the  commission  for 


the  drainage  of  the  fens  through  family  in- 
terest, and  was  made  judge  of  the  royal  fran- 
chise of  the  Isle  of  Ely  about  1670.  When 
Sir  Geoffrey  Palmer  died,  Sir  Edward  Turner, 
speaker  of  the  House  of  Commons,  became 
solicitor-general ;  but  on  Palmer's  promotion 
to  the  chief  baronry  of  the  exchequer  in  the 
following  year,  North  succeeded  him  as 
solicitor-general  on  20  May  1671.  At  the 
same  time  he  received  the  honour  of  knight- 
hood ;  he  was  then  in  his  thirty-fourth  year. 
Shortly  after  he  was  appointed  autumn 
reader  at  the  Middle  Temple,  and  on  the 
'grand  day'  the  usual  feast  Avas  celebrated 
with  such  profusion,  and  at  so  huge  an  ex- 
pense, that  the  public  readings  in  the  inns 
of  court  were  discontinued  from  that  time, 
and  the  banqueting  has  ever  since  been  com- 
muted for  a  fine.  Though  North's  practice 
was  large  and  his  gains  considerable,  he  had 
up  to  this  time  amassed  but  little,  and  when 
he  set  himself  to  find  a  wife  whose  fortune 
might  help  towards  his  advancement  he  ex- 
perienced some  difficulty.  At  length,  how- 
ever, through  the  good  offices  of  his  mother, 
he  succeeded  in  winning  an  heiress,  Lady 
Frances  Pope,  one  of  the  daughters  and  co- 
heiresses of  the  Earl  of  Downe,  with  a  for- 
tune of  14,000/.  The  marriage  took  place  on 
5  March  1672,  and  was  a  very  happy  one. 
He  took  a  large  house  in  Chancery  Lane,  and 
here  he  appears  to  have  had  gatherings  of 
artists,  musicians,  and  other  men  of  culture, 
who  were  glad  of  so  pleasant  a  place  of  meet- 
ing. In  1673  he  entered  parliament  as  mem- 
ber for  King's  Lynn,  after  a  memorable 
contest,  in  which  the  bribing  and  treating 
on  both  sides  were  more  than  usually  flagrant. 
On  12  Nov.  of  this  year  he  succeeded  Sir 
Heneage  Finch  [q.  v.]  as  attorney-general, 
and  a  question  was  raised  whether  it  was 
not  necessary  that  he  should  vacate  his  seat 
in  the  House  of  Commons.  A  notice  was 
given  upon  the  question,  but  it  was  allowed 
to  drop.  All  this  time  he  was  practising  at 
Westminster  Hall,  and  his  brother  tells  us 
he  was  making  as  much  as  7,0001.  a  year,  an 
exceptionally  large  income  in  those  days.  In 
January  1675  Yaughan,  the  chief  justice  of 
the  common  pleas,  died,  and  North  was 
at  once  raised  to  the  bench,  and  held  the 
office  of  chief  justice  during  the  next  eight 
years.  The  court  of  common  pleas  had  of 
late  suffered  greatly  from  the  competition  for 
business  which  had  been  going  on  with  the 
other  courts.  By  dexterous  management  the 
new  chief  justice  greatly  increased  the  popu- 
larity of  his  court,  but  this  did  not  prevent  the 
Serjeants  from  organising  a  kind  of  mutiny 
against  his  rule  when  he  allowed  his  brother 
Roger  to  make  certain  motions  before  him, 


North 


'57 


North 


which  the  Serjeants  resented  as  an  infringe- 
ment of  their  monopoly.  The  farce  of  the 
Dumb  Bay  is  well  described  by  Roger  North. 
The  submission  of  the  Serjeants  was  complete 
when  the  chief  justice  showed  that  he  was 
not  to  be  outwitted.  On  being  raised  to  the 
bench  North  for  some  years  '  rode  the  western 
circuit,'  and  was  extremely  popular  among  the 
Devonshire  gentlemen,  who  were  chiefly  cava- 
liers and  royalists.  Latterly  he  changed  to  the 
northern  circuit,  and  the  account  of  his  inter- 
course with  the  local  magnates  and  of  the 
state  of  society  in  the  north  at  this  period  is 
one  of  the  most  curious  and  amusing  episodes 
in  the  narrative  of  his  life  drawn  up  long  after- 
wards by  his  brother  Roger. 

When  Lord  Halifax  in  1679  made  the  ex- 
periment of  putting  the  government  of  the 
country  into  the  hands  of  a  council  of  thirty, 
who  were  in  effect  to  represent  the  adminis- 
tration pretty  much  as  the  privy  council  had 
represented  it  in  Queen  Elizabeth's  reign,  Sir 
Francis  was  included  among  the  thirty ;  and 
when  this  council  was  dissolved  he  was  ad- 
mitted into  the  cabinet.     When  in  the  De- 
cember of  this  year  the  king  resol  ved  to  issue  a 
proclamation  against  '  tumultuous  petitions,' 
Sir  Cresswell  Levinz  [q.  v.],  as  attorney-gene- 
ral, was  ordered  to  draft  it.    He  hesitated  to 
make  himself  responsible  for  such  a  docu- 
ment, and  consented  only  on  the  condition 
that  the  chief  justice  of  the  common  pleas 
should  dictate  the  substance.   The  result  was 
that  the  new  parliament  ordered  an  impeach- 
ment against  North  to  be  prepared  ;  but  the 
house  was  dissolved  in  the  folio  wing  January, 
and  nothing  more  was  heard  of  it.     During 
the  popular  madness  of  the  '  popish  plot'  the 
attitude  of  the  chief  justice  was  that  of  most 
men  who  believed  Titus  Gates  and  his  asso- 
ciates to  be  a  band  of  scoundrels,  and  the 
plot  a  villainous  fabrication,  but  who  saw  that 
the  lower  and  middle  classes  were  too  violently 
frenzied  to  be  safely  reasoned  with  or  con- 
trolled.    When  things  took  a  new  turn,  and 
Stephen  College  [q.  v.],  the  protestant  joiner, 
was  put  upon  his  trial  for  treason  at  Oxford  in 
August  1681,  and  Titus  Gates  and  some  of  his 
strongest  adherents  were  found  to  give  con- 
flicting evidence,  the  chief  j  ustice  took  a  strong 
part  against  College,  and  the  man  was  hanged 
with  the  usual  horrors,  mainly  in  consequence 
of  the  bias  which  the  judges  had  exhibited  at 
the  trial.  This  is  the  one  blot  on  North's  career, 
for  which  little  or  no  excuse  can  be  found. 

The  chancellor,  Lord  Nottingham  (Hene- 
age  Finch),  died  on  18  Dec.  1682.  Chief- 
justice  North  had  frequently  taken  his  place 
as  speaker  at  the  House  of  Lords  during  his 
long  illness,  and  two  days  after  his  death 
succeeded  him  as  keeper  of  the  great  seal. 


Though  he  had  thus  attained  the  highest 
position  in  the  realm  after  the  sovereign,  the 
lord  keeper  found  little  happiness  in  his  ex- 
alted position,  and  there  is  little  doubt  that 
he  spoke  no  more  than  the  truth  when  he 
more  than  once  assured  his  brother  Roger 
that  he  was  never  a  happy  man  after  he  had 
the  seal  entrusted  to  him.  The  notorious 
Jeffreys  had  succeeded  him  as  chief  justice, 
and  did  his  best  to  irritate  and  worry  him  on 
every  occasion  that  offered  itself.  North 
was  raised  to  the  peerage  as  Baron  Guilford 
on  27  Sept.  1683.  His  health  seems  already 
to  have  begun  to  fail,  though  he  continued 
to  discharge  the  duties  of  his  high  position 
with  exemplary  diligence  and  zeal,  and  to 
the  end  was  a  faithful  and  unwavering  ser- 
vant and  friend  to  Charles  II,  who  appears 
to  have  leant  upon  him  more  and  more  as 
his  own  end  approached.  But  North  lived 
in  evil  days,  and  perhaps  never  in  our  annals 
was  there  such  rancorous  animosity  among 
placemen ;  never  were  party  spirit  and  poli- 
tical rivalry  so  fierce  and  sordid. 

Charles  II  died  on  6  Feb.  1685.  At  this 
time  the  lord  keeper  was  very  ill,  but  he  took 
a  leading  part  in  the  coronation  of  James  II 
on  23  April.  After  this  he  became  worse, 
and  proposed  to  resign  the  seal,  as  he  had 
talked  of  doing  more  than  once  before :  but 
in  this  he  was  overruled.  During  the  summer 
term  he  continued  to  sit  in  Westminster 
Hall ;  but  it  was  evident  that  he  was  a  dying 
:.  Permission  was  given  him  to  retire  to 
his  seat  at  Wroxton,  Oxfordshire,  taking  the 
seal  with  him,  and  attended  by  the  officers  of 
the  court.  Here  he  kept  up  great  state  and 
profuse  hospitality,  his  brothers  Dudley  and 
Roger  being  always  at  his  side,  and  present 
at  his  death-bed. 

At  the  end  of  August  he  made  his  will, 
and  he  died  in  his  forty-eighth  year  on  5  Sept. 
1685.  The  next  day  his  brothers,  who  were 
the  executors,  accompanied  by  the  officials, 
rode  to  Windsor,  and  delivered  up  the  great 
seal  into  the  hands  of  James  II,  who  straight- 
way entrusted  it  to  Jeffreys,  with  the  style 
of  lord  high  chancellor  of  England. 

The  lord  keeper  was  buried  at  Wroxton  on 
9  Sept.  beside  his  wife,  who  had  died  nearly 
seven  years  before  him  (15  Nov.  1678).  By 
the  death  of  her  mother,  the  Countess  of 
Downe,  her  ladyship  had  inherited  the  Wrox- 
ton  estate,  which  passed  to  her  husband  and 
his  descendants.  She  had  borne  him  five 
children,  of  whom  three  survived  their  father. 
Francis,  the  elder  son,  succeeded  to  the  peer- 
age as  second  Baron  Guilford,  and  was  father 
of  Francis,  first  earl  of  Guilford  [q.  v.] 
Charles,  the  other  son,  and  a  daughter  Anne 
appear  to  have  been  always  sickly  and  of 


North 


158 


North 


weak  constitution,  and  both  died  young  and 
unmarried. 

The  lord  keeper  was  a  staunch  and  uncom- 
promising royalist  through  evil  report  and 
good  report,  at  a  time  when  the  courtiers 
who  were  sincere  supporters  of  the  crown 
were  few,  and  when  the  several  factions  hated 
one  another  with  the  most  acrimonious  ran- 
cour. Scarcely  less  fierce  has  been  the  ani- 
mosity exhibited  towards  his  memory  by  those 
politicians  of  the  present  century  who  have 
inherited  the  prej  udices  and  the  personal  rival- 
ries of  the  days  of  Charles  II.  Perhaps  in  all 
our  literature  there  is  not  a  more  venomous 
piece  of  writing  than  the  sketch  of  the  lord- 
keeper's  character  and  career  which  Lord 
Campbell  has  given  in  his  '  Lives  of  the  Lord 
Chancellors.'  North  was  clearly  a  man  of  vast 
knowledge  and  wide  culture,  an  accomplished 
musician,  a  friend  and  patron  of  artists,  and 
especially  of  Sir  Peter  Lely,  whom  he  be- 
friended in  many  ways.  He  was  greatly  in- 
terested in  the  progress  of  natural  science, 
though  he  refused  to  be  elected  a  fellow  of 
the  Royal  Society,  whose  meetings  he  could 
not  possibly  have  attended  regularly.  As  a 
lawyer  he  was  held  in  great  respect ;  nor  did 
any  of  his  contemporaries  venture  to  dispute 
the  technical  ability  and  legality  of  his  de- 
cisions. If  there  had  been  ground  for  setting 
aside  any  of  those  decisions,  we  should  have 
heard  of  it  long  ago.  He  died  in  the  prime 
of  life,  at  one  of  the  most  critical  moments  of 
our  history.  He  lived  in  an  age  when  social 
and  political  morality  were  at  a  deplorably 
low  level — an  age  when  a  miserable  medio- 
crity of  talent  in  church  and  state,  in  litera- 
ture and  art,  made  it  a  matter  of  chance  or 
chicane  who  should  rise  to  the  surface,  or  who 
should  keep  his  place  when  he  won  it.  There 
was  no  career  for  an  enthusiast  or  a  hero,  and 
the  worst  that  can  be  said  of  the  Lord-keeper 
Guilford  is  that  he  was  neither  the  one  nor 
the  other. 

A  portrait  ad  vivum  was  engraved  by 
D.  Loggan,andwas  re-engraved  by  G.  Vertue 
for  the  '  Lives  of  the  Norths.' 

[The  sources  for  Lord  Guilford's  life  are  to 
be  found  mainly  in  Koger  North's  elaborate 
Examen,  published  in  4to,  1740,  and  in  the  Lives 
published  in  the  same  form  in  the  same  year 
[see  NORTH,  ROGER,  1653-1734].  Burnet(Hist. 
of  his  Own  Time,  iii.  83)  speaks  of  him  with 
some  bitterness.  On  the  other  hand  Sir  John 
Palrymple.  in  the  preface  to  the  second  volume 
of  his  Memoirs,  remarks  that  he  was  '  one  of  the 
very  few  virtuous  characters  to  be  found  in  the 
reign  of  Charles  II.'  There  is  an  excellent 
summary  of  his  character  in  Roscoe's  Lives  of 
Emi  nent  Lawyers,  p.  1 1 0.  Foss's  account  of  hi  in 
(Lives  of  the  Judges  of  England)  is  as  impartial 
and  trustworthy  as  usual.]  A.  J. 


NORTH,  FRANCIS,  first  EARL  OF  GUIL- 
FORD  (1704-1790),  born  on  13  April  1704, 
was  eldest  sou  of  Francis,  second  baron  Guil- 
ford, by  his  second  wife,  Alice,  second  daugh- 
ter and  coheiress  of  Sir  John  Brownlow,  bart. 
of  Belton,  Lincolnshire,  and  grandson  of 
Francis  North,  first  lord  Guilford  [q.  v.]  He 
matriculated  at  Trinity  College,  Oxford,  on 
25  March  1721,  but  does  not  appear  to  have 
taken  any  degree.  At  the  general  election 
in  August  1727  he  was  returned  to  the  House 
of  Commons  for  Banbury.  He  succeeded 
his  father  as  third  Baron  Guilford  on  17  Oct. 
1729,  and  took  his  seat  in  the  House  of  Lords 
on  13  Jan.  1730  (Journals  of  the  Souse  of 
Lords,  xxiii.  450).  On  17  Oct.  1730  he  was 
appointed  a  gentleman  of  the  bedchamber  to 
Frederick,  prince  of  Wales,  and  on  31  Oct. 
1734  succeeded  his  kinsman,  William,  baron 
North  and  Grey  [q.  v.],  as  seventh  Baron 
North  of  Kirtling  in  Cambridgeshire.  On 
30  Sept.  1750  he  became  governor  to  Prince 
George  and  Prince  Edward,  but  was  super- 
seded on  the  Prince  of  Wales's  death  by  Earl 
Harcourt,  a  nominee  of  the  Pelhams,  who 
wished  to  control  the  education  of  the  young 
princes  (WALPOLE,  Memoirs  of  George  II, 
1847,  i.  86).  He  was  created  Earl  of  Guilford 
on  8  April  1752.  In  September  1763  Gren- 
ville's  proposal  that  Guilford  should  succeed 
Bute  as  keeper  of  the  privy  purse  was  nega- 
tived by  the  king,  who  considered  that  '  it 
was  not  of  sufficient  rank  for  him '  (  Grenville 
Papers,  1852,  ii.  208-9).  He  was  appointed 
treasurer  to  Queen  Charlotte  on  29 Dec.  1773, 
at  the  age  of  sixty-nine.  '  The  town  laughs,' 
writes  Horace  Walpole,  and  says  '  that  the 
reversion  of  that  place  is  promised  to  Lord 
Bathurst,'  who  was  then  in  his  ninetieth  year 
(Letters,  vi.  37). 

Walpole  describes  Guilford  as  an  '  ami- 
able, worthy  man,  of  no  great  genius '  (Me- 
moirs of  Georr/e  II,  i.  86).  He  was  an  inti- 
mate personal  friend  of  George  III  and  Queen 
Charlotte  (MRS.  DELANT,  Autobiography,  2nd 
ser.  iii.  292),  and  sympathised  with  the 
king's  dislike  of  the  coalition  (WALPOLE, 
Last  Journals,  1859,  ii.  597 ;  LOUD  E.  FITZ- 
MATJRICE,  Life  of  Shelburne,  1876,  iii.  372  ; 
LORD  JOHS  RUSSELL,  Memorials  of  Fox, 
1853,  ii.  41).  Though  a  wealthy  man,  and 
on  affectionate  terms  with  his  son,  he  would 
never  make  Lord  North  an  adequate  allow- 
ance (Hi*t.  MSS.  Comm.  10th  Rep.  App.  vi. 
p.  18).  Guilford  died  in  Henrietta  Street, 
Cavendish  Square,  on  4  Aug.  1790,  and  was 
buried  at  Wroxton,  Oxfordshire. 

He  married,  first,  on  16  June  1728,  Lady 
Lucy,  daughter  of  George  Montagu,  second 
earl  of  Halifax,  by  whom  he  had  an  only 
son,  Frederick,  who  succeeded  him  as  second 


North 


159 


North 


Earl  of  Guilford  [q.v.],  and  one  daughter, 
who  died  in  infancy.  His  first  wife  died 
on  7  May  1734.  He  married,  secondly,  on 
17  Jan.  1736,  Elizabeth,  only  daughter  of 
Sir  Arthur  Kaye,bart.,  and  widow  of  George, 
viscount  Lewisham.  By  her  he  had  two 
sons,  Brownlow,  bishop  of  Winchester  [q.  v.], 
and  Augustus,  who  died  an  infant  on  24  June 
1745,  and  three  daughters.  His  second  wife 
died  on  21  April  1745,  and  on  13  June  1751 
he  married, thirdly,  Catherine,  second  daugh- 
ter of  Sir  Robert  Furnese,  bart.,  and  widow 
of  Lewis,  second  earl  of  Rockingham.  This 
last  marriage,  and  the  size  of  the  bride, 
caused  much  amusement  at  the  time,  and 
George  Selwyn  said  that  the  weather  being 
hot,  she  was  kept  in  ice  for  three  days  before 
the  wedding  (WALPOLE,  Letters,  ii.  257). 
Guilford  had  no  issue  by  his  third  wife,  who 
died  on  17  Dec.  1766.  No  record  of  any  of 
his  speeches  is  to  be  found  in  the  'Parlia- 
mentary History.'  His  correspondence  with 
the  Duke  of  Newcastle,  1734-62,  is  preserved 
among  the  Additional  MSS.  in  the  British 
Museum  (32696-933  passim). 

[Mrs.  Delany's  Autobiography,  1861-2,  1st 
and  2nd  ser.,  containing  several  of  Guilford's 
letters;  Walpole's  Letters,  1857-9,  ii.  33,  163, 
232,  244,  250,  347,  350,  viii.  350  ;  Walpole's 
Journal  of  the  Reign  of  George  III,  1859,  i. 
276-7  ;  Auckland's  Journal  and  Correspondence,  J 
1861,  ii.  369-70;  Letters  of  the  First  Earl  of 
Malmesbury,  1870,  i.  311;  Chatham  Corre- 
spondence, 1840,  iv.  334 ;  Hasted's  Hist,  of 
Kent,  1799,  iv.  190-1  ;  Doyle's  Official  Baron- 
age, 1886,  ii.  87  ;  Collins's  Peerage  of  England, 
1812,  iv.  479-81 ;  Foster's  Alumni  Oxon.  1888, 
p.  1023 ;  Historical  Register,  vol.  xv.  Chron. 
Diary,  p.  64;  Gent.  Mag.  1766  p.  600,  1790 
pt.  ii.  pp.  768.  789 ;  Official  Return  of  Lists  of 
Members  of  Parliament,  pt.  ii.  p.  65.] 

G.  F.  R.  B. 

NORTH,  FREDERICK,  second  EARL  OF 
GTJILFORD,  better  known  as  LORD  NORTH 
(1732-1792),  only  son  of  Francis,  first  earl 
of  Guilford  [q.  v.],  by  his  first  wife,  Lady 
Lucy  Montagu,  daughter  of  George,  second 
earl  of  Halifax,  was  born  in  Albemarle  Street, 
Piccadilly,  on  13  April  1732.  The  Prince  of 
Wales  was  his  godfather,  and  North  as  a 
child  was  frequently  at  Leicester  House, 
where,  on  4  Jan.  1749,  he  took  the  part  of 
Syphax  in  Addison's  '  Cato '  (LADY  HERVET, 
Letters,  1821,  pp.  147-8,  n.)  He  was  edu- 
cated at  Eton  and  Trinity  College,  Oxford, 
where  he  matriculated  on  12  Oct.  1749,  and 
was  created  M.A.  on  21  March  1750.  After 
leaving  the  university  he  travelled  for  three 
years  on  the  continent,  in  company  with 
William,  second  earl  of  Dartmouth  (Hist. 
MSS.  Comm.  llth  Rep.  App.  v.  330),  and 


devoted  some  time  under  Mascove  at  Leip- 
zig to  the  study  of  the  German  constitution 
(  Correspondence  of  Geo.  Ill  with  Lord  North, 
vol.  i.  p.  Ixxxii).  At  the  general  election  in 
April  1754  he  was  returned  to  the  House  of 
Commons  for  the  family  borough  of  Banbury, 
which  he  continued  to  represent  until  his 
succession  to  the  peerage.  Though  his  po- 
litical views  inclined  to  toryism,  North  acted 
at  first  as  a  follower  of  his  kinsman  the  Duke 
of  Newcastle,  at  whose  recommendation  he 
was  appointed  a  junior  lord  of  the  treasury 
on  2  June  1759  (Chatham  Correspondence, 
i.  409).  He  took  a  leading  part  in  the  pro- 
ceedings against  Wilkes  in  the  House  of 
Commons,  and  retired  from  office  with  the 
rest  of  his  colleagues  on  the  formation  of  the 
Rockingham  ministry  in  July  1765.  In  May 
1766  North  declined  the  offer  of  a  vice- 
treasurership  of  Ireland  from  Rockingham 
after  considerable  hesitation  (LORD  ALBE- 
MARLE, Memoirs  of  the  Marquis  of  Rocking- 
ham, i.  345).  On  19  Aug.  1766  he  was 
appointed  by  Chatham  joint-paymaster  of 
the  forces  with  George  Cooke,  and  was  ad- 
mitted a  member  of  the  privy  council  on 
10  Dec.  following  (London  Gazette,  1766, 
Nos.  10651  and  10684).  Henceforth  North 
acted  as  a  consistent  advocate  of  the  king's 
principles  of  government.  In  March  1767 
Chatham,  indignant  with  Charles  Towns- 
hend's  conduct  with  regard  to  the  East 
India  question,  offered  the  post  of  chancellor 
of  the  exchequer  and  the  leadership  of  the 
House  of  Commons  to  North,  who  refused  it 
(Chatham  Correspondence,  iii.  235).  Towns- 
hend,  however,  died  on  4  Sept.  following, 
and  North,  notwithstanding  his  dread  of 
the  persistent  criticism  of  George  Grenville 
(LORD  JOHN  RUSSELL,  Memorials  of  Fox,  i. 
120),  at  length  accepted  the  post.  He  there- 
upon resigned  the  paymastership  of  the 
forces,  and  was  sworn  in  as  chancellor  of  the 
exchequer  on  7  Oct.  1767  (WALPOLE,  Letters, 
v.  67,  TZ.)  Urged  on  by  the  king,  and  sup- 
ported by  steady  majorities  in  the  commons, 
North,  as  leader  of  the  house,  succeeded  on 
17  Feb.  1769  in  having  Wilkes  declared  in- 
capable of  sitting  in  parliament  and  in  seat- 
ing the  ministerial  candidate,  Colonel  Lut- 
trell,  in  his  place  on  15  April  following. 
North  had  a  great  contempt  for  popularity, 
and  in  a  review  of  his  own  political  career 
on  2  March  1769  he  stated  that  he  had  never 
voted  for  any  one  of  the  popular  measures 
of  the  last  seven  years,  especially  referring 
to  his  support  of  the  cider  tax  and  of  the 
American  Stamp  Act,  and  to  his  opposition 
to  Wilkes,  to  the  reduction  of  the  land  tax, 
and  to  the  Nullum  Tempus  Act  (CAVENDISH, 
Parliamentary  Debates,  i.  299-200).  On 


North 


160 


North 


1  May  1769  the  cabinet,  on  North's  motion, 
decided  by  a  majority  of  one  to  retain  Charles 
Townshend's  American  tea  duty.  This  de- 
cision, which  rendered  war  inevitable,  was 
confirmed  by  the  House  of  Commons  on 
5  March  1770  by  204  votes  to  142  (it>.  i.  483- 
500,  and  the  DUKE  OF  GRAFTON'S  Memoirs 
quoted  in  MAHON'S  History  of  England,  v. 
365  and  xxxi.)  Meanwhile  North,  at  the 
earnest  entreaties  of  the  king,  had  become 
first  lord  of  the  treasury  on  Grafton's  resig- 
nation in  January  1770. 

North's  assumption  of  office  seemed  a  for- 
lorn hope.  He  had  to  face  an  opposition  led 
"by  Chatham,  Rockingham,  and  Grenville, 
and  to  rely  for  his  chief  support  on  place- 
men, pensioners,  and  the  Bedfords.  There 
was,  however,  no  real  union  between  the 
parties  of  Chatham  and  Rockingham,  and 
after  Grenville's  death  in  November  1770, 
his  followers,  under  the  Earl  of  Suffolk,  joined 
the  ministerial  ranks.  In  November  1770, 
and  again  in  February  1771,  North  made  an 
able  defence  of  the  negotiations  with  France 
and  Spain  in  reference  to  the  Falkland 
Islands,  a  dispute  concerning  which  had 
nearly  led  to  war  (CAVENDISH,  Parliamen- 
tary Debates,  ii.  75-9,  296-9).  The  session 
of  1770-1  was  mainly  occupied  by  the  at- 
tempt of  the  House  of  Commons  to  prevent 
the  publication  of  its  debates  and  the  con- 
sequent quarrel  with  the  city  of  London. 
At  the  instigation  of  the  king  North,  con- 
trary to  his  own  convictions,  committed 
the  blunder  of  making  a  ministerial  question 
of  the  matter.  During  the  riots  which  en- 
sued he  was  assaulted  on  his  way  down  to 
the  house,  his  chariot  demolished,  and  his 
hat  captured  by  the  mob  (WALPOLE,  Me- 
moirs of  the  Reign  of  George  III,  iv.  302). 
To  North  was  addressed  the  fortieth '  Letter 
of  Junius '  (22  Aug.  1770),  on  the  subject  of 
Colonel  Luttrell's  appointment  to  the  post 
of  adjutant-general  of  the  army  in  Ireland. 
Luttrell  resigned  the  post  in  September. 
In  1772  and  the  two  following  years  North 
successfully  opposed  the  propositions  which 
were  made  for  the  relief  of  the  clergy  and 
others  from  subscription  to  the  Thirty-nine 
articles,  arguing  that  '  relaxation  in  matters 
of  this  kind,  instead  of  reforming,  would 
increase  that  dissoluteness  of  religious  prin- 
ciple which  so  much  prevails,  and  is  the 
characteristic  of  this  sceptical  age '  (Par/. 
Hist.  xvii.  272-4,  756-7,  1326).  In  1772 
and  1773  he  allowed  bills  for  the  relief  of 
•dissenters  to  pass  the  commons,  preferring 
to  leave  the  odium  of  rejecting  them  to  the 
lords  (ib.  xvii.  431-46,  759-91).  The  Royal 
Marriage  Act  (12  George  III,  c.  11),  which 
was  passed  in  1772,  was  supported  by  North 


with  considerable  reluctance.  In  the  same 
year  North,  who  desired  to  banish  the  discus- 
sion of  Indian  affairs  from  the  House  of  Com- 
mons, consented  to  the  appointment  of  two 
select  committees.  Their  reports  resulted 
in  an  act  which  allowed  the  East  India 
Company  to  export  tea  to  America  free  of 
any  duty  save  that  which  might  be  levied 
there  (13  George  III,  c.  44),  and  in  the 
Regulating  Act  (13  George  III,  c.  63).  Tn 
May  1 773  North  supported  a  motion  censur- 
ing Clive's  conduct  in  India,  but  he  did  not 
make  the  question  a  government  one,  and 
subsequently  changed  his  opinion  on  the  sub- 
ject (Hist.  MSS.  Comm.  6th  Rep.  Append. 
397).  On  16  Dec.  1773  the  ships  carrying 
the  tea  exported  by  the  East  India  Company 
under  the  act  previously  mentioned  were  at- 
tacked in  Boston  harbour.  Though  the  news 
of  this  outrage  had  not  arrived,  North  was 
fully  conscious  of  the  gravity  of  the  situa- 
tion, and  was  the  only  member  of  the  privy 
council  who  did  not  join  in  the  laughter  and 
applause  which  greeted  Wedderburn's  famous 
attack  upon  Franklin  (Dr.  Priestley  in  the 
Monthly  Magazine  for  February  1803,  p.  2). 
In  March  1774  North  introduced  the  Boston 
Port  Bill  and  the  Massachusetts  Government 
Bill,  which  were  passed  by  large  majorities. 
He  was  now  firmly  established  in  power,  and 
on  6  March  1774  Chatham  expressed  the 
opinion  that  '  North  serves  the  crown  more 
successfully  and  more  sufficiently  upon  the 
whole  than  any  other  man  now  to  be  found 
could  do'  (Chatham  Correspondence,  iv.  332- 
333).  On  20  Feb.  1775  North  carried  a  re- 
solution that,  so  long  as  the  colonies  taxed 
themselves,  with  the  consent  of  the  king  and 
parliament,  no  other  taxes  should  be  laid 
upon  them.  The  debate  on  this  proposal, 
which  was  very  unpopular  with  the  Bed- 
fords,  is  graphically  described  by  Gibbon  in 
a  letter  to  Holroyd  (Miscell.  Works,  1796,  i. 
490).  The  concession,  however,  came  too 
late,  and  the  skirmish  at  Lexington  on 
19  April  1775  made  peace  impossible.  After 
Burgoyne's  surrender  at  Saratoga  (17  Oct. 
1777),  and  the  failure  of  the  commission 
appointed  to  treat  with  the  colonists,  North 
lost  all  hope  of  success,  and  repeatedly  asked 
permission  to  resign  {Correspondence  of 
George  III  with  Lord  North,  ii.  125,  et 
seq.)  The  king  refused  to  accept  his  resig- 
nation, though  he  allowed  negotiations  to 
be  opened  with  Chatham  to  induce  him  to 
join  the  government,  on  the  understanding 
that  he  should  support  '  the  fundamentals 
of  the  present  administration'  (ib.  ii.  149). 
This  and  subsequent  attempts  to  strengthen 
the  ministry  failed,  and  North  remained  in 
office  against  his  better  judgment,  a  course 


North 


161 


North 


•which  it  is  impossible  to  justify.  In  1778 
he  reappointed  Warren  Hastings  governor- 
general  of  India,  though  he  disapproved  of 
many  of  his  acts,  and  had  unsuccessfully  tried 
in  1776  to  induce  the  court  of  proprietors  to 
recall  him.  In  1779  Lord  Weymouth  and 
Lord  Gower  seceded  from  North's  ministry. 
In  a  curious  letter  to  the  king  with  reference 
to  the  reasons  of  Lord  Gower's  resignation, 
North  owns  that  he  '  holds  in  his  heart,  and 
has  held  for  these  three  years,  just  the  same 
opinion  with  Lord  Gower '  (MAHON,  History 
of  England,  vol.  vi.  Appendix,  p.  xxviii). 
In  the  session  of  1779-80  North  succeeded 
in  granting  free-trade  to  Ireland,  a  policy 
which  had  been  previously  thwarted  by  the 
jealousy  of  the  English  manufacturers.  On 
6  April  1780  North  opposed  Dunning's 
famous  resolution  against  the  influence  of 
the  crown,  as  being  '  an  abstract  proposition 
perfectly  inconclusive  and  altogether  uncon- 
sequential '  (Parl.  Hist.  xxi.  362-4).  During 
the  Gordon  riots  North's  house  in  Downing 
Street  was  threatened  by  the  mob,  and  only 
saved  by  the  timely  arrival  of  the  troops 
( WRAXALL,  Hist,  and  Posth.  Memoirs,  i.  237- 
239).  North  is  said  to  have  received  the  news 
of  Cornwallis's  surrender  at  Yorktown  (19  Oct. 
1781)  '  as  he  would  have  taken  a  ball  in  his 
breast,  opening  his  arms,  and  exclaiming 
wildly  "  O  God  !  it  is  all  over ! " '  (ib.  ii.  138- 
139 ;  but  see  the  Cornwallis  Correspondence, 
1859,  i.  129,  n.,  where  certain  inaccuracies 
in  Wraxall's  story  are  pointed  out).  On 
27  Feb.  1782  Con  way's  motion  against  the 
further  prosecution  of  the  American  war  was 
carried  by  234  to  215  votes  (Parl.  Hist.  xxii. 
1064-85),  and  on  15  March  following  a  vote 
of  want  of  confidence  in  the  government  was 
only  rejected  by  a  majority  of  nine  (ib.  xxii. 
1170-1211).  North  now  determined  to  re- 
sign in  spite  of  the  king,  and  on  20  March 
announced  his  resignation  in  the  House  of 
Commons,  before  Lord  Surrey  was  able  to 
move  a  resolution  for  the  dismissal  of  the 
ministry,  of  which  he  had  previously  given 
notice  (ib.  xxii.  1214-19).  On  resigning  his 
posts  of  first  lord  of  the  treasury  and  chan- 
cellor of  the  exchequer,  the  king  is  said  to 
have '  parted  with  him  rudely  without  thank- 
ing him,  adding, "  Remember,  my  lord,  that  it 
is  you  who  desert  me,  not  I  you" '  (WALPOLE, 
Journal  of  the  Reign  of  George  III,  ii.  521). 
North's  government  was  what  he  after- 
wards called  a  'government  by  departments.' 
He  himself  was  rather  the  agent  than  the 
responsible  adviser  of  the  king,  who  prac- 
tically directed  the  policy  of  the  ministry, 
even  on  the  minutest  points.  North  would 
never  allow  himself  to  be  called  prime  mini- 
ster, maintaining  that  '  there  was  no  such 

VOL.   XLI. 


thing  in  the  British  constitution '  (BROUGHAM, 
Historical  Sketches,  i.  392).  He  was  nick- 
named Lord-deputy  North  on  account  of  his 
supposed  connection  with  Bute  (Chatham 
Correspondence,  iii.  443),  for  which,  however, 
there  was  no  foundation  (Hist.  MSS.  Comm. 
5th  Rep.  App.  p.  209).  His  earlier  budgets 
gained  him  a  considerable  reputation,  but  his 
financial  policy  towards  the  close  of  his 
ministry  became  unpopular,  owing  in  a  great 
measure  to  the  extravagant  terms  of  the  loan 
of  1781.  During  his  term  of  office  the  national 
debt  was  more  than  doubled.  As  a  financier 
he  was  lacking  in  originality,  acting  to  a 
great  extent  on  the  principles  of  Adam  Smith, 
but, '  while  accepting  the  suggestions  for  in- 
creased taxation,  he  omitted  to  couple  with 
them  that  revision  and  simplification  of  the 
tariff  and  of  the  taxes  which  formed  the  main 
part  of  his  adopted  master's  design '  (BuxiON, 
Finance  and  Politics,  1888,  i.  2). 

In  the  debate  on  the  address  on  5  Dec. 

1782  North,  in  allusion  to  Rodney's  victory 
over  De  Grasse,  told  the  ministry, '  True,  you 
have  conquered ;   but  you  have  conquered 
with  Philip's    troops'    (Parl.   Hist,   xxiii. 
254).     He  still  had  a  following  of  from  160 
to  170  in  the  House  of  Commons  (BUCKING- 
HAM, Court  and  Cabinets  of  George  III,  i. 
158),  and  when  Fox  and  Shelburne  quarrelled, 
a  coalition  between  one  of  them  and  North 
became  necessary  to  carry  on  the  govern- 
ment of  the  country.     An  alliance  between 
North  and  Shelburne,  which  would  have  been 
the  natural  outcome  of  the  situation,  was 
frustrated  by  the  hostility  of  Pitt  and  the 
over  cautious  hesitation  of  Dundas.     North 
and  Fox  had  never  been  personal  enemies  in 
spite  of  their  political  differences.     North, 
moreover,  was  anxious  to  show  that  he  was 
not  a  mere  puppet  in  the  king's  hands,  and 
was  also  desirous  of  avoiding  a  hostile  in- 
quiry into  the  American  war.    At  length, 
through  the  efforts  of  his  eldest  son,  George 
Augustus  (see  below),  Lord  Loughborough, 
John  Townshend,  William   Adam    [q.  v.l, 
and  William  Eden[q.  v.],  the  coalition  with 
Fox  was  effected  (LORD  JOHN  RUSSELL,  Me- 
morials of  Fox,  ii.  20  et  seq. ;   AUCKLAND, 
Journals  and  Correspondence,  1861,  i.  1  et 
seq.),  and  the  combined  followers  of  North 
and  Fox  defeated  the  ministry  on  17  Feb. 

1783  by  224  votes  to  208  (Parl.  Hist.  xxii. 
493),  and  again  on  the  21st  by  207  votes  to 
190  (ib.  xxii.  571).    On  the  24th  Shelburne 
resigned.    The  king  charged  North  'with 
treachery  and   ingratitude  of  the  blackest 
nature'  (BUCKINGHAM,  Court  and  Cabinets  of 
George  III,  i.  303),  and  vainly  endeavoured 
to  detach  him  from  Fox  and  to  induce  him 
once  more  to  take  the  treasury.   George  was, 


North 


162 


North 


however,  compelled  on  2  April  to  appoint 
North  and  Fox  joint  secretaries  of  state  under 
the  Duke  of  Portland  as  first  lord  of  the  trea- 
sury, North  taking  the  home  department. 
The  only  adherents  of  North  who  were  ad- 
mitted to  the  coalition  cabinet  were  Lords 
Stormont  and  Carlisle  (ib.  i.  141-230,  and 
WALPOLE,  Journal  of  the  Reign  of  George  III, 
ii.  588-612).  As  a  personal  arrangement 
the  coalition  was  successful.  '  I  do  assure 
you,'  wrote  Fox  to  the  Duke  of  Manchester 
on  21  Sept.  1783, ' .  .  .  .  that  it  is  impos- 
sible for  people  to  act  more  cordially  to- 
gether, and  with  less  jealousy  than  we  have 
done'  (Hist.  MSS.  Comm.  8th  Rep.  App. 
ii.  p.  133).  In  the  country,  however,  it 
was  extremely  unpopular,  and  even  North's 
own  constituency  of  Banbury  subsequently 
thanked  the  king  for  dismissing  it  (London 
Gazette,  1784,  No.  12521).  The  only  impor- 
tant public  measure  of  the  coalition  govern- 
ment was  the  East  India  Bill.  Though  it 
properly  lay  in  his  department,  North  had 
little  to  do  with  the  bill,  which  he  described 
as  '  a  good  receipt  to  knock  up  an  adminis- 
tration '  (JOHN  NICHOLLS,  Recollections,  1822, 
i.  66).  Though  carried  through  the  commons 
by  large  majorities,  it  was  rejected  by  the  lords 
on  17  Dec.  1783  by  95  votes  to  76,  owing  to 
the  unconstitutional  use  of  the  king's  name 
by  Lord  Temple  (Parl.  Hist.  xxiv.  196).  The 
ministry  was  dismissed  by  the  king  on  the 
following  day.  When  the  messenger  arrived 
for  the  seals,  North,  who  was  in  bed  with  his 
•wife,  said  that  if  any  one  wished  to  see  him, 
they  must  see  Lady  North  too,  and  accord- 
ingly the  messenger  entered  the  bedroom 
(manuscript  quoted  in  MASSEY,  Hist,  of  Eng- 
land, vol.  iii.  1860,  p.  209,  note;  see  WRAX- 
ALL,  Hist,  and  Posth.  Memoirs,  iii.  198). 

Henceforward,  to  the  end  of  his  life,  North 
acted  with  the  opposition  against  Pitt.  In 
May  1785  he  expressed  a  strong  opinion 
in  favour  of  a  union  with  Ireland  (Parl. 
Hist.  xxv.  633).  At  the  beginning  of  1787 
his  sight  began  to  fail,  and  he  soon  became 
totally  blind.  North  approved  of  the  im- 
peachment of  Warren  Hastings,  which  was 
decided  on  in  March  1787,  though  he  declined 
to  act  as  a  manager  (EARL  STANHOPE,  Zz/e  of 
Pitt,  1861,  i.  352).  In  the  same  year,  and 
again  in  1789,  he  opposed  the  repeal  of  the 
and  Corporation  Acts  (Parl.  Hist. 


Test 


xxvi.  818-23,  xxviii.  16-22,  26-7).  By  1788 
his  personal  following  in  the  house  had 
dwindled  to  seventeen  (Hist.  MSS.  Comm. 
12th  Rep.  App.  ix.  p.  373).  He  took  a  con- 
siderable part  in  the  debates  on  the  Regency 
Bill  in  the  session  of  1788-9,  and  deprecated 
any  discussion  on  the  abstract  right  of  the 
Prince  of  Wales  (Parl.  Hist,  xxvii.  749-52). 


On  4  Aug.  1790  he  succeeded  his  father  as 
second  Earl  of  Guilford,  and  took  his  seat 
in  the  House  of  Lords  on  25  Nov.  following 
(Journals  of  the  House  of  Lords,  xxxix.  6). 
He  spoke  in  the  House  of  Lords  for  the  first 
time  on  1  April  1791,  when  he  attacked  Pitt's 
Russian  policy  (Parl.  Hist.  xxix.  86-93). 
He  only  spoke  there  on  three  other  occasions 
(id.  pp.  537-8,  855-60,  1003-6).  His  last 
years  were  chiefly  spent  in  retirement  with 
his  wife  and  family,  to  whom  he  was  deeply 
attached.  Walpole,  in  a  charming  account 
of  a  visit  to  Bushey  in  October  1787,  says 
that  he  '  never  saw  a  more  interesting  scene. 
Lord  North's  spirits,  good  humour,  wit,  sense, 
drollery,  are  as  perfect  as  ever — the  unre- 
mitting attention  of  Lady  North  and  his 
children  most  touching. ...  If  ever  loss  of 
sight  could  be  compensated,  it  is  by  so  affec- 
tionate a  family '  (Letters,  ix.  114).  Gibbon 
also  bears  testimony  to  '  the  lively  vigour 
of  his  mind,  and  the  felicity  of  his  incom- 
parable temper '  during  his  blindness  (De- 
cline and  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire,  vol.  iv. 
1788,  p.  iv;  see  Miscellaneous  Works, 
1815,  iii.  637-8).  North  died  of  dropsy  on 
5  Aug.  1792  at  his  house  in  Grosvenor  Square, 
London,  aged  60.  He  was  buried  on  the 
14th  of  the  same  month  in  the  family  vault 
at  All  Saints  Church,  Wroxton,  Oxfordshire, 
where  there  is  a  mural  monument  to  him  by 
Flaxman. 

North  was  an  easy-going,  obstinate  man, 
with  a  quick  wit  and  a  sweet  temper.  He  was 
neither  a  great  statesman  nor  a  great  orator, 
though  his  tact  was  unfailing  and  his  powers 
as  a  debater  were  unquestioned.  Burke,  in 
the  '  Letter  to  a  Noble  Lord,'  describes  him  as 
'  a  man  of  admirable  parts,  of  general  know- 
ledge, of  a  versatile  understanding,  fitted 
for  every  sort  of  business,  of  infinite  wit  and 
pleasantry,  of  a  delightful  temper,  and  with 
a  mind  most  perfectly  disinterested ; '  add- 
ing, however,  that  '  it  would  be  only  to  de- 
grade myself  by  a  weak  adulation,  and  not 
to  honour  the  memory  of  a  great  man,  to  deny 
that  he  wanted  something  of  the  vigilance 
and  spirit  of  command  that  the  time  required' 
( Works,  1815,  viii.  14).  Several  specimens 
of  North's  undoubted  powers  of  humour  will 
be  found  in  the  '  European  Magazine'  (xxx. 
82-4),  '  The  Georgian  Era'  (i.  317),  and  scat- 
tered through  the  pages  of  Walpole  and 
Wraxall.  In  face  North  bore  a  striking 
resemblance,  especially  in  his  youth,  to 
George  III,  which  caused  Frederick,  prince 
of  Wales,  to  suggest  to  the  first  Earl  of 
Guilford  that  one  of  their  wives  must  have 
played  them  false  (WRAXALL,  Hist,  and 
Posth.  Memoirs,  i.  310,  and  Notes  and  Queries, 
1st  ser.  vii.  207,  317,  viii.  183,  230,  303,  x. 


North 


163 


North 


52).  His  figure  was  clumsy  and  his  move- 
ments were  awkward.  According  to  Wai- 
pole,  '  two  large  prominent  eyes  that  rolled 
about  to  no  purpose  (for  he  was  utterly 
short-sighted),  a  wide  mouth,  thick  lips, 
and  inflated  visage  gave  him  the  air  of  a 
blind  trumpeter '  (Memoirs  of  the  Reign  of 
George  III,  iv.  78) ;  while  Charles  Towns- 
hend  called  him  a  '  great,  heavy,  booby-look- 
ing seeming  changeling '  (  Correspondence  of 
George  III  with  Lord  North,  i.  Ixxxi). 

North  received  a  large  number  of  personal 
distinctions.  On  3  July  1769  he  was  made  an 
honorary  LL.D.  of  Cambridge.  On  14  June 
1771  his  wife  was  appointed  ranger  of  Bushey 
Park  (ib.  i.  73-4),  and  on  18  June  1772  he 
was  invested  a  knight  of  the  Garter  (NICOLAS, 
Hist,  of  the  Orders  of  British  Knighthood, 
1842,  ii.  Ixxii),  an  honour  conferred  on  mem- 
bers of  the  House  of  Commons  in  only  three 
other  instances,  namely,  Sir  Robert  "VValpole, 
Lord  Castlereagh,  and  Lord  Palmerston.  On 
3  Oct.  1772  he  was  unanimously  elected 
chancellor  of  Oxford  University  in  succes- 
sion to  George,  third  earl  of  Lichfield,  and  on 
the  10th  of  the  same  month  was  created  a 
D.C.L.  of  the  university.  On  15  March  1774 
he  was  apppointed  lord-lieutenant  of  Somer- 
set. In  September  1777  he  received  from  the 
king  a  present  of  20,000/.  for  the  payment 
of  his  debts  (Correspondence  of  George  III 
with  Lord  North,  ii.  82-3,  428).  It  appears 
that  at  this  time  North's  estates  were  worth 
only  2,500/.  a  year,  and  that  his  father  made 
him  little  or  no  allowance  (Hist.  MSS.  Comm. 
10th  Rep.  App.  vi.  18).  On  16  June  1778  he 
accepted  the  post  of  lord  warden  of  the 
Cinque  ports,  at  the  king's  special  wish  (Cor- 
respondence of  George  III  with  Lord  North, 
ii.  193-5,  but  see  WALPOLE,  Memoirs  of 
George  III,  iv.  80  note),  the  nominal  salary 
of  which  was  4,000/.,  though  North  never 
received  more  than  1,000/.  a  year  (Par I. 
Hist.  xx.  926-7). 

A  portrait  of  North  as  chancellor  of  the 
exchequer,  by  Nathaniel  Dance,  R.A.,  is  at 
"Wroxton  Abbey,  and  is  engraved  in  Lodge's 
'  Portraits.'  Another  portrait  by  the  same 
artist  is  in  the  Bodleian  Library  at  Oxford 
(Cat.  of  the  Guelph  Exhibition,  1891, No.  104). 
A  crayon  sketch  by  Dance  is  in  the  National 
Portrait  Gallery  (Cat.  No.  276).  Portraits 
of  North  were  also  painted  by  Reynolds 
(LESLIE  and  TAYLOR,  Life  and  Times  of  Sir 
Joshua  Reynolds,  1865,  i.  155  and  253),  Ram- 
cay,  Romney,  and  others.  There  are  nume- 
rous engravings  of  North,  and  he  was  fre- 
quently depicted  in  the  caricatures  of  the 
time. 

Four  copies  of  his  Latin  verse  are  printed 
in  the  first  volume  of  the  'Musse  Etonenscs/ 


1795,  pp.  1,  13,  26,  28.  Watt  erroneously 
ascribes  to  him  the  authorship  of '  A  Letter 
recommending  a  New  Mode  of  Taxation,' 
London,  1770,  8vo.  A  number  of  North's 
letters  are  preserved  at  the  British  Museum 
among  the  Egerton  and  Additional  MSS. 

North  married,  on  20  May  1756,  Anne, 
daughter  and  heiress  of  George  Speke  of 
White  Lackington,  Somerset,  by  whom  he 
had  four  sons — viz. :  (1)  George  Augustus, 
afterwards  third  Earl  of  Guilford  (see  below) ; 
(2)Francis,  afterwards  fourth  Earl  of  Guilford 
(see  below) ;  (3)  Frederick,  afterwards  fifth 
Earl  of  Guilford  [q.v.]  ;  (4)  Dudley,  who  was 
born  on  31  May  1777,  and  died  on  18  June 
1779 ;  and  three  daughters :  (1)  Catherine 
Anne,  born  on  16  Feb.  1760,  married,  on 
26  Sept.  1789,  Sylvester  Douglas,  afterwards 
Lord  Glenbervie  [q.  v.],  and  died  on  6  Feb. 
1817;  (2)  Anne,  born  on  8  Jan.  1764,  who 
became  the  third  wife  of  John  Baker- Ho  iroyd, 
first  baron  Sheffield  (afterwards  Earl  of  Shef- 
field) [q.  v.],  in  January  1798,  and  died  on 
18  Jan.  1832;  and  (3)  Charlotte,  born  in 
December  1770,  who  married,  on  2  April 
1800,  Lieutenant-colonel  the  Hon.  John 
Lindsay,  son  of  James,  fifth  earl  of  Bal- 
carres,  and  died  on  25  Oct.  1849.  North's 
widow  died  on  17  Jan.  1797. 

GEORGE  AUGUSTUS  NORTH,  third  EARL  OP 
GUILFORD  (1757-1802),  born  on  11  Sept, 
1757,  was  educated  at  Trinity  College,  Ox- 
ford, where  he  matriculated  on  1  Nov.  1774, 
and  graduated  M.A.  on  4  June  1777.  He 
represented  Harwich  from  April  1778  to 
March  1784,  Wootton  Bassett  from  April 
1784  to  June  1790,  and  Petersfield  until  his 
father's  accession  to  the  peerage,  when  he 
was  elected  for  Banbury,  for  which  he  con- 
tinued to  sit  until  his  father's  death.  He  was 
appointed  secretary  and  comptroller  of  the 
household  to  Queen  Charlotte  on  13  Jan. 
1781.  Though  a  supporter  of  his  father's 
ministry  his  sympathies  were  largely  with 
the  whigs.  Hence  he  was  one  of  the  chief 
advocates  of  the  coalition  between  his  father 
and  Fox,  and  it  was  at  his  house  in  Old 
Burlington  Street,  Piccadilly,  that  the  first 
meeting  of  the  new  allies  took  place  on 
14  Feb.  1783  (LORD  JOHN  RUSSELL,  Me- 
morials of  Fox,  ii.  37).  On  the  formation 
of  the  ministry  in  April  1783  he  became 
his  father's  under-secretary  at  the  home 
office,  and  his  name  was  subsequently  set 
down  as  one  of  the  commissioners  in  the 
East  India  Bill  (LoRD  JOHN  RUSSELL,  Life 
and  Times  of  Fox,  1859,  ii.  42).  He  left 
office  with  the  rest  of  the  ministry  in  Decem- 
ber 1783,  and  was  dismissed  from  his  post 
in  the  queen's  household.  He  acted  as  foot- 
man on  Fox's  coach  when  it  was  drawn  by 

•a 


North 


164 


North 


the  populace  (14  Feb.  1784)  from  the  King's 
Arms  Tavern  to  Devonshire  House  (Hist. 
MSS.  Comm.  10th  Rep.  App.  vi.  p.  66).  In 
July  1792  he  refused  the  governor-general- 
ship of  India,  which  was  offered  him  by  Pitt 
(MALMESBTTRY,  Diaries  and  Correspondence, 
1844,  ii.  469, 472).  He  succeeded  his  father 
as  third  Earl  of  Guilford  on  5  Aug.  1792, 
and  took  his  seat  on  13  Dec.  following  in  the 
House  of  Lords  (Journals  of  the  House  of 
Lords,  xxxix.  495),  where  he  was  a  frequent 
speaker.  He  died  in  Stratton  Street,  Picca- 
dilly, on  20  April  1802,  after  a  lingering  ill- 
ness, from  the  effects  of  a  fall  from  his  horse, 
and  was  buried  at  Wroxton.  He  married, 
on  24  Sept.  1785,  Maria  Frances  Mary, 
youngest  daughter  of  the  Hon.  George  IIo- 
bart,  afterwards  third  Earl  of  Buckingham- 
shire, who  died  on  22  April  1794,  having 
had  four  children :  Francis,  who  died  an 
infant  in  July  1786 ;  Frederick,  who  died 
an  infant  in  September  1790;  George  Au- 
gustus, who  died  an  infant  in  February 
1793;  and  Maria,  born  on  26  Dec.  1793, 
who  married,  on  29  July  1818,  John,  second 
Marquis  of  Bute,  and  died  on  11  Sept.  1841. 
He  married,  secondly, on  28  Feb.  1796,  Susan- 
nah, daughter  of  Thomas  Coutts,  the  London 
banker,  by  whom  he  had  three  children  : 
Susannah,  born  on  16  Feb.  1797,  who  mar- 
ried, on  18  Nov.  1835,  Captain  (afterwards 
colonel)  John  Sidney  Doyle,  and  died  on 
5  March  1884;  Georgiana,  born  on  6  Nov. 
1798,  who  died  unmarried  on  25  Aug.  1835 ; 
and  Frederick  Augustus,  who  died  an  in- 
fant in  January  1802.  His  widow  survived 
him  many  years,  and  died  on  25  Sept.  1837. 
He  was  succeeded  in  the  earldom  by  his 
brother,  Francis  North,  but  the  barony  of 
North  fell  into  abeyance  between  his  three 
daughters.  On  the  death  of  her  two  sisters 
it  devolved,  according  to  a  resolution  of  the 
House  of  Lords  of  15  July  1837,  upon  Lady 
Susannah  Doyle  (ib.  Ixix.  641-2),  whose  hus- 
band took  the  name  of  North  on  20  Aug.  1838. 

FRANCIS  NORTH,  fourth  EARL  OP  GTTIL- 
PORD  (1761-1 817),  second  son  of '  Lord  North,' 
born  on  25  Dec.  1761,  entered  the  army  in 
1777,  but  quitted  it  on  attaining  the  rank  of 
lieutenant-colonel  in  1794.  lie  succeeded 
to  the  earldom  on  20  April  1802,  and  died  at 
Pisa  on  11  Jan.  1817,  leaving  no  issue.  He 
was  a  patron  of  the  stage,  and  author  of  a 
dramatic  piece  entitled  'The  Kentish  Baron,' 
which  was  produced  with  success  at  the  Hay- 
market  in  June  1791,  and  was  printed  in  the 
same  year,  London,  8vo. 

[Correspondence  of  George  III  with  Lord 
North,  edited  by  W.  B.  Donne,  1867  ;  Walpole's 
Memoirs  of  the  Reign  of  George  III,  1845;  Wal- 
pole'a  Journal  of  the  Reign  of  George  III,  1859  ; 


Walpole's  Letters,  1857-9  ;  Chatham  Corre- 
spondence, 1838-40;  Political  Memoranda  of 
Francis,  fifth  Duke  of  Leeds  (Camden  Soc.); 
Sir  N.  W.  Wraxall's  Hist,  and  Posthumous 
Memoirs,  1884  ;  Duke  of  Buckingham's  Court 
and  Cabinets  of  George  III,  1853,  vol.  i. ;  Lord 
Albemarle's  Memoirs  of  the  Marquis  of  Rock- 
ingham,  1852;  Lord  John  Russell's  Memorials 
of  C.  J.  Fox,  1853,  vols.  i.  and  ii. ;  Trevel van's 
Early  History  of  C.  J.  Fox,  1880  ;  Sir  G.  C. 
Lewis's  Administrations  of  Great  Britain,  1864, 
pp.  1-84;  Lord  Brougham's  Historical  Sketches 
of  the  Statesmen  of  George  III,  1839,  i.  48-69, 
391-7 ;  History  of  Lord  North's  Administration, 
1781-2;  Lord  Mahon's  History  of  England, 
1851-4,  vols.  v.  vi.  and  vii. ;  Lecky's  History  of 
England,  1882-7.  vols.  iii.  iv.  and  v. ;  May's 
Constitutional  History  of  England,  1875;  Col- 
lins's  Peerage  of  England,  1812,  iv.  481-5; 
Doyle's  Official  Baronage,  1886,  ii.  87-90 ; 
Hasted's  History  of  Kent,  1799,  iv.  190-1 ;  Offi- 
cial Return  of  Lists  of  Members  of  Parliament, 
ptii.pp.  115,  129,  141,  151,  154,  164,167,  180, 
183,  192,  and  193;  Foster's  Alumni  Oxonienses, 
1715-1886,  pp.  1028-9;  Historical  Register,  vol. 
xvii.  Chron.  Diary,  p.  19 ;  Haydn's  Book  of  Dig- 
nities, 1890."!  G.  F.  R.  B. 

NORTH,  FREDERICK,  fifth  EARL  OF 
GUILFORD  (1766-1827),  philhellene,  third 
and  youngest  son  of  Frederick,  second  earl  of 
Guilford  [q.  v.],  by  Anne,  daughter  of  George 
Speke,  was  born  on  7  Feb.  1766.  He  was 
extremely  delicate,  and  passed  most  of  his 
childhood  in  foreign  health  resorts.  He  wasr 
however,  for  a  time  at  Eton,  and  on  18  Oct. 
1782  matriculated  at  Oxford,  where  he  was 
student  of  Christ  Church,  was  created  D.C.L. 
on  5  July  1793,  and  received  the  same  degree 
by  diploma  on  30  Oct.  1819.  By  patent  of 
13  Dec.  1779  he  was  appointed  to  the  office 
of  chamberlain  of  the  exchequer,  a  sinecure 
which  he  held  until  10  Oct.  1826.  At  Ox- 
ford North  became  an  accomplished  Grecian, 
and  an  enthusiastic  philhellene.  After  a 
tour  in  Spain  (1788)  he  travelled  in  the 
Ionian  archipelago,  acquired  a  competent 
knowledge  of  the  vernacular  language,  and, 
after  a  careful  examination  of  the  points 
at  issue  between  the  eastern  and  western 
churches,  was  received  into  the  former  at 
Corfu  on  23  Jan.  1791.  In  the  same  year, 
on  the  conclusion  of  the  peace  of  Galatz, 
he  evinced  his  accomplishment  in  classical 
Greek  by  the  composition  of  a  scholarly 
and  spirited  Pindaric  ode  in  honour  of  the 
Empress  Catherine,  a  few  copies  of  which, 
inscribed  AltcaTepivrj  'Elprfvonot^,  were  printed 
at  Leipzig,  4to ;  reprinted  at  Athens,  ed. 
Papadopoulos  Bretos,  1846,  8vo. 

On  the  succession  of  his  eldest  brother, 
George  Augustus,  to  the  peerage  as  third 
earl  of  Guilford,  North  succeeded,  21  Sept. 


North 


165 


North 


1792,  to  his  seat  in  the  House  of  Commons  for 
the  pocket  borough  of  Banbury,  which,  how- 
ever, he  vacated  on  being  appointed,  5  March 
1794,  to  the  comptrollership  of  the  customs 
in  the  port  of  London.  The  same  year  he 
was  elected  fellow  of  the  Royal  Society,  and 
probably  about  the  same  time  member  of  the 
Eumelean  Club. 

During  the  British  occupation  of  Corsica, 
1795-6,  North  held  the  office  of  secretary  of 
state  to  the  viceroy,  Sir  Gilbert  Elliot  [q.  v.] 
In  1798  he  was  appointed  governor  of  our 
recently  acquired  dominion  in  Ceylon,  and 
towards  the  end  of  the  year  arrived  at 
Colombo.  Kandy  was  still  independent,  and 
thither,  in  the  summer  of  1800,  North  sent 
General  McDowal,  with  an  imposing  display 
of  troops,  on  a  mission  to  the  king,  by  whom 
he  was  received  with  apparent  graciousness. 
Soon  after  McDowal's  return  to  Colombo, 
however,  his  Kandian  majesty  made  exten- 
sive preparations  for  war,  which  North  neu- 
tralised by  declaring  war  himself  (29  Jan. 
1803).  McDowal  occupied  Kandy  without 
encountering  serious  resistance,  but  was  com- 
pelled by  jungle  fever  to  withdraw,  leaving 
a  small  force  to  garrison  the  town.  Reduced 
by  fever,  the  garrison  was  surprised  and 
massacred  by  the  natives  during  the  night, 
23-4  June  1803.  A  desultory  war  followed, 
with  varying  success ;  and  before  the  con- 
clusion of  peace  North's  term  of  office  had 
expired  (July  1805).  He  was  succeeded  by 
Sir  Thomas  Maitland  [q.  v.] 

Notwithstanding  the  war,  North  had  im- 
proved the  revenue,  established  a  system  of 
public  instruction,  and  reformed  the  law  by 
the  abolition  of  religious  disabilities,  tor- 
ture, peculation,  and  other  incidents  of  the 
old  regime.  His  humane  and  beneficent  sway 
was  the  more  grateful  to  the  natives  by  con- 
trast with  the  brutality  and  corruption  of 
the  Dutch  governors,  and  he  quitted  the 
island  amid  general  regret. 

North  spent  the  next  few  years  in  travel 
on  the  continent  of  Europe,  which  he  tra- 
versed diagonally,  from  Spain  to  Russia. 
He  also  revisited  Italy  (1810)  and  Greece 
(1811),  returning  to  England  in  1813.  In 
the  following  year  he  was  elected  the  first 
president  (irpoeSpos)  of  a  society  for  the  pro- 
motion of  culture  ('Ermpta  r5>v  <£>i\o/iovcr&>»') 
founded  at  Athens. 

He  acknowledged  the  honour,  and  accepted 
the  office  in  a  letter  equally  remarkable  for 
the  ardour  of  its  philhellenism  and  the  purity 
of  its  Attic,  which  was  afterwards  published 
in  'Eppris  6  Xoytoj,  1819,  pp.  179-80.  On  the 
establishment  of  the  British  protectorate 
over  the  Ionian  Islands,  North  devoted  him- 
self, in  concert  with  his  friend  Count  Capo- 


distrias,  to  a  scheme  for  founding  an  Ionian 
university,  a  cause  which  he  was  the  better 
able  to  promote  upon  his  succession  to  the 
earldom  of  Guilford,  on  the  death  of  his  elder 
brother,  Francis,  the  fourth  earl,  28  Jan. 
1817.  On  26  Oct.  1819  he  was  created  knight 
rand  cross  of  the  order  of  St.  Michael  and 
.  George  by  the  prince  regent,  who,  on  his 
accession  to  the  throne,  nominated  him  ap\o>v 
or  chancellor  of  the  projected  university.  A 
site  was  procured  in  Ithaca,  but  was  after- 
wards abandoned  for  one  in  Corfu,  in  de- 
ference to  the  views  of  Lord  High-commis- 
sioner Sir  Thomas  Maitland  [q.  v.],  in  whose 
lifetime  the  scheme  made  little  progress.  His 
successor,  Sir  Frederick  Adaml  q.  v.],  proved 
more  sympathetic,  and  under  his  auspices,  on 
29  May  1824,  the  Ionian  University,  with 
four  faculties,  a  professoriate,  and  Guilford 
as  chancellor,  was  solemnly  inaugurated  in 
Corfu.  For  some  years  Guilford  resided  in 
the  university,  on  which  he  lavished  much 
money.  He  also  placed  in  the  library  several 
rich  collections  of  printed  books,  MSS., 
scientific  apparatus,  and  sulphur  casts  of 
antique  medallions.  His  enthusiasm,  and 
especially  his  practice  of  wearing  the  clas- 
sical costume  adopted  as  the  academic  dress 
habitually  and  all  the  year  round,  excited 
much  ridicule  in  England,  whither  he  was 
recalled  by  the  state  of  his  health  in  1827. 
He  died  on  14  Oct  in  that  year,  at  the  house 
of  his  nephew,  the  Earl  of  Sheffield,  in 
St.  James's  Square,  having  received  the  com- 
munion according  to  the  Greek  rite  from  the 
hands  of  the  chaplain  to  the  Russian  em- 
bassy (cf.  the  elegant  canzone  by  T.  J.Mathias 
[q.  v.],  '  Per  la  Morte  di  Federico  North,' 
Naples  and  London,  1827, 8vo).  His  collec- 
tions at  Corfu,  which  he  had  bequeathed  to 
the  university,  were  recovered  by  his  exe- 
cutors, in  consequence  of  the  failure  of  the 
university  to  comply  with  certain  conditions 
annexed  to  the  bequest. 

He  was  a  brilliant  conversationalist  and 
linguist ;  he  wrote  and  spoke  German,  French, 
Spanish,  Italian,  and  Romaic  with  ease ;  he 
read  Russian,  and  throughout  life  maintained 
his  familiarity  with  the  classics  unimpaired. 
Two  busts  of  him  by  the  sculptors  Prosalendes 
and  Calosguros,  both  natives  of  Corfu,  were 
made  shortly  before  his  death.  Some  manu- 
scripts from  Guilford's  collections,  with  the 
catalogue,  are  preserved  in  the  British  Mu- 
seum, Add.  MSS.  8220,  20016-17,  20036-7, 
27430-1  (cf.  Cat.  MSS.  Fred.  Com.  de  Guil- 
ford, fol.) 

[na.irafioirov\ov  BptTou  Bio-ypcupiica-iVTOpticck 
virofivi]fjMTa  irepl  TOU  K&WTOS  *pi5epiKe>D  rm\<pop5, 
'M-hvats,  1846 ;  Journal  of  William,  Lord  Auck- 
land (1861);  Tfwpylov  ripo<ra\€f5ou  'A.vtK$oTa, 


North 


166 


North 


a<f>opuvra  TV  Kara  -rb  S6ypa.  TIJS  op0o8rf|ou 
eV/cAT/fffas  fidimffiv  TOV  &yy\ov  <pi\t\\r)>>os 
K&ntfTos  rui\(J>op8,  eV  KfpKvpa,  1879  ;  Gent.  Mag. 
1827,  pt.  ii.  pp.  461,  648;  Revue  Encyclo- 
pedique,  Paris,  1828,  xxxvii.  260-3;  Antologia, 
Florence,  1828,  xxix.  182-6;  Nichols's  Lit. 
Anecd.  ii.  638  ;  Illustr.  Lit.  v.  481;  Phil.  Trans. 
1794,  p.  8;  Sir  Gilbert  Elliot's  Life,  1874,  i. 
235,  ii.  99;  Klose's  Leben  Pascal  Paoli,  1853  ; 
Parl.  Hist.  1792-4;  Asiatic  Ann.  Reg.  1799 
Chron.  p.  126,  1802  pp.  62-3,  1803  pp.  13-14, 

1804  'War  in  Ceylon'  and  Chron.  pp.  6-50, 

1805  pp.     67-99;"    Cordiner's   Description    of 
Ceylon,  i.  84  ;  Philalethes's  History  of  Ceylon, 
pp.  144,  et  seq.;  Add.  MSS.  20191  f.  38,  28654 
ff.  25-6;  Kirkpatrick  Sharpe's  Letters,  ii.  110- 
111  ;  Nicolas's  British  Knighthood,  iv.,  St  Mich, 
and  St.  Geo.  Chron.  List,  p.  x ;  Leake's  Travels 
in  the  Morea,  iii.  265,  and  Travels  in  Northern 
Greece,   i.  184 ;  Palumbo,  Carteggio   cli   Maria 
Carolina  con  Lady  Emma  Hamilton,  1877,  pp. 
162-3  ;  Sitzungsberichte  der  philosophisch-his- 
torischen  Classe  der  kaiserlichen  Academie  der 
Wissenschaften,  1892,  Band  cxxvii.  221.] 

J.  M.  R. 

NORTH,  GEORGE  (/.  1580),  translator, 
describes  himself  as  '  gentleman '  on  the 
title-pages  of  his  books.  His  chief  patron 
was  Sir  Christopher  Hatton.  His  publica- 
tions were:  1.  'The  Description  of  Swed- 
land,  Gotland,  and  Finland,  the  auncient 
estate  of  theyr  Kynges,  the  most  horrible  and 
incredible  tiranny  of  the  second  Christiern, 
kyng  of  Denmarke,  agaynst  the  Swecians. 
.  .  .  Collected  .  .  .  oute  of  Sebastian  Moun- 
ster '  (London,  by  John  Awdeley),  1561 ; 
dedicated  to  Thomas  Steuckley,  esq.  2.  'The 
Philosopher  of  the  Court,  written  by  Phil- 
bert  of  Vienna  in  Champaigne,  and  Eng- 
lished by  George  North,  gentleman  .  .  . 
London,  by  Henry  Binneman  for  Lucas 
Harrison  and  George  Byshop,  Anno  1575  ; ' 
dedicated  to  Christopher  Hatton,  with  pre- 
fatory verses  by  John  Daniell  and  William 
Hitchcock,  gent,  3.  '  The  Stage  of  Popish 
Tojes ;  conteining  both  tragicall  and  comicall 
partes,  played  by  the  Romishe  roysters  of 
former  age,  notably  describing  them  by 
degrees  in  their  colours  .  .  .  collected  out 
of  St.  Stephanus  in  his  Apologie  upon 
Herodotus,  compyled  by  G.  N.'  (London, 
by  Henry  Binneman,  1581 ;  dedicated  to 
Sir  Christopher  Hatton.  A  copy  of  each 
work  is  in  the  British  Museum. 

[Brit.  Mus.  Cat.]  S.  L. 

NORTH,  GEORGE  (1710-1772),  numis- 
matist, born  in  1710,  was  the  son  of  George 
North,  citizen  and  pewterer,  who  resided  in 
or  near  Aldersgate  Street,  London.  He  was 
educated  at  St.  Paul's  School,  and  in  1725 
entered  Corpus  Christi  College,  Cambridge, 
where  he  graduated  B.A.  1728,  M.A.  1744. 


He  was  ordained  deacon  in  1729,  and  went 
to  officiate  as  curate  at  Codicote  in  Hertford- 
shire, near  Welwyn,  a  village  of  which  he 
was  also  curate.  In  1743  he  was  presented 
to  the  vicarage  of  Codicote,  and  held  this 
small  living,  which  was  not  worth  more  than 
80/.  a  year,  until  his  death.  In  1744  he 
was  appointed  chaplain  to  Lord  Cathcart. 
North  was  a  diligent  student  of  English 
coins,  of  which  he  possessed  a  small  collec- 
tion. He  corresponded  on  English  numis- 
matics and  antiquities  with  Dr.  Ducarel,  and 
many  of  his  letters  are  printed  in  Nichols's 
'  Literary  Anecdotes '  (v.  427  ft').  He  first 
attracted  the  attention  of  Francis  Wise  and 
other  antiquaries  by  '  An  Answer  to  a 
Scandalous  Libel  intituled  The  Imperti- 
nence and  Imposture  of  modern  Antiquaries 
displayed,'  published  anonymously  in  1741, 
in  answer  to  Asplin,  vicar  of  Banbury  (cf. 
NICHOLS,  Lit.  Illustr.  iv.  439).  In  1742  he 
was  elected  a  fellow  of  the  Society  of  Anti- 
quaries. He  was  also  a  member  of  the 
Spalding  Society  (NICHOLS,  Lit.  Anecd.  vi. 
103).  In  1752  he  published  '  Remarks  on 
some  Conjectures,'  &c.  (London,  4to),  in  an- 
swer to  a  paper  by  Charles  Clarke  on  a  coin 
found  at  Eltham  [see  CLAKKE,  CHAELES,  d. 
1767].  In  this  pamphlet  North  discussed 
the  standard  and  purity  of  early  English 
coins.  In  1750  he  made  a  tour  in  the  west 
of  England,  visiting  Dorchester,  Wilton,  and 
Stonehenge,  but  from  this  time  suffered  much 
from  illness.  During  an  illness  about  1765 
a  number  of  his  papers  were  burnt  by  his 
own  direction.  He  died  on  17  June  1772, 
aged  65,  at  his  parsonage-house  at  Codicote, 
and  was  buried  at  the  east  end  of  Codicote 
churchyard. 

North  is  described  (cf.  NICHOLS,  Lit.  Anec- 
dotes, v.  469)  as  '  a  well-looking,  jolly  man/ 
'  much  valued  by  his  acquaintance.'  He  was 
never  married.  He  left  his  library  and  his 
coins  to  Dr.  Askew  and  Dr.  Lort,  the  latter 
being  his  executor.  Among  his  books  was  a 
manuscript  account  of  Saxon  and  English 
coins  by  North  with  drawings  by  Hodsol. 
This  came,  ultimately,  into  the  possession  of 
Rogers  Ruding  [q.  v.],  who  also  acquired  two 
plates  engraved  by  North  to  accompany  a 
dissertation  (never  completed)  on  the  coins 
of  Henry  III  (RtrDiNG,  Annals  of  the  Coinage, 
i.  186,  ii.  176).  North  also  compiled  'A 
Table  of  English  Silver  Coins  from  the  Con- 
quest to  the  Commonwealth,  with  Remarks.' 
A  transcript  of  this  by  Dr.  Giftbrd  was  in 
1780  in  the  collection  of  Tutet.  North's 
notes  on  Ames's '  Typographical  Antiquities  ' 
were  made  use  of  by  Herbert. 

North  drew  up  the  sale  catalogues  for  the 
coin  collections  of  the  Earl  of  Oxford  (1742) 


North 


167 


North 


and  of  Dr.  Mead  (1755) ;  he  also  catalogued, 
in  1744,  West's  series  of  Saxon  coins  and 
Dr.  Ducarel's  English  coins.  A  paper  on 
Arabic  numerals  in  England,  written  by 
North  in  1748,  was  published  by  Gough  in 
the  '  Archaeologia'  (x.  360). 

[Nichols's  Lit.  Illustrations  and  Lit.  Anecdotes, 
especially  v.  426  if.,  based  on  an  account  by  Dr. 
Lort  ;  on  the  account  of  North  in  Cole's  MSS. 
see  Nichols's  Lit.  Anecd.  v.  468  ».]  W.  W. 

NORTH,  SIR  JOHN  (1551?-1597),scholar 
and  soldier,  born  about  1551,  was  the  eldest 
son  of  Roger,  second  baron  North  [q.  v.],  of 
Kirtling  or  Cartelage,  Cambridgeshire, by  his 
wife  Winifred,  daughter  of  Richard,  lord 
Rich,  widow  of  Sir  Henry  Dudley,  knt. 
(  Visitation  of  Nottingham,  Harl.  Soc.  Publ. 
iv.  82).  In  November  1562,  '  being  then  of 
immature  age,'  he  was  matriculated  fellow- 
commoner  of  Peterhouse,  of  which  college  his 
grandfather,  Edward,  first  baron  North  [q.  v.], 
was  a  benefactor.  Young  North  was  entrusted 
to  the  care  of  John  Whitgift,  who  instructed 
him  in  good  learning  and  Christian  manners 
(SiRYPE,  Whitgift,  p.  14).  He  migrated  to 
Trinity  College  in  1567,  when  Whitgift  be- 
came master  of  Trinity,  and  in  November 
1569  took  the  oath  as  a  scholar  of  the  uni- 
versity. On  19  April  1572  the  senate  passed 
a  grace  that  his  six  years'  study  in  humaniori- 
bus  literis  might  suffice  for  his  inception  in 
arts,  and  on  6  May  he  was  admitted  M.A. 
On  this  occasion  the  corporation  presented 
him  with  gifts  of  wine  and  sugar,  at  a  cost 
of  38*.  9d.  (COOPER,  Annals  of  Cambridge, 
p.  307).  On  Friday,  after  the  nativity  of  St. 
John  the  Baptist,  1572,  he  was  made  a  free 
burgess  and  elected  an  alderman  of  Cam- 
bridge. In  1576,  in  accordance  with  the  cus- 
tom of  the  times,  he  travelled  in  Italy,  being 
away  for  two  years  and  two  months,  at  a 
cost  to  his  father  of  49Z.  10s. 

In  1579,  after  the  union  of  Utrecht,  North 
went  to  the  Netherlands  with  Sir  John 
Norris  (1547  P-1597)  [q.  v.],  and  took  service 
as  a  volunteer  in  the  cause  of  the  provinces. 
He  returned  to  England  in  1580,  and  pro- 
bably married.  He  may  be  the  Mr.  North  who 
visited  Poland  in  1581  (DEE,  Diary,  p.  19), 
and  who,  after  returning  in  1582,  had  an 
audience  of  the  queen,  who  had  been  sump- 
tuously entertained  at  Kirtling  in  1578.  He 
was  returned  M.P.  for  Cambridgeshire  to  the 
fifth  parliament  of  Elizabeth  in  1584.  He 
again  went  to  the  Netherlands  with  Leicester 
and  Sidney  late  in  1585.  At  Flushing  he  had 
a  violent  quarrel  with  one  Webbe,  whose  eyes 
he  attempted  to  gouge  out  in  a  desperate 
encounter.  Webbe  appealed  to  Leicester  as 
supreme  governor,  but  he  strangely  decided 


that,  as  both  were  Englishmen,  the  matter 
was  in  the  queen's  cognisance.  North  then 
returned  to  England,  and  sat  for  Cambridge- 
shire in  the  sixth  parliament  of  Elizabeth, 
which  met  in  October  1586 ;  and  again  in  the 
seventh,  which  was  summoned  for  November 
1587,  but  was  prorogued  to  February  1588 
(Returns  of  Members ;  WILLIS,  Not.  Parl. 
Hi.  pt.  2,  pp.  99, 108,  118).  He  went  a  third 
time  to  the  Netherlands,  and  joined  the 
enemy  in  1597,  'for  religion's  sake  only;'  but 
sent  information  to  his  father  of  certain  plots 
formed  against  the  queen  by '  one  Mr.  Aron- 
dell  [see  ARXJNDELL,  THOMAS,  first  LORD 
ARTJNDELL  OP  WARDOTTR],  who  had  been 
created  a  count  of  the  empire '  (BLACK,  Cat. 
Ashmol.  MSS.  p.  1461).  He  died  in  Flanders 
during  his  father's  lifetime,  5  June  1597 
(BAKER,  Northampton,  i.  527).  A  fine 
monument  was  erected  to  his  memory  by  his 
widow  in  the  church  of  'St.  Gregory  by 
Paul's.' 

He  married  Dorothy,  daughter  and  heiress 
of  Sir  Valentine  Dale,  LL.D.,  master  of  the 
requests,  by  whom  he  had  issue:  Dudley, 
third  baron  North  [q.v.l,  godson  of  the  Earl 
of  Leicester:  Elizabeth,  wife  of  William, 
son  of  Sir  Jerome  Horsey ;  Sir  John  North, 
K.B. ;  Gilbert ;  Roger  [q.  v.],  the  navigator ; 
and  Mary,  wife  of  Sir  Francis  Coningsby  of 
South  Mimms,  Hertfordshire. 

There  is  a  picture  of  Sir  John  at  Wroxton 
Abbey,  Oxfordshire,  showing  him  with  fair 
hair,  ruff,  and  light  brocaded  dress ;  and 
there  is  another  portrait  by  the  younger 
Crainus  at  Waldershare. 

[In  addition  to  authorities  cited,  Cooper's 
Atheme  Cant.;  Hoofd's  Ned.  Hist.  vii.  132  (the 
other  references  in  Hoofd  probably  relate  to  the 
second  Baron  North,  •with  whom  the  son  is  some- 
times confused  in  Dutch  works);  Van  der  Aa's 
Biog.  Woordenboeck,  xiii.  art. '  North ; '  Collins's 
Peerage ;  Dugdale's  Baronage ;  Cal.  State  Papers, 
1547-1580,  p.  447.]  E.  C.  M. 

NORTH,  JOHN,  D.D.  (1645-1683),  pro- 
fessor of  Greek  and  master  of  Trinity  College, 
Cambridge,  fifth  son  of  Dudley,  fourth  baron 
North  [q.  v.],  by  Anne,  his  wife,  daughter  of 
Sir  Charles  Montagu  [q.  v.l,  was  born  in  Lon- 
don on  4  Sept.  1646,  and  educated  at  the 
grammar  school  of  Bury  St.  Edmunds  under 
Dr.  Stevens,  a  staunch  royalist,  who  is  said 
to  have  shown  a  strong  partiality  for  his  pro- 
mising pupil.  In  1661  he  entered  at  Jesus 
College,  Cambridge,  of  which  college  John 
Pearson  [q.v.],  afterwards  bishop  of  Chester, 
had  been  appointed  master  at  the  Restora- 
tion. He  was  a  diligent  student  from  his 
boyhood,  and,  after  proceeding  to  the  usual 
degrees,  he  was  made  fellow  of  his  college  in 
September  1666,  and  began  to  get  together 


North 


168 


North 


a  huge  library,  which  he  continued  to  add  to 
during  all  his  life.  '  Greek,'  says  his  brother 
Roger,  '  became  almost  vernacular  to  him.' 
But  his  studies  appear  to  have  ranged  over 
a  large  surface,  and  he  was  a  personal  friend 
of  Sir  Isaac  Newton,  who  had  entered  at 
Trinity  at  the  same  time  that  North  ma- 
triculated at  Jesus.  He  did  not  get  on  well 
with  the  fellows  of  his  college,  and  seldom 
attended  the  common  room,  preferring  to 
associate  with  those  who  were  students  like 
himself,  or  with  the  young  men  of  birth  and 
social  position,  with  whom  he  felt  more  at 
ease  (COOPER,  Annals  of  Cambridge,  iii.  519). 
When  Charles  II  was  at  Newmarket  in  the 
summer  of  1668,  North  was  appointed  to 
preach  before  the  king,  probably  out  of  com- 
pliment to  his  father,  who  had  succeeded  to 
the  barony  of  North  and  the  estate  of  Kirt- 
ling,  near  Newmarket,  during  the  previous 
year.  The  sermon  was  printed  in  1671,  and 
the  preacher  received  more  than  the  usual 
compliments  for  his  performance.  About  this 
time  Archbishop  Sheldon  [q.  v.]  gave  the 
young  man  the  sinecure  living  of  Llandinam 
in  Montgomeryshire,  which  necessitated  his 
vacating  his  fellowship,  and  he  thereupon 
migrated  to  Trinity  College,  attracted  thither 
chiefly  by  his  friendship  with  Isaac  Barrow, 
who  shortly  afterwards  became  master  of  the 
college.  Newton,  too,  was  then  in  residence 
at  Trinity,  having  succeeded  Barrow  as  Lu- 
casian  professor  of  mathematics.  In  1672 
Thomas  Gale  (1635P-1705)  [q.v.]  resigned 
the  professorship  of  Greek  in  the  university, 
and  North  was  thereupon  appointed  his  suc- 
cessor in  the  chair ;  and  on  his  brother,  Sir 
Francis  North  [q.  v.],  becoming  attorney- 
general,  he  was  made  clerk  of  the  closet,  and 
in  January  1673  was  preferred  to  a  stall  in 
Westminster.  The  road  to  high  preferment 
was  now  opening  to  him,  and  he  was  for- 
tunate enough  to  be  taken  into  favour  by 
the  Duke  of  Lauderdale,  who  entertained 
great  admiration  for  his  abilities.  On  30  March 
1676  he  preached  before  the  king  on  the  last 
occasion  when  the  Duke  of  York  attended 
the  Chapel  Royal;  and  Evelyn,  who  was 
present,  seems  to  have  been  impressed  by 
the  manner  and  appearance  of  such  a  'very 
young  but  learned  and  excellent  person.' 
That  same  summer  the  Duke  of  Lauder- 
dale was  entertained  by  the  university  of 
Cambridge,  and  on  this  occasion  North, 
in  compliment  to  his  patron,  was  made 
doctor  of  divinity.  Little  more  than  a 
year  after  this  (4  May  1677)  Barrow  died 
suddenly  in  London,  and  North  succeeded 
him  as  master  of  Trinity.  His  mastership 
of  the  college  does  not  appear  to  have 
been  a  source  of  much  happiness  to  him. 


The  fellows  exhibited  no  great  cordiality  to- 
wards him,  and  disagreements  occurred, 
which  Roger  North  passes  over  very  lightly, 
as  if  the  less  said  about  them  the  better. 

North  inherited  from  his  predecessor  the 
task  of  providing  for  the  construction  of 
the  new  library  which  Barrow  had  begun. 
This  appears  to  have  been  roofed  in  during 
North's  mastership,  but  was  not  completed 
till  several  years  later.  North's  health  began 
to  break  down  soon  after  he  became  master 
of  Trinity,  and  for  the  last  four  years  of  his 
life  his  condition  became  more  and  more 
deplorable.  Mind  and  body  gave  way  to- 
gether, and  after  suffering  from  paralysis 
and  epileptic  fits,  which  obscured  and  en- 
feebled his  intellect,  he  succumbed  at  last 
to  apoplexy  at  Cambridge  in  April  1683, 
and  was  buried  in  the  college  chapel,  where 
a  small  tablet  with  his  initials,  'J.N.,' serves 
as  his  only  monument.  There  can  be  no 
doubt  that  North  read  himself  to  death, 
and  overtaxed  powers  which  appear  to  have 
been  of  a  high  order.  The  result  was  that 
he  left  nothing  behind  him,  and  he  was  wise 
in  ordering  all  his  manuscripts  to  be  de- 
stroyed. AVhen  Thomas  Gale  published  his 
'  Opuscula  Mythologica  Ethica  et  Physica ' 
in  1671,  North  contributed  a  Latin  trans- 
lation of  the  fragment  of  '  Pythagoras,'  and 
added  some  illustrative  notes ;  and  in  1673 
he  issued  from  the  Cambridge  press  an  octavo 
entitled  '  Platonis  Dialogi  Selecti,'  which  is 
said  to  be  a  very  worthless  production.  These 
are  all  that  remain  as  the  fruits  of  his  omni- 
vorous learning.  It  must  be  remembered, 
however,  that  he  was  only  twenty-eight  when 
he  became  professor  of  Greek  in  the  univer- 
sity, and  that  he  died  in  his  thirty-eighth 
year, with  his  faculties  impaired.  There  is*// 
picture  of  him  at  Rougham  Hall  in  Norfolk, 
painted  when  he  was  a  boy  by  BlemweJ^'a 
friend  of  Sir  Peter  Lely;  it  was  the/inly 
portrait  that  he  ever  allowed  to  be  exf/ruted. 
Roger  North  has  handed  down  his  name  to 
posterity  in  a  biography  that  must  be  ac- 
cepted as  a  literary  curiosity. 

[Lives  of  the  Norths,  vol.  ii. ;  Evelyn's  Diary, 
sub  anno,  1676  ;  Cooper's  Annals  of  Cambridge, 
iii.  528 ;  Eoger  North's  Autobiography ;  Le 
Neve's  Fasti ;  Willis  and  Clark's  Architectural 
History  of  the  University  of  Cambridge  ii.  532, 
et  seq.]  A.  J. 

NORTH,  MARIANNE  (1830-1890), 
flower-painter,  born  at  Hastings,  24  Oct. 
1830,  was  the  eldest  daughter  of  Frederick 
North  of  Rougham,  Norfolk,  by  Janet,  eldest 
daughter  of  Sir  John  Marjoribanks,  and 
widow  of  Robert  Shuttlewortn  of  Gawthorpe 
Hall,  Lancashire.  The  Norths  were  descend- 
ants of  Roger  North  [q.  v.],  author  of  the 


North 


169 


North 


*  Lives.'  Roger's  grandson,  Fountain  North, 
was  cruelly  treated  by  his  father,  ran  away 
to  sea,  and  upon  inheriting  the  property  de- 
stroyed the  old  house  at  Rougham,  which 
had  been  the  scene  of  his  misery,  and  took  a 
house  at  Hastings.  Frederick  North,  Foun- 
tain's grandson,  lived  at  Hastings,  for  which 
he  became  member  in  1830.  He  voted  for  the 
Reform  Bill,  but  after  1832  was  compelled 
by  ill-health  to  retire  from  parliament.  His 
daughter  says  that  he  was  the  '  one  idol  and 
friend  of  her  life.'  Her  early  days  were 
passed  between  Hastings,  Gawthorpe  Hall, 
and  the  old  farmhouse  at  Rougham,  which 
had  once  been  the  laundry  of  the  hall.  At 
Hastings  the  Norths  saw  many  friends ;  but 
in  the  country  they  lived  a  quiet,  open-air 
life,  and  Miss  North,  though  for  a  time  at  a 
school  in  Norwich,  was  not  over  educated. 
She  had  a  strong  love  of  music,  and  at  an 
early  age  took  to  painting  flowers.  She  was 
trained  in  singing  by  Madame  Sainton-Dolby 
[q.  v.],  but  the  failure  of  a  fine  voice  led  her 
to  devote  herself  entirely  to  painting.  After 
a  stay  on  the  continent  from  1847  to  1850, 
she  took  some  lessons  in  flower-painting  from 
a  Miss  van  Fowinkel  and  from  Valentine 
Bartholomew  [q.  v.]  Her  father  was  elected 
M.P.  for  Hastings  in  1854,  and  her  mother 
died  17  Jan.  1855.  Mr.  North  then  took  a  flat 
in  Victoria  Street,  London,  and  after  1860, 
having  given  up  the  house  at  Rougham  to 
his  son,  he  made  several  tours  on  the  conti- 
nent with  his  daughter.  She  made  many 
sketches,  and  at  home  took  great  pleasure  in 
the  garden  at  Hastings.  In  1865  Mr.  North 
lost  his  seat,  and  made  a  long  tour  with  his 
daughter  in  Syria  and  Egypt.  He  was  re- 
elected  in  1868,  but  his  health  was  breaking, 
and  he  died  29  Oct.  1869. 

Miss  North  now  resolved  to  carry  out  an 
old  project  for  painting  the  flora  of  more  re- 
mote countries.  Between  July  1871  and 
June  1872  she  visited  Canada,  the  United 
States,  and  Jamaica.  Later  in  the  same 
summer  she  started  for  Brazil,  where  she 
spent  much  of  her  time  drawing  in  a  remote 
forest  hut.  She  returned  in  September  1873. 
In  the  spring  of  1875  she  visited  Teneriffe, 
and  in  the  following  August  began  a  journey 
round  the  world.  After  staying  in  California, 
Japan,  Borneo,  Java,  and  Ceylon,  she  reached 
England  in  March  1877.  In  September  1878 
she  sailed  for  India,  and  after  an  extensive 
tour  there  returned  to  England  in  March 
1879.  Her  drawings  now  attracted  so  many 
visitors  that  she  found  it  convenient  to  ex- 
hibit them  at  a  room  in  Conduit  Street  dur- 
ing the  summer.  She  then  offered  to  present 
them  to  the  botanical  gardens  at  Kew,  and 
to  build  a  gallery  for  their  reception  at  her 


own  expense.  James  Fergusson  (1808-1886) 
[q.  v.]  prepared  designs  for  a  building,  which 
was  at  once  begun.  Upon  the  suggestion  of 
Charles  Darwin  that  she  ought  to  paint  the 
Australian  vegetation,  she  sailed  in  April 
1880  for  Borneo,  and  thence  to  Australia  and 
New  Zealand.  She  returned  to  England  by 
California  in  the  summer  of  1886,  when  the 
gallery  was  ready  to  receive  her  paintings, 
and  after  a  year's  hard  work  it  was  opened 
to  the  public  on  9  July  1882.  Within  a 
month  two  thousand  copies  of  the  catalogue 
were  sold.  She  at  once  started  for  South 
Africa, returning  in  June  1883,  when  a  room 
was  added  to  the  gallery.  The  following 
winter  was  spent  at  the  Seychelles,  and 
during  1884-5  she  made  her  last  journey,  to 
paint  araucarias  in  Chili.  Before  leaving 
she  received  a  letter  from  the  queen  express- 
ing regret  that  there  were  no  means  of  offi- 
cially recognising  her  generosity.  A  year 
was  spent  after  her  last  return  in  rearranging 
the  Kew  gallery.  Her  health  had  suffered 
severely  during  her  last  journeys,  and  in 
1886  she  took  a  house  at  Alderley,  Glouces- 
tershire, in  a  beautiful  country,  where  she 
could  live  quietly  and  devote  herself  to  her 
garden.  Many  friends  sent  her  plants  from 
all  quarters.  Her  health  was,  however, 
rapidly  failing,  and  she  suffered  from  a  dis- 
ease produced  by  her  exposure  to  unhealthy 
climates.  She  died  on  30  Aug.  1890,  and 
was  buried  at  Alderley. 

Miss  North's  singular  charm  of  character  is 
sufficiently  proved  by  the  welcome  which  she 
everywhere  received,  when  travelling  alone 
in  the  wildest  and  remotest  districts.  The 
letters  published  by  her  sister  show  the  re- 
finement, quiet  dignity,  and  love  of  natural 
beauty,  which  won  the  affection  of  her  hosts 
as  her  energy  gained  their  respect.  Her 
paintings  are  valuable  for  artistic  merits,  but 
still  more  for  the  fidelity  with  which  they 
preserve  a  record  of  vegetation  now  often 
disappearing.  Five  species,  four  of  which 
she  first  made  known  in  Europe,  have  been 
named  after  her. 

[Recollections  of  a  Happy  Life,  being  the 
Autobiography  of  Marianne  North,  edited  by  her 
sister,  Mrs.  John  Addington  Symonds,  2  vols. 
8ro,  London,  1892.  A  volume  of  '  Further  Re- 
collections' appeared  in  1893.  See  also  bio- 
graphical notice  prefixed  to  the  fifth  edition  of  the 
Official  Guide  to  the  North  Gallery.]  L.  S. 

NORTH,  ROGER,  second  LORD  NORTH 
(1530-1600),  wao  bom  in  1530,  probuMy 
Kirttmg-in  Oftmbpidgoobige,  then  the 


of  his  father  Edward,  first  lord  North  [q.v.]; 
Sir  Thomas  North  [q.  v.]  was  his  youngest 
brother.  He  is  supposed  to  have  completed 
his  education  at  Peterhouse,  Cambridge.  He 


was 


born    27    February,    1530-1,    in    London.' 
See  En$r.  Hist.  Rev.  xxxvii.  565-6. 


North 


170 


North 


was  early  introduced  by  his  father  to  the 
court,  and  appears  to  have  entered  eagerly 
into  its  amusements,  especially  that  of  tilting, 
in  which  he  excelled.  While  still  a  youth, 
the  Princess  Elizabeth  tied  round  his  arm  at 
a  tournament  a  scarf  of  red  silk.  This  he  is 
represented  as  wearing  in  the  fine  portrait  now 
the  property  of  Lord  North  atWroxton. 

In  1555  he  was  elected  knight  of  the  shire 
for  the  county  of  Cambridge,  and  was  re- 
elected  to  sit  in  the  parliaments  of  1558  and 
1563  for  the  same  county,  which  he  con- 
tinued to  represent  until,  on  the  death  of  his 
father  in  1564,  he  took  his  seat  in  the  House 
of  Lords.  He  was  among  the  knights  of  the 
Bath  created  at  the  coronation  of  Queen 
Elizabeth,  and  in  July  of  the  same  year  was, 
with  the  Earl  of  Ormonde  and  Sir  John  Per- 
rot  [q.  v.],  one  of  the  challengers  at  the  grand 
tournament  in  Greenwich  Park.  In  February 
1559  Sir  William  Cecil  wrote  to  Archbishop 
Parker,  begging  that  the  bearer  of  the  letter, 
Sir  Roger  North,  might  have  a  dispensation 
from  fasting  in  Lent,  '  in  consideration  of 
his  evil  estate  of  health,  and  the  danger  that 
might  follow  if  he  should  be  restrained  to 
eating  of  fish.'  In  1564,  on  his  succession 
to  his  father's  title,  he  set  himself  diligently 
to  the  management  of  his  estates  and  domes- 
tic affairs.  In  1568  he  was  elected  alder- 
man and  free  burgess  of  the  town  of  Cam- 
bridge. 

After  North  had  spent  two  years  in  Wal- 
singham's  house,  in  some  official  capacity 
(LLOYD),  he  was  sent,  in  1568,  with  the  Earl 
of  Sussex,  on  an  embassy  to  Vienna,  to  invest 
the  Emperor  Maximilian  with  the  order  of 
the  Garter.  The  Archduke  Charles  was  then 
paying  court  to  Elizabeth,  and  it  is  said  that 
North,  in  the  interest  of  Leicester,  sought  to 
discourage  the  suit  by  putting  forward  an 
opinion  that  the  queen  would  never  marry. 
But  on  his  return  he  was  commissioned  to 
present  her  with  the  archduke's  portrait. 

In  May  1569  North,  as  a  commissioner  of 
musters  for  the  county  of  Cambridge,  threat- 
ened to  enrol  the  servants  of  scholars  of  the 
university.  On  an  appeal  to  the  lords  of 
the  council,  it  was  decided  that  the  scholars' 
servants  were  privileged  to  exemption.  On 
20  Nov.  in  the  same  year  he  was  appointed 
lord-lieutenant  and  custos  rotulorum  of  Cam- 
bridgeshire and  the  Isle  of  Ely.  In  Janu- 
ary 1572  he  was  one  of  the  six-and-twenty 
peers  who,  with  the  Earl  of  Shrewsbury  as 
president,  were  summoned  to  Westminster 
Hall  at  two  days'  notice  to  sit  as  judges  on 
the  trial  of  Thomas  Howard,  fourth  Duke  of 
Norfolk  [q.  v.]  The  duke  was  condemned 
to  death.  Fresh  duties  were  soon  thrown 
upon  North  by  his  appointment  to  the  high 


stewardship  of  the  town  of  Cambridge ;  and 
in  the  exercise  of  his  authority  he  often  came 
into  collision  with  the  university.  The  latter 
made  a  remonstrance  as  to  the  countenance 
North — who  was  a  great  patron  of  players — 
gave  to  certain  strollers  who  had  performed 
at  Chesterton  in  defiance  of  the  vice-chan- 
cellor's prohibition. 

It  has  been  stated  that  North  was  on  one 
occasion  employed  on  a  special  mission  to 
the  court  of  Charles  IX  of  France,  but  dates 
and  details  are  wanting.  A  better  known 
embassy  was  that  of  1574,  when,  on  the 
death  of  Charles  IX,  he  was  sent  as  ambas- 
sador extraordinary  with  letters  of  congratu- 
lation to  Henry  III  on  his  accession,  and  of 
condolence  to  the  queen-mother.  North  was 
also  charged  with  the  more  delicate  task  of 
demanding  a  larger  measure  of  toleration  for 
the  Huguenots,  and  of  negotiating  for  a  re- 
newal of  the  treaty  of  Blois  (first  concluded 
in  1572),  which  provided  that  the  sovereigns 
of  England  and  France  should  assist  each 
other  when  assailed,  on  every  occasion  and 
for  every  cause,  not  excepting  that  of  religion. 

North  found  an  able  and  loyal  supporter 
in  Dr.  (afterwards  Sir)  Valentine  Dale  [q.  v.], 
master  of  requests,  then  resident  ambassador 
at  the  court  of  France.  But  Henry  and 
his  mother  were  difficult  to  deal  with. 
On  some  public  occasion,  moreover,  the 
gentlemen  of  the  English  embassy  were 
treated  with  rudeness  by  the  Due  de  Guise, 
and  it  was  reported  to  North  that  two  female 
dwarfs  had  been  incited  to  mimic  Queen 
Elizabeth  for  the  amusement  of  Catherine 
de'  Medici  and  her  ladies.  To  crown  all,  a 
buffoon  dressed  in  imitation  of  Henry  VIII 
was  introduced  before  the  court  in  the  pre- 
sence of  North  and  his  suite.  In  spite  of 
such  annoyances,  North's  tact  won  him 
golden  opinions ;  while  his  perfect  mastery 
of  the  Italian  tongue  stood  him  in  good 
stead  with  Catherine  de'  Medici  and  the  king, 
who  found  pleasure  in  conversing  with  him 
in  it.  In  November  1574  he  set  sail  for  Eng- 
land. He  received  1,161 /.  for  his  expenses. 
Notwithstanding  much  discouragement,  his 
mission  was  not  in  the  end  unfruitful.  On 
30  April  1575  the  king  of  France  solemnly 
renewed  the  treaty  of  Blois. 

Soon  after  his  return  to  England,  North 
was  directed  by  the  queen  to  negotiate  with 
Bishop  Cox  of  Ely,  in  her  behalf,  for  a  lease 
of  the  bishop's  manor  and  park  of  Somers- 
ham.  The  bishop  had  previously  evaded  the 
queen's  request  for  the  estate,  and  a  bitter 
quarrel  followed  between  him  and  North. 
Somersham  was  not  then  surrendered  either 
to  the  queen  or  to  North  ;  but  on  the  death 
of  the  bishop  in  1581  it  came  into  Eliza- 


North 


171 


North 


beth's  possession,  and  she  retained  it  for  her 
own  purposes,  together  with  the  whole  of  his 
episcopal  estates,  for  fourteen  years.  North 
himself  bore  no  malice  to  Bishop  Cox.  In 
1680  he  made  a  present  to  the  bishop's  son 
Roger,  to  whom  he  had  previously  stood 
sponsor,  and  whom  he  always  treated  as  a 
friend. 

In  May  1577  he  purchased  the  house  and 
estate  of  Mildenhall  in  Suffolk,  with  the 
lease  of  some  lands  adjoining.  North  fre- 
quently led  a  country  life  at  Kirtling ;  but 
a  running  footman  at  these  seasons  was 
always  kept  to  bring  him  the  news  from 
London.  He  visited  the  Earl  of  Leicester 
at  Kenilworth,  and  enjoyed  very  confidential 
relations  with  the  earl.  In  September  1578 
he  attended  Leicester's  private  marriage  to 
the  Countess  of  Essex. 

In  July  1578  he  paid  a  visit  to  Buxton, 
and  in  September  the  queen  paid  a  memo- 
rable visit  to  Kirtling  while  on  her  progress 
from  Norfolk.  She  arrived  before  supper  on 
1  Sept.,  leaving  after  dinner  on  the  3rd. 
North  had  been  long  busy  with  preparations 
for  her  coming.  The  banqueting-house  was 
improved,  new  kitchens  built,  and  there  was 
a  great  'trymming  upp  of  chambers  and 
other  rowmes.'  The  ceremonies  of  reception 
over,  an  oration  was  pronounced  by  a  gentle- 
man of  Cambridge,  and  '  a  stately  and  fayre 
cuppe '  presented  from  the  university  in  the 
presence  of  the  assembled  guests.  Lord 
North's  minstrels  played  her  in  to  supper ; 
Leicester's  minstrels,  too,  were  there  to 
swell  the  band,  together  with  his  cooks. 
The  amount  of  provisions  consumed  during 
the  visit  was  enormous.  A  cartload  and 
two  horseloads  of  oysters,  with  endless 
variety  of  sea  and  river  fish,  and  birds  with- 
out number;  while  the  cellars  at  Kirtling 
supplied  seventy-four  hogsheads  of  beer,  two 
tuns  of  ale,  six  hogsheads  of  claret,  one  hogs- 
head of  white  wine,  twenty  gallons  of  sack, 
and  six  gallons  of  hippocras. 

On  the  day  after  her  arrival  the  queen 
was  entertained  with  a  joust  in  the  park,  and 
within  doors  her  host  played  cards  with  her, 
losing  in  courtier-like  fashion.  After  dinner, 
on  3  Sept.,  she  passed  to  Sir  Giles  Aling- 
ton's,  North  presenting  her  before  she  left 
with  a  jewel  worth  120/.,  and  following 
the  court  to  the  end  of  the  progress.  He  re- 
turned to  Kirtling  on  26  Sept.  During  the 
progress  he  quarrelled  with  the  Earl  of  Sus- 
eex,  lord  chamberlain,  in  presence  of  the 
queen.  Leicester  wrote  to  Burghley  that 
the  strife  was  '  sudden  and  passionatt.' 
Elizabeth  took  upon  herself  the  office  of 
mediator.  On  14  Sept.  1583  North  was 
among  the  mourners  at  the  funeral  of  his 


friend  Francis,  second  Earl  of  Bedford,  which 
took  place  with  great  pomp  at  Chenies.  In 
February  1584  he  complained  to  the  lord- 
treasurer  of  the  conduct  of  the  two  chief 
justices,  especially  of  Anderson,  whom  he 
calls  '  the  hottest  man  that  ever  sat  in  judg- 
ment,' for  their  discourtesy  in  crediting  him- 
self and  other  magistrates  of  the  county,  in 
open  court,  with  a  miscarriage  of  justice  in 
consequence  of  their  ignorance  of  the  law.  In 
May  the  same  year  he  was  appointed  to  act, 
with  Sir  Francis  Hinde,  John  Hutton,  and 
Fitz-Rafe  Chamberlaine,  as  her  majesty's 
deputy  commissioner  to  inquire  into  and  settle 
all  disputes  on  the  subject  of  keeping  horses 
and  brood  mares  in  the  county  of  Cambridge 
and  the  Isle  of  Ely. 

In  October  1585,on  Leicester's  appointment 
as  captain-general  of  the  English  forces  sent 
to  assist  the  Dutch  in  their  struggle  for  in- 
dependence, North  volunteered  for  service, 
together  with  his  son  Henry,  and  followed 
Leicester  to  Holland.  He  distinguished  him- 
self greatly  in  the  campaign.  Leicester 
applied,  unsuccessfully,  for  the  governorship 
of  the  Brill  for  North,  '  who  hath  bine  very 
painfull  and  forward  in  all  these  services 
from  the  beginning,  and  his  yeres  mete  for 
it.'  Leicester  also  wrote  to  Walsingham  and 
to  Burghley  in  North's  interest,  requesting 
that  he  might  either  be  placed  on  the  com- 
mission for  the  states,  or  have  leave  to  return 
to  England.  But  his  health  improved,  and, 
after  his  release  from  attendance  at  the  Hague, 
he  chose  to  remain  in  the  Netherlands.  '  I 
desire  that  her  Majesty  may  know,'  he  said, 
'  that  I  live  but  to  serve  her.  A  better  barony 
than  I  have  could  not  hire  the  Lord  North 
to  live  on  meaner  terms.'  '  I  will  leave  no 
labour  nor  danger,'  he  wrote  to  Burghley, 
'  but  serve  as  a  private  soldier ;  and  have 
thrust  myself  for  service  on  foot  under  Cap- 
tain Reade.' 

At  the  battle  of  Zutphen  (2  Oct.  1586) 
North  behaved  with  splendid  courage.  He 
had  been  wounded  in  the  leg  by  a  musket- 
shot  in  a  skirmish  the  day  before,  and  was 
'  bedde-red ; '  but  hearing  that  the  enemy  was 
engaged,  he  hurriedly  rose,  and,  '  with  one 
boot  on  and  one  boot  off,'  had  himself  lifted 
on  horseback,  '  and  went  to  the  matter  very 
lustily.'  North  was  given  by  Leicester  the 
title  of  knight-banneret.  He  was  in  Eng- 
land on  16  Feb.  1587,  when  he  rode  in  the 
recession  at  Sir  Philip  Sidney's  funeral  at 
It.  Paul's.  But  he  returned  to  the  Nether- 
lands during  the  campaign  of  1587,  and,  after 
Leicester's  recall,  remained  there  for  some 
months  under  Lord  Willoughby,  who  formed 
so  high  an  opinion  of  his  courage  and  ability 
that,  in  view  of  his  own  retirement  in  No- 


North 


172 


North 


vember  1587,  he  named  North  as  one  of  the 
four  best  fitted  to  succeed  him  as  captain- 
general  of  the  forces. 

In  April  1588  North  was  summoned  in 
haste  from  the  wars  to  look  to  the  military 
condition  of  Cambridgeshire  in  preparation 
for  the  Spanish  invasion.  In  May  1588  he 
reported  to  the  lords  of  the  council  that 
Cambridgeshire  'is  very  badly  furnished 
with  armour  and  munition,  and  many  of  the 
trained  bands  dead  or  removed,'  but  that  he 
•would  see  all  defects  supplied.  North  had 
much  ado  with  the  justices  of  the  county, 
whose  patriotism  was  not  all  that  might  have 
been  desired.  He  set  them  a  good  example, 
supplying  at  his  own  charges, '  of  his  voluntary 
offer,'  sixty  shot,  fifty  horses,  sixty  horsemen, 
thirty  furnished  with  demi-lances  and  thirty 
with  petronels,  and  sixty  foot-soldiers,  forty 
with  muskets  and  twenty  with  calivers, '  to 
attend  her  majesty's  person.' 

On  4  Sept.  1588  Leicester  died,  and  left  a 
basin  and  ewer  of  silver,  of  the  value  of  40/., 
to  North,  who  on  9  Sept.  addressed  a  letter 
to  Burghley,  in  which  he  highly  praised 
Leicester,  and  referred  feelingly  to  his  death. 
He  explained  to  Burghley  that  his  own 
health  was  not  good,  and  that  the  doctors 
of  Cambridge  were  sending  him  for  a  month 
to  Bath,  '  in  hope  the  drinking  the  waters 
and  bathing  may  do  me  good.'  On  18  April 
1589  North  was  among  the  peers  who  sat 
on  the  trial  for  high  treason  of  Philip,  earl  of 
Arundell.  On  28  July  1589  he  expressed  a 
desire  to  Lord  Burghley  to  attend  '  the  mar- 
riage of  Mr.  Robert  Cecill  and  Mistress 
Brooke,'  daughter  of  Lord  Cobham,  '  if  you 
will  have  so  ill  a  guest;'  but  indisposition 
prevented  his  going. 

When,  in  1596,  an  alarm  was  raised  of  a 
second  Spanish  invasion,  the  lord  high  ad- 
miral (Essex)  propounded  to  North  many 
questions  respecting  the  probable  method  of 
die  enemy's  attack,  and  the  measures  proper 
to  be  taken  for  the  defence  of  the  coast. 
North  urged  that  '  such  port  towns  as  are 
unwalled  must  be  reinforced  with  men  .  .  . 
the  forces  of  the  sea-coast  must  upon  every 
sudden  be  ready  to  impeach  [the  enemy's] 
landing.  .  .  .  The  places  of  most  danger  to  the 
realm  and  to  do  him  good  are  the  Isle  of 
Wight  and  Southampton.'  In  the  same  year 
the  queen  gave  him  the  office  of  treasurer  of 
her  household ;  thus  falsifying  the  predic- 
tion of  Rowland  White,  who  said  of  him  and 
Sir  Henry  Lee  that '  they  play  at  cards  with 
the  Queen,  and  it  is  like  to  be  all  the  honor 
that  will  fall  to  them  this  year.'  In  October 
1596  he  was  sworn  a  member  of  the  privy 
council.  In  1597  the  queen  appointed  him 
keeper  of  the  royal  parks  of  Eltham  and 


Home,  purveyor  of  the  manor,  and  surveyor 
of  the  woods  of  the  latter  estate.  He  neg- 
lected none  of  the  duties  of  a  courtier,  year 
by  year  punctually  presentingthe  queen  with 
a  new  year's  gift  of  101.  in  gold  in  a  silken 
purse,  and  receiving,  as  the  custom  was,  a 
piece  of  plate  in  return,  usually  from  twenty 
to  twenty-one  ounces  in  weight. 

Early  in  1599  North's  health  again  began 
to  fail.  The  queen  learnt  that  he  '  was  taken 
stone  deaf,'  and  sent  him  the  following  re- 
ceipt :  '  Bake  a  little  loafe  of  Beane  flowr, 
and  being  whot,  rive  it  into  halves,  and  to 
ech  half  pour  in  3  or  4  sponefulls  of  bitter 
almonds ;  then  clapp  both  ye  halves  to  both 
your  eares  at  going  to  bed,  kepe  them  close,  and 
kepe  your  head  warme.'  We  are  told  that  he 
was  completely  healed  by  this  remedy,  and 
soon  recovered  from  more  serious  illness.  In 
the  autumn  he  was  one  of  the  four  lords  of  the 
council  summoned  in  haste  on  Michaelmas- 
eve  to  hear  Essex's  explanation  of  his  un- 
authorised return  from  Ireland;  and  on 
29  Nov.  he  was  present  at  a  meeting  of  the 
council  in  the  Star-chamber.  But  when  a 
discussion  took  place  concerning  the  affairs 
of  Ireland,  he  spoke  either  '  too  softly  to  be 
heard,'  or  briefly  concurred  with  those  that 
went  before.  At  Christmas  he  joined  in  the 
court  festivities,  and  played  at  primero  with 
the  queen.  In  March  1599-1600  Carleton 
wrote  to  Chamberlain :  '  The  Lord  North 
droops  every  day  more  and  more,  and  is  going 
down  to  the  bath.'  North  returned  to  Bath 
in  August,  and  Sir  William  Knollys  (after- 
wards his  successor  in  office)  was  sent  for  to 
fulfil  temporarily  his  duties  as  treasurer  of 
the  household.  On  15  Oct.  Chamberlain 
wrote :  '  They  say  the  Lord  North  is  once 
more  shaking  hands  with  the  world.'  But  he 
retired  to  his  home  in  Charterhouse-yard,  and 
there,  on  3  Dec.  1600,  '  passed  quietly  to  his 
heavenly  country.'  Camden  adds  that  he 
was  '  a  man  of  a  lively  spirit,  fit  for  action 
and  counsaile.'  Lloyd  wrote : '  There  was  none 
better  to  represent  our  state  than  my  Lord 
North,  who  had  been  two  years  in  Walsing- 
ham's  house,  four  in  Leicester's  service,  had 
seen  six  courts,  twenty  battles,  nine  treaties, 
and  four  solemn  jousts — whereof  he  was  no 
mean  part — a  reserved  man,  a  valiant  soul- 
dier,  and  a  courtly  person.' 

A  funeral  service  at  St.  Paul's  on  22  Dec. 
preceded  the  removal  of  North's  body  from 
London.  In  February  following  he  was 
buried  by  the  heralds  at  Kirtling.  '  Durum 
pati,'  words  which  appear  in  his  epitaph, 
was  a  maxim  or  motto  he  had  adopted  for 
himself,  and  it  seems  to  have  been  his 
custom  to  write  it  in  his  books.  It  is  found 
on  the  title-page  of  a  copy  of  Dean  Nowell's 


North 


173 


North 


'Reproof  once  belonging  to  him,  together 
with  what  Churton  calls  '  his  elegant,  but 
very  peculiar,  signature.'  A  fine  portrait  by 
Mark  Gerards,  in  the  possession  of  the  Earl 
of  GuilfordatWaldershare,  shows  him  dressed 
in  a  black  court  suit,  with  well-starched  ruff 
— or  piccadilly,  as  it  was  then  called — hold- 
ing a  wand  of  office.  Two  other  portraits 
are  at  Wroxton. 

About  1555  North  married  Winifred, 
daughter  of  Richard,  lord  Rich  [q.  v.],  lord 
chancellor,  and  widow  of  Sir  Henry  Dudley, 
son  of  John,  earl  of  Warwick  (afterwards  duke 
of  Northumberland).  She  died  in  1578,  after 
bearing  him  two  sons,  Sir  John  and  Henry, 
and  one  daughter,  Mary,  who  died  unmarried. 
His  elder  son,  Sir  John  [q.v.],  died  before 
him.  To  his  younger  son,  Henry,  he  gave 
the  Mildenhall  property,  and  Henry's  de- 
scendants held  it  until  1740,  when,  on  the 
death  of  Sir  Thomas  Hanmer,  speaker  of  the 
House  of  Commons,  who  had  inherited  it 
from  his  mother,  Mrs.  Hanmer  (Peregrina 
North),  it  passed  to  Sir  Thomas's  nephew, 
Sir  William  Bunbury,  in  whose  family  it 
still  remains.  Henry  North  was  fighting 
in  Ireland  in  1579  under  Sir  Humphrey 
Gilbert,  and  was  with  his  father  in  Holland 
in  1586,  being  knighted  by  Leicester  after 
the  battle  of  Zutphen.  North  seems  to  have 
married  again  in  later  life.  In  October  1582 
he  was  a  suitor  to  Burghley  for  the  hand  of 
the  second  of  three  coheiresses  of  Sir  Thomas 
Rivett,  a  country  neighbour;  of  the  two 
youngest  daughters  Burghley  was  shortly  to 
become  guardian.  Whether  or  no  this  young 
lady  became  North's  second  wife  does  not 
appear.  '  My  Lady  North,'  wrote  Carleton 
in  March  1600,  apparently  in  reference  to 
North's  second  wife,  '  is  growen  a  great 
courtier,  and  shines  like  a  blazing  starr 
amongst  the  fairest  of  the  Ladies.' 

By  his  will,  dated  20  Oct.  1600,  he  left  the 
family  estates,  all  his  armour,  and  '  the  pied 
nagge '  to  '  my  loving  nephew '  (i.e.  grand- 
son), 'Dudley  Northe,  myne  heir  apparent, 
eldest  sonneof  my  eldest  sonne'  [see  NORTH, 
DUDLEY,  third  LORD  NORTH}.  He  gave 
handsome  bequests  to  all  his  grandchil- 
dren, as  well  as  to  his  only  surviving  son 
Henry,  and  his  brother  Sir  Thomas,  both  of 
whom  he  had  already  treated  very  gene- 
rously ;  and  in  a  codicil  he  directs  that  '  a 
Hundred  poundes  in  golde '  shall  be  offered 
to  the  queen,  '  from  whom  I  have  receaved 
advancement  to  honor,  and  many  contynuall 
favours.  To  my  honorable  assured  ftrend 
Sir  Robert  Cecill'  he  gave  'a  fayre  gilte 
cuppe,'  and  101.  Four  of  the  servants  are  to 
have  '  cache  of  them  a  nagge.'  North's  book 
of  household  charges  is  still  preserved,  and 


the  many  entries  of  gifts  and  rewards  display 
a  wide  liberality  to  his  family  and  retainers. 
[A  Briefe  View  of  the  State  of  the  Church  of 
England,  by  Sir  John  Harington;  Ayscough's 
Cat.  of  MSS.  in  the  British  Museum ;  Bertie's  Five 
Generations  of  a  Loyal  House,  pt.i.  p.  143 ;  Booke- 
of  Howshold  Charges  of  Roger,  lord  North; 
Calendar  of  Hatfield  MSS.  pts.  i.  ii.  iii.;  Cal.  of 
State  Papers  (Foreign),  Eliz. ;  Camden's  Annals, 
ed.  1633;  Churton's  Life  of  Nowell,  dean  of 
St.  Paul's,  p.  121;  Collier's  Hist,  of  Dramatic 
Poetry,  i.  291,  292;  Collins's  Peerage,  iv.  460, 
461,462;  Cooper's  Athenae  Cantabrigienses,  ii. 
290 ;  Depeches  de  La  Mothe  Fenelon,  vi.  296, 
330,  331,  332,  335;  De  Sismondi's  Histoire  des 
Fransais,  xii.  21  ;  Foss's  Judges  of  England,  v. 
332  ;  Heywood  and  Wright's  Cambridge  Univer- 
sity Transactions,  ii.  9,  294,  296  ;  Leicester  Cor- 
respondence, pp.  75,  114,  192,  379,  411,  417; 
Lingard's  Hist,  of  England,  iii.  36 ;  Lloyd's  State 
Worthies,  vol,  ii.;  Motley's  Rise  of  the  Dutch 
Republic,  pp.  592,  595,  edit.  1878;  Motley's 
United  Netherlands,  i.  345,  365,  ii.  14/18,  27, 
28,  48,  edit.  1875;  Nichols's  Progresses  of  Queen 
Elizabeth,  i.  73,  ii.  220,  221,  491 ;  Peck's  Deside- 
rata Curiosa,  p.  77 ;  Record  of  the  House  of 
Gournay  (supplement). pp.882, 883  ;  Some  Notes 
concerning  the  Life  of  Edward,  first  Lord  North, 
by  Dudley,  fourth  Lord  North;  State  Papers 
(Domestic),  Eliz.  Record  Office;  State  Papers 
(Miscellaneous),  Record  Office;  State  Trials,  i. 
957;  Strype's  Annals  of  the  Reformation,  vol. 
ii.  2nd  edit. ;  Sydney  State  Papers,  ii.  6,  128, 
146,  173;  The  Devereux  Earls  of  Essex,  ii.  79  ; 
Thomas's  Historical  Notes,  i.  449 ;  Wiffen's  Me- 
moirs of  the  House  of  Russell,  i.  516;  Will  of 
Roger,  lord  North;  Willis's  Notitia  Parlia- 
mentaria,  vol.  i  ii.,  and  Survey  of  Cathedrals, 
iii.  357 ;  Wright's  Queen  Elizabeth  and  her 
Times,  vol.  ii. ;  and  see  art.  DUDLEY,  ROBERT, 
EARL  OF  LEICESTER.  A  search  made  into  the 
municipal  records  of  the  town  of  Cambridge  is 
due  to  the  courtesy  of  J.  E.  L.  Whitehead,  esq., 
town  clerk.]  F.  B. 

NORTH,  ROGER  (1585  P-1652  ?),  colo- 
nial projector,  born  about  1585,  was  grand- 
son of  Roger,  second  lord  North  [q.  v.],  and 
third  child  of  Sir  John  North  [q.  v.J  lie 
was  one  of  the  captains  who  sailed  with  Sir 
Walter  Raleigh  in  his  last  and  fatal  voyage 
to  Guiana  in  1617  [see  under  RALEIGH,  SIR 
WALTER].  Sir  Walter's  reputation,  says 
Wilson,  brought  many  gentlemen  of  quality 
to  venture  their  estates  and  persons  upon 
the  design.  North  was  probably  also  directly 
influenced  by  his  connection  through  his 
sister-in-law  Frances,  lady  North,  with  the 
originator  of  the  expedition,  Captain  Law- 
rence Kemys  [q.  v.] 

The  lists  of  the  fleet,  which  consisted  of 
fourteen  sail,  are  incomplete,  and  in  the 
extant  accounts  the  number  of  ships  is  ex- 
ceeded by  that  of  the  captains  named.  Some 


North 


174 


North 


must  of  course  have  been  officers  of  the  land 
companies  on  board,  and  there  is  reason  to 
believe  North  was  among  these ;  but  when 
sea-captains  died  on  the  voyage,  land  officers 
took  their  places.  North's  ensign,  John 
Howard,  died  on  6  Oct.,  after  leaving  the 
island  of  Bravo,  probably  a  victim  to  the 
'calenture'  or  infectious  fever  which  then 
ravaged  the  fleet.  At  length  (17  Nov.  1617) 
the  adventurers  came  in  sight  of  the  coast  of 
Guiana,  and  cast  anchor  off  Cayenne.  There- 
upon Raleigh,  who  was  disabled  by  fever, 
ordered  five  small  ships  to  sail  into  Orinoco, 
'having  Captain  Laurence  Kemys  [q.  v.]  for 
their  conductor  towards  the  mines,  and  in 
those  five  ships  five  companies  of  fifty.'  Of  one 
company  North  was  in  command,  and  Raleigh 
describes  him  and  another  captain,  Parker, 
Lord  Monteagle's  brother,  as '  valiant  gentle- 
men, and  of  infinite  patience  for  the  labour, 
hunger,  and  heat  which  they  have  endured.' 

After  a  long  and  difficult  passage  up  the 
river  the  explorers  disembarked,  and  bi- 
vouacked on  the  left  bank,  in  ignorance  that 
they  were  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  little 
town  of  San  Thome,  founded  by  the  Spaniards 
in  a  district  long  since  claimed  by  Raleigh 
as  an  English  possession.  No  sooner  had 
night  closed  upon  the  little  camp  than  the 
Spaniards,  who  had  watched  every  movement 
from  the  surrounding  woods,  made  a  sudden 
attack,  which,  says  Raleigh,  '  being  unlooked 
for,  the  common  sort  of  them  were  so  amazed, 
as,  had  not  the  captains  and  some  other 
valiant  gentlemen  made  a  head  and  encou- 
raged the  rest,  they  had  all  been  broken  and 
cut  in  pieces.'  The  English  force,  however, 
soon  prevailed,  pursued  the  enemy  into  the 
town,  and,  finding  small  plunder,  soon  re- 
duced it  to  ashes. 

These  disasters,  which  included  the  death 
of  Raleigh's  son,  a  captain  of  one  of  the  five 
companies,  led  Kemys  to  return  to  the 
fleet,  now  at  anchor  off  Panto  de  Gallo. 
Throughout  this  unhappy  enterprise  North's 
endurance  had  been  severely  tried.  The  ex- 
pedition, victualled  for  one  month,  had  been 
absent  for  two.  His  men,  at  the  outset  de- 
graded and  ill-disciplined,  were  rendered 
doubly  so  by  hardship  and  disappointment. 
Both  soldiers  and  sailors  were  now  in  a  state 
of  mutiny.  One  by  one  the  ships  weighed 
anchor  and  slipped  away,  until  three  only, 
mutilated  and  miserably  provisioned,  re- 
mained to  escort  Raleigh's  ship,  the  Destiny, 
on  her  voyage  home.  Among  the  few  who 
chose  to  bear  their  old  commander  company 
was  Roger  North.  It  appears  that  he  was 
on  board  one  of  the  two  vessels  afterwards 
sent  on  to  Plymouth  with  despatches,  and 
to  him  was  assigned  the  task  of  breaking  the 


evil  tidings  to  the  king  on  23  May  1618. 
Oldys  describes  him  as  having  done  this  '  in 
a  very  just  and  pathetical  manner,'  adding '  it 
might  have  had  a  good  effect  had  the  king's 
pity  been  as  easily  moved  as  his  fear.' 

The  spirit  of  adventure  was  still  strong  in 
North,  and  in  1619  he  petitioned  for  letters 
patent  authorising  him  to  establish  the  king's 
right  to  the  coast  and  country  adjoining  the 
Amazon  river;  to  found  a  plantation  or 
settlement  there,  and  to  open  a  direct  trade 
with  the  natives.  The  project  provoked  the 
determined  opposition  of  Gondomar,  who 
seems  to  have  secured  the  support  of  Lord 
Digby;  Roger's  brother,  Lord  North,  at- 
tacked Digby  with  much  bitterness  when  he 
argued  against  the  expedition  as  being  to 
the  prejudice  of  the  king  of  Spain.  James, 
however,  provisionally  granted  the  required 
letters  patent  under  the  great  seal,  and  nomi- 
nated North  governor  of  the  proposed  settle- 
ment. The  Earls  of  Arundel  and  Warwick, 
Lord  North,  and '  others  of  great  estate '  were 
among  the  adventurers,  engaging  to  pay,  for 
the  first  voyage,  a  third  of  the  whole  sum 
guaranteed  by  them. 

But  Gondomar's  agents  had  procured  a 
command  from  the  king  that  the  voyage 
should  be  stayed  until  farther  orders,  and 
when  Gondomar  himself  arrived,  he  '  spared 
neither  solicitation  nor  importunitie  to  stop 
ye  voyage,  insomuch  as  he  came  to  ye  Counsel 
Table  for  this  only  busines,  and  did  there 
bouldly  and  confidently  affirme  that  his  Mas- 
ter had  ye  actuall  and  present  possession  of 
these  countries,  but  he  would  not  hear  our 
witnesses  to  ye  contrary.'  North's  petition 
for  leave  to  start  consequently  obtained  no 
answer.  He  nevertheless  received  through 
the  Duke  of  Richmond  a  message  of  encou- 
ragement from  the  king,  and  was  suffered  to 
make  his  preparations  without  hindrance. 
His  ship  and  pinnace  lay  idle  in  Plymouth 
Harbour,  manned  by  a  goodly  company  of 
mariners  and  landsmen,  who,  impatient  of 
delay,  and  in  despair  of  their  captain's  coming, 
grew  disaffected.  This  fresh  element  of  per- 
plexity induced  North  to  join  his  ship.  '  I 
desired  my  friends,'  he  writes,  'to  let  me 
know  how  it  would  be  taken.  I  staied  by 
the  way,  and  at  Plimouth  some  three  weeks 
after  my  going  from  London,  till  I  receaved 
letters  that  all  was  well,  and  that  ye  world 
expected  I  should  goe  without  bidding.' 

Thus  encouraged,  he  sailed  out  of  Plymouth 
Sound  early  in  May  1620,  having  obtained 
from  Buckingham  one  of  the  passports  which 
as  lord  high  admiral  it  was  his  privilege  to 
sell.  A  proclamation  was  at  once  issued 
(15  May),  which  set  forth  that '  Roger  North 
having  disloyally  precipitated  and  embarqued 


North 


175 


North 


selfe  and  his  fellows,  and  sodainly  set 
ea .  .  .a  rash,  undutifull,  and  insolent 
rapt,'  no  merchants  nor  ship's  officers, 
ild  they  meet  with  him,  are  to  'comfort 
with  men,  money,  munition,  victuals, 
•jhandise,  or  other  commodities,'  but  are 
i.ttack,  seize,  and  summon  him  to  returne.' 
]  North  was  moreover  imprisoned  on  a 
<T.e  of  connivance  at  the  offence.  Gon- 
ar  now  assailed  the  king  with  indignant 
)instrance.  James  admitted,  in  a  personal 
•(view  with  Gondomar,  that  he  had  cause 
>!mplain  '  of  Captain  North's  voyage,'  but 
i  id  the  blame  on  Buckingham.  Buck- 
i  im  was  then  called  into  the  room,  and 
H  asked  by  the  king  why  he  had  sold  a 
(  ort  to  North  without  the  king's  know- 
l>,  replied,  '  Because  you  never  give  me 
f  noney  yourself.' 

panwhile  North  seems  to  have  prospered 
Is  venture,  until,  falling  in  with  a  Dutch 
fcl,  he  heard  of  the  proclamation  out 
list  him,  and  returned  of  his  own  accord. 
:lhis  time  his  ship  was  'well  fraught' 
I  seven  thousand  pounds  of  tobacco.  He 
ijiot  encountered  the  Spaniards,  and  had 
'lost  two  men.  His  ship  and  cargo  were 
irtheless  seized  at  the  instance  of  Gon- 
tr,  and  he  himself  committed  to  the 
er  (6  Jan.  1621).  It  was  reported 
April  1621)  that  he  'put  up  a  bill  to 
e  justice  and  a  lawful  hearing  against 
Gondomar  for  his  ship  and  tobacco.' 
ng  to  the  intervention  of  Buckingham, 
th  was  released  (18  July  1621)  on  the 
3  evening  as  Henry,  earl  of  Northumber- 
.  Once  more  at  liberty,  he  succeeded  in 
i  ng  good  his  claim  to  the  restitution  of 
•4hip  and  cargo,  together  with  certain  of 
immunities  promised  him  at  the  outset. 
•bbacco  was  returned  to  him  free  of  all 
.  res. 

)rth  next  obtained  (2  June  1627),  in  con- 
ion  with  Robert  Harcourt,  letters  patent 
r  the  great  seal  from  Charles  I,  autho- 
g  them  to  form  a  company  under  the  title 
he  Governor  and  Company  of  Noblemen 
Tentlemen  of  England  for  the  Plantation 
••juiajia,'  North  being  named  as  deputy 
in  >r  of  the  settlement.  The  king  lent 
i  favour  to  '  soe  good  a  worke,'  which, 
rites  to  his  attorney-general  (Heath),  is 
irtaken  '  as  well  for  the  conversion  of  ye 
[e  inhabiting  thereabouts  to  ye  Christian 
as  for  jye  enlarging  of  his  Majestie's 
nions,  and  setling  of  trade  and  trafique 
iverse  Co  modities  of  his  Majestie's  King- 
with  these  nations.'  The  king  desired 
>nly  that;  the  adventurers  should  be  free 
all  imposts,  but  that  they  should  have 
'ullest  ipossible  powers  and  privileges 


for  the  transport  of  ships,  men,  munitions, 
arms,  &c. 

In  the  face  of  much  difficulty  with  regard 
to  funds,  this  expedition  was  at  length  fitted 
out,  a  plantation  established  in  1627,  and 
trade  opened  with  the  natives  by  North's  per- 
sonal endeavours.  In  1632  he  was,  how- 
ever, again  in  England,  detained  by  a  tedious 
chancery  suit,  into  which  he  had  been  drawn 
as  administrator  to  his  brother  in-law,  Sir 
Francis  Coningsby,  of  North  Mimms  in  Hert- 
fordshire, and  as  executor  to  Mary,  lady  Con- 
ingsby, his  widow.  In  this  suit  the  manors 
of  North  Mimms  and  Woodhall,  as  well  as 
other  important  lands,  were  involved.  In 
1634  North  petitioned  the  king  for  a  speedy 
settlement  of  these  proceedings,  which  had 
then  lasted  for  seventeen  years,  and — the 
petitioner  states — had  not  only  caused  the 
death  and  ruin  of  his  sister  and  her  husband, 
but  had  made  his  own  life  miserable  since 
they  died.  He  further  pleads  the  loss  and 
injury  to  the  king's  interest  consequent  upon 
delay.  The  plantation  was  left  without 
government,  the  French  and  Dutch  were 
gaining  ground  upon  it,  and  their  trade  sup- 
planting that  of  the  English. 

North  expressed  a  strong  desire  to  spend 
the  remainder  of  his  'life  and  fortunes'  on 
the  plantation  in  Guiana;  but  whether  he 
ever  again,  for  any  cause,  put  to  sea  does 
not  appear.  In  July  1636  Sir  John  North 
wrote  that  he  wished  his  brother  Roger 
could  be  captain  of  one  of  the  king's  ships, 
and  in  November  1637  sent  him  a  message 
from  court  that  the  king  desired  the  forma- 
tion of  a  new  company,  but '  there  is  a  way 
to  be  thought  upon  first.' 

During  this  time  of  suspense  Roger  was 
much  at  Kirtling,  the  home  of  Dudley,  third 
lord  North,  and  the  constant  resort  of  his 
brothers.  In  1652  he  was  ill  at  his  own  house 
in  Princes  Street,  Bloomsbury.  He  died 
late  in  1652,  or  early  in  1653,  leaving  to  his 
brother  and  executor  Gilbert  his  lands  in  the 
fens,  and  all  his  real  and  personal  property, 
excepting  only  some  legacies  to  relatives  of 
insignificant  value.  His  will  bears  the  im- 
press of  a  religious  and  affectionate  nature. 

[Information  from  the  Rev.  Augustus  Jessopp, 
D.D.,  and  Professor  J.  K.  Laughton;  Brydges's 
Peers  of  England  of  the  Reign  of  James  I,  vol.  i. ; 
Camden's  Annals ;  Captain  Roger  North  to  Sir 
Albertus  Morton,  15  Sept.  1621,  Record  Office; 
Chamberlain's  Letters  to  Carleton,  Record 
Office;  Gardiner's  Hist,  of  England,  vol.  iii.; 
Ho  well's  Letters;  Letters  of  Sir  John  North, 
K.B. ;  Oldys's  Life  of  Raleigh ;  Pinkerton's  Voy- 
ages ;  Raleigh's  Apology  and  Journal ;  Raleigh 
to  Sir  Ralph Winwood,  Record  Office;  R. Wood- 
ward to  F.  Windebank,  22  May  1620,  Record 


North 


176 


North 


Office  ;  Rev.  J.  Meade  to  Sir  Martin  Stuteville, 
1620,  1621,  Record  Office;  Statement  and  Peti- 
tions of  Captain  Roger  North,  Record  Office  ;  St. 
John's  Life  of  Raleigh,  2nd  ed. ;  Thomas  Locke 
to  Sir  Dudley  Carleton,  1619,  1620,  1621,  Re- 
cord Office ;  Wilson's  Hist,  of  Great  Britain.] 

F.  B. 

NORTH,  ROGER  (1653-1734),  lawyer 
and  historian,  sixth  and  youngest  son  of 
Dudley,  fourth  Lord  North  [q.  v.],  was  born 
at  Tostock  in  Suffolk  3  Sept.  1653.  He 
passed  his  childhood  for  the  most  part  in  his 
grandfather's  house  at  Kirtling,  and  at  five 
years  of  age  was  placed  under  the  tuition  of 
the  clergyman  of  the  parish,  Ezekiel  Catch- 
pole  by  name,  until  he  was  removed,  with  his 
brother  Montagu,  to  Thetford  school,  of  which 
Mr.  Keen  was  then  master.  He  had  a  pleasant 
recollection  through  life  of  his  school  days,  and 
entertained  great  regard  for  his  early  teachers, 
which  he  has  expressed  in  his  'Autobiography.' 
In  1666  he  left  school  and  was  taken  in  hand 
by  his  father,  in  view  of  his  entering  the  uni- 
versity with  adequate  preparation  ;  and  on 
30  Oct.  1667  he  entered  at  Jesus  College, 
Cambridge,  as  fellow  commoner  under  the 
tuition  of  his  brother  John  [q.  v.],  who  had 
been  elected  to  a  fellowship  the  year  before. 
Young  Roger  seems  to  have  gained  but  little 
from  the  tuition  of  his  learned  brother,  ex- 
cept that  he  acquired  habits  of  study  and 
had  the  advantage  of  constant  intercourse 
with  the  ablest  men  in  the  university. 
He  had  been  early  intended  for  the  bar, 
where  his  brother  Francis  [q.  v.]  was  already 
making  his  way,  and  in  the  enjoyment  of  a 
large  practice.  There  was  therefore  the  less 
need  for  him  to  proceed  to  a  degree,  and  he 
left  the  university  after  residing  two  years, 
and  entered  at  the  Middle  Temple  on  21  April 
1669.  He  contrived  to  live  on  a  very  small 
allowance  from  home,  which  kept  him  from 
indulging  in  the  more  expensive  amusements 
of  the  town,  and  his  time  was  fully  occupied 
in  study,  while  his  diversions  were  carpen- 
tering and  sailing  a  small  yacht  on  the  Thames 
and  the  Essex  and  Suffolk  coast.  Meanwhile 
as  a  student  he  was  already  earning  a  good 
income,  and  in  close  attendance  upon  his 
brother,  who  had  many  chances  of  throwing 
fees  in  his  way  (Autobioff.  §  119).  When  Sir 
Francis  was  raised  to  the  position  of  chief 
justice  of  the  common  pleas  (1675),  Roger 
North  was  called  to  the  bar,  and  soon  briefs 
came  thickly,  and  his  practice  increased  from 
term  to  term.  In  January  1678  occurred  the 
great  fire  at  the  Temple  which  wrought  such 
terrible  destruction  of  the  old  buildings. 
Roger  North  was  in  his  chambers  at  the  time 
it  broke  out,  and  he  has  left  us  a  very  graphic 
account  of  its  progress,  of  the  difficulties 


that  accompanied  the  rebuilding,  and  of  t'lt- 
various  schemes  which  were  under  discus  i  ju 
for  dealing  with  the  financial  difficulties  hat 
arose.  The  Temple  fire  appears  to  have  tui  ned 
his  thoughts  to  the  study  of  architect  ore, 
which  he  exhibited  great  taste  for  as  ani  art, 
and  spared  no  pains  to  make  himself  a  mjastei 
of  as  a  science.  This  year  he  became  ste  \vard 
to  the  see  of  Canterbury  (ib.  §  140 ).  an 
office  which  was  conferred  upon  hin  i  by 


Sancroft,  who  had  recently  been  consec 
to  the  archbishopric.  On  the  subject 
appointment  North  wrote  quaintly : 
[the  archbishop]  valued  me  for  my  fid 
which  he,  being  a  most  sagacious  juc 
persons,  could  not  but  discern  and  dis 
with  my  other  defects.'  Sancroft  cont 
to  repose  full  confidence  in  his  stewarc 
consulted  him  on  many  important  ma 
which  are  mentioned  in  the ' Autobiogra 
and  when  he  felt  his  end  approaching 
was  troubled  at  the  thought  of  leav 


nued 
and 
:ters, 

%;' 

and 
ng  a 

will  which  would  have  '  to  be  proved  i  n  his 
pretended  successor's  courts,'  North  adjvised 

deed 
In 
;er  of 


f  his 
'He 


him  to  dispose  of  his  property  by  a 
of  gift,  which  was  done  accordingly, 
his  capacity  as  steward  and  legal  advi 
the  archbishop  he  was  concerned  in  de  aling 
with  the  abuses  which  had  crept  int  a  the- 
administration  of  Dulwich  College.  Thle  re- 
sult, however,  was  disappointing.  In,  the 
reform  of  All  Souls  College,  Oxford,  the  a  rch- 
bishop  was  more  successful,  and,  by  No  .'th's 
advice,  the  primate  drew  up  a  new  boc  y  o 
statutes  for  the  college  and  establish^  .  h' 
right  to  act  as  visitor,  and  the  disgrai  efu 
practices  whereby  the  fellowships  were  ojj  enlj 
bought  and  sold  were  effectually  put  s 
to.  In  1682  North  was  made  king's 
sel,  and  shortly  afterwards  called  tc 
bench  of  the  Middle  Temple.  He  was 
in  daily  communication  with  all  the 
lawyers  of  the  time,  and  his  profess  .or  1 
reminiscences  and  graphic  sketches  o  1  tL . 
careers  and  characters  of  his  contempo:  " 
at  the  bar  during  this  period  are  o1 :  the 
highest  value  and  interest  to  the  stude  i  >t  of 
legal  history.  Sir  Francis  North's  prom  otion 
to  be  keeper  of  the  great  seal  brought  a  large- 
increase  of  professional  income  to  his  bn  >the~/. 
He  was  made  solicitor-general  to  the  Duk  > 
of  York,  10  Jan.  1684.  This  appointmen 
the  high  favour  which  the  lord  keepe  *  en-- 
joyed with  James  II,  brought  North  into 
frequent  communication  with  the  court  ,  and 
in  January  1686  he  was  appointed  by  p  atent 
attorney  -  general  to  the  qunen,  Ma  "y  of 
Modena.  This  was  his  last  appointmen 
the  meantime  he  had  been  making  n 
rapidly  by  his  practice.  He  tel's  us  thi 
highest  fee  never  but  once  exceeded  t\ 


10W 

reat 
I 


North 


177 


North 


guineas,  yet  his  income  was  more  than4,000/. 
a  year.   The  second  Earl  of  Clarendon  wrote 
of  him  on  18  Jan.   1689 :    '  I   was  at   the 
Temple  with    Mr.   Roger  North    and    Sir 
Charles  Porter,  who  are  the  only  two  honest 
lawyers  I  have  met  with.'     He  entered  par- 
liament as  member  for  Dunsvich  in  1685,  and 
voted  against  the  court  party  on  the  question 
*f  the  '  dispensing  power.'   Of  course,  he  was 
a,  strong  supporter  of  his  brother  Dudley's 
measure  for  putting  a  tax  of  a  halfpenny 
a  pound  on  tobacco  and  sugar,  and  when 
he  house  went  into  committee  of  supply  on 
i7    ^ov.  1685  he  was  appointed  chairman. 
)n   the   death  of  the  lord  keeper,  Roger 
SV  rth  seems  to  have  been  oppressed  by  a 
i   d  of  despair.    Perhaps  he  saw  too  clearly 
it  was  coming,  and  felt  himself  power- 
to  face  the  revolution  which  he  felt  was 
itable.     With  the  accession  of  Jeffreys 
he   chancellorship,    Roger  North   gra- 
ly  found  that  his  attendance  in  the  court 
ancery  became  more  and  more  intoler- 
and  his  practice,  though  still  large,  fell 
He  was  much  engaged  at  this  time,  too, 
e  business  which  had  been  forced  upon 
is  executor  to  the  lord  keeper,  and  the 
nore  troublesome  and  arduous  duties, 
he  discharged  with  much  pains  and 
as  executor  of  Sir  Peter  Lely.    These 
occupied  a  large  portion  of  his  time  for 
han  seven  years.  When  the  revolution 
•11  hopes  of  advancement  in  his  profes- 
ssed  from  him.  As  early  as  1684  he  had 
ilked  of  as  likely  to  succeed  to  a  judge-' 
but  with  Jeffreys  as  chancellor  there 
be  no  expectation  of  any  such  career, 
accession  of  William  of  Orange  he 
actically  shelved.     He  was  a  staunch 
nscientious  nonjuror,  and  he  accepted 
idition  of  affairs  as  final  as  far  as  he 
fwas  concerned.  In  1690  he  purchased 
ijte  at  Rougham  in  Norfolk,  which  is 
i«3  residence  of  his  descendants,  who 
ilherited  it  in  the  direct  line.     Almost 
l\e  entered  into  possession  of  this  pro- 
ie' found  himself  with  six  nephews  and 
,tht_  \  children  of  his  three  elder  brothers, 
r  les^  upon  his  hands.  The  lord  keeper's 
•ere  (his  wards.     By  the  death  of  his 
brotllier,  Charles,  lord  North  and  Grey, 
r  tw<»  sons  and  a  daughter  almost  en- 
anprdbvided  for,  it  devolved  upon  him 
that  sVome  education  and  maintenance 
be  secured  for  them ;  and  when  Sir 
7  Norfth  [q.  v.]  died  in   1691,  Roger 
becam  e  the  guardian  of  the  two  sons 
7  and  1  loger.     He  had  his  hands  full 
1  ily  bus  'ness  during  the  next  few  years. 
If  to  build  a  new  mansion  on  his 
tate,  and  in  the  meantime  re- 
XLI. 


tained  his  chambers  at  the  Temple  and  spent 
some  of  his  time  in  London.  Montagu  North, 
who  had  been  kept  as  a  prisoner  of  war  at 
Toulon  for  three  years,  was  released  in  1693, 
and  from  that  time  made  his  home  at  Rougham, 
and  became  the  inseparable  companion  of  his 
brother  till  his  death  in  1709.  In  1696 
Roger  North  married  Mary,  daughter  of  Sir 
Robert  Gayer  of  Stoke  Pogis,  Buckingham- 
shire, a  stiff  and  furious  Jacobite,  who  had 
been  made  a  knight  of  the  Bath  in  1661  at 
the  coronation  of  Charles  II.  With  this  lady 
he  obtained  a  considerable  accession  of  for- 
tune. From  the  time  he  took  up  his  resi- 
dence at  Rougham  till  his  death  he  lived  the 
life  of  a  country  gentleman,  taking  no  part  in 
politics,  and  not  being  even  in  the  commis- 
sion of  the  peace.  He  had,  however,  no  lack 
of  resources,  and  his  time  did  not  hang  heavily 
on  his  hands.  He  was  an  accomplished  and 
enthusiastic  musician.  His  very  interesting 
'  Memoires  of  Musick,  being  some  Historico- 
critticall  Collections  on  that  Subject  1728,' 
written  for  his  own  amusement  during  re- 
tirement, were  first  made  known  to  the  world 
through  the  extracts  given  by  Dr.  Burney  in 
the  third  volume  of  his  'General  History  of 
Musick.'  Burney  obtained  the  information 
from  North's  eldest  son.  The  manuscript 
finally  came  into  the  possession  of  Robert 
Nelson  of  Lynn,  through  whose  means  it 
was  placed  at  the  disposal  of  Dr.  Rimbault. 
The  latter  edited  it  in  1846,  with  elaborate 
notes  and  a  brief  memoir  of  the  author.  The 
'Memoires'  are  both  valuable  and  curious, 
giving  a  fair  sketch  of  the  development  of 
music  under  Charles  II,  some  account  of 
the  rise  of  opera  in  England,  and  biographi- 
cal notes  respecting  John  Jenkins  the  lu- 
teuist,  Matthew  Locke,  Thomas  Baltzar,  and 
Sir  Roger  L'Estrange,  who,  like  himself,  was 
nicknamed  '  Roger  the  Fiddler.'  Among 
Roger  North's  additions  and  improvements 
at  Rougham  Hall  was  a  music-gallery  sixty 
feet  long,  for  which  he  had  an  organ  built 
by  Father  Smith.  This  organ  is  still  pre- 
served in  Dereham  Church.  North  also  col- 
lected works  of  art,  some  of  which  are  still 
preserved  at  Rougham  Hall ;  he  planted 
largely,  bred  horses,  went  into  various  agri- 
cultural experiments,  got  together  a  large 
collection  of  books,  which  he  meant  to  serve 
as  a  library  of  reference  for  the  clergy  of  the 
neighbourhood ;  he  spent  many  hours  of  the 
day  with  his  pen  in  his  hand,  and  a  large  mass 
of  his  manuscripts  are  still  preserved  in  the 
British  Museum,  comprising  his  correspon- 
dence, miscellaneous  notes  on  questions  of  law, 
philosophy,  music,  architecture,  and  history. 
These  are  rather  the  jottings  of  a  student 
amusing  himself  by  putting  his  impressions 


North' 


178 


North 


of  the  moment  on  paper  than  any  serious 
attempts  at  authorship.  He  seems  to  have 
had  a  certain  shrinking  from  publicity,  which 
grew  upon  him,  as  it  is  apt  to  grow  upon  a 
ftudious  recluse.  When  White  Kennett's 
'  Complete  History  of  England '  appeared  in 
three  volumes  folio  in  1706,  Roger  North  was 
greatly  disturbed  by  what  he  considered  to 
be  a  perversion  of  the  history  of  Charles  II's 
reign,  and  he  set  himself  to  compose  an  ela- 
borate 'Apology '  for  the  king  and  a '  Vindica- 
tion '  of  his  brother  Francis,  the  Lord-keeper 
North  [q.  v.],  from  the  attacks  of  Kennett. 
This  '  Apology  '  evidently  occupied  him  for 
some  years,  but  was  not  published  till  nearly 
seven  years  after  his  death  (London,  1740). 
It  extends  over  more  than  seven  hundred 
pages  quarto,  and  is  entitled  'Examen,  or  an 
Enquiry  into  the  Credit  and  Veracity  of  a 
Pretended  Complete  History :  shewing  the 
perverse  and  wicked  design  of  it,  and  the 
many  fallacies  and  abuses  of  truth  contained 
in  it.  Together  with  some  Memoirs  occa- 
sionally inserted,  all  tending  to  vindicate  the 
honour  of  the  late  King  Charles  the  Second 
and  his  happy  reign  from  the  intended  As- 
persions of  that  Foul  Pen.' 

It  appears  that  the '  Examen '  was  finished 
before  the  author  proceeded  with  the  lives  of 
his  brothers,  and  that  his  life  of  the  lord 
keeper  was  suggested  by,  and  grew  out  of, 
his  labours  upon  the  '  Examen.'  The  life  of  [ 
Sir  Dudley  followed,  naturally,  as  a  supple- 
ment to  the  other ;  but  it  is  difficult  to 
understand  why  he  should  have  written  Dr. 
John  North's  life  at  all.  His  own  'Autobio- 
graphy' seems  to  have  been  the  last  work 
upon  which  he  was  engaged.  Whether  he 
ever  finished  it,  or  ever  intended  to  carry  it 
any  further  than  down  to  the  death  of 
Charles  II,  it  is  impossible  to  say.  He  clearly 
looked  upon  his  own  retirement  from  the  bar 
as  the  inevitable  result  of  the  ascendency 
which  Jeffreys  had  acquired  over  James  II ; 
and  when  his  conscience  forbade  him  to  take 
the  oath  of  allegiance  at  the  revolution,  his 
career  was  at  an  end.  He  looked  upon  him- 
self from  that  time  as  a  banished  man. 

The  labour  that  North  bestowed  upon  the 
lives  of  his  brothers  was  extraordinary.  The 
life  of  the  lord  keeper  was  written  and  re- 
written again  and  again.  Defaced  though 
the  style  is  by  the  use  of  some  unusual  words, 
there  is  a  certain  charm  about  it  which  few 
readers  can  resist,  and  the  '  Lives  of  the 
Norths '  must  always  remain  an  English 
classic  and  and  a  prime  authority  for  the 
period  with  which  it  deals.  The  '  Life  of 
Lord-keeper  North'  was  first  issued  under 
Montagu  North's  editorship  in  1742.  The 
'Lives'  of  Sir  Dudley  North  and  Dr.  John 


North  followed  in  1744.  The  three  live 
were  published  together  in  two  volumes 
with  notes  and  illustrations  by  Henry  Ros 
coe,  in  1826 ;  and  a  complete  edition  of  th 
'  Lives  of  the  Norths,  with  a  Selection  frou 
the  North  Correspondence  in  the  British  Mu 
seum,  and  Roger  North's  Autobiography 
was  published  in  Bohn's  '  Standard  Library 
under  the  editorship  of  Dr.  Jessopp,  3  vols 
8vo,  1890.  The  only  work  which  Roge 
North  published  during  his  lifetime  was  '  A 
Discourse  on  Fish  and  Fish  Ponds,'  issued  ii 

?uarto  in  1863,  and  reprinted  in  1713  am 
715 ;  all  the  editions  are  scarce.     His  re 
maining  work,  'A  Discourse  on  the  Stud; 
of  the  Laws/  was  first   published  in  182 
(London,  8vo). 

Roger  North  was  held  in  great  and  increas 
ing  respect  by  his  neighbours  as  an  authorjt 
on  questions  of  law,  and  was  frequently  c^  n 
suited  by  the  magnates  of  the  county,  aLn 
sometimes  chosen  to  arbitrate  when  dispute 
arose.  On  one  occasion  he  was  called  in  t 
settle  some  difference  between  Sir  Robei 
Walpole  and  his  mother.  The  country  pedpl 
called  him  '  Solomon,'  as  in  his  early  djay 
the  pamphleteers  had  styled  him  '  Rogerlth 
Fiddler.'  He  retained  his  vigour  and  bright 
ness  of  intellect  to  the  last,  and  one  Off  hi 
latest  letters  was  written  when  he  was  n^arl 
eighty  years  old,  in  answer  to  some  one  wh 
had  applied  to  him  for  advice  as  to  the  bes 
course  of  reading  for  the  bar.  He  di<  3d  s 
Rougham  on  1  March  1733-4,  in  his  eirhtj 
first  year.  By  his  wife,  whom  he  appears  t 
have  survived  some  few  years,  he  had 


family  of  two  sons  and  five  daughters. 


I] 


made  his  will  in  October  1730;  in  it  hj3  le: 
all  his  papers  and  manuscripts  to  his  5  so 
Montagu .  The  elder  son,  Roger,  was  baptise 
26  Jan.  1703;  from  him  are  descended  tl 
Norths  of  Rougham,  who  are  the  only  r> 
presentatives  in  the  male  line  of  Djudle; 
fourth  baron  North  [q.  v.],  by  Anne  Mo'ntag 
The  younger  son,  Montagu,  was  born  Jin  D 
cember  1712.  He  entered  at  Jesus  CJolleg 
Cambridge, 26  June  1730,  was  elected  (scholi 
of  his  college,  and  continued  to  resid  >,  at  tl 
university  for  the  next  seven  years.  He  w; 
admitted  to  holy  orders  in  173&  becai. 
rector  of  Sternfield  in  Suffolk  in  17i  67. 
canon  of  Windsor  in  1775.  He  die/d  in  177 
Besides  the  sons  there  were  five  /daughtei 
Roger,  the  heir,  was  the  only  one  q-f  his  gen 
ration  who  left  issue.  Sir  Peter  JLely's  po 
trait  (1740),  which  was  engrav,  ed  for  t 
'Examen'  by  George  Vertue,  is 3  preservi 
at  Rougham  Hall. 

[The  sources  for  Roger  North's  biography  a 
mainly  his  own  Lives  of  the  Norths. ,  and  fo  r  t 
early  part  of  his  career  his  entertaiiuingAutob 


North 


179 


North 


graphy  which  was  privately  printed  for  the  first 
time  by  the  present  writer  in  1887,  4to.  Occa- 
sional mention  of  him  is  to  be  found  in  the  con- 
temporary literature  of  the  time,  e.g.  Luttrell's 
Relation,  Evelyn's  Diary,  and  the  Calendars  of 
State  Papers.  There  is  a  large  mass  of  corre- 
spondence and  family  papers  which  were  acquired 
by  the  authorities  of  the  British  Museum  in  1883. 
The  Autobiography,  with  some  of  the  mere  in- 
teresting of  these  letters,  was  republished  with 
the  other  Lives  of  the  Norths  in  Bohn's  Standard 
Library,  3  vols.  8vo,  1890.  There  is  an  inte- 
resting account  of  him  and  his  life  at  Rougham 
in  Forster's  Library  at  the  South  Kensington 
Museum,  drawn  up  by  his  granddaughter,  Mrs. 
Boydell.j  A.  J. 

NORTH,  SIR  THOMAS  (1635P-1601?), 
translator,  born  about  1535,  was  second  and 
youngest  son  of  Edward,  first  baron  North 
[q.  v.],  by  his  first  wife  Alice,  daughter  of 
Oliver  Squyer.  Roger,  second  lord  North 

£j.  v.],  was  his  eldest  brother.  It  is  believed 
e  was  educated  at  Peterhouse,  Cambridge. 
In  1557  he  was  entered  a  student  of  Lin- 
coln's Inn,  and  appears  soon  afterwards  to 
have  turned  his  attention  to  literature.  Not- 
withstanding the  provision  made  for  North 
by  his  father's  will  (20  March  1563),  and  the 
generous  help  of  his  brother  Roger,  lord 
North,  he  was  always  in  need.  He  seems, 
however,  to  have  maintained  some  position 
in  Cambridgeshire,  and  in  1568  was  presented 
with  the  freedom  of  the  city  of  Cambridge. 
In  1574  Thomas  accompanied  his  brother 
Roger  when  sent  as  ambassador-extraordi- 
nary to  the  court  of  Henri  III  of  France. 
Two  years  later  his  brother  made  him  a  pre- 
sent of  '  a  lease  of  a  house  and  household 
stuff.'  Soon  after  the  publication  of  his 
famous  translation  of  '  Plutarch  '  in  1579, 
Leicester,  in  a  letter  to  Burghley,  asked  his 
favour  for  the  book.  '  He  [North]  is  a  very 
honest  gentleman,' wrote  Leicester, '  and  hath 
many  good  things  in  him  which  are  drowned 
only  by  poverty.'  His  great-nephew  Dudley, 
fourth  baron  North  [q.  v.l,  wrote  of  him  as  '  a 
man  of  courage ; '  and  in  the  days  of  the 
Armada  he  took  command,  as  captain,  of 
three  hundred  men  of  Ely.  About  1591  he 
was  knighted,  and  must  therefore  have  then 
possessed  the  qualification  necessary  in  those 
days  for  a  knight-bachelor — land  to  the  value 
of  40/.  a  year. 

Among  the  Additional  MSS.  in  the  British 
Museum  is  a  paper  by  North,  entitled  'Ex- 
ceptions against  the  Suit  of  [the]  Surveyor 
ofGaugers  of  Beer  and  Ale,'  dated9  Jan.  1591. 
In  1592  he  was  placed  on  the  commission  of 
the  peace  for  the  county  of  Cambridge,  and 
his  name  ('  Thomas  North,  miles  ')  is  again 
found  on  the  roll  of  justices  for  1597.  In 
1598  he  received  a  grant  of  20/.  from  the 


town  of  Cambridge,  and  in  1601  a  pension  of 
40/.  a  year  from  the  queen, '  in  consideration 
of  the  good  and  faithful  service  done  unto  us.' 
He  was  then  nearly  seventy  years  of  age,  and 
doubtless  died  soon  afterwards,  although 
no  record  of  his  death  is  accessible.  North 
was  married:  first,  to  Elizabeth,  daughter 
of  Mr.  Colville  of  London,  and  widow  of 
Robert  Rich ;  and,  secondly,  to  Judith,  daugh- 
ter of  Henry  Vesey  of  Isleham,  Cambridge- 
shire, and  widow  of  Robert  Bridgwater. 
This  lady  was  a  third  time  married,  to  John 
Courthope,  second  son  of  John  Courthope  of 
Whiligh,  Sussex.  By  his  first  wife  he  was 
father  of  Edward,  who  married  Elizabeth, 
daughter  of  Thomas  Wren  of  Haddenbam, 
Isle  of  Ely ;  and  Elizabeth,  married  in  June 
1579  to  Thomas  Stuteville  of  Brinkley,  Cam- 
bridgeshire. Cooper  mentions  a  third  child, 
Roger,  but  the  boy's  name  is  absent  from  the 
family  records ;  and  if  he  ever  existed,  it  is 
probable  that  he  died  in  infancy. 

North's  literary  work  consisted  of  transla- 
tions ;  but  he  exerted  a  powerful  influence  on 
Elizabethan  writers,  and  has  been  described 
as  the  first  great  master  of  English  prose.  In 
December  1557  he  published  in  London,  with 
a  dedication  to  Queen  Mary,  his  first  book, 
which  was  translated  from  Guevara's  '  Libro 
Aureo,'  a  Spanish  adaptation  of  the  '  Medi- 
tations of  Marcus  Aurelius.'  North's  book 
was  entitled  '  The  Diall  of  Princes,  compiled 
by  the  reuerende  Father  in  God,  Don  An- 
thony Gueuara,  Byshop  of  Guadix,  Preacher 
and  Chronicler  to  Charles  the  Fift,  late  cf 
that  name  Emperour.  Englysshed  oute  of 
the  Frenche  by  Thomas  North,  seconde 
sonne  of  the  Lord  North.  Right  neces- 
sarie  and  pleasaunt  to  all  gentylmen  and 
others  whiche  are  louers  of  vertue.' 
North's  translation,  although  professedly 
from  the  French,  was  in  fact  made  in  large 
measure  from  the  Spanish  original.  A  briefer 
version  by  Guevara  of  the  same  work  had 
already  appeared  in  English  as  the  '  Golden 
Boke  of  Marcus  Aurelius,'  in  1534,  from  the 
pen  of  John  Bourchier,  lord  Berners,  the 
translator  of  Froissart.  Berners's  work  had 
reached  its  fifth  edition  by  1557.  Recent 
critics  have  detected  in  Guevara's  Spanish 
style  a  close  resemblance  to  the  eupnuism 
which  John  Lyly  [q.  v.]  rendered  popular  in 
Elizabeth's  reign.  Lyly  was  doubtless  ac- 
quainted with  the  version  of  Guevara's '  Mar- 
cus Aurelius '  by  Berners  and  North  respec- 
tively, and  probably  borrowed  some  of  his 
sentiments  from  one  or  other  of  them.  But 
it  is  very  unlikely  that  he  derived  the  pecu- 
liarities of  his  style  from  either  work.  '  Eu- 
phuistic'  passages  occur  rarely  in  North's 
version,  and  the  endeavours  to  fix  either 

N2 


North 


180 


North 


on  him  or  on  Berners  the  parentage  of  Eng- 
lish euphuism  have  not  at  present  proved 
successful.  North's  work  was,  nevertheless, 
highly  popular  in  his  day.  In  15G8  ap- 
peared a  second  edition, '  now  newly  reuised 
and  corrected  by  hym,  refourmed  of  faultes 
escaped  in  the  first  edition ;  with  an  amplifi- 
cation also  of  a  fourth  booke  annexed  to 
the  same,  entituled  the  Fauored  Courtier, 
neuer  heretofore  imprinted  in  our  vulgar 
tongue.  Right  necessarie  and  pleasaunt  to 
all  noble  and  vertuous  persones  (by  Richard 
Tottill  and  Thomas  Marshe,  Anno  Domino 
1568).'  A  third  edition  appeared  in  1582, 
and  a  fourth  in  1619. 

In  1570  he  brought  out  his  second  work, 
entitled  '  The  Morall  Philosophic  of  Doni : 
Drawne  out  of  the  auncient  writers.  A 
worke  first  compiled  in  the  Indian  tongue, 
and  afterwards  reduced  into  diuers  other 
languages:  and  now  lastly  Englished  out  of 
Italian  by  Thomas  North,  brother  to  the 
Right  Honourable  Sir  Roger  North,  knight, 
Lorde  North  of  Kyrtheling.'  A  second 
edition  is  dated  1601.  A  reprint,  edited  by 
Mr.  J.  Jacobs,  appeared  in  1891.  The  book 
consists  of  a  collection  of  ancient  oriental 
fables,  rendered  with  rare  wit  and  vigour 
from  the  Italian  of  Antonio  Francesco  Doni. 

In  1579  North  published  the  work  by 
which  he  will  be  best  remembered — his 
translation  of  Plutarch's  '  Lives,'  which  he 
rendered  from  the  French  of  Amyot.  It 
was  entitled '  The  Lives  of  the  Noble  Grecians 
and  Romanes,  compared  together  by  that 
graue  learned  Philosopher  and  Historio- 
grapher, Plutarke  of  Chseronea :  Translated 
out  of  Greeke  into  French  by  James  Amyot, 
Abbot  of  Bellozane,  Bishop  of  Auxerre,  one 
of  the  King's  Priuy  Counsel,  and  Great 
Amner  of  Fraunce ;  and  out  of  French  into 
Englishe  by  Thomas  North.  Imprinted  at 
London  by  Thomas  Vautrouiller  and  John 
Wight,  1579,'  fol.  A  new  title-page  intro- 
duces '  the  Lives  of  Hannibal  and  Scipio 
Africanus,  translated  out  of  Latine  into 
French  by  Charles  de  1'Escluse,  and  out  of 
French  into  English  by  Thomas  North.'  A 
second  edition  appeared  in  1595,  fol.  ('R. 
Field  for  B.  Norton')  In  1603  to  a  new 
edition  were  'added  the  Lives  of  Epami- 
nondas,  of  Philip  of  Macedon,  of  Dionysius 
the  elder,  tyrant  of  Sicflia,  of  Augustus 
Caesar,  of  Pluturke,  and  of  Seneca:  with  the 
liues  of  nine  other  excellent  Chieftaines  of 
Warre :  collected  out  of  Emylius  Probus  by 
S.  G.  S.,  and  Englished  by  the  aforesaid 
Translator.'  A  later  edition  was  in  two 
parts,  dated  respectively  1610  and  1612. 
Other  issues  are  dated  1631, 1657 — in  which, 
according  to  Wood,  Selden  had  a  hand — 


and  1676  (Cambridge,  fol.)  This  was  the 
last  complete  edition.  North's  translation 
was  supplanted  in  popular  reading  by  one 
which  appeared  in  1683-6,  with  a  preface  by 
Dryden,and  subsequently  by  the  well-known 
edition  of  John  and  William  Langhorne, 
which  was  issued  in  1770. 

North  dedicated  the  book  to  Queen  Eliza- 
beth, and  it  was  one  of  the  most  popular  of 
her  day.  It  is  written  throughout  in  ad- 
mirably vivid  and  robust  prose.  But  it  is 
as  Shakespeare's  storehouse  of  classical  learn- 
ing that  it  presents  itself  in  its  most  interest- 
ing aspect.  To  it  (it  is  not  too  much  to  say) 
Ave  owe  the  existence  of  the  plays  of  '  Julius 
Caesar,' '  Coriolanus,'  and  '  Antony  and  Cleo- 
patra,' while  'A  Midsummer  Night's  Dream,' 
'Pericles,'  and  'Timon  of  Athens'  are  all  in- 
debted to  it.  In  '  Coriolanus '  whole  speeches 
have  been  transferred  bodily  from  North,  but 
it  is  in '  Antony  and  Cleopatra '  that  North's 
diction  has  been  most  closely  followed. 
Collier  is  of  opinion  that  Shakespeare  used 
the  third  edition,  and  Mr.  Allan  Park  Paton 
has  written  a  learned  but  unconvincing  pam- 
phlet to  prove  that  a  copy  of  that  edition,  now 
in  the  Greenock  Library,  was  the  poet's  pro- 
perty, and  the  very  book  from  which  he 
worked. 

In  1875, '  Shakespeare's  Plutarch,  being  a 
selection  from  the  Lives  in  North's  Plutarch 
which  illustrate  Shakespeare's  Plays,'  was 
edited  by  the  Rev.  W.  W.  Skeat,  who  says 
that,  although  North  fell  into  some  mistakes 
which  Amyot  had  avoided,  his  English  is 
especially  good,  racy,  and  well  expressed. 
'  He  had  the  advantage  of  writing  at  a  period 
when  nervous  idiomatic  English  was  well 
understood  and  commonly  written ;  so  that 
he  constantly  uses  expressions  which  illus- 
trate in  a  very  interesting  manner  the  lan- 
guage of  our  Authorised  Version  of  the 
Bible.'  '  Four  Chapters  of  North's  Plutarch,' 
containing  the  lives  of  Coriolanus,  Caesar, 
Antonius,  and  Brutus,  were  edited  by  F.  A. 
Leo,  1878,  4to ;  and  numerous  single  lives 
have  appeared  in  Cassell's  '  Universal  Li- 
brary.' 

[Booke  of  Howshold  Charges  of  Roger,  lord 
North ;  Brueggemann's  View  of  the  English 
Editions  of  Ancient  Greek  and  Latin  Authors, 
pp.  319-20  ;  Calendar  of  Hatfield  MSS.  pt.  ii. ; 
Collins's  Peerage,  vol.  iv. ;  Cooper's  Athenre 
Cantabr.  ii.  350;  Depeches  deLa  M othe Fenelon, 
vi.  296 ;  Haslewood's  Ancient  Critical  Essays, 
ii.  238 ;  Hazlitt's  Shakespeare's  Library,  2nd  ed.  ; 
Ames's  Typogr.  Antiq.  ed.  Herbert,  pp.  564,  817, 
823,  856,  1071,  1809  ;  Knight's  Shakespeare 
Tragedies,  ii.  148 ;  Nichols's  Progresses  of  Queen 
Elizabeth,  vol.  ii. ;  Paton's  Notes  on  North's 
Plutarch,  Greenock,  1871  ;  Privy  Signet  Bills, 


North 


181 


North 


Chapter  House,  April  1601 ;  Quarterly  Review, 
vol.  ex.  art.  7  ;  State  Papers,  Dom.  Eliz.  Doc- 
quets,  February  1592;  will  of  Edward,  lord 
North  ;  Wood's  Athenae  Oxon.  iii.  375.]  F.  B. 

NORTH,  THOMAS  (1830-1884),  anti- 
quary and  campanologist,  son  of  Thomas 
North  of  Burton  End,  Melton  Mowbray, 
Leicestershire,  by  his  wife,  Mary  Raven,  was 
born  at  Melton  Mowbray  on  24  Jan.  1830. 
He  was  educated  at  the  grammar  school  of 
his  native  town.  Upon  leaving  school  he 
entered  the  office  of  Mr.  Woodcock,  a  solicitor 
at  Melton  Mowbray,  but  presently  gave  up  the 
law,  removed  to  Leicester,  and  entered  Paget's 
bank  there.  Here  he  remained  until  1872, 
when  failing  health  compelled  him  to  retire 
to  Ventnor.  North  was  elected  a  fellow  of 
the  Society  of  Antiquaries  in  1875.  In  1881 
he  removed  to  the  Plas,  Llanfairfechan,  where 
he  resided  until  his  death  on  27  Feb.  1884. 
He  married,  on  23  May  1860,  Fanny,  daughter 
of  Richard  Luck  of  Leicester,  by  whom  he 
had  an  only  son.  The  Leicestershire  Archi- 
tectural and  Archaeological  Society  erected 
to  his  memory  a  brass  tablet  in  the  church  of 
St.  Martin,  Leicester. 

From  an  early  age  North  was  a  student  of 
archaeology  and  antiquities.  In  1861  he  was 
elected  honorary  secretary  of  the  Leicester- 
shire Architectural  and  Archaeological  So- 
ciety, and  he  edited  all  its '  Transactions'  and 
papers  from  that  time  until  his  death,  him- 
self contributing  upwards  of  thirty  papers. 
Among  the  most  important  of  these  were 
'  Tradesmen's  Tokens  issued  in  Leicestershire,' 
<  The  Mowbrays,  Lords  of  Melton,' '  The  Con- 
stablesof  Melton,' '  Leicester  Ancient  Stained 
Glass,'  '  The  Letters  of  Alderman  Robert 
Heyricke,'  &c.  Eight  of  these  papers  relate 
to  his  native  town,  of  which  he  projected  a 
history,  although  he  never  lived  to  complete 
it.  His  earliest  and  perhaps  best  known  book 
was  '  A  Chronicle  of  the  Church  of  St.  Martin 
in  Leicester  during  the  Reigns  of  Henry  VIII, 
Edward  VI,  Mary,  and  Elizabeth,  with  some 
Account  of  its  minor  Altars  and  ancient 
Guilds,'  1866,  a  work  of  learning  and  re- 
search, which  has  been  referred  to  in  several 
ecclesiastical  suits.  In  later  life  he  made 
campanology  his  special  study,  and  brought 
out  in  rapid  succession  a  series  of  monographs 
on  the  church  bells  of  various  counties,  other 
volumes  being  in  preparation  at  the  time  of 
his  death. 

North's  works  are  :  1.  '  A  Chronicle  of  the 
Church  of  St.  Martin  in  Leicester,'  &c.,  1866, 
referred  to  above.  2.  'The  Church  Bells  of 
Leicestershire :  their  Inscriptions,  Traditions, 
and  peculiar  Uses,  with  Chapters  on  Bells 
and  the  Leicester  Bell  Founders,'  1876. 
3.  '  The  Church  Bells  of  Northamptonshire,' 


1878.  4.  'The  Church  Bells  of  Rutland,' 1880. 

5.  'The  Church  Bells  of  Lincolnshire,'  1882. 

6.  '  The  Church  Bells  of  Bedfordshire,'  1883. 

7.  '  The  Accounts  of  the  Churchwardens  of 
St.  Martin's,  Leicester,   1489-1844,'   1884. 

8.  « The  Church  Bells  of  Hertfordshire,'  1887, 
edited,  after  North's  decease,  from  his  mate- 
rials by  J.  C.  L.  Stahlschmidt,  He  also  edited 
the  first  five  volumes  of  the  '  Leicestershire 
Architectural  and  Archaeological  Society's 
Transactions,'  and  the  Leicestershire  section 
of  vols.  vi.  to  xvii.  of  the  '  Associated  Archi- 
tectural Societies'  Reports  and  Papers.' 

[Transactions  of  the  Leicestershire  Architec- 
tural and  Archaeological  Society,  vol.  vi.;  Church 
Bells,  8  March  1 884 ;  and  information  kindly  com- 
municated by  his  widow.]  W.  G.  D.  F. 

NORTH,  WILLIAM,  sixth  LORD  NORTH 
(1678-1734),  elder  son  of  Charles,  fifth  lord, 
by  Catherine,  only  daughter  of  William, 
lord  Grey  of  Wark,  and  grandson  of  Dudley, 
fourth  lord  North  [q.  v.],  was  born  on  22  Dec. 
1678.  His  father,  upon  his  marriage  in  1673, 
had  been  summoned  by  special  writ  to  take 
his  seat  in  the  House  of  Lords  as  Lord  Grey 
of  Rolleston,  and  he  succeeded  to  the  barony 
of  North  in  1677,  from  which  time  he  was 
known  as  Lord  North  and  Grey.  A  few 
months  after  his  father's  death  in  January 
1691,  his  mother  remarried  the  Hon.  Francis 
Russell,  governor  of  Barbados,  leaving  his 
younger  brother  Charles  and  his  sister  Dud- 
leya  to  the  young  peer's  care.  The  three  had 
been  brought  up  together,  and  among  them 
there  had  grown  up  '  a  deep  and  romantic 
affection.'  The  two  brothers  entered  at 
Magdalene  College,  Cambridge,  together  on 
22  Oct.  1691,  and  Charles,  the  younger,  gra- 
duated M.A.  in  1695,  and  was  elected  to  a 
fellowship  at  his  college  in  1698.  William, 
however,  left  Cambridge  without  taking  a 
degree  in  1094,  and  entered  at  Foubert's  mili- 
tary academy,  which  had  been  established  by 
William  III  in  Leicester  Fields,  with  a  view 
to  qualify  himself  for  the  profession  of  arms. 
Dissipation  soon  involved  him  heavily  in 
debt,  and  to  extricate  himself,  he,  by  the  ad- 
vice of  his  uncle,  Roger  North,  travelled  for 
three  years,  remaining  abroad  until  he  came 
of  age  and  took  his  seat  in  the  House  of 
Lords  in  1699.  In  March  1702  William  III 
signed  his  commission  as  captain  of  foot- 
guards  in  the  new  levies.  He  was  soon 
despatched  to  the  seat  of  the  war,  and  on 
15  Jan.  1703  he  was  made  colonel  of  the 
10th  regiment  of  foot  (BEATSON,  Political  In- 
dex, ii.  210).  He  lost  his  right  hand  at 
Blenheim  on  13  Aug.  1704  (BoYER,  Annals 
of  Anne,  1735,  p.  153).  When  Maryborough 
returned  to  England  in  December,  Lord 


North 


182 


North 


North  accompanied  him,  and  in  the  following 
February  he  was  made  brigadier-general.  In 
the  campaign  of  1705  he  was  again  at  Marl- 
borough's  side,  and  on  26  Oct.  1705  he  mar- 
ried Maria  Margaretta,  daughter  of  Vryheer 
van  Ellemeet,  treasurer  of  Holland.  Shortly 
afterwards  he  was  in  England,  and  protested 
against  the  vote  of  the  lords  that  the  church 
was  not  in  danger.  He  spent  most  of  the 
next  three  years  with  the  army  in  Flanders ; 
but  he  took  part  in  the  debates  about  the 
union,  protesting  against  the  small  propor- 
tion of  land-tax  to  be  paid  by  Scotland  ac- 
cording to  the  ninth  article  of  the  union.  He 
also  took  a  prominent  part  in  the  debate 
about  Sacheverell,  trying  to  quash  the  im- 
peachment. He  was  promoted  lieutenant- 
general  in  May  1710,  and  in  November  of 
that  year  he  was  sufficiently  under  the  domi- 
nation of  party  spirit  to  oppose  a  vote  of 
thanks  being  awarded  to  Marlborough  for 
the  campaign  just  concluded.  Nevertheless 
in  January  17l2  he  had  the  grace  to  entertain 
Prince  Eugene  during  his  visit  to  London 
(ib.  p.  536).  He  had  been  created  lord-lieu- 
tenant of  Cambridgeshire  early  in  1711,  in 
the  room  of  the  Duke  of  Bedford,  and  on 
13  Dec.  1711  he  was  made  a  privy  councillor 
(t'i.p.  532) ;  he  also  became  governor  of  Ports- 
mouth. 

His  Jacobite  tendencies  increased  in 
strength  as  Anne's  reign  approached  its  end. 
On  31  June  1713  the  Earl  of  Wharton  moved 
that  an  address  should  be  presented  to  the 
queen  urging  her  to  use  her  influence  with 
the  friendly  powers  of  Europe  that  they 
should  not  harbour  the  Pretender.  After  a 
long  silence-  North  represented  with  some 
readiness  that  such  an  address  would  imply 
distrust  of  her  majesty,  and  he  asked,  in  con- 
clusion, since  most  of  the  powers  were  in 
amity  with  her  majesty,  where  would  their 
lordships  have  the  Pretender  reside  ?  To  this 
Peterborough  replied  that  the  fittest  place 
for  him  to  improve  himself  was  Rome.  Simi- 
larly in  April  1714  North  spoke  warmly 
against  setting  a  price  upon  the  Pretender's 
head($.pp.  184-5).  In  June  of  the  same  year 
he  made  his  last  notable  speech  in  the  house 
in  favour  of  the  Schism  Bill  (ib.  p.  705). 

With  the  advent  of  the  Brunswick  line 
North's  career  virtually  came  to  an  end.  He 
took  no  part  in  the  insurrection  of  1710,  and 
corresponded  rarely  with  leading  Jacobites 
abroad.  Nevertheless  on  28  Sept.  1722  he 
was  committed  to  the  Tower  for  his  com- 
plicity in  Atterbury'splot  (Hist.  MSS.  Comm. 
5th  Rep.  App.  p.  180).  He  managed  to  escape 
from  the  Tower,  and  got  as  far  as  the  Isle  of 
Wight,  but  was  there  re-arrested.  Finally 
North  was  admitted  to  bail  in  20,000/.  for 


himself  and  four  sureties  of  10,000/.  each. 
He  shortly  afterwards  retired  to  Paris.  Little 
is  known  of  his  subsequent  wanderings  on  the 
continent ;  in  March  1732  a  Captain  Powell 
dined  with  him  in  Paris,  and  found  him '  some- 
thing off  his  bloom,  but  not  off  his  politeness ' 
(  Wentworth  Papers,  p.  476).  He  was  then  on 
the  eve  of  setting  out  for  Spain.  He  died, 
a  childless  man  and  an  exile,  at  Madrid  on 
31  Oct.  1734.  He  had  joined  the  Roman 
catholic  communion  in  1728,  and  thereby 
lost  the  friendship  of  his  old  ally  Atterbury. 
His  second  title  of  Lord  Grey  expired  ;  the 
barony  of  North  devolved  upon  his  second 
cousin  Francis,  first  earl  of  Guilford  [q.  v.], 
who  had  succeeded  his  father  Francis,  the 
lord-keeper's  son  and  heir,  on  17  Oct.  1729. 
A  fine  portrait  of  Lord  North  and  Grey,  by 
Kneller  (now  at  Waldershare),was  engraved 
in  mezzotint  by  I.  Simon.  A  portrait  of 
Lady  North,  who  died  in  1732,  was  engraved 
by  the  same  artist,  after  Kneller. 

Lord  North's  sister,  DUDLEYA  NORTH 
(1675-1712),  born  at  her  father's  house  in 
Leicester  Fields  in  1675,  was  distinguished 
for  her  learning.  While  still  a  young  girl 
she  begged  leave  to  join  her  brothers  in 
studying  Latin  and  Greek  with  their  private 
tutor  at  Kirtling,  and  subsequently  she 
mastered  Hebrew  and  some  other  eastern 
languages.  Her  valuable  collection  of  ori- 
ental literature  was,  together  with  the  re- 
mainder of  her  books,presented  by  her  brother 
to  the  parochial  library  of  Rougham  in  Nor- 
folk, built  and  founded  by  her  uncle,  Roger 
North,  for  the  use,  under  certain  restrictions, 
of  the  clergy  of  the  district.  This  gift  in- 
cluded a  Hebrew  bible,  bound  in  blue  turkey 
morocco,  with  silver  clasps,  which  she  had 
been  in  the  habit  of  carrying  to  church.  She 
appears  to  have  been  a  woman  not  only  of 
great  attainments,  but  of  rare  beauty  of  cha- 
racter, and  the  depth  of  the  attachment  ex- 
isting between  herself  and  her  two  brothers 
receives  pleasing  illustration  from  the  family 
correspondence.  Having  injured  her  health 
by  over-study,  she  died,  at  the  age  of  thirty- 
seven,  of '  a  sedentary  distemper,'  at  the  house 
of  her  sister-in-law,  Lady  North  and  Grey, 
in  Bond  Street  (25  April  1712),  and  was 
buried  at  Kirtling  (BA.LLAED,  Memoirs  of 
Learned  Ladies,  1752 ;  materials  kindly  fur- 
nished by  Lady  Frances  Bushby). 

[Collins's Peerage,  vol.  iv.,  s.v.  Guilford ;  Peer- 
age of  England,  1710,  pt.  ii.  p.  44;  North's  Lives 
of  the  Norths,  ed.  Jessopp,  1890,  iii.  292,  295- 
298 ;  T.uttrell's  Brief  Historical  Relation  of  State 
Affairs,  passim  ;  Boyer's  Annals  of  Queen  Anne, 
1735,  passim;  Wentworth  Papers,  ed.  Cart- 
wright,  pp.  114, 476 ;  Duke  of  Marlborough's  Des- 
patches, vol.  i.  passim;  The  Stuart  Papers,  ed. 


Northalis 


183 


Northall 


Glover,  1847;  Atterbury's  Works,  1789-98,  ii. 
381,415;  Wiliiams's  Memoirs  and  Correspondence 
of  Bishop  Atterbury,  i.  385,  410 ;  Bromley's  Cat. 
of  Engraved  Portraits.]  T.  S. 

NORTHALIS,  RICHARD  (d.  1397), 
archbishop  of  Dublin,  was  perhaps  the  son  of 
John  Northale,  alias  Clerk,  who  was  sheriff 
of  London  in  1335-6,  and  died  in  1349  (BALE, 
Script. ;  Monumenta  Franciseana,  ii.  153 ; 
SHARPE,  Calendar  of  Wills,  pp.  532,  572). 
Richard  entered  the  Carmelite  friary  in  Lon- 
don, and  is  said  to  have  been  chaplain  to 
Richard  II  (FILLER,  Worthies).  He  was 
made  bishop  of  Ossory  in  November  1386 
(Irish  Pat.  Roll,  10  Ric.  II,  Nos.  52,  60). 
From  this  time  onwards  he  was  continually 
employed  in  affairs  of  state.  He  was  absent 
from  Ireland  in  February  1387  (Irish  Pat. 
10  Ric.  II,  No.  110)  ;  abroad  on  business, 
apparently  at  the  papal  court,  in  July  1388 
(Fat.  12  Ric.  II,  pt.  i.  m.  26)  ;  in  England  in 
February  1389,  and  likely  to  be  absent  from 
Ireland  for  two  years  (Pat.  12  Ric.  II,  pt.  2, 
m.  5).  In  June  1389  he  obtained  leave  to 
receive  all  the  temporalities  of  his  see  while 
he  was  absent  on  the  king's  business.  In 
November  1390  he  complained  that  in  spite 
of  this  order  two-thirds  of  the  revenues  had 
been  kept  back  by  the  king's  officers  (Pat. 
12  Ric.  II,  pt.  ii.  m.  2,  and  14,  pt,  i.  m.  30). 
During  his  absence  serious  disturbances  took 
place  in  the  diocese,  and  the  bishop's  repre- 
sentatives were  commissioned  to  'treat  and 
parley'  with  the  rebels  (Irish  Pat.  13  Ric.  II, 
No.  191).  At  the  end  of  1390  Richard  re- 
turned to  Ireland,  and  was  appointed  one  of 
the  custodians  of  the  temporalities  of  the 
vacant  see  of  Dublin  (Pat.  14  Ric.  II,  pt.  i. 
m.  14).  In  February  1391  he  was  licensed 
by  the  king  to  bring  or  send  '  corn,  horses, 
falcons,  hawks,  fish,  gold,  and  silver'  from 
Ireland  to  England  (Pat.  14  Ric.  II,  pt.  ii. 
m.  32).  A  few  days  later  he  was  commis- 
sioned with  others  to  convoke  in  convenient 
places  the  chief  persons  of  each  part  of  the 
English  colony,  and  to  take  evidence  on  oath 
concerning  losses  and  grievances,  the  delin- 
quencies of  the  royal  officers,  and  the  remedies 
to  be  applied ;  to  investigate  the  dealings  of 
the  lord  justice,  Sir  John  Stanley  [q.  v.], 
with  the  native  chieftains,  and  ascertain  the 
state  of  the  revenues  (Pat.  14  Ric.  II,  pt.  ii. 
m.  18). 

In  March  1391  the  king,  '  relying  on  the 
circumspection,  prudence,  and  fidelity'  of  the 
bishop,  summoned  him  '  to  work  on  some  of 
our  affairs  intimately  concerning  us,'  and 
ordered  that  the  revenue  of  his  see  should  be 
paid  to  him  (Pat.  ib.  m.  20).  These  affairs, 
which  were  calculated  to  employ  him  for 
three  years,  had  reference  to  Rome,  and  were 


perhaps  connected  with  the  schism  or  the 
anti-papal  legislation  of  the  time  (cf.  Pat. 
ib.  m.  47).  In  August  1391  Northalis  was 
again  in  Ireland,  acting  as  deputy-justice  in 
the  county  of  Kilkenny,  and  negotiating  with 
the  natives  (Irish  Pat.  15  Ric.  II,  No.  77). 
In  the  winter  of  1392-3  he  attended  meetings 
of  the  council,  was  appointed  lord-chancellor 
of  Ireland  in  May  1393,  and  held  office  for 
about  a  year  (Pat.  16  Ric.  II,  pt.  iii.  m.  9  ; 
Irish  Pat.  18  Ric.  II,  Nos.  46-8).  He  per- 
formed many  onerous  duties,  negotiating 
frequently  with  English  and  Irish  in  the 
absence  of  the  lord  justice,  James  Butler, 
third  earl  of  Ormonde,  and  attending  the 
latter  in  an  expedition  to  Munster  with  an 
armed  force  (Irish  Close  Roll,  17  Ric.  II, 
No.  1).  At  the  petition  of  the  council  he 
received  (April  1394)  a  reward  of  20/.,  be- 
cause the  fees  of  the  chancellorship  did  not 
cover  a  third  of  his  expenses  (ib.)  He  was 
summoned  to  attend  the  king  at  a  council 
at  Kilkenny  in  April  1395  (Irish  Close  Roll, 
18  Ric.  II,  No.  68).  He  was  translated  by 
papal  bull  to  the  archbishopric  of  Dublin, 
and  obtained  restitution  of  the  temporalities 
on  4  Feb.  1396  (Pat.  19  Ric.  II,  pt.  ii. 
m.  34).  On  1  April  he  obtained  license  to 
leave  Ireland  without  incurring  the  penalties 
of  the  statute  of  absentees,  on  condition  of 
furnishing  men-at-arms  for  the  defence  of  the 
land  (Pat.  ib.  m.  23).  He  died  in  Dublin, 
20  July  1397,  and  was  buried  in  the  cathe- 
dral church  of  St.  Patrick. 

He  is  said  to  have  written '  Sermones '  and 
'  Ad  Ecclesiarum  Parochos'  (BALE).  Neither 
is  extant.  The  statement  that  he  wrote  a 
'  Hymn  on  St.  Canute '  (Bibl.  CarmJ)  in- 
volves two  mistakes :  Richard  Lederede  or 
Ledred  [q.  v.]  composed  a  hymn  in  honour 
of  St.  Cainnech,  patron  saint  of  Ossory 
Cathedral. 

[Liber  Munerum  Publicorum  Hibernise,  1824; 
Botulorum  Patentium  et  Clausorum  Cancellariae 
Hiberniae  Calendarium,  1828 ;  Harris's  Ware, 
1764  ;  Camden's  Britannia,  iii.  690  ;  Eoll  of  the 
Proceedings  of  the  King's  Council  in  Ireland, 
1392-3,  1877;  Cotton's  Fasti  Eccles.  Hibern. ; 
Villiers  de  S.  Etienne's  Bibliotheca  Carmelitana, 
1752.]  A.  G.  L. 

NORTHALL,  JOHN  (1723  P-1759), 
captain  in  the  royal  artillery,  entered  the 
service  as  a  gentleman-cadet  in  the  royal 
regiment  of  artillery  on  1  July  1741,  and 
was  promoted  to  the  rank  of  lieutenant  fire- 
worker on  1  April  1742.  He  served  under 
Colonel  Thomas  Pattison,  R.A.,  with  the 
royal  artillery  in  Flanders  in  1742,  and  was 
promoted  second  lieutenant  on  1  April  1744. 
He  was  present  at  the  battle  of  Fontenoy  on 
11  May  1745,  and  became  first  lieutenant  on 


Northall 


184 


Northampton 


3  Oct.  1745,  captain-lieutenant  24  March 
1752,  and  captain  1  Oct.  1755.  In  February 
1752  he  went  to  Minorca,  and  thence  em- 
barked for  Leghorn.  Instead  of  making  the 
usual  tour  of  Italy,  he  first  visited  the  prin- 
cipal cities  of  Tuscany,  and,  after  a  cursory 
visit  to  Rome,  went  to  Naples.  Then,  after 
a  more  lengthened  stay  in  Rome,  he  went  to 
Loretto,  Bologna,  Venice,  Mantua,  Parma, 
Modena,  and  returned  to  Leghorn,  whence 
he  sailed  for  Genoa.  From  Genoa  he  went 
by  sea  to  Villafranca,  and  on  by  land  to  Mar- 
seilles. He  died  in  1759.  A  posthumous 
account  of  his  Italian  tour  was  published  in 
July  1766  :  '  Travels  through  Italy ;  contain- 
ing new  and  curious  Observations  on  that 
Country.  .  .  .  With  the  most  authentic  Ac- 
count yet  published  of  capital  Pieces  in 
Painting,  Sculpture,  and  Architecture  that 
are  to  be  seen  in  Italy,  &c.,'  London,  1766, 
8vo. 

[Duncan's  History  of  the  Eoyal  Artillery,  i. 
124,  127  ;  Kane's  List  of  Officers  of  the  Royal 
Artillery;  Gent.  Mag.  1766,  p.  336.]  B.  H.  S. 

NORTHALL,  WILLIAM  OF  (d.  1190), 
bishop  of  Worcester,  derived  his  name  from 
Northall  in  the  hundred  of  Elthorne,  Middle- 
sex, where  the  dean  and  chapter  of  St.  Paul's 
held  property.  William  was  probably  edu- 
cated in  the  cathedral  school,  though  he  first 
appears  as  witnessing  a  charter  of  Archbishop 
Theobald  to  St.  Martin's  Priory,  c.  1160 
(GERVASE  OF  CANTERBURY,  ii.  289).  John  of 
Salisbury  wrote  to  him  during  the  early  part 
of  Becket's  exile  (c.  1167)  hinting  that  a  gift  of 
money  would  be  acceptable.  William  seems 
to  have  given  a  lukewarm  support  to  Becket. 
He  read  the  gospel  in  St.  Paul's  on  Ascen- 
sion day,  1169,  whenBerengar  delivered  the 
letters  excommunicating  the  Bishop  of  Lon- 
don, and  he  refused  to  be  present  at  mass 
afterwards,  against  Becket's  command.  At 
this  time  he  was  probably  already  canon.  He 
held  the  prebend  of  Neasdon  before  1177, 
and  resigned  it  in  1186.  He  became  arch- 
deacon of  Gloucester  in  1177,  and  was  sene- 
schal or  steward  to  Richard  (d.  1184)  [q.  v.], 
archbishop  of  Canterbury.  In  1181  he  was 
'  firmarius  '  of  the  manor  of  West  Drayton, 
paying  a  rent  of  one  mark  to  the  dean  and 
chapter  of  St.  Paul's.  He  had  the  custody 
of  the  temporalities  of  the  see  of  Rochester 
in  1184-5,  and  of  the  see  of  Worcester, 
1185-6,  then  in  the  king's  hands ;  and 
Henry  II  gave  him  the  bishopric  of  Wor- 
cester at  the  council  of  Eynsham  in  May 
1 1 86.  He  was  present  at  the  council  of  Marl- 
borough  (14  Sept.),  and  was  consecrated  at 
Westminster,  with  Hugh  of  Lincoln  [q.v.],by 
Baldwin,  on  21  Sept.  1186.  In  February  1187 


he  was  one  of  those  sent  by  the  king,  at  Bald- 
win's request,  to  negotiate  with  the  monk* 
of  Canterbury  in  their  quarrel  with  the  arch- 
bishop. Gervase  says,  on  this  occasion,  that 
Northall  worked  in  secret,  like  a  snake  in  the 
path,  being  a  man  of  business,  with  little 
grace  of  bearing  ('  usu  magis  quam  arte  peri- 
tus').  At  the  beginning  of  the  next  year 
the  monks  wrote  urging  him  to  persuade  the 
archbishop  to  renounce  his  design  of  building 
the  new  church.  He  was  again  sent  by  the 
king  in  February  1188  as  mediator  in  this- 
quarrel,  and  he  was  present  when  the  com- 
promise proposed  by  Richard  I  was  accepted 
on  1  Dec.  1189.  He  was  in  attendance  on 
Richard  at  Winchester  in  August  1189,  and 
assisted  at  the  coronation.  He  wras  present 
at  the  council  of  Pipewell,  15  Sept.  1189,  and 
witnessed  the  charter  by  which  Richard  re- 
leased the  king  of  Scots  from  subjection  on 
26  Nov.  He  died  on  2,  or  more  probably 
3,  May  1190  (MS.  Cott.  Domit.  i.  f.  150  -r 
Annals  of  Worcester,  p.  387). 

Giraldus  Cambrensis  relates  that  William 
forbade  a  certain  English  song  to  be  sung  in- 
his  diocese,  because  a  priest  of  Worcester  one 
morning,  instead  of  the  salutation, '  Dominus- 
vobiscum,'  solemnly  chanted  the  refrain  of 
the  song  '  Swete  lamman  dhin  are.' 

[Gervase  of  Canterbury ;  Epistolse  Cantuari- 
enses  (in  Chron.  and  Mem.  of  Rich.ird  I)  'r 
Materials  for  the  History  of  Thomas  Becket,  vol. 
vi. ;  Rad.  de  Diceto ;  Benedict!  Abbatis  Gesta 
Regis,  Henr.  II ;  Roger  of  Hoveden ;  Annales- 
Monastici ;  Matt.  Paris's  Chron.  Majora,  vol.  ii. ; 
Giraldus  Cambrensis,  vol.  ii. ;  Domesday  of  St. 
Paul's  ;  Le  Neve's  Fasti ;  Newcourt's  Reper- 
torium  ;  Madox's  Hist,  of  the  Exchequer ;  Dug- 
dale's  Hist,  of  St.  Paul's,  p.  316.]  A.  G.  L. 

NORTHAMPTON,  MARQUISES  OF.  [See 
PARR,  WILLIAM, d.  1571;  COMPTON,  SPENCER 
JOSHUA  ALWYNE,  second  MARQUIS,  1790- 
1851.] 

NORTHAMPTON,  EARLS  OF.  [See  SEN- 
LIS,  SIMON  DE,  d.  1109;  BOHUN,  AVILLIAM 
DE,  d,  1360  ;  HOWARD,  HENRY,  1540-1614  ; 
COMPTON,  SPENCER,  1601-1643.] 

NORTHAMPTON,  HENRY  DE,  or 
FITZPETER  (fl.  1202),  judge,  was  pro- 
bably a  brother  of  Geoffrey  Fitzpeter,  earl  of 
Essex  [q.  v.],  who  seems  to  have  been  closely 
connected  with  Northamptonshire,  for  both 
he  and  Simon  Fitzpeter  were  in  several  year* 
sheriffs  of  the  county.  Henry  was  an  officer 
of  the  exchequer,  a  canon  of  St.  Paul's- 
(DUGDALE,  Origines  Juridiciales,  pp.  21,  22), 
and  held  the  church  of  St.  Peter's,  North- 
ampton (Close  Rolls,  i.  520).  He  was 
a  justice  itinerant  for  Lincolnshire,  Cam- 
bridgeshire, and  Huntingdonshire  in  1189* 


Northampton 


185 


Northampton 


{Pipe  Roll,  1  Ric.  I.  69,  194),  and  sat  as  one 
of  the  king's  justices  at  Westminster  and  in 
the  country  in  1202  and  later.  In  1205  King 
John  granted  Henry  Fitzpeter  de  Northamp- 
ton license  to  make  a  park  at  Little  Lun- 
ford  (probably  Ludford  in  Lincolnshire) 
{Rotuli  Chartarum,  ed.  Hardy,  i.  151),  and 
from  that  year  to  1207  Henry  was  joint- 
sheriff  of  Northamptonshire  {Close  Rolls,  i. 
34,  77).  It  may  be  inferred  that  he  joined 
the  baronial  party,  of  which  until  his  death 
Geoffrey  Fitzpeter  had  been  leader,  for  in 
November  1215  his  lands  and  houses  in  North- 
ampton were  given  away  by  the  king  (ib. 
p.  238).  He  received  letters  of  protection 
in  the  following  March.  He  founded  an 
hospital  within  the  precincts  -of  St.  Paul's, 
London  {Monasticon,  vi.  767).  Dugdale 
{Baronage,  i.  705)  reckons  a  Henry,  dean  of 
Wolverhampton,  among  the  sons  of  Geoffrey 
Fitzpeter,  earl  of  Essex,  and  it  does  not  seem 
possible  to  distinguish  clearly  between  him 
and  this  Henry  de  Northampton. 

[Authorities  quoted ;  Foss's  Judges  of  Eng- 
land, ii.  99,  where  the  omission  of  any  notice 
of  a  probable  relationship  between  Henry  and 
Earl  Geoffrey  must  be  noted  as  against  the 
theory  stated  above ;  Dugdale's  Chron.  Survey, 
and  Monasticon,  vi.  767 ;  Rot.  Litt.  Claus.  i. 
34,  77,  238,  520,  ed.  Hardy  (Record  publ.); 
Rot.  Litt.  Pat.  pp.  51,  169,  ed.  Hardy  (Record 
publ.);  Pipe  Roll,  1  Ric.  J,  pp.  69,  194,  ed. 
Hunter  (Record  publ.)]  W.  H. 

NORTHAMPTON  or  COMBERTON, 
JOHN  DE  (^.1381),  lord  mayor  of  London, 
was  a  draper  of  high  repute  in  the  company 
and  an  alderman  of  the  city  in  1376  (RiLEY, 
Memorials  of  London,  pp.  400, 404,  409) ;  he 
was  one  of  the  sheriffs  in  1377,  was  elected 
a  member  for  the  city  in  1378  {Returns  of 
Members,  i.  200),  and  in  1380  was  a  com- 
missioner for  building  a  tower  on  the  bank 
of  the  Thames  for  the  protection  of  the  ship- 
ping. He  was  elected  to  the  mayoralty  in 
1381.  He  was  one  of  the  most  prominent 
supporters  of  Wiclif  in  London,  was  no 
doubt  connected  with  the  interruption  of 
"Wiclif 's  trial  at  Lambeth  in  1378,  and  with 
the  interference  of  the  citizens  with  the  trial 
of  John  Aston  in  1382  (WALSINGHAM,  i.  356, 
ii.  65).  The  Londoners  were  at  this  time 
divided  into  two  parties  [see  under  BKEMBRE, 
Sin  NICHOLAS],  and  Northampton  was  the 
head  of  John  of  Gaunt's  faction,  while  as  re- 
gards municipal  politics,  which  since  1376 
had,  owing  to  a  change  of  procedure,  run  very 
high  (Liber  Albus,  i.  41),  he  appears  to  have 
been  leader  of  the  party  which  sought  to 
gain  the  favour  of  the  populace  and  the 
members  of  the  smaller  companies,  and  to 
depress  the  greater  companies.  Relying  on 


the  support  of  his  party,  and  specially  of  the 
Duke  of  Lancaster,  he  encouraged  the  citizens 
to  set  at  nought  the  jurisdiction  of  their 
bishop  by  taking  into  their  own  hands  the 
punishment  of  breaches  of  chastity.  They 
imprisoned  women  guilty  of  these  offences 
in  the  prison  called  the  Tun  on  Cornhill, 
shaved  their  heads,  and  paraded  them  pub- 
licly with  trumpets  and  pipes  playing  before 
them,  and  dealt  in  like  fashion  with  their 
paramours,  declaring  that  the  prelates  were 
negligent  and  venal,  and  that  they  would 
purify  their  city  themselves.  He  was  a  bit- 
ter enemy  of  the  London  fishmongers,  who 
were  upheld  by  Sir  Nicholas  Brembre  and 
the  Grocers'  Company,  Sir  John  Philipot 
[q.  v.],  and  Nicholas  Exton  of  the  Fish- 
mongers' Company.  He  obtained  from  the 
king,  Richard  II,  the  extinction  of  their 
monopoly,  prevented  them  from  selling  in 
the  country,  compelling  them  to  sell  in  one 
market  at  a  price  fixed  by  the  mayor,  and 
with  other  citizens  presented  a  petition  to 
the  king  on  which  was  founded  an  act  of 
parliament  that  no  fishmonger  or  other  vic- 
tualler should  be  eligible  for  the  mayoralty 
or  other  judicial  office  {Statutes  at  Large, 
ii.  257).  By  these  measures  he  brought  the 
company  so  low  that  he  is  said  to  have  forced 
the  fishmongers  to  declare  that  they  were 
unworthy  to  be  ranked  among  the  crafts  or 
mysteries  of  the  city.  As  his  proceedings, 
while  raising  the  price  of  fish  in  the  country, 
lowered  it  in  London,  they  were  highly 
popular  among  the  poorer  class  (WALSING- 
HAM, ii.  66).  He  is  said  to  have  attempted 
to  depress  others  of  the  companies,  but  to 
have  been  checked.  Nor  did  he  accomplish 
so  much  without  meeting  with  violent  opposi- 
tion. On  one  occasion  he  was  insulted  in 
his  court,  and  on  another  a  fishmonger  was- 
committed  to  prison  for  speaking  against 
him  {Memorials,  pp.  462,  472).  So  long, 
however,  as  he  was  mayor,  he  made  his  posi- 
tion good,  and  forced  Sir  John  Philipot  to 
resign  his  aldermanry,  because  he  was  allied 
with  his  enemies.  In  1383  he  was  succeeded 
in  the  mayoralty  by  Brembre,  whose  election 
was  carried  by  the  strong  hand  of  certain 
crafts,  and  with  the  approval  and  perhaps 
help  of  the  king.  Northampton's  work  was. 
at  once  undone,  the  fishmongers  regained 
their  privileges,  and  the  greater  companies 
triumphed. 

He  did  not  submit  quietly  to  his  defeat ; 
the  party  that  he  led  was  numerous  and  ex- 
cited, there  was  talk  of  making  him  mayor 
in  spite  of  his  enemies,  and  the  supporters  of 
Brembre  believed  that  the  new  lord  mayor's 
life  was  threatened.  Northampton  was  joined 
by  a  large  number  of  men  when  he  walked 


Northampton 


1 86 


Northbrooke 


the  streets,  and  seems  to  have  allied  himself 
to  the  anti-court  party  among  the  nobles ;  for 
the  dispute  in  the  city  had  a  strong  bearing 
on  the  affairs  of  the  kingdom.  In  February 
1384  Thomas  Mowbray,  earl  of  Nottingham, 
dined  with  him,  and  after  dinner  asked  him 
to  walk  with  him  to  the  Greyfriars'  church, 
for  that  day  was  the  anniversary  of  his  brother, 
the  late  earl,  who  was  buried  there.  North- 
ampton went  with  the  earl,  and  was,  it  is 
said,  accompanied  by  four  hundred  men.  The 
lord  mayor  met  him,  and  asked  why  he  went 
so  attended.  On  his  answering  that  the 
men  came  with  him  because  it  pleased  them, 
Brembre  arrested  him,  and  he  was  sent  down 
to  Corfe  Castle,  and  there  imprisoned  on  a 
charge  of  sedition.  One  of  his  most  active 
adherents,  a  member  of  the  Shoemakers' 
Company,  was  beheaded  for  insurrection. 
His  clerk,  Thomas  Usk,  was  arrested  by  the 
sheriffs  in  July,  and  accused  him  of  many 
crimes,  but  it  was  thought  that  he  was  sub- 
orned by  Brembre  (Chronicon  Anglice,  p.  360 ; 
Polychronicon,  App.  ix.  45).  He  was  brought 
before  King  Richard  and  the  council  at  Read- 
ing, and  denied  all  Usk's  accusations.  When 
Richard  was  about  to  sentence  him  to  the 
forfeiture  of  his  goods,  leaving  him  one  hun- 
dred marks  a  year  for  his  maintenance,  he 
said  that  the  king  should  not  condemn  him 
in  the  absence  of  his  lord  the  Duke  of  Lan- 
caster. On  this  the  king  fell  into  a  rage, 
and  declared  that  he  would  have  him  hanged 
forthwith.  He  was  appeased  by  the  queen, 
and  Northampton  was  sent  back  to  Corfe, 
whence  in  September  he  was  brought  up  to 
London  and  imprisoned  in  the  Tower.  He 
was  tried  there,  and  sentenced  either  to  the  j 
wager  of  battle,  or  to  be  hanged,  drawn,  and 
quartered.  The  sentence  was  commuted ;  he 
was  to  be  imprisoned  for  life,  his  goods  were 
to  be  confiscated,  and  he  was  not  to  come 
within  a  hundred  miles  of  London  (WAL- 
SINGHAM,  ii.  116).  He  was  imprisoned  in 
Tintagel  Castle.  John  of  Gaunt  interceded 
for  him  in  1386,  but  his  enemies  in  London 
opposed  his  release,  and  he  was  kept  in  prison. 
In  April  1387  he  was  released,  and  his  goods 
were  restored  to  him  at  the  instance,  it 
was  believed,  of  the  Duke  of  Ireland  [see 
VERB,  ROBERT  DE,  EARL  OF  OXFORD,  1362- 
1393],  who  probably  desired  to  conciliate 
Northampton  s  party  in  the  city. 

A  petition  presented  in  the  parliament  of 
this  year  by  the  cordwainers  and  other  com- 
panies complaining  that  the  then  Lord  Mayor 
Exton  had  caused  a  book  of  good  customs, 
called  the  '  Jubilee,'  to  be  burnt,  marks  the 
revival  of  the  party  in  the  city  {Rolls  of  Par- 
liament, iii.  227).  A  John  de  Northampton, 
probably  the  late  lord  mayor,  was  returned  as 


member  for  Southwark  to  the '  Merciless  par- 
liament' which  met  on  3  Feb.  1388.  North- 
ampton's friends  were  in  the  ascendant. 
Brembre  was  executed  the  same  month,  and 
in  March  Usk  was  beheaded,  persisting  in  his 
charges  against  his  former  master.  Richard  al- 
lowed Northampton  to  enter  London,  though 
for  a  while  he  would  not  consent  to  his  residing 
there.  In  1390,  however,  this  too  was  granted, 
on  a  petition  of  the  citizens,  and  he  was  fully 
restored  to  his  former  position.  A  proclama- 
tion was  made  by  the  lord  mayor  and  alder- 
men in  1391  that  no  one  should  thencefor- 
ward utter  his  opinion  concerning  Sir  Nicholas 
Brembre,  or  John  of  Northampton,  formerly 
mayor,  men  of  great  power  and  estate  {Me- 
morials, p.  526).  Northampton  was  buried 
in  St.  Alphage's  Church,  Cripplegate  (Sxow, 
Survey  of  London,  p.  305).  His  arms  are 
given  by  Stow  (u.  s.  p.  556). 

[Walsingham's  Hist.  Angl.  ii.  65,  66,  71,  HO, 
111,  116  (Rolls  Ser.);  Chron.  Anglise,  pp.  358, 
360  (Rolls  Ser.);  Vita  Ric.  II,  pp.  48,  49  (ed. 
Hearne) ;  Chron.  in  cont.  of  Higden's  Poly- 
chronicon,  ix.  29,  30,  45,  48,  73,  169,  239,  243 
(Rolls  Ser.) ;  Liber  Albus  ap.  Munimenta  Gild- 
hallse  Lond.  i.  41,  iii.  423  seqq.  (Rolls  Ser.); 
Riley's  Memorials  of  London,  pp.  400,  409,  427, 
462,  472 ;  Maitland's  Hist,  of  London,  p.  142 ; 
Stow's  Surrey  of  London,  pp.  305,  556,  ed.  1633  ; 
Stubbs's  Const.  Hist.  ii.  446,  467,  iii.  575.] 

W.  H. 

NORTHBROOK,  LORD.  [See  BARING, 
SIR  FRANCIS  THORNHILL,  1796-1866.] 

NORTHBROOKE,  JOHN  (fl.  1570), 
preacher  and  writer  against  plays,  born  in 
Devonshire  {Poors  Marts  Garden,  Epistle), 
was  one  of  the  first  ministers  ordained  by 
Gilbert  Berkeley,  Queen  Elizabeth's  bishop 
of  Bath  and  Wells.  He  is  stated  by  Tanner, 
who  refers  to  Lewis  Evans's  translation  of 
the  '  Tabulae  Hsereseon '  of  the  Bishop  of 
Roermund  (Antwerp,  1565),  to  have  been 
for  some  time  in  the  prison  of  the  Bishop  of 
Exeter.  In  1568  he  was  '  minister  and 
preacher  of  the  word  of  God'  at  St.  Mary  de 
Itedcliffe,  Bristol.  In  the  epistle  dedicatory 
of  his  first  book  he  gives  as  his  third  reason 
for  publishing  it  that  one  John  Blackeall, 
born  in  Exeter,  while  doing  penance  at  Paul's 
Cross  for  various  offences  detected  by  North- 
brooke's  instrumentality,  uttered  '  against 
me  many  foule  and  sclaunderous  reportes.' 
Northbrooke  had  in  consequence  been  sum- 
moned to  town  by  the  queen's  commissioners, 
but  before  he  could  arrive  Blackeall  '  stole 
awaie '  from  the  Marshalsea,  in  which  he 
was  confined.  In  1571  Northbrooke  was 
procurator  for  the  Bristol  clergy  in  the  synod 
at  London.  Tanner  thinks  he  was  the  John 
Northbrock  presented  by  Queen  Elizabeth 


Northbrooke 


187 


Northburgh 


to  the  vicarage  of  Berkeley,  Gloucestershire, 
in  1575,  and  suggests  that  he  was  the  John 
Northbrooke  who  was  presented  to  Walton, 
in  the  diocese  of  Wells,  7  Oct.  1570  and  who 
resigned  in  August  1577  (cf.  WEAVER,  Somer- 
set Incumbents,  p.  298).  In  1579  he  was  ap- 
parently residing  at  Henbury,  near  Bristol. 
He  was  author  of:  1.  'Spiritus  est  Vicarius 
Christi  in  Terra.  A  breefe  and  pithie  summe 
of  the  Christian  Faith,  made  in  fourme  of 
Confession,  with  a  Confutation  of  the  Papistes 
Obj  ections  and  Argumentes  in  sundry  Pointes 
of  Religion,  repugnant  to  the  Christian  Faith : 
made  by  John  Northbrooke,  Minister  and  a 
Preacher  of  the  Worde  of  God,' b.l., London, 
1571,  4to  ;  1582,  8vo,  '  newly  corrected  and 
amended.'  The  dedicatory  letter  to  Gilbert 
Berkeley  contains  some  autobiographical  de- 
tails. 2.  '  Spiritus  est  Vicarius  Christi  in 
Terra.  The  Poore  Mans  Garden,  wherein 
are  Flowers  of  the  Scriptures,  and  Doctours, 
very  necessary  and  profitable  for  the  simple 
and  ignoraunt  people  to  read:  truely  col- 
lected and  diligently  gathered  together,  by 
John  Northbrooke,  Minister  and  Preacher 
of  the  Worde  of  God.  And  nowe  newly  cor- 
rected and  largely  augmented  by  the  former 
Aucthour,'  b.l.,  London,  1573,  8vo.  This 
was  apparently  not  the  first  edition.  There 
were  other  editions  in  1580  and  1606.  The 
'Epistle'  by  Northbrooke  is  addressed  to 
the  '  Bishop  of  Excester.'  An  '  Epistle  to 
the  Reader' is  signed  'Thomas  Knel,  Ju.,'  in 
1573, '  T.  Knell '  in  1580.  Both  1  and  2  are 
written  against  Thomas  Harding  (1516- 
1572)  [q.  v.]  3.  <  Spiritus  est  Vicarius  Christi 
in  Terra.  A  Treatise  wherein  Dicing,  Daun- 
cing,  vaine  Playes,  or  Enterluds,  with  other 
idle  Pastimes,  &c.,  commonly  used  on  the 
Sabboth  Day,  are  reproved  by  the  Authoritie 
of  the  Word  of  God  and  auntient  writers. 
Made  Dialoguewise  by  John  Northbrooke, 
Minister  and  Preacher  of  the  Word  of  God,' 
London,  b.l.,  1579,  4to,  and  again,  1579, 4to. 
The  'Address  to  the  Reader'  is  dated  'from 
Henbury.'  There  are  occasional  scraps  of 
verse  in  the  volume.  This  tract  is  important 
as 'the  earliest  separate  and  systematic  at- 
tack' upon  dramatic  performances  in  Eng- 
land. It  was  entered  at  Stationers'  Hall  m 
1577.  It  contains  the  first  mention  by  name 
of  the  playhouses  the  Theatre  and  Curtain, 
and  witnesses  to  the  great  variety  of  topics 
already  dealt  with  on  the  stage.  J.  P.  Collier 
in  1843  edited  it  for  the  Shakespeare  Society, 
with  an  introduction. 

[J.  P.  Collier's  Introduction  to  the  Treatise 
against  Dicing,  &c.;  Strype's  Annals,  n.  i.  145-7; 
Tanner's  Bibliotheca ;  Ritson's  Bibliographia 
Poetica,  p.  288  ;  Collier's  Poetical  Decameron, 
ii.  231  ;  Collier's  History  of  Dramatic  Poetry, 


i.  326,  ii.  336,  iii.  83  ;  Collier's  Bibliographical 
and  Critical  Account,  &c.,  ii.  55  ;  Atkyns's  Glou- 
cestershire, 2nd  edit.  p.  140;  Hunter's  Chorus 
Vatum,  i.  467  (Brit.  Mus.  Addit.  MS.  24487.)] 

E.  B. 

NORTHBURGH,  MICHAEL  DE  (d. 
1361),  bishop  of  London,  was  probably  a  re- 
lative, perhaps  a  nephew  or  younger  brother, 
of  Roger  de  Northburgh  [q.  v.]  He  was 
possibly  educated  at  Oxford,  and  is  described 
as  a  doctor  of  laws.  On  13  Oct.  1331,  when 
he  is  called  Master  Michael  de  Northburgh, 
he  had  license  to  nominate  an  attorney  for 
three  years,  as  he  was  going  beyond  the  seas 
(Cal.  Pat.  Rolls,  Edw.  Ill,  1330-4,  180). 
On  7  July  1330  he  had  received  the  prebend 
of  Colwich,  Lichfield,  which  he  held  till  the 
next  year;  afterwards  he  held  at  Lichfield 
the  prebends  of  Tachbrook  from  23  Oct. 
1340  to  29  Jan.  1342,  Wolvey  from  15  Sept. 
1342  to  4  April  1353,  and  Longden  from 
21  Oct.  1351  to  29  Oct.  1352 ;  he  was  also 
precentor  from  29  March  1339  to  1340,  and 
archdeacon  of  Chester  from  5  Feb.  1340. 
Northburgh  likewise  held  the  prebend  of 
Banbury,  Lincoln,  in  1344,  and  was  archdea- 
con of  Suffolk  27  May  1347.  In  13oO  he  re- 
ceived the  prebend  of  Bugthorpe,  York ;  on 
6  Mayl351  Netherbury,  Salisbury ;  on  1  Sept. 
1351  that  of  Mapesbury,  St.  Paul's;  and 
30  June  1353  that  of  Strensall,  York.  He 
was  dean  of  St.  Clement's- within-t he-Castle, 
Pontefract,  before  21  May  1339,  when  he  ex- 
changed this  post  for  a  canonry  at  Hereford. 
From  1341  to  1351  he  held  the  rectory  of 
Pulham,  Norfolk,  which  in  the  latter  year  he 
exchanged  for  Ledbury,  Herefordshire.  He 
also  held  at  one  time  the  prebend  of  Lyme, 
Salisbury.  Like  Roger  de  Northburgh,  he 
entered  the  royal  service,  and  on  23  Feb. 
1345,  being  then  canon  of  Lichfield  and 
Hereford,  was  of  sufficient  importance  to  be 
joined  with  Sir  Nigel  Loryng  [q.  v.]  on  a 
mission  to  the  pope  touching  the  dispensation 
for  a  marriage  between  the  Prince  of  Wales 
and  a  daughter  of  the  Duke  of  Brabant,  and 
to  excuse  the  proposed  embassy  of  Henry  of 
Lancaster  (Fcedera,  iii.  32 ;  HEMINOBUEQH, 
ii.  412).  In  July  1346,  when  he  is  described 
as  '  a  worthy  clerk  and  one  of  the  king's 
counsellors,'  he  accompanied  Edward  III  on 
his  French  expedition.  During  the  cam- 
paign he  wrote  two  letters  home  describing 
the  march  from  La  Hogue  to  Caen,  and 
from  Poissy  to  Calais.  On  28  Oct.  1346  he 
was  one  of  the  commissioners  appointed  to 
negotiate  alliances  with  foreign  powers 
(Fcedera,  iii.  92).  On  11  Oct.  1348  he  was 
a  commissioner  to  treat  with  the  Count  of 
Flanders;  and  on  28  Oct.  1349  he  had 
power,  with  others,  to  prorogue  the  truce 


Northburgh 


188 


Northburgh 


•with  France,  and  on  3  Sept.  1350  to  confirm 
the  articles  with  the  count  lately  considered 
at  Dunkirk.  By  this  time  he  had  risen  to  be 
the  king's  secretary.  On  4  Sept.  1351  North- 
burgh had  power  to  receive  security  from 
Charles  de  Blois  for  his  release,  and  on 
26  March  1352,  when  he  was  keeper  of  the 
privy  seal,  to  receive  Charles's  ransom.  On 
19  Feb.  1353  he  was  appointed  one  of  three 
to  treat  for  a  truce  with  France,  and  again 
on  various  occasions  up  to  30  March  1354 
(ib.  iii.  175, 188,  202,  230,  241,  253-4,  260-1, 
275).  On  3  Nov.  1353  he  had  received  a 
pension  of  60s.  from  Christ  Church,  Canter- 
bury, for  his  services  as  counsel  to  the  con- 
vent (Lit.  Cant.  iii.  317).  On  23  April  1354 
Northburgh  was  elected  bishop  of  London. 
His  election  was  confirmed  next  day ;  but, 
though  he  received  the  temporalities  on 
23  June,  he  was  not  consecrated  till  12  July 
1355  by  William  Edendon,  bishop  of  Win- 
chester, at  St.  Mary's,  Southwark  (SxuBBS, 
Keg.  Sacr.  Angl.}  After  his  election  as  bishop, 
Northburgh  was  again  commissioned  to  con- 
duct the  negotiations  for  peace  with  France  at 
the  papal  court  on  28  Aug.  and  30  Oct.  1354. 
W7ith  this  purpose  he  was  at  Avignon  shortly 
before  Christmas ;  but  the  French  envoys  re- 
pudiated the  proposed  terms,  and,  after  the 
death  of  the  Bishop  of  Norwich,  the  other 
English  envoys  returned  home  without  hav- 
ing effected  their  purpose  (Fcedera,  iii.  283, 
289  ;  AVESBURY,  p.  421).  In  the  following 
July  Northburgh  was  once  more  employed 
in  negotiations  with  the  French  at  Guisnes 
(Fcedera,  iii.  303,  308).  On  27  Sept,  1360 
he  was  present  at  the  consecration  of  Robert 
Stretton  as  bishop  of  Lichfield.  Northburgh 
died  of  the  plague  at  Copford,  Essex,  on 
9  Sept.  1361,  and,  in  accordance  with  the 
directions  of  his  will,  was  buried  near  the 
west  door  of  St.  Paul's  Cathedral. 

Northburgh's  will  is  dated  23  May  1361. 
By  it  he  left  100/.  for  the  maintenance  of 
poor  scholars  of  the  civil  and  canon  law  at 
Oxford,  with  20/.  for  their  master.  Various 
other  bequests  were  made  to  religious  houses, 
but  the  chief  was  of  2,000/.  for  the  Carthu- 
sian house  at  Newchurchhaw,  which  place 
and  patronage  he  had  acquired  from  Sir 
Walter  de  Manny.  He  is  probably  entitled 
to  share  with  Manny  the  credit  of  being  the 
founder  of  the  London  Charterhouse  [see 
more  fully  under  MANNT,  SIR  WALTER  DE]. 
Northburgh  also  left  a  thousand  marks  for  a 
chest  for  loans  at  St.  Paul's.  He  bequeathed 
his  books  on  civil  and  canon  law,  and  also 
his  own  magnum  opus,  called  a '  Concordance 
of  Law  and  Canons,'  to  Michael  Fre.  Nothing 
more  is  known  of  this '  Concordance.'  North- 
burgh's  two  letters  descriptive  of  the  cam- 


paign  of  1346  are  preserved  in  the  original 
French  in  Robert  de  Avesbury's '  Chronicle/ 
pp.  358-60,  367-9.  A  Latin  version  of  the 
first  is  given  by  Murimuth,  pp.  212-14; 
the  second  is  printed  in  Champollion-Figeac's 
'  Lettres  des  Rois,  Reines,'  &c.,  ii.  79-81. 
These  letters  are  a  valuable  contribution  to 
our  knowledge  of  the  campaign.  Their  im- 
portance is  illustrated  by  M.  S.  Luce  in  the 
notes  to  the  third  volume  of  his  edition  of 
Froissart. 

[Chronica  A.  Murimuth  et  E.  de  Avesbury ; 
Walsingham's  Historia  Anglicana,  i.  296  (both 
in  Kolls  Ser.) ;  Kymer's  Fcedera,  Eecord  ed. ; 
Le  Neve's  Fasti  Eccl.  Angl.  i.  566,  579,  591, 613, 
628,  ii.  104,  291,  339,  407,  487,  iii.  181,  215; 
Wharton's  De  Episc.  Lond.  pp.  13 1-3,  and  Anglia 
Sacra,  ii.  44  ;  Sharpe's  Calendar  of  Wills  in  the 
Court  of  Rusting,  ii.  61 ;  Transactions  of  the 
London  and  Middlesex  Archaeological  Society,  iii. 
311-15;  Hist.  MSS.  Comm.  9th  Eep.  App.  pt. 
i.  p.  47.]  C.  L.  K. 

NORTHBURGH,  ROGERDE(rf.  1359?), 

bishop  of  Lichfield  and  Coventry,  was  perhaps 
a  native  of  Norbury,  Staffordshire,  and  edu- 
cated at  Cambridge.  He  must  have  entered 
the  king's  service  at  an  early  age.  The 
first  mention  of  him  as  a  royal  clerk  is  on 
27  Oct.  1310  (Cal.  Close  Soils,  Edw.  II, 
1307-13,  p.  337).  He  received  from  the 
king  the  livings  of  '  Botelbrigge,'  Lincoln, 
on  16  Sept.  1311,  Sprotton,  Lincoln,  on 
17  April  1312,  and  '  Harwe '  on  16  May 
1313  (Cal.  Pat.  Holls,  Edw.  II,  pp.  392, 
454,  473).  On  18  Jan.  1312  he  received  a 
pension  of  five  marks  from  the  Bishop  of 
Durham,  and  in  the  following  March  he  is 
mentioned  as  a  royal  messenger  (Reg.  Pal. 
Dunelm.  i.  278,  iv.  103).  On  5  Oct.  the 
abbey  of  Cerne  was  ordered  to  provide  him 
with  a  fitting  pension.  In  December  he  was 
one  of  the  witnesses  to  the  pacification  be- 
tween the  king  and  the  earls  (Fcedera,  ii. 
192).  In  May  1313  he  went  abroad  with 
the  king  for  two  months  (ib.  ii.  212).  God- 
win says  that  he  was  taken  prisoner  by  the 
Scots  in  this  year ;  if  so  his  captivity  was 
of  short  duration.  On  16  June  1314  he  had 
custody  of  the  church  of  Ford,  Durham, 
and  on  26  Nov.  received  it  to  hold  in  com- 
mendam  for  six  months,  being  then  styled 
'  priest  and  rector  of  Bannes,  Carlisle '  (JReg. 
Pal.  Dunelm.  i.  564,  646).  In  1315  he 
was  made  custos  or  comptroller  of  the  ward- 
robe, in  succession  to  William  de  Melton 
(d.  1340)  [q.  v.]  (Sot.  Parl.  i.  344).  On 
11  June  he  received  the  prebend  of  Wistow, 
York  ;  this  preferment  was  followed  by 
the  prebends  of  Farendon  cum  Balderton, 
Lincoln,  in  1316,  of  Newington,  London, 
1  Jan.  1317,  and  of  Piona  Parva  and  Well- 


Northburgh 


189 


Northburgh 


ington,  Hereford,  in  the  same  year,  and  by 
the  archdeaconry  of  Richmond  on  29  May 
1317.  On  8  June  1317  he  was  accepted  for 
a  vacant  canonry  at  Wells,  which  he  received 
the  same  year.  Afterwards,  in  1322,  he  re- 
ceived the  prebend  of  Stoke,  Lincoln  (LE 
NEVE,  Fasti  Eccl.  Angl.  i.  521,  530,  ii.  149, 
217,  417,  iii.  137,  225;  Fcedera,  ii.  492;  Re- 
port on  MSS.  of  Wells  Cathedral,  pp.  80, 
300).  In  March  1318  he  was  one  of  the 
commissioners  sent  to  treat  with  the  Scots 
(Fcedera,  ii.  358). 

On  5  Oct.  1318,  and  again  on  1  April  1319 
and  9  Aug.  1320,  Edward  II  addressed  letters 
on  Northburgh's  behalf  to  the  pope.  The 
purport  of  the  recommendation  is  revealed  by 
later  letters  in  August  1320  and  July  1321, 
begging  the  pope  to  make  Northburgh  a  cardi- 
nal, and  asking  for  the  good  services  of  certain 
cardinals  (ib.  ii.  374,  390,  431,  433,  452-3). 
In  one  of  these  letters,  dated  9  July  1320,  he 
is  described  as  the  king's  clerk  and  secretary. 
In  September  and  October  1320  Northburgh 
was  employed  in  negotiations  with  the  Scots 
at  Carlisle.  On  16  April  1321  he  had  tem- 
porary charge  of  the  great  seal  during  the 
chancellor's  illness,  but  his  position  does  not 
entitle  him  to  be  regarded  as  regular  keeper 
of  the  seal.  About  the  end  of  this  year 
Northburgh  was  papally  provided  to  the 
bishopric  of  Lichfield  and  Coventry  (McrRi- 
MTJTH,  p.  37).  Edward  wrote  to  the  pope 
on  4  Jan.  1322,  thanking  him,  and  begging 
that,  as  Northburgh  was  to  continue  comp- 
troller of  the  wardrobe  and  was  much 
wanted  in  England,  sanction  might  be  given 
to  his  consecration  without  a  journey  to 
Rome  (Fcedera,  ii.  469).  Edward  again  ap- 
pealed to  the  pope  with  the  same  purpose 
on  4  April  1322,  and  eventually  Northburgh 
was  consecrated  by  Thomas  Cobham,  bishop 
of  Worcester,  at  Hales  Abbey  on  27  June 
(SiUBBS,  Reg.  Sacr.  Angl.  p.  54).  There  is 
no  mention  of  Northburgh  in  the  later  years 
of  Edward  II's  reign,  and  he  would  seem  to 
have  abandoned  the  court  party.  He  was, 
however,  summoned  to  various  parliaments 
and  councils  between  1322  and  1325,  and  in 
February  1326  was  ordered  to  assist  the 
commissioners  of  array  in  his  diocese  (ParL 
Writs,  iv.  731-2). 

On  13  Jan.  1327  he  was  one  of  those  who 
swore  in  the  Guildhall  at  London  to  support 
Isabella  (Chron.  Edw.  I  and  Edw.  II,  i.  321), 
and  he  soon  appears  in  the  service  of  the  new 
government.  On  15  Feb.  he  was  joined  with 
William  Le  Zouche  in  charge  of  the  castle  oi 
Caerphilly,  and  in  April  was  a  commissioner 
to  treat  with  the  Scots  (Cal.  Pat.  Rolls 
Edw.  Ill,  pp.  12,  95).  On  8  Oct.  he  had 
power  to  treat  for  the  king's  marriage  with 


Philippa  of  Hainault,  and  on  2  March  1328 
he  was  made  treasurer,  though  he  only  held 
the  office  till  20  May  (ib.  pp.  177,  249,  303). 
During  the  next  twelve  years  Northburgh  was 
still  occasionally  employed  in  public  business, 
but  without  occupying  a  position  of  much  im- 
portance. On  16  May  1328  he  had  power,  with 
Adam  de  Orlton  [see  ADAM],  to  claim  the  king's 
rights  as  heir  of  France,  and  on  8  July  1330 
was  again  employed  in  negotiations  with  the 
French  king  (Fcedera,  ii.  743,  794).  He  was 
a  trier  of  petitions  for  England  in  the  par- 
iament  of  January  1332,  and  was  present 
n  various  parliaments  until  June  1344.  On 
20  Sept.  1332  he  was  one  of  the  commis- 
sioners to  settle  the  disputes  which  had 
arisen  in  the  university  at  Oxford  (ib.  ii.  892), 
and  in  1339  was  a  commissioner  of  array  for 
Staffordshire  (ib.  ii.  1070).  In  November 
1337  Northburgh  was  one  of  the  bishops 
deputed  to  meet  the  cardinal  legates  (MuRi- 
MTJTH,  p.  81),  and  on  12  July  1338  was  pre- 
sent at  the  consecration  of  Richard  Bint- 
worth  as  bishop  of  London.  Northburgh  was 
appointed  treasurer  for  the  second  time  in 
1340.  but  on  1  Dec.  was  summarily  removed 
from  the  office  by  the  king,  when  Robert 
Stratford,  bishop  of  Chichester,  was  deprived 
of  the  chancery.  Edward  intended  to  send 
them  over  to  Flanders  and  impledge  them 
there,  or,  in  case  of  refusal,  to  imprison  them 
in  the  Tower;  but  after  a  remonstrance  from 
Stratford  they  were  allowed  to  go  free 

(MUBIMTJTH,  p.  117). 

In  October  1341  Northburgh  was  present 
at  a  council  held  by  the  archbishop  at  St. 
Paul's,  London  (ib.  p.  122).  He  must  by  this 
time  have  been  an  elderly  man,  and  of  his 
later  years  there  is  nothing  to  record.  His 
last  appearance  in  parliament  was  in  June 
1344.  The  year  of  his  death  was  either  1358 
or  1359 ;  the  more  probable  date  is  22  Nov. 
1359  (cf.  Anglia  Sacra,  i.  43).  He  was 
buried  in  Lichfield  Cathedral,  close  to  the 
tomb  which  he  had  built  for  Walter  de 
Langton.  Edward  II,  in  recommending  him 
to  the  pope,  described  him  as  a  learned  man, 
of  proved  loyalty.  In  the  '  Flores  Histo- 
riarum '  (Rolls  Ser.  iii.  200)  he  is  distinctly 
stated  to  have  obtained  his  bishopric  through 
the  king's  favour  and  his  own  importunity. 
He  was  probably  an  industrious  official  whose 
ambition  was  greater  than  his  ability.  From 
1320  to  1326  he  was  chancellor  of  the  uni- 
versity of  Cambridge ;  on  5  July  1321  he 
obtained  from  the  king  a  charter  to  provide 
for  the  sustenance  of  students  in  theology 
(Fcedera,  ii.  452).  Of  his  family  we  have 
no  certain  knowledge ;  but  he  was  probably 
a  relative,  perhaps  an  uncle  or  much  older 
brother,  of  Michael  de  Northburgh  [q.  v.], 


Northcote 


190 


Northcote 


bishop  of  London,  who  held  several  prebends 
at  Lichfield  between  1330  and  1352.  Other 
members  of  the  Northburgh  family,  called 
Peter,  Richard,  Roger,  and  William,  also 
occur  among  the  prebendaries  of  Lichfield 
during  Bishop  Roger's  tenure  of  the  see  (LE 
NEVE,  Fasti,  I  591-628).  The  wardrobe 
accounts  for  the  tenth  and  eleventh  years  of 
Edward  II  are  now  in  the  library  of  the  Royal 
Society  of  Antiquaries ;  a  summary  of  these 
accounts  and  of  those  for  the  fourteenth  year 
of  Edward  II  is  given  in  the  '  Archseologia ' 
(xxvi.  318-23).  An  abstract  of  the  contents 
of  Northburgh's  '  Register '  is  given  in  the 
'  Collections  for  a  History  of  Staffordshire ' 
of  the  William  Salt  Archaeological  Society 
(i.  241-88). 

[Chron.  Edw.  I.  and  Edw.  II,  Keg.  Pal. 
Dunelm.,  Murimuth's  Chronicle  (all  in  the  Rolls 
Ser.) ;  Rymer's  Foedera,  Record  edit. ;  Rolls  of 
Parliament ;  Gal.  of  Close  Rolls  of  Edw.  II, 
1307-18;  Cal.  Pat.  Rolls,  Edw.  Ill,  1327-34, 
2  vols. ;  Rot.  Origin.  Abb. ;  Wharton's  Anglia 
Sacra,  i.  20,  442-3  ;  Archseologia,  x.  251,  xxvi. 
318-23,  xxviii.  307;  Godwin,  De  Prsesulibus, 
ed.  Richardson,  p.  320  ;  Foss's  Judges  of  Eng- 
land, iii.  281 ;  Drake's  Eboracum,  p.  104.] 

C.  L.  K. 

NORTHCOTE,  JAMES  (1746-1831), 
painter,  royal  academician,  and  author, 
younger  son  of  Samuel  Northcote,  watch- 
maker, was  born  in  Market  Street,  Plymouth, 
on  22  Oct.  1 746.  His  parents  were  of  humble 
origin  and  Unitarians,  and  while  his  father 
found  employment  not  only  in  making  and 
mending  watches,  but  also  in  winding  clocks 
in  Plymouth  Dock  (Devonport),  his  mother 
dealt  in  small  articles  of  haberdashery. 
Later  in  life  Northcote  took  pleasure  in 
considering  that  his  family  belonged  to  the 
same  stock  as  the  knightly  family  of  North- 
cote of  Upton  Pyne,  Devonshire  (now  repre- 
sented by  the  Earl  of  Iddesleigh),  though  no 
satisfactory  proof  could  be  obtained.  His 
early  education  was  scanty,  and  with  his 
elder  brother,  Samuel,  he  was  as  soon  as 
possible  apprenticed  to  his  father's  trade. 
In  one  of  his  subsequent  writings,  '  A  Letter 
from  a  Disappointed  Genius,'  Northcote  de- 
scribes his  early  aspirations  to  be  an  artist, 
and  the  refusal  of  his  father  to  offer  any 
encouragement.  This  artistic  impulse  was 
no  doubt  increased  by  the  growing  fame  of 
his  fellow-countryman,  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds, 
an  intimate  friend  of  the  family  of  Dr. 
Zachariah  Mudge  [q.  v.]  of  St.  Andrew's, 
Plymouth,  one  of  whom,  Thomas  Mudge 
[q.  v.],  was  actually  engaged  in  the  watch- 
making trade,  and  so  was  closely  acquainted 
with  the  Northcote  family.  Northcote  nar- 
rates, in  his  '  Life  of  Reynolds,'  his  delight 


at  being  able  to  touch  the  skirt  of  Reynolds's 
coat  when  the  painter  came  with  Samuel 
Johnson  on  a  visit  to  Plymouth  in  1762. 
Some  of  Northcote's  drawings  were  then 
shown  to  Reynolds.  Northcote's  friends 
urged  that  he  should  be  sent  to  study  paint- 
ing in  London  under  Reynolds,  or  either  of 
the  engravers,  Fisher  or  McArdell.  His 
father  continued  obdurate.  Northcote,  how- 
ever, spent  his  leisure  hours  in  drawing  por- 
traits or  views  in  the  neighbourhood,  and, 
having  thereby  saved  ten  guineas,  planned 
with  his  brother  Samuel  a  secret  flight  from 
Plymouth  to  London.  They  left  Plymouth 
early  on  Whitsunday  in  May  1771,  and  after 
five  days' journey  on  foot  arrived  in  London. 
Northcote  brought  letters  of  introduction  to 
Reynolds,  who  received  him  kindly,  and  ac- 
corded him  permission  to  work  in  his  studio 
as  an  assistant.  His  brother  returned  at  once 
to  Plymouth ;  but  Northcote  took  a  cheap 
lodging,  and,  while  spending  the  day  in  Rey- 
nolds's studio,  earned  small  sums  of  money 
by  colouring  prints  and  similar  work  for 
booksellers.  Shortly  after  he  was  invited  by 
Reynolds  to  become  an  inmate  of  his  house. 
Here,  besides  actual  work  in  the  studio  in  pre- 
paring grounds,  drawing  draperies,  and  the 
like,  Northcote  worked  in  an  adjoining  room, 
copying  or  making  studies  as  he  chose,  and 
also  had  the  privilege  of  seeing  and  sometimes 
conversing  with  the  many  distinguished  per- 
sons who  came  to  visit  Reynolds.  Northcote 
studied  as  well  in  the  schools  of  the  Royal 
Academy,  for  he  does  not  appear  to  have  re- 
ceived any  actual  instruction  from  Reynolds 
himself.  He  made  only  slow  progress  both  in 
drawing  and  colouring.  Reynolds,  in  his  let- 
ters to  his  friends  at  Plymouth,  frequently 
alluded  to  Northcote's  industry  and  regularity 
of  life.  Northcote  sometimes  sat  to  Reynolds 
as  model :  for  instance,  as  one  of  the  young 
men  in  '  Ugolino.'  He  obtained  some  prac- 
tice as  a  portrait  painter,  and  there  is  a  story 
that  he  painted  a  portrait  of  one  of  Reynolds's 
female  servants,  which  was  so  lifelike  that  it 
continually  excited  the  rage  of  a  pet  macaw. 
While  still  an  inmate  of  Reynolds's  house, 
Northcote  sent  portraits  to  the  Royal  Aca- 
demy in  1773  and  following  years,  one  of 
which  elicited  some  laudatory  verses  from 
Dr.  Wolcot.  After  five  years  Northcote  de- 
termined to  set  up  on  his  own  account  as  a 
painter,  and  left  Reynolds's  house  on  12  May 
1776.  He  returned  home  to  Devonshire  for 
some  months,  painting  portraits,  until  he  had 
earned  enough  money  to  pay  for  a  journey 
to  Italy. 

He  started  in  1777,  and  proceeded  by 
Lyons  and  Genoa  to  Rome,  where  he  re- 
mained about  two  years.  He  was  an  assi- 


Northcote 


191 


Northcote 


duous  student  of  the  paintings  by  the  great 
masters,  devoting  special  attention  to  the 
works  of  Titian.  He  lived  a  secluded  life, 
supporting  himself  by  copying  well-known 
works.  He  obtained  some  reputation  as  a 
painter,  and  while  visiting  Florence  on  his 
return  was  requested  to  paint  his  own  por- 
trait for  the  gallery  of  painters  there.  He  was 
also  elected  fellow  of  the  Imperial  Academy 
at  Florence,  the  Academy  dei  Forti  at  Rome, 
and  the  Ancient  Etruscan  Academy  at  Cor- 
tona.  It  was  in  Italy  that  he  became  imbued 
with  the  desire  of  becoming  a  painter  of  his- 
tory. 

Northcote  returned  to  London  in  May 
1780,  and  received  a  hearty  welcome  from 
Reynolds.  He  at  once  commenced  portrait- 
painting,  and  took  lodgings  at  2  Old  Bond 
Street,  whence  he  sent  a  portrait  to  the 
Royal  Academy  in  1781.  In  1782  he  re- 
moved to  Clifford  Street,  Bond  Street,  where 
he  remained  about  nine  years,  continuing  to 
be  an  annual  exhibitor  at  the  Royal  Academy. 
In  1783  he  sent  his  first  subject-pictures, 
'  Beggars  with  Dancing  Dogs,' '  Hobnella,'and 
'The  Village  Doctress,' and  in  1784  his  first 
historical  picture,  '  Captain  Englefield  and 
his  Crew  escaping  from  the  Wreck  of  the  Cen- 
taur '  (engraved  by  T.  Gaugain).  In  1785  he 
painted  a  portrait  of  his  brother,  and  in  1786 
one  of  his  father,  which  were  both  engraved  in 
mezzotint  by  S.  W.  Reynolds.  Shortly  after 
this  John  Boydell  [q-v-]  embarked  on  his  great 
project  of  the  Shakespeare  Gallery,  commis- 
sioning a  series  of  large  paintings  and  a  series 
of  large  engravings  to  be  made  from  the  same. 
Northcote  was  one  of  the  principal  painters 
employed  by  Boydell,  and  painted  nine  pic- 
tures for  this  series.  The  first  was '  The  Murder 
of  the  Young  Princes  in  the  Tower,'  which 
he  exhibited  at  the  Royal  Academy  in  1786. 
The  popularity  of  this  and  other  paintings 
obtained  for  Northcote  a  commission  from 
the  city  of  London  to  paint  a  large  picture 
of  '  Sir  William  Walworth,  Lord  Mayor 
of  London,  A.D.  1381,  killing  Wat  Tyler,' 
now  in  the  Guildhall  in  London.  It  was 
exhibited  at  the  Royal  Academy  in  1787, 
and  engraved  by  Anker  Smith.  He  was 
elected  an  associate  of  the  Royal  Academy 
in  1786,  and  an  academician  on  13  Feb.  1787. 
Of  Northcote's  other  Shakespeare  pictures, 
'  The  Burial  of  the  Young  Princes'  and 
'  Prince  Arthur  and  Hubert'  were  especially 
popular,  and  his  most  important  historical 
paintings  were  '  The  Loss  of  the  Halsewell, 
East  Indiaman'  (engraved  by  T.  Gaugain), 
'  The  Death  of  Prince  Leopold  of  Brunswick' 
(engraved  by  J.  Gillray),  and  '  The  Earl  of 
Argyle  in  Prison,'  painted  for  Earl  Grey  (en- 
graved by  E.  Scriven).  The  failure  of  Boydell's 


scheme  was  a  great  blow  to  Northcote's  for- 
tunes as  a  painter  of  history,  and  he  suffered 
further  from  the  rising  popularity  of  John 
Opie(  1761-1 807 )[q. v.Jin  the  same  line.  His 
reputation,  however,  as  a  portrait-painter  con- 
tinued to  increase,  and  in  1791  he  removed  to 
a  larger  house  in  Argyll  Place,  where  he  spent 
the  remainder  of  his  fife.  There  he  continued 
to  paint  with  undiminished  industry  for  over 
fifty  years,  producing,  with  little  encourage- 
ment, numerous  historical  and  sacred  pictures. 
Among  these  was  a  series  of  ten  pictures,  en- 
titled '  Diligence  and  Dissipation,'  showing 
the  history  of  a  modest  girl  and  a  wanton, 
which  were  painted  in  direct  rivalry  with  the 
works  of  Hogarth,  and  with  a  high  moral  in- 
tention ;  the  pictures  were  engraved,  and  in 
that  form  had  a  large  sale.  The  series,  how- 
ever, proved  a  complete  failure  both  from  an 
artistic  and  moral  point  of  view.  Northcote 
also  paid  very  considerable  attention  to  the 
painting  of  animals,  obtaining  some  success,  of 
which  he  was  justifiably  proud,  and  several 
popular  engravings  were  made  from  these 
pictures. 

Northcote,  however,  attained  his  chief  ex- 
cellence as  a  portrait-painter.  His  portraits 
are  well  drawn  and  modelled,  sober  in  colour 
and  dignified  in  conception,  though  they  have 
none  of  the  individuality  of  Reynolds,  and 
hardly  reach  so  high  a  level  as  those  of  his 
chief  rival,  John  Opie.  During  his  long  life 
Northcote  painted  an  almost  incalculable 
number,  and  they  include  many  of  the  most 
remarkable  persons  of  his  day ,  from  Dr.  Mudge 
down  to  S.  T.  Coleridge  and  John  Ruskin. 
There  are  good  examples  in  the  National 
Portrait  Gallery. 

Such  eminence  as  Northcote  attained  as  a 
painter  of  history  was  due  to  a  considerable 
skill  in  composition  and  to  simplicity  in  pre- 
sentment. He  had  little  imagination  or  crea- 
tive power  in  his  art,  and  did  not  excel  as  a 
draughtsman  or  colourist.  Having  unex- 
ampled opportunities  of  studying  Reynolds's 
method  of  painting,  he  yet  showed  himself 
but  little  influenced  by  his  master  in  his  own 
paintings.  Of  his  contemporaries  he  was 
perhaps  most  influenced  by  Opie,  whom  he  ad- 
mired, although  a  successful  rival.  Through- 
out his  life  he  was  a  devoted  student  and 
admirer  of  Titian,  and  yet  seemed  unable  to 
understand  the  secret  of  Titian's  skill  as  a 
colourist.  Northcote's  pictures  are,  however, 
good  specimens  of  the  English  school,  and 
have  fallen  into  unmerited  neglect.  The  only 
one  in  the  national  collections  is  '  The  Pre- 
sentation of  British  Officers  to  Pope  Pius  VI ' 
in  the  South  Kensington  Museum.  There 
are  five  pictures  by  him  at  Petworth  House, 
Sussex,  including'  The  Murder  of  the  Princes 


Northcote 


192 


Northcote 


in  the  Tower'  and  a  portrait  of  Master  Betty, 
the  young  Roscius. 

Not  content  with  his  success  as  a  painter, 
Northcote  aspired  to  rank  as  an  author.  In 
1807  he  contributed  some  articles  to  the 
'  Artist,'  a  weekly  periodical  edited  by  Prince 
Hoare  [q.  v.],  and  at  the  request  of  a  friend 
he  wrote  a  short  memoir  of  Sir  Joshua 
Reynolds  for  Britton's '  Fine  Arts  of  the  Eng- 
lish School.'  This  memoir  he  subsequently 
expanded  into  a  quarto  volume,  entitled '  Me- 
moirs of  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds,  Knt.,  LL.D., 
F.R.S.,  F.S.A.,  &c.,  late  President  of  the 
Royal  Academy,  comprising  Original  Anec- 
dotes of  many  Distinguished  Persons,  his 
Contemporaries,  and  a  brief  Analysis  of  his 
Discourses,  to  which  are  added  Varieties  on 
Art.'  The  latter  contained  reprints  of  North- 
cote's  articles  in  the  '  Artist '  and  other  pe- 
riodicals. The  book  was  published  in  1813, 
a  supplement  was  added  in  1815,  and  an 
octavo  edition  in  two  volumes  was  published 
in  1819.  It  was  awaited  with  great  interest 
on  account  of  Northcote's  close  intimacy  with 
Reynolds,  but  excited  some  disappointment. 
Northcote,  however,  only  claimed  to  have 
put  down  exactly  what  he  knew  himself,  and 
his  memoir  has  been  the  foundation  of  all 
subsequent  biographies  of  Reynolds.  Its  in- 
sufficiency is  shown  by  the  numerous  addi- 
tional details  concerning  Reynolds  which  can 
be  gleaned  from  Northcote's  conversations 
and  subsequent  writings  (see  LESLIE  and 
TA.TLOR,  Life  and  Times  of  Sir  Joshua 
Reynolds,  passim).  As  a  devoted  admirer  of 
Reynolds,  Northcote  was  very  indignant  at 
the  rapidly  growing  success  of  Sir  Thomas 
Lawrence  [q.  v.] 

Northcote,  besides  being  a  very  original 
character,  possessed  a  shrewd  observation,  a 
retentive  memory,  and  a  caustic  if  not  viva- 
cious wit.  His  society  was  sought  for  this 
reason  by  many  persons,  who  liked  to  draw 
him  out  and  elicit  his  strongly  expressed 
opinions  on  art  and  artists.  Among  these 
was  William  Hazlitt  [q.  v.],  who  was  a  con- 
stant visitor  at  Northcote's  house,  and  made 
copious  notes  of  his  conversations,  which 
were  often  started  and  directed  to  this  special 
purpose  by  Hazlitt.  In  1826  Hazlitt  pub- 
lished in  the  '  New  Monthly  Magazine '  a 
series  of  articles,  entitled '  Boswell  Redivivus,' 
containing  extracts  from  Northcote's  con- 
versations with  himself.  They  attracted  much 
attention,  from  the  shrewd  wisdom  of  some 
sallies  and  the  outspoken  sarcasm  of  others. 
Hazlitt  continued  the  series  in  the  '  Atlas ' 
newspaper.  Northcote  was  nattered  by  the 
notoriety  which  he  acquired :  but  when  some 
remarks  of  his  concerning  his  early  benefac- 
tors, the  Mudges,  produced  some  strong  re- 


monstrances from  his  friends  at  Plymouth,  he 
turned  on  Hazlitt,  and  accused  him  of  malig- 
nant misrepresentation.  Though  affecting  to 
regard  Hazlitt  as  an  enemy,  he  did  not  dis- 
courage his  visits.  This  was  probably  due  to 
the  fact  that  he  was  receiving  considerable 
assistance  from  Hazlitt  in  the  preparation  of 
two  other  literary  ventures.  The  first  of  these 
was  his  '  One  Hundred  Fables,  Original  and 
Select,'  which  were  compiled  by  Northcote, 
with  apologues  and  illustrations  of  his  own 
composition.  These  illustrations  were  de- 
signed in  a  curious  way,  for,  though  a  skilful 
draughtsman  of  natural  history,  Northcote 
amused  himself  by  cutting  out  figures  from 
prints,  and  past  ing  them  together  until  he  had 
formed  his  designs ;  these  he  handed  over  to 
William  Harvey  [q.  v.],  the  wood-engraver, 
who  drew  them  on  the  wood-blocks,  which 
were  then  cut  by  good  engravers,  and  are 
among  the  most  interesting  productions  of  the 
art  of  wood  engraving  in  England.  The  work 
was  published  at  the  expense  of  Mr.  Lawford, 
a  bookseller,  and  was  warmly  commended  by 
Thomas  Bewick  [q.  v.]  A  second  series  of 
the  '  Fables '  was  published  after  Northcote's 
death.  In  1830  Northcote  published  '  The 
Life  of  Titian,  with  Anecdotes  of  the  distin- 
guished Persons  of  his  Time,'  in  two  octavo 
volumes.  Northcote  had  collected  notes  and 
papers  for  this  throughout  his  life ;  but  the 
result  is  a  confused  production,  based  mainly 
on  the  earlier  life  by  Ticozzi.  The  work  was 
one  for  which  Northcote  by  nature  and  cir- 
cumstances was  particularly  unsuited.  In 
the  same  year  Hazlitt's  '  Conversations  with 
James  Northcote '  was  published  in  a  single 
volume.  A  new  edition,  edited  by  Mr.  Ed- 
mund Gosse,  was  published  in  1894. 

Northcote  was  a  small  man,  with  piercing 
eyes  and  strongly  marked  features.  These 
became  extremely  accentuated  in  his  latest 
years,  and  the  frugality  of  his  habits  caused 
his  figure  to  become  attenuated  almost  to  a 
skeleton.  A  contemporary  remarked  of  him 
that  '  he  looks  like  a  rat  who  has  seen  a  cat.' 
From  his  earliest  start  in  life  he  accustomed 
himself  to  the  strictest  economy  and  frugal  ity, 
which  he  never  abandoned.  He  was  encou- 
raged in  his  parsimonious  habits  by  his  sister 
Mary,  who  kept  house  for  him  in  Argyll  Place. 
Although  money  and  commissions  poured  in 
on  him,  his  house  was  dirty  and  neglected, 
and  its  condition  frequently  proved  very  re- 
pugnant to  his  sitters  and  visitors.  His 
habits  did  not  spring  apparently  from  real 
miserly  tendencies  in  his  nature,  for  he 
spent  money  freely  on  his  hobbies,  such  as 
the  history  and  relics  of  the  Northcote  family, 
and  at  his  death  was  possessed  of  far  less 
money  than  had  been  expected.  His  devo- 


'93 


Northcote 


tion  to  his  art  occupied  his  whole  time.  He 
was  unmarried,  although  he  was  by  no  means 
averse  to  ladies'  society.  His  sister  used  to 
say  that  her  brother  had  no  time  for  falling 
in  love.  They  both  retained  their  strong 
Devonian  accent  to  the  last.  Northcote  died 
in  his  house  in  ArgyD  Place  on  13  July  1831, 
and  was  buried  in  the  new  church  of  St. 
Marylebone.  His  sister  died  in  Argyll  Place 
on  25  May  1836,  and  was  buried  by  her  bro- 
ther's side.  He  left  large  legacies  in  his  will, 
including  1,000/.  for  a  monument  to  himself 
in  St.  Andrew's  Church,  Plymouth,  to  be 
executed  by  Sir  Francis  Chantrey,  and  200/. 
for  a  similar  monument  to  his  brother  Samuel, 
who  died  at  Plymouth  on  9  May  1813,  aged 
70.  The  latter  was  executed  and  placed  in 
St.  Andrew's  church;  but  the  full-length 
statue  of  James  Northcote,  which  was  exe- 
cuted by  Chantrey,  was  for  some  reason 
erected  in  Exeter  Cathedral.  His  collections 
for  the  Northcote  family  he  left  as  heirlooms 
to  the  head  of  the  family  at  Upton  Pyne. 

Northcote  was  fond  of  painting  his  own 
portrait.  A  good  example  is  in  the  National 
Portrait  Gfillery  ;  another  in  the  Town  Mu- 
seum at  Haarlem  in  Holland ;  others  belong 
respectively  to  the  Earl  of  Iddesleigh  and 
Earl  Cowper.  In  earlier  years  Prince  Hoare, 
Opie,  and  G.  Dance  drew  portraits  of  him, 
and  in  his  old  age  G.  H.  Harlow,  James 
Lonsdale,  and  A.  Wivell.  A  portrait  of 
Northcote  by  J.  Jackson,  R.A.,  has  been 
recently  presented  to  the  National  Gallery. 
The  drawing  by  Lonsdale  is  now  in  the  print 
room  at  the  British  Museum.  Most  of  these 
portraits  have  been  engraved. 

[Leslie  and  Taylor's  Li  fe  and  Times  of  Sir  Joshua 
Reynolds;  Northcote's  Life  of  Reynolds;  Flint's 
Mudge  Memoirs;  Gent.  Mag.  1831.  pt.ii.  p.  102; 
Redgrave's  Diet,  of  Artists;  Cunningham's  Lives 
of  the  British  Painters.]  L.  C. 

NORTHCOTE,  SIB  JOHN  (1599-1076), 
politician,  born  in  1599,  eldest  surviving  son 
of  John  Northcote  of  Hayne  in  Newton  St. 
Gyres,  Devonshire,  who  died  in  1632,  by  his 
second  wife,  Susan,  daughter  of  Sir  Hugh 
Pollard  of  King's  Nympton,  was  entered  in 
the  'Visitation  of  Devonshire  in  1620 '  as  then 
aged  twenty-one.  He  matriculated  at  Exeter 
College,  Oxford,  on  9  May  1617,  was  entered 
at  the  Middle  Temple  as  a  student  in  1618, 
and  served  as  sheriff  of  his  county  in  1626-7. 
In  1640  he  accompanied  the  royal  army  to 
York,  apparently  as  secretary  or  aide-de- 
camp to  the  Earl  of  Northumberland,  and  in 
July  1641  was  created  a  baronet.  When  the 
privilege  of  sending  members  of  parliament 
was  restored  to  the  borough  of  Ashburton,  at 
the  beginning  of  the  Long  parliament  of  1640, 
Northcote  was  chosen  as  its  member. 

VOT,.   XLI. 


Northcote  acted  with  the  presbyterians, 
and  aided  the  parliamentary  cause  by  his  in- 
fluence and  his  wealth.  In  April  1642  he  sub- 
scribed 450/.  for  the  speedy  reducing  of  the 
rebels  in  Ireland,  and  in  the  following  June, 
when  the  members  of  parliament  subscribed 
for  the  defence  of  the  parliament,  it  was 
announced  that  he  would '  bring  in  two  horses 
and  men  presently e,  and  fower  more  soe  soone 
as  hee  can  have  them  out  of  the  country, 
and  a  hundred  pownds  in  money.'  These 
acts  caused  the  king  to  except  him  from  the 
general  pardon  of  November  1642.  In  the 
following  year  he  served  in  Devonshire  at 
the  head  of  a  regiment  of  twelve  hundred 
men,  and  he  was  in  Exeter  at  its  capitula- 
tion in  September  1643.  From  that  time 
until  the  late  autumn  of  1644  Northcote  was 
a  prisoner  with  the  king's  forces,  but  he  was 
at  last  exchanged.  He  resumed  his  seat  in  par- 
liament on  7  May  1645,  and  on  21  May  took 
the  covenant.  A  communication  addressed 
by  him  and  others  to  the  speaker  on  15  July 
1648,  on  the  means  of  putting  his  native 
county  in  a  state  of  defence,  is  printed  in 
the '  Historical  MSS.  Commission '  (13th  Rep. 
App.  pt.  i.  p.  484) ;  but  he  was  excluded  from 
parliament  by  the  army  in  that  year,  and  in 
1651  his  name  was  omitted  from  the  list  of 
county  justices.  He  was  returned  for  the 
county  of  Devon  in  1654,  and  again  in  1656. 
From  January  1G58-9  to  April  1659,  and  in 
the  Convention  parliament  (April  to  Decem- 
ber 1660),  he  again  sat  for  that  constituency, 
and  in  the  latter  parliament  he  was  also 
chosen  for  the  Cornish  borough  of  Helston ; 
but  the  return  was  declared  void.  In  Richard 
Cromwell's  parliament  he  was  a  frequent 
speaker,  and  at  the  Epiphany  sessions  of 
1659-60  he  signed,  with  about  forty  other 
gentlemen  of  Devon,  an  address  to  Speaker 
Lenthall  for  the  summoning  of  a  new  house, 
to  consist  of  those  excluded  in  1648,  with 
new  members  for  the  seats  which  had  become 
vacant.  When  the  Convention  was  sum- 
moned his  influence  was  thrown  on  the  side 
of  the  moderates.  At  the  general  election  of 
1661  he  had  no  place  in  parliament;  but  at 
a  by-election  in  December  1667  he  was 
returned  for  the  borough  of  Barnstaple,  and 
sat  until  death  (cf.  Hist.  MSS.  Comm.  9th 
Rep.  App.  pt.  i.  p.  216). 

Northcote  was  buried  at  Newton  St.  Gyres 
on  24  June  1676.  By  his  wife  Grace,  daugh- 
ter and  heiress  of  Hugh  Halswell  of  Wells, 
Somerset  (who  died  in  1675,  and  was  buried 
at  Newton  St.  Cyres  on  19  July),  he  had  issue 
five  sons  and  three  daughters,  the  eldest  son 
being  born  in  1627.  A  portrait  of  him,  with 
breastplate  and  gorget,  and  a  painting  of  his 
wife  are  at  the  family  seat  of  Pynes,  near 


Northcote 


194 


Northcote 


Exeter.  An  engraving  by  A.  Wivell,  '  from 
an  original  picture  in  the  possession  of  James 
Northcote,  R.  A., 'was  issued  by  Thomas  Rodd 
on  1  Dec.  1817.  It  represents  him  as  an  old 
man  with  severe  face,  and  the  original  picture 
has  recently  been  bought  by  the  Hon.  H.  O. 
Northcote. 

In  1887  there  was  published  the '  Note  Book 
of  Sir  John  Northcote,  containing  Memoranda 
of  Proceedings  in  the  House  of  Commons  dur- 
ing the  first  Session  of  the  Long  Parliament, 
1640.'  It  was  edited  by  Mr.  A.  H.  A.  Hamil- 
ton, from  the  original  manuscript  in  the  pos- 
session of  Sir  Stafford  H.  Northcote,  first 
Lordlddesleigh  [q.v.] ;  a  memoir  of  the  diarist 
was  prefixed,  and  it  contained  some  memo- 
randa on  the  session  of  1661.  Some  doubt 
was  expressed  by  Mr.  W.  D.  Pink  in  '  Notes 
and  Queries'  (7th  ser.  xii.  443-4)  on  the 
statement  that  the  notes  were  taken  by 
Northcote,  on  the  ground  that  the  journal 
runs  from  24  Nov.  to  28  Dec.  1640,  when  he 
had  not  a  seat  in  parliament.  He  spoke  on 
15  June  1642  in  favour  of  the  appointment 
of  Fuller  as  one  of  the  lecturers  at  the  Savoy 
Chapel. 

[Worthy's  Lord  Iddesleigh,  2nd  ed.  p.  6 ; 
Hamilton's  Memoir  of  Northcote  ;  Hamilton's 
Quarter  Sessions,  Elizabeth  to  Anne,  pp.  134, 
170-1;  Official  Return  of  Members  of  Parlia- 
ment; Foster's  Alumni  Oxon. ;  Thomas  Burton's 
Diary;  Whitelocke's  Memorials,  pp.  107,  126, 
651-3 ;  Notes  and  Queries,  1st  ser.  xii.  338, 
7th  ser.  xii.  444 ;  information  from  Lord  Iddes- 
leigh.] >  W.  P.  C. 

NORTHCOTE,  STAFFORD  HENRY, 

first  EARL  OF  IDDESLEIGH  (1818-1887),  born 
at  23  Portland  Place,  London,  on  27  Oct. 
1818,  was  the  eldest  son  of  Henry  Stafford 
Northcote  (1792-1851),  the  eldest  son  of 
Sir  Stafford  Henry  Northcote  (1762-1851), 
seventh  baronet,  of  The  Pynes,  Upton  Pyne, 
Exeter,  a  descendant  of  Sir  John  Northcote 

Sj.  v.]  His  mother,  Agnes  Mary,  only 
aughter  of  Thomas  Cockburn  of  the  East 
India  Company's  service  and  Bedford  Hill, 
Surrey,  died  9  April  1840.  As  a  child  he 
displayed  great  quickness,  and  at  the  age  of 
six  Avrote  a  romance  for  his  brother  and  sister. 
From  1826  to  1831  he  was  a  pupil  of  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Roberts,  whose  school  at  Mitcham 
was  afterwards  removed  to  Brighton.  In 
April  1831  he  went  to  Eton,  to  the  house  of 
the  Rev.  Edward  Coleridge.  There  he  was 
somewhat  idle,  and,  according  to  his  tutor, 
'  had  a  disposition  too  inclined  to  sacrifice 
itself  to  the  solicitations  of  others,'  until  a 
strong  remonstrance  produced  steadiness  of 
purpose.  An  indifferent  cricketer,  but  a  good 
oarsman,  he  rowed  bow  in  the  Eton  eight  in 
1835.  On  3  March  1836  he  matriculated  from 


Balliol  College,  Oxford,  having  been  an  un- 
successful candidate  for  a  scholarship,  and 
went  into  residence  at  Michaelmas,  the  in- 
terval being  spent  with  a  tutor  named  Shirley, 
at  Shirley  vicarage,  Derby.  At  the  end  of 
November  he  was  elected  to  a  scholarship, 
being  second  to  Arthur  Hugh  Clough  [q.  v.] 
'  Northcote  read  and  rowed  in  the  college 
eight,  and  lived  chiefly  with  Eton  men' 
(LANG,  Life,  i.  27).  Though  sincerely  reli- 
gious, he  remained  untouched  by  the  Oxford 
movement,  but  he  was  considerably  influenced 
by  his  mother's  leanings  to  Irvingism  [see 
IRVING,  EDWARD].  He  graduated  B.A.  on 
21  Nov.  1839,  with  a  first  class  in  classics 
and  a  third  in  mathematics,  proceeded  M.A. 
in  1840,  and  was  created  D.C.L.  on  17  June 
1863.  A  year  later  he  was  an  unsuccessful 
competitor  against  Arthur  Penrhyn  Stanley 
[q.  v.]  for  the  English  essay,  and  decided  not 
to  try  for  a  fellowship. 

Northcote  read  for  the  bar,  with  chambers  at 
58  Lincoln's  Inn  Fields,  and  was  called  at  the 
Inner  Temple  in  1840 ;  but  on  30  June  1842 
he  became,  on  the  recommendation  of  Edward 
Coleridge,  private  secretary  to  Mr.  Gladstone, 
then  vice-president  of  the  board  of  trade. 
Though  his  political  opinions  were  still  un- 
settled, he  was  of  great  assistance  to  that 
statesman  in  the  Oxford  elections  of  1847, 
1852,  and  1853.  At  the  request  of  Mr. 
Gladstone's  committee  he  published  (1853) 
a  pamphlet  entitled  '  A  Statement  connected 
with  the  Election  of  the  Right  Hon.  W.  E. 
Gladstone  as  Member  for  thetlniversity  of  Ox- 
ford in  1847,  with. his  Re-elections  in!852  and 
1853.'  After  Mr.  Gladstone's  resignation  on 
the  Maynooth  grant,  Northcote,  while  still 
acting  as  his  private  secretary,  continued  at 
the  board  of  trade  as  legal  assistant  (February 
1845-August  1850),  but  he  was  not  called  to 
the  bar  until  19  Nov.  1847.  In  1849  he  pub- 
lished a  pamphlet  entitled  '  A  Short  Review 
of  the  Navigation  Laws  from  the  earliest 
Times.  By  a  Barrister.'  It  is  a  lucid  sum- 
mary, and  the  work  of  a  convinced  free- 
trader. On  3  Jan.  1850  he  was  appointed 
one  of  the  secretaries  of  the  Great  Exhibi- 
tion, and  when,  on  the  deaths  of  his  father 
and  grandfather  (22  Feb.  and  17  March  1851), 
he  succeeded  to  the  baronetcy,  he  was  dis- 
suaded from  resigning  his  post  by  Prince 
Albert,  who  thought  highly  of  him.  Over- 
application,  however,  affected  his  heart ;  and 
the  doctors  ordered  a  rest  after  he  had  been 
created  a  C.B.  (17  Oct.  1851). 

His  health  restored,  Northcote  had  thoughts 
of  standing  for  Totnes,  Taunton,  and  Exeter, 
but  the  negotiations  fell  through,  though  he 
issued  an  address  to  the  last  constituency 
in  May  1852.  Though  '  rather  a  stiff  conser- 


Northcote 


195 


Northcote 


vative,'  he  accepted  Mr.  Gladstone's  proposal 
(December  1852)  that  he  should  serve  with 
Sir  Charles  Trevelyan  [<l-v-]  and  J.  Booth  on 
a  commission  for  reorganising  the  board  of 
trade  (Report,  dated  20  March  1853,  in  Par  I. 
Papers,  1853,  xxviii.  161).  In  conjunction 
with  Sir  C.  Trevelyan  he  also  drew  up  a  re- 
port (dated  23  Nov.  1853,  Parl.  Papers,  1854, 
xxvii.  1)  on  the  permanent  civil  service.  Its 
recommendations,  which  have  been  embodied 
in  subsequent  legislation,  were  'the  esta- 
blishment of  a  proper  system  of  examination ' 
by  a  central  board '  before  appointment ; '  the 
principle  that'  pro  motion  and  future  prospects 
should  depend  entirely  upon  good  conduct,' 
and  '  the  introduction  of  the  elements  of 
unity  into  the  service.'  Of  kindred  pur- 
pose was  his  paper  contributed  to  the  pub- 
lication of  the  Oxford  Tutors'  Association  en- 
titled '  Suggestions  under  which  University 
Education  may  be  made  available  for  Clerks 
in  Government  Offices,  for  Barristers,  for 
Solicitors '  (1854). 

In  December  1853  Northcote  was  taking 
lessons  in  elocution  from  Wigan  the  actor, 
and  on  9  March  1855  he  was  returned  for 
Dudley,  a  seat  practically  owned  by  Lord 
Ward,  a  staunch  Peelite.  His  maiden  speech, 
on  the  transport  service,  was  delivered 
23  March.  '  I  was  very  well  received,'  he 
wrote,  '  especially  considering  that  there 
were  very  few  of  my  particular  friends  in 
the  house,  and  that  the  subject  of  civil  ser- 
vice reform,  and  particularly  of  the  competi- 
tion system,  is  exceedingly  unpopular.'  In 
the  following  session  he  spoke  on  civil  ser- 
vice superannuation,  but  his  chief  effort  was 
the  conduct  of  a  useful  Reformatory  and  In- 
dustrial Schools  Bill  through  its  various 
stages.  Already  (April  1855)  he  had  esta- 
blished a  reformatory  school  for  boys,  under 
the  act  of  1854,  at  Brampford  Wood,  near 
Pynes,  on  the  model  of  Barwick  Baker's 
farm  school  in  Gloucestershire,  and  he  read 
a  paper  at  the  first  meeting  of  the  Reforma- 
tory Union,  held  at  Bristol  (August  1856), 
'  On  Previous  Imprisonment  of  Children  sen- 
tenced to  Reformatories.'  When  Palmer- 
ston's  government  was  defeated  (3  March 
1857),  Northcote  voted  with  the  opposition, 
much  to  Lord  Ward's  annoyance.  He  deter- 
mined therefore  to  sever  his  connection  with 
Dudley  and  stand  for  North  Devon,  but  was 
defeated  (6  April)  after  a  very  expensive 
contest. 

For  purposes  of  economy,  Northcote  went 
with  his  family  to  France,  but  on  17  July 
1858  he  was  returned  for  Stamford,  having 
contested  the  seat  on  Disraeli's  suggestion. 
Again  returned  (29  April)  at  the  general 
election,  together  with  Lord  Robert  Cecil, 


the  present  marquis  of  Salisbury,  he  became 
in  the  following  session  a  recognised  opposi- 
tion speaker.  Thus  on  21  Feb.  1860  he  criti- 
cised the  commercial  treaty  with  France, 
and  on  8  May  moved  an  amendment,  which 
missed  success  by  nine  votes  only  (210  to 
219),  to  Mr.  Gladstone's  motion  for  the  repeal 
of  the  paper  duties.  Another  speech,  de- 
livered 2  May  1861,  on  the  relative  claims  of 
paper  on  the  one  hand,  and  tea  and  sugar  on 
the  other,  to  be  imported  duty  free,  was  con- 
sidered by  Disraeli '  one  of  the  finest  he  ever 
heard,'  though  the  government  secured  a 
majority  of  eighteen.  Soon  afterwards  he 
began  his  treatise,  '  Twenty  Years  of  Finan- 
cial Policy,'  of  which  the  dedication  to  Ed- 
ward Coleridge  is  dated  July  1862.  The 
work,  which  was  praised  by  Mr.  Gladstone, 
is  an  admirable  summary,  though  its  con- 
clusions are  somewhat  negative.  Northcote 
was  now  greatly  in  Disraeli's  confidence,  and 
wrote  him  numerous  letters  on  public  affairs, 
particularly  finance  and  the  defences  (for  his 
speeches  see  Hansard,  17  March,  8  May,  and 
23  June  1862).  Appointed  a  member  of  the 
public  schools  commission  (18  July  1862), 
he  spoke  on  the  report  {Part.  Papers,  1864, 
vol.  xx.,  Evidence,  vol.  xxi.)  on  6  May  1864, 
arguing  that  parliament  could  not  deal  with 
studies  or  management,  but  could  touch  en- 
dowments, the  constitution  of  governing 
bodies,  and  the  removal  of  restrictions.  In 
the  same  year  he  served  on  the  school  of  art 
select  committee  (Report,  Parl.  Papers,  1864, 
vol.  xii.),  and  on  20  Dec.  1865  was  gazetted 
a  member  of  the  endowed  schools  commission 
(Report,  Parl.  Papers,  1867-8,  vol.  xxviii.) 

At  the  general  election  of  1865  North- 
cote thought  of  standing  for  Oxford  Univer- 
sity, but  was  debarred  by  Mr.  Gladstone's 
candidature,  and  Stamford  again  elected  him 
without  opposition  (11  July).  On  the  forma- 
tion of  the  third  Derby  government  he  be- 
came president  of  the  board  of  trade,  with  a  seat 
in  the  cabinet  (1  July  1866),  Disraeli  having 
made  the  latter  position  a  condition  of  his 
own  assumption  of  office.  He  delivered  a 
tactful  speech  at  Liverpool  (30  Aug.),  to  cele- 
brate the  Great  Eastern's  departure  with  the 
Atlantic  cable  on  board.  Next  year  he  sided 
with  Disraeli  on  the  question  of  reform. 
When  Lord  Cranborne,  the  present  marquis  of 
Salisbury,  resigned,  Northcote  took  his  place 
(2  March)  as  secretary  for  India.  He  was 
in  agreement  with  Lord  Lawrence  [q.  v.]  on 
the  non-intervention  in  Afghanistan,  but 
strongly  and  successfully  opposed  the  an- 
nexation of  Mysore.  He  advocated,  however, 
in  opposition  to  the  viceroy,  a  large  measure 
of  financial  decentralisation,  and  the  creation 
of  a  separate  government  for  Bengal,  which 


Northcote 


196 


Northcote 


was  eventually  carried  out  by  Lord  Mayo.  He 
also  desired  a  more  systematic  employment 
of  natives  in  the  public  service  (LANG,  Life, 
vol.  i.  ch.  ix. ;  R.  BOSWORTH  SMITH,  Life  of 
Lord  Laivrence,  vol.  ii.  ch.  x. ;  Speech  on  the 
Government  of  India  Amendment  Bill — ulti- 
mately withdrawn — 23  April  1868 ;  and  on 
the  Indian  Budget  12  Aug.  1868).  North- 
cote advocated  the  Abyssinian  expedition 
(speech  of  27  Nov.  1867),  even  when  some 
of  his  colleagues  wavered ;  but  his  argument 
addressed  to  Lawrence,  that  India  ought  to 
pay  for  her  contingent,  was  not  convincing. 
On  the  capture  of  Magdala,  he  was  warmly 
praised  by  Mr.  Gladstone  for  his  conduct  of 
affairs  (2  July  1868).  Later  on,  however,  he 
was  challenged  (8  June  1869)  for  the  excess 
of  the  costs  over  the  original  estimate,  some 
3,300,000/. ;  but  Mr.  Candlish's  select  com- 
mittee, though  containing  a  majority  hostile 
to  Northcote,  negatived  the  conclusions  of  its 
chairman  without  a  division.  Before  leaving 
office  (December  1868),  Northcote,  though 
by  no  means  rich,  gave  1,000/.  to  hospitals 
and  other  institutions  in  India. 

Meanwhile  Northcote,  having  resigned  his 
seat  at  Stamford,  had  been  returned  at  a  by- 
election  for  North  Devon  (9  May  1866). 
Again  successful  at  the  general  election  of 

1868  (21  Nov.),  he  was  returned  unopposed 
on  5  Feb.  1874,  and  5  April  1880  with  Sir 
Thomas  Dyke  Acland,  a  liberal  colluague.  In 

1869  he  went  on  a  yachting  cruise  with  Sir 
George  Stucley,  and  was  present  at  the  open- 
ing of  the  Suez  Canal  (17  Nov.)     Elected 
chairman  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  in 
January  1869,  he  was  its  governor  from  March 
1869  to  March  1874.     On  24  March  1869  he 
persuaded  the  company  to  accept  300,000/. 
in  return  for  the  transfer  of  Prince  Rupert's 
Land  to  the  Canadian  government.    As  diffi- 
culties existed  between  the  home  govern- 
ment, Canada,  and  the  company,  Northcote 
undertook  to  collect  information,  and  left 
England  on  6  April  1870.     He  started  home 
again  on  28  May,  having  visited  New  York, 
and '  gained  a  clear  idea  of  American  hostility, 
Fenian  intentions,  and  the  general  medley  of 
the  situation'  (Life,  i.  338).     His  private 
opinions  were  that  the  British  government 
had  behaved  shabbily  in  the  matter  of  com- 
pensation for  the  half-breeds'  raids,  and  su- 
pinely in  not  sending  a  lieutenant-governor 
to  occupy  the  Red  River  district,   and  so 
averting  the  necessity  of  Colonel  (now  Vis- 
count) Wolseley's  expedition.     In  June  1871 
he  delivered  an  important  speech  to  the  com- 
pany on  the  reorganisation  of  the  far  trade. 

On  13  Feb.  1871  Northcote  joined  the  high 
commission  which  had  been  despatched  to 
arrange  various  matters  of  dispute  between 


Great  Britain  and  the  United  States.  His 
colleagues  were  Earl  de  Grey  (the  present 
Marquis  of  Ripon),  Lord  Tenterden,  our  am- 
bassador (Sir  E.  Thornton),  Montague  Ber- 
nard [q.  v.],  and  the  Canadian  commissioner, 
Sir  John  Alexander  Macdonald  [q.  v.]  The 
questions  at  issue  were  the  Alabama  and 
other  claims  arising  from  the  American  war, 
the  Canadian  fisheries,  the  San  Juan  boun- 
dary, and  other  international  complications. 
Northcote's  separate  action  cannot  be  traced 
in  the  official  protocols  (Parl.  Papers,  1872, 
vol.  xliii.),  but  it  may  be  gathered  that  he 
wished  to  break  up  the  conference  on  the 
San  Juan  dispute  (Life,  ii.  15).  The  treaty  of 
Washington  was  signed,  however,  on  8  May 
1871,  and  Northcote  wrote  to  Disraeli  that 
the  settlement  was  '  a  fair  and  just  one,  giving- 
no  triumph  to  either  party,  containing  nothing 
dishonourable  to  either,  and  having  the  merit 
of  laying  do  wn  principles  which  may  be  useful 
in  the  future.'  He  afterwards  maintained,  both 
in  a  speech  at  Exeter,  19  May,  and  in  a  letter 
to  Lord  Derby,  5  June  1872,  that  the  American 
commissioners  promised  to  abandon  the  in- 
direct claims,  and  the  language  of  protocol 
xxxvi  fairly  bears  out  his  interpretation.  On 
6  Feb.  1873  he  warmly  defended  the  British 
commissioners  from  the  charge  of  having 
thrown  over  the  Canadians.  On  his  return 
to  England  Northcote  was  gazetted  (14  Jan. 
1871)  president  of  the  commission  appointed 
to  inquire  into  the  working  of  the  friendly 
societies.  According  to  his  domestic  letters, 
they  discovered  '  lots  of  jobs,'  and  showed 
'the  rascality  of  a  lot  of  scamps,'  and  the 
reports  bear  out  the  assertions  (Parl.  Papers, 
1871  vol.  xx.,  1872  vol.  xxvi.,  1873  vol. 
xxii.,  and  1874  (with  index)  vol.  xxiii.) 

In  Disraeli's  ministry  of  1874  Northcote, 
on  18  Feb.,  was  appointed  chancellor  of  the 
exchequer.  His  Friendly  Societies  Bill,  in- 
troduced on  8  June,  was  withdrawn  on 
22  July,  having  passed  its  second  reading. 
Brought  in  again,  the  second  reading  was 
carried  without  a  division  (25  Feb.  1875), 
and  the  measure  became  law  on  11  Aug. 
It  was  criticised  for  its  permissive  character 
and  the  absence  of  compulsory  supervision, 
but  Northcote  replied  that  government  con- 
trol was  inexpedient  in  such  cases  (speech 
at  Manchester,  8  Dec.  1875).  His  first 
budget  was  introduced  on  16  April  1874,  and 
in  discussing  the  financial  situation  with 
Disraeli  he  pointed  out  that,  contrary  to  Mr. 
Gladstone's  view,  the  income-tax  had  lost  its 
temporary  character,  and  had  become  a  fixed 
part  of  the  fiscal  system.  In  his  speech  North- 
cote acknowledged  a  surplus  of  5,500,000/., 
and  this  he  was  accused  of  having  frittered 
away.  As  a  matter  of  fact  he  abolished  the 


Northcote 


197 


Northcote 


sugar  duties  (2,000,000^.),  took  a  penny  off 
the  income-tax,  applied  one  half-million  to  the 
reduction  of  the  national  debt  by  terminable 
annuities,  and  another  half  to  the  relief  of  local 
taxation.  He  also  argued  (speech  at  Liverpool, 
25  Jan.  1877)  that  the  surplus  was '  got  up  to 
a  certain  extent  by  putting  off  claims  and 
charges  which  would  ultimately  have  to  be 
met.'  His  second  budget  (15  April  1875), 
which  showed  a  small  surplus  of  496,873/.,  was 
remarkable  for  the  application  of  an  annual 
sinking  fund  of  28,000,000^.  to  the  reduction 
of  the  national  debt.  On  7  May  and  8  June 
Mr.  Gladstone  attacked  the  idea,  because  it 
had  '  taken  a  flight  into  the  empyrean,'  and 
implied  an  annual  surplus  of  500,000/.  until 
1905.  Northcote,  however,  carried  the  sink- 
ing fund  by  189  votes  against  122,  and  sub- 
sequently expressed  his  belief  in  the  prudence 
of  the  step  (speech  at  Edinburgh,  9  June 
1881).  Professor  C.  F.  Bastable  (Public 
Finance,  1892,  pp.  559-60)  praises  the 
scheme,  but  adds  that  'it  is  easy  to  find 
plausible  excuses  for  cutting  down  the  sum 
so  fixed.  Under  Mr.  Goschen  the  28,000,000/. 
became,  first  26,000,000/.,  and  then  only 
25,000,000/.,  a  sum  which  leaves  a  very 
small  margin  over  the  interest  and  termi- 
nable annuity  payments.'  In  the  same  year  he 
•carried  a  Savings  Bank  Bill,  which  (27  May) 
he  defended  against  Mr.  Gladstone  and  Pro- 
fessor Fawcett.  He  was  much  annoyed  by 
the  ministerial  blunders  in  connection  with 
the  Merchant  Shipping  Bill,  and  on  25  July 
offered  apparently  to  take  a  less  important 
office  (Life,  ii.  81),  but  Disraeli  did  not  ac- 
cept the  suggestion.  Northcote  was  privately 
opposed  to  the  purchase  of  the  Suez  Canal 
shares  (25  Nov.),  on  the  ground  that  we 
*  meant  quietly  to  buy  ourselves  into  a  pre- 
ponderating position  and  then  turn  the  whole 
thing  into  an  English  property.'  He  defended 
the  transaction,  however,  at  Manchester 
(7  Dec.  1875),  and  in  the  house  against  Mr. 
Gladstone  (14  and  21  Feb.  1876).  The 
budget  of  1876,  while  remedying  a  deficit  of 
800,000/.  by  an  extra  penny  on  the  income- 
tax,  placed  the  line  of  exemption  at  150/. 
instead  of  1001.,  and  took  120/.  instead  of 
80/.  off  incomes  between  150/.  and  4001. 
(speech  of  3  April).  The  financial  state- 
ment of  12  April  1877  contained  little  of 
moment ;  that  of  4  April  1 878  acknowledged 
a  deficit  of  2,640,000/.,  mainly  due  to  thevote 
of  credit  of  6,000,OOOA  for  military  prepara- 
tions against  Russia,  and  it  was  met  by  the 
issue  of  exchequer  bonds  for  2,750,000/. 
Another  deficit  of  2,291, 0001.  in  1879  (speech 
on  3  April),  caused  by  commercial  depression 
and  the  Zulu  war,  produced  a  formidable 
impeachment  of  Northcote's  finance  by  Mr. 


Gladstone  on  18  April  (see  also  Nineteenth 
Century  for  August  1879).  Northcote,  how- 
ever, defended  his  policy,  which  was  to  throw 
a  portion  of  the  payment  upon  the  following 
year  rather  than  add  to  taxation.  In  the 
same  year  he  placed  a  wholesome,  though 
hardly  sufficient,  check  upon  local  indebted- 
ness by  his  Public  Works  Loans  Bill.  On 
10  March  1880  he  confessed  that  the  revenue 
had  fallen  short  of  the  estimates  by  more 
than  2,000,000£,  and  that  the  floating  debt 
amounted  to  8,000,000/.  Of  this  he  proposed 
to  extinguish  6,000,000/.  by  the  creation  of 
terminable  annuities  to  end  in  1885.  To  that 
end  he  appropriated  600,000/.  from  his  new 
sinking  fund,  but  he  repudiated  (15  March) 
Mr.  Gladstone's  contention  that  he  was 
'  immolating '  that  contrivance. 

Apart  from  finance,  Northcote  (16  March 
1876)  delivered  a  spirited  speech  in  defence 
of  the  Royal  Titles  Bill,  and  obtained  the 
rejection  of  Lord  Hartington's  amendment 
by  a  majority  of  105  votes.  When  the  re- 
bellion in  Herzegovina  reopened  the  eastern 
question,  Northcote  thought  that  the  British 
government  on  refusing  to  accept  the  Berlin 
memorandum  of  18  May  should  put  forward 
an  alternative  policy,  but  he  was  overruled  by 
his  colleagues.  At  the  end  of  the  session, 
on  Disraeli's  elevation  to  the  peerage,  North- 
cote succeeded  him  as  leader  of  the  house. 
At  Nostell  Priory  (26  Sept.)  and  at  Bristol 
(13  Nov.)  he  endeavoured  to  counteract  the 
'  Bulgarian  atrocities '  agitation,  and  during 
the  following  session  he  made  two  important 
speeches  on  eastern  affairs  (7  Feb.  and 
14  May),  in  the  last  of  which  he  laid  down 
the  government's  principle,  namely,  a  strict 
neutrality  provided  the  route  to  India  were 
neither  blocked  nor  stopped.  Though  he  en- 
tertained grave  doubts  as  to  the  expediency 
of  Lord  Lytton's  interference  in  Afghanistan, 
Northcote  spoke  (13  Dec.  1878  and  14  Aug. 
1879)  in  defence  of  the  Cavagnari  mission, 
and  of  the  war  entailed  by  its  massacre  [see 
CAVAGNARI,  SIR  PIERRE  Louis  NAPOLEON]. 
He  also  (31  March  1879)  accepted  full  re- 
sponsibility, on  behalf  of  the  government,  for 
the  proceedings  of  Sir  Bartle  Frere  [q.  v.] 
in  Zululand,  which  also  led  to  war. 

In  domestic  affairs  Northcote  was  much 
hampered  by  the  beginnings  of  parliamentary 
obstruction,  as  perfected  by  Parnell  and 
Biggar,  in  the  debates  on  the  South  Afri- 
can Confederation  Bill.  His  two  resolu- 
tions of  27  July  1877  for  altering  the  rules 
of  the  house,  in  the  matters  of  'naming'  and 
suspending  a  disorderly  member  and  the 
suppression  of  dilatory  motions,  were  fol- 
lowed by  the  twenty-six  hours'  sitting  of 
30  and  31  July.  Neither  his  rule  of  24  Feb. 


Northcote 


198 


Northcote 


1879  prohibiting  preliminary  debate  upon 
going  into  committee  of  supply,  nor  the  pro- 
viso of  28  Feb.  1880,  by  which  a  member 
could  be  summarily  suspended  after  being 
named  from  the  chair,  materially  checked 
the  practice.  His  last  measure  as  leader  of 
the  House  of  Commons  was  the  Irish  Relief 
of  Distress  Bill,  which,  after  a  very  rapid  pro- 
gress, became  law  on  18  March  1880. 

On  the  reassembling  of  parliament  on 
20  May  the  conservatives  only  numbered 
243  as  against  349  liberals  and  60  home- 
rulers.  Northcote  led  the  opposition,  first  as 
Beaconsfield's  lieutenant,  and,  after  his  death 
in  April  1881,  as  joint  leader  with  Lord 
Salisbury.  He  soon  found  a  section  of  his 
followers  (comprising  Lord  R.  Churchill, 
Mr.  A.  J.  Balfour,  Sir  H.  D.  Wolff,  and  Mr. 
Gorst,  and  known  as  the  '  fourth  party  ') 
somewhat  impatient  of  his  conciliatory  and 
judicious  attitude  towards  the  government. 
But  he  inflicted  damaging  defeats  on  the 
ministry  in  connection  with  Mr.  Bradlaugh's 
claim  to  affirm  instead  of  taking  the  oath, 
notably  on  4  May  1883,  when  the  Affirma- 
tion Bill  was  rejected  by  a  majority  of  three. 
He  also  resisted  Mr.  Gladstone's  closure  re- 
solution of  20  Feb.  1882,  and  the  twelve 
resolutions  for  the  curtailment  of  debate 
were  postponed  until  the  autumn  session 
(24  Oct.  to  2  Dec.)  Upon  Irish  affairs  his 
most  notable  speeches  were  those  of  19  May 
on  the  Land  Bill  of  1881,  in  which  he  uttered 
a  somewhat  mild  condemnation  of  that 
measure,  though  at  Brecon  on  27  Nov.  1880 
he  had  declared  that  the  '  three  Fs '  stood  for 
fraud, force,  and  folly ;  and  on  the  'Kilmain- 
ham  Treaty '  (16  May  1882),  in  which  he  dis- 
covered '  a  good  deal  that  required  explana- 
tion.' He  cordially  supported  the  Preven- 
tion of  Crime  Bill  introduced  by  Sir  William 
Harcourt  after  the  murder  of  Mr.  Burke  and 
Lord  F.  Cavendish  [q.  v.],  against  the  deter- 
mined opposition  of  the  home-rulers  (see 
especially  speeches  of  11  May  and  24  May 
1882).  On  18  June  1883  he  moved  that  Mr. 
Bright  had  committed  a  breach  of  privilege 
in  a  speech  at  Birmingham,  in  which  the  con- 
servatives were  described  as  '  allies  of  the 
Irish  rebel  party,'  but  was  defeated  by  151 
votes  to  117.  Northcote  discouraged  the 
fair  trade  movement,  remarking  at  New- 
castle on  12  Oct.  1881  that  protection  must 
be  regarded  as  a  '  pious  opinion,'  not  an 
article  of  faith  (see  also  MAXWELL,  Life  and 
Times  of  the  Eight  Hon.  W.  H.  Smith,  ii. 
54).  He  did  not  take  a  very  prominent 
part  in  the  debates  on  the  Franchise  Bill 
of  1884,  but  he  spoke  frequently  during 
the  campaign  which  followed  the  measure's 
rejection  by  the  House  of  Lords,  offering  at 


Edinburgh  (19  Sept.)  that  if  the  government 
would  lay  before  parliament  the  whole  plan, 
of  reform  and  redistribution,  it  should  receive 
the  opposition's  candid  consideration.  When 
parliament  reassembled  (24  Oct.)  he,  in  con- 
junction with  Lord  Norton  (Sir  C.  Adderley)r 
helped  to  arrange  the  compromise  with  the 
government,  by  which  the  opposition  under- 
took that  the  Franchise  Bill  should  pass- 
forthwith,  on  condition  that  ministers  would 
promptly  produce  the  Redistribution  Bill, 
and  that  the  details  of  the  latter  scheme 
should  be  communicated  to  the  opposition 
leaders.  After  a  series  of  conferences  be- 
tween Lord  Salisbury  and  himself  on  the 
one  hand,  and  the  committee  of  the  cabinet 
(Lord  Hartington,  Mr.  Shaw  Lefevre,  and 
Sir  C.  Dilke)  on  the  other,  the  crisis  ter- 
minated by  Mr.  Gladstone's  production  of 
the  Redistribution  Bill  on  1  Dec.  North- 
cote's  most  important  speeches  on  foreign 
affairs  were  those  on  the  Transvaal  (25  June 
1881),  on  Egypt  (27  June  1882),  and  on  the 
Soudan  (12  Feb.  1884),  when  he  moved  a 
vote  of  censure  on  the  government,  which 
was  negatived  by  311  votes  to  262.  The 
terms  of  another  vote  of  censure  moved  by 
Northcote  on  23  Feb.  1885  were  considered 
to  be  too  mild  by  the  majority  of  the  con- 
servatives, though  the  government  escaped 
defeat  by  fourteen  only  (302  votes  to  288). 
In  other  respects  the  opposition  had  become 
dissatisfied  with  his  leadership  (ib.  ii.  143- 
148). 

On  the  fall  of  Mr.  Gladstone's  government 
(8  June  1885)  Northcote,  with  great  self- 
sacrifice,  accepted  the  almost  sinecure  office 
of  first  lord  of  the  treasury,  apart  from  the 
premiership,  and  on  6  July  he  took  his  seat 
in  the  House  of  Lords  as  Earl  of  Iddesleigh 
and  Viscount  St.  Gyres.  On  29  Aug.  1885 
he  was  gazetted  president  of  the  commission 
to  inquire  into  the  depression  of  trade,  the 
last  report  of  which  was  dated  21  Dec.  1886 
(Parl.  Papers,  1886,  vols.  xxi.-xxiii.)  ;  at  the 
end  of  January  1886  the  government  was 
replaced  by  Mr.  Gladstone's  third  adminis- 
tration. On  8  March  1886  Northcote  was 
entertained  at  Willis's  Rooms  by  his  political 
friends,  both  liberal  and  conservative,  and 
presented  with  a  handsome  testimonial.  On 
the  formation  of  Lord  Salisbury's  second 
ministry,  Iddesleigh  became  foreign  secre- 
tary (27  July),  and  had  to  deal  with  the 
complications  in  the  Balkan  States,  produced 
by  the  kidnapping  of  Prince  Alexander  of 
Bulgaria  on  21  Aug.  He  was  accused  of 
adopting  a  policy  of  rash  irritation,  but  his 
despatches  by  no  means  bear  out  the  view 
(ib.  1887,  xci.  1-317),  though  his  remarks  on 
29  Sept.  to  the  Russian  ambassador,  M.  de 


Northcote 


199 


Northcote 


Staal,  about  General  Kaulbars's  mission  to 
Sofia  were  certainly  outspoken.  Iddesleigh 
also,  on  17  Dec.,  expressed  a  strong  objection 
to  the  Prince  of  Mingrelia's  candidature  for 
the  vacant  Bulgarian  throne,  because  of '  his 
being  a  vassal,  or  rather  a  subject,  of  Russia.' 
Disputes  having  arisen  between  the  Do- 
minion of  Canada  and  the  United  States 
about  the  rights  of  American  fishermen  in 
Canadian  waters,  he  advocated  (30  Nov.)  a 
settlement  based  on  mutual  concessions 
rather  than  an  ad  interim  arrangement  (ib. 
p.  753).  On  23  Dec.  Lord  R.  Churchill 
suddenly  resigned,  and  Iddesleigh  most  un- 
selfishly placed  his  seat  in  the  cabinet  at  the 
premier's  disposal,  to  facilitate  a  possible 
coalition  with  the  liberal  unionists.  He 
learned  that  his  offer  had  been  accepted  on 
4  Jan.,  after  an  announcement  to  that  effect 
had  been  allowed  to  appear  in  the  news- 
papers, and  a  few  days  afterwards  he  de- 
clined the  presidency  of  the  council.  On 
7  Jan  1887  he  spoke  on  the  Prince  of  Wales's 
scheme  of  an  Imperial  Institute  in  com- 
memoration of  the  queen's  jubilee,  at  a  meet- 
ing held  at  Exeter,  over  which  he  presided 
as  lord-lieutenant  of  Devon.  The  last  office 
he  had  filled  since  8  Jan.  1886.  Arrived  in 
London  on  the  llth,  with  the  object  of 
speaking  on  behalf  of  that  project  at  the 
Mansion  House,  he  was  on  the  following 
day  seized  by  an  attack  of  syncope  in  the 
ante-room  of  the  prime  minister's  house  in 
Downing  Street,  and  died  at  3.5  P.M.,  in  the 
presence  of  Lord  Salisbury,  his  secretary, 
Mr.  Henry  Manners,  and  two  doctors.  On 
the  18th  he  was  buried,  according  to  his 
wish,  at  Upton  Pyne,  Devonshire,  while 
services  were  simultaneously  conducted  at 
Westminster  Abbey,  Exeter  Cathedral,  and 
St.  Giles's  Cathedral,  Edinburgh. 

Northcote  was  elected  lord  rector  of  Edin- 
burgh University  on  3  Nov.  1883,  and  de- 
livered his  address  on  29  Jan.  1884.  He  was 
also  present  in  April  at  the  Tercentenary 
Festival,  and  on  3  Nov.  1885  he  delivered  to 
the  students  a  lecture  on  'The  Pleasures,  the 
Dangers,  and  the  Uses  of  Desultory  Reading,' 
which  was  republished  that  year.  His  re- 
print for  the  Roxburghe  Club  of  '  The  Tri- 
umphes  of  Petrarch '  appeared  after  his  death 
in  1887,  while  his  'Lectures  and  Essays,' 
1887,  8vo,  were  edited  by  his  widow.  He 
was  a  man  of  wide  and  various  reading,  and 
wrote  humorous  poetry  and  plays  for  his 
family  circle  (Life,  ii.  xx).  His  portrait  was 
painted  by  G.  Richmond,  R.A.,  in  1836,  and 
by  Edwin  Long,  R.A.,  in  1883 ;  the  first  pic- 
ture is  at  The  Pynes,  the  second  in  the  posses- 
sion of  the  Viscountess  Hambleden,  and 
photogravures  of  both  are  prefixed  to  Mr. 


Andrew  Lang's  '  Life.'  Two  statues,  exe- 
cuted in  1887  by  Sir  E.  Boehm,  R.A.,  stand, 
the  one  in  the  vestibule  of  the  House  of  Com- 
mons, the  other  on  Northernhay,  Exeter. 

Northcote  was  perhaps  the  most  pure- 
minded  politician  that  has  taken  part  in 
English  public  life  since  Lord  Althorp.  'He 
seemed,'  said  Mr.  Gladstone  (Hansard, 
27  Jan.  1887),  'to  be  a  man  incapable  of  re- 
senting an  injury :  a  man  in  whom  it  was 
the  fixed  habit  of  thought  to  put  himself 
wholly  out  of  view  when  he  had  before  him 
the  attainment  of  great  public  objects.'  As 
a  political  leader  he  sometimes  lacked  initia- 
tive, but  it  would  be  quite  incorrect  to  say 
that  he  was  wanting  in  courage.  Lord  Salis- 
bury remarked  (ib.)  that  '  he  was  eminently 
cautious  .  .  .  but  the  peculiarity  of  it  was 
this,  that  the  caution  had  in  it  no  shade  of 
timidity.  When  his  temper  was  cold  and 
abstract  his  counsel  always  erred,  if  it  erred 
at  all,  on  the  side  of  caution ;  but  when  per- 
plexity or  real  danger  arose  there  was  no 
man  who  was  freer  from  any  counsel  of  fear 
than  Lord  Iddesleigh.'  As  a  speaker  he  was 
lucid,  though  without  oratorical  graces,  and 
carried  conviction  by  the  force  of  his  cha- 
racter. His  opportunities  for  constructive 
statesmanship  were  not  many,  but  as  a 
financier  he  deserves  high  credit  for  one  of 
the  few  serious  attempts  to  reduce  the  na- 
tional debt,  and  for  his  acknowledgment  of 
the  fact  that  the  income-tax  had  ceased  to 
be  a  temporary  impost.  He  was  an  ardent 
Devonian,  and  took  pleasure,  without  ex-  , 
celling,  in  country  pursuits. 

Northcote  married,  on  5  Aug.  1843,  Cecilia 
Frances  (b.  1822),  the  daughter  of  Thomas 
Farrer  of  Lincoln's  Inn  Fields,  and  the  sister 
of  the  present  Lord  Farrer,  who  survived 
him.  Of  his  eight  children  Walter  Stafford 
(b.  1845)  succeeded  him  as  second  earl,  while 
the  second  son,  Henry  Stafford  (b.  1840), 
was  created  a  baronet  in  1887. 

[Andrew  Lang's  Life,  Letters,  and  Diaries  of 
Stafford  Northcote,  first  Earl  of  Iddesleigh, 
1890;  Worthy's  Life  of  the  Earl  of  Iddes- 
leigb,  containing  some  local  information,  but 
otherwise  of  little  value ;  Sir  M.  E.  G.  Duff  in 
Fortnightly  Review,  vol.  xxxi. ;  Lord  Coleridge 
in  Macmillan's  Magazine,  vol.  Ivii.  (an  address 
delivered  to  the  Exeter  Literary  Society);  Vis- 
count Cranbrook  and  Alfred  Austin  in  the 
National  Review,  vol.  viii. ;  the  Times  and  other 
obituaries,  13  Jan.  1887-]  L.  C.  S. 

NORTHCOTE,  WILLIAM  (d.  1783?), 
naval  surgeon,  passed  on  20  Oct.  1757  an 
examination  for  naval  surgeons  at  the  Sur- 
geons' Company  in  London,  and  was  declared 
to  be  fit  to  act  as  '  second  mate  to  a  fourth 
rate.'  On  18  Oct.  1759  his  name  again  appears 


Northesk 


200 


Northleigh 


as  having  been  examined  and  '  found  fit  to 
act  as  first  mate  to  a  first  rate.'  He  never 
became  a  member  of  the  company,  but  on 
8  Feb.  1771  he  was  certified  by  the  Surgeons' 
Company  to  be  '  qualified  to  act  as  surgeon 
to  a  first  rate.'  His  first  warrant  is  dated 
11  Feb.  1771,  and  he  is  said  to  have  served 
in  the  Dublin.  His  professional  works,  com- 
piled for  the  guidance  of  naval  surgeons,  show 
that  he  was  engaged  on  active  service  in  all 
parts  of  the  world,  and  he  professed  to  be 
specially  conversant  with  the  treatment  of 
diseases  occurring  in  tropical  countries.  He 
is  marked  as  dead  in  the  admiralty  list  for 
1783. 

Northcote's  writings  are  of  little  medical 
interest,  as  he  does  not  cite  cases,  and  rarely 
describes  any  of  his  own  methods  of  treat- 
ment. Their  titles  are  :  1.  'The  Marine  Prac- 
tice of  Physic  and  Surgery,'  in  two  vols.  Lon- 
don, 1770.  This  is  Northcote's  chief  work; 
and  it  exhibits,  in  the  rare  instances  of  allu- 
sion to  his  personal  experiences,  descriptive 
powers  of  a  high  order.  The  preface  is  dated 
from  Cornwall  12  June  1769.  The  most  in- 
teresting part  of  the  work  is  an  appendix 
containing  '  Some  brief  Directions  to  be  ob- 
served by  the  Sea  Surgeon  previous  to  and 
in  an  Engagement,'  in  which  the  author  re- 
lated in  a  most  graphic  manner  the  difficulties 
attending  the  practice  of  his  art  at  sea  when 
the  ship  was  under  fire.  2.  '  The  Anatomy 
of  the  Human  Body,  for  the  Use  of  Naval 
Practitioners,' London,  1772.  3.  'A Concise 
History  of  Anatomy,'  London,  1772.  4.  '  Me- 
thodus  Prescribendi,'  London,  1772 — a  copy 
of  the  pharmacopoeias  of  the  London,  Edin- 
burgh, Paris,  and  St.  Petersburg  Hospitals, 
with  the  formulae  in  use  in  the  English  and 
Russian  fleets,  and  in  the  British  army. 

[Information  supplied  by  Mr.  Trimmer,  the 
secretary  of  the  Eoyal  College  of  Surgeons  of 
England,  and  by  Dr.  Norbury,  C.B.,  deputy  in- 
spector-general, K.N.]  D'A.  P. 

NORTHESK,  EARL  OF.  [See  CARNEGIE, 
WILLIAM,  1758-1831,  admiral.] 

NORTHEY,  SIR  EDWARD  (1652- 
1723),  attorney-general,  born  in  1652,  was 
son  of  William  Northey  of  London,  esq. 
The  latter  was  probably  the  son  of  Thomas 
Northey  who  matriculated  at  Oxford  (Wad- 
ham  College)  in  June  1634,  and  was  after- 
wards a  barrister  of  the  Middle  Temple. 
Edward  was  educated  at  St.  Paul's  School, 
under  Samuel  Cromleholme,  and  at  Queen's 
College,  Oxford,  where  he  matriculated  4  Dec. 
1668,  aged  16.  His  name  does  not  appear 
in  the  register  of  graduates.  In  1674  he  was 
called  to  the  bar  at  the  Middle  Temple,  and 


in  1697  was  made  a  bencher  of  that  society. 
In  June  1701,  on  the  promotion  of  Sir  Thomas 
Trevor  to  be  lord  chief  justice  of  the  common 
pleas,  Northey  was  made  attorney-general. 
This  office  he  held  till  1707,  and  again  from 
1710  till  March  1718,  when  he  resigned  with 
a  pension  of  1,500/.  a  year.  On  1  June  1702 
he  was  knighted.  He  was  engaged  in  many 
state  trials,  notably  in  that  of  David  Lindsay 
for  high  treason,  1704,  and  in  that  of  John 
Tutchin  [q.  v.],  so  cruel  in  its  sequel,  for  libel. 
Among  his  extant  '  opinions '  on  cases  sub- 
mitted to  him  is  one  referring  to  an  appoint- 
ment held  by  Addison  (Egerton  MS.  1971,  f. 
19).  In  December  1710  he  was  elected 
M.P.  for  Tiverton,  and  in  September  1715 
he  was  appointed  a  commissioner  under  the 
act  for  building  fifty  new  churches  in  and 
about  London  and  Westminster.  He  died 
on  16  Aug.  1723. 

In  1687  (license  dated  1  Dec.)  he  married 
Ann  Jolliffe  of  St.  Martin  Outwich  in  the 
city  of  London.  By  this  lady,  who  died  on 
14  Aug.  1743,  he  had  a  daughter,  Anne, 
wife  of  Sir  Thomas  Raymond  [q.v.],  baron 
of  the  exchequer. 

[Foster's  Alumni  Oxon.  1500-1714,  iii.  1078; 
Gardiner's  Admission  Registers  of  St.  Paul's 
School,  p.  53,  and  of  Wadham  College,  p.  114; 
Nichols's  Lit.  Anecd.  ix.  590  ;  Gent.  Mag.  1743, 
p.  443  ;  information  from  Mr.  W.  E.  Douthwaite, 
librarian  of  Gray's  Inn;  State  Trials,  xiv.  1018, 
1105;  Addit.  MSS.  (Brit.  Mus.),  Nos.  6726  p. 
5,  12201,  30222,  f.  22;  Lansdowne  MS.  504, 
f.  12.  Letters  of  a  William  and  Thomas  Northey, 
presumably  those  mentioned  above,  are  in  Ad- 
dit. MS.  11049,  if.  112-30.]  J.  H.  L. 

NORTHINGTON,  EARLS  OF.  [See 
HENLEY,  ROBERT,  first  EARL,  1708?-!  772; 
HENLEY,  ROBERT,  second  EARL,  1747-1786.] 

NORTHLEIGH,  JOHN,  M.D.  (1657- 
1705),  physician,  born  at  Hamburg  in  1657, 
was  son  of  John  Northleigh,  merchant,  of 
Exminster,  Devonshire.  Another  account 
makes  him  born  at  Cadeleigh,  Devonshire. 
He  matriculated  as  a  sojourner  from  Exeter 
College,  Oxford,  on  23  March  1674-5,  aged  17, 
and  in  1681  graduated  B.C.L.  In  1682  he 
became  a  student  of  the  Middle  Temple,  and 
was  in  the  same  year  incorporated  LL.B. 
at  Magdalene  College,  Cambridge  (FOSTER, 
Alumni  Oxon.  1500-1714,  iii.  1078).  He 
was  subsequently  chosen  fellow  of  King's 
College,  Cambridge,  proceeded  LL.D.  in 
1687,  and  eventually  became  M.D.  In  May 
1688  he  was  an  unsuccessful  candidate  for 
a  fellowship  at  All  Souls'  College,  Oxford. 
He  was  an  adherent  of  James  II,  and  wrote 
ably  in  his  defence.  For  many  years  he 
practised  at  Exeter,  but  apparently  devoted 


Northleigh 


201 


Northmore 


more  attention  to  polemical  theology  than 
to  his  profession.  He  was  an  ardent  sup- 
porter of  the  church  of  England,  and  dis- 
tinguished himself  by  various  writings  against 
the  independents  and  presbyterians.  He  died 
on  the  17th  and  was  buried  in  Exeter  Cathe- 
dral on  24  Jan.  1704-5,  leaving  by  his  wife 
Frances  (d.  1715)  a  son  John  (1701-1726). 
There  is  a  monument  to  their  memory  on  the 
south  side  of  the  lady-chapel  in  Exeter 
Cathedral. 

Northleigh  wrote  :  1. '  Exercitationes  Phi- 
lologicae  tres :  prima  Infanticidium,  poema 
credulam  exprimens  matrem  .  .  .  prolem 
suam  interfecisse.  Secunda  Spes  extatica 
.  .  .  Tertia  Philosophia  vindicata,'  &c.,  4to, 
Oxford,  1681.  2.  «  The  Parallel,  or  the  new 
specious  Association  an  old  rebellious  Cove- 
nant ;  closing  Avith  a  disparity  between  a 
true  Patriot  and  a  factious  Associator ' 
[anon.],  folio,  London,  1682,  highly  com- 
mended by  Dr.  Laurence  Womack  in  his 
'  Letter  containing  a  farther  Justification  of 
the  Church  of  England  against  the  Dis- 
senters,' 1682  (p.  59).  3.  '  A  Genteel  Re- 
flection on  the  Modest  Account  [by  Lord 
Shaftesbury],  and  a  Vindication  of  the  Loyal 
Abhorrers  from  the  calumnies  of  a  factious 
pen,'  folio,  London,  1682.  4.  '  The  Triumph 
of  our  Monarchy  over  the  Plots  and  Prin- 
ciples of  our  Rebels  and  Republicans,  being 
Remarks  on  their  most  Eminent  Libels,' 
8vo,  London,  1685.  5.  '  Parliamentum  Pa- 
cificum,  or  the  Happy  Union  of  King  and 
People  in  an  healing  Parliament,'  4to,  Lon- 
don, March  1688.  This  ingenious,  smartly 
written  defence  of  James  II  elicited  three 
answers  in  Dutch,  besides  being  translated 
into  French  and  Dutch.  Gilbert  Burnet 

tij.  v.],  afterwards  bishop  of  Salisbury,  who 
ad  been  assailed  in  it  on  account  of  his 
letter  addressed  from  the  Hague  to  Lord 
Middleton  on  3  May  1687,  replied  in  a 'Vin- 
dication of  himself,'  whereupon  Northleigh 
rejoined  with  (6)  '  Dr.  Burnet's  Reflections 
upon  a  Book,  entituled  "  Parliamentum  Pa- 
cificum  "...  answered,'  4to,  London,  July 
1688.  7.  '  Topographical  Descriptions,  with 
Historico-Political  and  Medico-Physical  Ob- 
servations made  in  two  several  Voyages 
through  most  parts  of  Europe,'  8vo,  London, 
1702  (reprinted  in  vol.  ii.  of  J.  Harris's  '  Bi- 
bliotheca,'  edits.  1705  and  1744).  A  second 
volume  was  to  have  contained  Italy,  and  a 
third  Germany,  Hungary,  Denmark,  and 
Sweden,  but  only  the  first  volume,  contain- 
ing the  Netherlands,  France,  Savoy,  and 
Piedmont,  appeared.  There  is  no  indication 
jf  the  periods  at  which  the  tours  were  made. 
\Twoletters  from  Northleigh  to  Archbishop 
Bancroft,  dated  respectively  2  June  1688  and 


January  1692-3,  are  among  the  Tanner  MSS. 
in  the  Bodleian  Library  (xxviii.  92  and  xxv. 
420).  A  copy  of  the  second  letter  is  in 
Rawlinson  MS.  C.  739,  f.  138. 

[Wood's  Athenae  Oxon.  ed.  Bliss,  iv.  502  ; 
Boase's  Registrum  Collegii  Exoniensis,  ii.  233 ; 
Exeter  Cathedral  Burial  Register ;  Tanner  MS. 
cccxl.  291 ;  information  from  J.  Brooking  Rowe, 
esq.,F.S.A.;  Visitationsof  Devonshire, ed.  Vivian, 
p.  584 ;  Munk's  Medical  Worthies  of  Devon  in 
Exeter  Western  Times  for  September  1855.1 

G.  G. 

NORTHMORE,  THOMAS  (1766-1851), 
miscellaneous  writer  and  inventor,  eldest  son 
of  Thomas  Northmore,  esq.  of  Cleve  House, 
Devon,  by  Elizabeth,  daughter  and  heiress  of 
Richard  Osgood,  esq.,  of  Fulham,  was  born  at 
Cleve  in  1766,  and  educated  first  at  Tiverton 
School,  and  next  at  Emmanuel  College,  Cam- 
bridge, where  he  graduated  B.A.  in  1789, 
and  M.A.  in  1792  (Graduati  Cantabr.,  1846, 
p.  231).  On  19  May  1791  he  was  elected  a 
fellow  of  the  Society  of  Antiquaries  (GouoH, 
Chronological  List,  p.  50).  Afterwards  he 
retired  to  cultivate  his  paternal  estate,  where 
he  resided  until  his  death,  dividing  his  time 
between  mechanics,  literature,  and  politics. 
In  the  liberal  or  radical  interest  he  contested 
the  city  of  Exeter  in  June  1818,  when  he 
only  polled  293  votes.  He  also  unsuccess- 
fully contested  Barnstaple.  His  favourite 
branches  of  study  were  geology  and  the  early 
British  languages.  The  most  interesting 
event  in  his  life  was  the  discovery  about  1824 
of  the  ossiferous  nature  of  Kent's  cavern  at 
Torquay.  He  found  beneath  the  bed  of  mud 
which  lies  under  the  stalagmitic  flooring  of 
the  cavern  the  tusk  of  a  hyaena,  and  soon 
afterwards  a  metatarsal  bone  of  the  cavern 
bear.  These  were  the  first  fruits  of  a  series 
of  excavations  which  produced  a  rich  harvest 
of  fossil  remains,  and  had  an  important  bear- 
ing on  speculations  as  to  the  antiquity  of  the 
human  race  (  TheTorquay  Guide,  1841,  p.  121 ). 
The  subsequent  exploration  of  the  cavern, 
undertaken  by  William  Pengelly  [q.  v.]  under 
the  auspices  of  the  British  Association,  occu- 
pied sixteen  years  (Timea,  20  March  1894, 
p.  5,  col.  6).  Northmore  died  at  Furzebrook 
House,  near  Axminster,  on  20  May  1851. 

He  married,  first,  Penelope,  eldest  daugh- 
ter of  Sir  William  Earle  Welby,  bart.,  of 
Denton  Hall,  Lincolnshire,  and,  secondly, 
Emmeline,  fifth  daughter  of  Sir  John  Eden, 
bart.,  of  Windlestone  Park  and  Beamish 
Park,  Durham.  By  his  first  wife  he  had  one 
son,  and  by  his  second  wife  one  son  and  nine 
daughters.  The  eldest  son,  Thomas  Welby 
Northmore,  married  his  cousin  Katherine, 
third  daughter  of  Sir  William  Earle  Welby, 
bart.,  and  died  before  his  father,  leaving 


Northumberland 


202 


Northwell 


two  sons — Tkornas  Welby,  who  succeeded  his 
grandfather  in  the  paternal  estates,  and  John, 
who  joined  the  civil  service  in  Ceylon  (BURKE, 
Landed  Gentry,  1871,  ii.  999). 

His  works  are :  1.  '  TpuqtuoScopou  'iX/ou 
"AXcoo- iv.  De  pluri  mis  mendis  purgata,  et  notis 
illustrata  a  T.  Northmore'  (Greek),  London, 
1791,  8vo ;  reissued  with  a  Latin  version  in 
1804.  "2.  '  Plutarch's  Treatise  upon  the  Dis- 
tinction between  a  Friend  and  Flatterer, 
with  Remarks,'  London,  1793,  8vo.  3.  '  Me- 
moirs of  Planetes,  or  a  Sketch  of  the  Laws 
and  Manners  of  Makar.  By  Phileleutherus 
Devoniensis,'  London,  1795,  8vo.  In  this 
work  a  Utopian  form  of  government  is  de- 
scribed. 4.  '  A  Triplet  of  Inventions,  con- 
sisting of  a  Description  of  a  Nocturnal  or 
Diurnal  Telegraph,  a  Proposal  for  an  Uni- 
versal Character,  and  a  Scheme  for  facili- 
tating the  Progress  of  Science ;  exemplified 
in  the  Osteological  part  of  Anatomy,'  Exeter, 
1796,  8vo  (cf.  GROVES,  Pasiloyia,  p.  75). 
5. '  A  Quadruplet  of  Invention,'  Exeter,  1796, 
8vo  ;  an  augmented  edition  of  the  ;  Triplet.' 

6.  An  edition  of  the  poet  Gray's  '  Traveller's 
Companion  on  a  Tour  through  England  and 
Wales,'  with   improvements  [1799],  12mo. 

7.  '  Of  Education  founded  upon  Principles. 
Part  the  First.     Time :  previous  to  the  Age 
of  puberty,'  London,  1800, 12mo.   8.  '  Wash- 
ington ;  or  Liberty  restored :  a  Poem  in  ten 
Books,' London,  1809, 8vo;  Baltimore,  1809, 
12mo ;   noticed   in    '  Quarterly  Review,'  ii. 
365-75.     To  'Nicholson's  Journal'  he  con- 
tributed papers  on  '  Experiments  on  the  Re- 
markable Effects  which  take  place  in  the 
Gases  by  change  in  their  Habitudes,  or  Elec- 
tive Attractions,  when  mechanically  com- 
pressed,' 1805  (xii.  368),  and  on '  Experiments 
on  Condensed  Gases,'  1806  (xiii.  233). 

[Briiggemann's  Engl.  Editions  of  Greek  and 
Latin  Authors,  pp.  322, 441;  Biogr.  Diet,  of  Living 
Authors,  1816,  p.  254 ;  Cooper's  Memorials  of 
Cambridge, ii.  380 ;  Davidson'sBibl.  Devoniensis, 
pp.  29,  206,  Suppl.  p.  7;  Illustrated  London 
News,  14  June  1851,  p.  545  ;  Lit.  Memoirs  of 
Living  Authors,  p.  86  ;  Lowndes's  Bibl.  Man. 
(Bohn),p.  1704 ;  Woolmer's  Exeter  and  Plymouth 
Gazette,  7  June  1851,  p.  5  ;  Watt's  Bibl.  Brit.] 

T.  C. 

NORTHUMBERLAND,  DUKES  OF. 
[See  DUDLEY,  JOHN,  1502  F-1553 ;  FITZROY, 
GEORGE,  1665-1716.] 

NORTHUMBERLAND,  titular  DUKE 
OF.  [See  DUDLEY,  SIR  ROBERT,  1573-1649.] 

NORTHUMBERLAND,  DUKES  and 
EARLS  OF.  [See  PERCY.] 

NORTHUMBERLAND,  EARLS  OF. 
[See  COPSI,  d.  1067  ;  GOSPATRIC,  fl.  1067  ; 
COMIN,  ROBERT  DE,  d.  1069 ;  WALTHEOF,  d. 


1075 ;  WALCHERE,  d.  1080,  bishop  of  Dur- 
ham; MORCAR,^.  1066;  MOWBRAY,  ROBERT 
DE,  d.  1125? ;  PUDSEY,  HUGH  DE,  1125-1195, 
bishop  of  Durham;  NEVILLE,  JOHN,  d.  1471.] 

NORTHUMBRIA,    KINGS    OF.     [See 

OSBALD,    OSBRITH,    OsRED,    OSRIC,    OSWALD, 

OSWULF,  and  OSWY.] 

NORTHWELL  or  NORWELL,  WIL- 
LIAM DE  (d.  1363),  baron  of  the  exchequer, 
probably  took  his  name  from  Norwell,  Not- 
tinghamshire, of  which  he  was  doubtless  a 
native.  It  is  scarcely  probable  that  he  is  the 
William  de  Northwell  who  was  appointed 
rector  of  St.  Clement's,  Eastcheap,  in  1309. 
He  early  entered  the  royal  service,  and  was 
clerk  of  the  king's  kitchen  in  1313.  In  1327 
he  apparently  adhered  to  Edward  II,  but  re- 
ceived a  pardon  from  the  regency  in  the  same 
year.  In  March  1329  he  was  presented  to 
the  '  church  of  Candlewyke-street,  London ' 
(TANNER,  p.  155),  and  on  14  April  he  ac- 
companied the  king  to  France  ;  on  27  July 
he  was  presented  to  the -church  of  Wistow 
in  the  diocese  of  Lincoln,  and  before  the  end 
of  the  year  to  a  moiety  of  that  of  Eckington, 
Derbyshire.  On  14  Aug.  1331  he  received 
the  living  of  Bainton,  Yorkshire,  but  the 
presentation  was  revoked  on  28  Sept. ;  on 
31  July  he  was  granted  for  life  the  custody 
of  the  hospital  of  St.  Nicholas,  Carlisle.  On 
14  Dec.  1332  he  received  the  prebend  of 
Freeford,  Staffordshire  (Cal.  Patent  Rolls, 
1330-4,  p.  377).  In  1332  he  received  the 
prebend  of  Norwell  Overhall  in  the  diocese  of 
Southwell  by  royal  grant,  but  the  Archbishop 
of  York  disputed  the  right  of  presentation ; 
Northwell  was  finally  installed  on  13  Sept. 
1333  (ib.  p.  478 ;  LE  NEYE,  iii.  437).  On 
12  Sept.  1335  Northwell  was  appointed 
keeper  of  the  king's  wardrobe,  And  Tanner 
says  he  received  a  prebend  in  Wolverhamp- 
ton  Church  on  21  June  1338.  In  1340  he 
resigned  his  custody  of  the  wardrobe,  and  on 
21  June  was  made  a  baron  of  the  exchequer; 
he  appears  to  have  acted  in  that  capacity 
only  for  a  very  short  time :  before  long  he 
resumed  office  at  the  wardrobe  (cf.  PALGRAVE, 
Ancient  Calendars  and  Inventories,  vol.  iii. 
passim). 

In  1346  Northwell  accompanied  the  king 
on  his  Crecy  campaign,  and  kept  the  accounts 
of  the  expedition  (Three  Fifteenth-Century 
Chronicles,  Camden  Soc.,  p.  85).  He  re- 
mained at  Calais  until  the  following  year, 
assisting  in  the  administration  of  the  town. 
On  8  Dec.  1348  he  was  presented  by  the 
Black  Prince,  as  Earl  of  Chester,  to  the  living 
of  Stockport ;  but  this  did  not  prevent  his 
continuance  at  the  wardrobe.  He  died  in 
1363.  Northwell  was  succeeded  in  the  pre- 


Northvvold 


203 


bend  of  Norwell  Overhall  first  by  a  John  de 
Northwell,  and  then  by  another  William  de 
Northwell,  and  several  Northwells  appear 
as  benefactors  of  Southwell  Cathedral.  A 
William  de  Northwell  is  stated  by  Pits  (p. 
857)  to  have  written  '  Quasdam  historias  de 
rebus  Anglicis,'  but  he  gives  no  indication  of 
the  contents  of  the  work,  of  the  personality 
of  the  author,  or  of  the  locality  of  the  manu- 
script, of  which  no  copy  seems  known. 

[Authorities  quoted  ;  Calendars  of  Close  and 
Patent  Kolls,  passim ;  Cal.  Kot.  Pat.  (Record 
ed.),  p.  1376;  Kymer's  Foedera  (Record  ed.) ; 
Rot.  Origin.  Abbreviatio,  ii.  141;  Parl.  Writs, 
iii.  1232;  Hardy's  Reg.  Pal.  Dunelmense,  iv. 
104 ;  Beltz's  Order  of  the  Garter,  pp.  383-7 ; 
Tanner's  Bibl.  Brit.-Hib. ;  Foss's  Judges,  iii. 
469 ;  Brown's  Nottinghamshire  Worthies,  pp. 
50-3.]  A.  F.  P. 

NORTHWOLD,  HUGH  OF  (d.  1254), 
bishop  of  Ely,  took  his  name  from  his  birth- 
place, Northwold  in  Norfolk.  He  was  a 
monk  and  eventually  abbot  of  the  great  Bene- 
dictine abbey  of  Bury  St.  Edmunds.  On  the 
death  of  Abbot  Sampson,  30  Dec.  1211, 
King  John  had  claimed  to  nominate  the 
abbot,  and,  seizing  the  property  of  the  abbey, 
retained  it  for  a  year  and  a  half.  At  last,  in 
July  1213,  he  requested  the  conventual  body, 
'  according  to  the  custom  of  England,'  to  send 
him  '  certain  discreet  persons,  of  whom  one 
should  be  chosen.'  Disregarding  the  king's 
mandate,  the  monks  deputed  seven  of  their 
body  to  select  an  abbot,  binding  themselves 
by  oath  to  accept  their  choice.  By  them  Hugh 
of  Northwold — '  vir  mirse  simplicitatis  et 
mansuetudinis ' — who  had  gained  general 
goodwill  by  a  combination  of  gentleness  and 
firmness,  was  unanimously  chosen.  John 
was  indignant,  and  refused  to  confirm  the 
election.  He  had  his  own  adherents  in  the 
body.  Hugh  was  not  equally  acceptable  to 
all,  and  a  fierce  struggle  arose  between  the 
two  parties. 

A  long  series  of  complications  ensued. 
John  remaining  obstinate  in  spite  of  Arch- 
bishop Langton's  intercession,  Northwold  re- 
ferred the  matter  to  Nicholas,  the  papal  le- 
gate, who  had  recently  arrived  in  England 
to  remove  the  interdict.  But  Nicholas  came 
to  no  decision,  and  Northwold  sent  a  mes- 
senger to  Pope  Innocent,  invoking  his  aid. 
Robert  of  Graveley,  the  sacrist,  who  headed 
the  royalist  party  among  the  monks,  sent  a 
counter  embassy,  and  Innocent  (18  May 
1214)  commissioned  three  English  ecclesias- 
tics to  inquire  into  the  election,  and  confirm 
it  if  found  valid.  The  papal  delegates — the 
abbot  of  Warden,  the  prior  of  Dunstable, 
and  the  dean  of  Salisbury — met  in  the  chap- 
ter-house at  Bury.  On  the  question  coming 


to  the  vote  the  monks  were  almost  equally 
divided — thirty-two  for,  and  thirty  against 
the  election.  The  commission  adjourned  till 
26  July,  when  three  representatives  of  each 
party  met  at  St.  Albans  and  confirmed  the 
election.  After  sending  a  humble  request 
to  the  king  that  he  would  signify  his  consent 
to  the  choice  or  state  his  reasons  for  with- 
holding it,  Northwold  started  for  Poitou  to 
plead  his  cause  in  person.  John  received  him 
courteously,  and  desired  him  to  return 
to  Bury,  where  he  promised  to  meet  him. 
This  he  did  early  in  November.  The  monks 
were  summoned  into  the  chapter-house,  and 
a  large  majority  declared  in  favour  of  the 
election.  Robert  the  sacrist,  however,  and  his 
adherents  continued  so  determined  in  their 
opposition  that,  after  much  wrangling  and 
repeated  adjournments,  the  king's  agents  re- 
commended Northwold  to  resign  the  abbacy 
in  the  interests  of  peace.  Northwold  refused, 
and  the  question  was  again  submitted  to  the 
delegates,  who  met  at  Reading  12  Jan.  1216, 
and  again  at  Bury  12  Feb.  The  sacrist  did 
all  he  could  to  obstruct  the  proceedings,  but 
judgment  was  given  in  Northwold's  favour 
on  10  March,  and  the  sacrist  and  the  party 
of  opposition  consented  to  receive  the  kiss  of 
peace. 

The  royal  assent  had  yet  to  be  obtained. 
Northwold  met  the  king  at  his  hunting- 
lodge  in  Sherwood  Forest,  but,  though  graci- 
ously received,  he  could  obtain  nothing  be- 
yond fair  words.  John's  trusted  councillor, 
William  Brewer  [q.  v.],  advised  him  to  renew 
his  appeal  to  the  king  and  barons  at  Oxford. 
Great  interest  was  made  for  him  there  ;  but 
though  John  had  in  the  previous  January 
granted  free  election  to  the  church,  it  was 
made  evident  that  his  assent  would  not  be 
given  without  a  substantial  bribe.  This 
Northwold  indignantly  refused  to  give,  and 
he  returned  on  17  April  to  Bury.  It  was  now 
clear  that  he  must  take  the  matter  into  his 
own  hands,  and,  by  the  advice  of  Archbishop 
Langton,  he  received  the  abbatial  benediction 
from  Benedict,  bishop  of  Rochester,  at  Hal- 
ling  on  17  May  1215.  John  continuing  to  tem- 
porise, the  archbishop  and  the  barons  advised 
Northwold  to  press  for  the  royal  assent  till 
he  gave  way. 

The  crisis  of  John's  reign  was  now  grow- 
ing imminent.  Ten  days  before  the  signing 
of  Magra  Charta  Northwold  reached  Wind- 
sor. He  was,  as  usual,  received  with  gracious 
speeches,  and  directed  to  meet  the  king  at 
Runnymede,  where,  10  June  1215,  after  long 
discussion  and  negotiation,  he  was  admitted 
to  favour,  and  invited  to  the  royal  table. 
The  next  day  he  swore  fealty,  and  did  homage 
for  the  temporalities  of  the  abbey.  He  pro- 


Northwold 


204 


Northwold 


bably  returned  to  Bury  before  the  signing  of 
Magna  Charta  on  the  loth. 

During  the  fourteen  years  he   presided 
over  the  abbey  '  he  so  bore  himself  as  to  win 
the  love  and  respect  of  all  without  prejudice.' 
North  wold's    calm  wisdom  and    mild   and 
attractive  bearing  gained  the  favour  of  the 
young  king,  Henry  III,  by  whom,  in  1227,  he 
was  appointed  one  of  the  itinerant  justices  for 
Norfolk,  and  on  the  death  of  Geoffrey  de 
Burgh  was  selected  to  fill  the  A*acant  see  of 
Ely.     He  was  consecrated  at  Canterbury  on 
10  June  1229  by  Jocelin  of  Wells  and  Henry 
of  Rochester,  on  the  same  day  as  Archbishop  j 
Wethershed  and  Roger  of  London  (MATT. 
PARIS,  Hist.  Angl.  iii.  164,  190).    As  bishop  : 
he  retained  the  monastic  habit  and  mode  of 
life  (ib.  p.  318).   In  October  1235  he  was  des- 
patched, together  with  Ralph,  bishop  of  Here- 
ford, to  receive  Henry  Ill's  affianced  bride  ! 
Eleanor,  daughter  of  Raymond  IV,  count 
of  Provence,  and  escort  her  to  England.  He  ! 
travelled  at  his  own  expense,  landed  with 
the  princess  at  Dover  in  January  1236,  was 
present  at  the  wedding   ceremony  in  Can-  : 
terbury  Cathedral  on  the  14th  of  that  month,  ; 
and  at  the  coronation  in  Westminster  Abbey  | 
on  the  following  Sunday  (RTMEB,  i.  341, 344-  j 
346 ;  MATT.  PARIS,  iii.  334-5,  v.  330).     The  | 
following  year  he  went  by  the  king's  desire  , 
to  the  congress  summoned  by  the  Emperor  j 
Frederick  at  Vaucouleurs  for  24  June  1237 ; 
but,  the  congress  being  deferred  to  the  follow-  t 
ing  year,  he  and  the  other  deputies  returned 
re  infecta  (ib,  pp.  393-4).   He  was  summoned 
to  the  council  of  Lyons  in  1245,  but  was  ex-  j 
cused  by  the  pope  on  the  plea  of  ill-health 
(ib.  iv.  414).      He  attended  the  parliament 
in  London  in  1248,  when  remonstrances  were  \ 
ineffectually  made   against  the  foreign  fa- 
vourites (cf.  v.  5),  and  in  the  same  year  he  laid 
a  formal  complaint  before  the  king,  with  as 
little  result,  of  his  high-handed  suspension  of 
the  fair  of  St.  Etheldreda  at  Ely  and  other 
fairs  in   the    kingdom,  for  the  benefit  of 
his  own  newly  established  fair  at  Westmin- 
ster (ib.  p.  29).     In  1249,  by  giving  Robert 
Passelew  [q_.  v.]  the  church  of  Dereham,  he 
offended  Henry,  who  desired  the  benefice  for 
his  half-brother  Ethelmar.     He  was  present 
at  the  meeting  of  bishops  at  Dunstable  on 
24  Feb.  1251  to  protest  against  Archbishop 
Boniface's  claim  of  visitation  (ib.  p.  255),  and 
at  that  held  in  the  October  of  the  following 
year  in  London,  to  take  into  consideration  the 
king's  demand  of  a  tenth  of  the  church  reve- 
nues for  three  years  to  enable  him  to  fulfil 
his  vow  of  going  on  crusade,  and  joined  in 
the    refusal   'lest    the    church    should    be 
pauperised.'     Henry  tried  in  vain  to  gain 
Korthwold  over  by  flattering  words  and  fair 


promises,  and  on  his  continuing  firm  he  flew 
into  a  passion  and  opprobriously  ordered  him 
to  be  turned  out  of  doors,  and  never  to  ap- 
pear in  his  presence  again  (ib.  pp.  330,  332). 
Only  the  month  before,  on  the  dedication  of 
the  new  eastern  limb  of  Ely  Cathedral,  which 
Northwold,  '  omnis  honoris  et  honestatis 
amator  magnificus,'  had  erected  at  his  own 
cost  to  receive  the  shrine  of  St.  Etheldreda 
and  her  sister  saints,  Henry  had  been  magni- 
ficently entertained  by  him,  together  with 
his  immense  suite,  in  the  hall  of  the  palace, 
which  he  had  also  built  (ib.  p.  322). 

Northwold's  mild  and  placable  disposition 
was  shown  when,  on  one  of  the  king's  violent 
and  brutal  Poitevin  half-brothers,  William  of 
Valence,  in  1252  having  committed  a  wanton 
outrage  at  the  bishop's  park-lodge  at  Hatfield, 
bursting  open  the  cellar  door,  broaching  the 
wine  casks,  wasting  their  contents,  and  mal- 
treating his  steward,  he  calmly  said,  '  What 
need  was  there  to  plunder  when  all  might 
have  been  had  for  the  civil  asking  ? '  adding 
sadly,  '  It  is  a  cursed  thing  to  have  so  many 
kings  in  one  land  and  all  of  them  tyrants ' 
(ib.  pp.  343-5). 

Northwold  took  his  place  in  the  parlia- 
ment of  May  1253  when  Magna  Charta  was 
solemnly  confirmed  (ib.  pp.  373-5),  and  at- 
tended Queen  Eleanor's  purification  feast 
5  Jan.  1254  (ib.  p.  421).  This  was  his  last 
recorded  public  appearance.  He  died  at 
his  manor  of  Downham  on  9  Aug.  of  the  same 
year,  and  was  buried  behind  the  high  altar 
of  his  cathedral,  on  the  north  side  of  the 
exquisitely  beautiful  presbytery  which  he 
had  erected.  On  the  monument  over  his 
grave,  supporting  his  marble  effigy,  is  carved 
the  martyrdom  of  St.  Edmund,  over  whose 
abbey  he  had  so  long  and  honourably  pre- 
sided. 

No  prelate  of  his  day  stood  deservedly  higher 
than  Northwold  in  public  estimation.  His 
mild  and  winning  disposition,  tempered  by 
firmness,  secured  general  goodwill.  '  Rich  in 
alms  and  good  works,'  he  expended  the  large 
revenues  of  the  see  with  a  wise  liberality,  and 
!  built  much,  both  at  Ely  and  on  his  various 
manors.  The  king  himself  was  a  recipient 
of  his  bounty,  obtaining  large  pecuniary  aid 
from  him  when  planning  a  foreign  expedition 
(ib.  vi.  330).  He  may  in  some  sense  be  re- 
garded as  one  of  the  early  helpers  to  the 
foundation  of  the  university  of  Cambridge, 
having  obtained  exemption  from  taxation  for 
two  houses  belonging  to  the  hospital  of  St. 
i  John  the  Evangelist,  near  St.  Peter's  Church, 
j  in  which  his  next  successor  but  one,  Hugh 
of  Balsham,  founded  Peterhouse,  the  earliest 
college  in  the  university  (MULLIKGEE,  Univ. 
of  Camb.  i.  223).  Matthew  Paris  calls  him 


Northwood 


205 


Northwood 


'  the  flower  of  the  Benedictine  order,  shining 
brilliantly  as  an  abbot  among  abbots,  and 
as  a  bishop  among  bishops ;  profuse  in  his 
hospitality,  and  at  table  maintaining  a  calm 
cheerfulness  which  attracted  all  beholders ' 
(Hist.  Angl  vi.  454). 

[Matthew  Paris's  Hist.  Majora,  locc.  cit. ;  Me- 
morials of  St.  Edmund's  Abbey  (Rolls  Ser.); 
Electio  Hugonis,  ii.  29  ff. ;  Harl.  MS.  1005 ; 
Godwin,  De  Prsesulibus  Angliae,  ed.  Richard- 
son, i.  255;  Bentham's  History  of  Ely,  pp.  146-8; 
Rymer's  Fcedera,  i.  344,  346 ;  Le  Neve's  Fasti 
Eccl.  Angl.]  E.  V. 

NORTHWOOD  or  NORTHWODE, 
JOHN  DE,  BARON  NORTHWOOD  (1254-1319), 
son  of  Roger  de  Northwood  [q.  v.],  was  born 
on  24  June  1254  (Calend.  Genealogicum,  i. 
359).  He  succeeded  his  father  in  November 
1285.  In  1291-2  he  was  employed  on  a  com- 
mission of  oyer  and  terminer  in  Kent  (Cal. 
Pat.  Rolls  Edw.  1, 1281-92,  pp.  512-13);  and 
in  1292  and  1293  he  was  sheriff  of  that  county, 
as  also  in  1300,  1305,  and  1306  (HASTED,  i. 
Ixxxii).  On  1  June  1294  he  was  summoned 
to  attend  at  Portsmouth  on  1  Sept.  for  the 
French  war,  and  in  1297  for  service  in  Flan- 
ders ;  on  30  July  1297  he  was  an  assessor  of 
the  fifth  in  Sussex,  and  in  1298  was  sum- 
moned for  the  Scottish  war.  On  24  Dec. 
1307  and  on  17  March  1308  he  was  appointed 
a  conservator  of  the  peace  for  Kent ;  in  De- 
cember of  the  same  year  he  was  justice  for 
gaol  delivery  in  Kent,  where  during  this  and 
the  two  following  years  he  was  a  commissioner 
for  the  survey  of  bridges  (Cal.  Pat.  Soils, 
Edward  II.  127,  149,  168,  254).  On  18  Dec. 
1309  he  was  nominated  a  justice  to  receive 
complaints  of  prises,  and  on  20  May  1311  a 
supervisor  of  array  for  that  county.  About  the 
last-mentioned  date  he  is  spoken  of  as  lately 
employed  to  inquire  concerning  forestall- 
ments  in  Kent,  and  in  March  1312  was  one 
of  the  justices  appointed  to  settle  the  com- 
plaints of  the  Flemings  (Cal.  Close  Rolls 
Edw.  II,  1307-13,  pp.  313,  451,454;  Rot. 
Parl.  i.  357  a).  Northwood  was  summoned 
to  serve  in  Scotland  in  1309,  1311,  1314, 
1315,  and  1318.  In  August  1315  he  had 
orders  to  stay  in  the  north  till  1  Nov.,  and 
then  to  join  the  king  at  York  (Parl.  Writs). 
He  was  first  summoned  to  parliament  on 
18  March  1313,  and  specifically  as  a  baron 
on  23  May  of  the  same  year.  After  this  he 
was  regularly  summoned  down  to  22  May 
1319.  On  8  June  1318  he  is  styled  one  of 
the '  majores  barones.'  In  June  1317  North- 
wood  and  his  son  John  were  two  of  those 
deputed  to  receive  the  two  cardinals  coming 
to  treat  for  peace  between  England  and 
Scotland  (Cal.  Close  Rolls,  Edw.  II,  1313- 
1318,  p.  484).  Northwood  died  on  26  May 


1319,  and  his  wife  a  week  later  (HASTED', 
i.  3,  ed.  Drake).  By  his  wife  Joanna,  sister 
of  Bartholomew  de  Badlesmere,  he  had  six 
sons.  Two  fine  brasses  in  Minster  Church, 
Sheppey,  probably  represent  Northwood  and 
his  wife,  though  they  have  also  been  identi- 
fied with  his  father  or  with  his  son  John  and 
their  wives ;  these  brasses  are  engraved  in. 
Stothard's  '  Sepulchral  Effigies,'  and  in  '  Ar- 
chaeologia Cantiana,'  vol.  ix. 

JOHN  DE  NORTHWOOD  (d.  1317),  eldest  son 
of  the  above,  married  in  1306Agnes(rf.  1348), 
daughter  of  William  de  Grandison  ;  by  her 
he  had  six  sons,  of  whom  two,  John  and 
Otho,  were  successively  archdeacons  of  Exeter 
and  Totnes  from  1329  to  1360,  during  the 
episcopate  of  their  uncle  John  de  Grandison 
[q.  v.]  ;  William,  a  third,  was  a  knight  hos- 
pitaller. Roger  (1307-1361),  the  eldest, 
married  in  1322  Julianna  (d.  1329),  daugh- 
ter of  Sir  Geoffrey  de  Say,  and  after  her  death 
had  four  other  wives.  He  was  summoned  to 
parliament  on  3  April  1360,  and  died  on 
6  Nov.  1361 .  His  son  John  by  his  first  wife 
was  summoned  to  parliament  from  1363  to 
1376,  and  died  27  Feb.  1379.  He  married 
Joan,  daughter  of  Robert  Hereof  Fa  versham, 
Kent,  and  left  a  son,  Roger,  born  in  1356.  This 
last  Roger  was  never  summoned  to  parlia- 
ment, and  at  the  death  of  his  son  John  in 
1416  without  offspring,  the  title  fell  into 
abeyance. 

[Dugdale's  Baronage,  ii.  70-1 ;  Hasted's  His- 
tory of  Kent,  i.  Ixxxii,  507-8,  ii.  456,  624- 
626;  Cal.  of  Pat.  Rolls,  Edw.  I,  1281-92, 
and  of  Close  Rolls,  Edw.  II,  1307-18  ;  Rolls 
of  Parl. ;  Palgrave's  Parl.  Writs,  iv.  1232-3 ; 
Archaeologia,  xxxi.  270;  Archaeologia  Cantiana, 
especially  ii.  9-42  for  a  fourteenth-century  ac- 
count of  the  family,  and  ix.  148-62  for  an  ac- 
count of  the  brasses  at  Minster.]  C.  L.  K. 

NORTHWOOD  or  NORTHWODE, 
ROGER  DE  (d.  1285),  baron  of  the  ex- 
chequer, was  son  of  Stephen  de  Northwood, 
who  is  said  to  have  been  the  son  of  one 
Jordan  de  Sheppey,  and  to  have  acquired  a 
grant  of  the  manor  of  Northwood  Chasteners, 
Kent,  whence  the  family  derived  its  name 
(HASTED,  ii.  624-6).  The  account  which  de- 
scribes him  as  son  of  a  crusader  called  Roger 
is  clearly  a  fiction  based  on  the  brass  of  a 
cross-legged  knight  in  Minster  Church  [see 
under  NORTHWOOD,  JOHN].  Roger  first  oc- 
curs in  1237  as  witness  to  a  deed  in  the 
exchequer,  where  he  was  no  doubt  employed 
(MADOX,  Hist.  Exch.  i.  726),  and  in  1258 
was  executor  for  Reginald  de  Cobham.  Ac- 
cording to  Hasted  (Hist,  of  Kent,  iv.  69)  he 
was  for  a  short  time  warden  of  the  Cinque 
ports,  apparently  in  1257.  In  1259  he  was  a 
justice  in  Kent  (HASTED,  ii.  309).  He  was  a 


Norton 


206 


Norton 


baron  of  the  exchequer  previously  to  20  Nov. 
1274,  and  appears  in  this  capacity  in  most 
years  till  the  time  of  his  death.  He  also 
appears  as  acting  on  various  commissions  of 
a  judicial  nature:  thus  on  11  Nov.  1280  he 
was  appointed  to  inquire  into  the  repair  of 
Rochester  bridge,  on  18  Feb.  1282  he  was 
on  a  commission  of  oyer  and  terminer  in 
Middlesex,  on  1  May  of  this  year  he  was  on 
a  commission  to  inquire  as  to  amercements  in 
Kent,  and  on  other  commissions  on  20  Aug. 
1284  and  20  May  1285  (4Qth  Report  of  the 
Deputy  Keeper  of  Public  Records,  p.  127  ; 
Cal.  Pat.  Rolls  Edw.  /,  1281-92,  pp.  44,  46, 
143,  206).  In  1277  he  was  excused  from 
service  in  Wales  as  being  employed  at  the 
exchequer,  and  on  28  Oct.  1284  is  mentioned 
as  witnessing  a  writ  in  the  exchequer  (An- 
nales  Monastici,  iii.  301).  He  died  on  Friday, 
9  Nov.  1285  (Cal.  Genealogicum,  i.  359).  He 
married,  before  1248,  Bona,  daughter  of 
Henry  de  Waltham ;  she  is  sometimes  called 
Bona  FitzBernard.  His  son  John  is  sepa- 
rately noticed. 

[Hasted's  History  of  Kent ;  Madox's  Hist,  of 
the  Exchequer,  i.  726,  ii.  20,  62,  112,  320-1; 
Dusdale's  Baronage,  ii.  70 ;  Foss's  Judges  of 
England,  iii.  136-7;  Archseoloffia  Cantiana,  ii. 
9-42;  other  authorities  quoted.")  O.  L.  K. 

NORTON.  CAROLINE  ELIZABETH 
SARAH  (1808-1877),  poetess,  was  born  in 
London  in  1808,  and  was  the  second  daugh- 
ter of  Thomas  Sheridan  [q.v.]  and  grand- 
daughter of  Richard  Brinsley  Sheridan  [q.v.] 
Her  mother,  Caroline  Henrietta,  daughter  of 
Colonel  Callander,  afterwards  Sir  James 
Campbell  (1745-1832)  [q.  v.],  was  a  highly 
gifted  and  very  beautiful  woman,  and  author 
of  '  Carwell '  and  other  novels.  The  father 
having  died  in  the  public  service  at  the  Cape 
of  Good  Hope  in  1817,  the  widow  found  her- 
self in  somewhat  straitened  circumstances, 
which  were,  however,  mitigated  by  the  king 
giving  her  apartments  in  Hampton  Court 
Palace,  whence  she  subsequently  removed  to 
Great  George  Street,  Westminster.  Caroline 
and  her  two  sisters  were  distinguished  for 
extraordinary  beauty,  and  in  at  least  two 
instances  for  remarkable  intellectual  gifts. 
'  You  see,'  said  Helen,  the  eldest,  afterwards 
Lady  Dufferin,  to  Disraeli,  '  Georgy's  the 
beauty,  and  Carry's  the  wit,  and  I  ought  to 
be  the  good  one,  but  I  am  not ; '  which 
modest  disclaimer,  however,  was  far  from 
expressing  the  fact.  During  the  lifetime  of 
her  sisters  Caroline  filled  much  the  most  con- 
spicuous position  in  the  public  eye.  After 
numerous  slight  productions,  published  and 
unpublished,  of  which  '  The  Dandies'  Rout,' 
written  at  the  age  of  thirteen,  seems  to  have 
been  the  most  remarkable,  she  definitely 


entered  upon  a  literary  career  in  1829  with 
'  The  Sorrows  of  Rosalie  :  a  Tale,  with  other 
Poems.'  This  little  volume,  enthusiastically 
praised  by  the  Ettrick  Shepherd  in  the 
'  Noctes  Ambrosianae,'  obtained  consider- 
able success,  and  is  typical  of  all  that  the 
author  subsequently  produced,  except  that 
the  imitation  of  Byron  is  more  evident  than 
in  the  works  of  her  maturity.  It  has  all 
Byron's  literary  merits,  pathos,  passion,  elo- 
quence, sonorous  versification,  and  only  wants 
what  Byron's  verse  did  not  want,  the  name- 
less something  which  makes  poetry.  '  The 
first  expenses  of  my  son's  life,'  she  says, 
'  were  defrayed  from  that  first  creation  of 
my  brain;'  and  the  celebrity  it  obtained 
made  her  a  popular  writer  for,  and  editor  of, 
the  literary  annuals  of  the  day,  which  lived 
by  a  class  of  literature  to  which  her  powers 
were  exactly  adapted.  It  is  stated  by  her- 
self that  she  earned  no  less  than  1,4004.  in  a 
single  year  by  such  contributions.  Some  of 
the  most  characteristic  were  collected  and 
published  at  Boston  as  early  as  1833 ;  they 
are  in  general  Byronic,  but  include  two, 
'  Joe  Steel '  and  '  The  Faded  Beauty,'  full  of 
an  arch  Irish  humour,  which  prove  the  ver- 
satility of  her  gifts,  and  indicate  what  she 
misrht  have  accomplished  in  quite  a  different 
field. 

Two  years  before  her  appearance  as  an 
author  she  had  married,  30  June  1827,  the 
Hon.  George  Chappie  Norton,  brother  of 
Fletcher  Norton,  third  lord  Grantley,  a  bar- 
rister-at-law,  who  was  just  completing  his 
twenty-seventh  year.  According  to  his  own 
statement,  Norton  had  been  passionately  in 
love  with  her  for  several  years  previously; 
while,  according  to  hers,  he  had  not  exchanged 
six  sentences  with  her  before  proposing  for 
her  by  letter.  If  the  marriage  was  indeed 
one  of  affection  on  either  side,  it  speedily 
assumed  a  very  different  character ;  and  there 
seems  no  doubt  that,  apart  from  the  husband's 
coarse  nature  and  violent  temper,  the  causes 
which  gradually  converted  indifference  into 
hatred  were  mainly  of  a  pecuniary  nature. 
Norton  held  only  a  small  legal  appointment, 
a  commissionership  of  bankruptcy,  which,  ac- 
cording to  his  wife,  he  had  obtained  through 
the  interest  of  her  mother ;  and,  as  he  does 
not  appear  to  have  had  any  considerable  inde- 
pendent means  or  professional  practice,  there 
seems  no  reason  to  question  her  statement 
that  the  family  was  mainlv  supported  by  her 
pen.  Nor  is  there  any  difficulty  in  believing 
that  the  husband,  pressed  by  pecuniary  em- 
barrassment, urged  his  wife  to  exert  her  in- 
fluence with  her  political  friends  on  his  behalf; 
nor,  indeed,  is  it  credible  that  Lord  Melbourne, 
then  home  secretary,  would  have  bestowed 


Norton 


207 


Norton 


(April  1831)  a  metropolitan  police  magistracy 
upon  Norton  without  very  strong  inducement 
from  some  quarter.  Melbourne  being  thought 
to  be  a  man  of  easy  morals,  and  Norton  being 
notoriously  unsuited  to  his  brilliant  wife,  a 
very  delicate  situation  was  created.  Miserable 
domestic  jars,  of  which,  it  is  just  to  remember, 
we  have  only  Mrs.  Norton's  account,  followed 
in  the  Norton  household,  and  terminated  in 
an  open  rupture  between  husband  and  wife 
and  a  crim.  con.  action  against  Lord  Mel- 
bourne. The  trial  took  place  on  23  June  1836, 
and  resulted  in  the  triumphant  acquittal 
of  the  accused  parties,  who  were  not  called 
upon  for  their  defence.  Sir  William  Fol- 
lett  [q.  v.],  the  plaintiff's  advocate,  was 
careful  to  make  it  known  that  he  had 
not  advised  proceedings ;  and  in  fact  the 
evidence  adduced,  being  that  of  servants 
discarded  by  Norton  himself,  and  relating 
to  alleged  transactions  of  long  previous  date, 
was  evidently  worth  nothing.  Some  notes 
of  Lord  Melbourne,  to  which  it  was  sought 
to  affix  a  sinister  meaning,  gave  Dickens 
hints  for  '  Bardell  v.  Pickwick.'  The  one 
point  which  will  never  be  cleared  up  is 
whether  the  action  thus  weakly  supported 
was  bona  fide,  or  was  undertaken  at  the  in- 
stance of  some  of  the  less  reputable  mem- 
bers of  the  opposition  in  the  hope  of  dis- 
abling Melbourne  from  holding  the  premier- 
ship under  the  expected  female  sovereign. 
Mrs.  Norton,  of  course,  strongly  asserts  the 
latter  view,  and  it  certainly  was  very  gene- 
rally held  at  the  time.  '  The  wonder  is,'  says 
Greville,  writing  on  27  June,  'how  with 
such  a  case  Norton's  family  ventured  into 
court ;  but  (although  it  is  stoutly  denied) 
there  can  be  no  doubt  that  old  Wynford  was 
at  the  bottom  of  it  all,  and  persuaded  Lord 
Grantley  to  urge  it  on  for  mere  political  pur- 
poses.' Lord  Wynford,  however,  formally 
denied  this  to  Lord  Melbourne,  and  the 
Duke  of  Cumberland,  who  had  been  accused 
of  having  a  hand  in  the  matter,  made  a 
similar  disclaimer  [see  LAMB,  WILLIAM,  VIS- 
COUNT MELBOURNE]. 

Mrs.  Norton  had  vindicated  her  character, 
but  she  had  not  secured  peace.  Her  over- 
tures for  a  reconciliation  with  her  husband 
were  rejected,  and  for  several  years  to  come 
her  life  was  passed  in  painful  disputes  with 
him  respecting  the  care  of  their  children 
and  pecuniary  affairs.  She  nevertheless  con- 
tinued to  write,  contributing  much  to  the 
periodical  press.  Her  powers  continued  to 
mature.  '  The  Undying  One,'  a  poem  on  the 
legend  of  the  '  Wandering  Jew,'  with  other 
pieces,  had  already  appeared  in  1830,  and 
'  The  Dream  and  other  Poems'  was  published 
in  1840.  Both  were  warmly  praised  in  the 


'  Quarterly  Review '  by  Lockhart,  who  hailed 
the  authoress  as '  the  Byron  of  poetesses.'  A 
passage  from  '  The  Dream,'  quoted  by  Lock- 
hart,  rivals  in  passionate  energy  almost  any- 
thing of  Byron's :  but  there  is  no  element  of 
novelty  in  Mrs.  Norton's  verse,  any  more  than 
there  is  any  element  of  general  human  in- 
terest in  the  impassioned  expression  of  her 
personal  sorrows.  Mrs.  Norton  had  already 
(1836)proclaimed  the  sufferingsof  overworked 
operatives  in  '  A  Voice  from  the  Factories,' 
a  poem  accompanied  by  valuable  notes.  In 
'  The  Child  of  the  Islands '  (i.e.  the  Prince 
of  Wales),  1845,  a  poem  on  the  social  con- 
dition of  the  English  people,  partly  inspired 
by  such  works  as  Carlyle's  'Chartism  and 
Disraeli's  '  Sybil,'  she  ventured  on  a  theme 
of  general  human  interest,  and  proved  that, 
while  purely  lyrical  poetry  came  easily  to 
her,  compositions  of  greater  weight  and  com- 
pass needed  to  be  eked  out  with  writing 
for  writing's  sake.  Much  of  it  is  fine  and 
even  brilliant  rhetoric,  much  too  is  mere 
padding,  and  its  chief  interest  is  as  a  symptom 
of  that  awakening  feeling  for  the  necessity 
of  a  closer  union  between  the  classes  of  so- 
ciety which  was  shortly  to  receive  a  still  more 
energetic  expression  in  Charles  Kingsley's 
writings. 

In  August  1853  Mrs.  Norton's  affairs  again 
became  the  subject  of  much  public  attention, 
in  consequence  of  pecuniary  differences  with 
her  husband,  who  not  only  neglected  to  pay 
her  allowance,  but  claimed  the  proceeds  of 
her  literary  works.  These  disputes  ultimately 
necessitated  the  appearance  of  both  parties 
in  a  county  court.  Driven  to  bay,  Mrs.  Norton 
turned  upon  her  persecutor,  and  her  scathing 
denunciation  produced  an  effect  which  Nor- 
ton's laboured  defence  in  the  '  Times '  was  far 
from  removing.  Mrs.  Norton  replied  to  this  in 
a  privately  printed  pamphlet,  '  English  Laws 
for  Women  in  the  Nineteenth  Century,' which, 
with  every  allowance  for  the  necessarily  ex 
parte  character  of  the  statements,  it  is  im- 
possible to  read  without  pity  and  indignation. 
The  story  of  her  wrongs,  and  her  pamphlets 
on  Lord  Cranworth's  Divorce  Bill,  1853,  with 
another,  privately  printed,  on  the  right  of 
mothers  to  the  custody  of  children,  no  doubt 
greatly  contributed  to  the  amelioration  of 
the  laws  respecting  the  protection  of  female 
earnings,  the  custody  of  offspring,  and  other 
points  affecting  the  social  condition  of  woman. 
From  a  pungent  passage  in  Miss  Martineau's 
autobiography,  however,  it  may  be  inferred 
that  she  did  not  always  commend  herself 
personally  to  her  fellow  workers  in  similar 
causes. 

In  1862  Mrs.  Norton  produced  the  best  of 
her  poems,  considered  as  a  work  of  art.  In 


Norton 


208 


Norton 


'  The  Lady  of  La  Garaye,'  founded  upon  an 
authentic  Breton  history,  the  Byronic  note 
is  considerably  subdued,  and  the  general  effect 
more  resembles  Campbell.  The  gain  in  dignity 
and  repose  is  nevertheless  purchased  by  some 
loss  of  freshness.  The  poem  was  published 
by  Macmillan  &  Co.,  in  whose  magazine 
her  novel  of  '  Old  Sir  Douglas'  appeared  in 
1867.  She  had  previously  published  two 
novels,  '  Stuart  of  Dunleath'  (1851),  which 
appears  to  contain  much  veiled  autobio- 
graphy, and  '  Lost  and  Saved'  (1863).  These 
works  evince  more  thought  and  sustained 
power  than  her  poems,  but  can  only  be  re- 
garded as  the  work  of  an  exceedingly  clever 
woman  without  special  vocation  in  this  de- 
partment. During  her  latter  years  she  wrote 
much  anonymous  criticism,  literary  and 
artistic.  On  24  Feb.  1875  Norton  died. 
On  1  March  1877,  being  at  the  time  confined 
to  her  room  by  indisposition,  his  widow 
married  Sir  William  Stirling-Maxwell,  bart. 
[q.  v.],  an  old  and  attached  friend.  She  died 
on  15  June  following. 

Mrs.  Norton  had  three  sons.  The  eldest, 
Fletcher,  born  10  July  1829,  entered  the 
diplomatic  service,  was  attache  at  Paris,  and 
was  appointed  in  1859  secretary  of  legation  at 
Athens,  but  died  at  Paris  on  13  Oct.  before 
he  could  assume  the  office.  The  second, 
Thomas  Brinsley,  born  4  Nov.  1831,  is  de- 
scribed as  '  kindly,  clever,  handsome,  but 
wild;'  he  married  an  Italian  peasant  girl  of 
Capri, '  who  turned  out  the  best  of  wives  and 
mothers,'  and  in  1875  succeeded  his  uncle  as 
fourth  Lord  Grantley.  He  died  at  Capri  on 
24  July  1877,  leaving  a  son,  who  is  the  pre- 
sent Lord  Grantley.  He  was  the  author 
of  an  anonymous  volume  of  verse  entitled 
'Pinocchi,'' published  in  1856.  Mrs.  Nor- 
ton's third  son,  William,  was  killed  by  a  fall 
from  his  pony  in  September  1842  at  the  age 
of  nine. 

Mrs.  Norton's  portrait  has  been  frequently 
engraved,  but,  according  to  the  editor  of 
'  Hay  ward's  Correspondence,'  no  satisfactory 
likeness  either  of  her  or  of  her  sisters  exists. 
She  is  depicted  as  '  Justice '  in  Maclise's 
fresco  in  the  House  of  Lords ;  a  copy,  with  a 
harp  substituted  for  the  balance,  is  in  the 
possession  of  Lord  DufFerin  at  Clandeboye 
House.  A  portrait  by  Mrs.  Ferguson  of 
Raith  is  in  the  Scottish  National  Portrait 
Gallery.  The  portrait  of  her  engraved  in 
Lord  Dufferin's  edition  of  his  mother's  poems 
is  from  a  crayon  drawing  by  Swinton.  '  Mrs. 
Norton,'  he  says,  '  was  a  brunette,  with  dark 
burning  eyes  like  her  grandfather's,  a  pure 
Greek  profile,  and  a  clear  olive  complexion.' 

Mrs.  Norton  and  Lady  DufFerin  would 
have  been  equally  surprised  if  it  had  been 


predicted  that  the  poems  of  the  latter  would 
eventually  be  preferred  to  those  of  the  more 
brilliant  sister.  Such,  however,  has  come  to 
be  the  case,  and  with  justice,  for  the  simple 
lyrics  of  Lady  DufFerin  frequently  startle  by 
the  uncalculated  strokes  that  belong  only  to 
genius,  while  Mrs.  Norton's  are  always  the 
exercises  of  a  powerful  but  self-conscious 
talent.  The  emotion  itself  is  usually  sincere 
— always  when  her  personal  feelings  are  con- 
cerned— but  the  expression  is  conventional. 
She  follows  Byron  as  the  dominant  poet  of 
her  day,  but  one  feels  that  her  lyre  could 
with  equal  ease  have  been  tuned  to  any 
other  note.  Her  standard  of  artistic  execu- 
tion was  not  exalted.  Though  almost  all 
her  lyrics  have  merit,  few  are  sufficiently 
perfect  to  endure,  and  she  will  be  best  re- 
membered as  a  poetess  by  the  passages  of 
impassioned  rhetoric  imbedded  in  her  longer 
poems.  Her  social  and  conversational  gifts 
were  great,  and  were  enhanced  by  her  fasci- 
nating beauty.  She  had  a  bright  wit  and  a 
strong  understanding.  Had  she  married  as 
advantageously  as  her  younger  sister,  wife  of 
the  twelfth  Duke  of  Somerset,  she  must  have 
played  a  distinguished  part  in  society,  and 
might  have  been  a  considerable  force  in  poli- 
tics. She  was  a  gifted  artist  and  musician,  and 
set  some  of  her  own  lyrics  very  successfully. 
[  Athenaeum ;  Academy ;  Ann .  Register ;  Home's 
New  Spirit  of  the  Age,  vol.  ii. ;  Songs,  Poems, 
and  Verses  by  Helen,  lady  DufFerin,  edited  by 
the  Marquis  of  DufFerin  ;  Fitzgerald's  Lives  of 
the  Sheridans,  vol.  ii. ;  Kemble's  Records  of  a 
Girlhood;  Hay  ward's  Correspondence;  Disraeli's 
Letters  ;  Torrens's  Memoirs  of  Lord  Melbourne ; 
Greville  Memoirs,  vol.  iii. ;  Norton's  English 
Laws  for  Women  in  the  Nineteenth  Century  ; 
Quarterly  Review,  vol.  Ixvi.]  R.  G. 

NORTON,  CHAPPLE  (1746-1818), 
general,  third  son  of  Fletcher  Norton,  first 
baron  Grantley  [q.  v.],  born  in  1746,  entered 
the  19th  foot,  in  which  regiment,  then  serv- 
ing at  Gibraltar,  he  became  captain  in  June 
1 763.  In  1769  he  was  promoted  to  a  majority 
in  the  1st  royal  foot,  and  in  1774  became 
captain  and  lieutenant-colonel  in  the  Cold- 
stream  guards.  He  served  with  the  regiment 
in  America,  and  distinguished  himself  in  Fe- 
bruary 1780  by  the  capture  of  Young's  House, 
near  White  Plains,  an  important  American 
post,  which  cut  off  supplies  from  Sir  Wil- 
liam Howe's  army  in  New  York.  He  became 
brevet-colonel  in  November  the  same  year, 
regimental-major  in  1786,  major-general  in 
1787,  lieutenant-general  in  1797,  and  general 
on  29  April  1802.  He  was  appointed  colonel 
of  the  81st  regiment  in  1795,  and  of  the  56th 
on  24  Jan.  1797. 

Norton,  who  is  described  as  a  good  and 


Norton 


209 


Norton 


amiable  man,  was  a  great  personal  friend  of 
the  Duke  of  York.  He  sat  for  Guildford  in 
the  parliaments  of  1784-90, 1796, 1802, 1806, 
1807-12,  and  took  an  active  interest  in  all 
matters  relating  to  Surrey,  where  the  Grant- 
ley  estates  are  chiefly  situate.  His  last  regi- 
ment, the  56th  (West  Essex)  foot,  was  raised 
to  three  strong  battalions  towards  the  close 
of  the  French  war,  chiefly  by  recruits  from 
Surrey.  He  died  at  the  family  seat,  Wonersh, 
•on  19  March  1818,  aged  72. 

[Foster's  Peerage,  under  'Grantley;'  Mackin- 
non's  Coldstream  Guards,  vol.  i. ;  Army  Lists ; 
Gent.  Mag.  1818,  pt.  i.  p.  472.]  H.  M.  C. 

NORTON,  CHRISTIAN  (fl.  1740-1760), 
•engraver,  studied  painting  in  Paris  under 
Francois  Boucher,  and  on  turning  his  hand 
to  engraving,  which  he  studied  under  Pierre 
Charles  Canot  [q.  v.],  he  engraved  some  of 
Boucher's  paintings.  He  would  appear  to 
have  accompanied  Canot  to  England,  where 
lie  engraved  some  landscapes  after  Jean 
Pillement, '  The  Tempest '  after  W.  van  de 
Velde,  '  A  Calm  '  after  J.  van  Goyen,  &c. 
He  does  not  appear  to  have  been  connected 
with  George  Norton,  a  student  at  the  aca- 
demy in  St.  Martin's  Lane,  who  in  1760 
gained  a  premium  from  the  Society  of  Arts. 

[Dodd's  manuscript  Hist,  of  British  Engravers 
(Brit.  Mus.  Addit.  MS.  33403) ;  Kedgrave's  Diet, 
of  Artists.]  L.  C. 

NORTON,  FLETCHER,  first  BAROX 
GRANTLEY  (1716-1789),  eldest  sonof  Thomas 
Norton  of  Grantley,  near  Ripon,  Yorkshire, 
by  his  wife  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  William 
Serjeantson  of  Hanlith  in  Craven,  Yorkshire, 
was  born  at  Grantley  on  23  June  1716. 
Richard  Norton  (1488  P-1688)  was  his  an- 
cestor. He  was  admitted  a  member  of  the 
Middle  Temple  on  14  Nov.  1734,  and  was 
called  to  the  bar  on  6  July  1739.  Though 
Norton  is  said  to  have  gone  for  many  years 
without  a  brief,  he  ultimately  obtained  a  very 
large  and  lucrative  practice,  and  was  for  many 
years  leader  of  the  northern  circuit,  and  had 
the  principal  business  in  the  court  of  king's 
bench.  In  1754  he  became  a  king's  counsel, 
was  elected  a  bencher  of  his  inn  (3  May  1754), 
and  subsequently  became  attorney-general  for 
the  county  palatine  of  Lancaster.  At  the 
general  election  in  May  1754  Norton  un- 
successfully contested  the  borough  of  Ap- 
pleby.  The  election,  however,  was  declared 
void  (Journals  of  the  House  of  Commons, 
xxvii.  444),  and  at  the  fresh  election  in 
March  1756  he  was  returned  to  the  House 
of  Commons  for  that  borough.  He  was 
elected  one  of  the  members  for  Wigan  in 
the  parliament  of  1761,  and  was  appointed 
solicitor-general  on  25  Jan.  1762,  being 

VOL.   XLI. 


knighted  on  the  same  day.  He  was  created 
a^D.C.L.  of  Oxford  University  on  20  Oct. 
1762.  In  Michaelmas  term  1703  Norton,  as 
solicitor-general  (the  office  of  attorney-gene- 
ral being  then  vacant),  exhibited  informa- 
tions against  Wilkes  for  publishing  No.  45 
of  the  '  North  Briton '  and  the  '  Essay  on 
Woman'  (HowELL,  State  Trials,  1813.  xix. 
1075,  1382).  During  one  of  the  debates 
on  the  proceedings  against  Wilkes,  Norton 
'  indecently  quoted  a  prosecution  of  perjury ' 
against  Sir  John  Rushout,  who  explained 
that  the  prosecution  had  been  instigated  by 
Norton  himself  for  an  election  purpose,  and 
concluded  by  saying, '  It  was  all  owing  to 
that  honest  gentleman  !  I  hope  I  do  not  call 
him  out  of  his  name  ! '  (WALPOLE,  Memoirs 
of  the  Reign  of  George  III,  i.  326-7).  On 
16  Dec.  1763  Norton  became  attorney-gene- 
ral. In  the  debate  on  the  resolution  declar- 
ing the  illegality  of  general  warrants  in 
February  1764,  Norton  is  reported  to  have 
said  that  '  if  I  was  a  judge  I  should  pay  no 
more  regard  to  this  resolution  than  to  that 
of  a  drunken  porter '  (ib.  i.  374-5 ;  see  also 
Parl.  Hist.  xv.  1403).  For  this  he  was 
severely  rebuked  in  '  A  Letter  from  Albe- 
marle  Street  to  the  Cocoa  Tree  [Club]  on 
some  late  Transactions,'  London,  1764,  4to, 
the  authorship  of  which  has  been  attributed 
to  Lord  Temple.  Upon  the  death  of  Sir 
Thomas  Clarke  in  November  1764,  Norton 
appears  to  have  been  named  his  successor  at 
the  rolls,  but  the  appointment  was  objected 
to  by  Lord-chancellor  Northington,  and  Nor- 
ton remained  attorney-general  (WALPOLE, 
Memoirs  of  George  III,  ii.  36-37). 

He  took  part  in  the  prosecution  of  William, 
fourth  lord  Byron,  for  the  murder  of  William 
Chaworth,  before  the  House  of  Lords  in 
April  1765  (HowELL,  State  Trials,  xix. 
1183),  and  was  one  of  the  counsel  for  the 
appellant  in  the  famous  Douglas  cause  in 
1769  (PATON,  Scotch  Appeal  Cases,  ii.  178). 
He  was  dismissed  from  the  post  of  attorney- 
general  on  the  formation  of  the  Rockingham 
administration  in  July  1765.  During  the 
debate  on  the  petition  against  the  Stamp 
Act  in  January  1766,  Norton  accused  Pitt 
of  sounding  the  trumpet  to  rebellion,  and 
declared  that  '  he  has  chilled  my  blood  at 
the  idea.'  To  which  Pitt  replied:  'The 
gentleman  says  I  have  chilled  his  blood ;  I 
shall  be  glad  to  meet  him  in  any  place  with 
the  same  opinions,  when  his  blood  is  warmer ' 
(WALPOLE,  Memoirs  of  the  Reign  of 
George  III,  ii.  271-2).  At  the  general  elec- 
tion in  March  1768  Norton  was  returned  for 
the  borough  of  Guildford,  which  he  con- 
tinued to  represent  until  his  elevation  to  the 
peerage.  On  1  Feb.  1769  he  defended  Lord 


Norton 


2IO 


Norton 


Mansfield's  conduct  on  the  Wilkes  case 
(CAVENDISH,  Parl.  Debates,  i.  134-5,  138), 
and  was  appointed  chief-justice  in  eyre  of 
his  majesty's  forests  south  of  the  Trent  on  the 
19th  of  the  same  month,  and  admitted  to  the 
privy  council  on  22  March  following.  In  the 
debate  on  the  petition  against  Colonel  Lut- 
trell's  return  for  Middlesex  in  May  1769, 
Norton  supported  Dowdeswell's  motion  de- 
claring Luttrell  duly  elected,  and  made  a 
fierce  onslaught  on  George  Grenville  (  Gren- 
ville  Papers,  vol.  iii.  p.  cxxviii ;  CAVENDISH, 
Parl.  Debates,  i.  431-3).  On  22  Jan.  1770 
Norton,  whose  nomination  was  proposed  by 
North,  and  seconded  by  Rigby,  was  elected 
speaker  of  the  House  of  Commons  in  the 
place  of  Sir  John  Gust  [q.  v.]  by  a  majority 
of  116  votes  over  the  whig  candidate,  Tho- 
mas Townsend  the  younger  (Journals  of  the 
House  of  Commons,  xxxii.  613).  On  16  Feb. 
following  Norton  had  a  violent  altercation 
with  Sir  William  Meredith.  Norton's  words 
were  ordered  to  be  taken  down  by  the  clerk, 
but  the  motion  that  they  were  '  disorderly, 
importing  an  improper  reflection  on  a  mem- 
ber of  this  house,  and  dangerous  to  the  free- 
dom of  debate  in  this  house,'  was  negatived 
after  a  long  and  exciting  discussion  (CAVEN- 
DISH, Parl.  Debates,  i.  458-68).  As  speaker 
he  signed  the  warrant  committing  Brass 
Crosby  [~q.  v.]  to  the  Tower  on  25  March 
1771  (HowELL,  State  Trials,  xix.  1138). 
During  the  debate  in  committee  on  the 
Royal  Marriage  Bill,  Norton  contended  that 
the  penalty  of  a  prsemunire  should  be  de- 
fined, a  course  which  gave  considerable 
offence  to  the  court  (Parl.  Hist.  xvii.  422-3, 
xxi.  260).  On  11  Feb.  1774  he  called  the 
attention  of  the  house  to  a  letter  written  by 
John  Home  (afterwards  Horne-Tooke)  in 
that  day's  '  Public  Advertiser,'  accusing 
him  of  gross  partiality  in  his  conduct  as 
speaker,  whereupon  it  was  unanimously  re- 
solved that  the  letter  was '  a  false,  malicious, 
and  scandalous  libel,  highly  reflecting  on  the 
character  of  the  speaker  of  this  house,  to  the 
dishonour  of  this  house,  and  in  violation  of 
the  privileges  thereof  (ib.  xvii.  1006-16, 
et  seq.)  At  the  opening  of  the  new  parlia- 
ment on  29  Nov.  1774  Norton  was  unani- 
mously re-elected  speaker  (ib.  xviii.  31). 
While  presenting  the  bill  for  the  better  sup- 
port of  the  king's  household  (7  May  1777), 
Norton  boldly  declared  that  the  commons 
'  have  not  only  granted  to  yourmajestya  large 
present  supply,  but  also  a  very  great  addi- 
tional revenue— great  beyond  example,  great 
beyond  your  majesty's  highest  expence  '  (ib. 
xix.  213).  This  speech,  which  was  ordered 
to  be  printed,  created  a  great  sensation.  The 
court  highly  disapproved  of  it,  and  Norton 


was  accused  of  having  used  the  word '  wants  T 
instead  of  'expence.  Rigby  denounced  it 
with  great  acrimony,  but  upon  Fox's  motion 
a  resolution  was  carried  without  a  division 
that  the  speaker  had  expressed  'with  just 
and  proper  energy  the  zeal  of  this  house  for 
the  support  of  the  honour  and  dignity  of 
the  crown  in  circumstances  of  great  public 
charge '  (ib.  pp.  224,  227-34).  On  14  May 
the  court  of  common  council  voted  the  free- 
dom of  the  city  to  Norton  '  for  having  de- 
clared in  manly  terms  the  real  state  of  the 
Nation  to  his  Majesty  on  the  Throne.'  No 
entry  of  his  admission  appears  in  the  cham- 
berlain's books,  but  it  is  recorded  that  he 
declined  to  accept  the  gold  box,  which 
had  also  been  voted  to  him  (London's  Roll  of 
Fame,  1884,  p.  60).  During  the  debate  on 
Burke's  Establishment  Bill  (13  March  1780) 
Norton  was  called  upon  by  Fox  to  give  his 
opinion  on  the  competency  of  the  house  to 
inquire  into  and  control  the  civil  list  expen- 
diture. Norton  in  reply  declared  that  '  par- 
liament had  an  inherent  right  vested  in  it  of 
controlling  and  regulating  every  branch  of 
the  public  expenditure,  the  civil  list  as  well 
as  the  rest,'  but  that  with  regard  to  the  civil 
list  '  the  necessity  for  retrenchment  ought  to 
be  fully,  clearly,  and  satisfactorily  shown 
before  parliament  shall  interfere,' adding  that 
when  '  the  necessity  was  clearly  made  out  it 
was  not  only  the  right  but  the  duty  of  parlia- 
ment to  interpose,  and  no  less  the  duty  and 
interest  of  the  crown  to  acquiesce.'  He  assured 
Burke  that  he  would  give  him  every  assist- 
ance in  his  power  to  carry  the  bill,  and  not 
only  acknowledged  that  his  office  of  chief 
justice  in  eyre  was  a  sinecure,  but  that  it 
'  was  much  in  his  opinion  too  profitable  for 
the  duties  annexed  to  it,'  and  that  the  powers 
vested  in  the  chief  justice  '  were  such  as 
ought  not  to  be  executed.'  He  concluded 
this  remarkable  speech  with  a  violent  attack 
upon  Lord  North  for  thinking  of  appointing 
Wedderburn  to  the  chief  justiceship  of  the 
common  pleas,  a  post  which  Norton  himself 
was  anxious  to  obtain  (Parl.  Hist.  xxi.  258- 
269,  270-3).  On  20  March,  however,  Nor- 
ton apologised  to  the  house  for  having '  very 
imprudently  gone  into  matters  totally  foreign 
to  the  subject  under  consideration  '  (ib.  pp. 
296-8).  On  6  April  he  spoke  in  favour  of 
Dunning's  celebrated  motion  with  respect  to 
the  influence  of  the  crown  (ib.  pp.  355-9), 
and  in  May  he  denounced  the  bill  for  appoint- 
ing commissioners  to  examine  the  public  ac- 
counts as  a  mere  job  for  creating  new  place- 
men at  the  nomination  of  a  minister  (ib.  pp. 
561-3).  The  king  having  determined  that 
Norton  should  not  be  re-elected  speaker,  the 
ministers  availed  themselves  of  Norton's  bad 


Norton 


211 


Norton 


health  as  an  excuse  for  not  proposing  him. 
Accordingly,  at  the  meeting  of  the  new  par- 
liament on  31  Oct.  1780,  Charles  Wolfran 
Cornwall  [q.  v.],  the  ministerial  nominee, 
was  elected  to  the  chair  by  203  votes  against 
134  recorded  in  favour  of  Norton,  who 
was  proposed  by  Dunning  and  seconded  by 
Thomas  Townsend  (ib.  xxi.  793-807).  On 
20  Nov.  following  the  thanks  of  the  house 
were  voted  him  for  his  conduct  in  the  chair 
by  136  votes  to  96  (ib.  pp.  873-85),  and 
were  conveyed  to  him  by  the  new  speaker 
on  1  Feb.  1781  (ib.  p.  1106).  On  12  Dec. 
1781  Norton  spoke  in  favour  of  Sir  James 
Lowther's  motion  for  putting  an  end  to  the 
American  war,  and  declared  that '  it  was  his 
firm  sentiment  that  until  this  was  done 
not  a  single  shilling  should  be  voted  as  a 
supply  to  his  majesty '  (ib.  xxii.  813-15). 
He  supported  Lord  John  Cavendish's  reso- 
lutions of  censure  against  the  ministry  on 
8  March  1782  (ib.  p.  1144).  He  was  created 
Baron  Grantley  of  Markenfield,  Yorkshire, 
on  9  April  1782,  and  took  his  seat  in  the 
House  of  Lords  for  the  first  time  on  the  16th 
of  the  same  month  (Journals  of  House  of 
Lords,  xxvi.  432).  Norton  seems  to  have 
owed  his  peerage  to  the  rivalry  between 
Buckingham  and  Shelburne.  The  latter  ob- 
tained a  peerage  for  Dunning  without  Rock- 
ingham's  knowledge,  whereupon  llocking- 
ham  insisted  that  a  similar  honour  should 
be  conferred  by  the  king  upon  Norton 
(WKAXALL,  ii.  258-61).  Though  he  changed 
sides  once  more,  he  does  not  appear  to  have 
taken  much  part  in  the  debates  of  the  House 
of  Lords.  He  opposed  Fox's  East  India  Bill 
in  1783,  and  voted  for  Pitt's  East  India  Bill 
in  1784.  He  was  appointed  a  member  of  the 
privy  council  for  the  consideration  of  all 
matters  relating  to  trade  and  foreign  planta- 
tions on  5  March  1784,  and  again  upon  the 
reconstruction  of  the  committee  on  23  Aug. 
1786.  He  spoke  for  the  last  time  in  the 
house  on  19  March  1788,  when  he  opposed 
the  third  reading  of  the  East  India  Declara- 
tory Bill  (Parl.  Hist,  xxvii.  245-7).  He 
died  at  his  house  in  Lincoln's  Inn  Fields  on 
1  Jan.  1789,  aged  72,  and  was  buried  at 
Wonersh  in  Surrey  on  the  9th  of  the  same 
month. 

Norton  was  a  shrewd,  unprincipled  man, 
of  good  abilities  and  offensive  manners.  His 
violent  temper  and  lack  of  discretion  un- 
fitted him  for  the  post  of  speaker.  Though 
by  no  means  a  learned  lawyer,  he  was  a  bold 
and  able  pleader,  and  was  remarkable  alike 
for  the  clearness  of  his  arguments  and  the 
inaccuracy  of  his  statements.  According  to 
Lord  Mansfield,  Norton's '  art  was  very  likely 
to  mislead  a  judge  and  jury ;  and  with  him 


I  found  it  more  difficult  to  prevent  injustice 
being  done  than  with  any  person  whoever 
practised  before  me'  (Law  and  Lawyers, 
1840,  i.  188).  "Walpole,  who  never  tires  of 
abusing  Norton,  even  asserts  that  'it  was 
known  that  in  private  causes  he  took  money 
from  both  parties,  and  availed  himself  against 
one  or  other  of  them  of  the  lights  they  had 
communicated  to  him '  (Memoirs  of  the  Reign 
of  George  III,  i.  240).  Junius  made  a  violent 
attack  upon  Norton  in  Letter  39,  quoting 
Ben  Jonson's  description  of  the  lawyer  who 
'  gives  forked  counsel '  (WOODFALL'S  edition, 
1814,  ii.  139-40).  Churchill  satirises  him 
in 'The  Duellist'  (bk.  iii.)  Mason,  under 
the  pseudonym  of  'Malcolm  Macgreggor,' 
wrote  an  'Ode  to  Sir  Fletcher  Norton  in 
imitation  of  Horace,  Ode  viii.  Book  iv,'  which 
he  published  with  '  An  Epistle  to  Dr.  Sheb- 
beare '  in  1777  (London,  4to).  In  the  satires 
and  caricatures  of  the  day  Norton  was  usually 
nicknamed  '  Sir  Bull-face  Double  Fee.' 

Norton  married,  on  21  May  1741,  Grace, 
eldest  daughter  of  Sir  William  Chappie,  kt., 
a  justice  of  the  king's  bench,  by  whom  he 
had  five  sons — viz. :  (1)  William,  his  majesty's 
minister  to  the  Swiss  Cantons,  who  suc- 
ceeded his  father  as  second  baron,  and  died 
on  12  Nov.  1822;  (2)  Fletcher,  a  baron  of 
the  exchequer  in  Scotland,  who  died  on 
19  June  1820;  (3)  Chappie  [q.  v.];  (4)  Ed- 
ward, a  barrister-at-law,  recorder  and  M.P. 
for  Carlisle,  who  died  on  27  March  1786,  and 
(5)  Thomas,  who  died  an  infant — and  two 
daughters :  Grace  Traherne,  who  died  an  in- 
fant, and  Grace,  who  married,  on  19  Nov. 
1799,  John,  third  earl  of  Portsmouth,  and  died 
on  16  Nov.  1813.  Norton's  widow  died  on 
30  Oct.  1803,  aged  95. 

A  portrait  of  Norton  in  his  speaker's  robes, 
by  Sir  William  Beechey,  belongs  to  Earl 
Grantley.  There  is  a  whole-length  caricature 
of  him  by  James  Sayer. 

[Wai  pole's  Memoirs  of  theReign  of  George  III, 
1845;  Walpole's  Journal  of  the  Reign  of 
George  III,  1859;  Walpole's  Letters,  1857-9, 
vols.  iv.  v.  vi.  vii.  viii. ;  Sir  N.  W.  Wraxall's 
Hist,  and  Posthumous  Memoirs,  1884,  i.  246, 
257-61,  ii.  258-61,  v.  244-6;  Grenville  Papers, 
1852-3,  ii.  67,  iii.  pp.  cxxviii,  73,  381,  394,  iv. 
221 ;  Chatham  Correspondence,  1838-40,  ii.  261, 
289,  352,  iii.  395,  iv.  58,  214;  Political  Memo- 
randa of  Francis,  fifth  Duke  of  Leeds  (Camd. 
Soc.  1884),  pp.  4,  34,  90,  136;  Autobiography 
of  Mrs.  Piozzi,  1861.  i.  338-9;  Twiss's  Life  of 
Lord  Chancellor  Eldon,  1844,  iii.  98-9,  137  ; 
Bos-well's  Life  of  Johnson,  edited  by  G.  B.  Hill, 
ii.  91,  472  ;  Mahon's  History  of  England,  1858, 
v.  52,  251,  vi.  139-40,  vii.  10-11,  13,  78,  144  ; 
Trevelyan's  Early  Hut.  of  Charles  James  Fox, 
1881,  pp.  265,  336-7,  371,  375,  437,  442,  483; 
Ferguson's  Cumberland  and  Westmorland  M.P.'s, 

p2 


Norton 


212 


Norton 


1871,  pp.  424-6,  468;  Manning's  Speakers  of  the 
House  of  Commons,  1851,  pp.  445-56;  Braj'ley 
and  Britton's  Hist,  of  Surrey,  1850,  v.  120,  124, 
147,  149-51;  Georgian  Era,  1833,  ii.  285-6; 
Gent.  Mag.  1789,  pt.  i.  p.  87 ;  Annual  Register, 
1789,  pp.  211-2;  Collins's  Peerage,  1812,  vii. 
551-3;  Burke's  Peerage,  1892,  p.  615;  Alumni 
Oxon.  1715-1886,  iii.  1030;  Official  Eeturn  of 
Lists  of  Members  of  Parliament,  pt.  ii. ;  Haydn's 
Book  of  Dignities,  1890.]  G.  F.  K.  B. 

NORTON,  FRANCES,  LADY  (1640- 
1731),  authoress,  born  in  1640,  was  the  third 
daughter  of  Ralph  Freke  of  Hannington, 
Wiltshire,  by  Cecilia,  daughter  of  Sir  Thomas 
Colepepper  or  Culpepper,  of  Hollingbourne, 
Kent.  About  1672  she  married  Sir  George 
Norton,  knight,  of  Abbots  Leigh,  Somerset. 
He  had  concealed  Charles  II  in  his  house 
after  the  battle  of  Worcester.  There  were 
three  children  of  the  marriage,  George  and 
Elizabeth,  who  died  young,  and  Grace,  after- 
wards Lady  Gethin  [q.  v.],  a  girl  of  uncommon 
accomplishments.  Lady  Norton  soon  ceased 
to  live  with  her  husband,  who  died  on  26  April 
1715.  On  23  April  1718  she  married,  at  the 
Chapel  Royal,  Whitehall,  Colonel  Ambrose 
Norton,  cousin  german  of  her  first  husband. 
She  was  his  third  wife.  He  died  on  10  Sept. 
1723.  On  24  Sept.  1724  she  married  at 
Somerset  House  Chapel,  William  Jones,  esq. 
According  to  the  '  Funeral  Book  of  West- 
minster Abbey,'  she  died  on  20  Feb.  1730-1 
at  the  advanced  age  of  90.  On  9  March  she 
was  buried  in  the  abbey  in  the  family  tomb 
in  the  south  aisle  of  the  choir. 

In  1705  appeared  two  works  by  Lady 
Norton,  bound  together  in  a  small  quarto 
volume,  entitled  respectively  '  The  Applause 
of  Virtue,  in  four  parts,'  and  '  Memento  Mori, 
or  Meditations  on  Death.'  The  book  was 
evidently  inspired  by  the  death  of  her  daugh- 
ter Grace  in  1697.  It  mainly  consists  of 
quotations  on  ethical  subjects  from  ancient 
and  modern  writers.  In  the  preface  Lady 
Norton  declares  that  she  intended  the  essays 
for  her  '  melancholy  divertisement,'  without 
any  idea  of  publication.  The  volume  con- 
tains three  title-pages  and  several  quaint 
engravings. 

[Chester's  Registers  of  Westminster  Abbey, 
p.  331;  Collinson's  Somerset,  iii.  153;  Crisp's 
Somersetshire  Wills,  oth  ser.  p.  76  ;  Hutchins's 
Dorset,  iv.  86.]  E.  L. 

NORTON,  HUMPHREY  (#1655-1 660), 
quaker,  was  one  of  the  earliest  members  of 
the  Society  of  Friends.  From  September 
1655  to  May  1656  he  was  living  in  London, 
acting  as  the  society's  accredited  agent  for 
the  assistance  of  friends  travelling  about  and 
preaching.  In  March  1654-5  he  was  im- 


prisoned at  Durham  (Crisp  and  his  Corre- 
spondents,l&92,  p.  43).  He  went  to  Ireland 
in  June  1656,  and  preached  in  Leinster, 
Munster,  and  Connaught.  In  Gal  way  he  was 
taken  violently  from  a  meeting  by  a  guard 
of  soldiers,  and  driven  from  the  city.  At 
Wexford  he  was  again  seized  while  conduct- 
ing a  peaceable  meeting,  and  committed  to 
gaol  until  the  next  assizes.  Here  he  wrote 
'  To  all  People  that  speakes  of  an  outward 
Baptisme,  Dippers,  Sprinklers,  and  others. 
Also  the  Errors  answered  holden  forth  by 
Thomas  Larkham  ...  at  Wexford  he  was 
then,'  &c.,  no  place  or  date,  4to.  George 
Keith  [q.  v.]  says  that  he  saw  in  manuscript 
many  papers  which  Norton  had  dispersed 
against  baptism.  Early  in  1657  he  returned 
from  Ireland,  and  on  1  June  embarked  with 
ten  other  Friends  for  Boston,  whence  six  of 
them  had  been  expelled  the  previous  year. 
They  sailed  in  the  Woodhouse,  owned  and 
commanded  by  Robert  Fowler,  a  quaker  of 
Bridlington  Quay,  Yorkshire,  who  wrote  'A 
True  Relation  of  the  Voyage'  (BowDEisr,  Hist . 
of  Friends  in  America,i.63-7).  Norton  landed 
about  12  Aug.  1 657  at  Rhode  Island,  and  at 
once  proceeded  to  the  colony  of  Plymouth. 
He  was  arrested  on  a  vague  charge  of  being  an 
extravagant  person,  '  guilty  of  divers  horred 
errors,'  and  detained  some  time  without  ex- 
amination. Upon  presenting  a  paper  setting 
forth  his  purpose  in  coming,  and  requir- 
ing that  he  be  '  quickly  punished  or  cleared,'' 
he  was  brought  before  the  magistrates,  and 
the  governor,  Thomas  Prince,  commenced  an 
attack  on  what  he  alleged  to  be  quaker  doc- 
trines, which  Norton  answered.  Unable  to 
convict  him  of  any  breach  of  the  law,  the 
court  on  6  Oct.  1657  sentenced  him  to  banish- 
ment, and  he  was  conveyed  by  the  under- 
marshal  fifty  miles  towards  Rhode  Island 
(Plymouth  Colony  Records,  iii.  123). 

Towards  the  close  of  the  year  he  passed 
over  to  Long  Island,  and,  arriving  in  February 
at  Southold,  he  was  arrested  and  taken  to 
Newhaven,  Connecticut,  where  he  was  im- 
prisoned for  twenty-one  days,  heavily  ironed, 
and  denied  fire  or  candle.  On  10  March  1658 
he  was  brought  before  the  court  at  Newhaven 
and  examined  (Newhaven  Records,  1653-65, 
p.  233).  John  Davenport,  minister  of  the 
puritan  church  there,  undertook  to  prove  him 
guilty  of  heresy.  On  his  attempting  to  reply, 
a  large  iron  key  was  bound  over  his  mouth. 
The  trial  lasted  two  days.  Norton  was  then 
recommitted,  and,  after  ten  days,  was  sen- 
tenced to  be  whipped,  branded  with  the  letter 
II  (for  heretic)  in  his  right  hand,  fined  10£, 
and  banished  from  Newhaven. 

Norton  then  returned  to  Rhode  Island, 
where  the  local  authorities  wisely  considered 


Norton 


213 


Norton 


that  the  quakers,  if  let  alone,  would  not  prove 
so  aggressive.  After  some  weeks,  however, 
Norton  returned  with  John  Rous  [q.  v.]  to 
Plymouth,  to  attend  the  general  court  for 
that  colony  and  protest  against  the  in- 
tolerant treatment  of  their  sect.  On  arriv- 
ing there  on  1  June  1658  they  were  arrested 
and  imprisoned.  Two  days  later  they  were 
brought  up  before  the  magistrates  and  ques- 
tioned as  to  their  motive  in  coming.  Both 
were  recommitted  to  prison. 

Two  days  after  they  were  again  brought 
up  and  charged  with  heresy  by  Christopher 
Winter,  a  constable  and  surveyor,  but  a  pub- 
lic disputation  was  denied  {Plymouth  Re- 
cords, iii.  140).  The  magistrates,  failing  to 
convict  of  heresy,  decided  to  tender  the  oath 
of  fidelity  to  the  state.  On  their  refusal  to 
'  take  any  oath  at  all,'  they  were  ordered  to 
be  flogged,  Norton  with  twenty-three  lashes. 
The  flogging  ended,  they  were  liberated  on 
10  June  (ib.  p.  149). 

About  the  end  of  June  1658  Norton  and 
Rous  went  to  Boston,  and  were  warned  to 
depart  at  once.  Instead,  they  attended  the 
weekly  lecture  of  John  Norton  (1606-1(563) 
[q.  v.],  who  uttered  strong  invectives  against 
their  sect.  On  Humphrey  Norton  attempt- 
ing to  reply  at  the  close,  he  was  haled  before 
the  magistrates,  imprisoned  three  days, 
whipped,  and  returned  to  prison.  On  16  July 
he  wrote  a  letter  to  Governor  John  Ende- 
cott  [q.v.]  and  John  Norton  (New  England? s 
Ensigne,  pp.  106-8). 

A  fresh  order  that  quakers  in  prison  should 
be  regularly  flogged  twice  a  week  was  put  in 
force  from  18  July ;  but  the  public  of  Boston 
were  growing  disgusted  with  the  cruelties 
practised  in  the  name  of  religion,  and  they 
made  a  public  subscription  to  pay  the  prison 
fees  and  forward  the  prisoners  to  Providence, 
Rhode  Island. 

Norton  appears  to  have  gone  to  Barbados 
about  January  or  February  1659.  AVhile  on 
a  voyage  to  England  in  April  the  same  year 
he  wrote  'New  England's  Ensigne.  .  .  . 
This  being  an  Account  of  the  Sufferings  sus- 
tained by  us  in  New  England  (with  the 
Dutch),  the  most  part  of  it  in  these  two  last 
years,  1657,  1658.  With  a  Letter  to  John 
Indicot,  and  John  Norton,  Govern  or  and  Chief 
Priest  of  Boston ;  and  another  to  the  town 
of  Boston.  Also  the  several  late  Conditions 
of  a  Friend  upon  Road-Hand,  before,  in,  and 
after  Distraction ;  with  someQuseries  unto  all 
sorts  of  People  who  want  that  which  we 
have,  &c.  Written  at  Sea,  by  us  whom  the 
Wicked  in  Scorn  calls  Quakers,  in  the  second 
month  of  the  yeer  1659,'  London,  1659.  He 
also  took  part  in  writing '  The  Secret  VVorkes 
of  a  cruel  People  made  manifest,'  &c.,  Lon- 


don, 1659,  4to  [see  under  Rous,  JOHN],  and 
'  Woe  unto  them  are  mighty  to  drink  wine,' 
no  place  or  date. 

The  time  of  his  death  is  uncertain. 

[Neal's  Hist,  of  New  England,  i.  325  ;  Doyle's 
English  in  America,  ii.  126;  Bowden's  Hist,  of 
Friends  in  America,  i.  56-135  ;  Kutty's  Friends 
in  Ireland,  ed.  1811,  p.  86  ;  Besse's  Sufferings, 
ii.  182,  187,  195,  196;  Bishop's  New  England 
Judged,  pp.  68,  71,  72,  163,  179,  203;  Howgil's 
Dawnings  of  the  Gospel  Day,  1676,  p.  303; 
Keith's  Arguments  of  the  Quakers  .  .  .  and  my 
own  .  .  .  examined,  1698,  pp.  85-6;  The  Secret 
Works  of  a  Cruel  People,  London,  1659,  pp.  2, 
3,  9 ;  Smith's  Cat.  ii.  241  ;  Swarthroore  MSS. 
and  authorities  given  above.]  C.  F.  S. 

NORTON,  JOHN  (Jl.  1485),  sixth  prior 
of  the  Carthusian  monastery  of  Mountgrace, 
was  the  author  of  three  works  now  extant 
in  the  Lincoln  Cathedral  MS.  (A.  6.  8).  The 
first  work  is  in  seven  chapters,  '  De  Musica 
Monachorum ; '  the  second  in  nine,  '  The- 
saurus cordium  amantium,'  of  which  part  is 
lacking  (f.  47  a);  the  third  in  eight, '  Devota 
Lamentacio,' '  caret  finis '  (f.  76  b}. 

The  volume  begins  with  a  letter  from 
William  Melton  (d.  1528)  [q.  v.J  to  Flecher, 
who  copied  out  the  work  after  Norton's 
death.  Flecher's  Christian  name  seems  to 
have  been  Robert  (f.  30  a),  and  he  is  probably 
identical  with  the  Robert  Flecher,  priest,  who 
appears  in  the  pension  book  of  31  Henry  VIII 
(Mon.  AngL  vi.  24).  Melton  says  he  has 
read  the  first  work — Norton's  'De  Musica 
Monachorum,'  a  book  which  he  thinks  fitted 
for  Carthusians  to  read.  Its  seven  chapters  are 
occupied  with  discourses  on  idle  words,  prayer, 
and  obedience.  Flecher  adds  that  this  work 
was  written  while  Norton  was  proctor  of  the 
Mountgrace  monastery. 

At  the  same  time  Norton  wrote  his  second 
work,  '  Thesaurus  cordium  amantium.'  The 
introductory  letter,  of  which  the  beginning 
is  lost,  was  written  after  Norton's  death,  and 
addressed  to  Flecher  by  a  doctor,  no  doubt 
Melton ;  it  is  in  two  parts,  beginning  f.  28  a, 
1  de  refectione  eterna,'  and  ending  f.  30  b. 
A  request  for  information  about  the  '  Liber 
Magnse  Consolacionis '  follows.  The  writer 
remembers  to  have  seen  it,  and  recommends 
it  for  frequent  reading. 

Norton's  third  work,  'Devota  Lamentacio,' 
is  also  introduced  by  a  letter  from  William 
Melton.  The  prologue  records  that  on  Tues- 
day before  Whitsunday  in  the  third  year  of 
John  Norton's  entry  into  religion  (1485)  he 
had  a  vision  immediately  after  mass  while  sit- 
ting in  his  cell.  The  Virgin  Mary  appeared  to 
him,  clothed  in  the  dress  of  a  Carthusian 
nun  and  surrounded  by  virgins  in  the  same 
habit,  and  through  her  he  saw  in  the  spirit 


Norton 


214 


Norton 


the  realms  of  bliss.  Then  follows  (f.  80  b) 
the  '  opusculum  sive  revelacio  gloriosa '  of 
the  soul  of  a  Carthusian  monk  who  had 
attained  to  glory  by  his  devotion  to  the 
Virgin  and  by  his  regular  observance  of  the 
rule  of  his  order.  The  tract  ends  f.  95  b. 

[Manuscripts  cited ;  Tanner's  Bibliotheca, 
8.v.]  M.  B. 

NORTON,  SIR  JOHN  (d.  1534),  soldier, 
was  eldest  son  of  Reginald  Norton  of 
Sheldwich,  by  Catherine,  daughter  of  Ri- 
chard Dryland.  He  was  a  brave  and  ad- 
venturous captain,  and  on  11  July  1511 
sailed  with  Sir  Edward  Poynings  and  fifteen 
hundred  men  from  Sandwich,  going  into 
the  Low  Countries  to  aid  Margaret  of  Savoy 
against  the  Duke  of  Guelders.  In  Guelder- 
land  they '  conquered  alittle  towne  or  twayne,' 
but  failed  to  take  Venloo.  According  to 
Hall,  Norton  distinguished  himself  in  this 
expedition.  Henry  VIII  soon  recalled  the 
little  force,  and  Margaret  gave  all  the  men 
before  they  returned  coats  of  colours  which 
combined  her  livery  with  that  of  Henry. 
Young  Charles  (afterwards  the  Emperor 
Charles  V)  knighted  several  of  the  captains, 
and  among  them  Norton.  They  reached 
Calais  on  their  homeward  journey  on  25  Nov. 
1511.  In  1522  Norton  was  sheriff  of  Kent, 
and  in  1514  sheriff  of  Yorkshire.  He  held 
the  office  of  knight  of  the  body  to  Henry  VIII. 
He  went  to  France  in  1514,  and  again  in 
1532.  In  1532  he  was  a  commissioner  to 
protect  the  coast,  and  in  1525  he  took  part 
in  the  great  funeral  of  Sir  Thomas  Lovell. 
In  1526  the  king  gave  him  a  lease  of  lands 
in  the  Isle  of  Thanet.  He  was  often  in  the 
commission  of  the  peace.  He  died  8  Feb. 
1533-4,  and  was  buried  in  the  Northwood 
chancel  of  Milton  Church  in  Kent  ('  Letters 
and  Papers,  Henry  VIII,'  v.  812,  seems  mis- 
dated). 

Norton  married  one  of  the  two  coheiresses 
of  Roger  de  Northwood  of  Northwood  in 
Milton,  and  left  a  son  John,  who  was 
knighted  on  22  Feb.  1546-7,  was  present  at 
Henry  VIII's  funeral,  and  in  1551  went  on 
an  embassy  to  France.  He  married  Alice, 
daughter  of  Edward  Cobb  of  Cobb's  Place, 
Kent,  and  left  a  son  Thomas  (METCALFE, 
Knights,  p.  94 ;  STRTPE,  Memorials,  u.  i. 
9,  507,  ii.  328 ;  BERRY,  Kent  Geneal.  p.  158). 
Sir  John  also  left  a  daughter  Frideswide, 
who  married  William,  son  of  Sir  John 
Fyneux  [q.  v.],  lord  chief  justice. 

[Letters  and  Papers,  Hen.  VIII,  1509-34; 
Hasted's  Kent,  vol.  i.  p.'  x<-,  vol.  ii.  pp.  625-6  ; 
Hall's  Chron.  pp.  523-4  ;  Chron.  of  Calais 
(Camd.  Soc.),  p.  8 ;  Wriotheslej's  Chron.  (Camd. 
Soc.)  ii.  111.]  W.  A.  J.  A. 


NORTON,  JOHN  (d.  1612),  printer.  [See 
under  NORTOX,  WILLIAM,  1527-1593.] 

NORTON,  JOHN  (1006-1663),  divine, 
born  at  Bishop  Stortford,  Hertfordshire,  on 
9  May  1606,  was  son  of  William  Norton, 
and  came  of  '  honourable  ancestors.'  He  was 
educated  under  Alexander  Strange,  forty- 
six  years  vicar  of  Buntingford,  and  '  could 
betimes  write  good  Latin  with  a  more  than 
common  elegancy  and  invention '  (MATHEK, 
Magnalia,  pt.  iii.  p.  32).  At  fourteen  he 
entered  Peterhouse,  Cambridge,  but,  after 
graduating  B.A.  1627,  'the  ruin  of  his 
father's  estate '  compelled  him  to  leave  the 
university.  He  became  tutor  in  the  Stort- 
ford grammar  school,  and  was  appointed 
curate  there.  The  preaching  of  Jeremiah 
Dyke  [q.  v.]  of  Epping  roused  in  him  strong 
puritanic  feeling.  His  dislike  of  ceremonies 
prevented  his  acceptance  of  a  benefice  offered 
by  his  uncle,  and  of  a  fellowship  pressed 
upon  him  by  Dr.  Sibbes  [q.  v.],  master  of 
Catharine  Hall.  He  was  chaplain  for 
a  time  to  Sir  William  Masham  of  Oates, 
High  Laver,  Essex,  who  afterwards  wrote  to 
Governor  Endecott  (29  March  1636)  'his 
abilyties  are  more  than  ordinary,  and  will  be 
acceptable  and  profitable  to  your  churches.' 
He  preached  wherever  opportunity  offered 
until  silenced  for  nonconformity,  when  he 
determined  to  go  to  America. 

In  1634  Norton  married  a  '  gentlewoman 
of  good  estate  and  good  esteem,'  and  soon 
afterwards  (in  September)  set  sail  with  her 
from  Harwich  for  New  England.     In  Octo- 
ber 1635  they  landed  at  Plymouth,  New 
England,  and  Norton  preached  through  the 
winter.     He  was  soon  '  called '  to  Ipswich, 
although  not  formally  ordained  '  teacher,'  i.e. 
lecturer,  until  20  Oct.  1638.     His  coadjutor 
was  Nathaniel  Ward  [q.  v.]  until  February 
1637 ;  Nathaniel  Rogers  [see  under  ROGERS, 
JOHN]  succeeded  Ward   on   5   Nov.  1639. 
Two  hundred  acres  of  land  were  voted  to 
Norton.     In  1644  he  was  appointed  by  the 
i  New  England  divines  to  draw  up  an  answer 
i  to  the  questions  on  church  government  sent 
i  by   William  Apollonius,  pastor  of  Middle- 
burg,  Holland,  to  the  ministers  of  London. 
I  This  work  (finished  in  1645), '  Responsio  ad 
i  totam  qusestionurn  syllogen,'  London,  1648, 
I  was  the  first  Latin  book  composed  in  the 
!  colonies.     It  was  praised  by  Goodwin,  Nye, 
Professor  Hornbeck  of  Leyden,  and  others. 
Fuller  in  his  '  Church  History '  says  no  book 
was  '  more  informative  to  me  of  those  opi- 
nions.'    The  'Introductory  Epistle'    is  by 
John  Cotton  (1585-1652),  formerly  vicar  of 
i  Boston,  Lincolnshire,  and  then  pastor  of  the 
j  first  church  in  Boston,  Massachusetts.     Nor- 


Norton 


215 


Norton 


ton  afterwards  wrote,  '  Abel  being  dead  yet 
speaketh,  or  the  Life  and  Death  of  Mr.  John 
Cotton,'  London,  1658 ;  reprinted,  with  short 
memoir  of  the  author  by  Enoch  Pond,  New 
York,  1842. 

In  1645  Norton  wrote  a  Latin  letter  to 
John  Durie  (1596-1680)  [q.  v.],  which  was 
translated  and  printed,  with  the  last  three 
sermons  preached  by  Norton  in  1664.  There 
he  set  forth  the  view  that,  although  he  and  his 
friends  refused  subscription  to  the  hierarchy, 
they  claimed  fellowship  with  such  churches 
as  profess  the  gospel.  A  copy,  with  auto- 
graph signatures  of  Norton  and  forty-three 
other  ministers,  belongs  to  the  American 
Antiquarian  Society  of  Worcester,  Massa- 
chusetts (MACLTJRE). 

In  1646  Norton  took  a  leading  part  in  the 
Cambridge  synod,  and  in  drawing  up  the 
'  Platform  of  Church  Discipline.'  On  the 
death  of  Cotton  in  1652  he  was  called  to 
Boston.  Rogers  dying  two  years  later,  the 
Ipswich  church  clamoured  for  Norton's  re- 
turn. He  was,  however,  installed  teacher 
of  the  Boston  church,  in  conjunction  with 
John  Wilson,  on  23  July  1656;  on  the  same 
day  he  married  his  second  wife,  Mary  Mason 
of  Boston  (d.  January  1678),  and  was  given 
200/.  to  buy  a  house. 

Norton  was  chief  instigator  of  the  perse- 
cution of  the  quakers  in  New  England  [see 
under  LEDDRA,WILLIAM].  He  was  requested 
by  the  Massachusetts  council  on  19  Oct. 
1658  to  write  a  '  tractate '  against  their 
heresies  (Records,  iv.  348) ;  copies  of  his 
*  Heart  of  New  England  Rent '  were  ordered 
to  be  distributed  on  28  May  1659  (ib.  p.  381 ), 
and  a  grant  of  five  hundred  acres  of  land, 
with  the  council's  thanks,  was  made  him  on 
12  Nov.  of  the  same  year  (ib.  p.  397).  A 
royal  mandamus  for  the  suspension  of  the 
penal  laws  against  the  quakers  was  issued 
at  Whitehall  on  9  Sept.  1661  (SfiWEL,  Hist, 
of  the  Rise,  &c.,  i.  363),  and  an  order  given 
for  the  release  of  all  in  prison.  On  11  Feb. 
1662  Norton  and  Simon  Bradstreet  sailed  for 
England  to  obtain  from  the  king  a  confirma- 
tion of  their  charter,  which  they  feared  was 
endangered  by  the  unwarrantable  severity 
which  they  had  employed  against  the  quakers. 
They  had  several  interviews  with  George 
Fox,  and  Norton  denied  that  he  had  taken 
part  in  the  persecution  at  Boston.  William 
Robinson's  father,  a  Cumberland  man,  appears 
to  have  been  anxious  to  prosecute  the  deputies 
for  murder  (BISHOP,  New  England  Judged, 

£47),  but  was  dissuaded  by  Fox  (Journal, 
eeds   ed.  i.  549).     Upon  their  return  to 
Boston  they  were  coldly  received,  and  Norton 
died  suddenly  six  months  later,  on  5  April 
1663,  after  preaching  at  the  Sunday  morning 


service.  His  funeral  sermon  was  preached 
by  Richard  Mather  at  the  Thursday  lecture 
following.  Some  verses  by  Thomas  Shep- 
herd on  his  death  are  in  Nathaniel  Morton's 
'  New  England's  Memorial,'  6th  ed.,  Boston, 
1855,  p.  195. 

Norton  had  no  children.  His  widow  gave 
or  bequeathed  almost  all  his  property  to  the 
Old  South  church  in  Boston.  Wine,  lute- 
string, and  gloves  at  her  funeral  cost  as 
much  as  73/.  (MACLTJRE).  Norton's  brother 
William,  living  at  Ipswich,  Massachusetts, 
was  father  of  JOHN  NORTON  (1651-1716), 
pastor  of  Hingham,  Massachusetts,  author 
of  some  sermons  and  verses. 

Norton  was  a  strong  Calvinist,  an  effective 
preacher,  and  a  ready,  if  unpolished,  writer. 
Besides  the  books  above  mentioned,  and 
some  separate  sermons,  he  wrote :  1.  '  A 
Brief  and  Excellent  Treatise  containing  the 
Doctrine  of  Godlinesse,'  &c.,  London,  1647. 

2.  '  The  Sufferings  of  Christ,'  London,  1653. 

3.  '  The  Orthodox  Evangelist,'  &c.,  London, 
1654;   another  edition,  London,  1657;   re- 
printed Boston,   1851.     4.  '  The   Heart  of 
New  England  Rent,'  &c.,  London  (12  Jan.), 
1659 ;  Cambridge,  Massachusetts,  1659.  This 
violent  attack  upon   the  quakers  was  an- 
swered by  Francis  Howgil  and  Edward  Bur- 
rough  [q.  v.],  by  Humphrey  Norton  [q.  v.], 
and  by  Isaac  Pennington  (1616-1679)  [q.  v.] 
5.  '  The  Divine  Offence,'  &c.     6.  '  A  Cate- 
chism.'    7.  <  Of  the  State  of  the  Blessed.' 

He  left  in  manuscript  a  '  Body  of  Divinity,' 
which  is  preserved  among  the  archives  of 
the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society. 

[Palfrey's  Hist,  of  New  England,  vols.  i.  and 
ii.  passim ;  Neal's  Hist,  of  New  England,  ii.  332 ; 
Gough's  Hist,  of  Quakers,  i.  375  ;  Brook's  Puri- 
tans, iii.  394,  419  ;  Doyle's  English  in  America, 
ii.  144. 175, 179  ;  Sprague's  Annals  of  the  Ame- 
rican Pulpit,  Trinitarian  Congregational,  New 
York,  1857,  i.  54-9,  Unitarian,  1865,  p.  1,  n. ; 
Urwick's  Nonconformity  in  Hertfordshire,  pp. 
613,  695-6,  756 ;  Madura's  Lives  of  the  chief 
Fathers  of  New  England,  Boston,  1870,  ii.  175- 
248 ;  J.  B.  Felt's  Hist,  of  Ipswich,  &c.,  Cam- 
bridge, Massachusetts,  1834,  pp.  221-5 ;  and  his 
Selections  from  New  England  Fathers,  No.  1, 
John  Norton,  Boston,  1851,  p.  2  ;  Smith's  Biblio- 
theca  Anti-Quakeriana,  p.  341 ;  Hutchinson's 
Collection  of  Papers  relating  to  the  Colony  of 
Massachusetts  Bay,  Boston,  1769,  pp.  348-77; 
Bowden's  Hist,  of  Friends  in  America,  vol.  i.  pt. 
iii.  pp.  241-3.]  C.  F.  S. 

NORTON,  JOHN  (ft.  1674),  a  youthful 
prodigy,  born  in  London  in  1662,  made,  at 
the  age  of  twelve,  a  paraphrase  translation 
of  the  poems  of  Marcus  Antonius  Flaminius. 
This  was  published  as  '  The  Scholar's  Vade 
Mecum,  or  the  Serious  Student's  Solid  and 


Norton 


216 


Norton 


Silent  Tutor,'  1674.  Norton  especially  prided 
himself  on  the  '  idiomatologic  and  philologic 
annotations,'  which  were  extraordinary  for 
so  young  a  boy.  In  an  appendix  he  supplies 
instances  of  the  different  figures  of  speech 
from  the  hymns  of  Flaminius,  and  writes 
about  them  in  Latin.  He  then  devotes  163 
pages  to  a  very  ingenious  and  painstaking 
collection  of  idioms,  introducing  some  part 
of  the  Latin  verb  '  facere '  and  the  English 
verb '  to  make.'  The '  Scholar's  Vade  Mecum ' 
is  dedicated  to  John  Arnold,  esq.,  high  sheriff 
of  Monmouth,  and  to  his  wife.  Congratu- 
latory verses  are  offered  by  four  writers, 
in  one  of  which  Norton's  book  is  spoken  of 
as  '  meet  for  Milton's  pen  and  curious  Stil- 
lingfleet.'  There  is  a  portrait  engraved  by 
William  Sherwin. 

There  is  in  the  British  Museum  a  broad- 
side, written  in  the  same  year  (1674),  by 
John  Norton,  entitled '  The  King's  [Charles  II] 
Entertainment  at  Guild-hall,  or  London's 
Option  in  Fruition '  [in  verse]. 

[Scholar'sVade  Mecum,  1674;  Granger's  Biogr. 
Hist.  iv.  98 .]  F.  W-N. 

NORTON,  JOHN  BRUCE  (1815-1883), 
advocate-general  at  Madras,  born  in  1815, 
was  the  eldest  son  of  Sir.  John  David  Nor- 
ton, a  puisne  justice  of  the  supreme  court  at 
Madras,  who  was  knighted  by  patent  on 
27  Jan.  1842,  and  died  on  his  passage  from 
Madras  to  Malacca  on  24  Sept.  1843.  He 
married  in  1813  Helen  Barrington,  daughter 
of  Major-general  Bruce  of  the  Indian  ser- 
vice. John  Bruce  Norton  was  educated 
at  Harrow,  and  played  at  Lord's  cricket 
ground  in  the  school  eleven  against  Eton 
in  two  successive  matches.  He  matriculated 
from  Merton  College,  Oxford,  on  13  Jan. 
1833,  was  a  postmaster  1833-7,  graduated 
B.A.  1838,  was  called  to  the  bar  at  Lin- 
coln's Inn  on  17  Nov.  1841,  and  accompanied 
his  father  to  India  in  1842.  From  1843  to  1 845 
he  acted  as  sheriff  of  Madras,  and  was  then 
appointed  clerk  of  the  crown  in  the  supreme 
court  of  judicature.  He  held  the  office  till 
17  Aug.  1862,  when  the  court  was  abolished. 
He  was  also  counsel  for  paupers  1847,  govern- 
ment pleader  1  Feb.  1 853,  public  prosecutor 
15  Aug.  1862,  acting  advocate-general  1862- 
1863,  and  advocate-general  2  June  1863; 
the  last  appointment  carried  with  it  a  seat 
on  the  LegislativeCouncil  at  Madras.  He  was 
likewise  a  senator  of  the  Madras  University, 
aprofessor  of  law,  and,  as  president  of  Patche- 
apah's  Institution,  he  delivered  a  series  of 
educational  speeches,  which  were  published 
separately.  He  did  some  useful  work  on  the 
tontine  commission,  and  on  the  -commission 
for  the  administration  of  trustees.  Resign- 


ing the  advocate-generalship  in  1871,  he 
returned  to  England,  and  in  January  1873 
was  named  the  first  lecturer  on  law  to  In- 
dian students  at  the  Temple,  London,  where 
he  lectured  on  Hindu  and  Mohammedan 
law  and  on  the  laws  in  force  in  British 
India.  He  also  held  private  classes.  He 
died  at  11  Penywern  Road,  Kensington, 
London,  on  13  July  1883. 

While  in  India  he  wrote  a  work  entitled 
'The  Law  of  Evidence  applicable  to  the 
Courts  of  the  East  India  Company  explained 
in  a  Course  of  Lectures  at  the  Madras  Pre- 
sidency College,  Madras,'  1858  (8th  edit. 
1873) ;  it  is  a  well-known  pass-book  on 
Indian  law. 

Norton  was  also  author  of  the  following, 
all  published  at  Madras,  except  where  Lon- 
don is  specified :  1. 'Folia  Opima.  Inverse. 
By  J.  B.  N.  of  Merton  College,'  1843.  2. '  The 
Administration  of  Justice  in  Southern  India/ 
1853 ;  answered  by  C.  R.  Baynes  in '  A  Plea 
for  the  Madras  Judges,'  1853.  3.  '  A  Letter 
to  C.  R.  Baynes,  containing  a  Reply  to  his 
Plea,'  1853 ;  to  which  Baynes  wrote  '  A  Re- 
joinder,' 1853.  4.  'A  Reply  to  a  Madras 
Civilian's  [Mr.  Holloway's]  Defence  of  the 
Mofussil  Courts  in  India,'  London,  1853. 

5.  '  A  Letter  on  the  Condition  and  Require- 
ments of  the  Presidency  of  Madras,'  1854. 

6.  '  An  Inaugural  Lecture  on  the  Study  of 
the  Law  and  General  Jurisprudence,'  1855. 

7.  'The  Rebellion  in  India :  how  to  prevent 
another,'  1857.     8.  '  Speech  of  Mr.  Norton 
at  the  Fourteenth  Anniversary  Meeting  of 
the  Patcheapha  Moodeliar's  Institution  in 
Madras,'  1857  ;  other  speeches  were  printed 
in  1863  and  1864.    9.  '  A  Report;  of  the  Case 
of  Kamachee  Boye  Sahiba  versus  the  East 
India  Company  and  others,  drawn  up  from 
Notes  of  Counsel,'  1858.      10.  '  Topics  for 
India  Statesmen,'  London,  1858.     11.  '  The 
Trades'  and  Professions'  Licensing  Bill  for 
India.   Speech  delivered  at  Madras,'  London, 
1859.    12. 'Memories  of  Merton  College.  In 
verse,' London,  1861 ;  2nd  edit.  Madras,  1865. 
13.  '  Nemesis,'  a  poem,  1861.    14.  '  Topics  of 
Jurisprudence,  or  Aids  to  the  Office  of  the 
Indian  Judge,'  London,  1862.  15.  '  The  Edu- 
cation Speech,'  London,  1866  ;  another  edit. 
1870.      16.  '  A  Selection  of  Leading  Cases 
in  the  Hindu  Law  of  Inheritance,'  London, 
1870-1,  2  vols. 

[Times,  16  July  1883.  p.  10;  Law  Times, 
21  July  1883  p.  232,  28  July  p.  249;  Law- 
Journal,  21  July  1883,  p.  407.]  G-.  C.  B. 

NORTON,  MATTHEW  THOMAS 
(1732-1800),  Dominican,  born  in  1732  at 
Roundhay,  near  Leeds,  was  converted  to 
the  Roman  catholic  faith  during  a  visit  to 


Norton 


217 


Norton 


Flanders,  and  was  professed  as  a  Dominican 
on  23  Oct.  1754,  at  the  college  of  Bornhem 
(situate  between  Ghent  and  Antwerp), which 
had  been  founded  by  Philip  Thomas  Howard 
[q.  v.]  in  1657.  Norton  subsequently  studied 
at  the  English  college  of  St.  Thomas  Aquinas 
in  Louvain,  and  was  designed  to  serve  in  the 
island  of  Santa  Cruz  in  the  West  Indies ; 
but  this  assignation  was  prohibited  by  the 
master-general  on  2  Dec.  1758.  On  29  June 
1759  he  left  Bornhem  for  Aston  Flamville 
in  Leicestershire;  on  9  Aug.  in  the  same 
year  he  moved  to  Sketchley,  and  in  the  spring 
of  1765  he  removed  the  mission  to  Hinckley, 
near  Leicester.  In  November  1767  he  was 
elected  prior  of  Bornhem,  and  entirely  re- 
built both  the  convent  and  the  secular  col- 
lege attached  to  it.  He  revisited  Hinckley 
in  March  1771,  but  was  re-elected  prior  of 
Bornhem  in  1774,  and  was  instituted  rector 
of  St.  Thomas's  College,  Louvain,  on  17  Feb. 
1775.  He  was  appointed  vicar-provincial  of 
Belgium,  and  held  that  office  from  1774  to 
1778 ;  and  he  was  granted  the  degree  of  D.D. 
by  the  university  of  Louvain  in  1783.  He 
returned  to  Hinckley  in  October  1780,  built 
the  Roman  catholic  chapel  there  in  1793,  and 
thence  served  Leicester  from  October  1783  to 
August  1785.  He  also  founded  a  mission  at 
Coventry.  He  died  at  Hinckley  on  7  Aug. 
1800,  and  was  buried  in  Aston  Flamville 
churchyard ;  his  epitaph  is  given  at  length 
by  Nichols  {Hist,  and  Antiq.  of  Leicester- 
shire, iv.  453). 

Norton  won  three  medals  offered  by  the 
Brussels  Academy  for  dissertations  respec- 
tively upon  raising  wool  {Les  moyens  de  per- 
fectionner  dans  les  Provinces  Selgiques  la 
Laine  des  Moutons,  1777,  4to),  upon  the 
using  of  oxen  as  beasts  of  draught  {L'Emploi 
des  Bceufs  dans  nos  Provinces,  tant  pour 
I  'agriculture  que  pour  le  transport  des  mar- 
chandises  sur  les  canaux,  &c.  1778,  4to),  and 
on  raising  bees  {Les  meilleurs  moyens  d'elever 
les  Abeilles  dans  nos  Provinces,  1780,  4to). 
He  was  a  strong  advocate  of  the  use  of  oxen 
by  farmers  in  preference  to  horses,  and  pur- 
posed writing  a  work  in  English  upon  this 
subject,  in  expansion  of  the  '  Me"moire,' 
which,  together  with  the  two  others  men- 
tioned, was  published  by  the  Academic 
Imperiale  des  Sciences  et  Belles-Lettres  de 
Bruxelles. 

[Palmer's  Obituary  Notices  of  Friar  Preachers 
of  the  English  Province,  1884,  p.  21,  together 
with  some  additional  notes  kindly  supplied  by 
the  author  ;  Nichols's  History  and  Antiquities  of 
Leicestershire,  iv.  473 ;  Namur's  Bibliographic 
Academique  Beige,  Liege,  1838,  p.  22;  Mouk's 
General  View  of  the  Agriculture  of  the  County  of 
Leicester,  17941.  T.  S. 


NORTON,  RICHARD  (d.  1420),  chief 
justice  of  the  court  of  common  pleas,  was  son 
of  Adam  Norton,  whose  original  name  was 
Conyers,  and  who  adopted  the  name  of  Nor- 
ton on  marrying  the  heiress  of  that  family 
(SuRTEEs,  Durham,  vol.  i.  p.  clxi).  He  ap- 
pears as  an  advocate  in  1399,  and  was  pro- 
bably a  serjeant-at-law  before  1403.  On  4  J  une 
1405  he  was  included  in  the  commission  ap- 
pointed for  the  trial  of  all  concerned  in  Arch- 
bishop Scrope's  rebellion ;  his  name  was,  how- 
ever, omitted  from  the  fresh  commission 
appointed  two  days  later  (WYLIE,  Hist. 
Henry  IV.  ii.  230-1).  In  1406  he  appears 
as  a  justice  of  assize  for  the  county  palatine 
of  Durham  (SURTEES,  vol.  i.  p.  Ivii).  In 
1408  he  occurs  as  one  of  the  king's  Serjeants. 
Immediately  after  the  accession  of  Henry  V 
Norton  appears  as  one  of  the  justices  of  the 
court  of  common  pleas,  and  on  26  June  1413 
was  appointed  chief  justice  (Cal.  Pat.  Rolls, 
John  to  Edw.  IV,  pp.  260,  261).  From  No- 
vember 1414  to  December  1420  he  appears 
regularly  as  a  trier  of  petitions  in  parliament 
{Rolls  of  Parliament,  iv.  35«-123  b).  He 
died  on  20  Dec.  1420.  Norton  married 
Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Sir  John  Tempest  of 
Studley,  by  whom  he  had  several  sons,  the 
pedigree  of  whose  descendants  is  given  in 
Surtees's  '  History  of  Durham,'  vol.  i.  p.  clx- 
clxi. 

[Proceedings  of  Privy  Council,  i.  203,  iii.  33; 
Foss's  Judges  of  England,  iv.  207-8;  other 
authorities  quoted.]  C.  L.  K. 

NORTON,  RICHARD  (1488  P-1588), 
rebel,  known  in  the  time  of  the  northern 
rebellion  of  1569  as  'Old  Norton,'  is  said 
to  have  been  born  in  1488.  He  was  eldest 
son  of  John  Norton  of  Norton  Conyers,  by 
his  wife  Anne,  daughter  of  William  or 
Miles  Radclyffe  of  Rylleston.  His  grand- 
father, Sir  John  Norton  of  Norton  Conyers, 
was  grandson  of  Sir  Richard  Norton  [q.v.], 
chief  justice  of  the  common  pleas.  Richard 
Norton  took  part  in  the  pilgrimage  of  grace, 
but  was  pardoned  (cf.  Memorials  of  the  Re- 
bellion, pp.  284-5).  In  1545  and  in  1556  he 
was  one  of  the  council  of  the  north.  In  1  •  )•>-"> 
and  1557  he  was  governor  of  Norham  Castle, 
but  apparently  lost  these  offices  on  the  acces- 
sion of  Elizabeth.  He  was,  however,  sheriff 
of  Yorkshire,  1508-9.  On  the  breaking  out 
of  the  rebellion  of  1569  he  joined  the  in- 
surgents, and  is  described  as  '  an  old  gentle- 
man with  a  reverend  grey  beard.'  His  estates 
were  confiscated,  and  he  was  attainted. 
When  all  was  over  he  fled  across  the  border, 
and  was  seen  at  Cavers  by  the  traitor  Con- 
stable, but  resisted  his  suggestions  of  coming 
to  England  and  asking  for  mercy.  He  soon 


Norton 


218 


Norton 


went  to  Flanders,  and,  with  others  of  his 
family,  was  pensioned  by  Philip  of  Spain,  his 
own  allowance  being  eighteen  crowns  a 
month.  John  Story  was  said  to  have  con- 
versed with  him  in  Flanders  in  1571  ('Life,' 
in  Harl.  Misc.  vol.  iii.)  He  afterwards  seems 
to  have  lived  in  France,  and  Edmund  Neville 

aY.]  was  accused  of  being  in  his  house  at 
uen.  He  died  abroad,  probably  in  Flan- 
ders, on  9  April  1588.  In  the '  Estate  of  the 
English  Fugitives,' '  old  Norton '  is  mentioned 
as  one  of  those  who  are  '  onely  for  want  of 
things  necessarie,  and  of  pure  povertie,  con- 
sumed and  dead '  (Sadler  State  Papers,  ii. 
242).  A  portrait  is  in  possession  of  Lord 
Grantley,  the  present  representative  of  the 
family.  He  married  Susanna,  fifth  daughter 
of  Richard,  second  lord  Latimer  [-q.  v.] ;  and, 
secondly,  Philippa,  daughter  of  Robert 
Trappes  of  London,  widow  of  Sir  George 
Gitfbrd.  He  left  a  very  large  family. 

The  eldest  son,  Francis  Norton  of  Bal- 
derslie,  Lincolnshire,  took  part  in  the  re- 
bellion of  1569,  and  fled  with  his  father  to 
Flanders  in  1570.  He  carried  on  a  corre- 
spondence with  Leicester  in  1572,  but  died 
in  exile.  His  wife,  Albreda  or  Aubrey 
Wimbush,  had  in  June  1573  an  allow- 
ance of  one  hundred  marks  a  year  from 
her  husband's  lands.  The  second  son,  John 
Norton,  of  Ripon  and  Lazenby,  Lincolnshire, 
was  accused  of  complicity  in  the  rebellion  in 
1572,  but  lived  on  in  England.  He  married  : 
first,  Jane,  daughter  of  Robert  Morton  of 
Bawtry ;  secondly,  Margaret,  daughter  of 
Christopher  Readshaw.  He  has  been  identi- 
fied with  John  Norton  who  was  executed  on 
9  Aug.  1600  for  recusancy,  together  with  one 
JohnTalbot.  His  wife  (presumably  his  second 
wife)  at  that  time  was  reprieved,  as  being 
with  child.  Another  John  Norton  received 
a  pardon  in  December  1601  for  harbouring 
Thomas  Palliser,  a  seminary  priest.  The 
third  son,  Edmund  Norton  of  Clowbeck, 
Yorkshire,  is  supposed  to  have  died  in  1610. 
He  was  ancestor  of  Fletcher  Norton,  first 
Lord  Grantley  [q.  v.] 

William  Norton,  the  fourth  son,  of  Hart- 
forth,  Yorkshire,  took  part  in  the  rebellion, 
was  arraigned  at  Westminster  on  6  April  1 570, 
was  confined  in  the  Tower,  and  presumably 
released  on  a  composition.  He  appears  to 
have  been  befriended  by  the  Earl  of  Warwick 
and  Sir  George  Bowes.  He  married  Anne, 
daughter  of  Mathew  Boynton.  The  fifth 
son,  George,  although  sentenced  to  death, 
was  apparently  not  executed.  The  sixth  son, 
Thomas,  was  not  implicated,  and  must  be 
distinguished  from  his  uncle  Thomas,  who 
was  executed  at  Tyburn  in  1570.  Christo- 
pher Norton  (d.  1570),  the  seventh  son, 


was  a  devoted  adherent  of  Mary  Queen  of 
Scots,  and,  with  other  Yorkshire  gentlemen, 
formed  a  plot  to  murder  the  regent  Murray 
early  in  1569.  Having  secured  a  position  in 
the  guard  of  Lord  Scrope  at  Bolton,  he 
planned  her  escape,  and,  though  that  scheme 
came  to  nothing,  he  had  communications  with 
her  which  probably  guided  the  rebels  later 
in  the  year.  He  was  seen  by  a  spy  (Captain 
Shirley)  at  Raby  in  December,  and  is  de- 
scribed by  Sir  Ralph  Sadler  as  '  one  of  the 
principal  workers '  in  the  rebellion.  When 
the  rising  failed  he  was  taken  at  Carlisle  in 
December  1569,  and  brought  up  to  London. 
He  confessed,  and  was  executed  at  Tyburn 
early  in  1570.  Marmaduke  Norton,  the 
eighth  son,  pleaded  guilty,  and  was  pro- 
bably released  on  composition  about  1572. 
He  died  at  Stranton,  Durham,  in  1594, 
having  married,  first,  Elizabeth,  daughter  of 
John  Killinghall ;  and,  secondly,  Frances, 
daughter  of  Ralph  Hedworth  of  Pokerly, 
widow  of  George  Blakeston.  The  ninth  son, 
Sampson,  after  taking  part  in  the  rebellion, 
died  abroad  before  the  end  of  1594.  He  had 
married  Bridget,  daughter  of  Sir  Ralph  Bul- 
mer.  There  were  two  other  sons,  Richard 
and  Henry,  who  both  died  in  1564. 

The  story  of  the  Nortons  is  utilised  by 
Wordsworth  in  his '  White  Doe  of  Rylstone.' 

[State  Papers,  v.  402-11  ;  Fisher's  Hist,  of 
Masham,  p.  92 ;  Notes  and  Queries,  2nd  ser.  viii. 
249,  337,  388;  Ealph  Eoyster  Doyster,  Pref. 
ed.  Cooper  (Shakespeare  Soc.) ;  Surtees's  Hist, 
of  Durham,  i.  Ixxiii,  &c. ;  Whitaker's  Hist,  of 
Craven,  p.  523,  &c. ;  Memorials  of  the  Rebellion 
of  1569;  Fronde's  Hist,  of  Engl.  vol.  ix. ;  Sadler 
Papers,  vol.  ii. ;  Letters  and  Papers,  Henry  VIII 
xi.  760  ;  Cal.  of  State  Papers.  Dora.  1547-80, 
p.  368,  &c.,  Foreign,  1569-71.]  W.  A.  J.  A. 

NORTON,  ROBERT  (1540  P-1587  ?), 
divine,  born  about  1540,  was  educated  at 
Caius  College,  Cambridge,  and  graduated 
B,A.  1558-9,  M.A.  1563,  and  B.D.  1570.  In 
1572,  on  the  occurrence  of  a  suit  between  a 
Dr.  Willoughby,  vicar  of  Aldborough,  Suf- 
folk, and  his  parishioner  tenant,  Parker 
deprived  Willoughby  of  the  living,  and  pre- 
sented Norton  in  his  place,  as  '  a  learned  man 
and  a  good  preacher'  (STKYPE,  Parker,  ii. 
157;  RYMEK,  .Fcedera,x\.  710).  Four  years 
later  Norton  was  appointed  town  preacher 
to  the  commonalty  of  Ipswich,  an  ancient 
town  lectureship  connected  with  the  cor- 
porate body,  and  exercised  at  the  church  of 
St.  Mary  Tower.  In  1585  an  acrimonious 
dispute  arose  between  him  and  William 
Negus  [q.  v.],  who  was  apparently  the  second 
minister,  and  under  Norton.  It  probably 
arose  from  Negus's  puritanical  exception  to 
Norton's  enjoyment  of  a  plurality,  and  ended 


Norton 


219 


Norton 


in  the  latter's  retirement  to  his  Aldborough 
vicarage,  though  with  a  certificate  from  the 
commonalty  of  Ipswich  attesting  his  good 
conversation  and  doctrine.  His  successor  at 
Aldborough,  Robert  Neave,  fellow  of  Pem- 
broke Hall,  Cambridge,  was  appointed  on 
30  June  1587,  from  which  date  nothing 
further  is  heard  of  Norton. 

He  wrote :  '  Certaine  Godlie  Homilies  or 
Sermons  upon  the  Prophets  Abdias  and 
Jonas,  conteyning  a  most  fruitefull  Exposi- 
tion of  the  same,  made  by  the  excellent 
learned  man  Rodolph  Gualter  of  Tigure,  and 
translated  into  English  by  Robert  Norton, 
Minister  of  the  Word  in  Suffolk,'  London, 
1573,  two  editions ;  an  epistle  dedicatory  to 
"William  Blennerhasset  is  signed  by  John 
Walker  from  Leighton. 

[Strype's  Parker ;  Cooper's  Athense  Cant. ; 
Tanner's  Bibl.  Brit.-Hib. ;  Wodderspoon's  Me- 
morials of  Ipswich,  p.  366 ;  Ames's  Typogr. 
Antiq.  ed.  Herbert,  pp.  901,  973 ;  Rymer's 
Fcedera,  xv. ;  Davy's  manuscript  collections  for 
a  History  of  Suffolk,  Brit.  Mus.  xxiv.  45,  51  ; 
Coles  MS.  50,  f.  210;  Lansdowne  MS.  155,  f.  84.] 

W.  A.  S. 

NORTON,  ROBERT  (d.  1635),  engineer 
and  gunner,  was  third  son  and  fifth  child  of 
Thomas  Norton  (1532-1584)  [q.  v.],  and  of 
his  second  wife,  Alice,  daughter  of  Edmund 
Cranmer,  brother  to  the  archbishop.  In  the 
pedigree  entered  by  Norton  himself  in  the 
'Visitation  of  Hertfordshire'  in  1634  (Harl. 
Soc.  p.  80)  he  is  given  as  the  son  of  his  father's 
first  wife,  Margaret,  daughter  of  Archbishop 
Cranmer  :  but,  according  to  Mr.  Waters 
(Chesters  of  C/iicheley,  p.  389),  she  died 
without  issue  in  1568.  He  studied  engineer- 
ing and  gunnery  under-  John  Reinolds,  mas- 
ter-gunner of  England,  and  through  his 
influence  was  made  a  gunner  in  the  royal 
service.  On  11  March  1624  he  received  the 
grant  of  a  gunner's  room  in  the  Tower,  and 
on  26  Sept.  1627  he  was  sent  to  Plymouth 
in  the  capacity  of  engineer,  to  await  the 
arrival  of  the  Earl  of  Holland  and  to  accom- 
pany him  to  the  Isle  of  Rhe,  and  in  the  same 
year  he  was  granted  the  post  of  engineer  of 
the  Tower  of  London  for  life. 

He  married  Anne,  daughter  of  Robert 
Heare  or  Hare,  and  by  her  had  three  sons 
and  two  daughter.  He  died  early  in  1635, 
as  his  will,  dated  28  Jan.  1634-5,  was 
proved  in  P.C.C.  on  19  Feb.  following. 

The  following  works  are  attributed  to 
him  :  1.  '  A  Mathematicall  Apendix,'  Lon- 
don, 1604.  2.  'Disme,  the  Art  of  Tenths,  or 
Decimall  Arithmetike,'  London,  1608.  3. '  Of 
the  Art  of  Great  Artillery,'  London,  1624. 
4.  '  The  Gunner,  showing  the  whole  practise 
of  Artillerie,'  London,  1628.  He  supplied 


tables  of  interest  and  measurement,  and  in- 
structions in  decimal  arithmetic  to  Robert 
Record's  '  Ground  of  Arts,'  1623.  The '  Gun- 
ner's Dialogue,'  with  the  '  Art  of  Great  Artil- 
lery,' by  Norton,  was  published  in  the  1643 
edition  of  W.  Bourne's  '  Arte  of  Shooting.' 
Norton  also  published  an  English  version  of 
Camden's  '  Annals,'  London,  1630;  3rd  edit. 
1635,  in  which  he  interpolated  a  panegyric 
on  his  father  (p.  146),  and  was  probably  the 
Robert  Norton  whose  verses  are  printed 
at  the  beginning  of  Captain  John  Smith's 
'  Generall  Historic  of  Virginia,'  1626. 

[Chester  Waters's  Cheaters  of  Chicheley,  pp. 
393-4 ;  Cal.  State  Papers,  Dom.  Ser.  1623-5 
p.  185, 1627-8  pp.  358,  394;  Herald  and  Genea- 
logist, iii.  278-80;  Norton's  Works.]  B.  P. 

NORTON,  SIR  SAMPSON  (d.  1517), 
surveyor  of  the  ordnance  and  marshal  of 
Tournay,  was  related  to  the  Norton  family 
of  Yorkshire,  a  member  of  which,  a  rebel  of 
1569,  was  called  Sampson  Norton.  He  was 
early  engaged  in  the  service  of  Edward  IV, 
and  was  knighted  in  Brittany  by  Lord 
Brooke  about  1483,  probably  during  the 
preparation  for  war  caused  by  the  English 
dislike  of  the  Franco-Burgundian  alliance. 
In  1486  he  was  custumer  at  Southampton, 
and  6  Aug.  1486  was  appointed  a  commis- 
sioner to  inquire  what  wool  and  woolfels 
were  exported  from  Chichester  without  the 
king's  license.  The  same  year  he  received 
the  manor  of  Tarrant  Launceston  in  Dorset 
in  tail  male.  Machado  met  him  in  Brittany 
in  1490.  He  was  also  serjeant-porter  of 
Calais,  and  in  office  during  the  affair  of 
John  Flamank  and  Sir  Hugh  Conway  [see 
NANFAN,  SIR  RICHARD].  In  1492  he  was 
one  of  those  who  received  the  French  am- 
bassadors in  connection  with  the  Treaty  of 
Etaples.  In  1494  he  was  present  at  the 
tournaments  held  when  Prince  Henry  was 
created  a  knight.  On  10  April  1495  he 
became  constable  of  Flint  Castle,  and  the 
office  was  renewed  to  him  on  23  Jan.  1508- 
1509.  In  1509  he  was  created  chamberlain  of 
North  Wales.  He  distinguished  himself  in 
Henry  VIII's  French  wars,  holding,  as  he 
had  held  under  Henry  VII,  the  office  of  sur- 
veyorof  the  ordnance — an  important  position, 
involving  the  control  of  a  number  of  clerks 
and  servants.  He  may  have  been  a  yeoman 
of  the  guard  in  1511.  In  1512  he  was  taken 
prisoner  at  Arras,  and  after  some  difficulty 
was  set  free.  In  February  1514-5  he  was 
marshal  of  Tournay,  and  was  nearly  killed 
in  a  mutiny  of  the  soldiers,  who  wanted  their 
pay.  On  1 1  Sept.  1 516  he  became  chamberlain 
of  the  exchequer.  Norton  died  8  Feb.  1516-17, 
and  was  buried  at  All  Saints,  Fulham,  where 
there  was  a  monument  with  an  inscription, 


Norton 


220 


Norton 


now  defaced.  He  married  an  illegitimate 
daughter  of  Lord  Zouche.  Another  Samp- 
son Norton  was  a  vintner  in  Calais  in  1528, 
and  his  house  was  assigned  to  the  French 
for  lodgings  in  1532. 

[Letters  &c.,  Eichard  III  and  Hen.  VII,  ed. 
Gairdner  (Rolls  Ser.),  i.  231,  238,  404;  Mater. 
for  Hist,  of  Hen.  VII,  ed.  Campbell  (Eolls  Ser.), 
i.  439,  524,  ii.  409,  532,  562;  Memorials  of 
Hen.  VII,  ed.  Gairdner  (Rolls  Ser.),  pp.  376,  382; 
Chron.of  Calais  (Camd.  Soc.) ;  Letters  and  Papers 
Hen.  VIII,  1509-17;  Notes  and  Queries,  7th 
ser.  viii.  9,  133,  215;  Hutchins's  Dorset.] 

W.  A.  J.  A. 

NORTON,  SAMUEL  (1548-1604  ?),  al- 
chemist, was  the  son  of  Sir  George  Norton  of 
Abbots  Leigh  in  Somerset  (d.  1584),  and  was 
great-grandson  of  Thomas  Norton  (Jl.  1477), 
of  Bristol  [q.  v.]  He  studied  for  some  time 
at  St.  John's  College,  Cambridge,  but  appears 
to  have  taken  no  degree.  On  the  death  of 
his  father,  in  1584,  he  succeeded  to  the 
estates.  Early  in  1585  he  was  in  the  com- 
mission of  the  peace  for  the  county,  but  ap- 
parently suffered  removal,  for  he  was  re- 
appointed  in  October  1589,  on  the  recom- 
mendation of  Godwin,  bishop  of  Bath  and 
Wells  (STEYPE,  Annals,  vol.  iii.  pt.  ii. 
p.  462).  He  was  sheriff  of  Somerset  in 
1589,  and  was  appointed  muster  master  of 
Somerset  and  Wiltshire  on  30  June  1604. 

Norton  was  the  author  of  several  alche- 
mistic  tracts,  which  were  edited  and  pub- 
lished in  Latin  by  Edmund  Deane,  at  Frank- 
fort, in  4to,  in  1630.  The  titles  are :  1.  '  Mer- 
curius  Redivivus.'  2.  '  Catholicon  Physi- 
corum,  seu  modus  conficiendi  Tincturam  Phy- 
sicam  et  Alchymicam.'  3.  '  Venus  Vitriolata, 
in  Elixer  conversa.'  4. '  Elixer,  seu  Medicina 
Vitse  seu  modus  conficiendi  verum  Aurum 
et  Argentum  Potabile.'  5.  '  Metamorphosis 
Lapidum  ignobilium  in  Gemmas  quasdam 
pretiosas,'  &c.  6.  '  Saturnus  Saturatus  Disso- 
lutus  et  Ccelo  restitutus,  seu  modus  compo- 
nendi  Lapidem  Philosophicum  tarn  album 
quam  rubeum  e  plumbo.'  7.  'AlchymiseCom- 
plementum  et  Perfectio.'  8.  '  Tractatulus  de 
Antiquorum  Script  orum  Considerat  ionibus  in 
Alchymia.'  A  German  translation  of  the  trea- 
tises was  published  in  Nuremberg  in  1667,  in 
a  work  entitled  '  Dreyfaches  hermetisches 
Kleeblat.'  Portions  of  the  work  in  manuscript, 
brought  together  before  Deane  edited  his 
volume  under  the  title  of '  Ramorum  Arboris 
Philosophicalis  Libri  tres,'  are  in  the  British 
Museum  (SloaneMS.  3667,  ff.  31-90),  and  in 
the  Bodleian  Library  (Askmolean  MS.  1478, 
vol.  vi.  ff.  42-104).  Norton  was  occupied  on 
the  work  in  1598  and  1599.  Among  the  A  sh- 
molean  MSS.  (1421  [26])  is  a  work  by  Norton 
entitled  '  The  Key  of  Alchimie,'  written  in 


1578,  when  he  was  at  St.  John's  College, 
and  it  is  dedicated  to  Queen  Elizabeth;  an 
abridgement  is  in  the  Ashmolean  MS.  (1424 
[38.3]).  In  1574  Norton  translated  Ripley's 
'Bosome  Booke  '  into  English.  Copies  of  it 
are  in  the  British  Museum  (Sloane  MSS. 
2175,  ff.  148-72,  3667,  f.  124  et  seq.) 

[Cooper's  Athense  Cantabr.  ii.  284;  Cal.  State 
Papers,  Dora.  Ser.  1547-80,  p.  635,  1598-1601, 
pp.  167,  414,  1603-10,  p.  126;  Lansdowne  MS. 
157,  f.  165.]  B.  P. 

NORTON,  THOMAS  (Jl.  1477),  alchemist, 
was  a  native  of  Bristol,  and  probably  born 
in  the  family  mansion  built  towards  the  close 
of  the  fourteenth  century,  on  the  site  of 
which  now  stands  St.  Peter's  Hospital  (see 
WILLIAM  WOBCESTEB,  Itinerary,  ed.  Nas- 
mith,  p.  207).  His  father  was  doubtless  the 
Thomas  Norton,  bailiff  of  Bristol  in  1392, 
sheriff  in  1401,  mayor  in  1413,  and  the 
'  mercator,'  who  represented  the  borough  of 
Bristol  in  the  parliaments  of  1399,  1402, 
1411,  1413, 1417,  1420,  and  1421.  The  al- 
chemist seems  to  have  been  returned  for 
the  borough  in  1436.  According  to  Samuel 
Norton  [q.  v.],  Thomas  Norton  was  a  member 
of  Edward  IV's  privy  chamber,  was  employed 
by  the  king  on  several  embassies,  and  shared 
his  troubles  with  him  when  he  fled  to  Bur- 
gundy. The  old  house  in  Bristol  remained 
in  the  possession  of  the  family  till  1580, 
when  Sir  George  Norton,  grandson  of  Thomas 
the  alchemist,  sold  it  to  the  Newton  family. 
The  Nortons  afterwards  resided  at  Abbots 
Leigh  in  Somerset. 

Norton  probably  studied  alchemy  under 
Sir  George  Ripley  [q.  v.]  At  the  age  of 
twenty-eight  he  visited  Ripley,  and  en- 
treated to  be  taught  the  art.  Ripley,  soon 
perceiving  his  ability  and  earnestness,  agreed 
to  make  him  his  '  heire  unto  this  Arte.' 
He  became  possessed  of  the  secrets  in  forty 
days.  Norton's  zeal  does  not  appear  to 
have  been  rewarded.  Twice,  he  says,  he  had 
succeeded  in  making  the  elixir  of  life  only 
to  have  the  treasure  stolen  from  him  ;  once 
by  his  own  servant,  and  again  by  a  mer- 
chant's wife  of  Bristol,  who  is  reported,  with- 
out apparent  foundation,  to  have  been  the 
•wife  of  William  Canynges  [q.  v.]  Fuller, 
without  giving  his  authority,  states  that 
Norton  died  inl477,havingfinahciaDy  ruined 
himself  and  those  of  his  friends  who  trusted 
him.  A  Thomas  Norton  of  Bristol  in  1478 
made  himself  noticeable  by  accusing  the 
mayor  of  high  treason,  and  challenging  him 
in  the  council-room  to  single  combat.  It 
may  have  been  the  alchemist,  and  the  date  of 
the  writing  of  his  '  Ordinal '  may  have  been 
mistaken  for  that  of  his  death.  It  has  been 


Norton 


221 


Norton 


suggested  (LuCAS,  Secularia,  p.  125)  that 
the  alchemist  may  also  have  been  the  Norton 
who  was  master-mason  of  the  church  of  St. 
Mary  Redcliffe,  and  thus  have  come  into 
contact  with  Canynges. 

Of  the  same  family  were  Sir  Sampson  Nor- 
ton [q.  v.]  and  Samuel  Norton  the  alchemist 
[q.  v.],  probably  great-grandson  to  Thomas. 

Norton  was  the  author  of  a  chemical  tract 
in  English  verse,  called  the  '  Ordinal  of 
Alchimy'  (both  Bale  and  Pits  call  it  '  Al- 
chimife  Epitome'),  which,  though  anony- 
mous, reveals  its  authorship  in  an  ingenious 
manner.  The  first  word  of  the  proem,  the 
initial  syllables  of  the  first  six  chapters,  and 
the  first  line  of  chapter  seven,  put  together, 
read  as  follows :  '  Tomas  Norton  of  Briseto, 
A  parfet  master  ye  may  him  trowe.' 

Norton's  belief  in  the  value  of  experiment 
and  proof  was  striking  for  his  age.  On  p.  22 
of  his  '  Ordinal  of  Alchimy,'  he  writes : 

And  blessed  is  he  that  maketh  due  proofe, 

For  that  is  roote  of  cunning  and  roofe  ; 

For  by  opinion  is  many  a  man 

Deceived,  which  hereof  little  can. 

With  due  proofe  and  with  discreet  assaye, 
Wise  men  may  learn  new  things  every  day. 

The  whole  work  is  singularly  fresh  and 
bright,  and  in  style  of  versification  has  been 
compared  to  the  works  of  Surrey  and  Wyatt 
(AsCHAM,  Schole  Master,  1589,  p.  53).  Inter- 
spersed with  reverential  remarks  respecting 
'  the  subtile  science  of  holy  alkimy '  are  nai've 
practical  instructions  for  the  student.  War- 
ton  (Hist,  of  English  Poetry,  1871,  iii.  131) 
pronounces  Norton's  work  to  be  '  totally 
devoid  of  every  poetical  elegance.' 

Norton's  '  Ordinal '  was  published  in  Latin 
in  Michael  Maier's  '  Tripus  Aureus,'  Frank- 
fort, 1618,  and  in  '  Musaeum  Hermeticum,' 
Frankfort,  1678  and  1749,  and  in  J.  J.  Manget's 
'  Bibliotheca  Chemica  Curiosa,'  Geneva,  1702 ; 
in  German  by  David  Maisner  in '  Chymischer 
Tractat,'  Frankfort,  1625  (a  translation  from 
the  Latin  translation) ;  in  English  in  Elias 
Ashmole's  '  Theatrum  Chemicum,'  London, 
1052.  Manuscript  copies  in  English  are  in 
the  British  Museum  (Harl.  MS.  853  [41; 
Addit.  MSS.  300  [1],  1751  [2],  1873,2532  [1], 
3580  [6]),  in  the  Bodleian  Library  (Ash- 
molean  MS.  57  (transcribed  by  John  Dee 
[q.  v.]in  1577),  1445,  ii.  i.  (where  the  author 
is  called  Sir  Thomas  Norton),  1479, 1490),  in 
the  library  of  Trinity  College,  Dublin,  and 
in  that  of  the  Marquis  of  Bath. 

Norton  was  also  the  author  of  a  work, '  De 
Transmutatione  Metallorum '  and  of  '  De 
Lapide  Philosophorum,'  in  verse  (Hist.  MSS. 
Comm.  1st  Rep.  p.  30),  neither  of  which 
appears  to  have  been  published. 


In  Walter  Haddon's  '  Poemata,'  1567,  p. 
82,  are  some  verses  'In  librum  Alchymiai 
Thomse  Nortoni  Bristoliensis.' 

[Bale's  Scriptorum  Illustrium  Summarium,ii. 
67;  Pits,  De  Illustribus  Angliae  Scriptoribus,  p. 
666  ;  Barrett's  Bristol,  pp.  677-8;  Lucas's  Secu- 
laria, pp.  1 24-5 ;  Ashmole's  Theatrum  Chemicum, 
passim ;  Ashmolean  MS.  972,  f.  286 ;  Waite's 
Lives  of  Alchymistical  Philosophers,  pp.  130-3  • 
Hist.  MSS.  Comm.  3rd  Kep.  p.  186,  8th  Rep.  ii! 
583-l  B.  P. 

NORTON,  THOMAS  (1532-1584),  lawyer 
and  poet,  born  in  London  in  1532,  was  eldest 
son  by  his  first  wife  of  Thomas  Norton,  a 
wealthy  citizen  who  purchased  from  the 
crown  the  manor  of  Sharpenhoe  in  Bedford- 
shire, and  died  on  10  March  1582-3.  The 
father  married  thrice.  His  first  wife  was 
Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Richard  Merry  of 
Northall.  His  second  wife,  who  was  brought 
up  in  Sir  Thomas  More's  house,  is  said  to 
have  practised  necromancy,  but,  becoming 
insane,  drowned  herself  in  1582.  His  third 
wife,  who  is  frequently  described  in  error  as 
a  wife  of  his  son,  was  Elizabeth  Marshall, 
widow  of  Ralph  Ratcliff  of  Hitchin,  Hert- 
fordshire (cf.  WATERS,  Chesters  of  Chicheley, 
ii.  392 ;  Notes  and  Queries,  4th  ser.  iv.  234  • 
Harl.  MSS.  1234:  f.  113,  1547  f.  45  b).  The 
Norton  family  was  closely  connected  with 
the  Grocers'  Company  in  London,  to  which 
the  son  Thomas  was  in  due  course  admitted ; 
but,  although  it  is  probable  that  he  went  to 
Cambridge  at  the  company's  expense,  nothing 
is  known  of  his  academic  career.  He  is  not 
identical  with  the  Thomas  Norton  who  gra- 
duated B.A.  from  Pembroke  College,  Cam- 
bridge, in  1569  (cf.  Archceologia,  xxxvi. 
105  sq.)  He  was,  however,  created  M.  A.  by 
the  university  of  Cambridge  on  10  June  1570 
as  a  twelve-year  student,  and  on  4  July  1676 
he  applied  to  the  university  of  Oxford  for 
incorporation,  but  there  is  no  record  of  his 
admission.  A  brother  Lucas  is  said  to  have 
been  admitted  to  the  Inner  Temple  in  1583. 

While  a  boy  Thomas  entered  the  service 
of  Protector  Somerset  as  amanuensis,  and 
quickly  proved  himself  a  ripe  scholar.  He 
eagerly  adopted  the  views  of  the  religious  re- 
formers, and  was  only  eighteen  when  he  pub- 
lished a  translation  of  a  Latin  '  Letter  which 
Peter  Martyr  wrote  to  the  Duke  of  Somerset' 
on  his  release  from  the  Tower  in  1550.  The 
interest  of  the  volume  is  increased  by  the  fact 
that  Martyr's  original  letter  is  not  extant  [see 
VERMIGLI].  In  1555  Norton  was  admitted 
a  student  at  the  Inner  Temple,  and  soon 
afterwards  he  married  Margery,  the  third 
daughter  of  Archbishop  Cranmer.  He  worked 
seriously  at  his  profession,  and  subsequently 
achieved  success  in  it ;  but,  while  keeping  his 


Norton 


222 


Norton 


terms,  he  devoted  much  time  to  literature. 
Some  verses  which  he  wrote  in  early  life 
attracted  public  notice.  A  sonnet  by  him 
appears  in  Dr.  Turner's  '  Preservative  or 
Triacle  against  the  Poyson  of  Pelagius,'  1551. 
His  poetic '  Epitaph  of  Maister  Henrie  Wil- 
liam s '  was  published  in '  Songes  and  Sonettes ' 
of  Surrey  and  others,  published  by  Tottel  in 
1557.  This,  like  another  poem  which  was 
first  printed  in  Ellis's  '  Specimens,'  1805,  ii. 
136,  is  preserved  among  the  Cottonian  MSS., 
Titus  A.  xxiv.  Latin  verses  by  Norton  are 
appended  to  Humphrey's '  Vita  Juelli '  (1573). 
Jasper  Heywood,  in  verses  prefixed  to  his 
translation  of  '  Thyestes,'  1560,  commended 
'  Norton's  Ditties,'  and  described  them  as 
worthy  rivals  of  sonnets  by  Sir  Thomas 
Sackville  and  Christopher  Yelverton. 

His  wife's  stepfather  was  Edward  Whit- 
church  [q.  v.],  the  Calvinistic  printer,  and 
Norton  lived  for  a  time  under  his  roof.  In 
November  1552  he  sent  to  Calvin  from  Lon- 
don an  account  of  the  Protector  Somerset 
(Letters  relating  to  the  Reformation,  Parker 
Soc.  p.  339).  In  1559  the  Swiss  reformer 
published  at  Geneva  the  last  corrected  edition 
of  his  '  Institutions  of  the  Christian  Reli- 
gion,' and  this  work  Norton  immediately 
translated  into  English  at  Whitchurch's  re- 
quest '  for  the  commodity  of  the  church  of 
Christ,'  that '  so  great  a  jewel  might  be  made 
most  beneficial,  that  is  to  say,  applied  to  most 
common  use.'  The  translation  was  published 
in  1561,  and  passed  through  numerous  edi- 
tions (1562, 1574, 1587, 1599). 

But  Norton  had  not  wholly  abandoned 
lighter  studies,  and  in  the  same  year  (1561) 
he  completed,  with  his  friend  Sackville,  the 
'  Tragedie  of  Gorboduc,'  which  was  his  most 
ambitious  excursion  into  secular  literature 
[see  below].  Very  soon  afterwards,  twenty- 
eight  of  the  psalms  in  Sternhold  and  Hop- 
kins's  version  of  the  psalter  in  English  metre, 
which  was  also  published  in  1561,  were  sub- 
scribed with  his  initials.  Between  1567  and 
1570  his  religious  zeal  displayed  itself  in 
many  violently  controversial  tracts  aimed  at 
the  pretensions  of  the  Roman  church,  and  in 
1570  he  published  a  translation  of  Nowell's 
'  Middle  Catechism,'  which  became  widely 
popular  [see  NOWELL,  ALEXANDER], 

As  early  as  1558  Norton  had  been  elected 
member  of  parliament  for  Gatton,  and  in 
1562  he  sat  for  Berwick.  In  the  latter  par- 
liament he  was  appointed  a  member  of  the 
committee  to  consider  the  limitation  of  the 
succession,  and  read  to  the  house  the  com- 
mittee's report,  which  recommended  the 
queen's  marriage  (26  Jan.  1562-3).  He  had 
probably  acted  as  chairman  of  the  com- 
mittee (Notes  and  Queries,  2nd  ser.  x.  262). 


Meanwhile  he  was  called  to  the  bar,  and 
his  practice  grew  rapidly.  On  Lady  day  1562 
he  became  standing  counsel  to  the  Stationers' 
Company,  and  on  18  June  1581  solicitor  to" 
the  Merchant  Taylors'  Company.  On  6  Feb. 
1570-1  he  was  appointed  to  the  newly 
established  office  of  remembrancer  of  the 
city  of  London,  his  functions  being  to  keep 
the  lord  mayor  informed  of  his  public  en- 
gagements, and  to  report  to  him  the  daily 
proceedings  of  parliament  while  in  session. 
As  remembrancer  he  was  elected  one  of  the 
members  for  the  city  of  London,  and  took 
his  seat  in  the  third  parliament  of  Elizabeth, 
which  met  2  April  1571. 

Norton  spoke  frequently  during  the  ses- 
sion, and  proved  himself,  according  to 
D'Ewes,  '  wise,  bold,  and  eloquent.'  He 
made  an  enlightened  appeal  to  the  house  to 
pass  the  bill  which  proposed  to  relieve  mem- 
bers of  parliament  of  the  obligation  of  resi- 
dence in  their  constituencies  (HALLAM,  Hist. 
i.  266).  He  warmly  supported,  too,  if  he  did 
not  originate,  the  abortive  demand  of  the 
puritans  that  Cranmer's  Calvinistic  project  of 
ecclesiastical  reform  should  receive  the  sanc- 
tion of  parliament.  Norton  was  the  owner 
of  the  original  manuscript  of  Cranmer's  code 
of  ecclesiastical  laws,  with  Cranmer's  correc- 
tions in  his  own  hand.  It  had  doubtless 
reached  him  through  his  first  wife,  the  arch- 
bishop's daughter,  and  was  the  only  remnant 
of  the  archbishop's  library  which  remained 
in  the  possession  of  his  family.  While  the 
proposal  affecting  its  contents  was  before 
parliament,  Norton  gave  the  manuscript  to 
his  friend  John  Foxe,  the  martyrologist,  who 
at  once  printed  it,  with  the  approval  of  Arch- 
bishop Parker,  under  the  title  '  Reformatio 
Legum  Ecclesiasticarum  (1571);'  the  docu- 
ment forms  the  eleventh  volume  of  Foxe's 
papers  now  among  the  Harleian  MSS.  in  the 
British  Museum.  But  Norton's  views  went 
beyond  those  of  Parker  in  the  direction  of 
Calvinism, and  in  October  1571  Parker  openly 
rebuked  him  for  urging  Whitgift,  then  master 
of  Trinity  College,  Cambridge,  to  abstain 
from  publishing  his  reply  to  the  Cambridge 
Calvinists'  extravagant  attack  on  episcopacy, 
which  they  had  issued  under  the  title  of '  An 
Admonition  to  Parliament.' 

Norton  was  re-elected  M.P.  for  the  city  of 
London  in  the  new  parliament  which  met  on 
8  March  1572,  and  again  in  1580,  when  he 
strongly  supported  Sir  Walter  Mildmay's 
proposal  to  take  active  measures  against  the 
catholics. 

Norton's  activity  and  undoubted  legal 
ability  soon  recommended  him  to  the  favour 
of  the  queen's  ministers.  When,  on  16  Jan. 
1571-2,  the  Duke  of  Norfolk  was  tried  for 


Norton 


223 


Norton 


his  life,  on  account  of  his  negotiations  with 
Queen  Mary  Stuart,  Norton,  who  had  already 
published  in  1569  a  '  Discourse  touching  the 
pretended  Match  betwene  the  Duke  of  Nor- 
folk and  the  Queene  of  Scottes,'  was  officially 
appointed  by  the  government  to  take  notes 
of  the  trial.  But  he  aspired  to  active  em- 
ployment in  the  war  of  persecution  on  the 
catholics  which  Queen  Elizabeth's  advisers 
were  organising.  In  order  to  procure  infor- 
mation against  the  enemy  he  travelled  to 
Rome  in  1579,  and  his  diary,  containing  an 
account  of  his  journey  until  his  return  to 
London  on  18  March  1579-80,  is  still  extant 
among  Lord  Calthorpe's  manuscripts  (Hist. 
MSS.  Comm.  2nd  Rep.  p.  40);  it  has  not 
been  published.  After  his  return  from  Rome 
he  was  sent  to  Guernsey,  with  Dr.  John 
Hammond  (August  1580),  to  investigate  the 
islanders'  complaints  against  the  governor, 
Sir  Thomas  Leighton,  and  subsequently,  in 
January  1582-3,  he  was  member  of  a  com- 
mission to  inquire  into  the  condition  of  Sark. 
But  in  January  1581  he  realised  his  ambition 
of  becoming  an  official  censor  of  the  queen's 
catholic  subjects.  He  was  appointed  by  the 
Bishop  of  London  licenser  of  the  press,  and 
he  was  commissioned  to  draw  up  the  inter- 
rogatories to  be  addressed  to  Henry  Howard 
[q.  v.],  afterwards  earl  of  Northampton,  then 
a  prisoner  in  the  Tower.  The  earl  was  charged 
with  writing  a  book  in  support  of  his  brother, 
the  Duke  of  Norfolk,  who  had  already  been 
executed  as  a  traitor  and  a  catholic.  On 
28  April  following  he  conducted,  under  tor- 
ture, the  examination  of  Alexander  Briant, 
seminary  priest,  and  was  credited  with  the 
cruel  boast  that  he  had  stretched  him  on  the 
rack  a  foot  longer  than  God  had  made  him. 
He  complained  to  Walsingham  (27  March 
1582)  that  he  was  consequently  nicknamed 
'  Rackmaster-General,'  and  explained,  not 
very  satisfactorily,  that  it  was  before,  and 
not  after,  the  rack  had  been  applied  to  Briant 
that  he  had  used  the  remark  attributed  to 
him  (Cal.  State  Papers,  Dom.  1581-90,  p. 
48).  In  July  Norton  subjected  to  like  usage 
Thomas  Myagh,  an  Irishman,  who  had  al- 
ready suffered  the  milder  torments  of  Ske- 
vington's  irons  without  admitting  his  guilt. 
Edmund  Campion  [q.  v.],  the  Jesuit,  and  other 
prisoners  in  the  Tower  were  handed  over  to 
receive  similar  mercies  at  Norton's  hands 
later  in  the  year. 

But  such  services  did  not  recommend  his 
extreme  religious  opinions  to  the  favour  of 
the  authorities,  and  in  the  spring  of  1582  he 
was  confined  in  his  own  house  in  the  Guild- 
hall, London,  for  disrespectful  comments  on 
the  English  bishops,  made  in  a  conversation 
with  John  Hampton  of  Trinity  College, 


Cambridge,  afterwards  archbishop  of  Armagh. 
He  was  soon  released,  and  in  1583  he  pre- 
sided at  the  examination  of  more  catholic 
prisoners.  He  seems  to  have  been  engaged 
in  racking  Francis  Throgmorton.  When  the 
Earl  of  Arundel  was  examined  at  Whitehall 
by  the  privy  council,  Norton  actively  aided 
the  prosecution;  but  the  earl  and  his  countess 
satisfactorily  established  their  innocence. 
Norton  conducted  the  prosecution  of  Wil- 
liam Carter,  who  was  executed  2  Jan.  1583-4 
for  printing  the  '  Treatise  of  Schism.'  But 
his  dissatisfaction  with  the  episcopal  esta- 
blishment grew  with  his  years,  and  at  length 
involved  him  in  a  charge  of  treason  and 
his  own  committal  to  the  Tower.  While  in 
the  Tower  he  recommended  to  Walsingham 
an  increased  rigour  in  the  treatment  of 
catholics,  and  his  suggestions  seem  to  have 
prompted  the  passage  through  parliament  of 
the  sanguinary  statute  which  was  adopted  in 
1584.  He  soon  obtained  his  liberty  by  Wal- 
singham's  influence;  but  his  health  was 
broken,  and  he  died  at  his  house  at  Shar- 
penhoe  on  10  March  1583-4.  He  was  buried 
in  the  neighbouring  church  of  Streatley. 
On  his  death-bed  he  made  a  nuncupative 
will,  which  was  proved  on  15  April  1584, 
directing  his  wife's  brother  and  executor, 
Thomas  Cranmer,  to  dispose  of  his  property 
for  the  benefit  of  his  wife  and  children. 

After  the  death  of  his  first  wife,  Margaret 
Cranmer,  Norton  married,  before  1568,  her 
cousin  Alice,  daughter  of  Edmund  Cranmer, 
archdeacon  of  Canterbury.  Always  a  bigoted 
protestant,  she  at  length  fell  a  victim  to  re- 
ligious mania.  In  1582  she  was  hopelessly 
insane,  and  at  the  time  of  her  husband's  death 
was  living  at  Cheshunt,  under  the  care  of 
her  eldest  daughter,  Ann,  the  wife  of  Sir 
George  Coppin.  Mrs.  Norton  never  recovered 
her  reason,  and  was  still  at  Cheshunt  early 
in  1602.  It  is  doubtfully  stated  that  she  was 
afterwards  removed  to  Bethlehem  Hospital. 
Besides  Ann,  Norton  left  a  daughter  Eliza- 
beth, married  to  Miles  Raynsford,  and  three 
sons,  Henry,  Robert  [q.  v.],  and  William. 

'  R.  N.,'  doubtless  Norton's  son  Robert,  the 
translator  of  Camden's '  Annals  of  Elizabeth,' 
interpolated  in  the  third  edition  of  that  work 
(1635,  p.  254)  a  curious  eulogy  of  his  father. 
The  panegyrist  declares  that  '  his  surpass- 
ing wisedome,  remarkable  industry  and  dex- 
terity, singular  piety,  and  approved  fidelity 
to  his  Prince  and  country  '  were  the  theme 
of  applause  with  Lord-keeper  Bacon,  Lord- 
treasurer  Burghley,  and  'the  rest  of  the 
Queen's  most  honourable  Privy  Councell ; ' 
while '  the  petty  bookes  he  wrote  correspond- 
ing with  the  times '  tended  '  to  the  promot- 
ing of  religion,  the  safety  of  his  Prince  and 


Norton 


224 


Norton 


good  of  his  country,  .  .  .  and  his  sundry  ex- 
cellent speeches  in  Parliament,  wherein  he 
expressed  himselfe  in  such  sort  to  be  a  true 
and  zealous  Philopater,'  gained  him  the  title 
of  '  Master  Norton,  the  Parliament  man.' 

His  relentless  persecution  of  Roman  catho- 
lics obtained  for  him  a  different  character 
among  the  friends  of  his  victims.  In  a  rare 
volume  published  probably  at  Antwerp  in 
1586,  and  entitled  '  Descriptiones  qusedam 
illius  inhumanse  et  multiplicis  persecutionis 
quam  in  Anglia  propter  fidem  sustinent 
catholic!  Christiani,'  the  third  plate  repre- 
senting '  Tormenta  in  carceribus  inflicta,' 
supplies  a  caricature  of  Norton.  The  descrip- 
tive title  of  the  portrait  runs:  'Nortonus 
archicarnifex  cum  suis  satellitibus,  authori- 
tatem  suam  in  Catholicis  laniandis  immaniter 
exercet'  (BRYDGES,  Censura,  vii.  75-6). 

Norton  owes  his  place  in  literature  to  his 
joint  authorship  with  Sackville  of  the  earliest 
tragedy  in  English  and  in  blank  verse.  Sack- 
ville's  admirers  have  on  no  intelligible  ground 
contested  Norton's  claim  to  be  the  author  of 
the  greater  part  of  the  piece.  Of  '  The  Tra- 
gedie  of  Gorboduc,'  three  acts  (according  to 
the  published  title-page)  '  were  written  by 
Thomas  Nortone,  and  the  two  last  by  Thomas 
Sackuyle,'  and  it  was  first  performed  '  by  the 
Gentlemen  of  Thynner  Temple '  in  their  hall 
on  Twelfth  Night,  1560-1 .  The  plot  is  drawn 
from  Geoffrey  of  Monmouth's  '  History  of 
Britain,'  book  ii.  chap,  xvi.,  and  relates  the 
efforts  of  Gorboduc,  king  of  Britain,  to  divide 
his  dominions  between  his  sons  Ferrex  and 
Porrex ;  a  fierce  quarrel  ensues  between  the 
princes,  which  ends  in  their  deaths  and  in  the 
death  of  their  father,  and  leaves  the  land  a 
prey  to  civil  war.  The  moral  of  the  piece '  that 
a  state  knit  in  unity  doth  continue  strong 
against  all  force,  but  being  divided  is  easily 
destroyed,'  commended  it  to  political  circles, 
where  great  anxiety  prevailed  at  the  date  of 
its  representation  respecting  the  succession 
to  the  throne.  Norton  had  himself  called 
attention  to  the  dangers  of  leaving  the  ques- 
tion unsettled  in  the  House  of  Commons 
(Notes  and  Queries,  2nd  ser.  x.  261-3,  by 
Leonard  H.  Courtney).  The  play  follows 
the  model  of  Seneca,  and  the  tragic  deeds  in 
which  the  story  abounds  are  mainly  related 
in  the  speeches  of  messengers.  Each  act  is 
preceded  by  a  dumb  show  portraying  the 
action  that  is  to  follow,  and  a  chorus  con- 
cludes the  first  four  acts.  Blank  verse  had 
first  been  introduced  into  English  literature 
by  Henry  Howard,  earl  of  Surrey  [q.  v.] 
Nicholas  Grimoald  [q.  v.],  who,  like  Norton, 
contributed  to  Turner's  '  Prerogative,'  and 
was  doubtless  personally  known  to  him,  had 
practised  it  later.  But  Norton  and  Sack- 


ville were  the  first  to  employ  it  in  the  drama. 
They  produced  it  with  mechanical  and  mono- 
tonous regularity,  and  showed  little  sense  of 
its  adaptability  to  great  artistic  purposes. 

The  play  was  repeated  in  the  Inner  Temple 
Hall  by  order  of  the  queen  and  in  her  presence, 
on  18  Jan.  1560-1,  and  was  held  in  high 
esteem  till  the  close  of  her  reign.  Sir  Philip 
Sidney,  in  his  '  Apology  for  Poetry,'  com- 
mended its  '  stately  speeches  and  well-sound- 
ing phrases  climbing  to  the  height  of  Seneca 
his  style,  and  as  full  of  notable  morality, 
which  it  doth  most  delightfully  teach,  and 
so  obtain  the  very  end  of  poesie;'  but  Sidney 
lamented  the  authors'  neglect  of  the  unities 
of  time  and  place. 

The  play  was  first  printed,  without  the 
writer's  consent,  as  '  The  Tragedie  of  Gorbo- 
duc,' on  22  Sept.  1565.  The  printer,  William 
Griffith,  obtained  a  copy '  at  some  young  man's 
hand,  that  lacked  a  little  monev  and  much 
discretion,'  while  Sackville  was  out  of  Eng- 
land and  Norton  was  out  of  London.  The  text 
was  therefore  '  exceedingly  corrupted.'  Five 
years  later  an  authorised  but  undated  edition 
was  undertaken  by  John  Day,  and  appeared 
with  the  title,  '  The  Tragidie  of  Feerex  and 
Porrex,  set  forth  without  Addition  or  Al- 
teration, but  altogether  as  the  same  was 
shewed  on  Stage  before  the  Queenes  Maies- 
tie,  about  nine  Yeares  past.'  It  was  again 
reprinted  in  1590  by  Edward  Allde,  as  an 
appendix  to  the  '  Serpent  of  Division ' — a 
prose  tract  on  the  wars  of  Julius  Caesar — 
attributed  to  John  Lydgate.  Separate  issues 
have  been  edited  by  R.  Dodsley,  with  a  pre- 
face by  Joseph  Spence,  in  1736 ;  by  W.  D. 
Cooper,  for  the  Shakespeare  Society,  in  1847 ; 
and  by  Miss  Toulmin  Smith  in  Vollmoller's 
'  Englische  Sprach-  und  Literaturdenkmale ' 
in  1883.  It  also  appears  in  Dodsley's  '  Old 
Plays'  (1st  ed.  1774,  2nd  ed.  1780);  Haw- 
kins's 'English  Drama,'  1773;  'Ancient 
British  Drama '  (Edinburgh),  1810,  and  in 
the  1820  and  1859  editions  of  Sackville's 
'  Works.' 

Besides  '  Gorboduc '  and  the  translations 
from  Peter  Martyr,  Calvin,  and  Alexander 
Nowell  which  have  been  already  noticed, 
Norton  was,  according  to  Tanner,  author  of 
the  anonymous '  Orations  of  Arsanes  agaynst 
Philip,  the  trecherous  king  of  Macedone,  with 
a  notable  Example  of  God's  vengeance  uppon 
a  faithlesse  Kyng,  Quene,  and  her  children,' 
London,  by  J.  Daye,  n.d.  [1570],  8vo.  He 
was  also  responsible  for  the  following  tracts : 
1 .  'A  Bull  granted  by  the  Pope  to  Dr.  Harding 
and  other,  by  reconcilement  and  assoylying 
of  English  Papistes,  to  undermyne  Faith  and 
Allegeance  to  the  Quene,  With  a  true  Declara- 
tion of  the  Intention  and  Frutes  thereof,  and 


Norton 


225 


Norton 


a  Warning  of  Perils  thereby  imminent  not 
to  be  neglected,'  London,  8vo,  1567.  2.  '  A 
Disclosing  of  the  great  Bull  and  certain 
Calves  that  he  hath  gotten,  and  specially 
the  Monster  Bull  that  roared  at  my  Lord 
Byshops  Gate,'  London,  8vo,  1567  ;  reprinted 
in  '  Harleian  Miscellany.'  3.  '  An  Addition 
Declaratorie  to  the  Bulles,  with  a  Searching 
of  the  Maze,'  London,  8vo,  1567.  4.  'A 
Discourse  touching  the  pretended  Match 
betwene  the  Duke  of  Norfolkeandthe  Queene 
of  Scottes,'  8vo,  n.d. ;  also  in  Anderson's 
'  Collection,'  i.  21.  5. '  Epistle  to  the  Quenes 
Majestes  poore  deceyued  Subjects  of  the 
North  Countrey,  drawen  into  Rebellion  by 
the  Earles  of  Northumberland  and  West- 
merland,'  London,  by  Henrie  Bynneman  for 
Lucas  Harrison,  8vo,  1569.  6.  'A  Warn- 
yng  agaynst  the  dangerous  Practices  of 
Papistes,  and  specially  the  Parteners  of  the 
late  Rebellion.  Gathered  out  of  the  com- 
mon Feare  and  Speeche  of  good  Subjectes,' 
London,  8vo,  without  date  or  place,  by  John 
Day,  1569  and  1570 ;  '  newly  perused  and 
encreased '  by  J.  Dave,  London,  1575,  12mo. 
7.  '  Instructions  to  the  Lord  Mayor  of  Lon- 
don, 1574-5,  whereby  to  govern  himself  and 
the  City,'  together  with  a  letter  from  Norton 
to  Walsingham  respecting  the  disorderly 
dealings  of  promoters,  printed  in  Collier's 
'  Illustrations  of  Old  English  Literature,' 
1866,  vol.  iii.  (cf.  Archeeoloffia,  xxxvi.  97,  by 
Mr.  J.  P.  Collier).  Ames  doubtfully  assigns 
to  him  '  An  Aunswere  to  the  Proclamation 
of  the  Rebelles  '  (London,  n.d.,  by  William 
Seres),  in  verse;  and  'XVI  Bloes  at  the 
Pope  '  (London,  n.d.,  by  William  Howe)  ; 
neither  is  known  to  be  extant  (cf.  Typoyr. 
Antiq.  p.  1038). 

There  exist  in  manuscript  several  papers  by 
Norton  on  affairs  of  state.  The  chief  is  a 
politico-ecclesiastical  treatise  entitled :  '  De- 
vices (a)  touching  the  Universities ;  (b)  for 
keeping  out  the  Jesuits  and  Seminarians  from 
infecting  the  Realm ;  (c)  Impediments  touch- 
ing the  Ministrie  of  the  Church,  and  for 
displacing  the  Unfitte  and  placing  Fitte  as 
yt  may  be  by  Lawe  and  for  the  Livings  of 
the  Church  and  publishing  of  Doctrine ; 
(d)  touching  Simonie  and  Corrupt  Dealings 
about  the  Livings  of  the  Church  ;  (e)  of  the 
vagabond  Ministrie  ;  (/)  for  the  exercise  of 
Ministers  ;  (g)  for  dispersing  of  Doctrine 
throughout  the  Realm ;  (K)  for  Scoles  and 
Scolemaisters ;  (i)  for  establishing  of  true 
Religion  in  the  Innes  of  Court  and  Chancerie ; 
(&)  for  proceeding  upon  the  Laws  of  Reli- 
gion ;  .(/)  for  Courts  and  Offices  in  Lawe ; 
(tn)  for  Justice  in  the  Country  touching 
Religion '  (Lansd.  MS.  155,  ff.  84  seq.) 
Norton's  speeches  at  the  trial  of  William 
VOL.  XLI. 


Carter  are  rendered  into  Latin  in '  Aquepon- 
tani  Concertatio  Ecclesise  Catholicse,'  pp. 
1276-132;  and  he  contributed  information  to 
his  friend  Foxe's  '  Actes  and  Monuments.' 

[Chester  "Waters's  Chesters  of  Chicheley,  ii. 
388  sq. ;  C.  H.  and  T.  Cooper's  Athenae  Cantabr. 
i.  485  sq. ;  W.  D.  Cooper's  Memoir  in  Shakespeare 
Society's  edition  of  Gorboduc,  1847  ;  Shakespeare 
Soc.  Papers,  iv.  123 ;  Archaeologia,  xxxvi.  106  sq. 
by  W.  D.  Cooper;  Wood's  Athenae  Oxon.  ed. 
Bliss,  i.  185,  s.  v.  'Sternhold';  Tanner's  Bibl. 
Brit. ;  Gorham's  Gleanings  of  the  Reformation  ; 
Cal.  State  Papers,  1547-80,  1581-90,  passim; 
Hunter's  manuscript  Chorus  Vatum,  in  Addit. 
MS.  24488,  f.  385  sq  ;  Strype's  Works  ;  Lysons's 
Bedfordshire.]  S.  L. 

NORTON,  WILLIAM  (1527-1593), 
printer  and  publisher,  born  in  1527,  was  son 
of  Andrew  Norton  of  Bristol.  He  was  one 
of  the  original  freemen  of  the  Stationers' 
Company  named  in  the  charter  granted  by 
Philip  and  Mary  in  1555,  and  was  also  one 
of  the  first  six  admitted  into  the  livery  of 
the  company  in  1561.  His  name  is  of 'fre- 
quent occurrence  in  the  early  registers  of  the 
company,  a  license  to  print  being  issued  to  him 
in  1561,  and  fines  being  inflicted  on  him  for 
various  offences  against  the  rules,  such  as 
keeping  his  shop  open  on  a  Sunday.  Norton 
resided  at  the  King's  Arms  in  St.  Paul's 
Churchyard,  and  was  a  renter  of  the  com- 
pany. He  served  the  company  as  collector 
in  1563-4,  under- warden  in  1569-70,  upper- 
warden  in  1573  and  1577,  and  master  in 
1580, 1586,  and  1593.  He  was  also  treasurer 
of  Christ's  Hospital.  The  earliest  book  known 
to  have  been  published  by  him  is  Marten's 
translation  of  Bernardus's  '  The  Tranquillitie 
of  the  Minde '  (1570).  Other  publications  of 
his  were  Geoffrey  Fenton's  '  Acte  of  Confer- 
ence in  Religion  '  (1571)  and  translation 
of  Guicciardini's  'Historic'  (1579);  Sir  F. 
Bryan's  translation  of  Guevara's  '  A  Looking 
Glasse  for  the  Court'  (1575),  two  editions  of 
Horace  (1574  and  1585),  and  an  edition  of 
the  '  Bishops' Bible '  (1575).  Norton  died 
in  London  in  1593,  during  his  tenure  of  the 
office  of  master  of  his  company,  and  was 
buried  in  the  church  of  St.  Faith  under  St. 
Paul's  Cathedral.  In  his  will  (P.  C.  C.  8, 
Dixy)  he  left  several  benefactions  to  the 
Stationers'  Company,  and  was  possessed  of 
considerable  property  in  Kent  and  Shrop- 
shire. By  his  wife  Joan,  who  was  probably 
related  to  William  and  John  Bonham,  two 
of  the  original  freemen  of  the  Stationers' 
Company,  he  left  an  only  son,  BONHAM  NOR- 
TON (1565-1635),  born  in  1566,  who  was  also 
a  freeman  of  the  Stationers'  Company,  and 
served  various  offices  in  the  company,  being 
master  in  1613,  1620,  and  1629.  He  held 

Q 


Norwell 


226 


Norwich 


a  patent  for  printing  common-law  books 
with  Thomas  Wright,  and  became  the  king's 
printer.  He  published  a  great  number  of 
books,  was  an  alderman  of  London,  and  sub- 
sequently retired  to  live  on  his  property  at 
Church  Stretton  in  Shropshire.  He  served 
as  sheriff  of  Shropshire  in  1611  (in  which 
year  he  received  a  grant  of  arms),  and  mar- 
ried Jane,  daughter  of  Thomas  Owen  of  Con- 
dover,  Shropshire,  one  of  the  judges  of  the 
court  of  common  pleas.  He  died  on  5  April 
1635  and  was  buried  in  St.  Faith's,  near  his 
father.  His  widow  erected  a  monument  to 
their  memory  there,  and  another  to  her  hus- 
band in  Condover  Church.  He  left  a  son, 
Roger  Norton  (d.  1661),  also  a  printer  and 
freeman  of  the  Stationers'  Company. 

JOHN  NORTON  (d.  1612),  William  Norton's 
nephew,  was  son  of  Richard  Norton,  a  yeo- 
man of  Billingsley,  Shropshire,  and  served 
an  apprenticeship  as  a  printer  to  his  uncle 
William.  He  published  many  books  from 
1590  to  1612,  taking  over  in  1593  the  shop 
known  as  the  Queen's  Arms  in  St.  Paul's 
Churchyard,  which  had  been  in  the  occupa- 
tion of  his  cousin  Bonham;  but,  although  his 
business  as  a  bookseller  and  publisher  was 
large,  he  often  emploved  other  printers  to 
print  for  him.  One  of  his  chief  undertakings 
was  Gerard's  '  Herbal '  in  1597.  He  became 
printer  in  Greek,  Latin,  and  Hebrew  to  the 
queen,  and  in  1607  Sir  Henry  Savile  com- 
missioned him  to  print  Greek  books  at  Eton. 
Savile's  edition  of  the  Greek  text  of  Chry- 
sostom's  works  he  printed  and  published  at 
Eton  in  eight  volumes  between  1610  and 
1612.  He  was  master  of  the  Stationers' 
Company  in  1607,  1610,  and  1612,  and  an 
alderman  of  London.  He  died  in  1612,  being 
buried  in  St.  Faith's  Chapel.  He  left  1000/. 
to  the  Stationers'  Company  to  be  invested 
in  land,  the  income  to  be  lent  to  poor  mem- 
bers of  the  company.  Lands  were  accord- 
ingly purchased  in  Wood  Street,  and  the 
heavy  rental  is  now  largely  applied  to  the 
maintenance  of  the  Stationers'  School. 

John  Norton,  junior,  who  carried  on  a 
publishing  business  from  1621  to  1640,  seems 
to  have  been  a  son  of  Bonham  Norton. 

[Ames's  Typosrr.  Antiq.  (Herbert1) ;  Arber's 
Transcript  of  the  Registers  of  the  Stationers' 
Company,  esp.  vol.  v.  p.  Ixiii-lxiv ;  Timperley's 
Encvclopse'lia  of  Printing ;  Dugdale's  Hist,  of  St. 
Paul's  Cathedral,  ed.  Ellis,  p.  83  ;  Blake-way's 
Sheriffs  of  Shropshire;  Brown's  Somersetshire 
Wills.]  L.  C. 

NORWELL,  WILLIAM  DE  (d.  1363). 
[See  NORTHWELL.] 


NORWICH,  EART,  or. 
GEORGE,  1583  P-1663.] 


[See  GORING, 


NORWICH,  JOHN  DE,  BARON  NORWICH 
(d.  1362),  was  the  eldest  of  three  sons  of 
Walter  de  Norwich  [q.  v.]  by  his  wife  Ca- 
therine. Inheriting  considerable  estates  ac- 
quired by  his  father  in  Norfolk  and  Suffolk, 
he  obtained  a  royal  license  in  1334  for  a 
weekly  market  and  annual  fair  at  Great  Mas- 
singham  in  the  former  county  (BDOMEFIELD, 
v.  522;  DUGDALE,  Baronage,  ii.  90).  After 
taking  part  in  the  English  invasion  of  Scot- 
land in  the  following  year,  he  was  appointed 
in  April  1336,  when  the  French  were  expected 
upon  the  coast,  admiral  of  the  fleet  from  the 
Thames  northwards  (Rot.  Scot.  i.  442 ; 
Fcedera,  ii.  943).  By  the  beginning  of  1338 
he  was  serving  abroad  with  his  Norfolk  neigh- 
bour, Oliver  de  Ingham  [q.  v.],  the  seneschal 
of  Gascony,  who,  during  a  visit  to  England 
in  March,  obtained  Norwich's  appointment 
as  his  lieutenant  (Fcedera,  pp.  1012,  1023). 
His  youngest  brother,  Roger,  was  also  em- 
ployed in  Guienne  (ib.  ii.  1022).  Two  years 
later,  if  the  second  text  of  Froissart  (ed. 
Luce,  ii.  216)  may  be  trusted,  Norwich  was 
assisting  in  the  defence  of  Thun  1'Eveque, 
a  French  outpost  which  had  been  captured 
by  the  English  and  Hainaulters.  Though 
his  pay  seems  sometimes  to  have  been  in 
arrears,  his  services  did  not  go  without  re- 
ward. A  pension  of  fifty  marks  was  granted 
to  him  in  1339,  he  was  summoned  to  parlia- 
ment as  a  baron  in  1342,  and  next  year  re- 
ceived permission  to  make  castles  of  his 
houses  at  Metingham,  near  Bungay  in  Suf- 
folk, and  Blackworth,  near  Norwich,  and 
Lyng,  near  East  Dereham  in  Norfolk  (DUG- 
DALE). 

In  1344  he  was  once  more  serving  in 
France,  and,  returning  to  England,  he 
went  out  again  in  the  summer  of  the 
next  year  in  the  train  of  Henry,  earl  of 
Derby  (who  in  a  few  weeks  became  Earl  of 
Lancaster),  the  newly  appointed  lieutenant 
of  Aquitaine  (ib. ;  Fcedera,  iii.  39).  In 
Froissart's  account  of  Lancaster's  campaign 
of  1346  Norwich  figures  prominently  in  an 
episode  which  M.  Luce  has  shown  to  be  un- 
historical.  The  Duke  of  Normandy,  the  son 
of  the  French  king,  brought  a  large  army 
against  Lancaster  in  the  early  months  of 
this  year,  and  Froissart  (iii.  Ill)  says  that, 
after  taking  a  couple  of  towns  near  the 
Garonne,  he  laid  siege  to  Angouleme,  which 
was  defended  by  vun  escuyer  qui  s'appelloit 
Jehan  de  Noruwich,  appert  homme  durement ' 
(ib.  p.  328).  On  Candlemas  eve  (1  Feb.) 
Norwich,  finding  further  resistance  impos- 
sible, is  said  to  have  obtained  a  day's  truce 
from  the  duke  in  honour  of  the  Virgin's 
festival,  and  seized  the  opportunity  to  get 
away  with  the  garrison  and  throw  himself 


Norwich 


227 


Norwich 


into  Aiguillon,  at  the  confluence  of  Lot  and 
Garonne,  which  the  enemy  presently  invested. 
But  the  story  will  not  bear  scrutiny.  An- 
gouleme  was  far  away  from  the  scene  of 
operations  in  the  Garonne  valley,  and  its  in- 
troduction is  due  to  Froissart's  misapprehen- 
sion of  Jean  le  Bel's  '  cit6  d'Agolerit,'  a  fanci- 
ful name  for  Agen  in  allusion  to  its  fabled 
defence  against  Charlemagne  by  a  Saracen 
of  that  name  (ib.  Preface,  xxiii.  xxix).  But 
although  Agen  (on  the  Garonne,  eighteen 
miles  above  Aiguillon)  was  within  the  field 
of  the  war,  it  did  not  stand  a  siege  in  the 
spring  of  1346,  and  we  are  left  to  conjecture 
on  what  occasion,  if  ever,  Norwich  executed 
the  stratagem  here  ascribed  to  him.  At 
Easter  1347  he  appears  to  have  been  in  Eng- 
land, and  arranged  an  accord  between  the 
Bishop  of  Norwich  and  one  Richard  Spink 
of  that  city,  whom  the  bishop  claimed  as  his 
bondman  (Rot.  Parl.  ii.  193).  But  in  the 
course  of  the  year  we  find  him  again  in 
France,  where  his  second  brother,  Thomas, 
had  fought  at  Crecy  the  year  before  (DUG- 
DALE  ;  FROISSART,  iii.  183).  In  the  January 
parliament  of  1348  he  had  a  grievance.  The 
holder  of  his  manor  of  Benhall,  near  Sax- 
mundham,  had  died  without  heirs,  and  on 
his  wife's  death  the  estate  would  in  the 
ordinary  course  escheat  to  Norwich  as  lord 
of  the  fee.  But  the  king  had  granted  it  by 
anticipation  to  Robert  Ufford,  earl  of  Suf- 
folk, whose  second  wife  was  Norwich's  sister 
Margaret.  His  petition  was  declared  to  be 
informal,  and  we  do  not  learn  whether  he  ob- 
tained redress  (Hot.  Parl.  ii.  198).  He  was 
again  summoned  to  parliament  in  1360,  and 
died  in  1362. 

Norwich  founded  a  chantry  or  college  of 
eight  priests  and  a  master  or  warden  in  the 
parish  church  of  St.  Andrew  at  Raveningham, 
four  and  a  half  miles  north-west  of  Beccles. 
The  early  history  of  this  college  is  very  con- 
fusedly told  in  Blomefield's  '  Norfolk '  and 
Tanner's  '  Notitia  Monastica;'  but,  unless 
they  are  mistaken,  Norwich  had  taken  some 
steps  towards  its  institution  as  early  as  1343, 
and  the  first  prior  in  Blomefield's  list  is  placed 
in  1349,  though  the  definitive  charter  of  foun- 
dation bears  date  at  Thorpe,  near  Norwich, 
25  July  1350  (TANNER,  Not.  Monast.  Norfolk, 
1. ;  BLOMEFIELD,  v.  138,  viii.  52).  It  was 
founded  '  for  his  own  soul's  health,  and  that 
of  Margaret,  his  wife,  for  the  honour  of  God, 
and  his  mother,  St.  Andrew  the  apostle,  and 
all  the  saints,'  and  dedicated  to  the  Virgin 
Mary.  In  1387  it  was  removed  to  the  new 
church  at  Norton  Soupecors  or  Subcross,  two 
miles  north  of  Raveningham.  A  second  and 
final  translation  to  the  chapel  of  the  Virgin  in 
Metingham  Castle  was  effected  in  1394  (TAN- 


NEE,  Not.  Monast.  Suffolk,  xxxiii.)  It 
was  dissolved  in  1635,  when  its  income  stood 
at  just  over  200/. 

Norwich's  eldest  and  only  son,  Walter, 
whose  wife  was  Margaret,  daughter  of  Sir 
Miles  Stapleton,  a  Yorkshire  knight,  by  the 
heiress  of  Oliver  de  Ingham,  had  died  in  his 
father's  lifetime ;  and  Walter's  son,  at  this 
time  fourteen  years  of  age,  succeeded  his 
grandfather.  He  was  given  possession  of  his 
estates  in  1372,  but  died  in  January  1374, 
without  having  been  summoned  to  parlia- 
ment (NicoLAS,  Historic  Peerage,  p.  362  ;  cf. 
DUGDALE,  Baronaye,  ii.  91).  As  he  left  no 
issue,  the  barony  became  extinct ;  but  the 
estates  went  to  his  cousin,  Catherine  de 
Brewse,  daughter  and  heiress  of  his  grand- 
father's second  brother,  Thomas,  who  Fought 
at  Crecy.  She,  however,  retired  into  a  nun- 
nerv  at  Dartford  in  Kent,  and  in  1379  or 
1380  William  de  Ufford,  second  earl  of  Suf- 
folk, son  of  the  first  earl,  by  Margaret  Norwich, 
was  declared  to  be  her  next  heir.  But  she 
had  already  devolved  the  best  part  of  her 
estates  upon  trustees,  with  a  view,  no  doubt, 
to  the  further  endowment  of  Norwich's  col- 
lege. 

[Rotuli  Parliamentorum  ;  Rotuli  Scotiae,  and 
Rvmer's  Foedera,  edited  for  the  Record  Com- 
mission ;  Tanner's  NotitiaMonastiea,  ed.  Nasmyth, 
1787;  Dugdale's  Monasticon  Anglicanum,  ed. 
Caley,  Ellis,  and  Bandinel,  1817-30,  vi.  1459, 
1468;  Dugdale's  Baronage;  Nicolas's  Historic 
Peerage,  ed.  Courthope,  1857;  Blomefield  and 
Parkin's  Topographical  Hist,  of  Norfolk,  ed. 
1805;  Weever's  Funeral  Monuments,  p.  865.] 

J.  T-T. 

NORWICH,  RALPH  DE  (Jl.  1256), 
chancellor  of  Ireland,  one  of  King  John's 
clerks,  was  sent  to  Ireland  as  the  king's 
messenger  in  May  1216,  and  having  returned 
to  England  with  a  message  from  Geoffrey  de 
Marisco  [q.  v.],the  justiciary,  was  on  the  ac- 
cession of  Henry  III  detained  by  the  govern- 
ment in  order  that  he  might  give  information 
as  to  Irish  affairs  (Foedera,  i.  175),  and  in 
December  was  forgiven  a  debt  to  the  crown 
of  one  hundred  shillings  (SWEETMAN,  Calen- 
dar of  Irish  Documents,  i.  No.  737).  He  was 
sent  back  to  Ireland  on  the  king's  business 
in  February  1217,  and  was  employed  there 
on  exchequer  affairs  in  1218  (t'6.  Nos.  761, 
829).  Probably  in  1219  he  was  sent  by  the 
Bishop  of  AVinchester  and  the  chief  justi- 
ciary [see  BURGH,  HUBERT  DE,  d.  1243]  on  a 
message  to  the  Archbishop  of  York  [see  GREY 
or  GRAY,  WALTER  DE],  whom  he  found  at 
Scroby,  Yorkshire,  and  was  paid  two  marks 
for  his  expenses  (Royal  Letters,  Henry  III,  i. 
39).  He  was  this  year  sent  back  to  Ireland 
with  another  messenger,  ten  marks  being  paid 

Q  2 


Norwich 


228 


Norwich 


to  the  two.  Stormy  weather  delayed  his  re- 
turn to  England  in  the  spring  of  1220 (Close 
Rolls,  i.  407,413, 420).  When  he  came  back 
he  was  granted  a  yearly  salary  of  twenty 
marks  until  the  king  should  bestow  on  him 
a  benefice  of  greater  value.  He  was  employed 
in  managing  the  duty  on  wool,  and  received 
the  guardianship  of  the  lands  of  certain  great 
lords,  but  these  guardianships  appear  to  have 
been  nominal,  for  in  each  case  the  lands  seem 
to  have  passed  almost  at  once  out  of  his  hands. 
Returning  again  to  Ireland  in  September,  he 
was  engaged  in  exchequer  business  there  in 
1221 ,  and  on  coming  back  to  England  received 
seven  marks  over  and  above  the  five  marks 
usually  allowed  him  for  expenses.  In  1224  he 
received  the  rectory  of  Acle,  Norfolk,  and  in 
1225  that  of  Brehull,  Oxfordshire  (Foss),  and 
about  this  time  was  jointly  with  Elyas  de 
Sunning  a  justice  for  the  Jews  (ib.)  He  held 
a  canonry  in  St.  Patrick's  Church,  Dublin,  in 
1227  (Chartulary,  St.  Mary's  Abbey,  Dublin, 
i.  41 ;  CoTTOif,  Fasti  Ecclesice  Hibernicee,  ii. 
192),  and  in  1229  received  the  custody  of  the 
bishopric  of  Emly,  with  instructions  to  use 
the  revenues  in  the  king's  interest  in  the  dis- 
pute between  the  king:  and  John,  who  claimed 
to  be  bishop-elect  (Documents,  i.  Nos.  1589, 
1650,  1692).  In  1229  he  was  commissioned 
to  advise  the  archbishops  and  bishops  of  Ire- 
land with  reference  to  the  collection  of  the 
sixteenth  levied  on  ecclesiastical  benefices, 
and  to  bring  the  sum  collected  over  to  Eng- 
land. He  accordingly  brought  two  thousand 
marks  to  the  king  from  Richard  de  Burgh 
(Documents,  Nos.  1699,  1781).  He  was  ap- 
pointed a  justice  of  the  king's  bench,  and  was 
one  of  the  judges  who  heard  the  case  between 
the  burgesses  and  the  prior  of  Dunstable 
(Annals  of  Dunstable,  an.  1229).  Notices  of 
him  as  acting  as  justice  in  England  occur 
until  1234  (Foss).  In  1231  it  was  reported 
that  he  was  dead,  and  his  death  is  recorded 
under  that  year  in  the '  Annals  of  Dunstable.' 
In  order  to  protect  his  lands  in  Ireland  from 
sequestration  he  obtained  a  writ  from  the 
king  declaring  that  he  was  alive  and  well. 
In  1232  he  attested  the  king's  statement  of 
the  proceedings  taken  against  Hubert  de 
Burgh,  and  in  1233  was  one  of  the  justices 
appointed  to  receive  Hubert's  abjuration  of 
the  kingdom  ( Fcedera,  i.  208, 211).  On  9  July 
1249  the  king  appointed  him  his  chancellor 
in  Ireland,  with  an  allowance  of  sixty  marks 
a  year  until  a  more  liberal  provision  should 
be  made  for  him  (Documents,  i.  Nos.  2998, 
3000).  Geoffrey  de  Cusack,  bishop  of  Month, 
had  exercised  his  rights  as  bishop  without 
having  previously  obtained  the  royal  assent  to 
his  promotion,  and  Ralph,  who  had  accepted  a 
benefice  from  him  in  1254,  received  the  king's 


command  to  vacate  it  (ib.  ii.  No.  352).  The 
king  having  made  over  the  lordship  of  Ire- 
land to  his  eldest  son,  Edward,  in  1256,  Ralph 
sent  back  the  seal  of  his  office.  Another 
chancellor  was  appointed  shortly  afterwards 
(ib.  Nos.  500, 552).  He  was  in  this  year  elected 
archbishop  of  Dublin,  and  the  election  was 
approved  by  the  king,  but  his  proctors  at  the 
papal  court  are  said  to  have  played  him  false. 
Pope  Alexander  IV  quashed  the  election,  re- 
proved the  electors  for  choosing  a  man  of 
wholly  secular  life  and  engaged  in  the  king's 
business,  and  appointed  Fulk  of  Sanford, 
archdeacon  of  Middlesex,  to  the  archbishopric 
by  bull.  Ralph  was  a  witty  man,  of  sumptuous 
habits,  and  from  his  youth  more  skilled  in  the 
affairs  of  the  king's  court  than  in  the  learning 
of  the  schools  (MATTHEW  PAKTS,  v.  560). 

[Foss's  Judges,  ii.  433,  leaves  Ralph  at  1234  ; 
Dugdale's  Origines,  p.  43,  and  Chron.  Survey ; 
Sweetman's  Documents,  Ireland,  i.  Nos.  737,  761, 
829,922,972, 1589,1650, 1699,1781,  2998,  3000, 
ii.  Nos.  352,  500,  513  (Rolls  Ser.);  Royal  Letters, 
Hen.  III.  i.  39,  99,  108,  ii.  135  (Rolls  Ser.); 
Rymer's  Fcedera,  i.  145,  208,  211  (Record  ed.)  ; 
Rot.  Li^t.  Glaus,  i.  298,  343,  351,  407,  413,  420, 
423,  430,  431,  631,  ii.  47,  62  (Record  publ.) ; 
Chartularies,  St.  Mary's  Abbey,  Dublin,  i.  41 
(Rolls  Ser.) ;  Ann.  Dunstaplife,  ap.  Ann.  Monast. 
iii.  122, 126  (Rolls  Ser.)  ;  M.  Paris's  Chron.  Maj. 
v.  560  (Rolls  Ser.);  Ware's  Works,  i.  321,  ed 
Harris.]  •  W.  H. 

NORWICH,  ROBERT  (d.  1535),  judge, 
is  said  by  Philipps  (Grandeur  of  the  Law, 
p.  55)  to  have  belonged  to  the  Norwiches  of 
Brampton,  Northamptonshire,  but  there  is 
no  authority  for  this  statement  (cf.  WOTTON, 
Baronetage,  ii.  214;  BAKER  and  BRYDGES, 
Northamptonshire].  In  1503  he  was  a  mem- 
ber of  Lincoln's  Inn,  where  he  was  reader 
in  1518,  duplex  reader  in  1521,  and  subse- 
quently governor  (DtrGDALE,  Origines,  p. 
259).  In  February  1517  he  was  pardoned 
for  being  party  to  a  conveyance  without 
license,  and  in  November  1518  was  on  a 
commission  for  sewers  in  Essex  (BREWER, 
Letters  and  Papers,  n.  ii.  2875).  In  Fe- 
bruary 1519  he  was  granted  by  Agnes  Mul- 
ton  a  share  in  the  manor  of  Erlham,  Norfolk, 
and  in  November  1520  was  on  a  commission 
for  gaol  delivery  at  Colchester.  Early  in 
1521 -he  was  called  to  the  degree  of  the  coif, 
and  in  July  was  commissioned  to  inquire 
into  concealed  lands  in  Essex  and  Hertford- 
shire. Next  year  he  was  on  the  commission 
of  peace  for  Devon,  and  in  1523  was  made 
king's  serjeant.  From  this  time  his  name  is 
of  frequent  occurrence  in  the  year-books, 
and  he  was  constantly  employed  on  legal 
commissions  (cf.  Letters  and  Papers,  passim). 
He  also  received  numerous  grants  in  reward 


Norwich 


229 


Norwich 


for  his  services,  chiefly  in  Essex  and  Hert- 
fordshire, where  he  was  in  the  habit  of  en- 
tertaining men  of  legal  and  other  eminence. 
In  1529  Sir  David  Owen,  natural  son  ol 
Owen  Tudor,  bequeathed  to  him  part  of  the 
manor  of  Wootton,  Surrey.  In  July  1530 
he  was  one  of  those  commissioned  to  inquire 
into  Wolsey's  possessions,  and,  perhaps  as  a 
reward  for  zeal  in  this  matter,  he  was  on 
22  Nov.  raised  to  the  bench  as  justice  of 
common  pleas,  where  he  succeeded  Sir  Robert 
Brudenell  as  chief  justice  in  the  following 
January.  He  was  not  insensible  to  presents 
in  his  judicial  capacity ;  for  a  correspondent 
•of  Lady  Lisle,  writing  of  a  case  which  Nor- 
wich was  about  to  try,  declared, '  If  you  send 
Lord  Norwich  a  firkin  of  sturgeon,  it  will 
not  be  lost.'  He  took  part  in  the  coronation 
of  Anne  Boleyn,  and  was  denounced  as '  false 
Norwyge  '  by  a  catholic  partisan.  He  died 
•early  in  1535.  His  wife  survived  until  1556, 
when  she  died  of  a  fever  (MACHYN,  Diary ; 
STRYPE,  Eccl.  Mem.  in.  i.  498). 

[Letters  and  Papers  of  Henry  VIII,  ed. 
Brewer  and  Gairdner,  1509-35,  passim;  Dug- 
dale's  Origines,  pp.  47,  251,  259,  Chron.  Ser.  p. 
$1,  &c.;  Rymer's  Fcedera,  ed.  1745,  vi.  ii.  175  ; 
Foss's  Lives  of  the  Judges,  v.  225-6 ;  Manning 
and  Bray's  Hist,  of  Surrey,  ii.  149.]  A.  F.  P. 

NORWICH,  SIB  WALTER  DE(<Z.  1329), 
chief  baron  of  the  exchequer,  was  son  of 
Geoffrey  de  Norwich,  and  perhaps  a  descend- 
ant of  that  Geoffrey  de  Norwich  who  in 
1214  fell  under  John's  displeasure  (MATT. 
PARIS,  ii.  537).  A  Geoffrey  de  Norwich 
'clericus' represented  Norwich  in  parliament 
in  1 306  (Returns  of  Members  of  Parliament, 
i.  22).  The  first  reference  to  Walter  de  Nor- 
wich is  as  holding  the  manor  of  Stoke,  Nor- 
folk, in  1297.  He  was  in  the  royal  service 
in  the  exchequer;  on  15  March  1308  he 
•occurs  as  remembrancer;  on  7  Aug.  he  was 
placed  on  a  commission  of  oyer  and  terminer 
in  Suffolk ;  and  on  24  Nov.  as  clerk  of  the 
exchequer  (  Cat.  Close  Rolls,  pp.  57, 131 ).  On 
29  Aug.  1311  he  was  appointed  a  baron  of 
the  exchequer,  but  resigned  this  position  on 
23  Oct.  in  order  to  act  as  lieutenant  of  the 
treasurer;  on  3  March  1312  he  was  reap- 
pointed  a  baron  of  the  exchequer,  and  on 
8  March  was  made  chief  baron.  A  week 
later  Norwich  ceased  to  act  as  lieutenant 
of  the  treasurer,  but  on  17  May  he  was  again 
directed  to  act  in  that  capacity  while  retain- 
ing his  post  as  chief  baron,  and  thus  he  con- 
tinued till  4  Oct.  (Parl.  Writs).  On  30  Sept., 
when  sitting  in  London,  Norwich  refused 
to  admit  the  new  sheriffs,  as  one  of  them 
was  absent  (Chron.  Edw.  I.  and  Ediv.  II.  i. 
218).  In  December  1313  he  was  appointed 
to  supervise  the  collection  of  the  twentieth 


and  fifteenth  in  London  (Fcedera,  ii.  159), 
and   in  July   1314  was  a  justice   of  oyer 
and  terminer  in  Norfolk  and  Suffolk  (Parl. 
Writs,  ii.  79).   On  26  Sept.  he  was  appointed 
treasurer,  and  two  days  later  resigned  his 
office  as  chief  baron.     Norwich  resigned  the 
treasurership  on  27  May  1317  through  ill- 
ness ;  but  before  long  he  resumed  his  post  at 
the  exchequer  apparently  as  chief  baron,  for 
he  is  so  styled  on  9  June  1320,  though  on  some 
occasions  he  is  referred  to  as  baron  simply.  On 
22  Dec.  1317  he  was  employed  to  inquire  into 
the  petitions  of  certain  cardinals  (Fcedera, 
ii.  349).     In  April  1318  Norwich,  as  one  of 
the  barons  of  the  exchequer,  was  present  at 
the  council  or  parliament  held  at  Leicester 
to  endeavour  to  effect  a  reconciliation  be- 
tween the  king  and  Thomas  of  Lancaster. 
In  May  he  was  appointed  to  treat  with  Ro- 
bert, count  of  Flanders,  regarding  the  injury 
done  to  English  merchants ;  and  in  November 
he  was  one  of  the  justices  for  the  trial  of 
sheriffs  and  others  for  oppression  in  Norfolk 
and  Suffolk.  On  25  Feb.  1319  he  sat  as  one  of 
the  barons  of  the  exchequer  at  the  Guildhall, 
London  (Chron.  Edw.  I.  and  Edw.  II.  i.  285). 
From  6  Nov.  1319  to  18  Feb.  1320  Norwich 
was  once  more  lieutenant  for  the  treasurer ; 
both  in  this  year  and  in  1321  he  appears  as 
a  justice  for  the  counties  of  Essex,  Suffolk, 
and  Norfolk.     In  1321  he  was  keeper  of  the 
treasury,  and  in  July  1322,  after  the  fall  of 
Thomas  of  Lancaster,  was  one  of  the  judges 
appointed  for  the  trial  of  the  two  Roger 
Mortimers  of  Chirk  and  Wigmore.    Norwich 
continued  in  office  during  the  reign  of  Ed- 
ward II ;    in  the  next  reign  he  was  reap- 
pointed  chief  baron  on  2  Feb.  1327,  in  spite 
of  his  share  in  the  condemnation  of  the  Mor- 
timers, the  sentence  on  whom  was  cancelled 
on  27  March  1327.     He  was  employed  in 
May  1328  to  inquir  •  into  the  complaints  of 
the  weavers  of  Norwich,  and  in  November 
;o  settle  the  differences  between  the  abbot 
and  townsmen  of  St.  Edmund's  (Pat.  Rolls, 
Edw.  Ill,  141,  297, 353).     Norwich  died  in 
1329,  and  was  buried  in  Norwich  Cathedral. 
Dugdale  says  that  Norwich  was  summoned 
;o  parliament  as  a  baron  in  1314,  but  not 
at  any  other  time.      This  is  an  error ;  for, 
though  Norwich  attended  parliament  in  this 
and  in  other  years  as  one  of  the  barons  of 
he  exchequer,  he  was  never  summoned  as 
a  baron  of  parliament.      Norwich  married 
aetween  1295  and  1304  Catherine,  daughter 
of  John  de  Hedersett,  and  widow  of  1'eter 
Braunche.     She  survived   her  second  hus- 
band, and  was  living  in  1349.     By  her  Nor- 
wich had  three  sons  :   John,  who  is  sepa- 
rately noticed ;  Roger  (d.  1372);  and  Thomas 
whose  daughter,  Catherine  de  Brewse,  was 


Norwich 


230 


Norwych 


in  1375  declared  heiress  to  her  cousin  John, 
a  great-grandson  of  Walter  de  Norwich. 
Walter  de  Norwich  had  also  a  daughter  Mar- 
garet, who  married,  first,  Sir  Thomas  Cailey; 
and,  secondly,  Robert  Ufford,  earl  of  Suffolk ; 
her  descendants  by  the  second  marriage  were 
her  father's  eventual  heirs.  The  Norwich 
family  had  large  estates  in  Norfolk,  Suffolk, 
Lincolnshire,  and  Hertfordshire. 

[Chronicles  of  Edward  I  and  Edward  II 
(Rolls  Ser.) ;  Fcedera,  Eecord  ed. ;  Cal.  of  Close 
Kolls  Edward  II,  1307-18,  and  Patent  Eolls 
Edward  III,  1327-30;  Palgrave's  Parl.  Writs, 
iv.  1237-9  ;  Madox  Hist,  of  Exchequer,  i.  75,  ii. 
49,  84  ;  Blomefield's  Hist,  of  Norfolk,  iii.  76,  iv. 
39,  164,  v.  126, 129,  138,  522,  vi.  137,  viii.  52-3, 
55,  ed.  1812;  Dugdale's  Baronage,  ii.  90-1; 
Foss's  Judges  of  England,  iii.  469-71.] 

C.  L.  K. 

NORWICH,  WILLIAM  OF  (1298?- 
1355),  bishop  of  Norwich.  [See  BATEMAN.] 

NORWOLD,  HUGH  OP  (d.  1254),  bishop 
of  Ely.  [See  NORTHWOLD.] 

NORWOOD,  RICHARD  (1690  P-1675), 
teacher  of  mathematics  and  surveyor,  born 
about  1590,  was  in  1616  sent  out  by  the 
Bermuda  Company  to  survey  the  islands  of 
Bermuda,  then  newly  settled.  He  was  after- 
wards accused  of  having,  in  collusion  with 
the  governor,  so  managed  that,  after  assign- 
ing the  shares  to  all  the  settlers,  eight  shares 
of  the  best  land  remained  over,  for  the  per- 
sonal advantage  of  himself  and  the  governor 
(History e  of  the  Bermudaes,  p.  104).  His 
map  was  published  in  London  in  1622,  and 
the  same  year  he  married,  in  London,  Rachel, 
daughter  of  Francis  Boughton  of  Sandwich. 
In  1623  he  patented  lands  in  Virginia,  but 
it  does  not  appear  that  he  ever  went  there. 
He  is  said  to  have  resided  at  that  date  in  the 
Bermudas  (BROWN,  ii.  958).  He  may  have 
made  several  visits  to  the  islands,  but  ac- 
cording to  his  own  statements  he  was,  for 
some  years  before  1630  and  after,  up  to  1640, 
resident  in  London,  near  Tower  Hill,  in  pur- 
suit of  his  calling  as  a  teacher  of  mathe- 
matics. Between  June  1633  and  June  1635  he 
personally  measured,  partly  by  chain  and 
partly  by  pacing,  the  distance  between  London 
and  York,  making  corrections  for  all  the  wind- 
ings of  the  way,  as  well  as  for  the  ascents 
and  descents.  He  also,  from  observations  of 
the  sun's  altitude,  computed  the  difference 
of  latitude  of  the  two  places,  and  so  calcu- 
lated the  length  of  a  degree  of  the  meridian. 
Considering  the  roughness  of  his  methods 
and  the  imperfections  of  his  instruments,  it 
is  not  surprising  that  his  result  was  some 
600  yards  too  great ;  but,  even  so,  it  was  the 
nearest  approximation  that  had  then  been 


made  in  England.  During  the  civil  war  he 
seems  to  have  resided  in  Bermuda,  where  he 
had  a  government  grant  as  schoolmaster, 
and  where,  in  1662,  he  conducted  a  second 
survey.  He  was  in  England  in  1667,  probably 
only  on  a  visit.  He  died  at  Bermuda  in 
October  1675,  aged  about  eighty-five,  and 
was  buried  there. 

His  published  works  are:  1.  ' Trigono- 
metric, or  the  Doctrine  of  Triangles,'  4to, 
1631.  2.  < The  Seaman's  Practice,'  4to,  1637. 
3.  '  Fortification,  or  Architecture  Military,' 
4to,  1639.  4.  '  Truth  gloriously  appearing,' 
4to,  1645.  5.  '  Considerations  tending  to 
remove  the  Present  Differences,'  4to,  1646. 
6.  'Norwood's  Epitomy,  being  the  Applica- 
tion of  the  Doctrine  of  Triangles,'  8vo,  1667. 
He  had  a  son  Matthew,  who  in  1672-4  com- 
manded a  ship  carrying  stores  to  Bermuda. 

[The  prefaces  and  dedications  to  his  books  give 
some  indications  of  Norwood's  career.  Other 
authorities  are  Brown's  Genesis  of  the  United 
States ;  Lefroy's  Memorials  of  the  Discovery  of 
the  Bermudas,  and  Historye  of  the  Bermudaes, 
ed.  for  the  Hakluvt  Soc.]  J.  K.  L. 

NORWYCH,  GEORGE  (d.  1469),  abbot 
of  Westminster,  succeeded  to  that  office  upon 
the  resignation  of  Abbot  Keyton,  1462  (not 
upon  his  death,  as  Stanley  says,  Memorials 
of  Westminster,  p.  334).  By  1467  he  had  so 
thoroughly  mismanaged  the  affairs  of  the  con- 
vent that  he  was  obliged  to  consent  to  the 
transference  of  his  whole  authority,  spiritual 
as  well  as  temporal,  to  a  commission,  con- 
sisting of  the  prior,  Thomas  Millyng  [q.v.], 
and  several  monks,  and  to  live  until  his  debts 
should  be  paid  in  some  other  Benedictine 
house,  with  a  chaplain  and  a  few  servants, 
on  a  pension  of  one  hundred  marks  a  year. 
The  debts  amounted  to  nearly  three  thou- 
sand four  hundred  marks,  due  in  part  to  the 
convent  at  large,  in  part  to  individual  monks ; 
and,  in  addition  to  extravagant  expenditure, 
Norwych  had  sold  the  monastic  woods  and 
encumbered  the  revenue  with  promises  of 
pensions.  Moreover,  if  his  other  offences  can 
be  inferred  from  the  restrictions  laid  by  the 
commissioners  upon  his  future  action,  he  had 
heaped  offices  and  money  upon  an  unworthy 
monk,  Thomas  Ruston,  had  taken  perquisites 
contrary  to  his  oath,  had  interfered  with 
justice,  and  presented  to  benefices  before  they 
fell  vacant. 

He  died  in  1469,  but  his  place  of  burial 
is  unknown. 

[Widmore's  Hist.  Westminster  Abbey,  p.  116, 
and  Appendix  vii.  from  the  archives  of  the 
abbey;  Neale's  Westminster  Abbey,  i.  90;  Willis's 
Hist,  of  Mitred  Parliamentary  Abbeys,  i.  206.] 

E.  G.  P. 


Notary 


Nothelm 


NOTARY,  JULIAN  (ft.  1498-1520), 
printer,  was  probably  a  Frenchman  by  birth. 
The  statement  of  Bagford,  '  that  he  had  seen 
of  his  printing  in  France  before  he  printed  in 
England'  (AMES,  Typogr.  Antiquities,  ed. 
Herbert,  i.  303),  is  believed  to  be  inaccurate. 
In  1498  Notary  and  Jean  Barbier,  a  French- 
man, produced  a  'Missale  secundum  usum 
Sarum'  at  King  Street,  Westminster,  for 
VVynkyn  de  Worde.  Jean  Barbier  printed 
several  books  at  Paris  in  1505  and  1506,  and 
became  'libraire  jur6  '  on  '28  Feb.  1507.  La- 
caille  calls  him  '  un  des  plus  habiles  impri- 
meurs  de  son  temps  et  tres  estendu  en  son 
art '  (  Histoire  de  VImprimerie,  1689,  p.  79). 
He  printed  at  Paris  down  to  1511.  A  fac- 
simile of  his  mark  is  given  by  Brunet  (Manuel 
du  Libraire,  1864,  v.  1191). 

Notary  henceforward  printed  alone.  He 
brought  out  at  Westminster  the  '  Liber 
Festivalis'  (1499),  taken  from  the'Legenda 
Aurea ; ' '  Quatuor  Sermones '  (1490)  in  Eng- 
lish; 'Horse  ad  usum  Sarum' (1500) ;  and 
Chaucer's  '  Love  and  Complayntes  betwene 
Mars  and  Venus '  (no  date).  In  1503  Notary 
was  living,  possibly  in  Pynson's  house, '  with- 
out Temple  Bar,  in  St.  Clement's  parish,  at 
the  sign  of  the  Three  Kings,'  and  there  pro- 
duced '  The  Golden  Legend,' containing  some 
woodcuts  used  by  Wynkyn  de  Worde  and 
some  metal  cuts.  During  the  next  six  or 
seven  years  there  came  from  his  press  '  The 
«  Cronycle  of  Englond '  (1504),  '  Scala  Per- 
fectionis'  (1507),  and  other  works,  about 
thirteen  in  number.  In  1510  he  had  a  second 
shop  in  St.  Paul's  Churchyard,  at  the  sign  of 
the  Three  Kings,  '  besyde  my  lorde  of  Lon- 
don palays.'  His  next  dated  books  were  the 
'  Cronicles  of  Englond '  (1515)  ;  two  small 
grammatical  treatises  by  Whittinton,  '  De 
Metris '  and  '  De  Octo  Partibus  Orationis ' 
(1516),  at  the  sign  of  St.  Mark  against  St. 
Paul's  (copies  of  which  are  in  the  Cambridge 
University  Library) ;  and  the  '  Lyfe  of  Saynt 
Barbara '(1518),  in  St.  Paul's  Churchyard,  at 
the  sign  of  the  Three  Kings.  Dr.  H.  Oskar 
Sommer  places  about  1518  the  date  of  Notary's 
famous  edition  (the  fifth)  of '  The  Kalender  of 
Shepardes,'  of  which  no  perfect  copy  is  known 
(The  Academy,  20  Dec.  1890,  p.  593).  His 
last  known  productions  are  '  The  Parlyameiit 
of  Deuylls '  (1520)  and  '  Life  of  Saynt  Eras- 
mus' (1520),  also  printed  at  the  Three  Kings. 
Herbert  mentions  two  other  lives  of  saints, 
but  furnishes  no  particulars. 

The  date  of  Notary's  death  is  unknown. 
Specimens  of  his  printing  are  rare  and  few 
in  number.  His  name  appears  in  about 
twenty-eight  works.  His  productions  are 
not  remarkable  for  beauty,  except  perhaps  a 
'  Book  of  Hours  '  (1503),  of  which  the  only 


copy  known  to  be  extant  belongs  to  the 
Duke  of  Devonshire.  Like  other  printers  of 
his  time,  Notary  bound  his  own  books,  and 
specimens  of  the  original  calf  covers  are  in 
existence,  bearing  stamped  panels  with  the 
royal  arms  (PRIDEAUX,  Historical  Sketch  of 
Bookbinding,  1893,  pp.  18-19).  Two  of  his 
devices  are  reproduced  by  Dibdin. 

[Ames's  Typogr.  Antiq.  (Herbert),  1785.  i. 
303-7;  the  same  (Dibdin),  1812,  ii.  574-603; 
Gordon  Duff's  Early  Printed  Books,  1893,  pp. 
143-46 ;  Warton's  Hist,  of  English  Poetry  (Haz- 
litt),  1871,  iii.  155;  Hazlitt's  Handbook  and  Bi- 
bliographical Collections,  1867-89;  Timperley's 
Encyclopaedia,  1842,  pp.  226-7.]  H.  K.  T. 

NOTHELM  (d.  739),  tenth  archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  a  priest  of  London,  and  ap- 
parently not  a  monk,  was  a  friend  of  Al- 
binus  [q.v.],  abbot  of  St.  Augustine's,  Canter- 
bury, who  employed  him  to  convey  to  Bede 
[q.  v.],  both  by  letter  and  by  word  of  mouth, 
information  respecting  the  ecclesiastical  his- 
tory of  Kent.  Nothelm  visited  Rome  during 
the  pontificate  of  Gregory  II,  and,  with  his 
permission,  searched  the  registers  of  the  Ro- 
man see,  and  copied  several  letters  of  Gregory 
the  Great  and  other  popes,  which,  by  the  ad- 
vice of  Albinus,  he  gave  to  Bede,  that  he 
might  insert  them  in  his  '  Ecclesiastical  His- 
tory.' He  is  described  as '  archpriest  of  the  ca- 
thedral church  of  St.  Paul's,  London '  (THORN, 
col.  1772).  Archbishop  Tatwin  having 
died  in  734,  Nothelm  was  consecrated  to  the 
see  of  Canterbury  in  735,  the  archbishopric 
of  York  being  re-established  about  that  time, 
and  probably  a  little  earlier  than  Nothelm's 
consecration  by  the  gift  of  a  pall  from  Gre- 
gory III  to  Egbert  (d.  766)  [q.  v.]  Nothelm 
received  his  pall  from  Gregory  III  in  736,  and 
then  consecrated  Cuthbert  (d.  758)  [q.  v.], 
who  succeeded  him  at  Canterbury,  to  the 
see  of  Hereford;  Herewald  to  Sherborne, 
and  Etheli'rith  to  Elmham  (Si'M.  DUXELM. 
Opp.  ii.  31,  32).  He  received  a  letter  from 
St.  Boniface,  then  archbishop  in  Germany, 
asking  for  a  copy  of  the  letter  containing  the 
questions  sent  by  St.  Augustine  [q.  v.]  to 
Gregory  and  the  pope's  answers,  together 
with  Nothelm's  opinion  on  the  case  of  a  man's 
marriage  with  the  widowed  mother  of  his 
godson,  and  for  information  as  to  the  date  of 
Augustine's  landing  in  England  (Ecclesias- 
tical Documents,  iii.  335  sq.)  Either  in  736 
or  737  he  held  a  synod  which  was  attended 
by  nine  bishops.  In  737  a  division  was 
made  between  the  Mercian  and  Mid-Anglian 
bishoprics  by  the  consecration  of  Huitta  to 
Lichfield  and  Totta  to  Leicester.  Nothelm 
witnessed  a  charter  of  Eadbert,  king  of  Kent, 
in  738.  lie  died  on  17  Oct.  739  (Svii. 


Nott 


232 


Nott 


DFNELM.  ;  ROG.  HOT.  i.  5 ;  and  see  BISHOP  ! 
STFBBS'S  Preface  for  the  chronology  of  the 
'  Northern  Chronicle ; '  according  to  ELMHAM, 
p.  312,  in  740;  in  FLOR.  WIG.  i.  54,  in  741), 
and  was  buried  in  the  abbey  church  of  St. 
Augustine's,  Canterbury.  The  works  attri- 
buted to  him  by  Leland,  Bale,  and  Tanner 
are  merely  suppositions.  He  sent  thirty 
questions  to  Bede  on  the  Books  of  Kings, 
which  Bede  answered  in  a  treatise  addressed 
to  him  [see  under  BEDE].  "Wharton  has 
printed  a  eulogy  on  him  in  ten  lines  from  a 
manuscript  in  the  Lambeth  Library. 

[A  life  by  Bishop  Stubbs  in  Diet.  Chr.  Biogr. 
iii.  54,  55 ;  Haddan  and  Stubbs's  Eccl.  Docs.  iii. 
335-39;  Hook's  Archbishops  of  Cant,  i  .206-16  ; 
Wright's  Biogr.  Brit.  Lit.  i.  291;  Vvharton's 
Anglia  Sacra,  ii.  71,  where  the  eulogy  is  printed, 
on  which  see  Hardy's  Cat.  Mat.  i.  468  (Rolls 
Ser.) ;  Bede's  Eccl.  Hist.  Pref.  and  Cont.  ap. 
Mon.  Hist.  Brir.  pp.  106,  107,  288 ;  Sym. 
Dunelm  ,  Hist.  Eegum,  ap.  Opp.  ii.  31,  32  (Rolls 
Ser.)  ;  Kemble's  Codex  Dip],  i.  Nos.  82,  85  (Engl. 
Hist.  Soc.);  Thorn's  Chron.  col.  1772,  ed.  Twys- 
den;  Elmham's  Hist.  Mon.  S.  Augustini,  p.  312 
(Rolls  Ser.);  Flor.Wig.  i.  54  (Engl.  Hist,  Soc.); 
Kog.  Hov.  i.  5  (Rolls  Ser.) ;  Leland's  Scriptt.  p. 
131 ;  Bale's  Script.  Brit.  Cat.  ii.  8,  p.  100  ;  Tan- 
ner's Bibl.  Brit.  p.  552.]  W.  H. 

NOTT,  GEORGE  FREDERICK  (1767- 
1841),  divine  and  author,  born  in  1767,  was 
nephew  of  Dr.  John  Nott  [q.  v.]  His  father, 
Samuel  Nott  (1740-1793),  who  proceeded 
M.A.  from  Worcester  College,  Oxford,  in 
1764,  was  appointed  prebendary  of  Winches- 
ter (1770),  rector  of  Houghton,  Hampshire 
(1776),  vicar  of  Blandford,  Dorset,  and  chap- 
lain to  the  king.  His  mother,  Augusta 
(d.  1813),  was  daughter  of  Pennell  Hawkins, 
serjeant-surgeon  to  the  king,  and  niece  of  Sir 
Caesar  Hawkins.  George  matriculated  from 
Christ  Church,  Oxford,  on  30  Oct.  1784,  aged 
seventeen,  and  distinguished  himself  as  a 
classical  scholar.  Graduating  B. A.  in  1788, 
he  was  elected  a  fellow  of  All  Souls  College, 
took  holy  orders,  and  proceeded  M.A.  in  1792 
(B.D.  in  1802,  and  D.D.  in  1807).  In  1801 
he  was  proctor  in  the  university,  and  in  1802 
he  preached  the  Bampton  lectures,  his  subject 
being  '  Religious  Enthusiasm.'  The  success 
attending  these  sermons,  which  were  pub- 
lished next  year, brought  him  to  the  notice  of 
the  king,  who  appointed  him  sub-preceptor 
to  Princess  Charlotte  of  Wales.  Much  clerical 
preferment  followed.  He  became  prebendary 
of  Colworth,  Chichester,  in  1802  ;  perpetual 
curate  of  Stoke  Canon,  Devonshire,  in  1807  ; 
vicar  of  Broadwinsor,  Dorset,  in  1808; 
fourth  prebendary  of  Winchester  in  1810  ; 
rector  of  Harrietsham  and  Woodchurch  (in 
exchange  for  Broadwinsor)  in  1813,  and 


prebendary  of  Salisbury  in  1814.  He  spent 
much  of  his  private  means  in  restoring  the 
rectory-houses  and  in  building  schools  in  the 
parishes  over  which  he  presided.  As  pre- 
bendary of  Winchester,  he  superintended  the 
repairs  of  the  cathedral.  On  6  Jan.  1817, 
while  engaged  on  this  work,  he  fell  a  dis- 
tance of  thirty  feet,  and  sustained  severe  in- 
juries to  the  head,  from  which  he  never 
wholly  recovered.  Subsequently  he  spent 
much  time  in  Italy,  and  at  Rome  purchased 
many  pictures  by  contemporary  artists.  He 
wrote  Italian  with  ease  and  accuracy.  In 
1825  he  succeeded  to  the  property  of  his 
uncle  John.  He  died  at  his  house  in  the 
Close  at  Winchester  on  25  Oct.  1841.  The 
sale  of  his  valuable  library,  consisting  of 
12,500  volumes  and  many  prints  and  pic- 
tures, took  place  at  Winchester,  and  lasted 
thirteen  days  (11-25  Jan.  1842).  Nott's 
coins,  gems,  and  bronzes  were  sold  in  April 
in  London. 

Nott,  like  his  uncle,  devoted  much  time  to 
the  study  of  sixteenth-century  literature,  and 
produced  an  exhaustive  edition  of  the '  Works 
of  Henry  Howard,  earl  of  Surrey,  and  of 
Sir  Thomas  Wyatt  the  elder'  (1815-16,  in  two 
large  4to  vols.)  The  illustrative  essays  and 
appendices  embody  the  results  of  many  re- 
searches among  manuscripts  and  wide  read- 
ing in  early  Italian  poetry,  while  his  biogra- 
phies of  Henry  Howard,  earl  of  Surrey  [q.  v.], 
and  of  his  son,  Henry  Howard,  earl  of  North- 
ampton [q.  v.j,  despite  their  length  and  their 
neglect  of  many  authorities  since  rendered 
accessible,  supply  much  recondite  informa- 
tion. But  the  text  of  the  poems  is  not  al- 
ways accurate,  and  Nott  displays  through- 
out a  want  of  literary  taste.  He  unwar- 
rantably assumed  that  nearly  all  Surrey's 
poems  were  addressed  to  the  Lady  Geraldine, 
and  affixed  to  each  a  fanciful  title  based  on 
that  assumption  (cf.  BAPST,  Deux  Gentils- 
hommes-poetes  a  la  Cour  de  Henri  VIII, 
1891,  for  adverse  criticism  of  Nott's  '  Life  of 
Surrey '). 

Besides  the  Bampton  lectures  noticed 
above  and  an  occasional  sermon,  Nott  also 
published  some  translations  into  Italian,  and 
edited  some  Italian  books.  His  Italian  ver- 
sion of  the  English  '  Book  of  Common 
Prayer '  ('  Libro  delle  Preghiere  Communi ') 
appeared  in  1831.  In  1832  he  printed  at 
Florence  for  the  first  time,  with  Italian  in- 
troduction and  notes,  '  Fortunatus  Siculus 
ossia  1'Avventuroso  Ciciliano  di  Busone 
da  Gubbio :  romanzo  storico  scritto  nel 
MCCCX1.' 

[Gent.  Mag.  1842,  i.  106-7,  299;  Biogr.  Diet, 
of  Living  Authors,  1816;  Foster's  Index  Eccle- 
siasticus,  1800-40.  In  the  Brit.  Mus.  Cat.  many 


Nott 


233 


Nott 


English  works  by  his  uncle  are  incorrectly  as- 
signed to  him  ;  with  them  are  enumerated  several 
Italian  books,  with  manuscript  notes  by  Nott, 
which  were  once  in  Nott's  library,  but  are  now 
in  the  Museum.]  S.  L. 

NOTT,  JOHN,  M.D.  (1751-1825),  phy- 
sician and  classical  scholar,  born  at  Worcester 
on  24  Dec.  1751,  was  son  of  Samuel  Nott. 
The  latter  was  of  German  origin,  held  an 
appointment  in  George  Ill's  household,  and 
was  much  liked  by  the  king.  John  studied 
surgery  in  Birmingham,  under  the  instruction 
of  Edmund  Hector,  the  schoolfellow  and  life- 
long friend  of  Dr.  Johnson ;  in  London  under 
Sir  Caesar  Hawkins,  with  whose  family  he 
was  connected ;  and  at  Paris.  About  1775  he 
went  to  the  Continent  with  an  invalid  gentle- 
man, and  stayed  there  for  two  years,  when 
he  returned  to  London.  In  1783  he  travelled 
to  China,  as  surgeon  in  an  East  India  vessel, 
and  during  his  absence  of  three  years  learnt 
the  Persian  language.  In  a  note  to  his  edition 
of  Decker's  '  Gulls  Hornbook '  he  speaks  of 
having  witnessed  Chinese  plays  in  the  streets 
of  Canton  (p.  56,  n.  2).  His  love  of  travel  was 
not  yet  exhausted,  for  soon  after  returning  to 
England  he  accompanied  his  brother  and  his 
family  on  a  journey  abroad  for  their  health, 
and  did  not  return  until  1788.  Nott  was 
still  without  a  degree  in  medicine,  and,  on  the 
advice  of  Dr.  Warren,  he  became  an  extra- 
licentiate  of  the  College  of  Physicians  in  Lon- 
don on  8  Oct.  1789.  On  the  title-page  of  his 
treatise  on  the' Waters  of  Pisa'  he  is  described 
as  M.D.,  but  where  he  took  that  degree  is 
unknown.  On  the  recommendation  of  Dr. 
Warren  he  attended  the  Duchess  of  Devon- 
shire and  Lady  Duncannon,  as  their  physician, 
to  the  Continent,  and  continued  in  that  posi- 
tion until  1793.  He  settled  at  length  at  the 
Hot  Wells,  Bristol, '  the  place  of  his  predilec- 
tion,' and,  in  spite  of  frequent  offers  of  a  better 
position,  remained  there  for  the  rest  of  his 
days.  For  the  last  eight  years  of  his  life  Nott 
suffered  from  hemiplegia,  and  was  confined 
to  his  house ;  but  his  mental  faculties  were  un- 
impaired, and  he  was  always  engrossed  in  lite- 
rature. He  died  in  a  boarding-house,  Dowry 
Square,  Clifton,  Bristol,  on  23  July  1825,  and 
was  buried  in  the  old  burial-ground  at  Clifton. 
He  was  well  versed  in  medical  science  and  in 
classical  literature,  and  was  celebrated  for  his 
conversational  skill. 

Nott  was  the  author  of:  1.  ' Alonzo;  or 
the  Youthful  Solitaire :  a  tale '  (anon.),  1772. 
2.  '  Leonora ;  an  Elegy  on  the  Death  of  a 
Young  Lady  '  (anon.), "1775.  She  was  the 
object  of  his  youthful  attachment.  3. '  Kisses : 
being  an  English  Translation  in  Verse  of  the 
Basia  of  Joannes  Secundus  Nicolaius,  with 
Latin  Text  and  an  Essay  on  his  Life,'  1775. 


4.  '  Sonnets  and  Odes  of  Petrarch,  translated ' 
(anon.),  1777 ;  reprinted  in  January  1808, 
as  by  the  translator  of  Catullus.  5.  '  Poems, 
consisting  of  Original  Pieces  and  Transla- 
tions,' 1780.  6.  '  Heroic  Epistle  in  Verse, 
from  Vestris  in  London  to  Mademoiselle 
Heinel  in  France'  (anon.),  1781.  7.  'Pro- 
pertii  Monobiblos,  or  that  Book  of  Propertius 
called  Cythnia,  translated  into  English  verse,' 
1782.  8.  '  Select  Odes  from  Hafiz,  translated 
into  English  verse,'  1787.  9.  '  Chemical  Dis- 
sertation on  the  Thermal  Water  of  Pisa,  and 
on  the  neighbouring  Spring  of  Asciano,  with 
Analytical  Papers  [by  Henri  Struve]  on  the 
Sulphureous  Water  of  Yverdun,'  1793.  This 
was  the  substance  of  an  Italian  treatise  by 
Giorgio  Santi,  professor  of  chemistry  in  Pisa 
University.  Nott  had  passed  two  winters 
in  that  city.  10.  '  Of  the  Hot-WellWaters 
near  Bristol,'  1793.  11.  '  A  Posologic  Com- 
panion to  the  London  Pharmacopoeia,'  1793; 
3rd  ed.  1811.  12.  'The  Poems  of  Caius 
Valerius  Catullus  in  English  Verse,  with  the 
Latin  text  versified  and  classical  notes,'  1794, 
2  vols.  8vo.  13.  '  Belinda ;  or  the  Kisses 
of  Bonefonius  of  Auvergne,  with  Latin  text,' 
1797.  14. 'The  Nature  of  Things.  The  First 
Book  of  Lucretius,  with  Latin  text,'  1799. 
15.  '  Odes  of  Horace,  with  Latin  text,'  1803, 
2  vols.  16.  '  Sappho,  after  a  Greek  Romance ' 
(anon.),  1803.  17.  'On  the  Influenza  at  Bris- 
tol in  the  Spring  of  1803,'  1803.  18.  '  Select 
Poems  from  the  Hesperides  of  Herrick,  with 
occasional  remarks  by  J.  N.'  [1810].  This 
was  criticised  by  Barren  Field  in  the  '  Quar- 
terly Review'  for  1810.  19.  'Songs  and 
Sonnets  of  Henry  Howard,  earl  of  Surrey, 
Sir  Thomas  Wyatt,  and  others'  [1812],  Afire 
at  the  printer's  destroyed  nearly  the  whole 
impression,  and  thework,which  included  only 
the  text  of  the  poems,  and  is  to  be  distin- 
guished from  the  exhaustive  edition  of  Surrey 
and  Wyatt  by  Nott's  nephew,  was  not  pub- 
lished. In  two  copies  at  the  British  Museum 
there  are  copious  manuscript  notes  by  Nott. 
20.  '  The  Gulls  Hornbook,  by  T.  Decker,  with 
notes  of  illustration  by  J.  N.,'  1812.  Nott 
contributed  to  the  'Gentleman's  Magazine' 
and  other  journals,  both  literary  and  medical. 
At  the  time  of  his  death  he  had  finished  a 
complete  translation  of  Petrarch,  with  notes, 
memoir,  and  essay  on  his  genius ;  and  he  con- 
templated a  poetic  version  of  Silius  Italicus. 
His  nephew,  executor  and  heir,  was  the  Rev. 
George  Frederick  Nott  [q.  v.] 

Nott's  verse  renderings  of  the  poems  of 
Catullus,  Propertius,  and  of  the  '  Basia  of 
Joannes  Secundus  Nicolaius,'  are  reprinted 
in  Bonn's  Classical  Library. 

Nott  seems  to  have  aided  John  Mathew 
Gutch  [q.v.]  in  preparing  a  reprint  of  Wither's 


Nott 


234 


Nott 


works.  The  undertaking  was  not  com- 
pleted, but  a  few  imperfect  copies  were 
issued  by  Gutch  in  1820,  in  3  vols.  (cf. 
proof-sheets  of  the  reprint  of  the  Juvenilia 
in  Brit.  Mus.)  Charles  Lamb  possessed  a 
copy  of  these '  Selections  from  the  Lyric  and 
Satiric  Poems  of  George  Wither,'  interleaved 
with  manuscript  notes  by  Nott.  The  notes 
irritated  Lamb,  who  annotated  them  in  turn 
with  such  comments  as '  Thou  damned  fool ! ' 
'  Why  not,  Nott  ?  '  '  Obscure  ?  to  you,  to 
others  Not,'  and  dismisses  the  '  unhappy  doc- 
tor '  with  this  final  note,  '  O  eloquent  in 
abuse  !  Niggard  where  thou  shouldst  praise, 
Most  Negative  Nott.'  Mr.  Swinburne,  into 
whose  hands  came  this  doubly  annotated 
volume,  details  Lamb's  strictures  upon  Nott 
with  gusto  in  a  paper  entitled '  Charles  Lamb 
and  George  Wither '  in  the  '  Nineteenth  Cen- 
tury '(January  1885).  He  characterises  Nott, 
whose  chief  fault  seems  to  have  been  a  super- 
fluity of  comment,  as  '  sciolist  and  pedant.' 

[Gent.  Mag.  1825,  pt.  ii.  pp.  565-6  (from 
Bristol  Journal) ;  Notes  and  Queries,  1st  ser.  x. 
27,  5th  ser.  x.  204,  6th  ser.  x.  267  ;  Munk's  Coll. 
of  Phys.  2nd  ed.  ii.  397-8;  Bristol  Gazette, 
28  July  1825.]  W.  P.  C. 

NOTT,  SIE  THOMAS  (1606-1681), 
royalist,  born  on  11  (or  16)  Dec.  1606,  was 
eldest  son  of  Roger  Nott,  a  wealthy  citizen 
of  London,  a  younger  son  of  the  Notts  of 
Kent  (Visitation  of  Gloucestershire,  1682-3, 
ed.  Fenwick  and  Metcalfe,  p.  126).  Roger 
Nott,  who  was  churchwarden  of  Allhallows 
Staining  in  1621-2,  suffered  much  for  his 
loyalty  during  the  civil  war  (Cal.  of  Com- 
mittee for  Compounding).  But  if  the  will 
(P.  C.C.  363,  Brent)  of  a  family  connection — 
Mrs.  Elizabeth  Parkins,  formerly  Sewster 
— may  be  credited,  he  acquired  some  of  his 
property,  notably  that  in  Wiltshire,  by  fraud. 
He  was  buried  at  Richmond,  Surrey,  on 
24  Jan.  1670-1  (parish  register ;  cf.  his  will 
in  P.  C.  C.  79,  Eure).  His  son  was  placed 
in  1618  at  Merchant  Taylors'  School  {Regis- 
ter, ed.  Robinson,  i.  95),  whence  he  proceeded 
in  1622  to  Pembroke  College,  Cambridge, 
graduating  B.A.  in  1625,  M.A.  in  1628. 
On  4  Sept.  1639  he  was  knighted  at  White- 
hall (METCALFE,  Book  of  Knights,  p.  195), 
being  then  seated  at  Obden,  Worcestershire. 
In  1640  he  bought  the  remainder  of  the 
crown  lease  of  Twickenham  Park,  Middle- 
sex, of  the  Countess  of  Home,  but  sold  it  in 
1659,  about  which  time  he  purchased  a 
house  at  Richmond  (COBBETT,  Twickenham, 
p.  230).  The  committee  for  advance  of  money 
assessed  him  on  4  Oct.  1643  at  250/.,  and  at 
2001.  on  17  Dec.,  for  non-payment  of  which 
he  was  ordered  to  be  brought  up  in  custody 


on  14  Feb.  1645  (Cal.  p.  255).  On  17  Oct. 
1646  he  petitioned  to  compound,  pleading 
that  he  came  in  before  1  Dec.  1645,  and  ob- 
ained  conditions  from  the  county  commit- 
tee, but  could  not  prosecute  his  composition 
by  reason  of  his  debts ;  he  was  subsequently 
fined  1,2571.  (Cal.  of  Committee  for  Com- 
pounding, p.  1554.)  He  was  again  assessed  at 
400/.  on  1  Jan.  1647,  was  threatened  with 
sequestration  for  refusing  to  pay  in  August 
1649,  and  finally  obtained  his  discharge  in 
May  1650,  on  payment  of  50/.  During  the 
civil  war  Nott  was  in  constant  attendance 
on  the  king.  In  1647  he  assisted  in  the  at- 
tempt to  promote  a  rising  for  Charles  in 
Glamorganshire  (Cal.  of  State  Papers,  1645- 
1647,  p.  592).  A  royalist  demonstration  at 
Twickenham  in  August  1649  was  apparently 
inspired  by  Lady  Nott  (ib.  1649-50,  pp.  290, 
293) ;  at  any  rate  Nott  disclaimed  all  know- 
ledge of  it,  and  asked  the  council  of  state 
to  compensate  him  for  the  damage  done  to 
his  property  (ib.  1650,  pp.  126,  143).  At  the 
Restoration  Nott  became  gentleman-usher  of 
the  privy  chamber  to  the  king  (CHAMBER- 
LAYNE,  Anglice  Notitia,  1682,  p.  162).  On 
20  May  1663  he  was  elected  an  original 
fellow  of  the  Royal  Society,  but  was  ex- 
pelled on  18  Nov.  1675  for  non-payment  of 
his  subscription  (THOMSON,  Hist,  of  Royal 
Soc.,  Appendix  iv.  p.  xxii).  He  died  about 
18  Dec.  1681,  in  St.  Margaret,  Westminster 
(Probate  Act  Book,  P.  C.  C.,  1682,  f.  3  b}, 
and  was  buried  at  Richmond  on  the  22nd 
(parish  register).  His  widow,  Anne,  daugh- 
ter of  Sir  Thomas  Thynne,  was  buried  near 
him  on  17  Nov.  1694  (ib.)  In  his  will 
(P.  C.  C.  7,  Cottle)  he  mentions  three  sons 
—Thomas  (1638-1703),  who  was  seated  at 
Obden  in  1682  (NASH,  Worcestershire,  ii. 
450),  Roger,  and  Edward — and  two  daugh- 
ters, Susan  and  Beatrice. 

His  portrait  was  finely  engraved  in  folio 
by  R.  White  in  1678 ;  it  is  now  very  rare 
(EvANS,  Cat.  of  Engraved  Portraits,  ii.  300). 
There  is  a  copy  of  it  by  Richardson  in  8vo. 

[Notes  kindly  supplied  by  J.  Challenor  C. 
Smith,  esq. ;  Howard's  Miscellanea  Genealogica, 
new  ser.  iii.  233  ;  Granger's  Biogr.  Hist,  of  Engl. 
(2nd  edit.),  iii.  415;  Commons'  Journals,  iv. 
519.]  G.  G. 

NOTT,  SIR  WILLIAM  (1782-1845), 
major-general,  commander  of  the  army  of 
Kandahar,  second  son  of  Charles  Nott  of 
Shobdan  in  Herefordshire,  by  his  wife,  a 
Miss  Bailey  of  Seething,  near  Loddon  in  Nor- 
folk, was  born  near  Neath,  Glamorganshire, 
on  20  Jan.  1782.  His  forefathers  had  lor  many 
generations  been  yeomen.  At  a  school  in 
Neath,  where  his  father  rented  a  farm,  and 


Nott 


235 


Nott 


afterwards  at  the  grammar  school  at  Cow-  j 
bridge,   Nott   received    an   indifferent   ele- ! 
mentary  education.     In  1794  his  father  re- 
moved to  the  town  of  Carmarthen,  became 
the   proprietor  of  the  Ivy  Bush  inn,  and 
entered  on  the  business  of  a  mail  contractor. 
He  also  retained  a  large  farm,  in  the  working 
of  which  he  was  assisted  by  his  sons. 

In  1798  Nott  was  enrolled  in  a  volunteer  ' 
corps  formed  in  Carmarthen,  and  this  led  him 
to  aspire  to  a  commission  in  the  army.    A  | 
Bengal  cadetship  was  obtained  for  him,  and  j 
he  embarked  in  1800  for  Calcutta  in  the  East 
Indiaman  Kent.    After  much  hardship,  con-  j 
sequent  upon  the  capture  of  the  Kent  by  a  : 
French  privateer  and  the  transference  of 
the  passengers  to  a  small  Arab  vessel,  Nott  i 
finally  reached  Calcutta ;  and  on  28  Aug.  | 

1800  he  was  appointed  an  ensign,  and  posted  [ 
to  the  Bengal  European  regiment  at  Bar- 
hampur.  He  was  soon  afterwards  transferred  j 
to  the  20th  native  infantry,  and  on  21  Feb. 

1801  he  was  promoted  lieutenant. 

In  1804  Nott  was  selected  to  command  a 
detachment  forming  part  of  an  expedition 
under  Captain  Hayes  of  the  Bombay  marine 
against  the  tribes  on  the  west  coast  of 
Sumatra.  He  distinguished  himself  in  the 
capture  of  Moko.  For  a  supposed  breach 
of  discipline,  Captain  Robertson,  who  com- 
manded the  Lord  Castlereagh,  in  which  Nott 
sailed,  placed  him  under  arrest  and  in  strict 
confinement  for  four  months.  Robertson 
was  a  merchant  captain  who  had  been  raised 
to  the  command  of  a  50-gun  ship,  and  was 
quite  unacquainted  with  military  duty.  On 
reaching  Calcutta  Nott  demanded  a  court- 
martial,  which  was  granted,  and  he  was 
honourably  acquitted;  while  Captain  Robert- 
son, by  the  orders  of  the  Marquis  Wellesley, 
was  censured  and  admonished. 

On  5  Oct.  1805  Nott  married,  and  for  some 
years  led  the  quiet  life  of  a  soldier  in  can- 
tonments. On  1  March  1811  he  was  ap- 
pointed superintendent  of  native  pensions 
and  paymaster  of  family  pensions  at  Barrack- 
pur.  He  was  promoted  captain-lieutenant 
on  15  June  1814,  and  captain  on  16  Dec. 
following. 

In  December  1822  Nott  visited  England 
with  his  wife  and  daughters,  his  sons  having 
already  gone  home  for  their  education.  He 
stayed  during  his  furlough  at  Job's  Well, 
Carmarthen.  He  was  promoted  major  in 
1823,  and  regimental  lieutenant-colonel  on 
2  Oct.  1824,  upon  the  augmentation  of  the 
army.  On  26  Nov.  1825  he  returned  to 
Calcutta  and  took  command  of  his  regiment, 
the  20th  native  infantry,  at  Barrackpur. 
Nott  was  every  inch  a  soldier,  and,  although 
he  had  been  so  long  employed  in  a  merely  semi- 


military  berth,  he  brought  his  regiment  into 
so  complete  a  state  of  efficiency  and  disci- 
pline that  demand  was  made  for  his  services 
to  effect  similar  results  in  other  regiments. 
He  was  first  transferred  to  the  command  of 
the  43rd  native  infantry,  and  afterwards  to 
that  of  the  16th  grenadiers,  from  which  he 
was  again  transferred  to  the  71st  native  in- 
fantry at  Mhow  in  Malwa.  He  then  ex- 
changed into  the  38th  native  infantry  at 
Benares,  and  on  1  Dec.  1829  he  was  promoted 
to  be  colonel  in  the  army. 

Upon  the  outbreak  of  the  first  Afghan 
war  in  1838,  Nott  was  transferred  to  the 
command  of  the  42nd  native  infantry,  with 
a  view  to  being  placed  in  command  of  a 
brigade  on  active  service.  On  28  June  1838 
he  was  promoted  major-general,  and  in  Sep- 
tember was  appointed  a  brigadier-general 
of  the  second  class,  to  command  the  second 
brigade  first  division  of  the  army  of  the  Indus. 
The  following  month  his  wife  died  suddenly 
at  Delhi.  Nott  was  overwhelmed  with  grief. 
He  sent  his  family  to  England,  and  proceeded 
to  the  rendezvous  at  Kama!  in  a  state  of 
the  greatest  depression. 

After  the  arrival  of  the  troops  at  Ferozpiir 
Nott  was,  on  4  Dec.,  appointed  temporarily 
to  command  the  division  of  Sir  Willoughby 
Cotton,  who  had  succeeded  Sir  Henry  Fane 
in  the  command  of  the  Bengal  troops.  The 
Bengal  column  moved  on  12  Dec.  along  the 
Satlaj  towards  the  Indus,  and  thence  by 
the  Bolan  Pass  to  Quetta.  On  5  April  1839 
Sir  John  Keane  [see  KEANE,  JOHN,  first 
LORD  KEANE]  and  the  Bombay  column  joined 
the  Bengal  force  at  Quetta,  and  Keane  took 
command  of  the  army.  Nott  resumed  his 
brigade  command,  and,  much  to  his  regret 
and  in  spite  of  his  protestations,  he  was  left 
with  his  brigade  at  Quetta  in  order  to  allow 
queen's  officers,  although  junior  to  himself 
as  generals,  to  go  on  to  Kabul.  He  was 
ordered  to  exercise  general  superintendence 
and  military  control  within  the  province  of 
Shal.  The  force  at  Quetta  was  gradually 
strengthened,  and  by  the  beginning  of  July 
1839  Nott  had  with  him  four  regiments  of 
infantry,  a  few  troops  of  cavalry  and  horse 
artillery,  and  a  company  of  European  artil- 
lery, with  a  complement  of  engineers  and 
sappers  and  miners. 

On  15  Oct.  Nott  was  ordered  to  com- 
mand the  troops  at  Quetta  and  Kandahar. 
Under  instructions  from  Keane,  he  advanced 
with  half  his  brigade  to  Kandahar,  where  he 
arrived  on  13  Nov.  In  April  1840,  under 
orders  from  Cotton,  who  had  now  succeeded 
Keane  in  chief  command,  Nott  sent  an  ex- 
pedition, under  CaptainW.  Anderson,  against 
the  Ghikais,who  had  assembled  in  consider- 


Nott 


236 


Nott 


able  force  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Kalat-i- 
Ghilzai,  with  the  view  of  cutting  the  com- 
munication between  Kandahar  and  Kabul. 
The  expedition  was  successful,  and  the  Ghil- 
zais  were  defeated  at  Tazi.  Cotton  further 
sent  a  force  from  Kabul  to  meet  Nott,  and 
under  his  orders  to  endeavour  to  prevent  any 
concentration  of  Ghilzais  and  to  destroy  the 
forts  on  the  route.  This  was  successfully 
accomplished,  and  the  rebel  chiefs  either 
submitted  or  fled  to  the  hills,  and  Nott  re- 
mained in  camp  at  Hiilan  Robart  settling 
the  country. 

In  July  Nott  left  Captain  Woodburn  with 
«,  small  force  at  Hiilan  Robart,  and  himself 
returned  to  Kandahar  with  the  main  body. 
On  the  way  he  learned  that  Kalat  was  in 
rebellion.  He  at  once  proceeded  to  put  the 
•defences  of  Kandahar  and  Quetta  in  as  good 
a  state  as  he  could ;  and  on  9  Sept.,  in 
obedience  to  orders  from  Kabul,  moved  from 
Kandahar  to  Quetta,  and  on  25  Oct.  arrived 
at  Mastung.  He  then  marched  on  Kalat ; 
but,  on  his  approach,  the  enemy  evacuated 
the  fortress,  and  Nott  entered  it  on  3  Nov. 
1840.  Having  placed  Colonel  Stacey  in 
political  charge  at  Kalat,  Nott  returned  to 
Quetta,  and  on  18  Nov.  marched  to  Kanda- 
har. He  received  the  thanks  of  parliament 
and  of  the  East  India  Company  for  his  ser- 
vices. 

On  18  Feb.  1841  Major  Rawlinson,  the 
political  agent  at  Kandahar,  reported  to  Nott 
that  political  relations  had  been  broken  off 
with  the  Herat  government.  It  was  neces- 
sary to  crush  the  rebellion  in  Zamin  Dawar, 
and  despatch  a  force  to  the  Halmand,  to  co- 
operate with  the  garrison  of  Girishk  and  to 
prevent  Akhtar  Khan  from  marching  on 
Kandahar.  Nott  drew  in  troops  from  the 
Quetta  district  to  Kandahar  and  sent  a 
force  to  Girishk.  Akhtar  Khan  submitted. 

On  28  June  1841  Nott  was  appointed  to 
command  the  second  infantry  brigade  in 
Afghanistan.  Successful  expeditions  were 
sent  out  by  Nott  in  June  to  Girishk,  and  in 
July  to  Sikandarabad,  on  the  right  bank  of 
the  Halmand.  In  September  he  himself  com- 
manded a  force  against  the  refractory  chiefs 
of  Zamin  Dawar,  Tirin,  and  Derawat,  and, 
having  brought  the  chiefs  to  a  sense  of  their 
duty,  returned  to  Kandahar  on  1  Nov.  On 
S  Nov.  1841,  in  obedience  to  instructions  from 
headquarters,  he  sent  Maclaren's  brigade  back 
to  India ;  but  they  had  not  proceeded  far 
when  tidings  came  from  Kabul  of  the  rising 
of  the  Afghans  there.  Nott  recalled  Mac- 
laren's brigade,  and,  in  obedience  to  orders 
received  from  Major-general  Elphinstone, 
who  had  succeeded  Cotton  in  command  of 
the  force  in  Afghanistan  in  the  previous 


March,  sent  the  brigade  towards  Kabul.  Nott 
called  in  all  the  troops  left  at  Derawat  and 
Nish,  and  those  encamped  at  Zamin  Dawar. 
He  strengthened  the  post  at  Girishk,  and  took 
precautions  against  any  rising  in  and  about 
Kandahar.  Maclaren's  brigade  was  soon  com- 
pelled to  return  to  Kandahar  on  account  of 
the  severity  of  the  weather. 

On  13  Jan.  1842  the  command  was  con- 
ferred upon  Nott  of  all  troops  in  Lower 
Afghanistan  and  Sind,  as  well  as  the  control 
of  the  political  officers  in  those  countries.  On 
12  Jan.  1842  Safter  Jang,  Atta  Muhammad, 
and  others  advanced  within  a  short  distance 
of  Kandahar.  Nott  moved  out  of  the  city 
with  five  and  a  half  regiments  of  infantry, 
the  Shah's  1st  cavalry,  a  party  of  Skinner's 
horse,  and  sixteen  guns.  After  a  march  of 
four  hours  over  a  rough  country  he  came  in 
sight  of  the  enemy,  some  fifteen  thousand 
strong,  drawn  up  in  a  formidable  position 
on  the  right  bank  of  the  Argand-ab,  with  a 
morass  on  their  flank,  which  made  it  difficult 
to  get  at  them.  Nott  crossed  the  river  and 
opened  fire  with  his  artillery,  and  in  twenty 
minutes  dispersed  the  enemy,  who,  owing  to 
the  protection  afforded  by  the  position,  were 
enabled  to  effect  a  retreat  with  small  loss. 
After  this  affair  the  camp  of  the  Duranis 
became  the  nucleus  of  rebellion. 

On  31  Jan.  1842  Nott  heard  of  the  mur- 
der of  Macnaghten  at  Kabul.  In  February 
he  was  solicitous  for  the  safety  of  Kalat-i- 
Ghilzai  and  the  citadel  of  Ghazni.  The 
enemy  had  captured  the  city  of  Ghazni  in 
December  1841,  and  driven  the  garrison  into 
the  citadel.  On  21  Feb.  1842  orders  came 
to  Kandahar  from  General  Elphinstone  at 
Kabul  that  the  troops  at  Kandahar  and 
Kalat-i-Ghilzai  were  to  return  to  India.  Nott 
decided  that,  Elphinstone  having  written 
under  coercion,  the  Kabul  convention  was 
not  binding  on  the  officer  in  command  at 
Kandahar,  and  that  he  would  remain  where 
he  was,  pending  definite  instructions  from 
Calcutta.  Sale,  at  Jalalabad,  had  received  a 
similar  letter  from  Kabul,  and  had  replied  in 
the  same  spirit.  News  of  the  fate  of  Elphin- 
stone's  army  retiring  from  Kabul  reached 
Nott  immediately  after,  and  he  at  once  wrote 
to  the  government  of  India,  pressing  upon  it 
the  necessity  of  holding  on  both  at  Jalalabad 
and  Kandahar  with  a  view  to  advancing 
later  upon  Kabul  and  punishing  the  mur- 
derers of  Macnaghten.  He  added  that  he 
would  not  himself  budge  without  express 
instructions  to  do  so.  Nott  now  ordered  all 
Afghans  in  Kandahar,  some  six  thousand  in 
number,  to  leave  the  city,  and  posted  up  a 
proclamation  on  27  Feb.  denouncing  Safter 
Jang  and  his  Durani  followers.  In  the  be- 


Nott 


237 


Nott 


ginning  of  March  the  enemy,  twelve  thou- 
sand strong,  having  approached  Kandahar, 
Nott  marched  out  on  the  7th  with  a  strong 
column,  drove  them  across  the  Tarnak  and 
Argand-ab  rivers,  and  dispersed  them,  his 
want  of  cavalry  alone  saving  the  main  body 
from  destruction.  But  when  Nott  was  some 
thirty  miles  from  Kandahar  the  enemy  made 
a  flank  march  with  a  strong  detachment 
upon  Kandahar.  Endeavouring  to  storm 
the  city,  they  obtained  possession  of  one  of 
the  gates ;  but  they  were  repulsed  with  great 
loss  by  the  troops  in  garrison,  under  Major 
Lane,  on  11  March  1842. 

On  15  March  Colonel  Palmer  was  com- 
pelled to  make  terms  at  Ghazni.  Treachery 
followed,  and,  while  many  of  his  force  were 
killed  and  many  sepoys  made  slaves,  he  and 
some  of  the  officers  were  eventually  carried 
off  by  the  Afghans  as  prisoners  to  Bamian. 
On  22  March  Major-general  (afterwards  Sir) 
Richard  England  [q.  v.]  arrived  with  rein- 
forcements at  Quetta.  He  moved  from 
Quetta  on  the  28th,  and,  meeting  with  a  re- 
verse at  Haikalzai,  had  to  fall  back  again  on 
Quetta.  Nott  was  deeply  concerned  for  the 
loss  of  Ghazni  and  the  repulse  of  General 
England.  But  he  was  without  money  to  pay 
his  troops— four  months'  arrears  of  pay  were 
due — and  he  was  destitute  of  medicine  and 
ammunition.  Consequently  he  could  not 
move.  He  sent  stringent  orders  to  England 
to  bring  his  force  at  once  to  Kandahar  by  the 
Kojak  Pass,  and  he  sent  a  brigade  of  in- 
fantry, with  horse  artillery  and  cavalry,  to 
the  northern  end  of  the  pass,  to  insure  the 
safety  of  the  pass.  England  joined  him  in 
Kandahar  early  in  May.  Lord  Ellenborough 
[see  LAW,  EDWAKD,  EARL  OF  ELLEJTBOKOUGH], 
the  new  governor-general,  who  had  arrived 
in  February,  was  at  first  in  favour  of  a 
policy  of  retreat.  He  appointed  Pollock  to 
the  chief  command  of  the  army  in  Afghan- 
istan, and  directed  him  to  relieve  Sale  at 
Jalalabad.  At  the  same  time  he  corre- 
sponded freely  with  Nott,  whom  he  allowed 
to  maintain  his  position. 

While  a  large  force  had  been  despatched 
by  Nott  to  withdraw  the  garrison  of  Kalat- 
i-Ghilzai,  Akhtar  Khan,  the  Zamin  Dawar 
chief,  assembled  three  thousand  men  and 
joined  the  force  under  Safter  Jang  and  Atta 
Mohammed  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Ar- 
gand-ab. Nott  moved  out  with  a  part  of  his 
force,  leaving  General  England  to  protect 
Kandahar.  He  found  the  enemy  on  29  May 
in  possession  of  the  Baba  Wali  Pass  and  the 
roads  leading  to  the  camp.  He  attacked 
them  vigorously,  carried  all  their  positions 
in  gallant  style,  and  drove  them  in  confusion 
and  with  great  loss  across  the  Argand-ab 


river.  The  governor-general,  in  an  official 
despatch  dated  25  June  1842,  sent  him  hearty 
congratulations. 

On  22  July  Nott  received  from  the  gover- 
nor-general orders  to  withdraw  from  Afghan- 
istan, with  the  permission  to  do  so  either  by 
the  Quetta  route  or  round  by  Ghazni,  Kabul, 
and  Jalalabad.  Nott  did  not  hesitate.  He 
determined  to  march  with  a  small,  compact, 
and  well-tried  force  upon  Ghazni  and  Kabul, 
and  to  send  General  England  back  to  India 
by  Quetta  and  Sakhar.  General  Pollock  at 
once  communicated  with  Nott,  and  it  was- 
arranged  that  they  should  meet  at  Kabul. 
On  learning  Nott's  decision,  Lord  Ellen- 
borough  threw  himself  into  the  forward 
movement,  and  did  all  he  could  to  assist  it. 
He  directed  Nott  to  bring  away  from  Ghazni 
the  club  and  mace  of  Mahmiid  of  Ghazni  and 
the  gates  of  the  temple  of  Somnat. 

By  the  end  of  July  Nott  had  completed 
his  preparations.  He  transferred  the  Sind 
command  to  General  England,  and  saw  him 
start  with  his  column  for  India  on  8  Aug. 
Nott  then  moved  slowly  away  from  Kanda- 
har by  short  marches,  as  he  desired  to  give 
General  England  a  fair  start  while  he  was 
within  reach.  On  30  Aug.,  as  Nott  ap- 
proached within  forty  miles  of  Ghazni, 
Shamsh-ud-din,  the  Afghan  governor,  met 
him  at  Karabagh,  near  Ghoain,  with  twelve 
thousand  men.  After  a  short  but  spirited 
contest  Nott  completely  defeated  the  enemy, 
capturing  their  guns,  tents,  and  ammunition, 
and  dispersing  them  in  every  direction. 
Darkness  alone  prevented  the  complete  de- 
struction of  the  enemy's  infantry.  Shamsh- 
ud-din  fled  to  Ghazni. 

On  5  Sept.  Nott  was  before  Ghazni,  and 
during  the  night  commenced  the  construc- 
tion of  batteries  on  the  hill  to  the  north- 
east t  but  at  daylight  on  the  6th  it  was 
found  that  the  Afghans  had  evacuated  the 
city,  the  walls  and  gates  of  which,  with  its 
citadel,  were  destroyed  so  far  as  the  means 
available  and  two  days'  time  would  permit. 
Between  three  and  four  hundred  sepoys,  who- 
had  been  sold  into  slavery  when  Palmer 
capitulated  in  March,  were  recovered.  Nott 
removed  the  gates  of  Somnat  from  the  tomb 
of  Sultan  Mahmud,  but  the  club  and  shield 
could  not  be  found.  A  general  order  dated 
30  Sept.  conveyed  to  Nott  and  his  troops 
the  thanks  of  the  governor-general  for  their 
services. 

Nott  continued  his  march  towards  Kabul, 
and  as  he  approached  Beni-Badam  and 
Maidan,  he  found  Shamsh-ud-din,  Sultan 
Jan,  and  other  Afghan  chiefs,  with  an  army 
of  twelve  thousand  men,  occupying  a  suc- 
cession of  strong  mountain  positions  directly 


Nott 


238 


Nott 


on  his  road.  On  14  and  15  Sept.  Nott's 
troops  dislodged  them,  and  they  dispersed. 
Communications  between  Nott  and  Pollock 
were  frequent  and  continuous.  Pollock 
reached  Kabul  first,  and  when  Nott  arrived 
on  17  Sept.  the  British  flag  was  flying  from 
the  heights  of  the  Bala  Hissar.  Nott  en- 
camped a  few  miles  from  the  city.  The  com- 
bined army  remained  at  Kabul  until  12  Oct., 
when  it  marched  for  India  by  way  of  Jala- 
labab.  At  Gandamak  Nott  received  a  letter 
from  Lord  Ellenborough  transmitting  a  copy 
of  the  general  order  issued  on  21  Sept.,  ac- 
knowledging the  splendid  services  of  the 
army.  This  order  very  handsomely  compli- 
mented Nott  on  his  own  brilliant  victories, 
and  notified  his  appointment  from  30  Nov. 
following  to  the  office  of  resident  at  the  court 
of  Lucknow,  with  title  of  envoy  to  the  king 
of  Oude.  ;  I  rejoice,'  wrote  Lord  Ellen- 
borough,  '  in  the  opportunity  afforded  to  me 
by  the  vacancy  of  that  office  of  marking  the 
high  sense  I  entertain  of  the  value  of  your 
military  services,  and  of  making  known  to 
the  army  and  people  of  India  that  the  situa- 
tion of  greatest  dignity  and  emolument  under 
the  government  is  deemed  by  me  to  be  the 
due  reward  of  a  successful  general.'  Nott 
gratefully  accepted  the  proffered  honour.  On 
23  Dec.  the  army  reached  the  Satlaj,  over 
which  a  bridge  of  boats  had  been  thrown, 
and  the  governor-general,  the  commander-in- 
chief,  and  their  staff,  accompanied  by  several 
native  chiefs,  received  the  troops  with  every 
demonstration  of  honour.  While  being 
feasted  and  feted  at  Firozpiir,  Nott,  by  direc- 
tion of  the  governor-general,  prepared  a 
memorandum  on  the  carriage  or  transport 
department,  which  displayed  knowledge  of 
the  subject  and  common  sense.  Before  leav- 
ing Firozpur  Lord  Ellenborough  presented 
Nott  with  a  valuable  sword  in  the  name  of 
the  British  government. 

Nott  now  bade  adieu  to  the  army  of  Kan- 
dahar, and  proceeded  to  Lucknow  to  take  up 
his  new  appointment.  Soon  after  he  was 
installed  at  the  court  of  the  king  of  Oude, 
he  was  summoned  to  Agra  by  the  governor- 
general  to  be  invested  with  the  order  of  the 
G.C.B.  He  arrived  on  11  March,  and  the 
ceremony  was  performed  amid  great  splen- 
dour. A  day  or  two  after  Lord  Ellenborough 
sent  Nott  the  Kandahar  and  Kabul  medals, 
begging  that  he  would  wear  them  on  his 
entry  to  Lucknow.  On  20  Feb.  the  thanks 
of  both  houses  of  parliament  were  voted  to 
the  generals  and  their  armies  for  the  '  intre- 
pidity, skill,  and  perseverance  displayed  by 
them  in  the  military  operations  in  Afghanis- 
tan, and  for  their  indefatigable  zeal  and  exer- 
tions throughout  the  late  campaign.'  The 


vote  was  introduced  into  the  House  of  Lords 
by  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  who  bore  especial 
tribute  to  Nott's  merits  ;  while  in  the  House 
i  of  Commons  Sir  Robert  Peel  warmly  eulo- 
i  gised  him.     '  During  the  whole  of  the  time 
1  he  was  employed  in  these  dangerous  under- 
takings,' Peel  said,  '  his  gallant  spirit  never 
forsook  him,  and  he  dreamt  of  nothing  but 
vindicating   his   country's   honour.'      Lord 
•  Ellenborough,  in  his  correspondence  with  the 
':  Duke  of  Wellington,  expressed  the  opinion 
j  that   Nott  was  superior  to  all   the   other 
1  generals. 

In  June  1843  Nott  married  a  second  time. 
In  October  he  had  a  recurrence  of  an  illness 
which  he  had  contracted  in  Afghanistan,  and 
in  the  following  year  he  was  obliged  to  pro- 
ceed on  leave  to  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope. 
After  a  few  weeks  at  the  Cape  he  became 
so  much  worse  that  he  was  sent  to  England, 
where  he  arrived  in  the  summer  of  1844. 
He  received  numerous  invitations,  but  he 
was  too  ill  even  to  go  to  Windsor,  and  he 
lived  in  retirement  at  Carmarthen.  The 
court  of  directors  of  the  East  India  Com- 
pany on  21  Aug.  passed  a  resolution  grant- 
ing an  annuity  of  1,000^.  for  life  to  Nott. 
In  December  the  city  of  London  bestowed 
upon  him  the  freedom  of  the  city.  But  the 
disease  of  the  heart  which  affected  him  as- 
sumed an  aggravated  form,  and,  dying  on 
1  Jan.  1845,  he  was  buried  on  6  Jan.  in  the 
churchyard  of  St.  Peter's,  beside  the  grave  of 
his  father  and  mother. 

A  full-length  portrait  of  Nott,  painted  by 
T.  Brigstocke,  a  Welsh  artist,  is  in  the  town- 
hall  of  Carmarthen :  another  by  the  same 
artist  is  in  the  Oriental  Club,  London  ;  and 
a  third  is  in  the  town-hall  of  Calcutta.  A 
portrait  was  also  painted  by  Benjamin  Raw- 
linson  Faulkner  [q.  v.]  for  Henry  Wood,  and 
presented  by  that  gentleman  to  the  military 
college  at  Addiscombe.  A  statue,  by  Davies, 
in  bronze  was  also  erected  at  Carmarthen  by 
public  subscription,  to  which  the  queen  con- 
tributed 200/.  and  the  East  India  Company 
10CV.  In  order  to  procure  a  proper  site  in 
Carmarthen,  several  houses  near  the  town- 
hall  were  pulled  down  and  a  square  formed, 
which  has  been  called 'Nott  Square.'  The 
bronze  for  the  statue  was  made  of  guns  cap- 
tured at  the  battle  of  Maharajpur,  and  pre- 
sented by  the  East  India  Company. 

Nott  married  first,  on  5  Oct.  1805,  at  Cal- 
cutta, Letitia,  second  daughter  of  Henry 
Swinhoe.  Fourteen  children  were  the  issue 
of  this  marriage,  but  only  five  survived  him. 
He  married  secondly,  in  June  1843,  at 
Lucknow,  Rosa  Wilson,  daughter  of  Captain 
Dore,  of  the  3rd  Buffs. 

Nott  was  a  self-reliant  man,  who,  when 


Nottingham 


239 


Notton 


the  opportunity  offered,  showed  a  genius  for 
•war.  He  was  imbued  with  a  strong  sense 
of  duty,  and  was  a  strict  disciplinarian. 
Nevertheless  he  was  himself  impatient  of  con- 
trol, and  freely  criticised  the  conduct  of  his 
superiors,  with  whom  he  was  apt  to  disagree. 
Reserved  in  manner,  he  was  intimate  with 
few ;  but  to  those  few  he  was  a  true  friend. 

[India  Office  Records ;  Despatches ;  Stocqueler's 
Memoir  and  Correspondence  of  Major-general 
Sir  William  Nott,  G.C.B.,  with  portraits,  1854, 
and  Memorials  of  Afghanistan,  Calcutta,  1843  ; 
Kayo's  History  of  the  War  in  Afghanistan  in 
1838-42,  1874;  Lord  Colchester's  History  of 
the  Indian  Administration  of  Lord  Ellenborough, 
1874 ;  Buist's  Outline  of  the  Operations  of  the 
British  Troops  in  Scinde  and  Afghanistan  be- 
tween November  1838  and  November  1841,  with 
Eemarks  on  the  Policy  of  the  War,  Bombay, 
1843  ;  Atkinson's  Expedition  into  Afghanistan, 
1842;  Abbot's  Journal  and  Correspondence  of 
Afghan  War  1838-42,  1879  ;  Eyre's  Military 
Operations  at  Cabul,  1841-2,  &c.,  1843;  Have- 
lock's  Narrative  of  the  War  in  Afghanistan  in 
1838-9, 1840  ;  Hough's  Narrative  of  the  Expedi- 
tion to  Afghanistan  in  1838-9  (March  and  Opera- 
tions of  the  Army  of  the  Indus),  1841;  Kennedy's 
Narrative  of  the  Campaign  of  the  Army  of  the 
Indus  in  Sind  and  Kaubool  in  1838-9,  1840; 
Outram's  Hough  Notes  of  the  Campaign  in 
Scinde  and  Afghanistan  in  1838-9,  &c.  1840; 
Stacy's  Narrative  in  the  Brahore  Camp  and  with 
General  Nott's  Army  to  and  from  Cabul,  8vo. 
Serampore,  1844;  Low's  Afghan  War,  1838-42, 
&c.  1879.]  E.  H.  V. 

NOTTINGHAM,  EARLS  OF.  [See  FINCH, 
DANIEL,  second  EARL,  1647-1730;  FINCH, 
HENEAGE,  first  EARL,  1621-1682;  FINCH- 
HATTON,  GEORGE  WILLIAM,  sixth  EARL  OF 

WlNCHILSEA  AND  NOTTINGHAM,  1791-1858.] 

NOTTINGHAM,  EARL  OF.  [See 
HOWARD,  CHARLES,  LORD  HOWARD  OF 
EFFINGHAM,  1536-1624.] 

NOTTINGHAM,  WILLIAM  OF  (d. 
1251),  Franciscan,  entered  the  Minoriteorder 
in  his  youth.  His  parents  seem  to  have  been 
in  a  good  position,  but  even  as  a  boy  he 
played  at  begging  for  the  love  of  God  with 
his  comrades.  His  brother,  Augustine,  also 
became  a  Franciscan,  entered  the  service  of 
Pope  Innocent  IV,  and  was  made  bishop  of 
Laodicea.  William  seems  to  have  attended 
Grosseteste's  lectures  at  Oxford.  He  acted  as 
vicar  of  Haymo,  the  English  provincial,  in 
1239,  and  was  himself  elected  fourth  pro- 
vincial minister  in  1240.  He  was  an  earnest 
student  of  the  scriptures,  and  developed  the 
educational  organisation  of  the  order  in 
England  during  his  ministry  by  sending 
lecturers  from  the  universities  to  all  the 
larger  convents.  In  1244  he  went  to  the 


Roman  court,  and  obtained  a  papal  letter  to 
restrain  the  proselytising  activity  of  the  Do- 
minicans. He  probably  attended  the  gene- 
ral chapter  at  Genoa  at  the  same  time,  and 
experienced  the  hard  fare  of  the  Franciscans 
in  Rome.  In  1240  the  general,  John  of 
Parma,  held  a  chapter  at  Oxford,  and  put  to 
the  vote  the  question  of  absolving  (or  de- 
posing) William  of  Nottingham  ;  the  friars 
voted  unanimously  that  he  should  be  con- 
firmed. He  was  absolved  in  the  general 
chapter  at  Metz,  1251.  It  was  probably 
here  that  he  carried  a  decree, '  almost  against 
the  whole  chapter,'  in  favour  of  rejecting 
Innocent  IV's  'Expositio  Regulae'  for  the 
earlier  and  more  stringent  '  Expositio '  of 
Gregory  IX.  He  was  then  sent  to  the  pope 
on  behalf  of  the  order,  but  at  Genoa  his 
socius  was  smitten  with  the  plague.  Wil- 
liam remained  by  him  to  tend  him,  caught 
the  infection,  and  died  (about  July  1251). 
Meanwhile  the  English  friars,  indignant  at 
his  deposition,  had  unanimously  re-elected 
him. 

William  appears  in  the  chronicle  of  his 
friend,  Thomas  of  Eccleston  [see  ECCLESTON, 
THOMAS  OF],  as  a  man  of  sound  sense,  con- 
siderable humour,  and  force  of  character, 
hating  crooked  courses,  a  faithful  friend  to 
those  in  trouble,  'thinking  nothing  of  in- 
curring the  anger  of  the  powerful  for  the 
sake  of  justice.'  He  is  not  to  be  confused  with 
his  namesake,  the  seventeenth  provincial  of 
the  English  Franciscans,  who  flourished  in 
1320. 

He  wrote  a  commentary  on  the  gospels, 
which  is  mentioned  by  Eccleston,  and  was 
well  known  in  the  middle  ages.  It  follows 
the '  Unum  ex  Quatuor'  or '  Concordia  Evan- 
gelistarum '  of  Clement  of  Llanthony  in 
its  arrangement  and  divisions.  The  com- 
mentary (inc.  prol.  '  Da  mihi  intellectum ') 
is  preserved  in  Royal  MS.  4  E  II ;  Laud. 
Miscell.  165 ;  Merton  College,  156  and  157, 
and  elsewhere. 

[Monumenta  Francisoana,  vol.  i. ;  The  Grey 
Friars  in  Oxford  (Oxf.  Hist.  Soc.) ;  Engl.  Hist. 
Eev.  vi.  743  seq.]  A.  G.  L. 

NOTTON  or  NORTON,  WILLIAM  DB 

(fl.  1346-1363),  judge,  was  probably  one  of 
the  Notions  of  Notton,  Yorkshire,  whose 
pedigree  is  partially  given  by  Hunter  (South 
Yorkshire,  ii.  391 ).  In  William's  time,  how- 
ever, the  manor  had  already  passed  into  the 
hands  of  the  Darcys.  In  1343  Notton  re- 
ceived lands  in  Fishlake,  Yorkshire,  from 
John  de  Wingfield,  a  grant  which  the  king 
confirmed  or  extended  in  1346.  In  the  same 
year  he  appears  as  a  king's  serjeant ;  he  at- 
tained to  some  prominence  in  this  capacity, 


Nourse 


240 


Nourse 


and  his  arguments  are  of  frequent  occur- 
rence in  the  year-books  of  Edward  III.  In 
1349  he  was  summoned  to  parliament  (DuG- 
DALE,  Chron.  Series,  p.  47).  In  1352  he  was 
granted  lands  in  Litlington,  Cambridgeshire, 
and  employed  to  inquire  into  the  state  of 
labourers,  servants,  and  artisans  in  Surrey. 
In  1355  he  was  made  a  judge  of  the  king's 
bench,  and  when  on  circuit  in  this  and  the 
following  year  was  directed  to  remove  the 
sheriffs  of  Oxfordshire  and  Northumberland. 
In  1358,  being  one  of  those  who  had  passed 
judgment  upon  Thomas  Lisle,  bishop  of  Ely, 
for  knowingly  harbouring  a  murderer  [see 
LISLE,  THOMAS],  Notton  was  cited  to  answer 
for  his  conduct  at  the  papal  court  at  Avig- 
non; on  his  neglecting  to  appear,  he  was 
excommunicated.  This  did  not,  however, 
interfere  with  his  judicial  promotion ;  in  1359 
he  was  on  the  commission  for  the  peace  in 
Surrey,  in  1361  he  was  a  judge  of  assize,  and 
in  the  same  year  was  made  chief  justice  of 
the  king's  bench  in  Ireland  (Cal.  Hot.  Pat. 
p.  162).  Two  years  later  he  was  one  of  the 
council  of  Edward  Ill's  son  Lionel,  then 
lieutenant  of  Ulster ;  he  died  before  1372,  as 
his  name  does  not  appear  in  the  '  Patent ' 
or  '  Close  Rolls '  for  Ireland  in  that  or  any 
later  year. 

Both  Notton  and  his  wife  Isabella  were 
benefactors  of  the  priories  of  Bretton,  York- 
shire, and  Royston,  Hertfordshire,  to  which 
they  granted  the  manor  of  Cocken  Hatch, 
near  Royston,  formerly  in  the  possession  of 
John  de  Vere,  earl  of  Oxford.  Copies  of 
Notton's  seals  are  preserved  in  the  British 
Museum,  and  his  son's  are  given  in  MSS. 
25942-4. 

[Cal.  Rot.  Pat.  p.  162  ;  Rolls  of  Parl.  ii.  455  b ; 
Cal.  Inquis.  post  mortem,  ii.  113,  168,  190; 
Rymer's  Fcedera,  Record  ed.  passim  ;  Abb.  Rot. 
Origin,  ii.  212  ;  Dugdale's  Chronica  Series ;  Add. 
MS.  5843,  ff.  244,  247 ;  Lascelles's  Liber  Mune- 
rum,  i.  iii.  5 ;  Barnes's  Edward  III,  p.  551 ; 
Foss's  Judges  of  England ;  Hunter's  South  York- 
shire, ii.  391 ;  Manning  and  Bray's  Hist,  of 
Surrey,  iii.  95  ;  Index  of  Seals.]  A.  F.  P. 

NOURSE,  EDWARD  (1701-1761),  sur- 
geon, son  of  Edward  Nourse,  surgeon,  of 
Oxford,  and  grandson  of  Edward  Nourse  of 
St.  Michael's  on  Cornhill,  London,  was  born 
in  1701  at  Oxford,  where  his  father  had  prac- 
tised from  1686.  He  was  apprenticed  to 
John  Dobyns,  one  of  the  assistant  surgeons 
to  St.  Bartholomew's  Hospital,  on  6  Dec. 
1717,  and  paid  the  sum  of  161/.  5s.  on  ap- 
prenticeship. He  was  examined  for  his 
diploma  at  the  Barber  -  Surgeons'  Hall  in 
Monkwell  Street,  London,  10  Dec.  1725,  and 
received  a  diploma  under  the  common  seal 
of  the  company.  Before  this  date  the  can- 


didates had  always  entertained  the  court  of 
examiners  at  supper,  but  on  this  occasion 
Nourse  gave  each  examiner,  and  there  were 
more  than  twelve,  half  a  guinea  to  buy  two 
pairs  of  gloves  instead  of  the  supper;  and 
this  method  of  payment  prevailed  thence- 
forward. When  Mr.  Dobyns,  his  master, 
died,  he  was  on  22  Jan.  1731  elected  assistant 
surgeon  to  St.  Bartholomew's  Hospital,  where 
he  was  on  the  staff  with  John  Freke  [q.  v.], 
and  afterwards  with  his  own  pupil,  Percival 
Pott  [q.  v.]  He  was  elected  surgeon  to  the 
hospital  on  29  March  1745,  and  became  the 
senior  surgeon  before  his  death.  He  was 
elected  demonstrator  of  anatomy  by  the 
Barber-Surgeons,  5  March  1731,  and  held 
office  till  5  March  1734;  and  in  1728  was 
elected  F.R.S.  He  was  the  first  surgeon  at 
St.  Bartholomew's  Hospital  who  gave  regular 
instruction  in  anatomy  and  surgery,  and  his 
only  publication  is  a  syllabus  of  his  lectures, 
printed  in  1729,  and  entitled  '  Syllabus  tot  am 
rem  anatomicam  complectens  et  prselectioni- 
bus  aptatus  annuatim  habendis;  huic  accedit 
syllabus  chirurgicus  quo  exhibentur  opera- 
tiones  quarum  modus  peragendarum  demon- 
strandus.'  In  these  lectures  he  began  with 
the  general  structure  of  the  body,  then  treated! 
of  the  bones  in  detail,  then  of  the  great  di- 
visions of  the  body,  then  of  arteries,  veins, 
and  lymphatic  glands ;  next  of  the  urinary 
and  generative  organs,  then  of  the  muscles, 
of  the  brain  and  sense  organs,  of  the  spinal 
cord,  of  the  arm  and  leg,  of  the  uterus  and 
foetus,  and  concluded  the  course  of  twenty- 
three  lectures  by  one  '  de  ceconomia  animali/ 
He  died  13  May  1761. 

[Original  Minute  Books  of  St.  Bartholomew'* 
Hospital ;  Records  at  Barbers'  Hall ;  Young's 
Annals  of  the  Barber-Surgeons,  1890,  p.  376; 
Thomson's  History  of  the  Royal  Society,  1812  ; 
Foster's  Alumni  Oxonienses,  1500-1714  ; 
Works.]  N.  M. 

NOURSE,  TIMOTHY  (d.  1699),  miscel- 
laneous writer,  son  of  Walter  Nourse  of 
Newent,  Gloucestershire,  by  his  wife  Mary, 
daughter  of  Sir  Edward  Engeham  of  Gunston, 
Kent,  was  born  at  Newent.  Matriculating- 
at  University  College,  Oxford,  on  28  March 
1655,  he  graduated  B.A.  on  19  Feb.  1657-8, 
was  elected  fellow  of  his  college  on  19  Jan. 
1658-9,  and  proceeded  M.A.  on  17  Dec.  1660. 
He  entered  holy  orders,  and  became  a  noted 
preacher.  An  admirer  of  Dr.  Robert  South, 
he  imitated  him  so  successfully  in  his  ser- 
mons and  his  action  in  the  pulpit  that  South 
was  sometimes  accused  of  taking  Nourse  as. 
his  model.  As  bursar  of  his  college  for  several 
years  Nourse  showed  exceptional  efficiency. 
He  associated  much  with  Roman  catholic 
priests,  and  in  1672  became  a  convert  to  the 


Nourse 


241 


Novello 


Roman  catholic  religion.  Deprived  of  his 
fellowship  (5  Jan.  1673),  he  retired  to  his 
estate  at  Newent,  where  he  devoted  himself 
to  study  and  the  pleasures  of  a  country  life. 
During  an  illness  in  London  in  October  1677 
he  sent  for  Dr.  Simon  Patrick,  minister  of 
St.  Paul's,  Covent  Garden,  and,  acknow- 
ledging his  error  in  embracing  the  Roman 
catholic  faith,  desired  to  receive  the  sacra- 
ment in  accordance  with  the  protestant 
form.  Patrick  thereupon  told  him  '  that  if 
his  disease  was  not  desperate  he  would  do 
well  to  consider  of  what  he  would  do,  and 
he  would  come  to  him  the  next  day.'  On 
Patrick's  second  visit  he  found  Nourse  in  the 
same  mind,  and  accordingly  administered  the 
sacrament  to  him.  But,  recovering  from  his 
illness,  Nourse  repented  of  what  he  had  done, 
and  returned  to  his  former  opinions.  He 
suffered  much  on  the  outbreak  of  the  popish 
plot,  and  died  on  21  July  1699  at  Newent, 
where  he  was  buried,  and  where  there  is  a 
monument  to  his  memory.  He  married  Lucy, 
daughter  of  Richard  Harwood,  prebendary 
of  Gloucester. 

Nourse  was  a  man,  says  Hearne, '  of  excel- 
lent parts  ...  of  great  probity  and  eminent 
virtues,'  but  '  conceited '  (WOOD).  He  had 
a  good  collection  of  coins,  consisting  of  532 
separate  pieces,  which  he  bequeathed  to  the 
Bodleian  Library, '  in  thankful  remembrance 
of  the  obligations '  he  had  to  the  university 
(MACRAY,  Annals  of  the  Bodleian,  p.  168). 
He  left  to  University  College  such  of  his 
books  as  were  wanting  in  the  college  library, 
and  120/.  in  charitable  bequests. 

Nourse  published :  1.  '  A  Discourse  upon 
the  Nature  and  Faculties  of  Man,  in  several 
Essays,  with  some  Considerations  upon  the 
Occurrences  of  Humane  Life,'  London,  8vo, 
1686,  1689,  and  1697.  2.  '  A  Discourse  of 
Natural  and  Reveal'd  Religion,  in  several 
Essays ;  or  the  Light  of  Nature  a  Guide  to 
Divine  Truth,'  London,  8vo,  1691.  3.  '  Cam- 
pania Fcelix,  or  a  Discourse  of  the  Benefits 
and  Improvements  of  Husbandry  .  .  .  with 
some  Considerations  upon  (1)  Justices  of 
the  Peace  and  inferior  Officers ;  (2)  on  Inns 
and  Ale-houses ;  (3)  on  Servants  and  La- 
bourers; (4)  on  the  Poor,  to  which  are 
added  two  Essays  of  a  Country  House,  and 
of  the  Fuel  of  London,' London,  8vo,  1700; 
2nd  edit.  1706.  Republished  in  1708  with 
'  The  Compleat  Collier,  by  J.  C.'  He  is  also 
said  to  have  written  a  book,  which  does  not 
appear  to  have  been  published,  in  answer  to 
Daniel  Whitby's  '  Discourse  concerning  the 
Idolatry  of  the  Church  of  Rome,'  London, 
8vo,  1674. 

[Letters  of  Humphry  Prideaux  to  John  Ellis 
(Camd.  Soc.),  p.  31 ;  Wood's  Athenae  Oxon.  ed. 

VOL.   XLI. 


Bliss,  pp.  Ixii,  Ixix,  Ixxv,  Ixxviii,  iv.  448  ; 
Wood's  History  and  Antiquities  of  the  Unir. 
of  Oxford,  n.  ii.  980 ;  Works  of  the  Learned 
for  March  1700,  pp.  179-84;  Wood's  Life  and 
Times,  ed.  Clark,  ii.  39,  143,  226,  276.  389, 
390,  Hearne's  Collections,  ed.  Doble  (both  in 
Oxford  Hist.  Soc.),  i.  3,  40,  198,  287;  Fos- 
brooke's  History  of  Gloucestershire,  ii.  227,  228  ; 
Rudder's  Gloucestershire,  pp.  564,  565 ;  Ken- 
net's  Register  and  Chronicle,  p.  598  ;  Donald- 
son's Agricultural  Biography,  p.  40  ;  London's 
Encycl.  of  Agriculture,  p.  1207;  Foster's 
Alumni  Oxon. :  Notes  and  Queries,  5th  ser.  iii 
228,  353,  35t,  377.]  W.  A.  S.  H. 

NOVELLO,  VINCEXT  (1781-1861), 
organist,  musical  composer,  editor,  and 
arranger,  was  born  at  240  Oxford  Road 
(now  Oxford  Street),  London,  on  6  Sept. 
1781.  His  father,  Giuseppe  Novello,  was 
an  Italian  domiciled  in  England,  and  his 
mother  was  an  Englishwoman.  He  re- 
ceived his  first,  if  not  his  only,  tuition  in 
music  from  a  friend  and  fellow  countryman 
of  his  father  named  Quellici,  the  composer 
of  a  set  of  '  Chansons  Italiennes.'  When 
quite  young  he  was  sent  with  his  elder 
brother  Francis  to  a  school  at  Huitmille 
near  Boulogne,  which  he  left  just  as  France 
was  on  the  point  of  declaring  war  against 
England  in  February  1793.  On  his  return 
he  became  a  chorister  at  the  chapel  of  the 
Sardinian  embassy  in  Duke  Street,  Lincoln's 
Inn  Fields,  where  Samuel  Webbe  was  or- 
ganist. During  this  period,  and  after  his  voice 
broke,  he  frequently  acted  as  deputy  at  the 
organ  for  Webbe,  and  also  for  Danby,  then 
organist  of  the  Spanish  embassy  chapel: 
and  in  1797,  when  barely  sixteen  years  of 
age,  he  was  elected  organist  of  the  Portu- 
guese embassy  chapel  in  South  Street,  Gros- 
venor  Square,  in  the  choir  of  which  his 
brother  Francis  was  principal  bass  for  twenty- 
five  years.  This  post  he  retained  until  1822, 
and  was  only  once  absent  from  the  organ 
bench  during  the  period.  While  Novello  was 
organist  at  the  Portuguese  chapel,  George  IV, 
attracted  by  his  skill,  offered  him  a  similar 
post  at  the  Brighton  Pavilion,  an  offer 
which  was  declined  on  the  score  of  numerous 
engagements  which  necessitated  his  constant 
presence  in  London.  For  twenty-seven  years 
he  held  classes  for  pianoforte  playing  at 
Campbell's  school  in  Brunswick  Square,  and 
for  twenty-five  years  at  Hibbert's  at  Clap- 
ton, in  addition  to  teaching  numerous  private 
pupils,  one  of  whom  was  Edward  Holmes 
[q.v.] 

In  1811  Novello  produced  his  first  at- 
tempt in  that  branch  of  art  in  which  he 
made  for  himself  a  considerable  reputation. 
It  consisted  of  an  arrangement  of  two  folio 


Novello 


242 


Novello 


volumes  of  a  '  Selection  of  Sacred  Music  as 
performed  at  the  Royal  Portuguese  Chapel,' 
and  was  dedicated  to  the  Rev.  Victor  Fryer 
(2nd  edit.  1825).  In  this  work  Novello  dis- 
played much  judgment,  taste,  learning,  and 
industry.  The  expenses  of  engraving  and 
printing  the  volumes  were  defrayed  by  him- 
self, and  this  publishing  experiment  laid  the 
foundation  of  the  great  publishing  house  of 
Novello  &  Co. 

In  1812,  during  the  time  that  the  Italian 
Opera  Company  was  performing  at  the  Pan- 
theon, Catalan!  being  prima  donna,  Novello 
acted  in  the  dual  capacities  of  pianist  and 
conductor,  and  in  the  following  year,  on  the 
founding  of  the  Philharmonic  Society  by 
J.  B.  Cramer,  W.  Dance,  and  P.  A.  Corri, 
Novello  became  one  of  the  thirty  original 
members ;  he  also  officiated  as  pianist  for 
the  society,  and  later  as  conductor. 

Novello  was  a  constant  reader  of  Shake- 
speare, and  there  still  exists,  in  the  posses- 
sion of  his  daughter,  Mrs.  Cowden-Clarke, 
the  playbill  of  a  private  performance  of 
'  Henry  VI,'  in  which  Novello,  described  as 
'  Mr.  Howard,'  played  the  part  of  Sir  John  Fal- 
staff.  Many  celebrated  figures  in  the  worlds 
of  art  and  letters  were  constant  frequenters 
of  the  house  in  Oxford  Street,  including 
Charles  and  Mary  Lamb,  Keats,  Leigh  Hunt, 
Shelley,  Hazlitt,  Domenico  Dragonetti  fa.  v.], 
Charles  Cowden-Clarke,  John  Nyren  [q.  v.J, 
and  Thomas  Attwood  [q.  v.]  There  is  a  son- 
net written  by  Leigh  Hunt  in  which  Novello, 
Henry  Robertson,  and  John  Gattie  are  re- 
proved for  failing  to  keep  an  engagement,  and 
in  the  chapter  on  '  Ears '  in  the  '  Essays  of 
Elia '  Lamb  has  given  an  amusing  description 
of  the  meetings  at  Novello's  house.  From 
1820  to  1823  the  Novellos  lived  at  8  Percy 
Street,  Bedford  Square,  when  they  moved  to 
Shacklewell  Green,  and  later  to  22  Bedford 
Street,  Covent  Garden,  subsequently  settling 
at  66  Great  Queen  Street,  Lincoln's  Inn.  In 
or  about  1824  Novello  was  commissioned  to 
examine  and  report  on  the  collection  of  musi- 
cal manuscripts  in  the  Fitzwilliam  Museum 
at  Cambridge,  which  led  to  his  selection 
and  publication  of  works  by  Carissimi,  Clari, 
Buononcini,  Leo,  Durante,  Palestrina,  and 
others.  To  this  library  he  presented  eight 
volumes  of  music  which  had  been  given  to 
him  by  his  friend  Dragonetti  prior  to  his 
departure  for  Italy.  These  volumes  con- 
tained motets  by  an  anonymous  and  some  by 
known  composers ;  duos  and  trios  by  Stra- 
della,  the  title-page  of  which  is  apparently  in 
the  composer's  autograph  ;  an  oratorio, '  San 
Giovanni  Battista,'  also  by  Stradella ;  and 
a  volume  of  verse  anthems  by  Purcell,  in  the 
handwriting  of  one  Starkey  (Oxford,  1783) 


( Catalogue  of  Music  in  the  Fitzwilliam  Mu- 
seum, Cambridge,  vols.  177-83,  by  J.  A. 
Fuller- Maitland  and  A.  H.  Mann). 

After  the  festival  at  York  in  1828  No- 
vello was  permitted  to  copy  some  anthems  by 
Purcell,  the  original  manuscripts  of  which 
were  in  the  York  Minster  Library.  These 
manuscripts  were  shortly  afterwards  de- 
stroyed by  fire,  and  but  for  the  happy  acci- 
dent of  Novello  having  copied  them  their 
contents  would  have  been  irretrievably  lost. 

In  1829  Novello  and  his  wife  went  to 
Germany  to  present  a  sum  of  money  which 
had  been  raised  by  subscription  to  Mozart's 
sister,  Mme.  Sonnenberg,  who  was  then  in 
very  straitened  circumstances  (cf.  Life  of 
Vincent  Novello,  p.  26).  In  the  same  year  the 
Novellos  again  moved,  this  time  to  67  Frith 
Street,  the  house  in  which  Joseph  Alfred 
Novello,  their  eldest  son,  commenced  busi- 
ness as  a  music  publisher  by  issuing  a  con- 
tinuation of '  Purcell's  Sacred  Music,'  begun 
by  Vincent  Novello  in  December  1 828.  This 
was  completed  in  seventy-two  numbers  in 
October  1832,  and '  was  the  first  collection  of 
music  which  Vincent  Novello  had  edited  for 
the  service  of  a  church  outside  the  pale  in 
which  he  had  been  educated '  (cf.  Short  Hist. 
of  Cheap  Music,  p.  5).  It  was  followed  by  a 
'  Life  of  Purcell '  by  Vincent  Novello.  Fre- 
quent were  the  evening  reunions  at  Frith 
Street  of  the  most  celebrated  musicians  and 
writers  of  the  day.  Among  Novello's  pub- 
lished compositions  is  a  canon,  four  in  two, 
written  in  commemoration  of  one  of  these 
evenings  which  the  composer  had  passed  in  the 
company  of  Malibran,  de  Beriot,  Willman, 
Mendelssohn,  and  others.  In  1832  the  Man- 
chester prize  for  the  best  glee  of  a  cheerful 
nature  was  awarded  to  Novello's  '  Old  May 
Morning,'  the  words  of  which  were  written 
by  C.  Cowden-Clarke.  In  the  same  year  the 
Philharmonic  Society  commissioned  Novello 
to  write  a  work  to  be  produced  by  them,  the 
result  being  a  cantata, '  Rosalba,'  for  six  solo 
voices,  chorus,  and  orchestra.  It  was  first 
performed  in  1834. 

On  2  Jan.  1833  the  first  meeting  of  the 
Choral  Harmonists'  Society,  promoted  by 
Novello  from  a  number  of  seceders  from  the 
City  of  London  Classical  Harmonists,  was 
held  at  the  New  London  Hotel,  Blackfriars. 
Novello  was  also  one  of  the  founders  and  co- 
conductor  with  Griffin  of  the  Classical  Har- 
j  monists'  Society,  which  met  at  the  Crown 
I  and  Anchor  Tavern  in  the  Strand.  He  was 
a  member  of  the  Royal  Society  of  Musicians, 
and  he  played  the  viola  at  the  Festivals  of 
the  Sons  of  the  Clergy  at  St.  Paul's,  in  the 
orchestra  which  the  forty  youngest  members 
of  the  society  had  to  supply. 


Novello 


243 


Novvell 


In  1834  lie  was  organist  at  the  West- 
minster Abbey  festival,  at  which  his  daugh- 
ter Clara  sang  some  of  the  soprano  music. 
He  occupied  a  similar  post  at  the  first  per- 
formance in  England  of  Beethoven's  Grand 
Mass  in  D  in  1846.  In  a  letter  concerning 
the  former  festival  Charles  Lamb  says :  '  We 
heard  the  music  in  the  abbey  at  Winchmore 
Hill,  and  the  notes  were  incomparably 
soften'd  by  the  distance.  Novello's  chro- 
matics were  distinctly  audible.'  In  1834  the 
Novellos  went  to  live  at  69  Dean  Street,  but 
a  year  or  two  later  they  again  removed, 
first  to  Bayswater,  and  subsequently  to 
Craven  Hill.  From  1840  to  1843  Novello 
was  organist  of  the  Roman  catholic  chapel 
in  Moorfields.  In  1848  Mrs.  Novello  went  to 
Rome  for  the  benefit  of  her  health,  and  later 
to  Nice,  where  her  husband  joined  her  in  the 
following  year.  There  they  lived  in  retire- 
ment until  25  July  1854,  when  Mrs.  Novello 
died  of  cholera. 

For  some  years  prior  to  his  own  death 
Vincent  Novello  suffered  from  periodical 
attacks  of  illness,  thought  to  have  originated 
in  his  grief  for  the  loss  of  his  third  son, 
Sydney.  He,  however,  continued  to  live  at 
Nice  until  his  death,  on  9  Aug.  1861,  within 
a  month  of  completing  his  eightieth  year.  In 
1863  a  memorial  window,  having  for  its  sub- 
ject St.  Cecilia  playing  an  organ,  was  placed 
in  the  north  transept  of  Westminster  Abbey. 

Novello  was  of  medium  height  and  some- 
what stout.  The  best  extant  portrait  is  a 
life-size  oil-painting  by  his  son  Edward,  which 
has  been  engraved  by  W.  Humphreys.  It  is 
now  in  the  possession  of  Novello's  daughter 
at  Genoa. 

On  17  Aug.  1808  Novello  married  Mary 
Sabilla  Hehl,  whose  father  Avas  German  and 
whose  mother  English.  By  her  he  had  eleven 
children,  of  whom  the  daughters  Mary  (after- 
wards wife  of  Charles  Cowden-Clarke,  q.v.) 
and  Clara  were  held  in  high  esteem  in  the 
worlds  of  literature  and  music ;  and  the  son 
Joseph  Alfred,  known  as  his  father's  succes- 
sor in  the  publishing  house  of  Novello  &  Co. 

Novello's  claim  to  a  permanent  place  in 
the  history  of  music  in  England  is  founded 
rather  upon  the  excellence  of  his  editions 
and  arrangements  of  the  works  of  others 
than  upon  his  own  compositions.  By  his 
labours  and  publications  he  improved  public 
taste.  His  artistic  aim  was  high,  but  he 
committed  some  errors  of  judgment  —  for 
example,  the  addition  of  extra  voice-parts  to 
such  national  monuments  as  Wilbye's  ma- 
drigals. His  original  compositions  testify  to 
a  considerable  command  over  the  intricacies 
of  counterpoint,  but  they  are  academic  rather 
than  the  spontaneous  utterings  of  genuine 


inspiration.  He  was  deficient  in  the  critical 
faculty;  and  of  the  eighteen  masses  said 
to  be  by  Mozart  which  he  published,  no  less 
than  seven  have  been  declared  by  Kochel  to 
be  either  spurious  or  extremely  doubtful. 
As  an  organist  he  rose  to  eminence  at  a 
time  when  skilful  players  were  compara- 
tively rare,  and  instruments  vastly  inferior 
to  what  they  now  are. 

In  the  British  Museum  Music  Catalogue 
twenty-five  pages  are  devoted  to  Novello's 
works.  Among  these  are,  in  addition  to  the 
works  mentioned:  1.  'A  collection  of  Mo- 
tetts  for  the  Offertory,'  &c.,  in  12  books. 
2.  'Twelve  easy  Masses,'  3  vols.  fol. 
1816.  3.  '  The  Evening  Service,'  2  vols., 
18  books,  1822.  4.  A  collection  of 
masses  by  Haydn  and  Mozart  found  in  the 
library  of  the  Rev.  C.  I.  Latrobe.  5.  '  Pur- 
cell's  Sacred  Music,'  originally  published  in 
five  large  folio  vols.,  1829,  but  subsequently 
reissued  in  4  vols.  by  J.  A.  Novello.  The 
manuscript  copy  of  this  work  was  presented 
by  the  editor  to  the  British  Museum. 
6.  Immense  collections  of  hymn-tunes,  kyries, 
anthems,  &c.,  by  various  composers.  7. '  Con- 
vent Music,'  for  treble  voices,  2  vols,,  1834. 
8.  A  song, '  The  Infant's  Prayer,'  is  worthy  of 
mention  because  of  the  enormous  popularity 
it  once  enjoyed,  one  hundred  thousand  copies 
of  it  having  been  sold.  9.  '  Studies  in  Ma- 
drigalian  Scoring,'  8  books,  London,  1841. 
10.  Editions  of  Haydn's  '  Seasons,'  '  Crea- 
tion,' '  Passione,'  &c.;  of  Handel's '  Judas  Mac- 
cabseus,'  with  additional  accompaniments ; 
of  masses  and  other  works  by  Beethoven, 
Spohr,  Weber,  Cherubini,  &c.  11.  Piano- 
forte arrangements  of  Spohr's  '  Jessonda,' 
'  Faust,'  '  Zemire,'  &c. ;  Mozart's  '  Idomeneo ' 
and  'Figaro.'  12.  Three  principal  sets  of  organ 
works,  3  vols. ;  cathedral  voluntaries,  &c. 

[Authorities  quoted  in  the  text,  Georgian  Era 
(1838),  iv.  529  ;  Grove's  Diet,  of  Music;  Athe- 
naeum, No.  1764  (1861),  p.  226;  Gent,  Mag.  1861, 
pt.  ii.  p.  338 ;  Hist,  of  Cheap  Music,  London, 
1887,  pp.  3,  9,  11,  23  et  seq. ;  Musical  Times; 
Hogarth's  Musical  History,  1835  ;  Diet,  of 
Music,  1824;  Mary  Cowden-Clarke's  Life  and 
Labours  of  Vincent  Novello ;  prirate  sources.] 

R.  H.  L. 

NOWELL,  NOWEL,  or  NOEL,  ALEX- 
ANDER (1507  P-1602),  dean  of  St.  Paul's, 
second  son  of  John  No  well,  esq.,  and  eldest 
son  of  his  father's  second  marriage  with 
Elizabeth,  born  Kay,  of  Rochdale,  Lanca- 
shire, was  born  in  his  father's  manor-house, 
Read  Hall,  Whalley,  Lancashire,  in  1607 
or  1508  (CHURTON,  Life  of  Non-ell,  p.  4;  ac- 
cording to  WHITAKEB,  History  of  Whalley, 
p.  460,  in  1506  ;  to  FULLER,  Worthies,  i.  546, 
in  1510:  to  WOOD,  Athena,  i.  col.  716,  in 

K2 


No  well 


244 


Nowell 


1511).  Laurence  Nowell  [q.v.],  dean  of  Lich- 
field,  was  a  younger  brother.  Having  re- 
ceived his  early  education  at  Middleton, 
Lancashire,  he  entered  Brasenose  College, 
Oxford,  at  the  age  of  thirteen,  and  is  said  to 
have  been  the  chamber-fellow  of  John  Foxe 
[q.  v.]  the  martyrologist.  He  was  not  ad- 
mitted B.  A.  until  1526,  was  that  year  elected 
fellow  of  his  college,  proceeded  M.A.  in 
1540  (BOASE,  Register,  p.  183),  and  in  1541 
or  1542  gave  public  lectures  in  the  univer- 
sity on  Rodolph's  logic  (SiRYPE,  Annals,  I.  i. 
307).  Having  taken  orders  he  was  in  1543 
appointed  master  of  Westminster  School, 
where  he  introduced  the  reading  of  Terence, 
and  on  one  day  of  every  week  read  St.  Luke's 
Gospel  and  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  in 
Greek  with  the  elder  scholars.  He  was  ap- 
pointed a  prebendary  of  Westminster  in 
1551  (LB  NEVE,  Fasti,  iii.  351),  received  a 
license  to  preach,  and  '  preached  in  some  of 
the  notablest  places  and  audiences  in  the 
realm '  (STRYPE,  u.  s.)  When  Dr.  John 
Redman  [q.  v.],  master  of  Trinity  College, 
Cambridge,  was  dying,  Nowell  attended  him. 
and  after  his  death  published  a  little  book 
containing  Redman's  last  utterances  on 
matters  of  religious  controversy.  Although 
the  book  was  subscribed  by  other  divines 
as  witnesses,  Thomas  Dorman  [q.  v.],  a 
catholic  divine,  charged  Nowell  with  false 
witness,  which  Nowell  strongly  denied  (ib. 
Memorials,  n.  i.  527  sq.)  In  the  first  par- 
liament of  Queen  Mary,  which  met  on  5  Oct. 
1553,  Nowell  was  returned  as  one  of  the 
members  for  Looe,  Cornwall ;  but  a  com- 
mittee appointed  to  inquire  into  the  validity 
of  the  return  reported  on  the  13th  that  he, 
'  being  prebendary  at  Westminster,  and  there- 
by having  voice  in  the  convocation  house, 
cannot  be  a  member  of  this  house,'  and  the 
election  was  accordingly  annulled  (  Commons1 
Journals,  i.  27  ;  Returns  of  Members,  i.  381 ; 
BTJRNET,  History  of  the  Reformation,  iii.  511 : 
HALLAM,  Constitutional  History,  i.  275j. 
Nowell  Avas  a  '  dear  lover  and  constant  prac- 
tiser  of  angling'  (Compleat  Angler,  pt.  i.  c.  i.) 
and  it  is  said  that  Bishop  Bonner,  seeing 
him  catch  fish  in  the  Thames,  designed  to 
catch  him,  but  Francis  Bowyer,  merchant 
and  afterwards  sheriff  of  London,  conveyed 
him  abroad  (FULLER,  Worthies,  i.  547).  After 
residing  for  a  time  at  Strasburg  he  went  to 
Frankfort,  where,  being  desirous  of  peace,  he 
took  a  leading  part  in  the  attempt  to  com- 
pose the  religious  disputes  of  the  exiles  in 
1557.  He  subscribed  the 'new  discipline,' 
which  was  presbyterian  in  character,  and 
'oined  in  defending  it  against  the  objections 
of  Robert  Home  (1519  P-1580)  [q.  v.J,  after- 
wards bishop  of  Winchester,  and  others. 


But  he  was  not  bigoted,  and  on  the  death  of 
Mary  was  one  of  the  joint  writers  of  the 
letter  that  the  exiles  remaining  at  Frankfort 
sent  to  the  Genevan  divines  declaring  that 
they  were  ready  in  non-essentials  to  submit 
to  authority  (Troubles  at  Frankfort,  pp.  62, 
116,  163;  STRYPE,  Annals,  i.  i.  263). 

Nowell  returned  to  England,  and  in  July 
was  appointed  on  a  commission  to  visit  the 
dioceses  of  Oxford,  Lincoln,  Peterborough, 
and  Lichfield.  Cecil  had  included  his  name 
in  a  list  of  eminent  divines  who  were  to  re- 
ceive preferment,  and  in  December  he  was 
made  archdeacon  of  Middlesex  (LB  NEVE, 
Fasti,  ii.  330),  and  preached  at  the  consecra- 
tion of  four  bishops,  among  them  being  Ed- 
mund Grindal  [q.  v.]  of  London,  afterwards 
archbishop  of  Canterbury,  who  had  ap- 
pointed him  his  chaplain  (Life  of  Grindal, 
p.  49).  In  February  1560  he  was  collated 
to  the  rectory  of  Saltwood  with  Hythe, 
Kent,  which  he  resigned  the  same  year ;  was 
given  a  canonry  at  Canterbury  (LE  NEVE, 
i.  537),  and  was  appointed  by  the  archbishop 
to  visit  that  church  (Life  of  Parker,  i.  144) ; 
he  received  a  canonry  at  Westminster  in 
June,  which  he  resigned  the  next  year 
(NEWCOTJRT,  Repertonum,  i.  49),  and  in 
November  was  recommended  by  Queen  Eli- 
zabeth '  for  his  godly  zeal,  and  special  good 
learning,  and  other  singular  gifts  and  vir- 
tues '  for  election  as  dean  of  St.  Paul's,  was 
elected,  and  was  collated  to  a  prebend  in 
that  church  (ib.  pp.  47,  215 ;  Life  of  Grindal, 
p.  56).  He  was  constantly  appointed  to 
preach  at  St.  Paul's  Cross  the  '  Spital  ser- 
mons,' and  before  the  queen,  and  had  no 
small  share  in  the  restoration  of  the  reformed 
religion.  One  of  his  sermons  in  1561  raised 
some  stir,  for  Dorman  misrepresented  a  sen- 
tence in  it  as  a  threat  of  violence  against 
papists  (Annals,  I.  i.  352).  After  the  fire 
at  St.  Paul's  in  June  he  preached  before  the 
lord  mayor  and  aldermen  a  sermon  that  led 
the  city  to  take  immediate  steps  to  repair 
the  damage.  He  was  by  this  time  married ; 
for  Archbishop  Parker  wrote  that  if  the  queen 
would  have  a  '  married  minister'  for  provost 
of  Eton,  there  were  none  comparable  to 
Nowell  (Life  of  Parker,  i.  208).  But  the 
queen  chose  a  celibate  divine,  William  Day 
(1529-1596)  [q.  v.]  On  1  Jan.  1562  the 
dean  placed  a  new  and  richly  bound  prayer- 
book,  with  pictures  of  the  saints  and  mar- 
tyrs, on  the  queen's  cushion  in  St.  Paul's,  in- 
tending it  for  a  new  year's  gift.  Elizabeth 
made  the  verger  fetch  her  old  book,  and 
showed  evident  signs  of  anger.  When  the 
service  was  over  she  went  at  once  into  the 
vestry,  told  the  dean  that  he  had  infringed 
her  proclamation  against  '  images,  pictures, 


Nowell 


245 


Nowell 


and  Romish  relics,'  and  rebuked  him  sharply 
(Annals,  I.  i.  408-10).  Towards  the  end  ol 
the  year  Grindal  collated  him  to  the  rectory 
of  Great  Hadham,  Hertfordshire,  which  he 
found  convenient,  both  because  the  bishop 
had  a  house  there,  and  because  he  was  able, 
when  Grindal  went  to  London  or  Fulham, 
to  leave  his  wife  with  her  children  by  her 
former  husband  in  retirement  there,  and  ac- 
company and  live  with  the  bishop  (CHURTON ). 
At  Hadham,  too,  he  fished  much  in  the  Ash, 
and  is  said  to  have  accidentally  invented 
bottled  ale  ;  for  he  unwittingly  left  a  bottle 
of  ale  in  the  grass  by  the  riverside,  and  was 
surprised  a  few  days  later  to  find  its  contents 
effervescent  (FULLER,  u.s.) 

In  January  1563  Nowell  preached  a  ser- 
mon at  the  opening  of  parliament,  which 
has  been  printed  from  a  manuscript  at  Caius 
College,  Cambridge.  He  said  that,  while  no 
man  ought  to  be  punished  for  heretical  opi- 
nions if  he  kept  them  to  himself,  severe 
measures  might  be  adopted  against  those 
who  'hitherto  will  not  be  reformed,'  and 
that  those  ought  to  be  cut  off  who  spread 
heresy,  specially  if  it  touched  the  queen's 
majesty.  This  was  taken  by  the  Spanish 
ambassador,  De  Quadra,  to  be  an  incitement 
to  slay  the  Romanist  bishops  then  in  prison 
(FROUDE,  History  of  England,  c.  xli.,  where 
De  Quadra's  interpretation  is  accepted,  surely 
on  insufficient  grounds  ;  see  the  extract  from 
the  sermon  at  the  end  of  the  chapter,  and 
the  sermon  itself,  edited  byCorrie).  Nowell 
also  touched  on  the  decay  of  tillage,  and  re- 
commended the  marriage  of  the  queen.  He 
was  chosen  prolocutor  of  the  lower  house  of 
convocation.  During  the  sessions  he  with 
Sampson,  dean  of  Christ  Church,  and  Day, 
provost  of  Eton,  presented  to  the  upper 
house  a  catechism  which  had  been  approved 
by  the  lower  house,  and  a  committee  of  four 
bishops  was  appointed  to  examine  it,  and 
they  appear  to  have  been  contented  with 
the  approval  that  it  had  already  received 
(JACOBSOX,  Preface  to  Novell's  Catechism] 
HETLTX,  History  of  the  Reformation,  p.  332: 
BtTRNET,  History  of  the  Reformation,  iii. 
•515).  This  catechism  was  the  work  of 
Nowell  {Annals,  i.  i.  474;  CHURTON  treats 
the  book  presented  by  the  lower  house  and 
the  book  referred  to  the  committee  of  bishops 
as  probably  distinct  works,  and  botli  by 
Nowell,  but  this  seems  erroneous).  Several 
alterations  were  made  in  it  (ib.  p.  526),  and 
it  was  again  presented  to  the  upper  house, 
but  the  prorogation  came  before  it  received 
formal  approval.  Nowell  had  a  fair  copy 
made  of  it,  and  sent  it  to  Cecil,  at  whose  in- 
stigation he  had  written  it.  Cecil  kept  it 
for  more  than  a  year,  and  returned  it  with 


annotations  (ib.  ;  Life  of  Grindal,  pp.  138, 
139).     In  this  synod,  in  which  the  Thirty- 
nine   articles  were  passed,   Nowell  joined 
others  of  the  lower  house  in  a  request  that 
certain  ceremonies,  such  as  the  use  of  copes 
and  surplices,  might  '  be  taken  away,'  and 
others,  as  kneeling  at  the  communion,  might 
be  made  optional,  and  voted  for  six  articles 
of  a  kindred  purport  (Annals,  I.  i.  500-6). 
Though  the  queen  favoured  Nowell  on  ac- 
count of  his  learning,  he  fell  into  some  dis- 
grace in  1564.     When  preaching  a  Lenten 
sermon  before  her  he  spoke  slightingly  of 
the  crucifix.     On  this  she  called  aloud  to 
him  from  her  seat,  '  To  your  text,  Mr.  Dean 
— leave  that ;  we  have  heard  enough  of  that.' 
Nowell  was  utterly  dismayed,  and  was  un- 
able to  go  on.     Parker  took  him  home  with 
him  and  comforted  him,  and  the  next  day 
Nowell  wrote  to  Cecil  defending  his  sermon 
in  a  manful  letter  (Wooo ;  Life  of  Parker, 
i.  318,  319,  iii.  94  ;  FROUDE,  History  of  Eng- 
land, c.  xliii).     It  was  thought  doubtful  in 
January  1565  whether  he  was  yet  restored 
to  favour.     He  endeavoured  to  compose  the 
dispute  about  vestments,  and  wrote  a  propo- 
sition called  by  Parker  '  Mr.  Newel's  Pacifi- 
cation,' to  the  effect  that  their  use  should  be 
continued,  but  that  it  was   desirable  that 
differences  of  apparel  should  be  done  away 
(Life  of  Parker,  i.  343-5).    Dorman  having 
written  a  book  against  Jewell's  '  Apology,' 
Nowell  answered  it,  and  carried  on  a  con- 
troversy with  him  (see  below),  which  was 
continued  in  1566  and  1567.     The  Roman 
catholics  being  strong  in  Lancashire, Nowell. 
himself  a  Lancashire  man,  went  thither  in 
1568,  preached  in  different  places,  and  brought 
many  to  conformity  (Annals,  I.  ii.  258).   On 
returning  to  London  he  attended  the  death- 
bed of  Roger  Ascham  (1515-1568)  [q.  v.], 
and  preached  his  funeral  sermon.     In  July 
1570,  at  the  request  of  the  two  archbishops, 
he  published  his  larger  catechism  in  Latin 
(see  below). 

The  Duke  of  Norfolk  [see  HOWARD,  THO- 
MAS III,  fourth  DFKE  OF  NORFOLK],  then  a 
prisoner  in  the  Tower,  was  visited  by  Nowell 
in  company  with  Foxe  in  January  1572. 
Nowell  visited  him  at  other  times,  and  at 
Easter  gave  the  duke  the  communion,  for 
which  he  afterwards  requested  Burghley  to 
send  him  an  antedated  authority.  Norfolk 
requested  that  the  dean  might  be  with  him 
at  his  end,  and  Nowell  attended  him  at  his 
execution  on  2  June  (Cal.  State  Papers, 
Dom.  1547-80,  pp.  434, 438-40,  444 ;  STRTPE, 
Annals,  n.  ii.  461-5;  CAM  DEN,  Annales, 
ii.  256).  Liberally  carrying  out  the  last 
request  of  his  brother  Robert,  attorney- 
general  of  the  court  of  wards,  who  died  in 


Nowell 


246 


Nowell 


1569,  and  bad,  like  himself,  been  brought  up 
at  Middleton  school  and  Brasenose  College, 
Nowell  in  1572  endowed  a  free  school  at 
Middleton,  to  be  called  Queen  Elizabeth's 
School,  and  to  be  under  the  government 
of  the  principal  and  fellows  of  Brasenose, 
and  further  founded  thirteen  exhibitions  at 
the  college  to  be  held  by  scholars  from  that 
school,  or  from  the  schools  of  Whalley  or 
Burnley,  or  in  defect  from  any  other  school 
in  the  county.  Moreover  he  put  board  floors 
in  the  lower  rooms  of  the  college,  which  had 
hitherto  been  unboarded.  He  was  regarded 
as  an  authority  on  scholastic  matters;  revised 
the  rules  of  the  free  school  of  the  Skinners' 
Company  at  Tonbridge,  Kent,  and  of  the 
grammar  school  at  Bangor,  Carnarvonshire, 
and  advised  Parker  with  reference  to  the 
foundation  of  his  grammar  school  at  Roch- 
dale (CHURTON).  He  is  said  to  have  been  a 
benefactor  to  St.  Paul's  School  (epitaph  from 
plate  in  DUGDALE,  History  of  St.  Paul's;  D. 
LUPTON,  Moderne  Protestant  Divines,  p.  250), 
but  the  reference  is  probably  to  the  school 
attached  to  the  cathedral,  not  to  Dean  Colet's 
school  (LupiON,  Life  of  Colet,  p.  159).  He  is 
also  reckoned  among  the  benefactors  of  Emma- 
nuel College,  Cambridge,  but  the  nature  of 
his  benefaction  seems  uncertain  (CHFRTOJT). 
Sitting  as  a  member  of  the  ecclesiastical 
commission  in  1573,  he  signed  the  warrant 
for  the  arrest  of  Thomas  Cartwright  (1535- 
1603)  [q.  v.],  and  in  1574  was  a  commis- 
sioner for  the  trial  of  John  Peters  and  Henry 
Turwert,  two  Flemish  anabaptists  who  were 
burnt  as  heretics  (Fcedera,  xv.  740,  741). 
His  name  was  included  in  the  new  commis- 
sion for  ecclesiastical  causes  of  1576  (Life  of 
Grindal,  p.  310).  When  Parker  was  at  the 
point  of  death  in  May  1575,  Nowell  wrote 
to  Burghley  recommending  Grindal,  then 
archbishop  of  York,  for  the  see  of  Canter- 
bury (Cal.  State  Papers  u.s.  p.  497).  He 
also  wrote  to  Burghley  in  1576  begging  him 
to  take  measures  for  the  preservation  of  the 
college  of  Manchester,  then  in  some  danger 
from  the  conduct  of  the  warden  (Annals,  II. 
ii.  68).  When  the  college  was  refounded  in 
1578,  Nowell's  nephew,  John  Wolton,  after- 
wards bishop  of  Exeter,  was  constituted 
warden,  and  Nowell  himself  one  of  the  four 
fellows.  In  1580  he  received  from  the  crown 
a  license  of  absence  from  his  deanery  and 
rectory  in  order  that  he  might  visit  the 
scholars  of  Brasenose  and  the  school  at  Mid- 
dleton, being  commanded  to  inquire  into  the 
state  of  religion  in  Lancashire,  and  to  preach 
on  Sundays  and  holy  days  wherever  he  might 
be  (CHURTON).  His  success  in  making  con- 
verts from  Romanism  is  said  to  have  been 
recognised  by  the  inclusion  of  his  name  in  a 


list  of  those  who,  if  the  Jesuit  plots  against 
the  queen  succeeded,  were  to  be  put  to  death 
(Annals,  n.  ii  357).     It  was  proposed  that 
he  should  write  an  answer  to  the  '  Decem 
Rationes '  of  Edmund  Campion  [q.  v.],  the 
I  Jesuit,  but  that  work  was  undertaken  by  his 
!  nephew,  William  Whitaker.     However,  in 
I  August  1581,   when   Campion  was  in  the 
i  Tower,  Nowell,   with  Day,   then   dean  of 
I  Windsor  and  afterwards  bishop  of  Winches- 
ter, held  a  disputation  with  him,  a  report  of 
which  was  afterwards  published  (see  below), 
and  in  1582  he  was  named  by  the   Privy 
Council  as  one  of  those  fit  to  be  employed 
i  to   hold  conferences  with   papists  (Life  of 
\  Whitgift,  i.  198).     An  agent  from  Geneva 
|  having  come  to  England  to  solicit  help  for 
his  fellow  citizens,  he  was  directed  by  the 
council  in  January  1583  to  apply  to  Nowell 
with  reference  to  raising  a  fund  (Life  of 
Grindal,  p.   415).     In   this   year  also   the 
i  council  placed  the  dean  on  a  commission  for 
i  the  reformation  of  abuses  in  printing  (Cal. 
I  State  Papers,Dom.  1581-90,  p.  115).     John 
JTowneley   (1528P-1607),   son  of  Nowell's 
mother  by  her  second  marriage  with  Charles 
Towneley,  having  been  imprisoned  at  Man- 
chester ibr  recusancy,  Nowell  wrote  to  the 
!  council  in  March  1584  to  beg  that  he  might 
be  sent  to  London,  and  that   special  care 
might  be  taken  of  his  health  (ib.  p.  163 ; 
j  CHURTON).  The  queen  having  ordered  Burgh- 
ley to  acquaint  Archbishop  Whitgift  of  her 
desire  that  Daniel  Rogers,  a  layman,  should 
be  appointed  treasurer  of  St.  Paul's,  Whit- 
i  gift  imparted  the  matter  to  Nowell,  who  be- 
j  sides  joining  in  a  petition  to  the  queen  from 
the   chapter  against  the  appointment,  and 
representing  its  illegality  to  Rogers,  wrote 
to  Burghley  on  1  Jan.  1585  beseeching  him 
to  intercede  with  the  queen  that  she  would 
abstain  from  violating  the  statutes  of  the 
church  (Life  of  Whitgift,  i.  443-8,  where  the 
letter  is  given).     His  intercession  was  effec- 
tual, for  the  dignity  was  conferred  on  Richard 
Bancroft   [q.  v.],   afterwards  archbishop  of 
Canterbury.     In  this  letter  Nowell  spoke  of 
the  deanery  as  likely  soon  to  be  vacant  '  by 
his  extreme  age  and  much  sickliness.'     So, 
too,  in  1588  he  requested  the  council  that  he 
might  not  be  troubled  further  about  some 
business  as  he  was  weak  and  sickly  (Cal. 
State  Papers,u.s.p.  489).  In  that  year  having 
been  collated  to  the  first  stall  in  St.  Paul's 
instead  of  the  less  valuable  stall  which  he  had 
previously  held,  he  resigned  the  rectory  of 
Hadham.     He  preached  at  St.  Paul's  Cross 
on  the  defeat    of  the   Armada   before   the 
lord  mayor  and  aldermen  on  20  Aug.,  and 
again  when  the  Spanish  flags  were  displayed 
on  8  Sept.   In  October  the  queen  granted  him 


Novvell 


247 


Nowell 


the  first  canonry  of  Windsor  that  should  fall 
vacant.  No  vacancy  occurred  until  1594, 
when  Nowell  was  installed  (L,E  NEVE,  iii. 
398).  Having  been  included  in  the  new  ec- 
clesiastical commission,  he  assisted  in  1590 
at  the  examination  of  Ralph  Griffin,  dean  of 
Lincoln,  who  was  charged  with  preaching 
false  doctrine.  He  was  sent  by  the  privy 
council,  together  with  Lancelot  Andrewes 
fq.  v.],  afterwards  bishop  of  Winchester,  then 
Jiis  chaplain,  in  1591  to  confer  with  John  Udal 
and  others,  then  under  sentence  of  death  for 
sowing  sedition,  with  a  view  to  their  pardon 
(Life  of  Whitgift,  ii.  97).  On  6  Sept.  1595 
he  was  elected  principal  of  Brasenose  College, 
but  resigned  in  the  following  December,  after 
having  on  1  Oct.  been  created  D.D.  with 
seniority  over  all  the  doctors  of  the  univer- 
sity (LE  NEVE,  p.  564  ;  WOOD).  He  died  on 
13  Feb.  1601-2,  having  retained  all  his  facul- 
ties to  the  last,  and  was  buried  in  St.  Mary's 
Chapel,  behind  the  high  altar,  in  St.  Paul's. 
By  his  will,  of  which  an  account  is  given  by 
Churton,  it  appears  that  he  was  twice  mar- 
ried, the  first  time  to  a  widow,  name  un- 
known, with  children  who  were  alive  in 
1591 ;  his  second  wife  being  Elizabeth,  who 
had  been  married  before,  first  to  Lawrence 
Ball,  by  whom  she  had  one  son,  and  secondly 
to  Thomas  Blount,  by  whom  also  she  had 
issue.  She  survived  Nowell,  and  died  in 
1611  or  1612.  Nowell  had  no  children  by 
either  of  his  wives. 

Nowell  was  a  polished  scholar,  a  weighty  i 
and  successful  preacher,  a  skilful  disputant,  | 
and  a  learned  theologian.  Though  the  cir- 
cumstances of  his  early  life  inclined  him  to 
Calvinism  in  doctrine,  and  puritanism  in 
matters  of  order,  he  loyally  complied  with 
the  ecclesiastical  settlement  of  Elizabeth's 
reign,  and  even  voluntarily  showed  his  ap- 
proval of  certain  observances,  such  as  the 
keeping  of  holy  days,  that  were  disliked  by 
the  presbyterian  party.  Nor  does  he  appear 
in  any  respect  to  have  fallen  short  of  the 
standard  of  the  church  of  England  either  in 
his  teaching  or  his  practice.  At  the  same 
time  he  was  always  anxious  to  promote  peace 
both  in  the  church  and  among  his  neighbours, 
and  was  a  great  composer  of  private  quar- 
rels. Meditative,  as  became  a  renowned 
angler,wise  in  counsel,  and  grave  in  carriage, 
he  was  held  in  high  esteem  by  the  foremost 
persons  in  church  and  state.  Among  men  of 
letters  his  reputation  was  great ;  many  books 
were  dedicated  to  him  (CHTIRTON,  sect,  ix), 
and  among  other  panegyrists  Barnabe  Googe 
[q.  v.]  addressed  verses  to  him.  Many  testified 
to  his  piety  by  seeking  consolation  from  him 
when  dying,  and,  as  in  the  case  of  Frances, 
sister  of  Sir  Henry  Sidney,  and  widow  of 


Thomas  Ratclifte,  third  earl  of  Sussex  (1526?- 
1583),  by  requesting  that  he  would  preach 
their  funeral  sermons.  He  was  the  almoner  of 
Mildred,  lady  Burghley,  a  very  charitable 
woman,  and  was  chosen  by  her  husband  to 
preach  at  her  funeral.  Bes'ides  his  benefac- 
tions to  Middleton  School  and  Brasenose  Col- 
lege, he  gave  liberally  to  the  poor.  In  his 
private  relations  he  was  affectionate  and  care- 
ful for  others,  and  engaged  in  long  lawsuits  to 
protect  the  interests  of  his  stepchildren,  the 
'  poore  orphans  of  Mr.  Blounte.'  In  person 
he  was  slight ;  his  face  was  thin  and  rather 
pointed,  his  complexion  delicate,  and  his  eyes 
bright.  He  wore  a  small  beard  and  moustache 
(HOLLAND,  Hemologia,  p.  217).  He  lived  to 
be  the  last  of  the  fathers  of  the  English  re- 
formation, and  was  a  link  between  the  days 
of  Cranmer  and  the  days  of  Laud  (JACOBSON  ; 
CHURTON).  A  portrait  of  Nowell  engraved 
in  Churton's  '  Life,'  and  described  by  him  as 
the  'original  picture'  from  Head,  was  in  1809 
the  property  of  Dr.  Sherson;  it  represents 
Nowell  as  wearing  a  broad-brimmed  hat, 
and  has  an  inscription  to  the  effect  that 
he  died  13  Feb.  1601,  aged  95,  with  the 
words  '  Piscator  hominum,'  referring  to  his 
love  of  angling.  There  is  a  portrait  with  the 
same  inscription  in  the  hall  of  Brasenose  Col- 
lege, and  another  in  the  Bodleian  Library,  to 
which  he  gave  books  (Wooo,  History  and 
Antiquities  of  Oxford,  II.  ii.  922).  Another 
portrait  in  Chetham's  Library,  Manchester, 
presented  by  the  Rev.  James  Illingworth  in 
1694,  exhibits  Nowell  as  wearing  a  skull-cap. 
There  are  engravings  in  Holland's  '  Hereuo- 
logia,'  by  Clump  for  Brasenose  College,  in 
Churton's  '  Life,'  and  of  Nowell's  monument 
with  effigy  by  Hollar  in  Dugdale's  '  History 
of  St.  Paul's,'  re-engraved  by  Basire  for  Chur- 
ton's book  (as  to  the  headless  trunk  discovered 
in  the  crypt  of  St.  Paul's,  and  engraved  in 
Churton's  '  Life  '  as  a  fragment  of  Nowell's 
monumental  effigy,  see  COLET,  JOHN,  dean  of 
St.  Paul's,  and  LUPTON,  Life  ofColet.  p.  239). 
Besides  his  catechisms  noticed  later, 
Nowell's  printed  works  are :  (1)  A  book  con- 
taining Redman's  last  judgment  of  several 
points  of  religion,  1551  (not  known  ;  Memo- 
rials, ii.  527, 528) ;  (2)  '  An  Homily  . . .  con- 
cerning the  Justice  of  God  .  . .  appoynted  to 
be  read  in  the  time  of  sicknes,'  with.  Grindal's 
form  of  prayer  (not  known  ;  AMES,  ed.  Her- 
bert, p.  721 ;  Life  of  Parker,  i.  261) ;  (3)  « Re- 
proofe  written  by  A.  N.  of  a  book  entituled 
"  A  Proofs  of  certain  Articles  in  Religion  de- 
nied by  Master  Jewel,  set  forth  by  Tho.  Dor- 
man,  B.D.,'"  1565, 4to;  (4)  <  The  Reproofe  of 
M.  Dorman's  Proofe . . .  continued,'  1566, 4to ; 
(5)  '  A  Confutation  as  wel  of  M.  Dorman's 
last  book  entituled  a"Defence,"  &c. . . .  as  also 


Nowell 


248 


Nowell 


of  Dr.  Saunder's  "  Causes  of  Transubstantia- 
tion," '  1567, 4to ;  (6)  '  A  True  Report  of  the 
Disputation  .  .  .  held  in  the  Tower  of  London 
with  Edmund  Campion,  Jesuite,'  31  Aug. 
1581,  1583,  4to  (Nos.  3-6  in  Brit.  Mus.); 
(7)  Sermon  preached  11  Jan.  1563,  ap.  Cate- 
chism, ed.  Corrie  (Parker  Soc.) ;  (8) '  Carniina 
duo  in  obitum  Buceri,'  ap.  '  Buceri  Scripta 
Anglicana,'  p.  910  (reprinted  in  CHTJKTON, 
Life,  p.  391);  (9)  'Carmen  in  mortem  J. 
Juelli,'  at  end  of  Lawrence  Humphrey's  '  Life 
of  Jewell,'  1573 ;  (10)  Commendatory  verses 
in  Cooper's  '  Thesaurus,'  1565,  and  in  Pank- 
hurst's  'Juvenilia,'  1573;  (11)  Letters 
printed  in  whole  or  part  by  Strype  and  Chur 
ton.  There  are  manuscripts  by  Nowell  in 
the  Lansdowne  MSS.,  British  Museum,  and 
at  Corpus  Christ!  College,  Cambridge,  and 
'  Notes  of  his  Sermons  by  a  Hearer '  in  the 
Bodleian.  His  manuscript  theological  com- 
mon-place book  (fol.)  is  inChetham's  Library. 
Nowell  published  three  catechisms  which 
hold  an  important  place  in  the  religious  his- 
tory of  England.  Some  confusion  has  been 
made  between  them.  In  this  attempt  to 
exhibit  their  bibliography  B.  N.  C.  stands 
for  Brasenose  College,  and  when  no  place  of 
publication  is  noted,  supply  London :  (1)  The 
'  Large  Catechism  '  was  written  by  Nowell 
'  at  the  request  of  some  great  persons  in  the 
church,'  not  merely  for  the  use  of  the  young, 
but  to  be  a  fixed  standard  of  doctrine  in 
order  to  silence  those  who  asserted  that 
'the  Protestants  had  no  principles'  (Life 
of  Parker,  i.  403).  When  Nowell  sent  the 
manuscript  to  Cecil  in  1563,  he  stated  that  it 
had  been  '  approved  and  allowed '  by  the 
clergy  of  convocation  (Annals,  I.  i.  526).  In 
its  compilation  he  appears  to  have  been  in- 
debted to  the '  Short  Catechism  'published  by 
the  king's  authority  in  1553,  and  to  Calvin's 
catechism.  The  catechism  of  1553  has  itself 
been  ascribed  to  Nowell  (Memorials,  n.  i.  590, 
ii.  25),  but  should  be  ascribed  to  John  Poynet 
[q.  v.],  bishop  of  Winchester  (BALE,  Script. 
Brit.  Cat.  8th  cent.  p.  92).  Calvin's  cate- 
chism is  that  referred  to  by  Churton  as  II.  Ste- 
phens's;  Stephens  was,  however,  only  respon- 
sible for  the  Greek  translation  (JACOBSON). 
Nowell's  larger  catechism  was  appointed  by 
the  university  of  Oxford  to  be  read  in  1578, 
and  the  study  of  it  was  enjoined  at  Cam- 
bridge by  Sir  Christopher  Hatton  in  1589, 
and  Bancroft  (afterwards  archbishop)  when 
each  was  chancellor  (WooD,  Annals).  Itwas 
written  in  Latin,  and  was  translated  into 
Greek  by  Nowell's  nephew,  William  Whit- 
aker  [q.  v.],  and  into  English  by  Thomas 
Norton  [q.  v.]  The  original  manuscript, 
with  the  counter-signatures  of  the  two  arch- 
bishops, Parker  and  Grindal,  written  by  a 


copyist,  but  with  the  author's  corrections, 
is  at  Brasenose  College,  Oxford.  It  was 
published,  with  a  dedication  to  the  arch- 
bishops and  bishops,  under  the  title  '  Cate- 
chismus,  sive  prima  Institutio  Disciplinaque 
Pietatis  Christ  ianse,' and  has  appeared  in  the- 
following  editions:  (1)  (a)  1570,  16  June, 
Reginald  Wolf,  4to,  contains  no  matter 
about  confirmation,  and  has  list  of  errata 
at  end,  in  Bodl.,  Balliol  Coll.,  B.  N.  C.; 
(#)  1570,  16  June,  reissue  with  confirma-- 
tion  matter,  and  without  list  of  errata, 
Bodl.  and  Chetham's  ;  (2)  (a)  1571,  30  May, 
Wolf,  4to,  Bodl.,  B.  N.  C. ;  (&')  reissue  same- 
year,  no  further  date,  Bodl.,  B.  N.  C. ; 

(3)  1572,  Wolf,  4to,  Bodl.  and  in  1844  the- 
president  of  Magd.  Hall,  Oxf.  (Jacobson) ; 

(4)  1573,    Wolf,    the    first    edition    with 
Whitaker's  Greek  text,  Greek  dedication  to- 
Cecil,  and  iambics  to  reader,  8vo,  Brit.  Mus., 
Bodl.,  B.  N.  C.,  elsewhere ;  (5)  1574,  J.  Day, 
4to,  Bodl.,  B.  N.  C. ;  (6)  1576,  J.  Day,  4to, 
B.  N.  C. ;  (7)  1577,  J.  Day,  with  a  second 
Greek  edition,  12mo  (Lowndes).      Strype 
(Annals,  I.  i.  525)  notes  an  edition  of  1578, 
but  this  is   not  known,  and  is  held  to  be- 
doubtful  (but  see  AsiES,ed.  Herbert,  p.  1653); 
(8)  1580,  J.  Day,  4to,  Bodl.,   Magd.  Coll. 
Oxf.;  (9)  1590,  8vo  (Lowndes);  (10)  1603, 
8vo  (Lowndes)  ;  (11, 13)  in  Randolph's '  En- 
chiridion Theologicum,'  1st  ed.  vol.  ii.  1792, 
12mo,  2nd  ed.  vol.  i.  1812,  8vo ;  (12)  1795, 
Oxf.,  8vo,  edited  by  Dr.  William  Cleaver 
[q.  v.],  then  bishop  of  Chester,  for  the  use  of 
undergraduates  at  B.  N.  C.,  and  candidates 
for  orders  in  the  diocese  of  Chester  ;  (14)  In 
'  Collectanea  Theologica,'  1816, 12mo,  edited 
by  W.  Wilson,  for  use  at  St.  Bees ;  (15)  with 
other  matter  in  a  catechism  by  Dr.  Mill,  Sib- 
pur,  India,  1825,  8vo ;  (16)  1830, 12mo,  with 
Cleaver's  notes  ;  (17,  18)  1835,  Oxf.,  8vo,  ed. 
William  Jacobson    [q.  v.]   with   '  Life    of 
A.  N.,'  2nd  ed.  1844,  8vo. 

The  English  translation  of  the  '  Larger 
Catechism  '  with  title  '  A  Catechisme  or  first 
Instruction  and  Learning  of  Christian  Reli- 
gion, by  T.  Norton,'  was  published :  (1)  1570, 
J.  Day,  4to,  in  Bodl.,  B.  N.  C. ;  (2)  1571, 
J.  Day,  4to,  Brit,  Mus.,  Bodl.,  B.  N.  C. ; 

(3)  1573,  J.  Day,  4to,  Brit.  Mus.,  Bodl.; 

(4)  1575,  J.  Day,  4to,  Brit,  Mus..  Bodl.,  (5)  in 
'  Fathers  of  the  English  Church,'  vol.  viiu 
edited    by    Legh    Richmond,    1807,    8vo; 
(6)  1846,  by  Prayer-book  and  Homily  Soc.r 
8vo;  (7)  1851,  12mo;  (8)  1853,  Cambridge, 
ed.  Corrie,  with  sermon  of  11  Jan.  1563,  for 
Parker   Soc.,   8vo.     Also  in  Welsh,   1809, 
Cleaver's  edition, '  Ninbych,'  12mo. 

In  the  preface  to  his  larger  catechism,. 
Nowell  declared  his  intention  of  bringing" 
out  an  abridgment  of  it  as  soon  as  possible. 


249 


Nowell 


Accordingly  in  the  same  year  he  published 
his  (2)  '  Middle  Catechism,'  with  the  title 
'ChristiansePietatisprimalnstitutioadusuin 
Scholarum.'  It  was  dedicated  to  the  arch- 
bishops and  bishops,  is  written  in  Latin,  and 
was  translated  into  Greek  by  "Whitaker,  and 
into  English  by  Norton.  The  frequent  edi- 
tions of  the  seventeenth  century  testify  to 
the  importance  attached  to  it  by  the  puritan 
divines;  those  that  are  known  are:  (1)  1570, 
4to,  no  copy  traced  (LowNDES,  JACOBSON)  ; 

(2)  1575,  John  Day  with  Whitaker's  Greek 
translation,   8vo,  in  Brit.  Mus.,  B.  N.  C., 
Chetham,  and  imperfect,  Trin.  Coll.  Camb. ; 

(3)  1577,  J.  Day,  with  Greek  translation, 
8vo,  Brit.  Mus.,  Bodl.,  B.  N.  C.;  (4)  1578, 
J .  Day,  with  Greek  translation,  16mo,  Bodl., 
B.  N.  C. ;  (5)  1581,  J.  Day,  12mo,  Brit.  Mus. ; 
(6)  1586,  John  Wolf  for  Richard  Day,  12mo, 
B.  N.  C.;    (7)  1595,  John  Windet,  12mo, 
Bodl. ;  (8)  1598,  J.  Windet,  12mo,  B.  N.  C. ; 
(9)  1610,  8vo,  Bodl.;  (10)  1615,  8vo,  Bodl.; 
(11)  1625,  8vo,  Brit.  Mus. ;  (12)  1626,  Cam- 
bridge, 8vo,  Chetham ;  (13)  1630,  8vo,  Brit. 
Mus. ;  (14)  1633,  Cambridge,  12mo,  B.  N.  C.; 

(15)  1636,    Cambridge,    8vo,  Brit,   Mus.; 

(16)  1638,   'pro   societate   stationariorum,' 
with  Greek,  12mo,  B.  N.  C. ;  (17)  1673,  with 
Greek,  12mo,  Brit.  Mus. ;  (18)  1687,  with 
Greek,  Bodl.,  Magd.  Coll.  Oxf.;  (19)  1701, 
'  pro  societ.  stationar.,' with  Greek,  12mo,  Brit. 
Mus.,  B.  N.  C.;  (20)  1795,  Oxford,  edited 
by  Dr.  W.  Cleaver,  8vo;  (21)  1817,  edited 
by  W.  Wilson,  for  use  at  St.  Bees,  12mo. 

Norton's  translation  of  the  '  Middle  Cate- 
chism,' with  title  '  A  Catechisme  or  Institu- 
tion of  Christian  Religion  to  be  learned  of 
all  youth  next  after  the  little  catechisme  ap- 
poynted  in  the  Booke  of  Common  Prayer,' 
has  a  special  dedication  by  Nowell  to  the 
archbishops  and  bishops.  It  was  published : 
(1)  1572,  John  Day,  12mo,  Bodl.,  also  a  copy 
without  date  B.  N.  C. ;  (2)  1577,  J.  Day,  8vo, 
Bodl. ;  (3)  1579,  J.  Day,  8vo,  B.  N.  C. ; 

(4)  1583,  J.  Day,  8vo,  Bodl. ;  (5)  1609,  8vo, 
Bodl. ;  (6)  1614,  '  for  the  companie  of  the 
stationers,'  12mo,  B.  N.  C.;  (7)  1638,  8vo, 
Brit.  Mus.,  Bodl. ;  (8)  1715,  an  independent 
translation  with  title '  The  Elements  of  Chris- 
tian Piety,  being  an  Explanation  of  the  Com- 
mandments,' &c.,  12mo  (CHUKTON,  pp.  193, 
194)  ;  (9)  1818,  Bristol,  in  '  Church  of  Eng- 
land Tracts,'    No.   30,  bound  in   collected 
tracts,  vol.  ii.,  12mo;  (10)  1851,  by  Prayer- 
book  and  Homily  Society,  8vo. 

Nowell's  third  or  '  Small  Catechism '  is  be- 
lieved by  Churton  to  be  referred  to  in  the 
king's  letter  prefixed  to  the  catechism  of 
1553,  as  '  the  other  brief  catechism  which  we 
have  already  set  forth.'  Churton  does  not 
consider  it  probable  that  these  words  refer 


to  the  catechism  in  the  Book  of  Common 
Prayer,  but  his  reason  for  this  opinion  doea 
not  seem  obvious.  AnexaminationofNowell's 
'  small '  catechism  in  the  edition  of  1574 
shows,  as  Churton  himself,  who  had  seen  a 
later  edition,  points  out  in  his  appendix, 
that  it  is  in  no  way  different  from  the  church 
catechism  save  that  after  each  command- 
ment it  has  the  words  ;  miserere  nostri,'  &c., 
that  after  the  '  Duty  to  your  neighbour,'  are 
inserted  several  questions  and  answers  on  the 
duties  of  subjects,  children,  servants,  parents, 
&c.,  and  that  the  part  on  the  sacraments  is 
much  longer.  The  '  small '  catechism  has  a 
preface  signed  A.  N.,  and  in  Whitaker's  dedi- 
cation of  the  Greek  version  of  the  '  middle  T 
catechism  to  Nowell,  1575,  he  says  that 
Nowell  had  composed  three  catechisms,  and 
that  having  already  translated  two  he  was 
now  presenting  the  author  with  a  translation 
of  the  third.  All  three  catechisms  are  there- 
fore treated  by  Whitaker  and  by  Nowell 
himself  as  alike  Nowell's  work.  Isaak  AVal- 
ton,  moreover,  speaks  of  Nowell  (circa  1653) 
as  '  the  good  old  man '  who  made  '  that  good, 
plain,  unperplexed  catechism  printed  in  our 
good  old  service-book.'  It  seems  clear  then 
that  Nowell  was  the  author  of  the  first  part 
of  the  church  catechism  now  in  use,  which 
was  first  published  in  the  prayer-book  of  1549 
as  part  of  the  rite  of  confirmation,  the  later 
portion  on  the  sacraments  afterwards  (1604) 
added,  as  is  generally  held,  by  Bishop  Overall 
having  been  reduced  and  otherwise  altered 
from  Nowell's '  small '  catechism.  This  small 
catechism  was  translated  like  the  two  others, 
into  Greek  and  English,  and  was  published 
in  Latin  with  the  title  '  Catechismus  parvus 
pueris  primum  Latine  qui  ediscatur,  pro- 
ponendus  inscholis:'  (1)  1572,  not  known 
(CHFBTON)  ;  (2)  1574  (by  John  Day),  on  the 
back  of  the  title-page  a  woodcut  of  boys  at 
school,  and  a  quotation  from  Isocrates,  with 
Whitaker's  Greek  version,  12mo,  in  Balliol 
Coll.;  (3)  1578  (by  J.  Day,  8vo),  not  traced 
(AMES,  ed.  Herbert  and  Dibdin,  iv.  130  w.); 

(4)  1584,  with  Whitaker's  Greek,  8vo,  Bodl. ; 

(5)  1619, 12mo,  B.N.C.;  (6)  n.d.  Latin  only, 
part  of  title-page  torn  away  (by  T.  C.  Lond., 
8vo),  Balliol  Coll. ;   (7)  1633,  with  Greek, 
8vo,  Bodl. ;  (8)  1687,  for  the  use  of  St.  Paul's 
School,  8vo  (CHUKTOX,  App.  viii.)     Norton's 
English  translation  with  title, '  The  Little 
Catechisme:'  (1)  1577,   12mo,  not   traced 
(TANNEK);   (2)  1582,  Richard  Day,  12mo, 
Bodl.;  (3)  1587,  8vo,  not  traced  (TANNEB ; 
WOOD). 

[Churton's  Life  of  Nowell;  Wood's  Athen» 
Oxon.  i.  cols.  716-9  (Bliss) ;  Wood's  Hist,  and 
Antiq.  n.  ii.  922,  964,  m.  360,  363,  369(Gutch); 
Biog.  Brit.  v.  3257 ;  Holland's  Heraologia,  p. 


Nowell 


250 


Nowell 


217  ;  D.  Lupton's  Moderne  Prot.  Divines,  p.  250; 
Fuller's  Worthies,  i.  547  (Nichols) ;  Fuller's  Ch. 
Hist.  ii.  509,  iv.  179,  v.  256  (Brewer);  Foxe's 
Acts  and  Mon.  vi.  267,  269,  272  (Townsend) ; 
Troublesat  Frankfort,  pp.  62, 116,163;  Strype's 
Annals,  i.  i.  153,  228,  247,  263,  297,  306-8, 
352,  401,  408-10,  473,  504,  525-8,  ii.  113,  247- 
249,  258,  ii.  i  353,  419,  ii.  357,  361,  461.  HI.  ii. 
27,  Memorials,  n.  i.  527,  590,  ii.  25,  277,  in.  i. 
230,  Cranmer,  p.  450,  Grindal,  pp.  49,  138,  202, 
Parker  i.  126,  193,  208,  318,  343,  359,  n.  11, 17, 
Whitgift,  i.  198,  444,  n.  97  (8vo  edit.);  Com- 
mons' Journals,  i.  27  ;  Burnet's  Hist,  of  Refor- 
mation, n.  364,  407,  ni.  511,  515  (8vo  edit.)  ; 
Keturnof  Members,  i.  381;  Hallam's  Const.  Hist. 
i.  275  (ed.  1863)  ;  Boase's  Eegister  of  Univ.  of 
Oxf  p.  183  (Oxf.  Hist.  Soc.);  Le  Neve's  Fasti, 
i.  53,  ii.  330,  440,  449,  iii.  351,  355,  398,  564 
(Hardy) ;  Newcourt's  Kepertorium,  i.  49,  54, 
82,  215  ;  Walton's  Compleat  Angler,  pt.  i.  c.  i. 
pp.  40,  41  (ed.  1775);  Camden's  Annales,  ii.255 
(Hearne);  Cal.  of  State  Papers,  Dom.  1547-80, 
pp.  382,  434,  438-40,  497,  1581-90,  pp.  115, 
163,  489  (Lemon) ;  Froude's  Hist,  of  England, 
v.  283,  vii.  30,  100,  256  (post  8vo  edit.) ;  Whit- 
aker's  Hist,  of  Whalley,  p.  460;  Welch's  Alumni 
Westmonnst.  pp.  2,  3 ;  Lupton's  Life  of  Colet, 
pp.  135,  159,  239.  For  bibliography,  chiefly  in- 
formation received  from  Mr.  Falconer  Madan,  of 
the  Bodleian  Library,  who  generously  lent  his 
valuable  notes  on  the  bibliography  of  the  three 
catechisms  for  the  purpose  of  this  article  ;  also 
from  Mr.W.  T.  Browne  of  Chetham's  Library  and 
from  Mr.  Evelyn  Abbott,  of  Ball.  Coll.  Oxford ; 
Jacobson's  Catechismus,  Pref. ;  Lowndes's  Bibl. 
Manual,  vi.  1710  art.  Nowell;  Ames's  Typogr. 
Antiq.,  ed.  Herbert,  pp.  611,  647,  654,  655,  662, 
677,  938,  967,  1618,  1658;  Dibdin's  Ames,  iv. 
129,  130;  Tanner's  Bibl.  Brit.  pp.  552,  553.] 

W.  H. 

NOWELL,  INCREASE  (1590-1655), 
New  England  settler,  born  in  1590,  was  one 
of  the  patentees  mentioned  in  the  charter  of 
the  governor  and  company  of  Massachusetts 
Bay.  He  was  chosen  an  '  assistant '  in  1629, 
and  became  a  very  active  and  efficient  mem- 
ber of  the  company.  In  1630  he  arrived  in 
America  in  the  Arbella  with  John  Win- 
throp.  He  was  appointed  ruling  elder  of 
the  church  at  Boston  in  August  1630,  but 
resigned  that  office  in  1632  on  becoming  con- 
vinced of  the  impropriety  of  being  a  magis- 
trate and  an  elder  at  the  same  time.  He 
was  in  consequence  dismissed  from  the  Boston 
pastorate,  and  became  a  founder  of  the  church 
in  Charlestown.  He  was  a  commissioner  of 
military  affairs  in  1634.  In  1637  he  was 
one  of  those  who  refused  to  disclaim  the 
charter,  and  for  not  appearing  to  answer  for 
his  conduct  before  the  commissioners  from 
England  was  outlawed  (FELT,  Eccl.  Hist,  of 
New  England,  i.  275).  From  1644  until  1649 
he  was  secretary  of  Massachusetts  colony. 


He  died  in  poverty  at  Boston  on  1  Nov.  1655. 
By  his  wife  Parnell  Gray  (1603-1687)  he 
had  five  sons  and  three  daughters.  In  re- 
cognition of  his  services  the  colony  granted 
1,000  acres  of  land  apiece,  in  Cocheco  coun- 
try, New  Hampshire,  to  his  widow  and  son 
Samuel. 

His  eldest  surviving  son,  SAMUEL  NOWELL 
(1634-1688),  born  at  Boston  on  12  Nov. 
1634,  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1653,  and  was 
chaplain  under  General  Josiah  Winslow  in 
Philip's  war.  At  the  great  Narraganset 
swamp  fight  in  South  Kingston,  Rhode  Is- 
land, on  19  Dec.  1675,  he  displayed  remark- 
able bravery  (MATHER,  Magnalia,  bk.  vii.  ch. 
6,  sect.  10).  He  was  chosen  assistant  of  the 
colony  in  May  1680,  and  in  Oct.  1685  be- 
came treasurer.  In  1688  he  went  to  Eng- 
land on  behalf  of  the  old  colonial  charter, 
and  died  in  London  in  September  of  that 
year. 

[Young's  Chronicles  of  the  First  Planters,  p. 
262,  and  elsewhere ;  Prince's  Annals,  p.  334 ; 
Winthrop's  Hist,  of  New  England  (Savage) ; 
Budington's  First  Church  in  Charlestown,  pp. 
31,  190;  Hutchinson's  Massachusetts  Bay,  2nd 
edit,  i.  17,  22;  Felt's  Eccl.  Hist,  of  New  Eng- 
land, i.  159  ;  Savage's  Genealog.  Diet.  iii.  295; 
Mass.  Hist.  Soc.  Collections,  3rd  Ser..  i.  47.] 

G-.  G. 

NOWELL  or  NOWEL,  LAURENCE 
(<2.  1576),  dean  of  Lichfield,  a  younger  son 
of  John  Nowell,  esq.,  of  Read  Hall,  Whalley, 
Lancashire,  by  his  second  wife,  Elizabeth, 
born  Kay,  and  brother  of  Alexander  Nowell 
[q.  v.l,  dean  of  St.  Paul's,  entered  Brase- 
nose  College,  Oxford,  in  1536,  and,  desiring 
to  study  logic  at  Cambridge,  migrated  to 
that  university,  where  he  graduated  B.A. 
in  1542.  Returning  to  Oxford,  he  was  in 
that  year  incorporated  B.A.,  and  proceeded 
M.A.  in  1544.  He  is  said  at  one  period  to 
have  been  a  member  of  Christ  Church  (TAN- 
KER) ;  but  this  is  extremely  doubtful.  In  1546 
he  was  appointed  master  of  the  grammar 
school  at  Sutton  Coldfield,  Warwickshire. 
Before  long,  however,  articles  were  exhibited 
against  him  in  chancery  by  the  corporation 
of  the  town  as  patrons  of  the  school  for 
neglect  of  duty.  Proceedings  were  stayed 
in  February  1550  by  an  order  from  the  privy 
council  to  the  warden  and  fellowship  of 
Sutton  that  he  should  not  be  removed  from 
his  place  '  unless  they  have  found  in  him 
some  notable  offence,  in  which  behalf  they 
were  to  make  the  lords  privy  thereto '  (Acts 
of  the  Privy  Council,  new  ser.  v.  226).  On 
the  accession  of  Queen  Mary  he  took  shelter 
with  Sir  John  Perrot  at  Carew  Castle,  and 
after  a  time  joined  his  brother  Alexander  in 
Germany.  Having  returned  to  England  on 


Nowell 


251 


Nowell 


the  queen's  death,  he  was  made  archdeacon 
of  Derby  in  1558,  and  received  the  deanery 
of  Lichtield  in  March  1560,  which  he  held 
along  with  his  archdeaconry  (La  NEVE, 


stating  that  he  was  prepared  to  make  maps 
of  England,  in  MS.  Lansd.  vi. ;  (9)  answer 
to  the  charges  of  Peter  Morwin  (see  above) ; 
(10)  a  letter  to  Archbishop  Parker,  dated 


Fasti,  i.  565,  577).  In  the  convocation  of  j  June  1567,  on  behalf  of  two  nonconfor- 
1563  he  voted  with  his  brother  Alexander  j  mists,  in  Corpus  Christ!  College  Library, 
for  the  proposals  for  abrogating  some  church  A  portrait  of  Nowell,  with  the  inscription 
ceremonies  and  rendering  others  optional,  j  'Nowell,  1601,'  but  without  painter's  name, 
and  for  the  six  articles  to  the  like  effect,  on  i  was  bequeathed  to  Dulwich  College  by 
which  the  lower  house  divided  (STKYPE,  Edward  Alleyn,  and  is  now  in  the  Dulwich 
Annuls,  I.  i.  500-6).  In  that  year  he  was  Gallery. 

tutor  to  Richard  de  Vere,  earl  of  Oxford  [Churton's  Life  of  A.  Nowell  pp  12  99  198 
(1550-1604),  and  was  installed  prebendary  '  233-9  ;  Cooper's  Athenae  Cantabr.  i.  357/358  ' 
of  Chichester.  He  also  held  the  rectory  of  Wood's  Athenae  Oxon.  (Bliss),  i.  245;'Biog! 
Haughton  and  Drayton  Basset,  Stafford-  j  Brit.  v.  3259  ;  Le  Neve's  Fasti  (Hardy),'  i.  563, 
shire,  and  in  1566  received  a  prebend  in  the  577,  iii.  169;  Dugdale's  Warwickshire,  p.  670; 
church  of  York.  He  was  accused  in  1570  by  Thoresby's  Leeds,  p.  531;  Cal.  State  Papers, 
Peter  Morwent  [q.  v.],  a  prebendary  of  Lich-  (Lemon),  1547-83,  p.  393 ;  Acts  of  Privy  Council 
field,  of  having  uttered  scandal  about  the  (newser.).  v.  226;  Strype's  Aiinals,  i.  i.  600  sq. 
queen  and  the  Earl  of  Leicester,  and  answered  (8vo  edlt-):  Strype's  Memorials,  11.  i.  403.] 


the  charge  in  writing(Ca/.  State  Papers,  Dom. 
1547-80,  p.  393).  In  157  o  he  bought  a  house 
and  estate  at  Sheldon,  and  some  land  at 
Coleshill,  both  in  Warwickshire.  He  died 
in  or  about  October  1576,  and  it  is  thought 


W.  H. 

NOWELL,  RALPH  (d.  1144  ?),  bishop 
of  Orkney.     [See  RALPH.] 

NOWELL,      THOMAS      (1730-1801), 
divine,  born  in  1730,  son  of  Cradock  Nowell 


was  buried  at  Weston  in  Derbyshire.  By  ;  of  Cardiff,  Glamorganshire,  entered  at  Oriel 
his  wife  Mary,  whose  former  husband  was  I  College,  Oxford,  26  April  1746,  and  matricu- 
named  Glover,  he  left  two  or  more  sons  —  j  lated  10  May,  when  his  age  was  given  as 
Laurence,  matriculated  at  Brasenose  College,  sixteen.  He  graduated  B.A.  14  Feb.  1749- 
at  the  age  of  eighteen,  in  1590  (CLARK,  1750,  and  M.A.  1753.  On  25  March  1747 
Register  of  the  University  of  Oxford,  n.  ii.  j  he  was  nominated  by  the  Duke  of  Beaufort 
180),  and  Thomas  —  and  three  daughters,  to  an  exhibition  at  Oriel  for  natives  of  the 
He  was  a  diligent  antiquary,  and  learned  in  !  counties  of  Gloucester,  Monmouth,  and  Gla- 
Anglo-Saxon,  being  among  the  first  to  re-  morgan,  and  on  14  Nov.  1752  he  became  an 
vive  the  study  of  the  language  in  England  exhibitioner  on  the  foundation  of  Bishop 
,  Britannia,  col.  6),  and  having  as  Robinson.  He  was  elected  fellow  of  his 


his  pupil  William   Lambarde   [q.  v.],  the  j  college  on  27  April  1753,  and  held  it  until  he 
editor  of  the  laws   of  the  Anglo-Saxons,    married.     He  also  filled  the  college  offices 


with  whom  he  used  to  study  when  staying 
at  one  period  in  the  chambers  of  his  brother, 
Robert  Nowell  (d.  1569),  attorney-general 
of  the  court  of  wards,  in  Gray's  Inn. 
Nowell  left  the  following  manuscripts  : 
(1)  '  Vocabularium  Saxonicum,'  an  Anglo- 
Saxon  dictionary,  which  passed  successively 
to  Lambarde,  Somner,  and  Selden,  and  is 
now  in  the  Bodleian  Library,  as  is  also  a 
transcript  of  it  made  by  Francis  Junius 
(1589-1677)  [q.  v.] ;  (2)  A  collection  con- 


taining perambulations  of  forests  and  other 
matters  (THOEESBY,  Hist,  of  Leeds,  p.  531) ; 
(3)  '  Collectanea  '  in  MS.  Cotton.  Vitell.  D. 

T'ii    •     f A\    *  TT-vnn-nnt o     niioarlnm     £tnvnni/»n      A    Tk 


of  junior  treasurer  1755-7,  senior  treasurer 
1757-8,  and  dean  1758-60,  1763.  In  May 
1760  Nowell  was  elected  public  orator;  he 
was  nominated  by  his  college  as  junior  proc- 
tor in  1761,  and  acted  for  many  years  as 
secretary  to  the  chancellor  of  the  university. 
On  the  death  of  Dr.  William  King  he  was 
admitted  principal  (10  Jan.  1764)  of  St. 
Mary  Hall,  and  proceeded  B.D.  14  Jan. 
1764,  D.D.  28  Jan.  In  1771  he  was  ap- 
pointed by  Lord  North — whose  attention  had 


been  called  by  George  III  to  the  necessity 
of  selecting  'a  man  of  sufficient  abilities,'  as 
such  offices '  ought  not  to  be  given  by  favour, 

vii.;  (4)  '  Excerpta  quaedam  Saxonica  A.D.  i  \)ut&ccord\ngto  merit' (Corresp-ofGeoryelll 
189-997  : '  (5)  '  Excerpta,  A.D.  1043-1079 ; '  |  and  North,  i.  62-3)— to  the  regius  professor- 
and(6) '  Variae  mappse  chorographicae.Hiber-  ship  of  modern  history  at  Oxford,  and  he 
nise,  Scotiae,  Angliae,Wallite,'  &c. — Nos.  4-6  retained  it,  with  the  principalship  of  the 
are  in  MS.  Cotton.  Domit.  xviii. ;  (7)  '  Gesta  hall,  until  his  death  ;  but  he  resigned  the 
episcoporum  Lindisfarnensium  et  Dunelmen-  post  of  public  orator  in  1776.  It  is  stated 
smm.  .  .  ex  Symeone  Dunelmensi  collecta,'  by  James  Hurdis  in  the  'Vindication  of 
&c.,  in  MS.  Cotton.  Vespas.  A.  v. ;  (8)  a  Magdalen  College,'  which  he  published  about 
letter  in  Latin  to  Cecil,  dated  June  1563,  1800,  that  Nowell  reads  '  on  certain  days  of 


Nowell 


252 


Nower 


every  week  during  term,  giving  without  in- 
terruption both  public  and  private  lectures, 
in  person  for  the  most  part,  and  by  substitu- 
tion when  his  impaired  health  confines  him 
at  home.' 

Nowell  preached  before  the  speaker  and 
four  other  members  of  the  House  of  Com- 
mons at  St.  Margaret's,  Westminster,  on 
30  Jan.  1772,  the  usual  sermon  on  King 
Charles.  The  speaker  '  highly  disapproved 
of  the  sermon,  and  did  not  conceal  his  senti- 
ments ; '  another  of  the  members  thought 
that  the  '  offensive  expressions  '  used  in  the 
pulpit  would  not  be  printed ;  but  the  accus- 
tomed vote  of  thanks  from  the  house  was 
passed  without  any  protest  to  the  preacher 
on  31  Jan.  (Commons'  Journals,  xxxiii.  435- 
436).  In  the  printed  discourse  George  III 
was  compared  to  Charles  I,  the  existing  house 
was  likened  to  the  opponents  of  Charles, 
and  the  grievances  of  the  subjects  of  both 
monarchs  were  declared  illusory.  Thomas 
Townshend  suggested  on  21  Feb.  that  the 
sermon  should  be  burnt  by  the  hands  of 
the  common  hangman ;  but  Lord  North  re- 
minded the  house  of  the  vote  of  thanks,  and 
carried  a  motion  for  the  order  of  the  day. 
The  matter  was  again  brought  up  on  25  Feb., 
when  the  entry  of  thanks  was  expunged 
without  a  division,  after  an  attempt  to  bring 
on  the  order  of  the  day  had  been  defeated 
by  152  votes  to  forty-one  (ib.  xxxiii.  500, 
509).  The  king  reported  to  Lord  North  that 
'  the  country  gentlemen  were  at  first  hurt 
they  were  not  supported  in  defending '  Dr. 
Nowell  (  Corresp.  of  George  III  and  North,  i. 
91-3).  Gibbon  remarked  that  the  preacher's 
bookseller  '  is  much  obliged  to  the  Right 
Honourable  Tommy  Townshend'  (Miscell. 
Works,  ii.  78),  and  Dr.  Johnson,  who  dined 
with  Boswell  at  Nowell's  '  beautiful  villa 
at  Iffley'  on  11  June  1784,  added,  'Sir, 
the  Court  will  be  very  much  to  blame  if 
Nowell  is  not  promoted.'  The  party  '  drank 
Church  and  King  after  dinner  with  true  Tory 
cordiality'  (BoswELL,  ed.  Hill,  ii.  152,  iv. 
295-6). 

Nowell,  however,  received  no  further  pre- 
ferment. He  lived  partly  at  St.  Mary  Hall, 
and  partly  'at  his  pretty  house  overlook- 
ing the  lock  at  Imey,'  and  died  at  his 
lodgings  in  St.  Mary  Hall  on  23  Sept.  1801, 
being  described  as  seventy-three  years  old. 
Nowell  married  at  St.  Aldate's,  Oxford,  on 
23  Feb.  1764,  Sarah,  daughter  of  Sir  Thomas 
Munday,  a  well-known  Oxford  upholsterer. 
Their  son  Thomas  was  buried  in  St.  Aldate's 
on  8  Jan.  1768  (ANTHONY  WOOD,  Oxford 
City,  ed.  Peshall,  p.  151).  He  esta- 
blished a  fund  for  rebuilding  the  western 
side  of  the  quadrangle  at  the  hall ;  some 


portion  was  rebuilt,  and  an  additional  story 
was  raised  on  the  south  side,  '  but  it  was- 
extremely  plain  and  of  a  mean  appearance ' 
(INGKAM,  Oxford,  vol.  ii.)  Under  his  will 
certain  shares  held  by  him  in  the  Oxford 
Canal  Navigation  were  left  to  found  an 
exhibition  at  St.  Mary  Hall  (CHALMERS. 
Oxford,  ii.  451). 

Six  students  at  St.  Edmund  Hall,  Oxford, 
the  best  known  of  whom  was  the  Rev. 
Erasmus  Middleton  [q.  v.],  were  expelled 
from  the  university  on  11  March  1768  '  for 
praying  and  preaching  in  prohibited  times 
and  places.'  This  proceeding  was  censured 
by  Sir  Richard  Hill  [q.  v.]  in  '  Pietas 
Oxoniensis,  by  a  Master  of  Arts  of  the 
University  of  Oxford,'  1768,  and  defended 
by  Nowell  in  '  An  Answer  to  a  Pamphlet 
entitled  Pietas  Oxoniensis,'  1768 ;  2nd  ed. 
with  large  additions,  1769.  Hill  retorted 
with  a  reply  entitled  '  Goliath  Slain  ;  ' 
another  writer,  disguised  as  '  No  Methodist,* 
issued  '  Strictures  on  an  Answer  to  Pietas 
Oxoniensis  by  Thomas  Nowell.'  Toplady, 
at  first  as  Clerus  and  then  under  his  own 
name,  vindicated  '  The  Church  of  England 
from  the  Charge  of  Arminianism  in  a 
Letter  to  Dr.  Nowell; '  and  John  Fellows,  as 
'  Philanthropes,'  published  '  Grace  Trium- 
phant :  a  Sacred  Poem,  submitted  to  the 
Serious  and  Candid  Perusal  of  Dr.  Nowell,' 
and  others.  This  affair  provoked  much  ex- 
citement at  the  time  (BOSWELL,  ed.  Hill, 
ii.  187),  and  the  titles  of  several  more  pam- 
phlets by  Macgowan,  Whitefield,  and  others, 
are  given  in '  Notes  and  Queries,'  3rd  ser.  ix. 
427,  and  Halkett  and  Laing's  '  Dictionary  of 
Anonymous  Literature,' pp.  679, 1027, 1037, 
1405,  1912,  2008.  An  anonymous  disserta- 
tion '  upon  that  Species  of  Writing  called 
Humour  when  applied  to  sacred  subjects,' 
1760,  is  attributed  to  Nowell. 

[Foster's  Alumni  Oxon. ;  Gent.  Mag.  1772 
p.  93,  1801  pt.  ii.  p.  963;  Letters  of  first  Earl 
M;ilmesbury,  1870,  i.  252-4;  Walpole's  Journals, 
1771-83,  i.  25-8;  Wood's  Univ.  of  Oxford,  ed. 
Gutch,vol.ii  pt.ii.p.  907;Wood's  Oxford  Colleges, 
ed.  Gutch,  pp.  673-4,  and  App.  p.  173  ;  Han- 
sard, xvii.  312-8;  information  from  Mr.  C.  L. 
Shadwell,  of  Oriel  College,  Oxford.]  W.  P.  C. 

NOWER    or    NOWERS,    FRANCIS 

(d.  1670),  herald-painter,  belonged  to  a 
family  long  seated  at  Ashford  and  Pluckley 
in  Kent.  Nower  was  employed  for  many 
years  in  the  ordinary  avocation  of  an  heraldic 
painter,  especially  during  the  time  of  the 
Commonwealth.  In  1660  he  edited  the 
fourth  edition  of  Guillim's  '  Display  of 
Heraldry  '  before  the  restoration  of  Charles 
II,  after  which  event  a  new  edition  was 
issued,  omitting  certain  additions  under  the 


Noye 


253 


Noye 


Commonwealth.  Nower  resided  in  Bartho- 
lomew Lane,  near  the  Exchange,  in  London ; 
in  1670  a  fire  broke  out  there,  in  which  Nower, 
with  two  of  his  children  and  two  servants, 
perished.  Administration  of  his  effects  was 
granted  on  15  Aug.  1670  to  his  widow, 
Hester,  who  subsequently  remarried  Francis 
Turner. 

His  wife  Hester  was  daughter  of  Isaac 
Bargrave,D.D.,  dean  of  Canterbury,  by  whom 
he  was  father  of  BeauprS  Nower  (or  Nowers), 
afterwards  fellow  of  Christ's  College,  Cam- 
bridge. 

[Streatfield's  Excerpta  Cantiana ;  information 
from  Mr.  C.  P.  Nowers.]  L.  C. 

NO  YE  or  NO  Y,  WILLIAM  (1577-1634), 
attorney-general  to  Charles  I,  son  of  Edward 
Noye  of  Carnanton,  Mawgan-in-Pyder,  Corn- 
wall, by  Jane  Crabbe,  his  wife,  was  born  in 
1577.  He  matriculated  at  Exeter  College, 
Oxford,  on  27  April  1593,  and  was  admitted 
on  24  Oct.  1594  a  member  of  Lincoln's  Inn. 
Leaving  the  university  without  a  degree,  he 
was  called  to  the  bar  in  1602,  was  autumn 
reader  in  1622,  a  bencher  from  1618  until  his 
death,  and  treasurer  in  1632. 

His  rise  in  his  profession  was  slow,  and 
was  not  achieved  without  intense  and  unre- 
mitting application.  '  I  moyle  in  law '  he 
early  adopted  as  his  anagram,  and  by  such 
moyling  he  gradually  acquired  a  knowledge, 
both  intimate  and  extensive,  of  the  abstruser 
branches  of  the  law.  He  thus  attracted  the 
notice  of  Bacon,  by  whom  he  was  recom- 
mended in  1614  for  the  post  of  official  law 
reporter,  as  one  '  not  overwrought  with  prac- 
tice and  yet  learned,  and  diligent,  and  con- 
versant in  reports  and  records. 

Noye  represented  Grampound,  Cornwall, 
in  the  first  two  parliaments  of  James  I, 
1604-11  and  1614.  In  subsequent  parlia- 
ments he  represented  other  constituencies  in 
the  same  county,  viz.  Helston  in  1621-2, 
Fowey  in  1623-4,  St.  Ives  in  1625-6,  and 
Helston  in  1628-9.  He  took  at  first  the 
popular  side,  and  led  the  attack  on  mono- 
polies with  skill  and  spirit  in  1620-1.  As 
counsel  for  Sir  Walter  Earl,  one  of  the  five 
knights  committed  for  refusing  to  contribute 
to  the  forced  loan  of  1626,  he  argued,  22  Nov. 
1627,  the  insufficiency  of  the  return  to  their 
habeas  corpus.  On  16  April  1628  he  replied 
to  Attorney-general  Heath  in  the  argument 
on  the  liberty  of  the  subject  before  the  House 
of  Lords,  and  he  afterwards  in  the  commons 
proposed  a  habeas  corpus  act.  He  also 
stoutly  resisted,  in  the  conference  of  28  May 
following,  the  clause  saving  the  royal  pre- 
rogative appended  by  the  lords  to  the  Peti- 
tion of  Right.  In  the  debate  on  tonnage  and 


poundage  of  12  Feb.  1628-9,  he  proposed  the 
insertion  in  the  grant  of  a  clause  expressly 
negativing  the  right  of  the  king  to  levy 
those  contributions  by  virtue  of  his  prero- 
gative. 

It  accordingly  excited  no  little  surprise 
when,  on  27  Oct.  1631,  Noye  was  appointed 
attorney-general.  Onbeing'offeredtheposthe 
is  said  to  have  bluntly  asked  what  his  wages 
were  to  be,  and  to  have  hesitated  until  it 
was  pressed  upon  him  with  importunity. 
Once  in  office,  the  view  he  took  of  his  duties 
is  evinced  by  his  witty  translation  of  '  At- 
tornatus  Domini  Regis '  as  '  one  that  must 
serve  the  king's  turn.'  One  of  his  first  offi- 
cial cares  was  to  take  order  for  the  reveren- 
tial use  of  St.  Paul's  Cathedral,  which,  by 
the  negligence  of  the  dean  and  chapter,  had 
been  suffered  to  become  a  public  thorough- 
fare (Documents  illustrating  the  History  of 
St.  Paul's  Cathedral,  Camden  Soc.  p.  131). 

In  the  Star-chamber  it  fell  to  his  lot  to 
prosecute  two  members  of  his  own  inn,  Henry 
Sherfield  and  William  Prynne  [q.  v.]  Sher- 
field,  to  show  his  zeal  for  the  glory  of  God, 
had,  in  October  1629,  defaced  his  image  in  a 
stained-glass  window  in  St.Edmund's  Church, 
Salisbury,  of  which  city  he  was  recorder.  An 
information  had  been  issued  against  him  by 
Noye's  predecessor,  Attorney-general  Heath, 
but  it  did  not  come  on  for  hearing  until  Fe- 
bruary 1632-3,  when  the  crown  case  was 
stated  by  Noye  with  equal  moderation  and 
cogency,  and  Sherfield  was  let  off  with  the 
comparatively  light  penalty  of  a  fine  of  500/. 
and  a  public  acknowledgment  of  error.  In 
the  autumn  Noye  was  occupied  with  the 
revision  of  the  '  Declaration  of  Sports '  pre- 
paratory to  its  reissue,  and  in  the  supervision 
of  the  arrangements  for  a  grand  masque  which 
the  loyal  gentlemen  of  the  Inns  of  Court  had 
determined  by  way  of  protest  against  Prynne's 
recently  published  '  Histriomastix '  to  pre- 
sent before  the  king  and  queen  at  Whitehall 
at  the  ensuing  Candlemas.  The  pageant  was 
followed  by  Prynne's  trial  in  the  Star- 
chamber,  13-17  Feb.  1633-4,  in  the  conduct 
of  which  Noye  manifested  great  zeal.  On 
7  May  following  he  was  an  unsympathetic 
spectator  of  Prynne's  sufferings  in  the  West- 
minster pillory,  and  the  puritans,  not  un- 
naturally, saw  the  hand  of  God  in  a  vesical 
haemorrhage  by  which  he  was  seized  on  his 
return  home  (A  Divine  Tragedy  lately  acted, 
1634,  4to,  p.  44).  When  Prynne's  '  libellous ' 
letter  to  Laud  brought  him  again  into  the 
Star-chamber,  18  June,  Noye's  zeal  outran 
his  discretion.  Denouncing  Prynne  as  past 
grace,  he  moved  to  deprive  him  of  the  pri- 
vilege of  attending  divine  service.  Laud  was 
shocked  at  so  heathenish  a  proposal,  and  at 


Noye 


254 


Noye 


his  intercession  Prynne  was  remanded  with- 
out further  censure.  Noye,  however,  was 
not  to  be  baulked  (cf.  Winthrop  Papers  in 
Massachusetts  Hist.  Coll. 4th  ser.  vi.  414-19). 
At  the  beginning  of  the  long  vacation,  when 
most  of  the  Star-chamber  lords  were  out  o\ 
town,  he  contrived  to  get  an  order  drawn 
up  for  Prynne's  close  confinement,  and  having 
thus  secured  his  prey  went  down  to  Tun- 
bridge  Wells  to  drink  the  waters.  The  waters 
failed  to  afford  the  relief  he  sought,  and, 
tortured  by  the  stone  and  weakened  by  fre- 
quent haemorrhage,  he  soon  retired  to  his 
house  at  New  Brentford,  where  he  died  on 
Saturday,  9  Aug.  1634.  He  was  buried  on 
the  following  Monday  in  the  chancel  of  the 
parish  church. 

Noye  was  mourned  by  Laud  as  '  a  dear 
friend '  and  stout  champion  of  the  church. 
By  the  unscrupulous  manner  in  which  he 
had  prostituted  his  vast  learning  and  inge- 
nuity to  the  service  of  tyranny — the  revival 
of  the  forest  laws,  the  infamous  soap  mono- 
poly, the  writ  of  ship  money,  were  his  work 
— he  had  incurred  much  popular  odium,  and 
he  was  hardly  cold  in  his  grave  when  he  was 
dissected  in  effigy  on  the  London  stage  in  a 
farce  entitled  '  A  Projector  lately  Dead,'  a 
'  hundred  proclamations  being  found  in  his 
head,  a  bundle  of  moth-eaten  records  in  his 
mouth,  and  a  barrel  of  soap  in  his  belly'  (ib. 
p.  418). 

Though  no  orator,  Noye  was  a  lucid  and 
effective  speaker.  As  a  lawyer  he  had  in  his 
day  no  superior.  Prynne  calls  him  '  that 
great  Gamaliel  of  the  law,'  and  among  his 
pupils  were  Sir  Orlando  Bridgman,  Sir  John 
Maynard,  and  Sir  Matthew  Hale.  Notwith- 
standing his  early  connection  with  the  popu- 
lar party  it  is  probable  that  he  took  from  the 
first  a  somewhat  high  view  of  the  royal  pre- 
rogative, and  entertained  a  cordial  antipathy 
to  the  puritans.  In  1626  he  gave  a  noble 
stained-glass  window  to  Lincoln's  Inn  Chapel. 
He  appears  to  have  been  a  good  scholar,  and 
though,  by  the  testimony  of  his  contempo- 
raries, '  passing  humorous,'  or,  as  we  should 
say,  whimsical,  and  of  a  somewhat  rough 
and  cynical  demeanour,  was  nevertheless  a 
man  of  solid  and  sterling  parts.  '  His  appre- 
hension,' says  Wood,  '  was  quick  and  clear, 
his  judgment' methodical  and  solid,  his  me- 
mory strong,  his  curiosity  deep  and  searching, 
his  temper  patient  and  cautious.'  Clarendon 
imputes  to  him  an  inordinate  vanity,  and 
some  colour  is  given  to  the  charge  by  his 
epitaph,  written  by  himself  at  the  close  of 
his  statute  book : — 

'  Hie  jaceo  judex  Astrseae  fidus  alumnus, 
Quam,   simul   ac  terris  fugit,  ad  astra 
sequar. 


Non  ego  me — defunctus  enim  mihi  vivo 

superstes, 

Sed  mecum  doleo  jura,  Britanna  mori.' 
On  the  other  hand  he  left  express  injunctions 
that  he  should   be  buried  without  funeral 
pomp. 

Noye  was  painted  by  Cornelius  Janssen 
and  William  Faithorne  the  elder '  [q.  v.]  A 
copy  of  the  picture  by  Janssen,  presented  by 
Davies  Gilbert  [q.  v.j,  the  historian  of  Corn- 
wall, hangs  in  the  hall  of  Exeter  College, 
Oxford.  There  is  an  excellent  engraving 
from  the  original  in  Charles  Sandoe  Gilbert's 
'  Historical  Survey  of  Corn  wall, 'vol.  i.  facing 
p.  132  (cf.  CLARENDON,  Rebellion,  ed.  1721, 
vol.  i.  facing  p.  73).  An  engraving  of  the 
picture  by  Faithorne  forms  the  frontispiece 
to  Noye's  '  Compleat  Lawyer,'  ed.  1674. 
Unless  extremely  flattered  by  both  painters, 
Noye  was  a  man  of  handsome  and  distin- 
guished appearance,  to  whom  the  epithet 
'  amorphous '  applied  to  him  by  Carlyle 
(Cromwell,  Introduction,  chap.  iv.  ad  fin.)  is 
singularly  inappropriate. 

Noye  married,  26  Nov.  1606,  Sara,  daugh- 
ter of  Humphrey  Yorke  of  Phillack,  near 
Redruth,  Cornwall,  by  whom  he  had  issue 
two  sons  and  a  daughter.  By  his  will, 
printed  in  '  European  Magazine,'  1784,  pp. 
335-6,  he  devised  the  bulk  of  his  property, 
including  an  estate  at  Carnanton,  Mawgan- 
in-Pyder,  Cornwall,  to  his  eldest  son  Ed- 
ward, whom,  with  grim  humour,  he  enjoined 
to  waste  it,  adding,  '  nee  melius  speravi/ 
An  estate  at  Warbstow  in  the  same  county 
went  to  his  second  son,  Humphrey.  The 
spendthrift  heir  was  killed  by  a  Captain 
Byron  in  a  duel  in  France  within  two  years 
of  his  father's  death,  and  left  no  issue.  Hum- 
phrey Noye  (1614-1679),  B.A.of  Exeter  Col- 
lege, Oxford,  fought  for  the  king  during  the 
civil  war,  was  in  the  commission  of  the  peace 
for  Cornwall,  and  died  in  1679,  being  buried 
at  Mawgan-in-Pyder,  and  leaving  by  his  wife 
Hester,  daughter  of  Henry  Sandys,  and  sister 
of  Edwyn,  last  baron  Sandys  of  The  Vine, 
two  sons,  both  of  whom  died  without  issue, 
and  three  daughters,  of  whom  the  second, 
Catherine,  was  the  ancestress  of  Davies  Gil- 
bert. Bridgeman,  the  third  daughter,  mar- 
ried, in  1685,  John  Willyams  of  Roseworthy, 
and  brought  with  her  the  Carnanton  estates, 

hich  have  remained  in  the  hands  of  their 
posterity. 

From  Noye's  papers  were  published  after 
his  death  the  following :  1. '  A  Treatise  of  the 
Principall  Grounds  and  Maximes  of  the  Lawes 
of  this  Kingdome.  Very  useful  and  commo- 
dious for  all  Studients  and  such  others  as 
desire  the  Knowledge  and  Understanding  of 
the  Lawes'  (originally  written  in  law  French), 


Noye 


255 


Nuce 


London,  1641,  1642,  and  1660,  8vo,  and 
1677,  12mo;  later  editions  with  abridged 
title-page  and  additions  or  notes,  London, 
1757,  1792,  1794,  1806,  1817,  12mo,  1821, 
8vo,  Richmond,  Virginia,  1824,  8vo,  Phila- 
delphia, 1845, 8vo,  and  Albany,  1870.  2. '  The 
Great  Feast  at  the  Inthronization  of  the  Re- 
verend Father  in  God  George  Neavill,  Arch- 
bishop of  Yorke,  Chancellour  of  England  in 
the  sixt  yeare  of  Edward  the  Fourth. 
Wherein  is  manifested  the  great  pride  and 
vaine  glory  of  that  prelate.  The  copy  of 
this  feast  was  found  inrolled  in  the  Tower 
of  London,  and  was  taken  out  by  Mr.  Noy, 
His  Majesties  late  Attorney-General,'  Lon- 
don, 1645,  4to  (reprint  in  Leland's  '  Collec- 
tanea,' ed.  1770.  vol.  vi.)  3.  '  The  Compleat 
Lawyer,  or  A  Treatise  concerning  Tenures 
and  Estates  in  Lands  of  Inheritance  for  Life 
and  for  Yeares ;  of  Chattels  Reall  and  Per- 
sonal ;  and  how  any  of  them  may  be  con- 
veyed in  a  legal  Forme  by  Fine,  Recovery, 
Deed,  or  Word,  as  the  case  shall  require,' 
London,  1651, 8vo;  later  editions  with  some- 
what different  title-page,  1661,  1665,  1670, 
1674,  8vo.  4.  '  Reports  and  Cases  taken  in 
the  time  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  King  James, 
and  King  Charles  .  .  .  conteining  most  ex- 
cellent Matter  of  Exceptions  to  all  manner 
of  Declarations,  Pleadings,  and  Demurrers, 
that  there  is  scarce  one  Action  in  a  Proba- 
bility of  being  brought,  but  here  it  is 
thoroughly  examin'd  and  exactly  layd,'  Lon- 
don, 1656,  4to,  1669,  folio  (a 'work  of  no 
authority).  5.  '  A  Treatise  of  the  Rights  of 
the  Crown,  declaring  how  the  King  of  Eng- 
land may  support  and  increase  his  Annual 
Revenue.  Collected  out  of  the  Records  in 
the  Tower,  the  Parliament  Rolls,  and  Close 
Petitions,  Anno  x.  Car.  Regis.  1634,'  Lon- 
don, 1715,  8vo.  He  is  also  said  to  have  had 
'  a  greate  hande  in  compilings  and  repub- 
lishinge  the  late  declaration  for  pastimes  on 
the  Lords  daye '  (  Winthrop  Papers  in  Mas- 
sachusetts Hist.  Coll.  4th  ser.  vi.  414). 

Some  of  Noye's  legal  drafts  are  printed  in 
'  The  Perfect  Conveyancer :  or,  Several  Se- 
lect and  Choice  Presidents  such  as  have  not 
formerly  been  printed,'  London,  1655,  4to. 
His  award  adjusting  a  difference  between 
Laud  and  the  Bishop  of  Lincoln  in  regard  to 
the  former's  right  of  metropolitical  visitation 
of  the  diocese  of  the  latter  is  in  Wilkins's 
'  Concilia,'  iv.  488.  A  few  of  Noye's  argu- 
ments, opinions,  and  other  miscellaneous  re- 
mains, are  preserved  in  various  Harl.  MSS. ; 
in  Lansd.  MSS.  253  art.  26,  254  art.  2, 
485  art.  3;  Cotton.  MSS.  Titus  B.  viii. 
art.  63  (being  Noye's  will  in  Latin) :  Addit. 
MSS.  5832  f.  2196,  6297  ff.  385,  12511; 
and  in  theHargraveMSS.;  the  Tanner  MSS. 


(Bodl.  Libr.),  67  f.  61,  70  art.  48,  104  art. 
74  ;  MS.  Camb.  Univ.  Libr.  Dd.  xi.  73,  370 
(being  Noye's  will  and  epitaph) ;  MSS.  Line 
Inn  Libr.  76  art  5,  79  ff.  1-87 ;  MS.  Inner 
Temple,  177  ;  MS.  Exeter  Coll.  Libr.  189  ff. 
94-114;  MS.  Queen's  Coll.  Libr.  155;  Lam- 
beth MSS.  642  ff.  49-141,  943  f.  529. 

[Rushworth's  Hist.  Coll.  pt.  n.  vol.  i.  p.  247  ; 
Burton's  Diary,  ii.  444  n.  et  seq;  Whitelocke's 
Mem. ;  Lords'  Journ.  iii.  806 ;  Cases  in  the 
courts  of  Star-chamber  and  High  Commission 
(Camd.  Soc.);  D'Ewes's  Autobiog.  1845,  i.  406, 
ii.  79;  Heylyn's  Cyprianus  Anglicus,  1671.  pp. 
301-2  ;  Wallington's  Hist.  Notices,  1869,  i. 
64-77;  Smith's  Obituary  (Camd.  Soc.),;  p.  9; 
Strafforde  Letters,  i.  262, 266 ;  Epist.  Hoelianse,' 
sect.  vi.  ep.  xvii. ;  Granger's  Biogr.  Hist.  Engl. 
2nd  edit.  ii.  225;  Gilbert's  Cornwall,  ii.  66, 160, 
iii.  143-5,  151-6,  161,  342;  Polwheles  Corn- 
wall, iv.  94-6  ;  Biogr.  Sketches  in  Cornwall 
(1831),  i.  53  et  seq.;  Complete  Parochial  Hist. 
of  Cornwall  (1870),  iii.  288,  29  ff.  1-145,  257, 
346,  351  ;  Vivian  and  Drake's  Visitation  of 
Cornwall  (Harl.  Soc.),  pp.  158  n.  270  n. ;  Boase's 
Reg.  Exeter  Coll.  Oxf.  1879  ;  Harl.  MS.  1079, 
f.  1136;  Hamon  L'Estrange's  Reign  of  King 
Charles,  pp.  135-6 ;  Weldon's  Court  of  King 
Charles  in  Secret  History  of  the  Court  of 
James  I,  ii.  39-40;  Cobbett's  State  Trials,  iii.  11, 
158,  535,  562 ;  Spedding's  Bacon,  xii.  86,  xiv. 
187 ;  Proc.  and  Deb.  House  of  Commons  iu  1620 
and  1621  (Oxford,  1766).  i.  63,  100-92,  208,  ii. 
52;  Court  and  Times  of  Charles  I,  i.  291,  ii. 
240  ;  Peyton's  Catast.  House  of  Stuart  (18)1), 
ii.  427;  Dugdale's  Orig.  pp.  255,  264;  Spils- 
bury's  Lincoln's  Inn,  p.  77 ;  Isaac  D'Israeli's 
Commentaries  on  the  Life  and  Reign  of  Charles  I, 
1850,  i.  387-90;  Proceedings  against  William 
Prynne  (Camd.  Soc.) ;  Wood's  Athense  Oxon. 
(Bliss),  iv.  581-3  ;  Vernon's  Life  of  Heylyn 
(1682),  pp.  43,  57,  65 ;  Laud's  Works  (Anglo- 
Cath.  Libr.) ;  Anecdotes  and  Traditions  (Camd. 
Soc.),  p.  35;  Faulkner's  Brentford  (1845),  p.  143; 
Notes  and  Queries,  2nd  ser.  vi.  399,  vii.  35,  3rd 
ser.  viii.  465,  7th  ser.  vi.  297;  Hist.  MSS.  Comm. 
3rd  Rep.  App.  pp.  13,  191,  4th  Rep.  App.  p.  16, 
7th  Rep.  App.  p.  429,  10th  Rep.  App.  ii.  136, 
llth  Rep.  App.  vii.  272;  Sloane  MS.  4223 
f.  Ill ;  Addit.  MS.  32093,  f.  55  ;  Massachusetts 
Historical  Society's  Collections,  4th  ser.  vi.  pas- 
sim ;  Boase  and  Courtney's  Bibliotheca  Cornu- 
biensis  and  Boase's  Collect.  Cornub.]  J.  M.  R. 

NUCE,  THOMAS  (d.  1617),  translator, 
was  in  1562  a  fellow  of  Pembroke  Hall, 
Cambridge.  Sometime  after  1563  he  became 
rector  of  Cley,  Norfolk;  from  1575  to  1583 
he  was  rector  of  Beccles,  Suffolk ;  from  1578 
till  his  death,  in  1617,  he  was  rector  of 
Gazeley,  Suffolk.  From  1581  till  1583  he 
was  rector  of  Oxburgh,  Norfolk.  In  1599  he 
was  appointed  rector  of  Weston-Market, 
Suffolk.  Besides  these  preferments  he  held, 
from  21  Feb.  1584-5  till  his  death,  the  fourth 


Nugent 


256 


Nugent 


stall  as  prebend  in  Ely  Cathedral.  lie  died 
8  Nov.  1617,  and  was  buried  in  Gazeley 
Church.  According  to  a  rhyming  epitaph 
on  his  tomb,  his  wife's  name  was  Ann,  and  he 
was  father  of  five  sons  and  seven  daughters. 

While  at  Cambridge  Nuce  published  '  The 
Ninth  Tragedie  of  Lucius  Anneus  Seneca, 
called  Octavia,  translated  out  of  Latine  into 
English  by  T.  N.,  Student  in  Cambridge. 
Imprinted  at  London  by  Henry  Denham,' 
n.  d.  [1561],  4to.  This  was  described  in  the 
dedication  to  the  Earl  of  Leicester  as  '  the 
firstfruits  of  my  yong  study.'  It  was  re- 
printed as  the  ninth  play  in  '  Seneca  his 
tenne  Tragedies,  translated  into  English,' 
1581,  4to.  Nuce  was  also  author  of  fourteen 
Latin  hexameters,  and  172  lines  of  English 
verse  prefixed  to  John  Studley's  translation 
of  Seneca's  'Agamemnon,'  1561,  8vo. 

[Hunter's  Chorus  Vatum,  vi.  119  (Addit.  MS. 
24492);  Cole's  MS.  1.  207  (Addit.  MS.  5851; 
Tanner's  Bibliotheca,  p.  554 ;  Corser's  Collec- 
tanea Anglo-Poetica,  ix.  78  ;  Warton's  English 
Poetry,  iv.  273;  J.  Bentham's  Ely,  p.  251; 
Blomefield's  Norfolk,  vi.  43,  193;  Suckling's 
Suffolk,  i.  21.]  R.  B. 

NUGENT,  BARON.  [See  GREXVILLE, 
GEORGE  NTJGENT,  1788-1850.] 

NUGENT,  SIR  CHARLES  EDMUND 

(1759  p-1844),  admiral  of  the  fleet,  born  about 
1759,  reputed  son  of  Lieutenant-colonel  the 
Hon.  Edmund  Nugent,  entered  the  navy 
in  1771  on  board  the  Scorpion  sloop,  then 
commanded  by  Captain  Elphinstone,  after- 
wards Lord  Keith.  The  following  year  he 
pined  the  Trident,  flagship  of  Sir  Peter 
Denis,  in  the  Mediterranean,  and  in  1775 
went  out  to  North  America  in  the  Bristol, 
carrying  the  broad  pennant  of  Sir  Peter 
Parker  (1721-1811)  [q.  v.]  At  the  attack 
on  Sullivan's  Island  on  28  June  1776  he 
was  an  acting  lieutenant  of  the  Bristol, 
and  in  September,  still  as  acting  lieutenant, 
followed  Parker  to  the  Chatham.  In  the 
beginning  of  1778  Parker  went  to  Jamaica 
as  commander-in-chief,  and  on  26  May  1778 
promoted  Nugent  to  the  rank  of  commander, 
his  former  promotion  as  lieutenant  being  still 
unconfirmed.  His  name  first  appears  in  the 
navy  list  as  a  commander.  On  2  May  1779 
he  was  posted  to  the  28-gun  frigate  Pomona, 
and  in  her  took  part  in  the  reduction  of  Omoa 
(19-20  Oct.  1779),  under  the  Hon.  John 
Luttrell.  Previous  to  the  attack  Nugent  was 
sent  in  the  Racehorse  schooner  to  procure 
pilots  in  the  Bay  of  Honduras,  and,  in  at- 
tempting to  land  at  St.  George's  Key, 
fell  in  among  a  number  of  armed  Spanish 
boats,  and  was  captured.  He  was  stripped, 
handcuffed,  and  confined  in  a  dungeon  till 


the  next  day,  when,  on  the  arrival  of  the 
Pomona,  which  the  Racehorse  had  summoned 
to  his  assistance,  the  Spaniards  made  off',  and 
Nugent  and  his  boat's  crew  released  them- 
selves. He  continued  during  the  war  on  the 
Jamaica  station,  and  returned  to  England 
with  Parker  in  1782.  In  1783  he  was  re- 
turned to  parliament  as  member  for  Buck- 
ingham, and  during  the  following  years  was 
a  steady  though  silent  supporter  of  the  go- 
vernment. In  1793  he  was  appointed  to  the 
Veteran,  one  of  the  fleet  which  went  out  to 
the  West  Indies  under  the  command  of  Sir 
John  Jervis,  afterwards  Earl  of  St.  Vincent 
[q.  v.]  On  the  surrender  of  Guadeloupe 
Nugent  was  sent  home  with  despatches,  May 
1794,  and  in  the  spring  of  1795  was  appointed 
to  the  Caesar,  which  he  commanded  in  the 
Channel  till  his  promotion  to  the  rank  of 
rear-admiral  on  20  Feb.  1797.  He  became 
vice-admiral  on  1  Jan.  1801,  and  in  1805  was 
captain  of  the  fleet  off  Brest  under  Corn- 
wallis.  He  had  no  further  service,  but  was 
promoted  to  be  admiral  on  28  April  1808,  and 
admiral  of  the  fleet  on  24  April  1833.  On 
12  March  1834  he  received  the  grand  cross 
of  the  Hanoverian  order  (G.C.H.),  and  died 
on  7  Jan.  1844,  aged  85.  He  was  married, 
and  left  issue  one  daughter. 

[Naval  Chronicle,  x.  441,  -with  portrait;  Mar- 
shall's Eoy.  Nav.  Biogr.  i.  94  ;  Gent.  Mag.  1844, 
ii.  89.]  J.  K.  L. 

NUGENT,  SIR  CHRISTOPHER,  four- 
teenth BARON  DELVIN  (1544-1602),  eldest 
son  of  Richard,  thirteenth  baron  Delvin,  and 
Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Jenico,  viscount  Gor- 
manston,  widow  of  Thomas  Nangle,  styled 
Baron  of  Navan,  was  born  in  1544.  Richard 
Nugent,  twelfth  Baron  Delvin  [q.  v.],  was 
his  great-grandfather.  He  succeeded  to  the 
title  on  the  death  of  his  father,  on  10  Dec. 
1559,  and  during  his  minority  was  the  ward 
of  Thomas  Ratcliffe,  third  earl  of  Sussex 
[q.  v.],  for  whom  he  conceived  a  great  friend- 
ship. He  was  matriculated  a  fellow-com- 
moner of  Clare  Hall,  Cambridge,  on  12  May 
1563,  and  was  presented  to  the  queen  when 
she  visited  the  university  in  1564 ;  on  com- 
ing of  age,  about  November  1565,  he  repaired 
to  Ireland,  with  letters  of  commendation 
from  the  queen  to  the  lord  deputy,  Sir  Henry 
Sidney,  granting  him  the  lease  in  reversion 
of  the  abbey  of  All  Saints  and  the  custody 
of  Sleaught- William  in  the  Annaly,  co.  Long- 
ford, as  a  reward  for  his  good  behaviour  in 
England.  As  an  undertaker  in  the  planta- 
tion of  Leix  and  Offaly,  he  had  previously 
obtained,  on  3  Feb.  1563-4,  a  grant  of  the 
castle  and  lands  of  Corbetstown,  alias  Bally- 
corbet,  in  Offaly  (King's  County).  In  the 


Nugent 


257 


Nugent 


autumn  of  the  following  year  he  distinguished 
himself  against  Shane  O'Neill  [q.  v.l,  and 
was  knighted  at  Drogheda  by  Sir  Henry 
Sidney.  On  30  June  1567  he  obtained  a  lease 
of  the  abbey  of  Inchmore  in  the  Annaly.and 
the  abbey  of  Fore  in  co.  Westmeath,  to 
which  was  added  on  7  Oct.  the  lease  of  other 
lands  in  the  same  county. 

Nothing  occurred  for  some  time  to  disturb 
the  harmony  of  his  relations  with  the  govern- 
ment. But  in  July  1574  his  refusal,  in  con- 
junction with  Lord  Gormanston,  to  sign  the 
proclamation  of  rebellion  against  the  Earl 
of  Desmond  laid  his  loyalty  open  to  suspicion. 
He  grounded  his  refusal  on  the  fact  that  he 
was  not  a  privy  councillor,  and  had  not  been 
made  acquainted  with  the  reasons  of  the 
proclamation.  But  the  English  privy  council, 
thinking  that  his  objections  savoured  more 
of  '  a  wilful  partiality  to  an  offender  against 
her  majesty  than  a  willing  readiness  to  her 
service'  (Cal.  Carew  MSS.  i.  490),  sent  per- 
emptory orders  for  his  submission.  Fresh 
letters  of  explanation  were  proffered  by  him 
and  Gormanston  in  February  1575,  but,  being 
deemed  insufficient,  the  two  noblemen  were 
in  May  placed  under  restraint.  They  there- 
upon confessed  their  '  fault,'  and  Delvin 
shortly  afterwards  appears  to  have  recovered 
the  good  opinion  of  government :  for  on 
15  Dec.  Sir  Henry  Sidney  wrote  that  he  ex- 
pected a  speedy  reformation  of  the  country, '  a 
great  deal  the  rather  through  the  good  hope  I 
conceive  of  the  service  of  my  lord  of  Delvin, 
whom  I  find  active  and  of  good  discretion ' 
(ib.  ii.  31)  ;  and  in  April  1576  Delvin  enter- 
tained Sidney  while  on  progress.  Before 
the  end  of  the  year,  however,  there  sprang  up 
a  controversy  between  government  and  the 
gentry  of  the  Pale  in  regard  to  cess,  in  which 
Delvin  played  a  principal  part. 

It  had  long  been  the  custom  of  the  Irish 
government,  in  order  to  support  the  army,  I 
to  take  up  provisions,  &c.,  at  a  certain  fixed  : 
price.     This  custom,  reasonable  enough  in  • 
its  origin,  had,  owing  to  the  currency  re-  j 
forms  effected  by  Elizabeth,  coupled  with 
the  general  rise  in  prices,  become  particu-  ( 
larly  irksome  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  Pale. 
Their  protests  had,  however,  obtained   for 
them  no  relief,  and  accordingly,  in  1576,  at 
the  instigation  chiefly  of  Delvin,  they  took 
up  higher  ground,  denounced  the  custom  as 
unconstitutional,   and    appointed    three   of 
their  number  to  lay  their  grievances  before  ! 
the  queen.     The  deputation  met  with  scant  ; 
courtesy  in  England.     Elizabeth  was  indig-  | 
nant  at  having  her  prerogative   called  in  \ 
question,  and,  after  roundly  abusing  the  depu-  ; 
ties  for  their  impertinence,  clapped  them  in  i 
the  Fleet.     In  Ireland  a  similar  course  was  | 

VOL.  XLI. 


pursued  by  Sir  Henry  Sidney,  and  in  May 
1577  Delvin,  Baltinglas,  and  others  were 
confined  in  the  castle.  There  was,  however, 
no  intention  on  Elizabeth's  part  to  push 
matters  to  extremities,  and,  after  some  weeks' 
detention,  the  deputies  and  their  principals 
were  released  on  expressing  contrition  for 
their  conduct.  But  with  Delvin,  '  for  that 
he  has  showed  himself  to  be  the  chiefest 
instrument  in  terrifying  and  dispersuading 
the  rest  of  the  associates  from  yielding  their 
submission '  (ib.  ii.  106),  she  was  particu- 
larly angry,  and  left  it  entirely  to  Sidney's 
discretion  whether  he  should  remain  in  pri- 
son for  some  time  longer.  Finally  an  ar- 
rangement was  arrived  at  between  the  go- 
vernment and  the  gentry  of  the  Pale,  and 
to  this  result  Delvin's  '  obstinacy  '  no  doubt 
contributed.  His  conduct  does  not  seem  to 
have  damaged  him  seriously;  for  in  the 
autumn  of  1579  he  was  entrusted  with 
the  command  of  the  forces  of  the  Pale,  and 
was  reported  to  have  done  good  service 
in  defending  the  northern  marches  against 
the  inroads  of  Turlough  Luineach  O'Neill. 
His  '  obstinate  affection  to  popery,'  however, 
told  greatly  in  his  disfavour,  and  it  was  as 
much  for  this  general  reason  as  for  any 
proof  of  his  treason  they  possessed  that  the 
Irish  government,  in  December  1580,  com- 
mitted him,  along  with  his  father-in-law, 
Gerald  Fitzgerald,  eleventh  earl  of  Kildare 
[q.  v.],  to  the  castle  on  suspicion  of  being 
implicated  in  the  rebellious  projects  of  Vis- 
count Baltinglas.  The  higher  officials,  in- 
cluding Lord-deputy  Grey,  were  firmly  con- 
vinced of  his  treason;  but  with  all  their 
efforts  they  were  unable  to  establish  their 
charge  against  him.  Accordingly,  after  an 
imprisonment  of  eighteen  months  in  Dublin 
Castle,  he  and  Kildare  were  sent  to  England 
in  the  custody  of  Marshal  Bagnal. 

On  22  June  1582  Delvin  was  examined  by 
Lord-chancellor  Mildmayand  Gerard,  master 
of  the  rolls.  No  fresh  evidence  of  his  treason 
was  adduced,  and  Wallop  heard  with  alarm 
that  it  was  intended  to  set  him  at  liberty. 
But,  though  not  permitted  to  return  imme- 
diately to  Ireland,  he  was  apparently  allowed 
a  considerable  amount  of  personal  liberty, 
and  in  April  1585  he  was  again  in  Ireland, 
sitting  as  a  peer  in  the  parliament  that  was 
then  held.  During  the  course  of  the  year 
he  was  again  in  England;  but  after  the 
death,  on  16  Nov.  1585,  of  the  Earl  of 
Kildare  he  was  allowed  to  repair  to  Ireland, 
'  in  company  of  the  young  Earl  of  Kildare, 
partly  for  execution  of  the  will  of  the  earl, 
his  father-in-law,  partly  to  look  into  the 
estates  of  his  own  lands,  from  whence  he 
hath  been  so  long  absent'  (MoBBiN,  Cal. 


Nugent 


258 


Nugent 


Patent  Rolls,  ii.  114).  He  carried  letters  of 
commendation  to  the  lord-deputy,  Sir  John 
Perrot ;  and  the  queen, '  the  better  to  express 
her  favour  towards  him,'  granted  him  a  re-  | 
newal  of  the  leases  he  held  from  the  crown  ; 
(ib.  ii.  106).  He  was  under  obligations  to 
return  to  England  as  soon  as  he  had  trans- 
acted his  business.  But  during  his  absence 
many  suits  to  his  lands  had  arisen,  and, 
owing  to  the  hostility  of  Sir  Robert  Dillon, 
chief  justice  of  the  common  pleas,  and  Chief- 
baron  Sir  Lucas  Dillon,  his  hereditary  ene- 
mies, he  found  it  difficult  to  put  the  law 
in  motion.  However,  he  seems  to  have 
returned  to  England  in  1587,  and,  having 
succeeded  in  securing  Burghley's  favour, 
he  was  allowed  in  October  1588  to  return 
to  Ireland.  Lord-deputy  Sir  William  Fitz- 
william  was  not  without  his  doubts  as  to 
the  wisdom  of  this  step.  He  hoped, 
he  wrote  to  Burghley,  that  Delvin  would 
'  throughly  performe  that  honorable  and 
good  opynion  it  hath  pleased  yr  Lp.  to 
conceave  of  him,  wch  no  doubt  he  may  very 
sufficiently  do,  and  wth  all  do  her  matie  great 
service  in  action,  both  cyvill  and  martiall, 
if  to  the  witt  wherewth  God  hath  indued 
him  and  the  loue  and  liking  wherewth  the 
countrey  doth  affect  him,  he  applie  him  self 
wth  his  best  endevor '  (State  Papers,  Ireland, 
Eliz.  cxxxvii.  38).  All  the  same  he  included 
him  in  his  list  of  '  doubtful  men  in  Ireland.' 
One  cause  that  told  greatly  in  his  disfavour 
was  his  extreme  animosity  against  Chief- 
justice  Dillon,  whom,  rightly  or  wrongly,  he 
regarded  as  having  done  to  death  his  kins- 
man Nicholas  Nugent  [q.  v.]  To  Burghley, 
who  warned  him  that  he  was  regarded  with 
suspicion,  he  protested  his  loyalty  and  readi- 
ness to  quit  all  that  was  dear  to  him  in  Ireland, 
and  live  in  poverty  in  England,  rather  than 
that  the  queen  should  conceive  the  least 
thought  of  undutifulness  in  him.  He  led, 
he  declared,  an  orderly  life,  avoiding  dis- 
contented society,  every  term  following 
the  law  in  Dublin  for  the  recovery  of  his 
lands,  and  serving  the  queen  at  the  assizes 
in  his  own  neighbourhood.  The  rest  of  his 
time  he  speut  in  books  and  building  (Cal. 
State  Papers,  Ireland,  Eliz.  iv.  420). 

All  this  was  probably  quite  true ;  but  the 
extreme  violence  with  which  he  prosecuted 
Chief-justice  Dillon  certainly  afforded  ground 
to  his  enemies  to  describe  him  as  a  discon- 
tented and  seditious  person,  especially  when, 
after  the  acquittal  of  Dillon,  he  charged  the 
lord-deputy  with  having  acted  with  undue 
partiality.  However,  in  1593  he  was  ap- 
pointed leader  of  the  forces  of  Westmeath 
at  the  general  hosting  on  the  hill  of  Tara,  and 
during  the  disturbed  period  (1593-7)  that 


preceded  the  rebellion  of  Hugh  O'Neill,  earl 
of  Tyrone,  he  displayed  great  activity  in 
his  defence  of  the  Pale,  he  was  warmly  com- 
mended for  his  zeal  by  Sir  John  Norris 
[q.  v.]  He  obtained  permission  to  visit  Eng- 
land in  1597,  and  in  consequence  of  his  re- 
cent '  chargeable  and  valourous  '  services,  he 
was,  on  7  May,  ordered  a  grant  of  so  much 
of  the  O'Farrells'  and  O'Reillys'  lands  as 
amounted  to  an  annual  rent  to  the  crown  of 
100/. ;  but,  by  reason  of  the  disturbed  state 
of  the  country,  the  warrant  was  never  exe- 
cuted during  his  lifetime.  On  20  May  he 
was  appointed  a  commissioner  to  inquire 
into  abuses  in  the  government  of  Ireland. 
On  17  March  1598  a  commission  (renewed 
on  3  July  and  30  Oct.)  was  issued  to  him 
and  Edward  Nugent  of  the  Disert  to  deliver 
the  gaol  of  Mullingar  by  martial  law,  for 
'that  the  gaol  is  now  very  much  pestered 
with  a  great  number  of  prisoners,  the  most 
part  whereof  are  poor  men . .  .  and  that  there 
can  be  no  sessions  held  whereby  the  prisoners 
might  receive  their  trial  by  ordinary  course 
of  law  '  (Cal.  Fiants.  Eliz.  6215,  6245, 
6255).  On  7  Aug.  1599  he  was  granted 
the  wardship  of  his  grandson,  Christopher 
Chevers,  with  a  condition  that  he  should 
cause  his  ward '  to  be  maintained  and  educated 
in  the  English  religion,  andinEnglish  apparel, 
in  the  college  of  the  Holy  Trinity,  Dublin ' 
(ib.  6328) ;  in  November  he  was  commissioned 
by  the  Earl  of  Ormonde  to  hold  a  parley 
with  the  Earl  of  Tyrone  (cf.  manuscripts  in 
Cambridge  University  Library,  Kk.  1.  15,  ff. 
425,  427). 

On  the  outbreak  of  Tyrone's  rebellion  his 
attitude  at  first  was  one  of  loyalty,  but  the 
extreme  severity  with  which  his  country 
was  treated  by  Tyrone  on  his  march  into 
Munster,  early  in  1600,  induced  him  to  submit 
to  him  (Annals  of  the  Four  Masters,  vi.  2147) ; 
and,  though  he  does  not  appear  to  have  ren- 
dered him  any  active  service,  he  was  shortly 
afterwards  arrested  on  suspicion  of  treason 
by  Lord-deputy  Mountjoy,  and  confined  in 
Dublin  Castle.  He  died  in  confinement  be- 
fore his  trial,  apparently  on  17  Aug.  1602, 
though  by  another  account  on  5  Sept.  or 
1  Oct.,  and  was  buried  at  Castle  Delvin  on 
5  Oct.  Delvin  married  Marie,  daughter  of 
Gerald  Fitzgerald,  eleventh  earl  of  Kildare, 
who  survived  till  1  Oct.  1610.  By  her  he 
had  issue:  Richard,  created  Earl  of  West- 
meath (1583-1642)  [q.  v.],  Christopher  of 
Corbetstown,  Gerald,  Thomas,  Gilbert,  and 
William;  also  Mabel,  who  married,  first, 
Murrough  O'Brien,  third  baron  Inchiquin  : 
secondly,  John  Fitzpatrick,  second  son  of 
Florence,  lord  of  Upper  Ossory  ;  Elizabeth, 
who  married  Gerald  Fitzgerald,  fourteenth 


Nugent 


259 


Nugent 


earl  of  Kildare ;  Mary,  first  wife  of  Anthony 
O'Dempsey,  heir-apparent  to  Terence,  first 
viscount  Clanmalier ;  Eleanor,  wife  of  Chris- 
topher Chevers  of  Macetown,  co.  Meath ; 
Margaret,  who  married  a  Fitzgerald ;  Juliana, 
second  wife  of  Sir  Gerald  Aylmer  of  Donade, 
co.  Kildare. 

Delvin  was  the  author  of :  1 .  '  A  Primer  of 
the  Irish  Language,  compiled  at  the  request 
and  for  the  use  of  Queen  Elizabeth.'  It  is 
described  by  Mr.  J.  T.  Gilbert  (Account  of 
Facsimiles  of  National  MSS.  of  Ireland,  p. 
187)  as  a  '  small  and  elegantly  written  vo- 
lume,' consisting  of  '  an  address  to  the  queen 
in  English,  an  introductory  statement  in 
Latin,  followed  by  the  Irish  alphabet,  the 
vowels,  consonants,  and  diphthongs,  with 
words  and  phrases  in  Irish,  Latin,  and  Eng- 
lish.' 2.  'A  Plot  for  the  Reformation  of 
Ireland'  (preserved  in '  StatePapers,'  Ireland, 
Eliz.  cviii.  38,  and  printed  by  Mr.  J.  T.  Gil- 
bert in  '  Account  of  National  MSS.  of  Ire- 
land,' pp.  189-95),  which,  though  short,  is 
not  without  interest,  as  expressing  the  views 
of  what  may  be  described  as  the  moderate  or 
constitutional  party  in  Ireland  as  distinct 
from  officialdom  on  the  one  hand,  and  the 
mere  Irishry  on  the  other.  He  complains 
that  the  viceroy's  authority  is  too  absolute ; 
that  the  institution  of  presidents  of  provinces 
is  unnecessary ;  that  justice  is  not  administered 
impartially ;  that  the  people  are  plundered  by  a 
beggarly  soldiery,  who  find  it  to  their  interest 
to  create  dissensions ;  that  the  prince's  word  is 
pledged  recklessly  and  broken  shamelessly, 
and,  above  all,  that  there  is  no  means  of  edu- 
cation such  as  is  furnished  by  a  university  pro- 
vided for  the  gentry, '  in  myne  opynion  one  of 
the  cheifest  causes  of  mischeif  in  the  realme.' 

[Lodge's  Peerage,  ed.  Arcbdall,  i.  233-7  ; 
Cooper's  Athenae  Oantabr.  ii.  331-3,  and  autho- 
rities there  quoted  ;  Cal.  State  Papers,  Ireland, 
Eliz.;  Cal.  CarewMSS.;  Morrin's  Cal.  Patent 
Rolls,  Eliz. ;  Cal.  Fiants,  Eliz. ;  Annalsof  the  Four 
Masters,  ed.  O'Donovan ;  Annals  of  Loch  C6,  ed. 
Hennessy  ;  Fynes  Morysou's  Itinerary ;  Stafford's 
Pacata  Hibernia ;  Gilbert's  Facsimiles  of  Na- 
tional MSS.  of  Ireland,  iv.  1 ;  Bagwell's  Ireland 
under  the  Tudors.]  R.  D. 

NUGENT,  CHRISTOPHER  (d.  1731), 
soldier,  was  the  eldest  son  of  Francis  Nugent 
of  Dardistown,  co.  Meath,  and  Bridget,  sister 
of  William  Dongan,  created  Earl  of  Limerick 
in  1685.  He  represented  the  borough  of  Fore 
in  the  parliament  of  1689,  and  was  attached 
to  the  first  troop  of  Irish  horseguards  in 
1G91.  After  the  capitulation  of  Limerick 
he  elected  to  go  to  France,  and  arrived  at 
Brest  on  3  Dec.  1691.  He  was  given  a  com- 
mand in  the  army  for  the  invasion  of  England 
in  1692,  and  afterwards  served  with  the  Irish 


horseguards  in  Flanders.  In  1694  he  served 
with  the  army  of  Germany,  under  the  Due 
de  Lorges,  and  with  the  army  of  the  Moselle 
in  1695.  On  25  May  1(595  he  was  appointed 
'  mestre-de-camp  de  cavalerie,'  and  continued 
with  the  army  of  the  Moselle  in  1696-7.  On 
the  disbandment  of  the  Irish  horseguards  on 
27  Feb.  1698,  he  was  attached  as  'mestre-de- 
camp  '  to  the  reformed  regiment  of  Sheldon. 
He  joined  the  army  of  Italy  in  July  1701, 
fought  under  Villeroi  at  Chiari  on  1  Sept., 
and  under  Vendome  at  Luzzara  on  15  Aug. 
1702.  In  the  following  year  he  served  with 
the  army  of  Germany,  and  in  Flanders  in 

1704.  He  was  created  brigadier  on  1  March 

1705,  and,  on  the  retirement  of  Colonel  Shel- 
don, succeeded  to  the  command  of  the  regi- 
ment on  16  Jan.  1706.    He  changed  its  name 
to  that  of  Nugent,  and  commanded  it  at  Ra- 
millies,  Oudenarde,  and  Malplaquet.   During 
the  winter  of  1711-12  he  was  employedabout 
Calais,  was  present  at  the  battle  of  Denain 
on  24  July  1712,  and  at  the  siege  of  Douay 
in  September.     The  following  year  he  was 
transferred  to  the  army  of  Germany,  was 
present  at  the  siege  of  Landau  (June-August), 
at  the  defeat  of  General  Vaubonne  on  20  Sept., 
and  the  capture  of  Freiburg  im  Breisgau  in 
November.    In  1714  he  served  with  the  army 
of  the  Lower  Meuse.     But  having  in  1715 
accompanied  the  Old  Pretender  to  Scotland 
without  permission,  he  was,  on  the  remon- 
strance of  the  British  ambassador  in  Paris, 
deprived  of  his  regiment,  which,  however, 
was  conferred  on  his  son ;  and  on  13  Sept. 
1718  he  was  promoted  mar6chal-de-camp  or 
major-general  of  horse.     He  died  on  4  June 
1731.    He  married  Bridget,  second  daughter 
of  Robert  Barnewall,  ninth  lord  Trimleston, 
by  whom  he  had  one  son,  who  succeeded 
him. 

[Pinard's  Chronologic  Historique-Militaire.vii. 
12;  O'Callaghan's  Hist,  of  the  Irish  Brigades, 
Glasgow,  1870;  Lodge's  Peerage,  ed.  Archdall, 
i.  220 ;  MacGeoghegan's  Hist,  of  Ireland ;  Cape- 
tigue's  Louis  XIV.]  R.  D. 

NUGENT,  CHRISTOPHER  (d.  1775), 
physician,  was  born  in  Ireland,  and,  after 
graduating  M.D.  in  France,  went  into  prac- 
tice, first  in  the  south  of  Ireland,  and  after- 
wards at  Bath,  where  he  had  considerable 
success.  In  1753  he  published  in  London 
'  An  Essay  on  the  Hydrophobia.'  The  book 
begins  with  a  clear  account  of  the  suc- 
cessful treatment  by  him  in  June  1751  of  a 
servant-maid  who  had  been  bitten  by  a  mad 
turnspit  dog  in  two  places,  and  had  true 
hydrophobia.  He  treated  her  chiefly  by 
powders  of  musk  and  cinnabar.  In  sixty- 
seven  subsequent  sections  he  discusses  with 
good  sense  the  mental  and  physical  asnects 

8  •* 


Nugent 


260 


Nugent 


of  the  disease,  its  resemblance  in  some  points 
to  hysteria,  and  the  method  of  action  of 
various  proposed  remedies.  Edmund  Burke 
was  his  guest  in  1756,  and  married  his 
daughter  Jane  Mary  early  in  1757.  Nugent 
himself  was  a  Roman  catholic ;  but  his  wife 
(PRIOR,  Life  of  Burke,  p.  49)  is  stated  to 
have  been  a  presbyterian,and  to  have  brought 
up  her  daughter  in  that  religion.  Burke 
called  his  younger  son  Christopher,  after  his 
father-in-law.  Early  in  1764  Nugent  removed 
to  London,  and  was  one  of  the  nine  original 
members  of  the  Literary  Club  (BoswELL, 
Johnson,  ii.  93).  He  was  constant  in  his 
attendance  (ib.  ii.  129),  and  was  present  when 
Boswell  was  admitted.  In  the  imaginary 
college  at  St.  Andrews,  discussed  with  John- 
son, he  was  to  be  professor  of  physic.  He 
was  observant  of  the  ordinances  of  his  church, 
and  had  an  omelette  on  Friday  at  the  club 
dinner,  which  is  mentioned  by  Macaulay  in  a 
famous  passage.  One  club  day  after  Nugent's 
death  Johnson  exclaimed,  '  Ah !  my  poor 
friend,  T  shall  never  eat  omelette  with  thee 
again'  (MRS.  PIOZZI,  Anecdotes,  p.  122). 
His  London  house  was  at  first  in  Queen  Anne 
Street,  and  afterwards  in  Suffolk  Street, 
Strand ;  and  on  25  June  1765  he  was  ad- 
mitted a  licentiate  of  the  College  of  Physi- 
cians of  London.  In  the  same  vear  he  was 
elected  F.R.S.  He  died  12  Oct.  1775.  Burke 
was  deeply  attached  to  him  ;  Johnson's  affec- 
tionate regard  is  shown  by  his  lament  at  the 
club  ;  and  even  Sir  John  Hawkins  joined 
in  the  general  liking  for  him  (HAWKINS, 
Life  of  Johnson,  2nd  edit.  p.  415).  Dr.  Ben- 
jamin Hoadley  [q.  v.]  was  one  of  his  medical 
friends  (Hydrophobia,  p.  90). 

[Munk's  Coll.  of  Phys.  ii.  268  ;  Boswell's  Life 
of  Johnson,  7th  ed.  1811  ;  Prior's  Memoir  of 
Burke,  London,  1824  ;  Works.]  N.  M. 

NUGENT,  SIR  GEORGE  (1757-1849), 
baronet,  field-marshal,  born  on  10  June  1757, 
was  natural  son  of  Lieutenant-colonel  the 
Hon.  Edmund  Craggs  Nugent,  1st  foot  guards, 
who  died  unmarried  in  1771,  and  was  brother 
of  Sir  Charles  Edmund  Nugent  [q.  v.J  The 
father  was  only  son  of  Robert  Craggs  Nugent, 
viscount  Clare,  and  afterwards  earl  Nugent 
[see  NUGENT,  ROBERT  CRAGGS].  George  was 
educated  at  the  Charterhouse  School  and  the 
Royal  Military  Academy,  Woolwich,  and  on 
5  July  1773  was  appointed  ensign  in  the  39th 
foot,  with  which  he  served  at  Gibraltar  from 
February  1774  to  March  1776.  He  was  em- 
ployed recruiting  in  England  from  March 
1776  to  July  1777.  In  September  1777  he 
joined  the  7th  royal  fusiliers  at  New  York 
as  lieutenant,  served  with  it  in  the  expedi- 
tion up  the  Hudson,  and  at  the  storming  of 


forts  Montgomery  and  Clinton,  afterwards 
accompanying  the  regiment  to  Philadelphia, 
where  he  did  duty  with  it  until  the  evacua- 
tion of  the  city  in  July  1778.  Meanwhile, 
in  April  1778.  he  had  been  promoted  to  cap- 
tain in  the  57th  foot.  He  served  with  the 
57th  in  the  Jerseys  and  Connecticut,  obtain- 
ing a  majority  in  the  regiment  on  3  May 
1782.  When  the  57th  left  New  York  for 
Halifax,  N.  S.,  at  the  end  of  1783,  Nugent 
came  home,  having  been  promoted  to  the 
lieutenant-colonelcy  of  the  old  97th.  That 
corps  was  disbanded  before  he  joined  it,  and 
he  was  placed  on  half-pay.  In  1787  he  was 
brought  into  the  13th  foot,  in  1789  he  was 
transferred  to  the  4th  dragoon  guards,  and 
in  1790,  as  captain  and  lieutenant-colonel, 
to  the  Coldstream  guards.  From  1787  he 
was  aide-de-camp  to  the  lord-lieutenant  of 
Ireland,George  Nugent  Grenville  (afterwards- 
first  Marquis  of  Buckingham)  [q.  v.]  Nugent 
accompanied  the  guards  to  Holland  in  1793, 
and  was  present  at  the  siege  of  Valenciennes, 
the  affair  at  Lincelles,  the  siege  of  Dunkirk, 
&c.  When  the  army  went  into  winter  quarters 
Nugent  returned  home,  and  in  the  course 
of  three  months,  aided  by  the  Buckingham 
family  interest,  raised  a  corps  of  six  hundred 
rank  and  file  at  Buckingham  and  Aylesbury, 
of  which  he  was  appointed  colonel  on  18  Nov. 
1793.  In  command  of  this  corps  of  '  Bucks 
volunteers' — the  85th  light  infantry  of  later 
years — he  proceeded  to  Ireland,  and  in  1794 
to  Walcheren,  where  he  held  the  temporary 
rank  of  brigadier-general.  Joining  the  Duke 
of  York's  army  on  the  Weal,  he  was  ap- 
pointed to  command  a  brigade;  but  Lord 
Cathcart  [see  CATHCART,  WILLIAM  SCHAW] 
having  been  appointed  to  command  that  part 
of  the  army,  no  officers  of  the  rank  of  briga- 
dier-general were  allowed  to  serve  with  it. 
Nugent  then  returned  home,  and  was  ap- 
pointed to  the  Irish  staff.  He  had  repre- 
sented the  borough  of  Buckingham  in  par- 
liament since  1790,  and  in  1796  was  returned 
for  Buckingham  again  and  for  St.  Mawes, 
having  been  appointed  captain  and  keeper 
of  St.  Mawes  Castle.  He  sat  for  Bucking- 
ham until  the  dissolution  of  the  first  parlia- 
ment of  the  United  Kingdom  in  December 

1800.  He  became  major-general  on  1  May 
1796.     He  held  commands  in  the  south  of 
Ireland    and   afterwards   at    Belfast,   com- 
manding the  latter  district  during  the  whole 
period  of  the  rebellion.     He  was  adjutant- 
general  in  Ireland  from  July  1799  to  March 

1801,  and  represented  Charleville,  co.  Cork, 
in  the  last  Irish  parliament.      On  1  April 
1801  he  was  appointed  lieutenant-governor 
and  commander-in-chief  in  Jamaica,  a  post 
he  held  until  20  Feb.  1806,  when  he  returned 


Nugent 


261 


Nugent 


home, having  meanwhile  attained  lieutenant- 
general's  rank  on  25  Sept,  1803.  On  26  May 
1806  he  was  transferred  from  the  85th  to 
the  colonelcy  of  the  6th  royal  regiment  of 
foot,  and,  by  patent  dated  28  Nov.  the  same 
year,  was  created  a  baronet  of  the  United 
Kingdom  in  recognition  of  his  services.  He 
was  member  for  Aylesbury  in  the  parliament 
of  1806-7.  He  commanded  successively  the 
Western  and  the  Kent  military  districts,  re- 
signing the  latter  in  October  1809.  He  was 
commander-in-chief  in  India  in  1811-13. 
He  became  a  full  general  on  4  June  1813, 
and  in  1815  was  made  G.C.B.  In  1819  he 
was  made  an  honorary  D.C.L.  of  the  uni- 
versity of  Oxford,  and  the  same  year  was 
returned  once  more  for  Buckingham,  which 
he  continued  to  represent  until  the  passing 
of  the  Reform  Bill  in  1832.  He  was  made 
a  field-marshal  on  9  Nov.  1846,  and  died  at 
his  seat,  Waddesdon  House,  Little  Marlow, 
Berkshire,  on  11  March  1849,  aged  92.  He 
married  at  Belfast,  on  16  Nov.  1797,  Maria, 
seventh  daughter  of  Cortlandt  Skinner,  at- 
torney-general of  New  Jersey,  North  Ame- 
rica, and  by  her  had  three  sons  and  two  daugh- 
ters. She  died  in  1834. 

[Foster's  Baronetage  ;  Philippart's  Koyal  Mil. 
Cal.  1820 ;  Official  List  of  Members  of  Parlia- 
ment.] H.  M.  C. 

NUGENT,  JOHN,  fifth  EARL  OF  WEST- 
MEATH  (1672-1754),  born  in  1672,  was  third 
son  of  Christopher  Nugent,  lord  Delvin, 
grandson  of  Richard,  second  earl  of  "VVest- 
meath  [q.  v.],  and  younger  brother  of  Tho- 
mas, fourth  earl  [q.  v.]  lie  was  present  as 
cadet  in  the  horseguards  of  James  II  at 
the  battle  of  the  Boyne  and  at  Limerick. 
In  1691  he  withdrew,  with  the  bulk  of  the 
Irish  swordsmen,  to  France,  and  served  as 
lieutenant  to  the  '  mestre-de-camp '  of  the 
king's  regiment  of  Irish  horse  on  the  coast 
and  in  Flanders  till  the  peace  of  Ryswick 
in  1697.  He  was  attached  as  reformed  cap- 
tain to  Sheldon's  regiment  in  February  1098, 
was  present  at  the  battle  of  Chiari  in  1701, 
at  the  defence  of  Cremona  and  the  battle 
of  Luzzara  in  1702.  He  served  with  the 
army  of  Flanders  in  1704,  and,  having  on 
6  April  1705  obtained  his  captain's  com- 
mission, fought  under  the  French  standard 
at  Ramillies  in  1706,  at  Oudenarde  in  1708, 
and  at  Malplaquet  in  1709.  In  1712  he  was 
present  at  the  battle  of  Denain,  and  at  the 
sieges  of  Douay  and  Quesnoy.  He  served 
with  the  army  of  Germany  in  1713  and  with 
that  of  the  Lower  Meuse'in  1714,  was  pro- 
moted major  of  his  regiment  by  brevet  of 
3  Jan.  1720,  and  on  15  Feb.  1721  was  ap- 
pointed '  mestre-de-camp  de  cavalerie.'  lie 


served  at  the  siege  of  Kehl  in  1733,  at  the 
attack  of  the  lines  of  Etlingen  and  the  siege 
of  Philippsburg  in  1734,  and  at  the  affair  of 
Klausen  in  1735.  He  became  lieutenant- 
colonel  of  his  regiment  on  23  May  1736,  and 
obtained  rank  as  brigadier  on  1  Jan.  1740. 
He  served  in  Westphalia  under  Marechal  de 
Maillebois  in  1741,  and  on  the  frontiers  of 
Bohemia  in  1742,  and  in  Lower  Alsace  under 
Marechal  de  Noailles  in  1 743.  He  was  bre- 
veted marechal-de-camp  or  major-general  on 

2  May  1744.    He  quitted  the  service  in  June 
1748,  and   succeeded   his  brother  Thomas 
as   fifth  Earl   of  Westmeath  in  1752,  but 
died  in  retirement  at  Nivelles  in  Brabant  on 

3  July  1754.     He  married  Margaret,  daugh- 
ter of  Count  Molza  of  the  duchy  of  Modena 
in  Italy,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Thomas, 
sixth  Earl  of  Westmeath,  who  conformed  to 
the  established  religion,  being  the  first  pro- 
testant  peer  of  his  house. 

[Pinard's  Chronologic  Historique-Militaire, 
vii.  208  ;  O'Callaghan's  Irish  Brigades,  Glasgow, 
1870,  p.  500;  Lodge's  Peerage,  ed.  Archdall,  i. 
248.]  R.  D. 

NUGENT,  LAVALL,  COUNT  NUGENT 
C1777-1862),  prince  of  the  Holy  Roman  Em- 
pire and  Austrian  field-marshal,  was  born  at 
Ballinacor,  co.  AVicklow,  3  (30)  Nov.  1777. 
Burke  (Peerage,  1 862— '  Foreign  Titles') 
states  that  he  was  elder  son  of  John  Nugent 
of  Bracklin,  co.  Westmeath,  and  afterwards 
of  Ballinacor  (d.  1781),  and  his  wife  Jane 
(d.  1820),  daughter  of  Bryan  McDonough, 
and  that  he  went  to  Austria  in  1789,  having 
been  adopted  by  an  uncle,  Oliver,  Count 
Nugent,  colonel  in  the  Austrian  army,  who 
died  in  1824.  Austrian  biographers  describe 
Lavall  Nugent  as  son  (probably  meaning 
adopted  son)  of  Count  Michael  Antony  Nu- 
gent, master  of  the  ordnance  and  governor 
of  Prague,  who  died  in  1812  (he  is  not  men- 
tioned by  Burke,  but  see  Neue Deutsche  Bioyr. 
under  '  Nugent').  All  that  appears  certain 
about  his  early  years  is  that  on  1  Nov.  1793 
Nugent  was  appointed  a  cadet  in  the  Austrian 
engineer  corps,  with  which  he  served  as  lieu- 
tenant and  captain  to  the  end  of  February 
1799.  He  obtained  his  captaincy  during  the 
fighting  round  Mainz  in  April  1795.  He 
repeatedly  signalised  himself  by  his  coolness 
under  fire,  and  served  with  distinction  on  thu 
quartermaster-general's  staff,  to  which  he 
was  transferred  on  1  March  1799,  and  with 
which  he  was  present  at  the  siege  of  Turin 
on  11-20  June,  the  investment  of  the  castles 
of  Serradella  and  Savona  in  August,  and 
other  operations  in  the  Italian  campaign  of 
1799,  and  in  the  Marengo  campaign  of  li 
He  won  the  Maria  Theresa  cross,  and  was 


Nugent 


262 


Nugent 


promoted  to  major  at  Monte  Croce,  where  the 
Austrians  defeated  the  French  on  10  April 
1800.  He  obtained  his  lieutenant-colonelcy 
at  Caldiero,  near  Verona,  where  the  French, 
under  Massena,  were  defeated  on  29-30  Oct. 
1805.  He  was  appointed  commandant  ot 
the  61st  infantry  regiment  in  1807,  and  was 
transferred  to  the  general  staff  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  campaign  of  1809,  through  which 
he  served.  He  was  second  plenipotentiary 
at  the  peace  conference  which  preceded  the 
marriage  of  Napoleon  with  the  Archduchess 
Maria  Louisa,  but  refused  to  sign  the  pro- 

Eosed  conditions.  While  on  the  unemployed 
1st  of  general  officers  he  appears  to  have 
visited  England.  Writing  to  Lord  Welling- 
ton on  12  Oct.  1812,  Earl  Bathurst,  then 
secretary  of  state  for  war  [see  BATHURST, 
HENRY,  third  EARL],  states  that  Nugent  was 
at  the  time  in  London,  having  been  sent  from 
Sicily  by  Lord  William  Bentinck  [see  BEN- 
TINCK,  LORD  WILLIAM  CAVESTDISH]  to  repre- 
sent his  views  in  respect  of  a  descent  on  Italy. 
Nugent  had  been  in  England  on  the  same 
errand  in  the  summer  of  1811,  and  had  been 
thought  very  highly  of  by  the  Marquis  Wel- 
lesley,  then  foreign  secretary.  Bathurst  be- 
lieved that  Nugent  had  been  promised  the 
rank  of  major-general  in  the  British  service 
by  the  prince-regent  and  the  Marquis  Wel- 
lesley.  The  difficulties  were  explained  to 
him,  and  he  did  not  press  the  execution  of 
the  engagement.  On  his  way  back  to  Sicily 
early  in  1813  Nugent  went  to  Spain  to  pay 
his  respects  to  Wellington,  being  provided 
with  letters  of  introduction  by  government. 
He  preferred  to  appear  in  British  uniform, 
but  this  was  a  mere  habit  de  gout  without 
official  significance,  lie  did  not  wish  to 
figure  as  an  Austrian  general  (  Wellington 
Sitppl.  Desp.  vii.  455).  Lord  Liverpool  wrote 
that  Nugent  was  '  a  very  intelligent  man, 
but  more  attached  to  an  Italian  operation 
than  I  am'  (ib.  p.  463).  Wellington  appears 
to  have  made  Nugent,  whose  visit  was  most 
opportune,  the  bearer  of  his  views  to  Vienna 
(ib.  p.  546),  and  Liverpool  wrote  again  that 
the  British  government  '  are  much  pleased 
with  your  having  done  so'  (ib.) 

On  1  July  1813  Nugent  was  again  placed 
on  the  active  list  of  the  Austrian  army.  He 
appears  to  have  originated  the  idea  of  bring- 
ing the  Croats  into  the  field,  and  opening 
up  the  Adriatic  with  the  aid  of  the  British 
cruisers.  On  27  July  Nugent  wrote  to 
Wellington  from  Prague,  congratulating  him 
on  the  victory  at  Vittoria,  and  stating  that 
he  was  on  the  point  of  starting  with  five 
thousand  light  troops  to  raise  the  Croats 
(ib.  viii.  132-3).  On  11  Aug.  1813  Austria 
declared  war  against  France  once  more. 


Nugent  began  operations  at  Karlstadt,  where 
he  won  back  the  troops  of  five  districts  to 
the  Austrian  standard.  In  a  series  of  suc- 
cessful engagements  he  drove  the  French  be- 
hind the  Isongo,  and  speedily  effected  a  junc- 
tion with  Generals  Staremberg  and  Folseis. 
He  laid  siege  to  Trieste,  and  blockaded  the 
castle  from  16  to  30  Oct.  1813,  when  it  sur- 
rendered. Landing  with  the  aid  of  the 
British  naval  squadron  and  marines  in  No- 
vember 1813  at  Volturno,  south  of  the  Po 
and  in  rear  of  the  French  army,  he  was 
joined  by  a  small  contingent  of  British 
troops  from  Lissa,  consisting  of  two  com- 
panies of  the  35th  foot,  two  guns,  and  some 
detachments  of  Corsicans  and  Calabrians  in 
British  pay.  He  fortified  Comachio,  fought 
actions  at  Ferrara,  Forli,  and  Ravenna,  and 
completed  the  blockade  of  Venice  in  De- 
cember 1813.  Early  in  1814  Nugent,  having 
been  reinforced,  took  the  offensive,  defeated 
the  French  in  sanguinary  engagements  at 
Eeggio,  Parma,  and  Piacenza,  and  ended  the 
campaign  at  Marengo  in  Piedmont,  on  re- 
ceiving intelligence  of  the  general  peace.  The 
British  contingent,  the  only  British  troops 
that  had  marched  right  across  Italy,  joined 
Lord  William  Bentinck  at  Genoa.  Lord  Cas- 
tlereagh  recommended  that  Murat's  claims 
to  the  kingdom  of  Naples  be  submitted  to 
Nugent  (ib.  ix.  485,  496).  Nugent  became 
lieutenant  or  lieutenant-general  in  the  same 
year.  In  1815  he  was  made  an  honorary 
K.C.B.,  but  except  in  this  capacity  his  name 
does  not  appear  in  any  English  army  list  as 
having  held  British  military  rank. 

Nugent  entered  Florence  at  the  head  of 
a  division  of  Marshal  Bianchi's  army  on 
15  April  1815;  he  invested  Home  at  the 
beginning  of  May,  which  led  to  the  adhe- 
sion of  the  pontiff  to  the  European  alli- 
ance. He  was  afterwards  ordered  to  Sicily 
to  confer  with  Lord  William  Bentinck.  He 
commanded  an  Austrian  division  in  the  south 
of  France  later  in  the  year,  when  a  British 
force  held  Marseilles  (ib.  x.  549,  xii.  612). 
He  commanded  the  Austrian  troops  in  Naples 
in  1816,  in  which  year  he  was  made  a  prince 
of  the  Holy  Roman  empire,  and  became 
colonel-proprietor  of  the  30th  infantry  regi- 
ment. With  the  emperor's  permission  he 
commanded  the  Neapolitan  army,  with  the 
rank  of  captain- general,  from  1817  to  1820, 
but  was  dismissed  when  King  Ferdinand 
accepted  the  new  constitution  at  the  time  of 
General  Pepe's  insurrection.  In  1826  he 
was  created  a  magnate  of  Hungary,  a  dignity 
conferring  an  hereditary  seat  in  the  upper 
house  of  the  Hungarian  Diet.  In  1828  he 
was  appointed  to  command  a  division  at 
Venice,  and  superintended  the  erection  of 


Nugent 


263 


Nugent 


the  defences  of  Trieste  and  on  the  adjacent 
coast  of  Istria.  In  1830-40  he  was  master 
of  the  ordnance,  and  commanding  the  troops 
in  Lower  Austria,  the  Tyrol,  &c.,and  attained 
the  rank  of  full  general  in  1838.  In  1841- 
1842  he  commanded  in  the  Banat  and  ad- 
joining districts,  and  in  1843-8  again  in 
Lower  Austria. 

At  the  time  of  the  revolt  in  Lomhardy  in 
1848  he  was  appointed  to  command  the  re- 
serve of  the  army  in  Italy,  which  he  resigned 
on  the  ground  of  ill-health,  but  immediately 
afterwards  organised  a  reserve  corps,  with 
which  he  moved  on  the  right  flank  of  the 
Austrians  into  Hungary,  where  the  revolu- 
tion broke  out  on  11  Sept.  By  his  judicious 
arrangements  he  effected  the  capitulation  of 
Essigg  on  14  Feb.  1849,  and  afterwards  held 
Peterwaraden  in  check,  so  as  to  secure  the 
navigation  of  the  Danube  and  the  imperial 
magazines  on  it.  He  organised  a  second 
reserve  corps  in  Styria,  and  marched  with 
Prince  Windischgratz's  army  against  Comorn. 
With  the  raising  of  the  siege  of  Comorn 
in  July  1849,  when  the  corps  under  his 
command  was  driven  back  towards  Servia, 
Nugent's  services  in  the  field  came  to  a  close. 
He  became  a  field-marshal  in  November  1849. 
His  last  service  was  at  the  age  of  eighty- 
two,  when  he  was  present  as  a  volunteer  on 
the  field  of  Solferino  on  24  June  1859. 

Nugent,  who  held  numberless  foreign 
orders,  died  at  Bosiljevo,  near  Karlstadt, 
Croatia,  on  21  Aug.  1862,  in  the  words  of 
the  kaiser,  'den  altesten,  victor-probten  und 
unermiidlichen  Soldaten  der  k.  k.  Armee.' 

He  married,  in  1815,  Jane,  duchess  of 
Biario  Sforza,  only  child  and  heir  of  Raphael, 
duke  of  Riario  Sforza,  by  his  wife  Beatrix, 
third  daughter  and  co-heiress  of  Francis 
Xavier,  prince  of  Poland  and  Saxony,  second 
son  of  Augustus  III,  king  of  Poland,  and 
Maria  Josephine  of  Austria,  eldest  daughter 
of  Joseph  I,  emperor  of  Germany.  He  had, 
with  other  children,  Albert,  the  present  prince 
and  count,  who  distinguished  himself  as  an 
Austrian  staff-officer  at  the  capture  of  Acre 
in  1841. 

[Burke's  Peeragp,  1862, under 'Foreign  Titles' 
— 'Nugent,' and  1892,  under '  Westmeath  ;'  Neoe 
Deutsche  Biogr.  under  '  Nugent,' and  authorities 
given  at  the  end ;  Men  of  the  Reign,  pp.  680-1  ; 
Ann.  Registers  under  dates.]  H.  M.  C. 

NUGENT,  NICHOLAS  (d.  1582),  chief 
justice  of  the  common  bench  in  Ireland, 
was  the  fifth  son  of  Sir  Christopher  Nugent, 
and  uncle  of  Christopher  Nugent,  fourteenth 
Baron  Delvin  [q.  v.j  He  was  educated  for 
the  legal  profession,  and  his  name  first  occurs 
in  a  commission  for  determining  the  title  to 
certain  lands  in  Ireland  on  19  Nov.  1564 


(Cul.  Fiants,  Eliz.  p.  684).  He  obtained  a 
grant  during  pleasure  of  the  office  of  prin- 
cipal or  chief  solicitor  to  the  crown,  vice 
Luke  Dillon,  on  5  Dec.  1566  (ib.  962),  and 
on  30  June  1567  he  was  placed  on  a  com- 
mission for  inquiring  into  the  causes  of  certain 
constantly  recurring  differences  between 
Thomas  Butler,  tenth  earl  of  Ormonde  [q.v.], 
and  Gerald  Fitzgerald,  fifteenth  earl  of  Des- 
mond [q.  v.l  He  was  appointed  a  commis- 
sioner for  the  government  of  Connaught  on 
24  July  1569;  for  sLiring  the  Annaly  on 
4  Feb.  1570 ;  and  for  rating  certain  lands  in 
Westmeath  into  plow- lands  on  3  March  in 
the  same  year  (ib.  1092,  1417,  1486,  1493). 
On  18  Oct.  1570  he  was  created  second  baron 
of  the  exchequer  (ib.  1595)  ;  but  he  offended 
the  government  by  taking  part  in  the  agita- 
tion against  cess  in  1577-8,  was  for  some 
time  imprisoned  in  Dublin  Castle,  and  was 
deprived  of  his  office  by  the  lord-deputy,  Sir 
Henry  Sidney  (Cal.  Carew  MSS.  ii.  103, 
133,  355).  On  Sidney's  retirement  he  was 
successfully  recommended  by  the  lord  chan- 
cellor, Sir  William  Gerard  [q.  v.],  for  the 
office  of  chief  justice  of  the  common  pleas, 
as  '  sober,  learned,  and  of  good  ability '  (Cal. 
State  Papers,  Ireland,  Eliz.  ii.  172).  The 
appointment,  highly  gratifying  to  the  gentry 
of  the  Pale,  was  not  relished  by  the  higher 
officials  in  Dublin.  Wallop,  who,  it  was  said, 
never  believed  an  Irishman  was  telling  the 
truth  unless  charging  another  with  treason, 
asserted  that  the  appointment  was  a  job  for 
which  Gerard  had  received  100/.  (ib.  ii.  279). 
The  fact  that  he  was  a  Roman  catholic,  and 
uncle  of  William  Nugent  [q.  v.]  and  his 
scarcely  less  obnoxious  brother  Christopher, 
fourteenth  lord  Delvin,  wa&sufficient  to  con- 
demn him  in  the  general  opinion.  He  was 
arrested  on  the  information  of  John  Cusack 
of  Alliston-read,  co.  Meath,  a  double-faced 
traitor,  who  had  played  a  conspicuous  part  in 
William  Nugent's  rebellion  ;  and  on  28  Jan. 
1582  he  and  Edward  Cusack,  son  and  heir 
of  Sir  Thomas  Cusack  [q.  v.],  were  committed 
to  the  castle  (ib.  ii.  346).  They  were  tried 
before  a  special  commission  at  Trim  on 
4  April.  The  only  witness  against  Nugent 
was  the  aforementioned  John  Cusack,  who 
had  already  obtained  a  pardon  for  his  share  in 
the  rebellion,  by  whom  he  was  charged  with 
being  privy  to  William  Nugent's  rebellion, 
and  with  planning  the  assassination  of  Sir 
Robert  and  Sir  Lucas  Dillon.  Nugent  ob- 
jected that  the  evidence  of  one  witness— his 
personal  enemy — was  insufficient.  But  his 
objection  being  overruled,  he  denied  Un- 
truth of  Cusack's  accusation,  '  shewing  y* 
weeknes  and  unliklihood  of  euerie  p'te  by 
probable  collections  and  circustances  w"* 


Nugent 


264 


Nugent 


great  lerninge,  couradge,  and  temperancie  to 
his  owne  great  comendation  and  Siitisfaction 
of  most  of  his  audience'  (Narrative  of  an 
Eye-witness,  Sloane  MS.  4793,  f.  130). 
The  lord  deputy,  Arthur  Grey,  fourteenth 
Lord  Grey  de  Wilton  [q.  v.],  who '  sate  vpon 
the  benche  to  see  justice  more  equallie  mynis- 
tered '  {State  Papers,  Ireland,  Eliz.  xci.  22), 
addressed  the  jury,  and  'praid  God,  like  an 
vpright  judge  and  a  noble  gentleman,  to  pute 
in  ye  juries  harts  to  do  as  they  ought,  p'testing 
yl  he  had  rather  Mr  N.  weare  found  trew  than 
otherwise'  (Narrative,  Sloane  MS.  4793,  f. 
130).  Thereupon  the  jury  retired,  and  it  soon 
appearing  that  they  were  in  favour  of  an  ac- 
quittal, Sir  Robert  and  Sir  Lucas  Dillon  com- 
pelled them  by  menaces  to  alter  their  verdict. 
Judgment  followed,  and  two  days  later,  on 
Easter  eve,  6  April,  Nugent  was  hanged,  '  to 
wch  death  he  went  resolutly  and  patiently, 

Erotesteinge  y '  sith  he  was  not  found  trew,  as 
e  said  he  ought  to  have  ben,  he  had  no  long- 
inge  to  liue  in  infamie  '  (ib.  f.  132).  His 
death,  and  the  manner  of  his  trial,  caused  a 
profound  sensation,  and  there  is  little  reason 
to  doubt  that  the  popular  opinion  attributing 
his  death  to  the  private  malice  of  Sir  Robert 
Dillon  was  well  founded.  After  his  death  his 
widow  Ellen,  daughter  of  Sir  John  Plunket, 
chief  justice  of  the  king's  bench,  succeeded, 
notwithstanding  the  remonstrances  of  Wal- 
lop, in  obtaining  a  reversal  of  his  attainder ; 
and  on  27  Aug.  1584  the  queen  granted  his 
estate  to  her  for  life,  with  remainder  to  her 
son  Richard. 

RICHAKD  NUGENT  (fl.  1604),  son  of  the 
above,  is  said  by  Lodge  (Peerage,  ed.  Arch- 
dall,  i.  231)  to  have  succeeded  his  mother  on 
9  Nov.  1615.  He  received  a  good  education, 
and  was  apparently  the  author  of  '  Ric :  Nu- 
gent's  Cynthia,  containing  Direfull  Sonnets, 
Madrigalls,  and  passionate  intercourses,  de- 
scribing his  repudiate  affections,  expressed  in 
Loues  own  Language,'  London ,  1 604,  wrongly 
ascribed  (HUNTER,  MS.  Chorus  Vatum,  vi. 
120)  to  Richard  Nugent,  fifteenth  baron 
Delvin  and  first  earl  of  Westmeath  [q.  v.] 
The  grounds  for  attributing  it  to  Nugent 
are:  (1)  the  sonnets  bear  traces  of  having 
been  written  long  before  they  were  pub- 
lished, and,  as  the  Earl  of  Westmeath  was 
only  twenty-one  when  they  were  published, 
it  is  not  likely  they  were  written  by  him  ; 
(2)  the  dedication  is  to  '  the  Rt.  Hon.  the 
Lady  of  Trymleston,'  whom  we  can  hardly  be 
wrong  in  conjecturing  to  be  Catherine  Nugent, 
wife  of  Peter  Barnewall,  sixth  lord  Trim- 
leston,  who  was  old  enough  to  be  the  mother 
of  the  Earl  of  Westmeath ;  (3)  one  of  the 
'passionate  intercourses  '  is  addressed  in 
familiar  language  to  '  Cosin  Maister  Richard 


Nugent  of  Donower,' who  died  in  1616,  about 
sixty  years  of  age,  and  was  therefore,  as  the 
verses  require,  Nugent's  contemporary.  It 
is  uncertain  when  he  died.  He  married  Anne 
Bath,  daughter  of  Christopher  Bath  of  Rath- 
feigh,  co.  Meath,  and  left  issue  Christopher. 

[Lodge's  Peerage,  ed.  Archdall,  i.  231  ;  Cal. 
State  Papers,  Ireland,  Eliz.;  Cal.  Carew  MSS.; 
Kilkenny  Archseol.  Soc.  Proceedings,  1855,  p. 
341;  Cal.  Fiants.  Eliz.;  Sloane  MS.  4793,  ff. 
127-40 ;  Addit.  MS.  24492.]  E.  D. 

NUGENT,  SIR  RICHARD,  tenth  BARON 
DELVIN  (d.  1460?),  lord-deputy  of  Ireland, 
was  eldest  son  of  Sir  William  Nugent, 
who  was  sheriif  of  Meath  in  1401  and  1402, 
and  was  much  employed  in  Irish  local 
government.  Sir  William  was  descended 
from  Christopher  Nugent  of  Balrath,  third 
brother  of  Sir  Gilbert  de  Nugent,  who  had 
accompanied  Hugh  de  Lacy  [q.  v.]  to  Ire- 
land in  1171.  Sir  Gilbert  had  received  from 
de  Lacy  after  1172  the  barony  of  Delvin; 
but,  as  Sir  Gilbert's  sons  died  before  him,  the 
barony  devolved  on  his  brother  Richard, 
whose  only  child  and  heiress  carried  the  title 
about  1 180  to  her  husband,  one  John  or  Fitz- 
John.  The  marriage  in  1407  of  Sir  William 
Nugent  (father  of  the  subject  of  this  notice 
and  the  collateral  descendant  of  Sir  Gilbert, 
first  lord  of  Delvin)  to  the  sole  heiress  of 
John  FitzJohn  le  Tuit,  eighth  baron  Delvin 
since  the  creation  of  the  title,  restored  that 
title  to  the  Nugent  family,  and  Sir  William 
succeeded  his  father-in-law  as  ninth  baron 
Delvin.  But  genealogists  often  regarded  Sir 
William's  peerage  as  a  fresh  creation,  and 
described  him  as  first  baron  of  a  new  line. 
About  1415  Sir  William  died,  and  his  son 
Richard  thereupon  became,  according  to  the 
more  commonly  accepted  enumeration,  tenth 
Baron  Delvin.  In  1416  the  tenth  baron  ap- 
pended his  signature  to  the  memorial  sent  to 
Henry  V  by  the  leaders  of  the  Anglo-Irish 
settlers,  entreating  the  king  to  support  with 
larger  funds  Sir  John  Talbot  (afterwards  Earl 
of  Shrewsbury),  the  lord-lieutenant  of  Ireland, 
in  his  efforts  to  protect  Ireland  from  rebellion 
and  disease.  The  memorial  is  preserved 
among  the  Lansdowne  manuscripts.  Delvin 
was  sheriff  of  Meath  in  1424,  and  long  distin- 
guished himself  as  a  leader  in  the  wars  against 
the  native  Irish.  In  1422  he  had  a  grant  of 
10/.  a  year  from  Henry  VI  for  services  per- 
formed during  the  reign  of  his  predecessor ; 
in  1427  a  further  grant  of  20/.  for  the  capture 
of  O'Conor,  who,  with  Hubert  Tyrrell,  had 
robbed  and  spoiled  his  majesty's  subjects  near 
Mullingar ;  and  in  1428  he  received  an  order, 
dated  at  Trim,  to  receive  twenty  marks  out 
of  the  exchequer,  as  a  recompense  for '  having 
impoverished  his  fortune  in  the  king's  wars.' 


Nugent 


265 


Nugent 


In  1444  he  was  appointed  lord-deputy  of 
Ireland  under  James,  earl  of  Ormonde  ;  and 
in  1449,  previously  to  entering  upon  office  in 
Ireland,  Richard,  duke  of  York,  the  new 
viceroy,  again  appointed  the  Baron  of  Delvin 
as  his  deputy.  As  deputy,  he  convened  par- 
liaments at  Dublin  and  Drogheda  in  1449. 
In  1452  he  was  appointed  seneschal  of  Meath; 
he  died  before  1475.  lie  married  Catherine, 
daughter  and  heiress  of  Thomas  Drake  of 
Carlanstown,  co.  Meath,  and  had  issue  three 
sons.  His  eldest  son,  James,  died  before  his 
father ;  James's  son  Christopher  (d.  1493)  be- 
came eleventh  Baron  Delvin,  and  father  of 
Richard  Nugent,  twelfth  baron  Delvin  [q.  v.] 

[Pedigree  of  the  Nugent  Family  by  D'Alton  ; 
Historical  Sketch  of  the  Nugent  Family,  1853, 
printed  by  J.C.Lyons;  Burke's  Peerage;  Lodge's 
Peerage  of  Ireland,  continued  by  Archdall,  s.v. 
Westmeath,i.215  ;  Gilbert's  History  of  the  Vice- 
roys of  Ireland.]  W.  W.  W. 

NUGENT,  RICHARD,  twelfth  BARON 
DELVIN  (d.  1538  ?),  was  son  and  successor  to 
Christopher,  eleventh  baron,  by  Elizabeth  or 
Anne,  daughter  of  Robert  Preston,  first  vis- 
count Gormanston  [see  under  NTTGENT,  SIR 
RICHARD,  d.  1460  ?]  He  succeeded  his  father 
as  twelfth  Baron  Delvin  in  1493.  He  had 
summonses  to  the  Irish  parliament  in  1486, 
1490,  1493,  and  1498.  But  in  1498,  when 
the  parliament  was  summoned  to  meet  at 
Castle  Dermott  on  28  Aug.,  Lord  Delvin 
neglected  to  appear,  and  was  fined  40s.  for 
non-attendance.  His  loyalty  to  the  English 
crown  was  very  strict,  and  he  was  constituted, 
on  25  June  1496,  by  the  lords  justices  and 
council,  commander  and  leader-in-chief  of 
all  the  forces  destined  for  the  defence  of  Dub- 
lin, Meath,  Kildare,  and  Louth  from  the 
attacks  of  the  native  Irish.  In  1504,  when 
Gerald,  eighth  earl  of  Kildare,  the  lord-deputy, 
marched  against  the  lord  of  Clanricarde,who 
had  formed  a  confederacy  of  several  Irish 
chiefs  in  opposition  to  the  royal  authority, 
Delvin  accompanied  the  earl.  At  a  council 
of  war  held  by  the  lord-deputy  within 
twenty  miles  east  of  Knocktough,  where  a 
battle  was  to  be  fought,  Delvin  promised 
'  to  God  and  to  the  prince '  that  he  would 
'  be  the  first  that  shall  throw  the  first  spear 
among  the  Irish  in  this  battle.'  'According, 
a  little  before  the  joining  of  the  battle  (in 
which  he  commanded  the  horse),  he  spurred 
his  horse,  and  threw  a  small  spear  among 
the  Irish,  with  which  he  chanced  to  kill  one 
of  the  Burkes,  and  retired'  (LODGE).  The 
battle  of  Knocktough,  or  Cnoc  Tuagh,  re- 
sulted in  a  decisive  victory  for  Kildare  and 
his  companions.  In  1505  Delvin  was  en- 
trusted with  the  custody  of  the  manors  of 
Belgard  and  Foure.  In  151 5  the  lord-deputy 


appointed  him  a  justice  of  the  peace  in 
Meath,  and  seven  years  later  he  joined  the 
council.  He  signed  the  letter  addressed 
by  the  council  of  Ireland  to  Wolsey  on 
28  Feb.  1522,  thanking  him  for  the  care 
he  was  taking  of  Ireland,  and  begging  that 
five  or  six  ships  might  be  sent  to  keep  the 
sea  betwixt  them  and  the  Scots,  as  they  were 
afraid  that,  in  consequence  of  the  departure 
of  the  Earl  of  Surrey  and  the  king's  army, 
the  Irish  rebels  would  receive  help  from  Scot- 
land, and  prove  too  strong.  "When  in  1524 
an  indenture  was  drawn  up  between  the  king 
and  the  Earl  of  Kildare,  the  earl  promised 
not  to  '  procure,  stir,  nor  maintain  any  war 
against  the  Earl  of  Ormond,  the  Baron  of 
Delvin,  nor  Sir  "William  D'Arcy'  (State 
Papers,  Ireland).  In  1527  Delvin,  on  the 
depart  ure of  Kildare  from  Ireland,  was  nomi- 
nated lord-deputy,  and  for  a  time  conducted 
the  government  with  success.  But  in  1528 
Archbishop  Inge  and  Lord-chief-justice  Ber- 
mingham  reported  to  Wolsey  that  the  vice- 
deputy  had  not  the  power  to  defend  the 
English  from  the  raids  of  the  native  Irish ; 
but,  notwithstanding  this  inability,  the  people 
were  far  more  charged  and  oppressed  by  him 
than  they  had  been  under  the  Earl  of  Kildare. 
They  ascribed  Delvin's  weakness  to  the  fact 
that  he  was  not  possessed  of  any  great  lands  of 
his  own.  Thewritersmentionthatthecouncil 
had  divers  times  advised  the  vice-deputy  to 
beware  especially  of  the  Irish  chief,  Brian 
O'Connor  (Jl.  1520-1560)  [q.  v.],  and  to  pay 
him  the  subsidy  that  he  and  his  predecessors 
had  long  received  rather  than  to  run  into  fur- 
ther danger  of  war.  Despite  this  advice,  when 
in  1528  the  Irish  chief  was  preying  on  the 
borders  of  the  Pale,  the  vice-deputy  ordered  a 
yearly  rent  due  to  him  out  of  certain  lands 
in  Meath  to  be  withheld.  This  procedure  led 
to  a  conference  on  12  May,  at  the  castle  of 
Rathin  in  that  county,  belonging  to  Sir  Wil- 
liam D'Arcy,  when,  by  stratagem,  the  vice- 
deputy  was  seized  and  detained  a  close  pri- 
soner at  O'Conor's  house.  Many  of  the  vice- 
deputy's  men  were  slain,  wounded,  and  made 
prisoners  in  endeavouring  to  rescue  him.  On 
15  May  the  council  of  Ireland  reported  the 
misfortune  to  "Wolsev.  Walter  Wellesley 
of  Dangan  Castle  and  Sir  Walter  Delahyde 
of  Moyclare  were  subsequently  deputed  to 
expostulate  with  O'Conor,  and  to  procure 
Delvin's  liberation ;  but  all  arguments  proved 
ineffectual.  Another  lord-deputy  was  ap- 
pointed to  administer  the  government,  and 
Lord  Delvin  remained  in  confinement  until 
O'Conor's  pension  was  restored  to  him,  by 
order  of  the  government,  on  the  following 
25  Feb. 
Delvin  was  again  governor  of  Ireland  for 


Nugent 


266 


Nugent 


eight  weeks  in  June,  July,  and  August  1534, 
during  the  absence  in  England  of  the  Earl 
of  Kildare.  When  in  1535  Thomas  Fitz- 
Gerald,  tenth  earl  of  Kildare, '  Silken  Thomas,' 
threw  oft'  his  allegiance  to  the  English  crown, 
Delvin  was  nominated  by  Lord-deputy  Skef- 
fington  (13  March  1535)  to  take  charge, 
with  others,  of  the  garrisons  at  Trim,  Kenles 
(Kells?),  Navan,  and  Westmeath.  Delvin 
signed  the  letter  to  Henry  VIII,  dated  from 
the  camp  (27  Aug.  1535),  giving  an  account 
of  the  final  surrender  of  O'Conor  and  Fitz- 
Gerald.  On  21  May  1536  Lord  Leonard  Grey, 
writing  to  Cromwell,  described  the  lord- 
treasurer  and  the  Baron  of  Delvin  '  as  the 
best  captains  of  the  Englishry,  except  the 
Earl  of  Ossory,  who  cannot  take  such  pains 
as  they'  (Letters  and  Papers  of  Henry  VIII, 
Foreign  and  Dom.),  and  Delvin  on  this 
account  was  refused  a  license  to  visit  the 
king  in  England  on  business  of  his  own. 
In  1536  Robert  Cowley,  in  sending  to  Crom- 
well a  scheme  for  the  'readopting'  of  the 
king's  dominion  in  Ireland,  recommended 
that,  should  all  the  native  Irish  join  O'Conor, 
Delvin  and  his  son,  with  six  hundred  men, 
should  be  entrusted  with  winning  Ath- 
lone,  and  making  war  on  O'Melaghlyn, 
McGoghegan,  and  others  (ib.)  In  August 
1536  Lord  James  Butler  wrote  to  Crom- 
well, reporting  that  Delvin  had  failed  to 
come  to  the  hosting  in  Limerick.  In  October 

1536  Delvin  received  a  reward  of  26/.  13*.  4eZ. 
for  his   military  services.     When  in  June 

1537  a  new  expedition  was  decreed  against 
the  rebel  O'Conor,  the  army  was  met  at  the 
king's  manor  of  Rathwere  by  Delvin,  who 
accompanied  the  deputy  on  the   march  to 
O'Conor's  country,  and  advised  the  invasion 
of  the  countries  of  Omulmoy,  McGoghegan, 
and    O'Melaghlyn,   adherents    of   O'Conor. 
Subsequently  Delvin  attacked  O'Conor,  and 
besieged  and  razed  the  strong  castle  of  Dan- 
gan  (ib.)     In  1537  Robert  Cowley  informed 
Cromwell  that  Delvin  and  his  sons  were  the 
most  worthy  for  their  truth,  power,  and 
ability  of  any  in  the  land  to  protect  the 
marches  of  the  English  Pale.     In  December 
Delvin  accompanied  the  deputy  in  pursuit 
of    the    traitor    Brian    O'Connor,  through 
McGoghegan's  country  to  Offaly. 

But  Delvin  was  held  by  some  competent 
observers  to  be  in  part  personally  responsible 
for  the  grievances  which  led  to  the  dissatis- 
faction of  the  native  Irish.  He  permitted 
the  '  taking  of  coyue  and  livery,'  which  was 
declared  to  be  the  root  of  all  disorders  in 
Ireland.  He  probably  died  when  on  an  ex- 
pedition against  O'Conor  early  in  February 
1538.  St.  Leger,  in  writing  to  Wriothesley 
on  10  Feb.,  says  '  the  Baron  of  Delvin,  who 


was  one  of  the  best  marchers  of  this  country, 
is  departed  to  God'  (State  Papers).  It  was 
stated  that  the  scandalous  words  of  Lord 
Leonard  Grey,  the  deputy  in  the  camp,  and 
the '  reproacheoushandeling  of  the  late  Baron 
of  Delvin,  was  a  great  cause  of  the  death  of 
the  said  baron.'  Grey  called  Delvin  a  traitor, 
and  constrained  the  king's  subjects  to  pass 
over  a  great  water  '  overflowen,'  where  their 
horses  did  swim,  whereof  divers  took  their 
death  (ib.)  In  June  1538  Aylmer  and  Alen, 
in  their  articles  of  accusation  against  Lord 
Leonard  Grey,  assert  that,  in  the  hosting 
against  O'Conor,  Grey  took  horses  from  Delvin 
and  others,  and  gave  them  to  their  Irish 
enemies.  From  Lord  Delvin's  will,  set  out 
in  the  inquisition  taken  in  1538,  it  appears 
that  Drakestown  formed  part  of  the  estates 
of  the  family.  Archdall  states  that  Delvin 
was  of  great  age  at  the  time  of  his  death, 
and  that  his  services  to  his  country  are  briefly 
summed  up  in  this  distich : 

In  patria  natus,  patrise  prodesse  laboro, 
Viribus  in  castris  consiliisque  domi. 

By  his  wife  Isabella,  daughter  of  Thomas 
FitzGerald,  son  of  Thomas,  seventh  earl  of 
Kildare,  he  left  two  sons.  From  Sir  Christo- 
pher, the  elder,  descended  the  Nugents,  earls 
of  Westmeath  (through  Christopher,  four- 
teenth  baron  Delvin  [q.  v.]),  the  Nugents  of 
Coolamber,  co.  Longford,  the  Nugents  of 
Ballina,  and  the  Nugents  of  Farrenconnell, 
co.  Cavan ;  from  his  younger  son,  Sir  Thomas 
of  Carlanstown,  Robert,  earl  Nugent  [q.  v.] 
(ancestor  in  the  female  line  to  the  Dukes  of 
Buckingham,  who  were  Earls  Nugent  in  the 
peerage  of  Ireland)  derived  descent. 

[Historical  Sketch  of  the  Nugent  Family, 
1853,  printed  by  J.  C.  Lyons ;  Burke's  Peerage  ; 
Lodge's  Peerage,  ed.  Archdall,  i.  227-8  ;  Pedi- 
gree of  the  Nugent  Family  by  D' Alton  ;  Cal.  of 
State  Papers,  Ireland,  1509-73;  Letters  and 
Papers  of  Henry  VIII ;  Gilbert's  Viceroys  of 
Ireland.]  W.  W.  W. 

NUGENT,  SIR  RICHARD,  fifteenth 
BARON  DELVIN,  first  EARL  OP  WTESTMEATH 
(1583-1642),  eldest  son  of  Christopher,  four- 
teenth baron  Delvin  [q.  v.],  and  Marie, 
daughter  of  Gerald  Fitzgerald,  eleventh  earl 
of  Kildare,  was  born  in  1583.  His  father 
had  died  while  labouring  under  a  charge  of 
treasonable  correspondence  with  the  Earl 
of  Tyrone,  but  his  death  was  regarded  as 
sufficient  atonement  for  his  offence,  and 
Nugent  was  allowed  to  succeed  to  the  title 
without  opposition.  A  grant  of  lands  made 
to  his  father  in  1597,  but  which  had  hitherto 
remained  unexecuted,  was,  on  10  Aug.  1603, 
also  confirmed  to  him  and  his  mother,  and 
on  29  Sept.  he  was  knighted  by  Lord-deputy 


Nugent 


267 


Nugent 


Mountjoy  in  Christ  Church,  Dublin,  at  the 
same  time  that  Rory  O'Donnell  [q.  v.]  was 
created  Earl  of  Tyrconnel. 

The  grant  of  lands  thus  confirmed  by 
James  I  was  attended  with  disastrous  con- 
sequences for  Delvin ;  for  having,  at  the  re- 
quest of  certain  of  the  O'Farrells,  taken  up 
some  of  their  lands  in  co.  Longford,  supposed 
to  have  been  forfeited  to  the  crown,  and  having 
gone  to  considerable  expense  in  respect  to 
them,  it  was  found  that  the  lands  in  question 
did  not  after  all  belong  to  the  crown.  At  the 
instigation  of  Sir  Francis  Shaen,  who  claimed 
to  be  an  O'Farrell  himself,  petitions  were 
accordingly  presented  for  the  revocation  of 
Delvin's  grant,  and,  there  being  no  question 
that  the  lands  had  been  passed  under  mis-  \ 
information,  pressure  was  brought  to  bear 
on  him  to  surrender  his  patent.  This  he 
was  unwilling  to  do,  having,  as  he  said, 
spent  3,0001.  over  the  business.  But  he- 
was  roundly  told  by  Salisbury  that  the 
O'Farrells  were  as  good  subjects  as  either 
he  or  his  father  had  been,  and  that  his 
patent  must  be  surrendered.  Exasperated 
at  his  ill-luck,  Delvin  listened  to  the  voice 
of  the  tempter,  and  in  the  summer  of  1600 
entered  into  a  conspiracy  to  overthrow  the 
government.  He  soon  had  occasion  to  regret 
his  rashness,  but,  fearing  lest  '  he  should 
thereby  dishonour  himself  and  do  harm  to 
his  kinswoman,  the  Lady  Tyrconnel,  and 
make  his  friends  his  enemies,'  he  refrained 
from  revealing  the  plot  to  the  government. 
Not  so  Christopher  St.  Lawrence,  lord 
Howth  [q.  v.]  Howth's  revelations,  impli- 
cating Delvin  among  others,  found,  how- 
ever, no  credence  till  the  flight  of  the  Earls 
of  Tyrone  and  Tyrconnel,  in  September 
1607,  placed  them  in  a  new  light.  It  was 
then  felt  highly  desirable  to  get  as  much  in- 
formation as  possible,  and  Howth  having 
suggested  Delvin  as  intimately  acquainted 
with  the  details  of  the  plot,  he  was  inveigled 
to  Dublin  and  arrested.  His  confession  on 
6  Nov.  confirmed  Howth's  statement,  and 
having  admitted  his  own  share  in  the  plot, 
he  was  forthwith  committed  to  the  castle 
by  Chichester. 

But  his  confinement  was  of  short  duration, 
for  within  a  fortnight  of  his  commitment  he 
managed, '  by  practice  of  some  of  his  servants 
and  negligence  or  corruption  of  his  keeper,'  to 
effect  his  escape  out  of  the  castle  and  to  reach 
Cloughoughter,  co.  Cavan,  in  safety.  From 
Cloughoughter  he  wrote  to  Chichester,  apolo- 
gising for  his '  unexpected  departure,'  protest- 
ing '  he  did  it  not  so  much  for  the  safety  of 
his  life  as  to  prevent  the  certain  ruin  of  his  ' 
estate,  which  would  of  force  happen  if  he  had 
been  sent  for  England,  and '  praying  forgive- 


ness of  his  untimely  fault,  which  was  only  in 
thought,  not  in  act,  and  occasioned  by  the 
subtlety  of  another,  who  entrapped  him,  a 
youth.'  Chichester,  for  answer,  gave  him 
five  days  in  which  to  submit  himself.  An- 
ticipating some  such  answer,  Delvin  had 
meanwhile  taken  refuge  among  the  Cam 
mountains,  where  he  defied  all  the  efforts  of 
Sir  Richard  Wingfield  to  capture  him.  His 
castle  of  Cloughoughter  was  taken  and  also 
his  little  son,  and  he  himself  '  enforced  as 
a  wood-kerne  in  mantle  and  trouses  to 
shift  for  himself.'  Still  there  was  a  danger 
in  allowing  him  to  remain  at  large  in  the 
event  of  the  return  of  the  northern  earls,  and 
Chichester  thought  it '  not  amiss  to  promise 
him  his  life '  as  an  inducement  to  submit. 
No  conditions  were,  indeed,  offered  him,  but 
hints  were  dropped  that  he  should  not  fare 
worse  for  an  unconditional  surrender.  Seeing 
that  this  concession  was  the  utmost  he 
could  expect,  and  regarding  the  rebellion  of 
Sir  Cahir  O'Dogherty  [q.  v/j  as  a  favourable 
opportunity,  he  unexpectedly,  on  5  May 
1608,  presented  himself  before  the  council, 
'  and,  in  presence  of  a  great  number  of 
people,  humbly  submitted  himself  to  his 
majesty  without  word  or  promise  of  pardon.' 
He  was  assured  of  his  pardon ;  but,  in  order 
that  James  might  satisfy  himself  as  to  his 
sincerity,  he  was  required  to  go  to  England 
for  it.  Owing  to  his  extreme  poverty  he 
would  have  found  some  difficulty  in  obeying 
the  king's  command  had  not  Chichester  lent 
him  the  necessary  money  for  his  journey. 
At  court  he  fared  better  than  he  could  have 
hoped.  His  misconduct  was  entirely  over- 
looked, and  orders  were  given  for  the  restitu- 
tion of  his  property,  together  with  a  grant 
of  certain  lands  in  lieu  of  those  he  had  been 
obliged  to  surrender. 

He  returned  to  Ireland  in  November  1608, 
and  for  some  time  caused  the  government  no 
trouble.  His  refusal  to  be  reconciled  to  Lord 
Howth  was  a  point  in  his  favour,  and  Chi- 
chester was  of  opinion  that  only  the  fear  of 
scandal  prevented  his  conformity  in  religion. 
In  1613,  however,  he  again  incurred  the  dis- 
pleasure of  government  by  the  part  he  played 
in  parliament,  and,  with  other  recusant  lords, 
he  was,  in  January  1614,  summoned  to  Eng- 
land to  answer  for  his  conduct.  He  subse- 
quently recovered  the  king's  favour,  and  on 
4  Sept.  1621  he  was  advanced  to  the  dignity 
of  Earl  of  Westmeath.  After  that  event  he 
seems  to  have  spent  a  considerable  portion 
of  his  time  in  England.  In  October  1627  he 
was  despatched  on  an  urgent  message  to  the 
Duke  of  Buckingham  at  Rhe,  to  announce 
the  arrival  of  a  relief  force  under  Lord  Hol- 
land, In  May  1628  he  acted  as  one  of  the 


Nugent 


268 


Nugent 


agents  of  the  Irish  catholic  nobility  to  the 
king  and  council  in  the  matter  of  the  Graces, 
and  again  in  1633.  He  was  present  at  the 
opening  of  the  Irish  parliament  on  14  July 
1634 ;  but  on  17  Feb.  1635  he  obtained  per- 
mission to  travel  for  one  year  with  six 
servants,  601.  in  money,  and  his  trunks  of 
apparel.  On  the  outbreak  of  the  rebellion 
of  1641  he  declined  to  co-operate  with  the 
catholic  nobility  and  gentry  of  the  Pale,  his 
refusal  being  ascribed  to  the  influence  of 
Thomas  Deas,  titular  bishop  of  Meath. 
His  action  did  much  to  weaken  the  rebels, 
who,  after  trying  persuasion  in  vain,  endea- 
voured, with  equal  unsuccess,  to  intimidate 
him.  He  was,  however,  compelled  to  quit 
his  house  at  Clonyn  about  February  1642, 
and  was  being  escorted  to  Dublin  when  he 
was  attacked  by  the  rebels  near  Athboy. 
He  was  in  an  infirm  state  of  health,  being, 
it  is  said,  blind  and  palsy-stricken,  and  did 
not  long  survive  the  injuries  he  then  re- 
ceived. 

He  married  Jane,  daughter  of  Christopher 
Plunket,  ninth  lord  Kileen,  by  whom  he  had 
two  daughters,  Bridget  and  Mary,  who  both 
died  unmarried,  and  five  sons,  viz. :  1,  Chris- 
topher, lord  Delvin.  who  married  the  Lady 
Anne,  eldest  daughter  of  Randal  MacDon- 
nell,  earl  of  Antrim  [q.  v.],  and,  dying  before 
his  father,  was  buried  at  Clonyn  on  10  July 
1625,  and  had  issue  an  only  son  Richard, 
second  earl  of  Westmeath  [q.  v.] ;  2,  Francis 
Nugent  of  Tobber,  who  engaged  in  the  rebel- 
lion and  was  present  at  the  siege  of  Dro- 
gheda  in  1641-2,  but  died  without  issue; 
3,  John  Nugent  of  Drumeng,  who  married 
Catherine,  daughter  of  James  Dillon  of 
Ballymuley,  co.  Longford  ;  4,  Laurence,  who 
died  (unmarried)  in  France ;  5,  Colonel 
Ignatius  Nugent,  who  commanded  a  regi- 
ment in  the  French  service,  and  died  in 
1670. 

[Lodge's  Peerage,  ed.  Archdall,  i.  237-41 ; 
Cal.  State  Papers,  Ireland,  James  I,  passim; 
Meehan's  Earls  of  Tyrone  and  Tyrconnel;  Erck's 
Repertory  of  Patent  Rolls  ;  Cal.  State  Papers, 
Dom.  1627,  1634-5;  Gilbert's  Contemporary 
Hist,  of  Affairs  in  Ireland  (Irish  Archseol.  Soc.), 
i.  35  ;  Hist,  of  the  Confederation,  ii.  252-8.] 

R.  D. 

NUGENT,  RICHARD,  second  EARL 
OP  WESTMEATH  (d.  1684),  was  the  only  son 
of  Christopher  Nugent,  and  grandson  of 
Richard  Nugent,  first  earl  of  Westmeath, 
whom  he  succeeded  in  1642.  He  was  in 
England  at  the  time  of  his  grandfather's 
death,  but,  returning  to  Ireland,  he  took  his 
seat  in  parliament  on  15  April  1644.  By 
warrant  of  the  Earl  of  Ormonde,  on  24  July 
1645,  he  raised  a  troop  of  horse  and  a  regi- 


ment of  foot  for  the  king's  service;  but,  being 
shortly  afterwards  constrained  to  take  the 
oath  of  association,  he  laboured  to  effect  a 
reconciliation  between  the  council  and  the 
nuncio.  He  was  taken  prisoner  at  the  battle 
of  Dangan  Hill  on  7  Aug.  1647,  but  subse- 
quently was  exchanged  for  the  Earl  of  Mont- 
gomery. He  took  the  oath  of  association  to 
the  confederates  directed  against  the  nuncio 
on  27  June  1648,  was  appointed  a  commis- 
sioner to  treat  with  Ormonde  for  the  settle- 
ment of  a  peace  on  18  Oct.,  was  created  a 
field-marshal  by  the  supreme  council  on 
31  Jan.  1649,  and  was  one  of  the  council  of 
war  that  voted  for  the  defence  of  Drogheda 
on  23  Aug.  After  Ormonde's  withdrawal  to 
France  he  co-operated  with  the  Earl  of  Clan- 
ricarde,  and  in  1650  was  appointed  general 
of  all  the  forces  in  Leinster.  Owing  to  his 
moderation  he  incurred  the  censure  of  the 
extreme  party.  '  A  man,'  says  the  author  of 
the  '  Aphorismical  Discovery,'  '  that  never 
gathered  an  army  into  the  field  since  he  was 
appointed  general,  nor  any  party  did  stick 
unto  himself  that  did  act  worth  6d. ;  rather 
worked  all  the  means  possible  for  faction, 
dispersion,  rent,  and  division.'  He  was 
blamed  for  not  taking  proper  measures  for  the 
defence  of  Finagh,  for  not  relieving  Ballyna- 
cargy,co.  Cavan,  and  for  not  supporting  Owen 
Roe  O'Neill  [q.  v.]  He  submitted  to  the  com- 
missioners of  the  parliament  on  12  May 
1652,  on  conditions  known  as  the  Articles  of 
Kilkenny.  He  was  excluded  from  pardon 
for  life  and  estate  by  the  Act  for  Settling 
Ireland  on  12  Aug. ;  but,  by  virtue  of  the 
Articles  of  Kilkenny,  permission  was  granted 
him  to  raise  soldiers  for  the  service  of  Spain. 
On  13  April  1653  he  obtained  an  order  to 
enjoy  such  parts  of  his  estate  as  lay  waste 
and  undisposed  of,  and  on  16  Nov.  the  order 
was  extended  to  the  enjoyment  of  a  full  third 
of  his  estate.  Having  raised  his  regiment  for 
the  Spanish  service,  he  obtained  a  pass  per- 
mitting him  to  transport  himself  and  two 
servants,  with  travelling  arms  and  neces- 
saries, into  Flanders,  and  to  return  without 
let  or  molestation,  provided  he  gave  notice 
of  his  arrival  to  the  governor  of  the  place 
where  he  should  first  land.  He  appears  to 
have  taken  advantage  of  this  permission ;  but 
on  the  apprehension  of  fresh  disturbances  in 
the  summer  of  1659  he  was,  with  other 
leading  royalists,  placed  under  arrest.  He 
recovered  his  liberty  and  his  estates  at  the 
Restoration,  but  seems  to  have  taken  no 
further  interest  in  politics.  In  1680  he  re- 
built the  chapel  of  Fore,  to  be  a  place  of 
burial  for  himself  and  his  posterity,  and, 
dying  in  1684,  was  interred  there. 

He  married  Mary,  daughter  of  Sir  Thomas 


Nugent 


269 


Nugent 


Nugent  of  Moyrath,  by  whom  he  had  issue, 
besides    two    sons    who  died    in    infancy : 

(1)  Christopher,  lord  Delvin,  who  married 
Mary,  eldest  daughter  of  Richard  Butler  of 
Kilcash,  co.  Tipperary,  and,  predeceasing  his 
father,  left  issue  by  her :  Richard,  third  earl 
of  Westmeath,who  died  in  holy  orders  in  1 7 14, 
Thomas,  fourth  earl  of  Westmeath  [q.v.J, 
and  John,  fifth  earl  of  Westmeath  [q.  v.J ; 

(2)  Thomas,  created  baron  Nugent  of  Rivers- 
town  [q.  v.] ;  (3)  Joseph,  a  captain  in  the  ser- 
vice of  France ;   (4)  William,  M.P.  for  co. 
Westmeath  in  1689,  and  killed  at  Cavan  in 
1690;  (5)  Mary,  who  married  Henry,  second 
viscount  Kingsland  :  (6)  Anne,  who  married, 
first,  Lucas,  sixth  viscount  Dillon,  and,  se- 
condly, Sir  William  Talbot  of  Cartown,  co. 
Meath;  (7)  Alison,  who  married  Henry  Dow- 
dall  of  Brownstown,  co.  Meath:  (8)  Eliza- 
beth, who  died  young ;  (9)  Jane,  who  married 
Alexander  MacDonell,  called  Macgregor  of 
Dromersnaw,  co.  Leitrim. 

[Lodge's  Peerage,  ed.  Archdall,  i.  241-5 ; 
Carte's  Life  of  Ormonde,  i.  590,  595,  ii.  5,  60, 
157 ;  Gilbert's  Hist,  of  the  Confederation,  iv. 
357,  v.  260,  vi.  80,  262,  289,  vii.  133,  241,  349; 
Contemporary  Hist,  of  Affairs  in  Ireland  (Irish 
Archaeolog.  Soc.),  ed.  Gilbert,  passim  ;  Common- 
wealth State  Papers  (P.  R.  0.  Dublin)  ;  Lud- 
low's  Memoirs,  ed.  C.  H.  Firth  ;  Wood- Martin's 
Hist,  of  Sligo;  Piers's  Hist,  of  Westmeath  in 
Vallancey's  Collectanea.]  R.  D. 

NUGENT,  ROBERT,  EARL  NUGEXT 
(1702-1788),who  afterwards  assumed  the  sur- 
name of  CRAGGS,  politician  and  poet,  born  in 
1702,  was  the  son  of  Michael  Nugent  of 
Carlanstown,  co.  Westmeath,  by  his  wife 
Mary,  youngest  daughter  of  Robert  Barne- 
wall,  ninth  baron  Trimleston.  His  property 
at  the  outset  produced  about  1,500/.  a  year, 
but  on  his  death  he  was  considered  one  of  the 
millionaires  of  the  day,  both  in  personalty  and 
in  real  estate ;  and  this  accession  in  wealth  was 
caused  by  his  skill  in  marrying  rich  widows, 
a  talent  so  marked  that  Horace  Walpole  in- 
vented the  word  'Nugentize'  to  describe  the 
adventurers  who  endeavoured  to  imitate  his 
good  fortune.  Among  the  pamphlets  in  the 
British  Museum  is '  The  Unnatural  Father,  or 
the  Persecuted  Son,  being  a  candid  narrative 
of  the  . . .  sufferings  of  Robert  Nugent,jun.,by 
the  means  and  procurement  of  his  own  father ' 
(1755),  and  the  writer,  then  a  prisoner  in  the 
Fleet  prison,  alleged  that  he  was  a  son  of  Nu- 
gent '  by  his  first  cousin,  Miss  Clare  Nugent, 
daughter  of  a  gentleman  in  Ireland  of  2,500/. 
per  annum,'  and  that  he  was  born  in  the  parish 
of  St.  George,  Hanover  Square,  in  1730.  This 
was,  no  doubt,  an  illegitimate  son,  ^whose 
pertinacity  in  urging  his  claims  on  Nugent 
must  often  have  caused  trouble  to  the  father. 


His  first  recognised  marriage  was  to  Emilia, 
second  daughter  of  Peter,  fourth  earl  of  Fin- 
gal,  whom  he  married  on  14  July  1730  and 
lost  in  childbed  on  16  Aug.  1731.  The  child, 
Lieut.-col.  Edmund  Nugent,  whose  two  sons* 
Charles  Edmund  and  George,  are  noticed 
separately,  survived  his  mother,  but  died  many 
years  before  his  father.  His  second  marriage 
(28  March  1736-7)  was  to  Anne,  a  daughter 
of  James  Craggs,  the  postmaster-general,  and 
a  sister  of  James  Craggs,  the  secretary  of  state 
[q.v.],  who  divided  with  her  two  sisters  the 
property  both  of  her  father  and  brother.  Her 
first  husband  was  John  Newsham  of  Chads- 
hunt  in  Warwickshire,  by  whom  she  had  an 
only  son,  and  her  second  marriage  was  to 
John  Knight.  Several  letters  addressed  by 
Pope  to  her  during  the  earlier  period  of  her 
life  are  in  Pope's '  Works,'  ix.  (Letters,vol.  iv.) 
pp.  435-59  (1886).  John  Knight,  her  only 
son  by  her  second  husband,  died  in  June 
1727,  and  her  husband  thereupon  bequeathed 
all  his  estates  to  her,  and  at  his  decease  on 
2  Oct.  1733  she  became  possessed  of  all  his 
property.  By  his  marriage  to  this  fat  and 
ugly  dame  (whose  name  he  assumed  in  ad- 
dition to  his  own)  Nugent  became  the  owner 
of  the  parish  of  Gosfield  in  Essex,  of  a  seat 
in  parliament  for  St.  Mawes  in  Cornwall, 
and  about  100,000/.  besides ;  but  she  brought 
him  neither  happiness  nor  the  children 
which  he  desired.  He  amused  himself  by 
forming  an  extensive  park  at  Gosfield,  and 
the  taste  shown  in  the  setting  of  the  woods 
and  ornamental  water  is  highly  praised 
by  Arthur  Young.  A  visit  which  Horace 
Walpole  made  to  this  house  in  1748  is  de- 
scribed in  his  'Correspondence'  (ii.  118-20). 
His  second  wife  died  in  1756,  aged  59,  and 
was  buried  in  Gosfield  Church,  where  an  in- 
scription to  Nugent  himself  was  also  subse- 
quently placed.  Nugent  sat  for  his  borough 
of  St.  Mawes  from  1741  to  1754,  andw««l»- 
elected  at  the  general  dissolution  in  that  year, 
but  preferred  to  sit  for  the  city  of  Bristol, 
which  had  also  returned  him,  and  to  secure  the 
return  of  a  relative  for  his  Cornish  borough. 
The  voters  of  Bristol  remained  faithful  to  him 
until  the  dissolution  of  1774,  when  even  the 
arguments  of  Dean  Tucker  in  '  A  Review  of 
Lord  Vis.  Clare's  Conduct  as  Representative 
of  Bristol,'  which  praised  Nugent's  zeal  to 
advance  the  interests  of  the  poor  in  legisla- 
tion, his  anxiety  to  serve  the  interests  of  his 
constituents  in  parliament,  and  his  liberality 
in  promoting  from  his  own  purse  improve- 
ments in  the  city,  could  not  effect  his  re-elec- 
tion. In  1774  he  returned  to  St.  Mawes, 
and  for  it  he  sat  until  he  retired  in  June  1784, 
his  interest  in  the  borough  being  supreme 
then  and  afterwards,  although  his  son  did 


Nugent 


270 


Nugent 


not  obtain  the  post  of  governor  of  the  castle 
of  St.  Mawes,  which  Nugent  applied  for  to 
George  Grenville  in  1764  in  a  remarkable 
letter  printed  in  the  '  Grenville  Papers,'  ii. 
452-4.  As  Nugent  owned  a  borough  in  Corn- 
wall, a  county  where  the  Prince  of  Wales, 
the  unhappy  son  of  George  II,  was  ever 
scheming  to  advance  his  parliamentary  in- 
fluence, and  as  the  prince  lacked  money, 
•while  the  rollicking  Irishman  was  wealthy, 
they  soon  became  fast  friends.  Nugent  was 
made  controller  of  the  prince's  household  in 
1747,  and  was  always  nominated  to  high 
office  in  his  royal  master's  imaginary  admi- 
nistrations, in  return  for  which  favours  the 
needy  prince  condescended  to  borrow  from 
him  large  sums  of  money.  These  debts  were 
never  repaid,  but  they  were  liquidated  by 
George  III  in  '  places,  pensions,  and  peer- 
ages.' On  the  prince's  death  he  made  his 
peace  with  the  Pelham  administration,  and 
was  created  a  lord  of  the  treasury  (6  April 
1754).  This  office  he  retained  until  1759, 
and  he  owed  his  continuance  in  his  place  in 
Pitt's  administration  of  1756  to  the  influence 
of  Lord  Grenville.  From  1760  to  1765  he 
was  one  of  the  vice-treasurers  for  Ireland ; 
from  1766  to  1768  he  held  the  post  of  pre- 
sident of  the  board  of  trade,  and  from  the 
latter  year  until  1782  he  was  again  one  of 
Ireland's  vice-treasurers.  This  exhausts  his 
lists  of  places,  but  he  was  raised  to  the  Irish 
peerage  as  Viscount  Clare  and  Baron  Nugent 
in  1766,  and  promoted  to  the  further  dignity 
of  Earl  Nugent  in  the  same  peerage  in  1776, 
being  indebted  for  his  places  and  his  peerages 
to  the  king's  remembrance  of  the  money 
lent  to  the  Prince  of  Wales,  and  to  his  un- 
broken support  of  every  ministry  in  turn. 
Nugent's  third  wife  (1757)  was  Elizabeth, 
daughter  of  Henry  Drax  of  Charborough  in 
Dorset,  and  relict  of  Augustus,  fourth  earl  of 
Berkeley,  with  whom  he  secured,  as  he  did 
with  his  second  wife,  a  large  fortune,  and 
failed  to  obtain  happiness  in  married  life.  She 
outlived  him,  but  they  had  been  separated 
for  some  years,  and  he  disowned  the  second 
of  the  two  daughters  whom  she  bore  after 
their  marriage.  His  last  act  in  politics  was 
an  attempt  in  1784,  unfortunately  a  failure, 
to  bring  about  a  union  between  Pitt  and  Fox, 
and  in  that  year  he  retired  from  parliament- 
ary life,  where  his  wit  and  humour  had  made 
him  a  popular  figure.  He  died  at  the  house 
of  General  O'Donnel,  Rutland  Square,  Dublin, 
13  Oct.  1788,  when  the  title  and  real  estate 
of  about  14,000/.  per  annum  passed  to  the 
Marquess  of  Buckingham,  who,  on  marrying 
(16  April  1775)  Mary  Elizabeth,  his  elder 
daughter,  assumed  by  royal  permission  the 
surnames  of  Nugent  and  Temple,  and  obtained 


the  privilege  of  signing  Nugent  before  all 
titles  whatsoever.  The  personal  property 
(200,000/.)  was  bequeathed  to  two  relatives. 
Nugent  was  brought  up  as  a  Roman  catholic, 
turned  protestant,  and,  last  stage  of  all,  died 
in  the  bosom  of  the  church  which  he  had 
abandoned  and  ridiculed.  Popular  doubt  as 
to  the  religion  which  he  professed  gave  the 
sting  to  Oswald's  retort  to  him, '  What  species 
of  Christianity  do  you  claim  to  belong  to  ?  ' 

Nugent  was  endowed  with  a  vigorous  con- 
stitution and  athletic  frame,  a  stentorian 
voice,  and  a  wonderful  flow  of  spirits.  His 
speeches  in  parliament,  delivered  as  they 
were  in  a  rich  Irish  brogue,  often  hovered  on 
the  borders  of  farce,  but  his  unflagging  wit 
usually  carried  him  happily  through  his  diffi- 
culties. As  for  convictions  in  politics  he 
had  none  ;  from  the  first  he  laid  himself  out 
for  the  highest  bidder,  and  as  his  knowledge 
was  inconsiderable  and  his  opinions  changed 
with  expediency,  he  was  open  to  the  censure 
of  Lord  George  Sackville,  who  dubbed  him 
'the  most  uninformed  man  of  his  rank  in 
England,'  adding  that  nobody  could  depend 
upon  his  attachment  (Hist.  MSS.  Comm.  9th 
Rep.  pt.  iii.  p.  19). 

Nugent's  ode  to  William  Pulteney  obtained 
great  fame  throughout  the  last  century.  It 
described  the  poet's  passage  from  the  creed 
of  Roman  Catholicism  to  a  purer  faith,  and 
the  belief  which  dwelt  in  his  mind  afterwards. 
Two  quotations  from  it,  the  opening  lines  and 
a  portion  of  the  seventh  stanza,  became 
almost  proverbial  in  literature.  The  first 
runs — 

Kemote  from  liberty  and  truth, 
By  fortune's  crime,  my  early  youth 
Drank  error's  poison'd  springs ; 

and  the  second  asserts — 

Though  Cato  liv'd,  though  Tully  spoke, 
Though  Brutus  dealt  the  godlike  stroke, 
Yet  perish'd  fated  Rome. 

Horace  Walpole  called  this  ode  a  glorious 
poem,  but  Gray,  in  a  more  critical  spirit, 
writes  to  the  owner  of  Strawberry  Hill :  '  Mr. 
Nugent  sure  did  not  write  his  own  ode,' 
and  the  latest  editor  of  Gray's  works  adds 
that  '  Earl  Nugent  was  suspected  of  paying 
Mallet  to  write  his  best  ode,  that  addressed 
to  Pulteney,  his  later  and  obviously  unaided 
efforts  being  contemptible.'  Many  poems  by 
Nugent,  and  this  piece  among  them,  are  in 
'  Dodsley's  Collection,'  ii.  166,  &c.,  and  in  the 
'  New  Foundling  Hospital  for  Wit,'  a  cata- 
logue of  which  is  given  in  '  Walpole's  Royal 
and  Noble  Authors '  (Park's  ed.)  v.  288-91. 
The  ode  was  published  separately  and  anony- 
mously in  1739,  and  was  included  in  the 
same  year  in  two  anonymous  editions  of  his 


Nugent 


271 


Nugent 


'  Odes  and  Epistles,'  most  of  which  lauded 
the  talents  and  aims  of  the  '  patriots '  in  op- 
position to  Sir  Robert  Walpole.  Nugent 
•wrote  in  1774  an  anonymous  poem,  entitled 

*  Faith/  which  has  been  described  as  a  strange 
attempt  to  depose  the  Epicurean  doctrine  for 
that  of  the  Trinity.     A  present  to  the  queen, 
as  a  new-year's  gift  for  1775,  of  some  '  Irish 
stuff'  manufactured  in  his  native  land,  and 
of  a  set  of  loyal  verses,  produced  in  return  an 
anonymous  poem, '  The  Genius  of  Ireland,  a 
New  Year's  Gift  to  Lord  Clare,'  and  drew 
from  the  wits  the  jest  that  the  queen  had 
thanked  him  fcr  both  his  '  pieces  of  stuff.' 
An  anonymous  tract,  with  the  title  of  'An 
Inquiry  into  the  Origin  and  Consequences  of 
the  Influence  of  the  Crown  over  Parliament ' 
(1780),  is  sometimes  attributed  to  Nugent, 
but  with  slight  probability.     An  '  Epistle  to 
Robert  Nugent,  with  a  picture  of  Dr.  Swift, 
by  William  Dunkin,  D.D.,'  is  reproduced  in 

*  Swift's  Works  '  (1883,  ed.  xv.  218-21),  but 
his  name  is  more  intimately  associated  with 
another  literary  genius.     On  the  publication 
of  the  '  Traveller,'  the  acquaintance  of  Gold- 
smith was  eagerly  sought  by  Nugent,  and 
they  lived  ever  after  on  terms  of  close  friend- 
ship.    Goldsmith  visited  him  at  Gosfield  in 
1771,  and  at  his  house  of  11  North  Parade, 
Bath,  and  embalmed  for  all  time  the  name 
of  the  jovial  Irish  peer  in  the  charming  lines. 
'  The  Haunch  of  Venison,  a  poetical  epistle 
to  Lord  Clare,'  as  an  acknowledgment  for  a 
present  of  venison  from  Gosfield  Park.    The 
character  of  Nugent  is  tersely  summed  up 
by  Glover  in  the  words  'a  jovial  and  volup- 
tuous Irishman,  who  had  left  Popery  for  the 
Protestant  religion,  money,  and  widows '  (Me- 
moirs, 1813,  p.  47). 

Two  portraits  were  painted  by  Gains- 
borough :  one  is  the  property  of  the  corpora- 
tion of  Bristol ;  the  other,  which  formerly 
hung  over  the  mantelpiece  in  the  dining- 
room  at  Stowe,  was,  at  the  sale  in  1848,  pur- 
chased by  Field-marshal  Sir  George  Nugent 
[q.  v.]  for  106/.,  and  now  belongs  to  his  son. 
The  same  gentleman  owns  a  portrait  by 
Gainsborough  of  Lieutenant -colonel  Edmund 
Nugent. 

[Gent.  Mag.  1788,  pt.  ii.  938;  Albemarle's 
Rockingham,  i.  77-8  ;  Horace  Walpole's  Letters 
(Cunningham),  passim ;  Gray's  Works  (ed. 
1884),  ii.  220;  Wright's  Essex,  ii.  1-12;  Mo- 
rant's  Essex,  ii.  382  ;  Wraxall's  Memoirs  (1884 
ed.),  i.  88-96,  iii.  305  ;  Walpole'sLast  Ten  Years 
of  George  II,  vol.  i.  381  ;  Hist.  MSS.  Comm.  8th 
Rep.  pp.  199-200  ;  Peach's  Houses  of  Bath,  i.  27, 
92, 151 ;  Grosvenor  Gallery, Gainsborough  Exhib. 
Catalogue,  1885,  pp.  22,  66,  92;  Lord  Chester- 
field's Letters  (Mahon),  v.  448;  Southey's 
Later  Poets,  iii.  290-5.1  w-  R  C- 


NUGENT,  THOMAS,  titular  BABOW  OF 
RIVERSTON  (d.  1715),  chief  justice  of  Ire- 
land, was  the  second  son  of  Richard,  second 
earl  of  Westmeath  [q.  v.],  by  his  wife  Mary, 
daughter  of  Sir  Thomas  Nugent,  bart.,  of 
Moyrath.  He  was  bred  to  the  law,  but  was 
undistinguished  until  after  the  accession  of 
James  II,  when  he  was  made  one  of  his  coun- 
sel in  September  1685.  During  the  follow- 
ing winter  he  was  in  communication  with  the 
lord-lieutenant,  Henry  Hyde,  second  earl  of 
Clarendon  [q.  v.],  who  treated  him  as  a  re- 
presentative of  the  Irish  Roman  catholics 
(Clarendon  Correspondence,  i.  211,  &c.)  In 
March  1685-6  he  was  made  a  judge  of  the 
king's  bench — '  a  man  of  birth  indeed,'  says 
Clarendon,  '  but  no  lawyer,  and  so  will  do  no 
harm  upon  the  account  of  his  learning'  (ib. 
p.  356).  On  taking  his  seat  he  had  a  wrangle 
with  another  judge  about  precedence,  'as 
brisk  as  if  it  had  been  between  two  women ' 
(ib.  p.  365).  In  May  he  was  admitted  to 
the  privy  council,  and  in  October  1687  be- 
came lord  chief  justice.  His  court  was  oc- 
cupied in  reversing  the  outlawries  which 
pressed  on  his  own  co-religionists,  and  gene- 
rally in  depressing  the  protestants  (KiNG, 
chap.  iii.  sec.  iii.  p.  6).  One  of  his  first  acts 
was  to  present  the  lord-lieutenant  with  a  list 
of  sheriffs,  in  which  partiality  was  more  re- 
garded than  competence.  '  I  am  sure,'  says 
Clarendon,  '  several  of  them,  even  of  those 
who  are  styled  protestants,  are  men  in  no 
way  qualified  for  such  offices  of  trust*  (Cor- 
respondence, ii.  36).  An  act  of  Henry  VII, 
forbidding  the  keeping  of  guns  without  license 
of  government,  was  revived  and  interpreted 
so  as  to  deprive  the  protestants  of  their  arms, 
and  thus  leave  them  at  the  mercy  of  the 
rapparees,  for  catholics  were  not  disarmed. 
Nugent  said  it  was  treason  to  possess  weapons, 
though  a  fine  of  20/.  was  the  highest  penalty 
prescribed  by  the  act  (KiNO,  ch.  iii.  sect.  iii. 
pp.  6, 12,  and  sect.  viii.  p.  19).  He  declared  that 
robbery  of  the  protestants  was  unfortunately 
necessary  for  the  furtherance  of  King  James's 
policy  (ib.  sect.  x.  p.  4).  Clarendon  records 
some  instances  of  judicial  partiality  in  Nu- 
gent, but  he  showed  humanity  in  Ashton's 
case  (Correspondence,  i.  39). 

Early  in  1688  Tyrconnel  sent  Nugent  to 
England  with  Chief-baron  Rice  [q.  v.],  to 
concert  measures  for  the  repeal  of  the  Act  of 
Settlemeut(KiNG,ch.iii.sect. xii.p.2).  They 
were  received  in  mock  state  by  the  London 
mob,  who  escorted  them  with  potatoes  fixed 
on  sticks,  amid  cries  of  '  Make  room  for  the 
Irish  ambassadors'  (ib.  sect.  xii.  p.  2  ;  DAL- 
RYMPLE,  pt.  i.  bk.  iv.)  They  returned  to 
Ireland  in  April  without  having  been  able 
to  persuade  James  to  let  Tyrconnel  hold 


Nugent 


272 


Nugent 


a  parliament  (Clarendon  Correspondence,  ii. 
710). 

Nugent's  demeanour  on  the  bench  was  not 
dignified,  and  we  are  told  that  in  a  charge 
to  the  Dublin  grand  jury  he  expressed  a  hope 
that  William's  followers  would  soon  be  'hung 
up  all  over  England '  in  '  bunches  like  a  rope 
of  onions'  (!NGRAM,  Two  Pages  of  Irish  His- 
tory, p.  43).  He  was  holding  the  assizes  at 
Cork  when  James  landed  at  Kinsale  in  March 
1G88-9,  and  ordered  the  Bandon  people  who 
had  declared  for  William  III  to  be  indicted 
for  high  treason  (BENNETT,  p.  214).  Nugent 
was  all  for  severity,  but  General  Justin  Mac- 
Carthy  [q.  v.]  overawed  him  into  respecting 
the  capitulation  (ib.)  Nugent  was  specially 
consulted  by  James  at  his  landing,  Avaux 
and  Melfort  being  present  (Journal  in  MAC- 
PHERSON,  i.  174). 

In  the  parliament  which  met  on  7  May 
1689  Nugent,  being  called  by  writ  on  the 
opening  day  to  the  barony  of  Riverston,  sat 
as  a  peer,  and  on  the  13th  introduced  a  bill 
for  the  repeal  of  the  Acts  of  Settlement  and 
Explanation  [see  NAGLE,  SIR  RICHARD].  He 
took  an  active  part  in  the  House  of  Lords, 
and  frequently  presided.  In  July  he  was 
made  a  commissioner  of  the  empty  Irish 
treasury,  and  the  commission  was  renewed 
in  1690,  a  few  days  before  the  battle  of  the 
Boyne.  Nugent  was  at  Limerick  during  or 
soon  after  William's  abortive  siege,  and  acted 
as  secretary  in  Nagle's  absence  from  Septem- 
ber till  the  following  January.  He  was  ac- 
cused by  the  Irish  of  holding  secret,  and  from 
their  point  of  view  treasonable,  communica- 
tion with  the  Williamites,  and  even  of  a  plot 
to  surrender  Limerick  (MacariceExcidium,  p. 
102 ;  Jac.  Narr.  p.  272).  But  this  may  only 
have  arisen  from  the  fact  that  he  was  a  per- 
sonal adherent  of  Tyrconnel,  who  did  not 
wish  to  defend  Limerick.  At  the  capitulation 
he  had  a  pass  from  Ginkel  to  go  to  his  lands. 
Nugent  was  outlawed  as  a  rebel,  but  his 
lands  remained  in  the  family  ;  he  died  in 
1715,  having  married  in  1680  Marianna, 
daughter  of  Henry,  viscount  Kingsland,  and 
leaving  issue  two  sons  and  several  daughters. 
The  Earl  of  Westmeath  is  his  lineal  de- 
scendant. His  title  of  Riverston,  though 
void  in  law,  was  borne  by  his  descendants 
until  it  merged  in  the  earldom  of  Westmeath. 
There  is  a  full-length  portrait  of  him  in  his 
robes  by  Lely,  in  the  hall  at  Pallas,  co.  Gal- 
way,  along  with  Ginkel's  autograph  letter 
and  other  of  his  papers. 

[Authorities  as  for  Sir  Richard  Nagle  [q.  v.]; 
Sir  John  Dalrymple's  Memoirs ;  Macpherson's 
Original  Papers ;  Bennett's  Hist,  of  Bandon,  1862; 
Burke's  Peerage,  s.  v.  '  Westmeath ; '  informa- 
tion from  the  Earl  of  Westmeath.]  E.  B-L. 


NUGENT,  THOMAS,  fourth  EARL  OP 
WESTMEATH  (1656-1752),  born  in  1656,  was 
the  second  son  of  Christopher,  lord  Delvin, 
eldest  son  of  Richard  Nugent,  second  earl  of 
Westmeath  [q.  vj  His  mother  was  Mary, 
eldest  daughter  of  Richard  Butler,  esq.,  of  Kil- 
cash,  co.  Tipperary,  and  niece  of  James,  first 
duke  of  Ormonde.  According  to  Lodge,  he  had 
a  pension  of  150Z.  in  the  reign  of  Charles  II. 
He  married  in  1684,  and  after  travelling  for  a 
few  years  returned  to  Ireland,  and  was  given 
the  command  of  one  of  Tyrconnel's  regiments 
of  horse.  In  the  parliament  held  by  James  II 
at  Dublin  in  1689  Nugent  was  called  to  the 
House  of  Peers,  although  he  was  under  age 
and  his  elder  brother  Richard  was  still  alive. 
The  latter,  who  succeeded  his  grandfather  as 
third  earl  in  1684,  had  entered  a  religious 
house  in  France,  and  died  there  in  April  1714. 

Nugent  served  with  King  James's  army 
at  the  Boyne  and  at  the  sieges  of  Limerick. 
His  name  is  chiefly  connected  with  these 
sieges.  Story  mentions  him  as  one  of  those 
officers  who  left  the  horse  camp  outside 
Limerick  on  25  Sept.  1691  during  the  cessa- 
tion of  hostilities,  and  dined  with  Ginkell 
while  on  their  way  into  the  city.  On  the 
following  day  he  was  sent  into  the  English 
camp  as  one  of  the  hostages  for  the  obser- 
vance of  the  articles  of  the  capitulation. 

He  was  present,  though  not  as  a  member 
of  the  court-martial,  at  the  trial  of  Colonel 
Simon  Luttrell  for  his  conduct  during  the 
siege,  and  not  only  urged  his  acquittal  in 
spite  of  the  efforts  of  Tyrconnel  to  procure 
a  condemnation,  but  exculpated  him  from 
the  charge  of  having  allowed  the  British 
troops  to  throw  a  bridge  over  the  Shannon, 
the  real  blame  of  which  he  threw  upon 
Brigadier  Clifford,  who  was  in  command  at 
the  spot  in  question,  while  Luttrell  was  in 
Limerick  Castle  (Macarice  Excidium,  ed. 
O'Callaghan,  p.  484;  cf.  HARRIS).  On 
2  Dec.  1697  Viscount  Massareene  reported 
from  the  committee  appointed  to  inspect  the 
journals  that  '  Thomas,  earl  of  Westmeath, 
was  indicted  and  outlawed  11  May  3  Wil- 
liam and  Mary  (1691),  but  hath  since  re- 
versed his  outlawry '  (Journals  of  the  House 
of  Lords,  i.  675). 

Westmeath  died,  aged  96,  on  13  June 
1752  (Lond.  Mag.  and  Monthly  Chron.  1752, 
p.  331).  By  his  wife  Margaret  (d,  1700), 
only  daughter  of  Sir  John  Bellew,  lord  Bel- 
lew,  he  had  two  sons  and  nine  daughters. 
Two  only  of  the  latter  survived  him.  The 
elder  son,  Christopher,  lord  Delvin,  having 
died  unmarried  at  Bath  on  17  April  1752, 
and  the  younger  being  previously  deceased, 
the  title  passed  to  John  Nugent,  his  father's 
younger  brother,  who  is  noticed  separately. 


Nugent 


273 


Nugent 


[Peerage  of  Ireland,  1768,  vol.  i. ;  Lodge's 
Peerage  of  Ireland,  1789,  i.  247  ;  Burke's  Peer- 
age, 1893 ;  Lodge's  Peerage  of  Ireland,  ed. 
Archdall,  vol.  i.;  Story's  Impartial  History  of 
the  Wars  of  Ireland,  i.  98,  ii.  229-30;  Harris's 
Life  of  William  III,  p.  345,  and  Appendix,  p. 
Ixii;  D'Alton's  Illustration  of  the  Army  of  King 
James,  pp.  33,  358,  734  (containing,  under  the 
heading  '  Col.  the  Earl  of  Westineath,'  particu- 
lars of  all  the  chief  members  of  the  Nugent 
family) ;  Webb's  Compendium  of  Irish  Bio- 
graphy.] a.  LE  G.  N. 

NUGENT,  THOMAS,  LL.D.  (1700?- 
1772),  miscellaneous  writer,  was  born  in  Ire- 
land about  1700,  but  spent  the  greater  part 
of  his  life  in  London.  He  was  a  competent 
scholar  and  an  able  and  industrious  man  of 
letters.  In  1765  he  received  from  the  univer- 
sity of  Aberdeen  the  honorary  degree  of 
LL.D.,  and  in  1767  was  made  a  fellow  of 
the  Society  of  Antiquaries.  He  died  at  his 
rooms  in  Gray's  Inn  on  27  April  1772.  He 
has  been  confounded  with  Johnson's  friend 
and  Burke's  father-in-law,  Dr.  Christopher 
Nugent  (d.  1775)  [q.  v.] 

Nugent's  original  works  are :  1.  '  The  His- 
tory of  Vandalia:  containing  the  Ancient  and 
Present  State  of  the  Country  of  Mecklenburg, 
its  Revolutions  under  the  Venedi  and  the 
Saxons,  with  the  Succession  and  Memorable 
Actions  of  its  Sovereigns,'  London,  1766-73, 
3  vols.  4to.  2.  'A  New  Pocket  Dictionary  of  j 
the  French  and  English  Languages,'  London, 
1767, 4to  (frequently  reprinted  and  redacted). 
3. '  Travels  through  Germany,  with  a  Parti- 
cular Account  of  the  Courts  of  Mecklenburg: 
in  a  Series  of  Letters  to  a  Friend,'  London, 
1768, 2  vols.  8vo  (German  translation,  Berlin, 
1781,  2  vols.  8vo).  4.  '  The  Grand  Tour,  or  a 
Journey  through  the  Netherlands,  Germany,  j 
Italy,  and  France.'  London,  1778,3  vols.  1 2mo.  i 

Nugent  edited  in  1745  '  Ke^ros  Orjfiaiov 
Tlivat-.  Cebetis  Thebani Tabula,'  London, 8vo. 
He  also  executed  many  translations,  chiefly 
from  the  French,  the  most  important  being: 
(1)  'The  New  System,  or  Proposals  for  a 
General  Peace  upon  a  solid  and  lasting  Foun- 
dation ;  with  a  Prefatory  Discourse  by  the 
Translator  on  the  horrid  Consequence  of  the 
present  Wicked  and  Unnatural  Rebellion,' 
London,  1746, 8 vo ;  (2)  Jean  Baptiste  Dubos's 
'  Critical  Reflections  on  Poetry,  Painting,  and 
Music,'  London,  1748,  3  vols.  8vo ;  (3)  Bur- 
lamaqui's  '  Principles  of  Natural  Law,'  Lon- 
don, 1748,8vo ;  (4)  Burlamaqui's  '  Principles 
of  Politic  Law,'  London,  1752, 8vo;  reprinted 
with  the  preceding,  London,  1763,  2  vols. 
8vo ;  (5)  Montesquieu's  '  Spirit  of  Laws,' 
London,  1752,  2  vols.  8vo ;  later  editions, 
1756,  12mo,  1756,  8vo,  1768,  8vo,  1773, 
12mo  ;  (6)  Voltaire's  '  Essay  on  Universal 

VOL.  XLI. 


History:  the  Manners  and  Spirit  of  Nations 
from  the  Reign  of  Cbarlemaign  to  the  Age 
of  Lewis  XIV,'  Dublin,  1759,  4  vols.  8vo ; 

(7)  Rousseau's   '  Emilius,  or  an  Essay  on 
Education,'    London,    1763,    2   vols.  8vo ; 

(8)  Grosley's  '  New  Observations  on  Italy,' 
London,  1769,  2  vols.  8vo;    (9)  'Tour  to 
London,  or  New  Observations  on  England 
and  its  Inhabitants,'  London,  1772,  2  vols. 
8vo;    (10)   Benvenuto   Cellini's   '  Autobio- 
graphy,' London,  1771,  2  vols.  8vo;  last  edi- 
tion, '1812,   12mo;    (11)   Totze's  'Present 
State  of  Europe,'  London,  1770,  3  vols.  8vo; 
(12)  Isla's  '  History  of  the  Famous  Preacher- 
Friar,  Gerund  de  Campazas,  otherwise  Gerund 
Zotes,'  London,  1772,  2  vols.  8vo,  and  12mo. 
His  translations  of  the  Port  Royal  Greek 
and  Latin  grammars  were  for  a  time  very 
popular. 

[Gent.  Mag.  1772,  p.  247  ;  Bibl.  Topogr. 
Brit.  vol.  x.;  List  of  Soc.  of  Antiq. ;  Chalmers's 
Biogr.  Diet. ;  Webb's  Compendium  of  Irish  Bio- 
graphy; Nichols's  Lit.  Anecd.iii.  656,  and  Illustr. 
Lit.  v.  777,  780;  Allibone's  Diet.  Brit,  and 
Amer.  Authors ;  Lowndes's  Bibl.  Man.] 

J.  M.  E. 

NUGENT,  WILLIAM  (d.  1625),  Irish 
rebel,  brother  of  Christopher,  fourteenth 
baron  Delvin  [q.  v.],  was  the  younger  son  of 
Richard  Nugent,  thirteenth  baron  Delvin, 
from  whom  he  inherited  the  manor  and  castle 
of  the  Rosse  in  co.  Meath.  He  first  acquired 
notoriety  in  December  1573  by  his  forcible 
abduction  and  marriage  of  Janet  Marward, 
heiress  and  titular  baroness  of  Skryne,  and 
ward  of  his  uncle,  Nicholas  Nugent  [q.  v.] 
He  was  for  a  short  time  in  May  1575  placed 
under  restraint  on  suspicion  of  being  impli- 
cated in  the  refusal  of  his  brother,  Lord 
Delvin,  to  sign  the  proclamation  of  rebellion 
against  the  Earl  of  Desmond.  On  10  April 
1577  he  and  his  wife  had  livery  granted  them 
of  the  lands  of  the  late  Baron  of  Skryne, 
valued  at  130/.  ~)s.  a  year.  He  was  suspected 
of  sympathising  with  the  rebellion  of  Vis- 
count Baltinglas,  but  eluded  capture  by  tak- 
ing refuge  with  Turlough  Luineach  O'Neill 
[q.  v.],  who  refused  to  surrender  him.  He 
was  excluded  by  name  from  the  general 
pardon  offered  the  adherents  of  Lord  Balt- 
inglas, and  by  the  unwise  severity  of  Lord 
Grey  he  was  driven  to  take  up  arms  on  his 
own  account.  With  the  assistance  of  the 
O'Conors  and  Kavanaghs,  he  created  con- 
siderable disturbance  on  the  borders  of  the 
Pale;  but  the  rising,  though  violent,  was 
shortlived.  Nugent  himself  was  soon  re- 
duced to  the  most  abject  misery.  He  was 
exposed  without  covering  to  the  inclemency 
of  the  winter  season.  His  friends  were 
afraid  to  communicate  with  him,  and  though 


Nugent 


274 


Nunna 


his  wife,  out  of  'the  dutiful  love  of  a  wife  t 
a  husband  in  that  extremity,'  managed  t 
send  him  some  shirts,  she  was  found  out 
and  punished  with  a  year's  imprisonment 
Finally,  in  January  1582,  with  the  assistanc 
of  Turlough  Luineach,  he  escaped  to  Scot 
land,  and  from  there  made  his  way  through 
France  to  Rome. 

He  at  first  met  with  a  chilling  reception 
but  when  the  scheme  of  a  Spanish  invasion  o 
England  began  to  take  definite  shape,  he  was 
frequently  consulted  by  the  Cardinal  of  Como 
and  Giacomo  Buoncompagno,  nephew  o 
Gregory  XIII,  as  to  the  prospects  of  a  genera 
insurrection  in  Ireland.  About  Easter  1584 
he  was  ordered  to  Paris,  where  he  had  audi- 
ence with  Archbishop  Beaton  and  the  Duke 
of  Guise,  by  whom  he  was  sent,  '  in  company 
of  certain  Scottish  lairds  and  household  ser- 
vants of  the  king  of  Scots/  with  letters  in 
cipher  to  James  VI  and  the  Master  of  Gray. 
Later  in  the  summer  he  made  his  way  back 
to  Ulster,  disguised  as  a  friar.  Information 
reached  Perrot  in  September  that  he  was 
harboured  by  Maguire  and  O'Rourke,  but 
that  otherwise  he  had  not  met  with  much 
support.  Perrot  hoped  to  be  shortly  in  pos- 
session of  his  head;  but  November  drew  to  a 
close  without  having  realised  his  object,  and 
he  finally  consented  to  offer  him  a  pardon. 
The  offer  was  accepted,  and  in  December 
Nugent  formally  submitted. 

Meanwhile  his  wife  had,  on  the  interces- 
sion of  the  Earl  of  Ormonde,  been  restored  to 
her  possessions,  and  Nugent,  though  figuring 
in  Fitzwilliam's  list  of  discontented  persons, 
quietly  recovered  his  old  position  and  influ- 
ence. He  had  never  forgiven  Sir  RobertDillon 
for  the  pertinacity  with  which  he  had  prose- 
cuted his  family,  and  in  the  summer  of  1591 
he  formally  accused  him  of  maladministra- 
tion of  justice.  His  case  was  a  strong  one, 
and,  it  was  generally  admitted,  contained 
strong  presumptive  evidence  of  Dillon's  guilt. 
The  Irish  government  was  in  an  awkward  fix, 
for  though,  asWilbraham  said,  there  was  little 
doubt  that  Sir  Robert  Dillon  had  been  guilty 
of  inferior  crimes  dishonourable  to  a  judge, '  it 
was  no  policy  that  such  against  whom  he  had 
done  service  for  her  majesty  should  be  coun- 
tenanced to  wrest  anything  hardly  against 
him  unless  it  was  capital.'  This  was  also  Fitz- 
william's opinion ;  and  so  it  happened  that, 
while  commissioners  were  appointed  to  try 
the  charges  against  Dillon,  obstacles  of  one 
sort  and  another  were  constantly  arising.  In 
November  1593  the  foregone  conclusion  was 
arrived  at,  and  Dillon  was  pronounced  inno- 
cent of  all  the  accusations  laid  to  his  charge. 
The  rest  of  Nugent's  life  was  uneventful.  On 
31  Oct.  1606  James  I  consented  to  restore 


him  to  his  blood  and  inheritance.  A  bill 
for  the  purpose  was  transmitted  to  the  privy 
council  in  1613, but,  being  found  unfit  to  pass, 
it  was  not  returned.  Nugent  died  on  30  June 
1625.  By  his  wife,  Janet  Marward,  he  had 
three  sons:  Robert,  who  died  on  1  May  1616; 
Christopher,  who  died  unmarried ;  and  James, 
marshal  of  the  army  of  the  confederates  and 
governor  of  Finagh,  by  whose  rebellion  the 
family  estate  was  finally  forfeited. 

[Lodge's  Peerage,  ed.  Archdall,  i.  232 ;  Cal. 
State  Papers,  Ireland,  Eliz.  and  James  I,  passim; 
Cal.  Carew  MSS. ;  Cal.  Fiants,  Eliz.;  Gray 
Papers  (Bannatyne  Club),  p.  30 ;  Repertory  of 
Inquisitions,  Meath,  Charles  I,  No.  80.]  E.  D. 

NUNN,  MARIANNE  (1778-1847), 
hymn-writer,  daughter  of  John  Nunn  of 
Colchester,  was  born  17  May  1778.  She 
wrote  several  sacred  pieces,  but  is  remem- 
bered solely  by  the  hymn, '  One  there  is  above 
all  others,  0  how  He  loves.'  This  is  a  ver- 
sion adapted  to  a  Welsh  air  of  Newton's 
hymn  beginning  with  the  same  line,  and 
it  has  since  undergone  several  changes  at 
various  hands.  The  original  is  printed  in 
her  brothers  (Rev.  J.  Nunn)  '  Psalms  and 
Hymns,'  1817,  which  contains  other  pieces 
of  hers.  She  died  unmarried  in  1847.  A 
younger  brother,  WILLIAM  Nuirar  (1786- 
1840),  wrote  several  hymns,  two  of  which, 
O  could  we  touch  the  sacred  lyre '  and 
'  The  Gospel  comes  ordained  of  God,'  are  in 
occasional  use. 

[Julian's  Diet,  of  Hymnology;  GarrettHorder's 
Hymn  Lover.]  J.  C.  H. 

NUNNA  or  NUN  (/.  710),  king  of  the 
South-Saxons,  joined  his  kinsman,  Ine  or 
Ini  [q.  v.],  king  of  the  West-Saxons,  in  his 
victorious  war  with  Gerent,  king  of  British 
Dyvnaint,  in  710  (Anglo-Saxon  Chron.  sub. 
an. ;  ETHELWEARD,  ii.  c.  12).  He  first  appears 
as  confirming  a  charter  of  Nothelm  [q.  v.], 
iing  of  the  South-Saxons,  in  692,  where  he 
s  described  as  also  king  of  Sussex ;  to  the 
charter  the  names  of  Wattus,  king,  Coenred, 
iing  of  the  West-Saxons,  and  Ine  are  also 
appended  (Codex  Dipt.  No.  995).  He  was 
no  doubt  an  setheling  of  the  house  of  Ceawlin, 
and  reigned  in  Sussex,  which,  since  the  inva- 

ion  of  Cfed walla  (659  P-689)  [q.  v.],  had 
seen  under  West -Saxon  supremacy.  The  three 
harters  of  Nunna  given  in  the  '  Monasticon  ' 
and  by  Kemble  (ib.  Nos.  999,  1000,  1001) 

om  the  register  of  the  dean  and  chapter 
>f  Chichester  are  of  doubtful  authority.  In 
he  first,  dated  714,  Nunna  grants  land  to 
he  monks  of  the  isle  of  Selsey,  where  he 
iesires  to  be  buried ;  the  second,  dated  725, 
s  a  grant  to  Eadbert,  bishop  of  Selsey,  and 
he  third  a  grant  of  land  at  Pipering  to  a 


Nunneley 


275 


Nuthall 


'  servant  of  God '  named  Berhtfrith,  on  con- 
dition that  prayer  should  be  offered  there 
continually  for  the  donor. 

[Anglo-Saxon  Chron.  an.  710  (Rolls  Ser.); 
Ethelweard,  ii.  c.  12  (Mon.  Hist.  Brit.  p.  507) ; 
Flor.  Wig.  an.  710  (Engl.  Hist.  Soc.) ;  Kemble's 
Codex  Dipl.  Nos.  995,  999,  1000,  1001  (Engl. 
Hist.  Soc.  v.  39,  41,  43);  Dugdale's  Monasticon, 
vi.  1162,  1163;  Somerset  Archseol.  Soc.'s  Proc. 
1872,  xvm.  ii.  25,  26,  33,  45-1  W.  H. 

NUNNELEY,  THOMAS  (1809-1870), 
surgeon,  born  at  Market  Harboroughin  March 
1809,  was  son  of  John  Nunneley,  agentleman 
of  property  in  Leicestershire,  who  claimed  de- 
scent from  a  Shropshire  family.  He  was  edu- 
cated privately,  and  was  apprenticed  to  a 
medical  man  in  Wellingborough,  Northamp- 
tonshire. He  afterwards  entered  as  a  student 
at  Guy's  Hospital,  where  he  became  inti- 
mately acquainted  with  Sir  Astley  Paston 
Cooper  [q.v.J,  and  served  as  surgical  dresser 
to  Mr.  Key.  He  was  admitted  a  licentiate 
of  the  Society  of  Apothecaries  on  12  July 
1832,  in  the  same  year  obtained  the  member- 
ship of  the  Royal  College  of  Surgeons  of  Eng- 
land, and  in  1843  he  was  elected  a  fellow 
honoris  causa.  As  soon  as  he  had  obtained 
his  license  to  practise,  he  went  to  Paris  to  in- 
crease his  professional  knowledge.  He  ap- 
plied unsuccessfully  for  the  office  of  house- 
surgeon  to  the  Leeds  General  Infirmary  on 
his  return  to  England ;  but  finding  that  an 
opportunity  for  practice  offered  itself  in  the 
town,  he  settled  there,  and  was  soon  after- 
wards appointed  surgeon  to  the  Eye  and  Ear 
Hospital,  a  post  he  occupied  for  twenty  years 
with  eminent  success.  In  the  Leeds  school 
of  medicine  he  lectured  on  anatomy  and 
physiology,  and  later  on  surgery,  until  1866. 
He  was  appointed  surgeon  to  the  Leeds  Gene- 
ral Infirmary  in  1864.  For  some  years  he  was 
an  active  member  of  the  Leeds  town  council. 
He  died  on  1  June  1870. 

Nunneley  was  a  surgeon  who  operated  with 
equal  ability,  judgment,  and  skill,  and  is 
further  remarkable  as  being  one  of  the 
earliest  surgeons  outside  London  to  devote 
himself  to  the  special  study  of  ophthalmic 
surgery  in  its  scientific  aspects.  He  was  clear, 
vigorous,  and  logical  as  a  writer,  and  of  de- 
cisive character.  These  qualities  made  him 
a  valuable  professional  witness  in  favour  of 
William  Palmer  (1825-1856)  [q.  v.],who  was 
convicted  of  poisoning  J.  P.  Cook  by  strychnia 
in  1856,  and  against  William  Dove,  who 
poisoned  his  wife  with  the  same  drug  in  the 
course  of  that  same  year. 

Nunneley's  chief  work  was  '  The  Organs 
of  Vision,  their  Anatomy  and  Physiology,' 
London,  1858,  8vo.  The  book  at  the  time  it 
was  published  was  of  great  value,  but  its  sale 


was  spoilt  by  adverse  criticism  in  professional 
journals,  which  appears  to  have  been  due  to 
personal  animosity.  Nunneley  also  pub- 
lished: 1.  <  An  Essay  on  Erysipelas,' published 
in  1831,  andreissuedin  1841.  2. '  Anatomical 
Tables,'  London,  1838,  12mo.  3.  <  On  Anses- 
thesia  and  Anaesthetic  Substances  generally  ' 
Worcester,  1849,  8vo. 

His  portrait  appears  in  '  Photographs  of 
eminent  Medical  Men,'  London,  1867,  ii.  33. 

[Obituary  notice  by  Dr.  George  Burrows,  the 
president,  in  the  Proceedings  of  the  Royal  Medical 
and  Chirurgical  Society,  vi.  354  ;  Medical  Times 
and  Gazette,  1870,  i.  648;  information  from  Dr. 
J.  A.  Nunneley.]  D'A.  P. 

NUTHALL,  THOMAS  (d.  1775),  poli- 
tician and  public  official,  was  a  native  of 
the  county  of  Norfolk.     He  became  a  solici- 
tor, and  held  the  appointments  of  registrar 
of  warrants  in  the  excise  office  (1740),  and 
receiver-general  for  hackney  coaches  (1749). 
From  a  letter  written  by  him  from  Crosby 
Square,  London,  on  30  May  1749,  to  Lord 
j  Townshend,  it  appears  that  he  transacted  that 
;  peer's  legal  business.      He  was  also  solicitor 
I  to  the  East  India  Company ;  on  the  retire- 
\  ment  in  July  1765  of  Philip  Carteret  Webb 
he  was  appointed  solicitor  to  the  treasury ; 
and  he  succeeded  Webb  in  1766,  when  Lord 
North  ington  ceased  to  be  lord  chancellor,  in 
'  the  post  of  secretary  of  bankrupts.    Nuthall 
|  had  been  for  many  years  intimately  acquainted 
1  with  Pitt,  whose  marriage  settlements  he  had 
drawn  up  in  1754,  and  he  attributed  his  pro- 
motions to  the  friendship  of  Pitt,  his  '  great 
I  benefactor  and  patron.'    He  added  that  he 
j  would  resign  his  offices  when  called  upon  to 
'  do  anything  that  I  can  even  surmise  to  be 
repugnant  to  your  generous  and  constitu- 
tional principles.'     Many  letters  to  and  from 
him  are   in  the  '  Chatham  Correspondence 
(ii.  166  et  seq.);  he  was  addressed  as  'dear 
Nuthall,'  and  he  was  the  medium  of  the  com- 
!  munications  with  Lord  Rockingham  in  Fe- 
j  bruary  1766  for  the  restoration  of  Pitt  to 
power.    In  1772,  however,  in  consequence  of 
some  errors  in  their  private  business, probably 
!  due  to  the  multiplication  of  his  official  duties, 
i  Nuthall  fell  under  the  censure  of  that  states- 
man and  of  Lord  Temple,  the  latter  of  whom, 
i  when  writing  to  Pitt,  dubbed  him  '  that  face- 
I  tious  man  of  business  in  so  many  depart- 
ments, Mr.  Thomas  Nuthall,  whose  fellow  is 
not  easily  to  be  met  with ;  witness  your  mar- 
riage-settlements not  witnessed.' 

Nuthall  seems  to  have  been  in  partner- 
ship with  a  solicitor  called  Skirrow  at  Lin- 
coln's Inn  in  1766.       In  the  same  year,  as 
ranger  of  Enfield  Chase,  he  devised  a  plan 
j  for  saving  its  oak-woods  for  the  construc- 


Nutt 


276 


Nuttall 


tion  of  the  navy  which  met  with  the  com- 
mendation of  Pitt ;  but  an  act  was  passed  in 
1777  for  dividing  the  chase,  and  it  was  dis- 
afforested. On  returning  from  Bath  he  was 
attacked  on  Hounslow  Heath  by  a  single 
highwayman,  who  fired  into  the  carriage, 
but  no  one  was  injured.  Nuthall  returned 
the  fire,  and  the  man  hastily  decamped. 
At  the  inn  at  Hounslow  he  wrote  a  descrip- 
tion of  the  fellow  to  Sir  John  Fielding,  and 
'  had  scarce  closed  his  letter  when  he  sud- 
denly expired,'  7  March  1775.  He  had 
married  in  1757  the  relict  of  Hambleton 
Costance  of  Ringland,  in  Norfolk.  A  pas- 
sage in  Horace  Walpole's  '  Letters,'  27  Oct. 
1 775,  shows  that  his  widow  received  a  pen- 
sion from  the  state. 

Nuthall's  portrait,  by  Gainsborough,  was 
exhibited  at  the  Royal  Academy  in  1771, 
and  his  signature  is  reproduced  in  plate  xiv. 
of  facsimiles  of  autographs  in  the  '  Chatham 
Correspondence,'  vol.  ii.  Numerous  letters 
and  references  to  him  are  in  the  '  Home 
Office  Papers,'  1760-72. 

[Gent.  Mag.  1740  p.  93,  1749  p.  189,  1757 
p.  531,  1765  p.  348, 1766  p.  391,  1775  p.  148  ; 
Nichols's  Lit.  Anecdotes,  iv.  338 ;  Chatham 
Correspondence,  ii.  166,  325,  397;  Grenville 
Papers,  i.  128,  iv.  537-46;  Fulcher's  Gains- 
borough, ed.  1856,  p.  186.]  W.  P.  C. 

NUTT,  JOSEPH  (1700-1775),  surveyor 
of  highways,  son  of  Robert  and  Sarah  Nutt 
of  Hinckley,  Leicestershire,  was  baptised 
there  on  2  Oct.  1700  (parish  reg.)  He  was 
educated  at  the  free  grammar  school,  Hinck- 
ley, and  afterwards  apprenticed  to  John 
Parr,  an  apothecary  in  the  same  town. 
After  studying  in  the  London  hospitals  he 
settled  in  his  native  town,  where  he  became 
successful  and  popular,  frequently  doctoring 
the  poor  for  nothing.  Having  been  chosen 
one  of  the  surveyors  of  highways  for  Hinck- 
ley parish,  he  turned  his  attention  to  the 
roads,  and  introduced  a  system  of  periodi- 
cally flooding  them.  The  track  thus  became 
firm  and  substantial  for  saddle  and  pack 
horses,  the  latter  then  much  used  for  trans- 
porting pit-coal  from  the  mines,  and  the 
land  on  either  side  was  also  enriched. 

Nutt's  procedure  was  resisted,  and  he  him- 
self subjected  to  ridicule;  but  his  opinion  as 
a  land  valuer  was  sought  by  others,  especi- 
ally by  Sir  Dudley  Ryder,  attorney-general 
(1737-1754).  John  Dyer  [q.v.],  the  poet, 
was  on  familiar  terms  with  Nutt,  and  cele- 
brated in  his  poem  of '  The  Fleece '  the  utili- 
tarian talents  of  the  '  Sweet  Hincklean 
swain  whom  rude  obscurity  severely  clasps ' 
(edition  of  1762,  p.  27). 

Nutt  died  at  Hinckley  on  16  Oct.  1775, 
and  was  buried  in  the  churchyard. 


By  his  will  he  left  six  oak-trees  to  build, 
within  forty  years  of  his  death,  a  new  mar- 
ket-place for  Hinckley,  with  a  school  and 
town-hall  above  it. 

[Chalmers's  Biographical  Dictionary,  xxiii. 
273-4 ;  Nichol's  Hist,  and  Antiq.  of  Hinckley 
in  the  Bibl.  Topogr.  Brit.  vii.  187-9.] 

C.  E.  8. 

NUTTALL,  JOSIAH  (1771-1849),  na- 
turalist, son  of  a  handloom  weaver,  was  born 
at  Hey  wood,  Lancashire,  in  1771.  Early  in 
life  he  became  a  collector  of  birds,  a  close 
observer  of  nature,  and  in  time  an  expert 
taxidermist.  For  some  years  he  was  engaged 
in  the  museum  of  Mr.  Bullock  of  Liverpool, 
and  subsequently  at  the  Royal  Institution 
in  the  same  town.  He  realised  sufficient 
means  to  purchase  property  in  his  native 
village,  where  he  retired  with  a  good  col- 
lection of  British  and  foreign  birds.  Here  he 
turned  his  attention  to  literary  pursuits,  and 
in  1845  published  an  epic  poem  in  ten  cantos, 
entitled  '  Belshazzar,  a  Wild  Rhapsody  and 
Incoherent  Remonstrance,  abruptly  written 
on  seeing  Haydon's  celebrated  Picture  of 
Belshazzar's  Feast,'  a  work  as  curious  in  itself 
as  in  its  title.  He  died  unmarried  at  Hey- 
wood  on  6  Sept.  1849,  aged  78. 

[Manchester  Guardian,  15  Sept.  1849.] 

C.  W.  S. 

NUTTALL,  THOMAS  (1786-1859),  na- 
turalist, son  of  Jonas  Nuttall,  printer,  Black- 
burn, Lancashire,  was  born  at  Long  Preston, 
Settle,  Yorkshire,  on  5  Jan.  1786,  while  his 
mother  was  on  a  visit.  He  was  educated  at 
Blackburn,  and  brought  up  there  as  a  printer. 
He  early  took  up  the  study  of  botany,  particu- 
larly the  flora  of  his  native  hills.  In  March 
1807  he  went  to  the  United  States,  and  after- 
wards devoted  his  life  to  scientific  pursuits. 
Asa  Gray,  writing  in  1844,  says  that  '  from 
that  time  [1808]  to  the  present  no  botanist  has 
visited  so  large  a  portion  of  the  United  States, 
or  made  such  an  amount  of  observations  in 
field  and  forest.  Probably  few  naturalists 
have  ever  excelled  him  in  aptitude  for  such 
observations,  in  quickness  of  eye,  tact  in  dis- 
crimination, and  tenacity  of  memory.'  He 
visited  nearly  all  the  states  of  the  union, 
and  made  more  discoveries  than  any  other 
explorer  of  the  botany  of  North  America. 
In  1811,  along  with  Bradbury,  he  ascended 
the  Missouri  sixteen  hundred  miles  above  its 
mouth.  In  1819  he  made  the  then  dangerous 
ascent  of  the  Arkansas  to  the  Great  Salt 
River.  In  1834  he  succeeded  in  crossing 
the  Rocky  Mountains  by  the  road  along  the 
sources  of  the  Platte,  and  explored  the  ter- 
ritory of  the  Oregon  and  of  Upper  California. 
He  also  visited  the  Sandwich  Islands.  From 


Nuttall 


277 


Nuttall 


1822  to  1834  he  was  professor  of  natural 
history  in  Harvard  University,  and  curator 
of  the  botanic  gardens  in  connection  with 
the  university.  He  returned  to  England  in 
1842,  living  at  Nutgrove,  near  St.  Helens, 
Lancashire,  an  estate  which  was  left  to  him 
on  condition  that  he  should  reside  upon  it. 
There  he  had  an  extensive  garden  and  col- 
lection of  living  plants.  He  died  of  pro- 
longed chronic  bronchitis  at  Nutgrove  on 
10  Sept.  1859.  A  portrait  was  published  in 
1825  by  Fisher. 

He  was  the  author  of  many  important  con- 
tributions to  American  scientific  journals,  as 
well  as  of  the  following  works :  1.  '  Genera 
of  North  American  Plants  and  a  Catalogue 
of  the  Species  to  the  vear  1817,'  Philadelphia, 
1818,  2  vols.  12nio.  2.  '  Geological  Sketch  of 
the  Valley  of  the  Mississippi.'  3.  '  Jour- 
nal of  Travels  into  the  Arkansas  Territory,' 
Philadelphia,  1821,  8vo.  4.  'Introduction 
to  Systematic  and  Physiological  Botany,' 
Boston,  1827,  8vo.  5.  '  Manual  of  the  Orni- 
thology of  the  United  States  and  of  Canada,' 
pt.  i.  Land  Birds,  Cambridge,  Massachusetts, 
1832,  12rno,pt.ii.  Water  Birds,  Boston,  1834, 
12mo.  A  new  edition,  revised  by  Montague 
Chamberlain, has  recently  been  issued  (1894) 
under  the  auspices  of  the  Nuttall  Ornitho- 
logical Club,  Cambridge,  Massachusetts. 
6.  '  North  American  Sylva :  Trees  not  de- 
scribed by  F.  A.  Michaux,'  Philadelphia, 
1842-9,  3"vols.  8vo. 

[Asa  Gray's  Scienti6c  Papers,  1889,  ii.  75  et 
passim ;  Appleton's  Cyclop,  of  American  Bio- 
graphy, iv.  547  ;  Allibone's  Diet,  of  Engl.  Lit. 
ii.  1445;  J.  Windsor's  Flora  Cravonensis,  1873, 
p.  1 ;  Royal  Soc.  Cat.  of  Scientific  Papers,  iv.  650 
(list  of  twenty-seven  papers);  Cat.  of  Boston 
Athenaeum  Library;  Gent.  Mag.  ii.  1859,  p.  653 ; 
Brackenbridge's  Views  of  Louisiana,  1814,  pp. 
239-40;  The  Harvard  Book,  1875,  ii.  314; 
Whittle's  Blackburn,  1854,  p.  194;  Britten  and 
Boulger's  Index  of  Botanists,  1893.]  C.  W.  S. 

NUTTALL,  THOMAS  (1828-1890),lieu- 
tenant-general,  Indian  army,  born  in  London 
on  7  Oct.  1828,  was  son  of  George  R.  Nuttall, 
M.D.,  some  years  one  of  the  physicians  of  the 
Westminster  dispensary.  His  mother  was 
daughter  of  Mr.  Mansfield  of  Midmar  Castle, 
Aberdeenshire.  He  was  sent  to  a  private 
school  at  Aberdeen,  but  his  character  is  said 
to  have  been  formed  chiefly  by  his  mother,  a 
good  and  clever  woman.  Sailing  for  India 
as  an  infantry  cadet  on  12  Aug.  1845,  he  was 
posted  as  ensign  in  the  29th  Bombay  native 
infantry  from  that  date ;  became  lieutenant 
in  the  regiment  on  26  June  1847,  and  captain 
on  23  Nov.  1856.  As  a  subaltern  he  held  for 
a  short  time  the  post  of  quartermaster,  also 
of  commandant  and  staff  officer  of  a  detached 


wing,  and  was  for  nearly  five  years,  from 
December  1851  to  November  185*6,  adjutant 
of  his  regiment.  As  captain  of  the  regimental 
light  company,  he  was  detached  with  the  light 
battalion  of  the  army  in  the  Persian  expedi- 
tion of  1857  (medal  and  clasp).  He  returned 
to  Bombay  in  May  that  year,  and  in  August 
rejoined  his  regiment  at  Belgaum.  During 
the  mutiny  and  after,  from  9  Nov.  1857  to 
25  March  1861,  he  was  detached  on  special 
police  duty  against  disaffected  Bheels  and 
Coolies  in  the  Nassick  districts.  He  organised 
and  disciplined  a  corps  of  one  of  the  wildest 
and  hitherto  most  neglected  tribes  of  the 
Deccan,  the  coolies  of  the  Western  Ghats, 
which  did  excellent  service,  and  was  engaged 
in  many  skirmishes.  The  assistant  collector 
at  Nassick  reported  that  the  dispersion  of  the 
Bheel  rebels  and  the  prompt  suppression  of 
the  Peint  rebellion  were  due  to  Nuttall's 
exertions.  The  commissioner  of  police  simi- 
larly reported,  on  21  Nov.  1859,  that 'Captain 
Nuttall  and  his  men  have  marched  incredible 
distances,  borne  hardships,  privations,  and 
exposure  to  an  extent  that  has  seldom  been 
paralleled,  one  continuous  exertion  for  more 
than  two  years  without  ceasing,  most  of  the 
time  in  bivouac.'  On  five  occasions  during 
this  service  Nuttall  received  the  commenda- 
tion of  government.  From  June  1860  to 
August  1865  he  held  the  position  of  super- 
intendent of  police  successively  at  Kaira, 
Sholapur,  and  Kulladgi,  having  in  the  mean- 
time been  transferred  to  the  Bombay  staff 
corps  (June  1865).  He  was  promoted  major 
in  the  same  year.  In  September  1865  he 
proceeded  on  sick  furlough  to  England,  and 
returned  to  India  in  April  1867,  when  he  re- 
sumed his  police  duties  at  Kulladgi,  and  in 
October  was  appointed  second  in  command 
of  the  land  transport  of  the  Abyssinian  ex- 
pedition, with  which  he  did  good  service  at 
Koumeylee  (mentioned  in  despatches ;  brevet 
of  lieutenant-colonel  and  medal  and  clasp). 
From  August  1868  to  February  1871  he  did 
duty  with  the  25th  Bombay  native  infantry, 
and  from  April  1871  to  April  1876  with  the 
22nd  native  infantry  in  the  grades  of  second 
in  command  and  commandant,  during  a  por- 
tion of  which  time  (from  8  May  to  30  Oct. 
1871)  he  was  in  temporary  command  of  the 
Neemuch  brigade.  He  became  lieutenant- 
colonel  on  2  Aug.  1871,  and  brevet-colonel 
on  3  Dec.  1873.  On  5  April  1876  he  became 
acting  commandant,  and  on  25  Jan.  1877 
commandant  of  the  Sind  frontier  force,  with 
headquarters  at  Jacobabad.  On  20  Nov. 
1878  he  was  appointed  brigadier-general  in 
the  Affghan  expeditionary  force,  and  com- 
manded his  brigade  in  the  Pisheen  Valley 
and  at  the  occupation  of  Kandahar.  After 


Nuttall 


278 


Nutting 


the  departure  of  Sir  Michael  Biddulph  and 
Lieutenant-general  Sir  D.  Stewart  he  com- 
manded the  brigade  of  all  arms  left  for  the 
occupation  of  Kandahar.     After  the  second 
division  of  the  army  was  broken  up  he  com- 
manded a  brigade  left  at  Vitaki  till  17  May, 
when  it  also  was  broken  up,  and  he  returned 
to  his  post  on  the  Upper  Sind  frontier.  When 
the  Affghan  war  entered  its  second  phase,  Nut-  | 
tall  was  appointed  brigadier-general  of  the 
cavalry  brigade  formed  at  Kandahar  in  May 
1880,  and  commanded  it  in  the  action  at  I 
Girishk,  on  the  Helmund,  on  14  July  1880, 
in  the  cavalry  affair  of  23rd,  and  in  the  dis- 
astrous battle  of  Maiwand  on  27  July,  where 
he  led  the  cavalry  charge,  which  attempted 
to  retrieve  the  fortunes  of  the  day  at  the 
end  of  the  battle,  and  covered  the  retreat  to 
Kandahar,  which  was  reached  about  4.30  p.  M. 
next  day.     He  was  in  the  sortie  of  16  Aug. 
from  Kandahar  (mentioned  in  despatches), 
commanded  the  east  face  of  the  city  during 
the  defence  (mentioned  in  despatches),  and 
took  part  in  the  battle  of  Kandahar  and 
pursuit  of  the  Affghan  army  on  1  Sept.  1880 
(medal  and  clasps).     He  became  a  major- 
general  in  1885,  and  lieutenant-general  in 
1887.     He  died  at  Insch,  Aberdeenshire,  on 
30  Aug.  1890. 

Nuttall  wras  a  very  active  and  energetic 
officer,  popular  alike  with  officers  and  men, 
Europeans  and  natives.  He  was  one  of  the 
best  riders  and  swordsmen  in  the  Indian 
army,  a  frequent  competitor  at,  as  well  as 
patron  of,  contests  in  skill  at  arms,  and  a 
renowned  shikarry  with  hogspear  and  rifle. 

He  married,  at  Camberwell,  London,  on 
7  Feb.  1867,  Caroline  Latimer  Elliot,  daugh- 
ter of  Dr.  Elliot,  of  Denmark  Hill,  by  whom 
he  left  a  son. 

[Indian  Official  Records  and  Despatches,  in- 
cluding Affghan  Blue  Book;  Indian  Army  Lists, 
&c. ;  Archibald  Forbes's  Affghan  Wars,  London, 
1892,  chap.  viii. ;  information  supplied  by  Nut- 
tail's  brother,  Mnjor-general  J.  M.  Nuttall,  C.B., 
Indian  Army,  retired  list.]  H.  M.  C. 

NUTTALL,  WILLIAM  (d.  1840),  author, 
son  of  John  Nuttall,  master  fuller,  born  at 
Rochdale,  Lancashire,  kept  a  school  in  that 
town  for  many  years.  He  married  three 
times,  the  last  time  unhappily.  About  1828 
he  removed  to  Oldham,  but  poverty  and 
distress  overtook  him,  and  he  committed 
suicide  in  1840.  He  was  buried  in  Oldham 
churchyard.  He  wrote :  1.  '  Le  Voyageur, 
or  the  Genuine  History  of  Charles  Manley,' 
1806.  2. '  Rochdale,  a  Fragment,  with  Notes, 
intended  as  an  Introduction  to  the  History 
of  Rochdale,'  1810.  It  is  in  doggerel  verse, 
and  is  curious  as  the  first  attempt  at  a  history 
of  the  town.  The  manuscript  of  his  intended 


history  of  Rochdale  was  utilised  by  Baines 
in  his  '  History  of  Lancashire.' 

[Papers  of  the  Manchester  Literary  Club,  1880 
(paper  by  H.  Fishwick) ;  \V.  Robertson's  Old  and 
New  Rochdale,  p.  102 ;  Fishwick's  Lancashire 
Library.]  C.  W.  S. 

NUTTER,  WILLIAM  (1759P-1802), 
engraver  and  draughtsman,  was  born  about 
1759  and  became  a  pupil  of  John  Raphael 
Smith ;  he  practised  exclusively  in  the  stipple 
manner  of  Bartolozzi,  and  executed  many 
good  plates  after  the  leading  English  artists  of 
his  time,  a  large  proportion  being  from  minia- 
tures by  Samuel  Shelley.  Nutter's  works, 
which  are  dated  from  1780  to  1800,  include 
'  The  Ale  House  Door '  and  '  Coming  from 
Market,'  after  Singleton ;  '  Celia  overheard 
by  Young  Delvile,'  after  Stothard ;  '  Satur- 
day Evening,'  and  '  Sunday  Morning,'  after 
Bigg;  'The  Moralist,'  after  J.  R.  Smith; 
'  Burial  of  General  Fraser,'  after  J.  Graham, 
and  portraits  of  Princess  Mary,  after  Ram- 
berg  ;  Captain  Coram,  after  Hogarth  ;  Lady 
Beauchamp,  after  Reynolds  ;  Mrs.  Hartley, 
after  Reynolds ;  Martha  Gunn,  after  Russell ; 
and  Lady  E.  Foster,  Samuel  Berdmore,  and 
Nathaniel  Chauncy  after  Shelley.  Nutter 
exhibited  some  allegorical  designs  at  the 
i  Royal  Academy  in  1782  and  1783.  He  died 
i  at  his  residence  in  Somers  Town,  21  March 
1802,  in  his  44th  year,  and  was  buried  in  the 
graveyard  of  Whitefield's  Tabernacle,  Tot- 
tenham Court  Road. 

[Redgrave's  Diet,  of  Artists ;  Dodd's  Collec- 
tions in  British  Museum,  Addit.  MS.  33403 ; 
Gent.  Mag.  1802,  pt.  i.  p.  286.]  F.  M.  O'D. 

NUTTING,  JOSEPH  (f.  1700),  engra- 
ver, worked  in  London  at  the  end  of  the 
seventeenth  and  beginning  of  the  eighteenth 
century.  His  plates,  which  are  not  nume- 
rous, and  have  become  scarce,  are  chiefly  por- 
traits engraved  in  a  neat,  laboured  style, 
resembling  that  of  R.  White.  The  best  are  : 
Mary  Capell,  duchess  of  Beaufort,  after  R. 
Walker  ;  Sir  Edmund  Berry  Godfrey ;  John 
Locke,  after  Brownover  ;  Thomas  Greenhill, 
after  Murray,  prefixed  to  his  '  Art  of  Em- 
balming,' 1705 ;  Aaron  Hill,  the  poet,  1705: 
Sir  Bartholomew  Shower ;  Sir  John  Cheke ; 
James  Bonnell ;  the  Rev.  Matthew  Mead ; 
William  Elder,  the  engraver ;  and  the  family 
of  Rawlinson  of  Cark,  five  ovals  on  one  plate. 
Nutting  engraved  about  1690  '  A  New  Pro- 
spect of  the  North  Side  of  the  City  of  Lon- 
don, with  New  Bedlam  and  Moore  Fields,'  a 
large  work  in  three  sheets,  and  a  few  other 
topographical  plates. 

[Redgrave's  Diet,  of  Artists;  Dodd's  Collec- 
tions in  British  Museum,  Addit.  MS.  33403.] 

F.  M.  O'D. 


Nye 


279 


Nye 


NYE,  JOHN  (d.  1688),  theological  wri- 
ter, was  the  second  son  of  Philip  Nye  [q.  v.] 
He  is  probably  the  John  Nye  who,  on  4  Jan. 
1647,  was  '  approved  on  his  former  examina- 
tion' by  the  Westminster  assembly.  On 
23  Feb.  1654  (being  already  married,  and  the 
father  of  two  sons)  he  matriculated  from 
Magdalen  College,  Oxford,  and  obtained  his 
B.A.  degree  the  same  day.  In  1C54  he 
was  a  student  of  the  Middle  Temple,  and 
was  appointed  (before  June  1654)  clerk  or 
*  register '  to  the  '  triers,'  his  father  (with 
whom  he  is  often  confounded)  being  a  lead- 
ing commissioner.  At  the  Restoration  he 
conformed,  and  obtained  the  vicarage  of 
Great  Chishall,  Essex,  in  1661.  Calamy  says 
he  was  ejected  from  Settingham,  Cambridge- 
shire; there  seems  no  such  place ;  '  ejected  ' 
.would  simply  mean  that  he  ceded  some  se- 
questered living.  He  was  living  at  Cam- 
bridge in  March  1662.  On  27  Aug.  1662  he 
obtained  the  rectory  of  Quendon,  Essex,  va- 
cant by  the  nonconformity  of  Abraham  Clyf- 
ford,  afterwards  M.D.  (d.  1676).  In  1674 "he 
obtained  also  the  adjacent  vicarage  of  Rick- 
ling,  Essex.  He  died  in  1688.  He  married 
the  second  daughter  of  Stephen  Marshall 
[q.  v.] ;  she  seems  to  have  died  before  1655. 
His  son,  Stephen  Nye,  is  separately  noticed ; 
another  son,  John  (b.  1652  ?),  was  admitted 
pensioner  of  Magdalene  College,  Cambridge, 
on  27  March  1666,  in  his  fifteenth  year,  and 
graduated  B.A.  in  1670. 

He  published:  1.  'Mr.  Anthony  Sadler 
examined,'  &c.,  1654,  4to  (anon. ;  but  as- 
signed to  Nye  ;  it  is  a  defence  of  his  father  in 
reply  to  Sadler's  'Inquisitio  Anglicana,'&c., 
1654,  4to).  2.  '  A  Display  of  Divine  Heral- 
dry,' &c.,  1678, 12mo  (preface  dated  '  Quen- 
don, 25  Oct.  1675; '  it  is  a  reconciliation  of 
the  genealogies  of  our  Lord,  and  a  defence  of 
the  inerrancy  of  scripture,  against  Socinus). 

[Calamy's  Account,  1713,  p.  119;  Hustler's 
Grad.  Cantabr.  1823;  David's  Evang.  Noncon- 
formity inEssex,  1863,  pp.  '285,  444  sq.;  Mitchell 
and  Smithers's  Minutes  of  the  Westminster 
Assembly,  1874,  p.  318  ;  Minutes  of  Manchester 
Presbyterian  Classis  (Chatham  Soc.),  1891,  iii. 
391;  Foster's  Alumni  Oxon.  1891,  iii.  1083; 
will  of  Stephen  Marshall  at  Somerset  House; 
extract  from  Admission  Book  of  Magdalene  Col- 
lege, Cambridge,  per  F.  Pattrick,  esq.~|  A.  G. 

NYE,  NATHANIEL  (ft.  1648),  writer 
on  gunnery,  born  in  1624,  was  author  of 
(1)  '  A  New  Almanack  for  1643,'  on  the  title- 
page  of  which  he  describes  himself  as  '  ma- 
thematician and  practitioner  of  astronomy ' 
and  of  (2)  '  The  Art  of  Gunnery,  wherein  is 
described  the  true  way  to  make  all  sorts  of 
gunpowder,  gun-match  [sic],  the  art  of  shoot- 
ing in  great  and  small  ordnance,  excellent 


ways  to  take  Heights,  Depths,  Distances, 
accessible  or  inaccessible,  either  single  or 
divers  distances  at  one  operation  :  to  draw 
the  Map  or  Plot  of  any  City,  Town,  Castle, 
or  other  fortified  place :  to  make  divers  sorts 
of  artificiall  Fireworks  both  for  war  and  re- 
creation ;  also  to  cure  all  such  wounds  that 
are  curable,  which  may  chance  to  happen  by 
gunpowder  or  Fireworks,'  2  parts,  1647,  8vo. 
The  author  is  styled  Master  gunner  of  the 
city  of  Worcester.  On  the  title-page  it  is 
stated  that  the  book  is  '  for  the  help  of  all 
such,  gunners  and  others,  that  have  charge 
of  artillery,  and  are  not  well  versed  in  arith- 
metic and  geometry ; '  all  the  rules  and  direc- 
tions '  being  framed  both  with  and  without 
the  help  of  arithmetic.'  '  The  Art  of  Gun- 
nery '  is  dedicated,  with  a  quaint  preface,  to 
the  Earl  of  Lindsey,  lord  great-chamberlain 
of  England.  In  a  second  preface,  addressed 
to  the  reader,  Nye  writes :  '  Whatsoever  thou 
findest  in  my  Fireworks  I  do  protest  to  thee 
that  I  have  made  and  still  do  make  practice 
of  them  myself ;  having  by  experience  found 
them  the  best  of  all  others  that  ever  I  have 
read  of :  or  that  are  taught  by  Bate,  Babing- 
ton,  Norton,  Tartaglia,  or  Malthus.'  Several 
illustrations  and  plans  are  given.  '  The  true 
Effigies  of  Nathaniel  Nye,'  aged  20,  drawn 
and  engraved  by  Hollar  and  prefixed  to  the 
edition  of  1647,  is  termed  by  Evans  '  fine  and 
scarce.'  An  edition  of  1670  is  in  the  library 
of  Sion  College. 

[Nye's  Works ;  Granger's  Biogr.  Hist,  of 
England,  ii.  338-9;  Evans's  Cat.  Engr.  Por- 
traits.] G.  LE  G.  N. 

NYE,  PHILIP  (1596P-1672),  indepen- 
dent divine,  probably  eldest  son  of  Henry  Nye 
(d.  1646),  rector  of  Clapham,  Sussex,  was  born 
about  1596.  The  Nye  family  seat  was  Hayes, 
near  Slinfold,  Sussex.  On  21  July  1615,  aged 
about  nineteen,  he  was  entered  a  commoner 
of  Brasenose  College,  Oxford.  He  removed 
on  28th  June  1616  to  Magdalen  Hall,  and 
graduated  B.A.  24  April  1619,  M.A.  9  May 
1622.  In  1620  he  began  to  preach,  but  his 
first  cure  is  unknown  ;  he  was  licensed  to 
the  perpetual  curacy  of  Allhallows,  Staining, 
on  9  Oct.  1627  (NEWCOURT),  and  in  1630  he 
was  at  St.  Michael's,  Cornhill  (Woop).  By 
1633  his  nonconformity  had  got  him  into 
trouble,  and  he  withdrew  to  Holland,  where 
he  remained, principally  at  Arnhem,till  1640. 
Early  in  that  year  he  returned  to  England  with 
John  Canne  [q.v.l,  landing  at  Hull.  Canne 
reached  Bristol  by  Easter  (5  April  1640), 
which  fixes  the  time  of  Nye's  return.  Bax- 
ter states  that  Nye  held  a  discussion  (in  Staf- 
fordshire) with  John  Ball  ( 1 585-1 640)  [q.  v.] 
On  the  presentation  of  Edward  Montagu 


Nye 


280 


Nye 


(afterwards  second  Earl  of  Manchester)  [q.v.], 
he  became  vicar  of  Kimbolton,  Huntingdon- 
shire, where  he  organised  an  independent 
church.  According  to  Edwards,  he  was 
much  in  Yorkshire,  spreading  his  indepen- 
dent opinions  especially  at  Hull.  At  Kim- 
bolton (apparently)  on  22  July  1643  seven 
persons  belonging  to  Hull  formed  themselves 
into  an  independent  church  for  that  town. 

He  was  summoned  (12  June  1643)  to  the 
Westminster  assembly  of  divines,  having 
had,  according  to  Calamy,  a  considerable 
hand  in  selecting  them  (his  father  was  on 
the  list,  but  did  not  attend),  and  was  sent  to 
Scotland  (20  July)  as  one  of  the  assembly's 
commissioners  with  Stephen  Marshall  [q.  v.] 
His  locum  tenens  at  Kimbolton  appears  to 
have  been  Robert  Luddington  (1586-1663), 
who  on  Nye's  return  became  pastor  of  the 
Hull  independent  church.  On  20  Aug.  he 
preached  in  the  Grey  Friars  Church,  Edin- 
burgh, but  '  did  not  please.  His  voice  was 
clamorous.  .  .  .  He  read  much  out  of  his 
paper  book.  All  his  sermon  was  on  ...  a 
spiritual  life  .  .  .  upon  a  knowledge  of  God, 
as  God,  without  the  scripture,  without  grace, 
without  Christ'  (BAILLIE).  He  returned 
(30  Aug.)  before  Marshall.  On  25  Sept.  he 
delivered  an  'exhortation'  at  St.  Margaret's, 
Westminster,  preliminary  to  the  taking  of 
the  'league  and  covenant'  [see  HENDERSON, 
ALEXANDER,  1688  P- 16461,  by  the  houses  of 
parliament  and  the  assembly.  Nye  showed 
that  the  covenant  in  upholding  '  the  ex- 
ample of  the  best  reformed  churches '  did  not 
bind  to  the  adoption  of  the  Scottish  model. 
He  received  the  rectory  of  Acton,  Middlesex, 
on  the  sequestration  (30  Sept.)  of  Daniel 
Featley  [q.  v.]  John  Vicars  [q.  v.]  says  he 
was  offered  a  royal  chaplaincy  in  December 
if  he  would  abandon  the  covenant  and  agree 
to  moderate  episcopacy. 

In  the  proceedings  of  the  assembly,  Nye 
took  a  decided  part  with  the  '  dissenting 
brethren,'  of  whom  Dr.  Thomas  Goodwin 
[q.  v.], '  vulgo  vocatus  Dr.  Nine  Caps,'  was  the 
leader.  The  rift  began  early,  for  on  20  Nov. 
1643  the  Scottish  commissioners  found  the 
assembly  in  '  sharp  debate '  on  a  proposition, 
by  ten  or  eleven  independents,  that  every  con- 
gregation should  have  its  '  doctor'  as  well 
as  its  '  pastor.'  This  was  compromised  by 
agreeing  that  'where  two  ministers  can  be 
had,'  their  functions  should  be  thus  distin- 
guished. The  thoroughgoing  independents 
were  four,  Goodwin,  Nye,  William  Bridge 
[q.  v.],  and  Sydrach  Simpson  [q.  v.]  With 
them  was  Jeremiah  Burroughes  [q.  v.],  who, 
however,  was  content  to  abide  by  the  paro- 
chial system,  as  against  '  gathered  churches.' 
These  issued  the  'Apologeticall  Narration  ' 


(1643).  William  Carter  (1605-1658)  joined 
them  in  signing  the  'dissent'  (9  Dec.  1644) 
from  the  assembly's  propositions  on  church 
government ;  the  published '  Reasons '  (1648) 
for  dissent  were  signed  also  by  William 
Greenhill  [q.  v.]  That  so  small  a  party 
proved  so  serious  a  trouble  to  the  assembly 
is  inexplicable  till  it  is  remembered  that  the 
strict  autonomy  of '  particular  churches '  was- 
the  basis  of  the  English  presbyterianism  of 
Thomas  Cartwright  (1535-1603)  [q.  v.]  and 
William  Bradshaw  (1571-1618)  [q.  v.],  while 
the  '  presbyterian  government  dependent,' 
defended  (1645)  by  John  Bastwick,  M.D. 
[q.  v.].  in  opposition  to  the  '  presbyterian 
government  independent,'  was  an  exotic 
novelty.  No  differences  of  doctrine  or  wor- 
ship divided  the  '  dissenting  brethren  '  from 
the  presbyterians.  In  January  1644  attempts- 
were  made  by  Sir  Thomas  Ogle  [q.  v.]  to 
attach  Nye  to  the  royalist  side.  He  was 
urged  to  go  to  Oxford,  and  again  promised 
a  royal  chaplaincy.  Nye  wrote  the  preface 
to  the  '  Directory '  (1644),  a  very  able  docu- 
ment. In  harmony  with  the  freedom  from 
'  set  forms '  which  it  advocated,  Nye  success- 
fully opposed  the  exclusive  authorisation  of 
any  psalm-book,  and  the  obligation  of  sitting 
to  the  table  at  communion.  He  was  for '  uni- 
formity, but  only  in  institutions '  (Minutes, 
20  Nov.  1644).  His  party  was  most  at  issue 
with  the  assembly  on  the  question  of  the 
liberty  to  be  given  to  '  tender '  (religiously 
affected)  consciences.  Goodwin  and  Nye  had 
a  robust  belief  in  the  ultimate  victory  of 
good  sense ;  they  proposed  to  treat  fanati- 
cisms as  follies,  not  as  crimes,  and  to  tolerate 
all  peaceable  preachers. 

During  the  progress  of  the  assembly  Nye 
was  a  frequent  preacher,  holding,  according 
to  Edwards,  besides  his  Acton  rectory,  four 
lectureships  at  Westminster  and  others  in 
London.  His  lecture  at  the  abbey  was  worth 
50/.  a  year.  He  was  with  Marshall  in  1647 
as  one  of  the  chaplains  to  the  commissioners 
in  treaty  with  the  king  in  the  Isle  of  Wight ; 
on  the  failure  (28  Dec.)  of  the  treaty  he  got 
up  a  London  petition  against  further  per- 
sonal treaty  with  Charles.  What  view  he 
took  of  the  fate  of  Charles  does  not  appear. 
He  was  one  of  the  ministers  who  proffered 
their  religious  services  to  the  king  on  the 
morning  of  his  execution.  In  April  1649  he 
was  sent  in  vain,  with  Marshall  and  others, 
to  persuade  the  secluded  members  to  resume 
their  places  in  parliament. 

The  turn  of  the  tide  for  the  independents 
came  in  1653.  Cromwell  appointed  'triers' 
(20  March  1654)  and '  expurgators'  (28  Aug.) 
for  admitting  and  dismissing  clergy;  Nye  was 
on  both  commissions.  His  examination  of 


Nye 


281 


Nye 


Anthony  Sadler  (3  July  1654)  has  often  been 
quoted  from  Sadler's  account,  but  this  should 
be  compared  with  the  pamphlet  in  reply  [see 
NYE,  JOHN,  d.  1688].  The  '  instrument  of 
government'  had  proposed  to  tolerate  all 
Christians;  the  parliament  which  met  Sep- 
tember 1654  interpreted  this  to  mean  all 
who  held  the  '  fundamentals.'  Nye  was  put 
on  a  committee  to  define  'fundamentals;' 
their  plans  were  upset  by  Baxter :  they  drew 
up  and  printed  (1654,  4to)  a  list  of  sixteen 
'  principles  of  faith/  but  the  document  was 
shelved  on  the  dissolution  of  parliament 
(22  Jan.  1655).  Some  time  in  1654  Nye 
received  the  rectory  of  St.  Bartholomew, 
Exchange,  vacant  by  the  sequestration  of 
John  Grant,  D.D. ;  he  was  succeeded  at 
Acton  by  Thomas  Elford,  an  independent. 
Jin  1656  Baxter  approached  Nye  with  a  view 
to  terms  of  accommodation  with  indepen- 
dents ;  the  irreducible  difference  was  in  re- 
gard to  ordination.  Nye  took  part  in  the 
Savoy  conference  of  October  1658,  when  the 
Westminster  confession  was  raised  in  the 
independent  sense,  and  signed  the  remark- 
able preface  to  the  'declaration  of  faith  and 
order'  (1659)  written  by  John  Owen,  D.D. 
(1616-1683)  [q.  v.]  It  seems  clear  that  at 
the  Wallingford  House  meetings,  early  in 
1659,  he  acted  in  the  republican  interest.  He 
strongly  opposed  the  measure  reimposing  the 
covenant  on  5  March  1660. 

At  the  Restoration  he  lost  his  preferments, 
and  narrowly  escaped  exclusion  from  the  in- 
demnity, on  condition  of  never  again  holding 
civil  or  ecclesiastical  office.  He  printed  an 
exculpatory  pamphlet,  addressed  to  the  Con- 
vention parliament ;  in  this  he  says  he  had 
been  a  preacher  forty  years,  and  was  now  in 
the  sixty-fifth  year  of  his  age.  In  January 
1661  he  signed  the  '  declaration  of  the  minis- 
ters of  congregational  churches '  against  the 
rising  of  the  Fifth-monarchy  men  under 
Venner.  His  papers  connected  with  the 
commission  of  '  triers'  were  ordered  (7  Jan. 
1662)  to  be  deposited  in  Juxon's  care  at  Lam- 
beth. On  the  appearance  of  Charles  II's  abor- 
tive declaration  of  indulgence  (26  Dec.  1662), 
Nye  and  other  independents  waited  on  the 
king.  Nye  fell  back  on  Bradshaw's  doctrine 
of  the  royal  supremacy  in  church  and  state, 
and  upheld  the  king's  prerogative  of  dis- 
pensing with  ecclesiastical  laws.  He  went 
to  Baxter  (2  Jan.  1663),  urging  him  to 
take  the  lead  in  an  address  of  thanks ;  but 
Baxter  had  burned  his  fingers,  and  would 
'meddle  no  more  in  such  matters;'  all  his 
party  objected  to  any  toleration  that  would 
include  papists.  Nye  left  London.  In  1666, 
however,  after  the  fire,  he  returned  and 
preached  in  open  conventicles.  On  the  in- 


dulgence of  1672,  he  ministered  to  an  inde- 
pendent church  in  Cutlers'  Hall,  Cloak  Lane, 
Queen  Street,  of  which  he  was  '  doctor,' 
the  pastor  being  John  Loder  (d.  30  Dec. 
1673),  who  had  been  his  assistant  at  St.  Bar- 
tholomew's, Exchange. 

Nye  died  at '  Brompton  in  the  parish  of 
Kensington,'  in  September  1672,  and  was 
buried  in  St.  Michael's,  Cornhill,  on  27  Sept. 
His  wife,  Judith,  survived  him,  and  probably 
died  in  1680.  After  her  death,  his  eldest  son 
Henry,  applied  (2  Oct.  1680)  for  letters  of 
administration  to  his  father's  estate,  which 
were  granted  on  13  Oct.  1681 ;  he  subse- 
quently edited  some  of  his  father's  papers. 
John  (d.  1688),  the  second  son,  is  separately 
noticed.  Rupert,  the  third  son,  matriculated 
from  Magdalen  College,  Oxford,  on  25  Oct. 
1659,  and  died  in  1660.  Judith,  his  daughter, 
was  buried  in  1670  at  Kensington. 

Calamy  describes  Nye  as  '  a  man  of  uncom- 
mon depth.'  He  and  his  fellow  independents, 
John  Goodwin  [q.  v.],and  Peter  Sterry  [q.  v.], 
were  the  most  original  minds  among  the  later 
puritans.  His  literary  remains,  ephemeral 
pamphlets, are  suggestive  of  thesubtle powers 
which  impressed  his  contemporaries.  He  was 
reckoned  a  schemer;  Lilly,  against  whose  as- 
trology he  had  preached,  calls  him  'Jesuiti- 
cal.' Howe  said  he  was  a  man  who  must  be 
consulted,  or  he  would  know  what  was  going 
on,  and  '  if  he  disliked,  would  hinder  it.'  But 
he  had  no  vulgar  ambitions ;  he  sought  no 
personal  popularity;  the  accusation  of  en- 
riching himself  is  groundless.  Butler  has 
made  merry  with  his  '  thanksgiving  beard ; ' 
he  'did  wear  a  tail  upon  his  throat.'  He 
held  the  curious  view  that,  at  sermons,  the 
preacher  should  wear  his  hat,  the  audience 
being  uncovered ;  at  sacraments  the  minister 
should  be  bareheaded  and  the  communicants 
covered. 

He  published:  1.  '  Letter  from  Scotland,' 
&c.,  1643,  4to  (written  by  Nye,  signed  also 
by  Marshall).  2.  '  Exhortation  to  the  Tak- 
ing of  the  Solemn  League  and  Covenant,' 
&c.,  1643  [1644],  4to  ;  several  reprints  (that 
of  1660,  4to,  called  'second  edition,'  was 
brought  out  by  opponents  in  consequence  of 
No.  3).  3.  '  Beames  of  former  Light,  dis- 
covering how  evil  it  is  to  impose .  .  .Formes,' 
&c.,  1660,  4to;  another  edition,  1660,  8vp. 
Posthumous  were :  4.  '  The  Case  of  Philip 
Nye,  Minister,  humbly  tendered  to  the  con- 
sideration of  the  Parliament,'  &c.  [1660], 
4to.  5.  '  Sermon  at  the  Election  of  the 
Lord  Mayor,'  &c.,  1661,  4to.  6.  ^Case  of 
great  and  present  Use,'  &c.,  1677,  8vo. 
7.  '  The  Lawfulness  of  the  Oath  of  Supre- 
macy,' &c. ;  appended  are  'Vindication  of 
Dissenters,'  &c.,  and  '  Some  Account  of  ... 


Nye 


282 


Nye 


Ecclesiastical  Courts,'  &c.,  1683,  4to;  re- 
printed under  the  title,  'The  King's  Autho- 
rity in  Dispensing  with  Ecclesiastical  Laws 
Asserted  and  Vindicated,'  &c.,  1687,  4to, 
with  dedication  to  James  II  by  Henry  Nye, 
his  eldest  son.  Wood  mentions  a '  Sermon,' 
1659,  4to,  and '  something  about  catechising.' 
Besides  publications,  already  mentioned,  in 
which  he  took  part,  he  had  a  hand  with  Tho- 
mas Goodwin  and  Samuel  Hartlib  [q.  v.],  in 
'  An  Epistolary  Discourse  about  Toleration,' 
1644,  4to.  With  Goodwin  he  edited  Sibs's 

I  Bowels  Opened,'  1641,  4to,  and  Cotton's 
'  Keys  of  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven,'  1644,  4to. 
Extracts  from  his  writings  are  in  '  The  Law- 
fulness of  Hearing  the  .  .  .  Ministers  of  the 
Church  of  England  :  proved  by  Philip  Nye 
and  John  Robinson,'  £c.,  1683, 4to.    Calamy 
says  '  he  had  a  compleat  history  of  the  old 
puritan  dissenters  in  manuscript,  which  was 
burnt  at  Alderman  Clarkson's  in  the  Fire  ot 
London  ; '  Wilson's  inference  that  Nye  was 
the  author  of  this  history  is  gratuitous. 

[Edwards's  Antapologia,  1644,  pp.  217,  224, 
243 ;  Wood's  Athense  Oxon.  (Bliss),  iii.  963  sq., 
1138;  Wood's  Fasti  (Bliss),  i.  386,406;Keliqui8e 
Baxterianae,  1696,  i.  103,  ii.  188  sq.,  197  sq., 
430,  iii.  19,  46;  Warwick's  Memoirs,  1703, 
p.  342;  Calamy's  Account,  1713,  pp.  29  sq..; 
Calamy's  Continuation,  1727,  ii.  28  sq.;  Wal- 
ker's Sufferings  of  the  Clergy,  1 7 1 4,  ii.  1 68,  1 70 ; 
Butler's  Hudibras  (Heroical  Epistle),  and  But- 
ler's Remains  (Thyer),  1759,  i.  177  ;  Wilson's 
Dissenting  Churches  of  London,  1810,  iii.  70  sq.; 
Neal's  Hist,  of  the  Puritans  (Toulmin),  1822,  iv. 
416;  Baillie's  Letters,  1841-2;  Hanbury's  His- 
torical Memorials,  1844,  vols.  ii.  iii.;  Records 
of  Broadmead,  Bristol  (Hanserd  Knollys  Soc.), 
1847,  p.  18  ;  Lathbury's  Hist,  of  Convocation, 
1853,  p.  300;  Waddington's  Surrey  Congrtga- 
tional  Hist.  1866,  pp.  45  sq. ;  Stoughton's  Church 
of  the  Civil  Wars,  1867,  i.  305,  489;  Miall's 
Congregationalism  in  Yorkshire,  1868,  pp.  288 
sq.  (cf.  the  '  addenda ') ;  Mitchell  and  Struthers's 
Minutes  of  Westminster  Assembly,  1874;  Gar- 
diner's Hist,  of  the  Great  Civil  War,  1886,  i. 
275,  312  sq.  iii.  540  ;  Foster's  Alumni  Oxon. 
1891,  iii.  1083;  Dale's  Old  Church  Roll  of 
Dagger  Lane,  Hull,  in  Yorkshire  County  Maga- 
zine, 1893;  Kensington  Parish  Register;  the 
parish  register  of  Clapham,  Sussex,  does  not  begin 
till  1691  ;  application  for  administration  (Philip 
Nye)  and  will  of  John  Nye  at  Somerset  House.] 

A.  G. 

NYE,  STEPHEN  (1648P-1719),  theolo- 
gical writer,  elder  son  of  John  Nye  (d.  1688) 
[q.  v.],  was  born  about  1648.  He  was  edu- 
cated at  a  private  school  in  Cambridge,  and 
admitted  as  a  sizar  at  Magdalene  College  on 

II  March  1662  ;  he  graduated  B.A.  in  1665. 
On  25  March  1679  he  was  instituted  to  the  rec- 
tory of  Little  Hormead,  Hertfordshire,  a  poor 


living  with  a  tiny  church  dedicated  to  St. 
Nicholas,  and  a  parish  of  about  one  hundred 
inhabitants.  Nye  read  the  service,  and 
preached  '  once  every  Lord's  day,'  and  had 
'  an  opportunity  very  seldom  lacking  of  sup- 
plying also  some  neighbouring  cure.' 

Nye  had  formed  an  intimate  acquaintance 
with  Thomas  Firmin  [q.  v.],  and  was  thus 
led  to  take  an  important  part  in  the  current 
controversies  on  the  Trinity.  His  personal 
influence  in  modifying  Firmin's  opinions  was 
considerable  (Explication,  1715,  pp.  181  seq.) 
He  induced  him  (and  Henry  Hedworth,  his 
follower)  to  abandon  the  crude  anthropo- 
morphism of  John  Biddle  (properly  Bidle) 
[q.  v.],  and  brought  him  to  a  position  which 
N  ye  identified  with  the  teaching  of  St.  Augus- 
tine, but  which  others  regarded  as  Sabellian. 
Nye  wrote  several  tracts,  some  of  which  were 
published  at  Firmin's  expense.  He  was  very 
anxious  to  preserve  his  anonymity,  and  in- 
dignantly repudiated  in  1701,  in  reply  to 
Peter  Allix,  D.D.  [q.  v.],  the  authorship  of 
a  particular  tract,  '  The  Judgment  of  the 
Fathers,'  &c.,  1695,  4to,  by  one  Smalbroke. 
There  is  no  reasonable  doubt  that  he  was  the 
writer  of  the  tract  in  which  the  term  uni- 
tarian  is  first  introduced  into  English  lite- 
rature, '  A  Brief  History  of  the  Unitarians, 
called  also  Socinians.  In  Four  Letters,  written 
to  a  Friend,'  &c.,  1687,  small  8vo;  enlarged 
edition,  1691,  4to.  The  'friend'  is  Firmin; 
an  appended  letter  by  '  a  person  of  excellent 
learning  and  worth'  is  by  Hedworth.  A 
'Defence,'  1691,  4to,  of  the  '  Brief  History,' 
by  another  hand,  is  ascribed  by  Nye  to  Allix. 
Other  tracts,  probably  by  Nye,  are  enume- 
rated below.  His  acknowledged  publications 
are  those  of  a  clear  and  able  writer. 

In  1712  he  drew  up  a  manuscript  account 
of  the  glebe  and  tithes  of  Little  Hormead, 
about  which  there  had  been  disputes.  He 
describes  his  health  as  interfering  with  regular 
performance  of  duty.  He  died  at  Little 
Hormead  on  0  Jan.  1719,  and  was  buried. 
'  in  woollen  only '  on  10  Jan.  His  wife  Mary 
was  buried  at  Little  Hormead  on  14  Jan. 
1714.  An  only  child,  Stephen,  was  baptised 
on  15  Feb.  1690. 

In  addition  to  the  '  Brief  History,'  the 
anonymous  tracts  which  may  with  safety  be 
ascribed  to  Nye  are :  1. '  A  Letter  of  Resolu- 
tion concerning  the  Doctrines  of  the  Trinity,' 
&c.  [1691  ?],  4to.  2. '  The  Trinitarian  Scheme 
of  Religion,'  £c.,  1692,  4to.  3.  '  An  Accu- 
rate Examination  .  .  .  occasioned  by  a  Book 
of  Mr.  L.  Milbourn,'  &c.,  1692, 4to  (addressed 
to  Firmin,  in  reply  to  '  Mysteries  (in  Reli- 
gion) Vindicated,'  &c.,  1692,  8vo,  by  Luke 
Milbourne  [q.  v.])  4.  '  Reflections  on  Two 
Discourses  ...  by  Monsieur  Lamoth,'  &c., 


Nyndge 


283 


Nyren 


1693,  4to  (addressed  to  J.  S.  i.e.  John  Smith 
[q.  v.],  clockmaker  and  theological  writer). 
5.  '  Considerations  on  the  Explications  of 
the  Doctrine  of  the  Trinity.  By  Dr.  Wallis,' 
&c.,  1693,  4to  (addressed  to  '  a  person  of 
quality').  6.  '  Considerations  on  the  Expli- 
cations of  the  Doctrine  of  the  Trinity.  Oc- 
casioned by  Four  Sermons,'  &c.,  1694,  4to 
(addressed  to  Hedworth).  Published  with 
his  name,  either  on  the  title-page,  or  in  the 
body  of  the  work,  were :  7.  '  A  Discourse 
concerning, Natural  and  Revealed  Religion,' 
&c.,1696,8vo.  (Some  copies  have  an  'Epistle 
Dedicatory'  to  Brook  Bridges ;  this  was  can- 
celled, and  a  new  title-page  substituted,  same 
date);  reprinted  Glasgow,  1752, 12mo.  8. 'An 
Historical  Account  and  Defence  of  the  Canon 
of  the  New  Testament,'  &c.,  1700,  8vo  (a 
-letter,  dated  29  Sept.  1699,  in  reply  to  To- 
land's  '  Amyntor,'  1699).  9.  '  The  System 
of  Grace  and  Free-will,'  &c.,  1700,  8vo  (a 
visitation  Sermon).  10.  'The  Doctrine  of 
the  Holy  Trinity,' &c.,  1701, 8vo  (in  reply  to 
Allix  and  to  the  '  Bilibra  Veritatis,'  1700, 
ascribed  to  Willem  Hendrik  Vorst).  11.  '  In- 
stitutions concerning  the  Holy  Trinity,'  &c., 
1703,  8vo  (regarded  by  himself  as  his  most 
mature  work).  12.  '  The  Explication  of  the 
Articles  of  the  Divine  Unity,'  &c.,  1715,  8vo. 
Criticises  the  views  of  Samuel  Clarke  (1675- 
1729)  [q.v.] 

[Hustler's  Grad.  Cantabr.  1823;  Clutterbuck's 
Hist.  County  of  Hertford,  1827,  Hi.  425;  Wal- 
lace's Antiti-initarian  Biog.  1850,  i.  313,  331, 
371  seq. ;  Urwick's  Nonconformity  in  Herts, 
1884,  p.  755;  Extract  from  Admission  Book 
of  Magdalene  Coll.  Cambridge,  per  F.  Pattrick, 
esq. ;  extracts  from  the  registers  of  Little  Hor- 
mead,  per  the  Eev.  George  Smith  ;  copies  of  the 
so-called  '  Unitarian  Tracts,'  with  contemporary 
annotations,  some  by  Nye  himself;  Nye's  works.] 

A.  G. 

NYNDGE,  ALEXANDER  (fl.  1573), 
demoniac,  was  apparently  son  of  William 
Nyndge,  and  brother  of  Sir  Thomas  Nyndge, 
of  Herringswell,  Suffolk,  where  he  was  born 
about  1555-1557.  Between  January  and 
July  1573  he  was  the  subject  of  epileptic  or 
hysterical  attacks,  and  a  narrative  of  his 
behaviour,  which  was  attributed  to  demonia- 
cal possession,  was  published,  with  curious 
woodcuts,  by  his  brother  and  eye-witnesses. 
The  title  runs :  '  A  Booke  Declaringe  the 
Fearfull  Vexasion  of  one  Alexander  Nyndge  : 
Beynge  moste  Horriblye  Tormented  wyth  an 
euyll  Spirit.  The  xx.  daie  of  Januarie.  In 
the  yere  of  our  Lorde  1573.  At  Lyerings- 
well  in  Suffolke.  Imprinted  at  London  in 
Fleetestreate,  beneath  the  Conduite,  at  the 
Sygne  of  St.  Jhon  Euangelyste  by  Thomas 
Colwell,  b.l.,  no  date.'  It  was  reprinted  as 


'  A  Trve  and  Fearefvll  Vexation  of  one  Alex- 
ander Nyndge :  Being  most  Horribly  Tor- 
mented with  the  Deuill,  from  the  20  day  of 
January  to  the  23  of  July.  At  Lyeringswell 
in  Suffocke :  with  his  Prayer  after  his  De- 
liuerance.  Written  by  His  Owne  Brother, 
Edward  Nyndge,  Master  of  Arts,  with  the 
Names  of  the  Witnesses  that  were  at  his 
Vexation.  Imprinted  at  London  for  W.  B. 
and  are  to  bee  sold  by  Edward  Wright  at 
Christ-Church  Gate,  1615.' 

[Works  mentioned.]  C.  F.  S. 

NYREN,  JOHN  (1764-1837),  cricket 
chronicler,  son  of  Richard  Nyren  by  his  wife 
Frances,  born  Pennycud,  of  Slindon,  in 
Sussex,  was  born  at  Hambledon,  in  Hamp- 
shire, on  15  Dec.  1764.  The  Nyrens  were 
of  Scottish  descent,  their  real  name  being 
Nairne.  They  were  Roman  catholics  and 
Jacobites,  and  were  implicated  in  the  risings  of 
1715  and  1745.  When  the  Stuart  cause  was 
lost  they  emigrated  southward,  and  for  pru- 
dential reasons  changed  their  name.  Richard 
Nyren,  a  yeoman,  who  learned  his  cricket 
at  Slindon  under  Richard  Newland,  was 
founder  and  captain  of  the  famous  Hamble- 
don Club,  which  gave  laws  to  English  cricket 
from  1750  until  its  dissolution  in  1791.  He 
is  also  stated  to  have  kept  the  Bat  and  Ball 
Inn  at  Hambledon,  and  was  guardian  of 
the  ground  on  Broad  Halfpenny  'where 
the  Hambledonians  were  wont  to  conquer 
England.' 

Nyren  was  educated  by  a  Jesuit  who  taught 
him  a  little  Latin, '  but,'  he  says, '  I  was  a 
better  hand  at  the  fiddle.'  According  to  his 
own  account  of  his  early  life,  he  interested 
himself  in  cricket  at  an  early  age,  'being 
since  1778  a  sort  of  farmer's  pony  to  my 
native  club  of  Hambledon.'  It  appears  that 
he  was  a  left-handed  batsman  of  average 
ability,  and  a  fine  field  at  point  and  middle 
wicket.  His  last  appearance  in  a  cricket 
match  was  in  1817,  but  he  watched  the  pro- 
gress of  the  game  until  his  death, '  with  the 
growing  solicitude  of  an  ancient  conserva- 
tive to  whom  the  smallest  innovation  meant 
ruin.' 

In  1791  Nyren  married  Cleopha  Copp, 
with  whom  he  obtained  a  moderate  fortune, 
and  thereupon  left  his  native  village.  He  lived 
at  Portsea  until  1790,  then  at  Bromley,  Kent, 
where  he  carried  on  businessas  a  calico-printer, 
and  subsequently  at  Battersea,  London.  A 
delightful  companion  by  reason  of  his  geni- 
ality and  sunny  humour,  he  was  also  an  ac- 
complished musician,  and  his  interest  in 
music  secured  him  the  warm  intimacy  of  the 
Novellos  and  their  circle,  including  Leigh 
Hunt,  Malibran,  the  Cowden-Clarkes,  and 


Oakeley 


284 


Oakeley 


Charles  Lamb.  In  his  '  London  Journal '  for 
9  July  1834  Leigh  Hunt  prints  a  letter  from 
Nyren  describing  a  cricket  match.  He  speaks 
of  the  writer  as  '  his  old,  or  rather  his  ever 
young  friend,'  while  of  the  letter  he  says 
'  there  is  a  right  handling  of  it,  with  relish- 
ing hits.' 

Nyren's  securest  title  to  fame,  however, 
is  of  course  the  book  published  in  1833,  and 
entitled  '  The  Young  Cricketer's  Tutor,  com- 
prising full  directions  for  playing  the  ele- 
gant and  manly  game  of  cricket,  with  a  com- 
plete version  of  its  laws  and  regulations, 
by  JohnNyren ;  a  Player  in  the  celebrated  Old 
Hambledon  Club  and  in  the  Mary-le-Bone 
Club.  To  which  is  added  The  Cricketers  of 
my  Time,  or  Recollections  of  the  most  famous 
Old  Players.  The  whole  collected  and  edited 
by  Charles  Cowden  Clarke,'  London,  8vo. 
Prefixed  is  a  '  View  of  the  Mary-le-Bone 
Club's  Cricket  Ground.'  The  work,  which 
was  dedicated  to  William  Ward,  the  cham- 
pion cricketer  of  his  day,  seems  to  have 
originated  in  Nyren's  admiration  for  Vincent 
Novello  [q.  v.]  the  musician,  at  whose  house 
he  was  a  frequent  visitor.  There  he  used  to 
talk  music  with  Novello  and  cricket  with  No- 
vello's  son-in-law,  Charles  Cowden-Clarke, 
who,  like  himself,  was  an  enthusiast  about 
the  game.  Clarke  jotted  down,  with  but 
little  addition  of  his  own,  the  animated 
phrases  in  which  his  friend  related  the  ex- 
ploits of  the  Hambledonians,  and  the  result 
was  this  prose  epic  of  cricket,  which  passed 
to  a  fourth  edition  in  1840.  It  was  re- 
printed, with  Lilly  white's  '  Cricket  Scores  ' 
and  Denison's  '  Sketches,'  in  1888.  A  new 


edition  appeared  in  1893,  with  an  introduc- 
tion by  Mr.  Charles  Whibley. 

The  style  is  often  slipshod,  but  this  is  more 
than  atoned  for  by  the  interest  of  the  sub- 
ject, the  grave  sincerity  of  Nyren's  enthu- 
siasm, and  the  frequency  of  the  graphic 
touches.  In  its  pages  Tom  Walker,  of  '  the 
scrag  of  mutton  frame  and  wilted  applejohn 
face,'  with  '  skin  like  the  rind  of  an  old  oak,' 
the  heresiarch  who  invented  round-arm  bowl- 
ing ;  John  Small,  who  once  charmed  a  vicious 
bull  with  his  fiddle;  George  Lear,  the  long- 
stop,  '  as  sure  of  the  ball  as  if  he  had  been  a 
sand-bank  ;'  Tom  Sueter, sweetest  of  tenors; 
Harris,  'the  best  bowler  who  ever  lived;' 
William  Beldham,  alias  Silver  Billy,  equally 
the  best  bat,  who  reached  the  patriarchal  age 
of  96 — these  and  the  rest  live  again,  and 
people  once  more  Broad  Halfpenny  and 
Windmill  Down. 

Nyren  died  at  Bromley  on  30  June  1837, 
and  was  buried  in  Bromley  churchyard.  By 
his  wife,  who  predeceased  him,  he  left  five 
children,  of  whom  a  daughter,  Mary  A. 
Nyren  (1796-1844),  became  superior  lady 
I  abbess  of  the  English  convent  at  Bruges. 
A  portrait  by  a  granddaughter  is  extant. 

JOHN  NYREN  (A.  1830),  author  of  '  Tables 
of  the  Duties,  Bounties,  and  Drawbacks 
of  Customs,'  1830,  12mo,  with  whom  the 
cricketer  is  confused  in  the '  Catalogue '  of  the 
British  Museum  Library,  was  a  first  cousin. 

[Lilly white's  Cricket  Scores  and  Biographies, 

1862  ;  Nyren's  Young  Cricketer's  Tutor,  1833  ; 

Blackwood's  Magazine,  January    1892  ;    Gent. 

Mag.   1833  ii.  41,  235,  183?  ii.  213;  private 

!  information.]  J.  W.  A. 


O 


OAKELEY,      SIR     CHARLES,    first 
BARONET  (1751-1826),  governor  of  Madras, 
second  son  of  William  Oakeley,  M.A.,  of  Bal- 
liol  College,  Oxford,  rector  of  Forton,  Staf- 
fordshire, by  his  wife  Christian,  daughter  of 
Sir  Patrick  Strahan,  was  born  at  Forton  on 
27    Feb.    1751.     After  being  educated    at  | 
Shrewsbury  school,  he  obtained,  through  his  i 
father's  friend,  Lady  Clive,  a  nomination  to  i 
a  writership  on  the  East  India  Company's 
Madras  establishment,  received  his  appoint-  ; 
ment  in  October  1766,  and  arrived  at  his  I 
station   on   6  June  1767.     For  five  or  six 
years  he  was  assistant  to  the  secretary  to  ' 
the  civil  department ;  was  then,  in  January 
1773,  promoted  to  succeed  Mr.  Goodlad  in  ; 
the  secretaryship ;  and  in  May  1777  was  re- 
moved to  the  corresponding  post  in  the  mili- 
tary and  political  department,  combined  with 


the  offices  of  judge-advocate-general  and 
translator.  These  duties  he  discharged  with 
diligence  and  commendation  till  November 

1780,  when  he  was  compelled  to  resign  them 
in  consequence  of  ill-health. 

When  Lord  Macartney,  in  the  summer  of 

1781,  had  succeeded  in  obtaining  from  the 
nabob  of  Arcot  an  assignment  of  his  revenues 
to  defray  the  expenses  of  the  war  in  the  Car- 
natic,   a  committee,   called   the   committee 
of  assigned  revenue,  was  appointed  to  super- 
intend the  collection  of  the  revenues  and  to 
apply  them.    Of  this  committee  Oakeley  was 
made  president.     He   began   his  duties  in 
January  1782.     In  spite  of  the  hostility  of 
the  nabob's  servants  and  subjects,  and  of  the 
great  extent  of  Hyder  Ali's  conquests  in  the 
territories  of  the  nabob,  the  board  succeeded 
in  raising  the  Arcot  contribution  to  the  war 


Oakeley 


285 


Oakeley 


fund  from  one  and  a  quarter  pagodas  to  nearly 
forty-four  pagodas ;  and,  while  greatly  for- 
warding the  difficult  task  of  feeding  the 
army,  secured  a  considerable  surplus,  which 
was  handed  over  to  the  nabob  on  the  conclu- 
sion of  the  war  in  March  1784.  For  these 
services  the  committee  was  publicly  thanked 
by  the  governor-general  and  the  council  of 
Bengal ;  and  even  Burke,  in  his  speech  on 
the  nabob  of  Arcot's  debts,  spoke  of  its  ser- 
vices in  high  terms. 

The  ability  which  Oakeley  had  displayed 
in  these  affairs  led  to  his  appointment  in 
April  1786  by  Sir  Archibald  Campbell  to 
the  presidency  of  the  new  board  of  revenue 
of  Madras.  This  office,  however,  he  was 
compelled  by  family  affairs  to  resign  early 
in  1788,  and  in  February  1789  he  sailed  for 
Europe  on  board  the  Manship. 

Having  been  two-and-twenty  years  in 
India,  and  being  still  some  distance  in  point 
of  seniority  from  membership  of  council, 
he  had  little  expectation  or  desire  of  fur- 
ther service.  Pitt  and  Dundas,  however,  to 
whom  Sir  Archibald  Campbell  had  recom- 
mended him,  pressed  him  to  return,  and,  the 
court  of  directors  having  in  1789  placed  on 
record  its  high  appreciation  of  his  services, 
he  was  appointed  in  April  1790  to  succeed 
General  Medows  as  governor  of  Madras,  and 
was  also  gazetted  a  baronet  on  5  June.  It 
was  expected  that  the  transfer  of  General 
Medows  to  the  governor-generalship  of  Bengal 
would  take  place  forthwith,  and  Oakeley  was 
accordingly  sworn  in  as  governor.  But  when 
the  news  arrived  of  the  outbreak  of  fresh 
hostilities  with  Tippoo  Sahib,  the  vacation 
of  the  governorship  by  Medows  was  neces- 
sarily postponed,  and  Oakeley  was  placed 
second  in  council  at  Madras,  till  the  course  of 
the  war  should  render  it  possible  for  General 
Medows  to  be  transferred.  Arriving  in 
Madras  on  15  Oct.  1790,  he  found  General 
Medows  in  the  field,  and  therefore  assumed, 
in  his  absence,  charge  of  the  civil  adminis- 
tration of  Madras,  a  task  rendered  doubly 
difficult  by  the  great  and  constant  needs  of 
the  army,  and  the  extreme  financial  embar- 
rassment of  the  company's  Madras  exchequer. 
As  this  was  largely  due  to  want  of  public 
confidence  in  the  government,  Oakeley,  in- 
stead of  borrowing  from  Bengal  or  Europe, 
proceeded  to  improve  the  administration  of 
Madras.  He  retrenched  expenses,  enforced 
a  more  efficient  collection  of  revenue,  caused 
rupees,  which  formerly  had  been  mere  bul- 
lion and  were  converted  into  pagodas  at  great 
cost  of  time  and  money,  to  circulate  as  cur- 
rency at  less  than  their  market  value,  and 
exacted  a  subsidy  of  ten  lacs  per  annum  from 
the  rajah  of  Travancore,  on  whose  account 


the  war  had  been  commenced.  But  perhaps 
the  measure  which  most  tended  to  restore 
public  credit  was  the  resumption  of  cash 
payments  for  all  army  and  public  obligations, 
which  had  previously  been  made  only  in  the 
case  of  the  most  pressing  debts.  The  only 
exception  which  he  made  was  in  the  case  of 
his  own  official  salary,  which  remained  un- 
paid till  the  close  of  the  war,  though  he  had 
meantime  to  borrow  money  at  twelve  per 
cent,  for  his  own  private  expenses. 

These  measures  were  taken  only  just  in 
time.  On  26  May  1791  Lord  Cornwallis 
was  compelled,  in  spite  of  victory  in  the 
field,  to  retire  from  Seringapatam,  destroy- 
ing his  battering  train  for  want  of  the  means 
of  transport.  Heavy  requisitions  were  con- 
sequently made  on  the  Madras  government 
for  draught  cattle,  stores,  and  funds.  Fortu- 
nately, Oakeley's  reforms  had  enabled  the 
presidency  revenue  to  meet  so  large  a  por- 
tion of  the  expenses  of  the  war  that  the 
supplies  from  Bengal  and  from  England  had 
accumulated  to  nearly  a  million  sterling,  and 
the  company's  twelve-per-cent.  bonds,  re- 
cently at  a  discount,  had  gone  to  a  premium. 
The  requisitions  of  Lord  Cornwallis  were 
therefore  promptly  and  amply  met.  Oake- 
ley poured  into  the  field  of  operations  money, 
grain,  and  cattle.  Lord  Cornwallis  wrote  to 
him  several  letters  (e.g.  6  July  and  4  Aug. 
1791,  and  1  Jan.  and  31  May  1792)  recog- 
nising the  value  of  this  assistance ;  and  the  pre- 
sidency of  Bengal  benefited  greatly  by  the 
ability  of  Madras  to  bear  so  large  a  part  of 
the  burden.  On  the  conclusion  of  the  war 
in  March  1792  General  Medows  quitted 
Madras,  and  Oakeley  entered  on  the  full 
authority  of  governor.  He  at  once  attacked 
the  question  of  converting  the  company's 
floating  debt.  Step  by  step  he  converted 
the  twelve-per-cent.  war  debt  into  eight-per- 
cent, bonds  or  paid  it  off,  and  afterwards  the 
whole  of  the  eight-per-cent.  debt,  incurred 
chiefly  before  the  war,  was  paid  off  or  con- 
verted into  six-per-cent.  obligations,  which, 
in  spite  of  the  reduction  of  interest,  speedily 
went  to  a  premium.  Accordingly,  when  the 
news  reached  India,  in  June  1793,  of  the  out- 
break of  war  with  France,  a  fully  equipped 
army  was  promptly  despatched  against  Pon- 
dicherry,  and  five  lacs  of  pagodas  remitted 
to  Bengal  without  disturbance  to  the  go- 
vernment credit.  The  Pondicherry  expedi- 
tion was  planned  and  directed  by  the  Madras 
government,  and  had  been,  in  fact,  under- 
taken on  Oakeley's  own  responsibility  some 
weeks  in  advance  of  instructions  from  home, 
and  as  soon  as  the  news  of  the  outbreak  of 
war  arrived  overland.  It  was  successfully 
completed  by  the  fall  of  Pondicherry  in 


Oakeley 


286 


Oakeley 


August  1793.  On  7  Sept.  1794  Oakeley 
handed  over  the  government  to  Lord  Ho- 
bart,  and,  returning  to  England,  received,  on 
6  Aug.  1795,  the  thanks  of  the  court  of  direc- 
tors for  his  eminent  services. 

Always  much  attached  to  the  county  of 
his  hirth,  he  settled  at  the  Abbey,  Shrews- 
bury, near  the  residence  of  his  father,  who 
was  now  rector  of  Holy  Cross,  Shrewsbury, 
and  lived  there  till  in  1810  he  removed  to 
the  Palace,  Lichfield.  A  seat  in  parliament 
had  been  offered  him  by  Sir  William  Pulteney 
during  his  first  visit  to  England  in  1789,  but 
the  offer  was  declined.  Shortly  after  his 
final  return  he  was  sounded  as  to  his  willing- 
ness to  accept  the  governor-generalship,  but 
this  he  was  equally  unwilling  to  accept.  He 
corresponded  with  Dundas  on  Indian  affairs 
from  time  to  time,  but  for  the  most  part 
occupied  himself  with  classical  studies  and 
the  education  of  his  sons.  At  the  time  of 
the  expected  invasion  by  Bonaparte  he  com- 
manded a  volunteer  regiment  of  foot  raised 
in  Shrewsbury.  His  last  years  were  marked 
by  unaffected  piety  and  open-handed  bene- 
volence, and  the  administration  of  local 
charities  owed  much  to  his  care.  Having 
been  acquainted  with  the  educational  work 
in  Madras  of  Dr.  Andrew  Bell  [q.  v.],  he 
assisted  warmly  in  the  establishment  of  the 
National  Society's  schools  on  Bell's  system 
in  Shrewsbury  and  Lichfield.  He  died  at 
the  Palace,  Lichfield,  on  7  Sept.  1826,  and 
was  buried  privately  at  Forton.  There  is 
a  monument  to  his  memory  by  Chantrey  in 
Lichfield  Cathedral.  He  married,  on  19  Oct. 
1777,  Helena,  only  daughter  of  Robert  Beat- 
sqn  of  Kilrie,  Fifeshire,  a  woman  of  great 
energy  and  artistic  talent.  [By  her  he  had 
eleven  children,  ten  of  whom  survived  him. 
Of  these,  two  sons,  Sir  Herbert  and  Frederick 
Oakeley,  are  separately  noticed :  a  third  son, 
Henry,  became  a  judge  of  the  supreme  court, 
Calcutta,  and  predeceased  his  father  on  2  Mav 
1826. 

[Autobiographical  Account  of  the  Services  of 
Sir  Charles  Oakeley,  edited  by  his  son,  Sir  Her- 
bert, 1836,  privately  printed;  Corirwallis  Cor- 
resp.  ed.  1859,  ii.  170,  226;  Gent.  Mag.  1826, 
pt.  ii.  p.  371.]  J.  A.  H. 

OAKELEY,  FREDERICK  (1802-1880), 
tractarian,  youngest  child  of  Sir  Charles  Oake- 
ley, hart,  [q.  v.],  formerly  governor  of  Madras, 
was  born  on  5  Sept.  1802  at  the  Abbey  House, 
Shrewsbury,  from  which,  in  1810,  his  family 
removed  to  the  bishop's  palace,  Lichfield. 
Ill-health  prevented  his  leaving  home  for 
school,  but  in  his  fifteenth  year  he  was  sent 
to  a  private  tutor,  Charles  Sumner,  after- 
wards bishop  of  Winchester  [q.  v.]  In  June 
1820  he  matriculated  from  Christ  Church, 


Oxford.  Though  shyness  and  depression  of 
spirits  somewhat  hindered  his  success  in  the 
schools,  he  gained  a  second  class  in  literce 
humaniores  in  1824.  After  graduating  B.A. 
he  worked  in  real  earnest,  and  won  the  chan- 
cellor's Latin  and  English  prize  essays  in 
1825  and  1827  respectively,  and  the  Ellerton 
theological  prize,  also  in  1827.  In  this  latter 
year  he  was  ordained,  and  was  elected  to  a 
chaplain  fellowship  at  Balliol.  In  1830  he 
became  tutor  and  catechetical  lecturer  at 
Balliol,  and  a  prebendary  of  Lichfield  on 
Bishop  Ryder's  appointment.  In  1831  he 
was  select  preacher,  and  in  1835  one  of  the 
public  examiners  to  the  university.  The 
Bishop  of  London  (Dr.  Blomtield)  appointed 
him  Whitehall  preacher  in  1837,  when  he 
resigned  his  tutorship  at  Balliol,  but  he  re- 
tained his  fellowship  till  he  joined  the  church 
of  Rome. 

During  his  residence  at  Balliol  as  chaplain- 
fellow  (from  1 827)  Oakeley  became  connected 
with  the  tractarian  movement.  Partly  ow- 
ing to  the  influence  of  his  brother-fellow, 
William  George  Ward  [q.  v.],  he  had  grown 
dissatisfied  with  the  evangelicalism  which  he 
had  at  first  accepted,  and  in  the  preface  to 
his  first  volume  of  Whitehall  Sermons  (1837) 
he  avowed  himself  a  member  of  the  new 
Oxford  school.  In  1839  he  became  incum- 
bent of  Margaret  Chapel,  the  predecessor  of 
All  Saints,  Margaret  Street,  and  Oxford 
ceased  to  be  his  home. 

Perhaps  the  most  interesting  years  of 
Oakeley's  life  were  the  six  that  he  passed  as 
minister  of  Margaret  Chapel  (1839-45),  where 
he  became,  according  to  a  friend's  description, 
the  'introducer  of  that  form  of  worship  which 
is  now  called  ritualism.'  He  was  supported 
by  prominent  men,  among  the  friends  of  Mar- 
garet Chapel  being  Mr.  Serjeant  Bellasis, 
Mr.  Beresford-Hope,  and  Mr.  Gladstone. 
The  latter  wrote  of  Oakeley's  services  that 
they  were  the  most  devotional  he  had  ever 
attended.  Oakeley,  like  his  friend  Newman, 
had  an  intense  inherited  love  of  music,  and 
paid  much  attention  to  the  work  of  his  choir. 
The  year  1845  was  a  turning-point  in 
Oakeley's  life.  As  a  fellow  of  Balliol  he  had 
joined  in  the  election  to  a  fellowship  there 
of  his  lifelong  friend  and  pupil,  Archibald 
Campbell  Tait,  the  future  primate;  but 
his  mind  was  disturbed  by  Tait's  action  in 
signing,  with  three  others,  the  first  protest 
against  '  Tract  XC.'  The  agitation  against 
the  famous  tract  led  Oakeley,  like  Ward,  to 
despair  of  his  church  and  university ;  and  in 
two  pamphlets,  published  separately  at  the 
time  both  in  London  and  Oxford,  he  asserted 
a  claim  'to  hold,  as  distinct  from  teaching, 
all  Roman  doctrine.'  For  this  avowal  he 


Oakeley 


287 


Oakeley 


was  cited  before  the  court  of  arches  by  the 
Bishop  of  London.  His  license  was  with- 
drawn, and  he  was  suspended  from  all  cleri- 
cal duty  in  the  province  of  Canterbury  until 
he  had  '  retracted  his  errors '  (July  1845). 

In  September  1845  he  joined  Newman's 
community  at  Littlemore,  and  on  29  Oct.  was 
received  into  the  Roman  communion  in  the 
little  chapel  in  St.  Clement's  over  Magdalen 
Bridge.  On  31  Oct.  he  was  confirmed  at  Bir- 
mingham by  Bishop  Wiseman.  From  January 
1846  to  August  1848  he  was  a  theological 
student  in  the  seminary  of  the  London  dis- 
trict, St.  Edmund's  College,  Ware.  In  the 
summer  of  1848  he  joined  the  staff  of  St. 
George's,  Southwark;  on  22  Jan.  1850  he 
took  charge  of  St.  John's,  Islington;  in  1852, 
on  the  establishment  of  the  new  hierarchy 
under  Wiseman  as  cardinal-archbishop,  he 
was  created  a  canon  of  the  Westminster  dio- 
cese, and  held  this  office  for  nearly  thirty 
years,  till  his  death  at  the  end  of  January 
1880. 

Of  Oakeley's  forty-two  published  works 
the  more  important  before  his  secession  were 
his  volume  of  'Whitehall  Chapel  Sermons,' 
1837;  'Laudes  Diurnse;  the  Psalter  and 
Canticles  in  the  Morning  and  Evening  Ser- 
vices, set  and  pointed  to  the  Gregorian  Time 
by  Richard  Redhead,'  with  a  preface  by 
Oakeley  on  antiphonal  chanting,  1843,  and  a 
number  of  articles  contributed  to  the '  British 
Critic.'  After  his  conversion  he  brought  out 
many  books  in  support  of  the  communion 
he  had  joined,  especially  'The  Ceremonies 
of  the  Mass,'  1855,  a  standard  work  at  Rome, 
where  it  was  translated  into  Italian  by  Lo- 
renzo Santarelli,  and  published  by  authority; 
'The  Church  of  the  Bible,'  1857;  'Lyra 
Liturgica,'  1865 ;  '  Historical  Notes  on  the 
Tractarian  Movement,'  1865 ;  '  The  Priest  to 
the  Mission,'  1871 ;  '  The  Voice  of  Creation,' 
1876.  He  was  a  constant  contributor  to  the 
'Dublin  Review'  and  the  'Month,'  and  to 
Cardinal  Manning's  '  Essays  on  Religious 
Subjects '  (1865)  he  contributed .'  The  Position 
of  a  Catholic  Minority  in  a  Roman  Catholic 
Country.'  The  last  article  he  wrote  was  one 
in  'Time'  (March  1880),  on  '  Personal  Recol- 
lections of  Oxford  from  1820  to  1845  '  (re- 
printed in  Miss  Couch's  Reminiscences  of  Ox- 
ford, 1892,  Oxf.  Hist.  Soc.)  His  '  Youth- 
ful Martyrs  of  Rome,'  a  verse  drama  in  five 
acts  (1856),  was  adapted  from  Cardinal 
Wiseman's  'Fabiola.' 

[Foster's  Alumni  Oxon.  171 5-1888  ;  T.  Moz- 
ley's  Reminiscences,  passim  ;  Newman's  Letters, 
ed.  Mozley ;  Liddon's  Life  of  Pusey ;  J.  B. 
Mozley's  Correspondence  ;  Church's  Oxford 
Movement;  E.  G.  K.  Browne's  Annals  of  the 
Tractarian  Movement,  i.  83 ;  Simms's  Bibliotheca 


Staffordiensis ;  Wilfrid  Ward's  W.  G.  Ward  and 
the  Catholic  Revival;  private  information.] 

C.  R.B. 

OAKELEY,  SIR  HERBERT,  third 
baronet  (1791-1845),  archdeacon  of  Col- 
chester, third  son  of  Sir  Charles  Oakeley, 
first  baronet  [q.  v.l,  was  born  at  Madras  on 
10  Feb.  1791.  His  parents  brought  him  to 
England  in  1794,  and,  after  some  years  at 
Westminster  School,  he  was  entered  at  Christ 
Church, Oxford.  InlSlOhetookafirst-classin 
literce  humaniores,  graduated  B.A.  on  23Teb. 
1811 ,  and  obtained  a  senior  studentship!  At 
the  installation  of  Lord  Grenville  as  chan- 
cellor on  6  July  in  the  same  year,  he  recited,  in 
the  Sheldonian  Theatre,  with  excellent  effect, 
a  congratulatory  ode  of  his  own  composition. 
He  proceeded  M.  A.  on  4  Nov.  1813.  Having 
been  ordained,  he  became  in  1814  domestic 
chaplain  to  Dr.  Howley,  then  Bishop  of  Lon- 
don, to  whom  he  owed  his  subsequent  prefer- 
ment, and  resided  with  the  bishop  for  twelve 
years,  until  his  marriage.  He  was  presented 
by  Bishop  Howley  to  the  vicarage  of  Ealing  in 
1822,  and  to  the  prebendal  stall  of  Wenlock's 
Barn  in  St.  Paul's  Cathedral.  On  5  June 
1 826  he  was  married  at  St.  Margaret's  Church, 
Westminster,  to  Atholl  Keturah  Murray, 
daughter  of  Rev.  Lord  Charles  Murray  Ayns- 
ley,  and  niece  of  John,  fourth  duke  of  Atholl, 
and  then  took  up  his  residence  at  Ealing. 
By  the  death  of  his  elder  brother,  Charles, 
without  male  issue,  after  having  held  the 
title  only  three  years,  he  succeeded  in  1830 
to  the  baronetcy.  In  1834  Howley,  now  Arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury,  presented  him  to  the 
valuable  rectory  of  Booking  in  Essex,  a  living 
held  by  Lady  Oakeley's  father  in  her  child- 
hood, and  which  then  carried  with  it  the  right 
of  jurisdiction,  under  the  title  of  dean  and 
as  commissary  of  the  Archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury, over  the  Essex  and  Suffolk  parishes, 
which  were  extra-diocesan  and  constituted 
the  archbishop's  peculiar.  This  jurisdiction 
was  abolished  shortly  after  Sir  Herbert's 
death.  Both  at  Eating  and  at  Booking, 
Oakeley  was  one  of  the  first  to  carry  out 
the  now  general  system  of  parochial  orga- 
nisation, by  means  of  district  visitors,  week- 
day services,  Sunday-schools,  &c.  Unfortu- 
nately, Booking  contained  many  noncon- 
formists, with  whom  he  engaged  in  painful 
disputes  about  church  rates ;  but  none  the 
less  he  was  held  in  general  esteem.  In  1841 
he  succeeded  Archdeacon  Lyall  in  the  arch- 
deaconry of  Colchester ;  and  when  the  bishop- 
ric of  Gibraltar  was  founded  in  1842,  it  was 
offered  to  him  and  declined.  On  26  Jan.  1844 
his  wife  died,  and  he  was  so  much  affected 
by  her  loss  that  he  died  also  in  London  on 
27  March  1845,  leaving  four  sons,  of  whom 


Oakes 


288 


Oakes 


the  eldest,  Charles  William,  succeeded  to  the 
title ;  and  the  second,  Sir  Herbert,  LL.D., 
D.C.L.,  is  emeritus  professor  of  music  in  the 
university  of  Edinburgh  ;  and  three  daugh- 
ters. He  published  little,  but  he  was  an 
eloquent  speaker  in  public,  and  wrote  for 
private  circulation  numerous  short  poems, 
and  a  memoir  of  his  father. 

[Notes  of  the  Life  of  Sir  Herbert  Oakeley,  by 
his  daughter,  the  Hon.  Mrs.  Francis  Drnm- 
mond,  privately  printed,  1892  ;  information  from 
Sir  Herbert  Oakeley ;  Foster's  Alumni  Oxon. ; 
Alumni  Westmonasterienses.]  J.  A.  H. 

OAKES,  SIR  HILDEBRAND  (1754- 
1822),  baronet,  lieutenant-general,  elder  son 
of  Lieutenant-colonel  Hildebrand  Oakes,  late 
of  the  33rd  foot  (d.  1797),  and  his  wife  Sarah 
(d.  1775),  daughter  of  Henry  Cornelison  of 
Braxted  Lodge,  Essex,  was  born  at  Exeter 
on  19  Jan.  1754.  On  23  Dec.  1767  he  was 
appointed  ensign  in  the  33rd  foot  (now  Duke 
of  Wellington's  regiment),  in  which  he  be- 
came lieutenant  in  April  1771,  and  captain  on 
8  Aug.  1776.  He  accompanied  his  regiment 
to  America  with  the  reinforcements  under 
Lord  Cornwallis  [see  CORNWALLIS,  CHARLES, 
first  MARQUIS]  in  December  1775,  and 
served  throughout  the  succeeding  campaigns 
until  the  capitulation  at  Yorktown,  Virginia, 
on  17  Oct.  1781.  He  returned  home  with 
his  regiment  in  May  1784.  In  May  1786  he 
was  aide-de-camp  to  Major-general  Bruce  on 
the  Irish  staff,  became  a  brevet  major  on 
18  Nov.  1790,  and  major  66th  foot  on  13  Sept. 
1791.  He  joined  that  regiment  at  St.  Vin- 
cent, West  Indies,  in  1792,  embarked  with 
it  for  Gibraltar,  and  commanded  it  in  that 
garrison  until  the  arrival  of  the  lieutenant- 
colonel  in  February  1794.  On  1  March  1794 
he  was  appointed  brevet  lieutenant-colonel 
and  aide-de-camp  to  Lieutenant-general  the 
Hon.  Sir  Charles  Steuart  in  Corsica,  and  in 
May  quartermaster-general  in  Corsica,  which 
appointment  was  extended  to  the  Mediterra- 
nean generally  in  June.  On  12  Nov.  1795  he  be- 
came lieutenant-colonel  66th,  and  exchanged 
to  the  26th  Cameronians,  retaining  his  staff 
appointment  in  Corsica  until  June  1796.  In 
December  1797  he  was  quartermaster-gene- 
ral to  the  troops  sent  to  Portugal  under  Sir 
Charles  Steuart,  became  brevet  colonel  on 
1  Jan.  1798,  and  commanded  a  brigade  at  the 
reduction  of  Minorca  in  that  year.  In  August 
1800  he  left  England  on  appointment  to  the 
staff  of  the  army  in  the  Mediterranean  under 
Sir  Ralph  Abercromby,  and  served  with  it 
throughout  the  campaign  in  Egypt  in  1801 
as  brigadier-general  and  second  in  command 
of  the  reserve  under  General  Moore  [see 
MOORE,  SIR  JOHN,  1761-1809].  He  was 


wounded  in  the  action  of  21  March  1801, 
when  Abercromby  fell.  He  returned  home 
from  Egypt  in  March  1802.  In  October  1802 
he  was  appointed  brigadier-general  at  Malta, 
and  on  10  Nov.  1804  lieutenant-governor  and 
commandant  at  Portsmouth.  On  1  Jan.  1805 
he  became  a  major-general,  and  in  June  of 
the  same  year  was  appointed  one  of  the  com- 
missioners of  military  engineering,  whose  re- 
ports appear  in  'Parliamentary  Papers,'  1806- 
1807.  On  11  July  1806  he  was  appointed 
major-general  and  quartermaster-general  in 
the  Mediterranean,  whence  he  returned  home 
with  the  troops  from  Sicily  under  Sir  John 
Moore  in  Dec.  1807.  In  March  1808  he  was 
appointed  to  command  the  troops  in  Malta. 
He  received  the  local  rank  of  lieutenant- 
general  in  Malta  on  30  April  1810,  and  in 
May  that  year  was  made  civil  and  military 
commissioner  in  the  island,  a  position  he 
held  until  the  arrival  of  his  successor,  Sir 
Thomas  Maitland  [q.  v.],  in  Oct.  1813,  when 
Oakes  returned  home  in  very  broken  health, 
and  on  2  Nov.  1813  was  created  a  baronet  in 
recognition  of  his  services.  He  had  attained 
the  rank  of  lieutenant-general  on  4  Jan.  1811. 
The  outbreak  of  the  plague  in  Malta,  which 
swept  off  some  five  thousand  persons,  and 
was  stamped  out  by  the  sterner  measures  of 
his  successor,  occurred  during  Oakes's  govern- 
ment in  1813.  Sir  Robert  Wilson,  who 
visited  Oakes  at  Malta  in  1812,  wrote  of  him  : 
'  Although  but  sixty,  he  is  not  far  from  his 
journey's  end.  Whenever  his  voyage  ter- 
minates, England  will  lose  one  of  her 
bravest  soldiers,  and  the  world  an  excellent 
man '  (Private  Diary  of  Sir  R.  T.  Wilson, 
i.  68).  Oakes  was  appointed  lieutenant-gene- 
ral of  the  ordnance  in  1814,  a  post  he  re- 
tained until  his  death.  He  was  made  a  G.C.B. 
on  20  May  1820.  He  was  appointed  colonel 
1st  garrison  battalion  on  23  Nov.  1803,  was 
transferred  to  the  3rd  West  India  on  24  April 
1806,  and  succeeded  to  the  colonelcy  of  the 
52nd  light  infantry  on  25  Jan.  1809,  at  the 
death  of  Sir  John  Moore.  He  was  one  of 
the  commissioners  of  Chelsea  Hospital  and 
of  the  Royal  Military  College,  and  a  member 
of  the  consolidated  board.  He  died  at  Here- 
ford Street,  Mayfair,  London,  9  Sept.  1822, 
aged  64,  and  unmarried. 

SIR  HENRY  OAKES  (1756-1827),  baronet, 
lieutenant-general  East  India  Company's 
service,  younger  brother  of  the  above,  born 
11  July  1756,  received  an  Indian  cadetship 
on  8  Feb.  1775,  and  was  appointed  a  second 
lieutenant  in  the  Bombay  army  on  18  May 
1775.  He  served  two  campaigns  in  Guzerat 
in  1775-6,  in  the  expedition  to  Poonah  in 
1778,  and  at  the  sieges  of  Tellicherry,  Onore, 
Bangalore,  and  Bednore  in  1780-1.  He  was 


Oakes 


289 


Oakes 


adjutant-general  of  the  force,  under  General 
Mathews,  that  surrendered  at  Bednore 
(Nagur)  on  28  April  1783,  and  was  carried 
oft*  prisoner  by  Tippoo  Sultaun  (cf.  MILL, 
Hist,  of  India,  ed.  Wilson,  iv.  267-9). 
When  Tippoo  released  the  prisoners  in  1784, 
Oakes  was  appointed  by  the  Madras  govern- 
ment captain-commandant  of  a  battalion  of 
sepoys  (10  June  1784),  and,  when  the 
battalion  was  disbanded,  returned  to  Bombay 
to  command  the  grenadiers  of  the  2nd  Bom- 
bay Europeans,  whence  he  was  transferred 
to  the  12th  Bombay  native  infantry  in 
September  1788,  and  took  the  field  with 
that  corps  in  1790,  serving  first  as  quarter- 
master-general, and  afterwards  as  commissary 
of  supplies.  He  was  with  his  battalion  at 
the  sieges  of  Cananore  and  Seringapatam  in 
1790,  was  detached  with  a  separate  force  to 
Kolapore  in  Malabar,  and  was  afterwards 
with  the  troops  under  Major  Cappage  in 
October  1791.  In  1792  he  was  appointed 
deputy  adjutant-general  of  the  Bom  bay  army, 
received  the  style  of  adjutant-general  in  1796, 
and  returned  home  on  sick  furlough  in  1788, 
having  attained  the  rank  of  major  on  6  May 
1795,  and  lieutenant-colonel  on  8  Jan.  1796. 
He  went  out  again  in  1802,  and  was  appointed 
colonel  of  the  7th  Bombay  native  infantry, 
but  was  compelled  to  return  home  through 
ill-health.  He  went  to  India  once  more  in 
1807  as  military  auditor-general  at  Bombay, 
but  was  again  obliged  to  return  home.  He 
became  a  major-general  on  25  July  1810,  a 
lieutenant-general  on  4  June  1814,  and  suc- 
ceeded his  brother  as  second  baronet  in  1822. 

Henry  Oakes  married,  on  9  Dec.  1792, 
Dorothea,  daughter  of  General  George  Bowles 
of  Mount  Prospect,  co.  Cork,  by  whom  he 
had  four  sons  and  three  daughters.  She  died 
on  24  May  1837.  Oakes,  whose  constitution 
had  been  completely  undermined  in  India, 
was  subject  to  fits  of  insanity,  in  one  of  which 
he  destroyed  himself.  His  death  took  place 
at  his  residence  at  Mitcham,  Surrey,  on 
1  Nov.  1827. 

[Burke's  Baronetage,  tinder  '  Oakes  ; '  Gent. 
Mag.  1797  i.  254  (Lieutenant-colonel  Oakes), 
1822  pt.  ii.  p.  373  (Sir  Hildebrand  Oakes), 
1827  pt.  ii.  p.  560;  Philippart's  Koy.  Mil.  Cal. 
1820,  ii.  191-2;  War  Office  Corresp.  in  Public 
Record  Office  relating  to  Corsica,  Portugal, 
Malta,  &c. ;  Mill's  Hist,  of  India,  ed.  Wilson,  vols. 
iv.  and  v.  for  particulars  of  campaigns  in  which 
Henry  Oakes  was  employed.]  H.  M.  C. 

OAKES,  JOHN  WRIGHT  (1820-1887), 
landscape-painter,  was  born  on  9  July  1820, 
at  Sproston  House,  near  Middlewich,  Che- 
shire, which  had  been  in  the  possession  of 
his  family  for  several  generations.  He  was 
educated  in  Liverpool,  and  studied  art  under 

VOL.  XLI. 


John  Bishop  in  the  school  attached  to  the 
Liverpool  Mechanics' Institution.  His  earliest 
works  were  fruit-pieces.  {These  he  exhibited 
in  1839  and  the  following  years  at  the  Liver- 
pool Academy,  of  which  he  became  a  member, 
and  afterwards  honorary  secretary  for  several 
years. 

About  1843  Oakes  began  painting  land- 
scapes from  nature,  and  in  1847  the  first 
picture  exhibited  by  him  in  London,  '  Nant 
Frangcon,  Carnarvonshire,'  appeared  at  the 
British  Institution,  and  was  followed  in  1848 
by  '  On  the  River  Greta,  Keswick,'  at  the 
Royal  Academy.  He  continued  to  send  pic- 
tures, chiefly  of  Welsh  mountain,  moorland, 
and  coast  scenery,  to  these  exhibitions,  as 
well  as  to  the  Society  of  British  Artists, 
Dudley  Gallery,  Portland  Gallery,  and  else- 
where, and  in  1859  came  to  reside  in  Lon- 
don. He  painted  also  in  water-colours,  and 
in  1874  was  elected  an  associate  of  the  In- 
stitute of  Painters  in  Water-Colours,  but 
resigned  this  position  in  1875.  He  was 
elected  an  associate  of  the  Royal  Academy 
in  1876,  and  an  honorary  member  of  the 
Royal  Scottish  Academy  in  1883.  During 
the  last  six  years  of  his  life  ill-health  greatly 
interfered  with  the  practice  of  his  art.  He 
still,  however,  exhibited  annually  at  the 
Royal  Academy,  where  a  picture  entitled 
'  The  Warren '  appeared  the  year  after  his 
death.  Among  his  best  works  were  '  A 
Carnarvonshire  Glen,'  '  A  Solitary  Pool,' 
'Glen  Derry,' '  Malldraeth  Sands,"  Aberffraw 
Bay,  '  Marchlyn  Mawr,'  '  Linn  of  Muick,' 
'  Dunnottar  Castle,'  '  The  Bass  Rock,' '  The 
Fallow  Field,' '  The  Border  Countrie,' '  The 
Dee  Sands,'  and  'Dirty  Weather  on  the  East 
Coast.' 

Oakes  died  at  his  residence,  Learn  House, 
Addison  Road,  Kensington,  on  8  July  1887, 
and  was  buried  in  Brompton  cemetery.  The 
South  Kensington  Museum  has  an  oil  paint- 
ing by  him  entitled  '  Disturbed,'  an  effect  of 
early  spring  twilight.  '  A  North  Devon 
Glen '  is  in  the  Walker  Art  Gallery,  Liver- 
pool, and  '  Early  Spring  '  in  the  Glasgow 
Corporation  galleries. 

[Times,  13  July  1887;  Athenaeum,  1887.  ii. 
89;  Bryan's  Diet,  of  Painters  and  Engravers, 
ed.  Graves  and  Armstrong,  1886-9,  ii.  768  ; 
Exhibition  Catalognes  of  the  Royal  Academy, 
British  Institution  (Living  Artists),  Society  of 
British  Artists,  and  Liverpool  Academy,  1839- 
1888.]  R.  E.  G. 

OAKES,  URIAN  (1631  P-1681),  New 
England  divine,  born  in  England  in  1631  or 
1632,  went  out  when  a  child  with  his  father 
to  Massachusetts.  He  graduated  at  Har- 
vard College  in  1649,  and  'when  a  lad  of 
small  stature  published  a  Hi  tie  parcel  of 


Oakes 


290 


Oakley 


astronomical  calculations  with  this  appro- 
priate verse  in  the  title-page — 
Parvum  parva  decent,  sed  inest  sua  gratia  parvis 

(CALAMY  and  PALMEK,  ii.  280).  While  in 
America  he  married  Ruth,,  daughter  of  a 
•well-known  nonconformist  minister,  AVilliam 
Ames.  Oakes  returned  to  England  during 
the  time  of  the  Commonwealth,  and  obtained 
the  living  of  Titchfield.  Thence  he  was 
ejected  in  1662.  His  wife  died  in  1669. 
Two  years  later  a  deputation  sent  over  to 
England  to  find  a  minister  for  the  vacant 
church  of  Cambridge  in  Massachusetts  chose 
Oakes.  He  commenced  his  pastoral  labours 
in  November  1671,  and  soon  after  he  became 
one  of  the  governors  of  Harvard  College. 
That  body  was  in  difficulties  owing  to  the 
general  dissatisfaction  of  the  students  with 
their  president,  Leonard  Hoar  [q.  v.]  The 
like  feeling  was  in  some  measure  shared  and 
countenanced  by  certain  of  the  governors, 
among  them  Oakes.  He  and  other  of  his  col- 
leagues resigned,  and,  in  spite  of  the  entreaties 
of  the  general  court  of  overseers,  would  not 
withdraw  their  resignation  till  Hoar  himself 
vacated  the  presidency  on  15  March  1675. 
The  vacancy  thus  created  was  filled  by  the 
appointment  of  Oakes.  He,  however,  would 
only  accept  it  provisionally ;  but  after  dis- 
charging the  duties  of  the  office  for  four  years, 
he  in  1679  consented  to  accept  the  full  ap- 
pointment inform,  and  held  it  till  his  death  on 
25  July  1681.  Calamy  states  that  Oakes  was 
noted  for  '  the  uncommon  sweetness  of  his 
temper,'  and  in  New  England  he  was  greatly 
beloved  by  his  congregation  and  popular  with 
all  who  came  in  contact  with  him. 

His  extant  writings  are  three  sermons — 
two  preached  at  the  annual  election  of  the 
artillery  company  in  1672  and  1676,  and  the 
third  at  the  election  of  representatives  in  1673 
— and  a  monody  in  English  verse  (Cambridge, 
1677)  on  the  death  of  Thomas  Shepard,  minis- 
ter of  the  church  in  Charlestown.  Mr.  Tyler 
describes  Oakes's  one  surviving  effort  in  poetry  I 
as  '  not  without  some  mechanical  defects ;  ' 
blurred  also  by  some  patches  of  the  prevail- 
ing theological  jargon,  yet  upon  the  whole 
affluent,  stately,  pathetic ;  beautiful  and  I 
strong  with  the  strength  of  true  imaginative 
vision.'  The  praise  may  be  somewhat  exag- 
gerated. The  stateliness  becomes  at  times 
cumbrous  ;  the  pathos  is  marred  by  straining 
after  antithesis.  Yet,  on  the  whole,  Oakes's 
power,  dignity,  and  directness  raise  him  far 
above  the  contemporary  verse- writers  of  New 
England. 

Oakes  stands  out  far  more  conspicuously 
above  his  contemporaries  by  the  merits  of 
his  prose.  In  substance  his  sermons  wholly 


break  through  the  formalities  of  Calvinism  ; 
they  are  intensely  human,  alike  in  their 
treatment  of  moral  problems  and  their  ap- 
plication of  scriptural  precedents.  The 
preacher  is  throughout  a  vigorous  moralist, 
full  of  public  spirit.  The  style  is  epigram- 
matic, yet  free  from  conceits  or  forced  anti- 
thesis, and  capable  of  rising  into  real  dignity 
and  eloquence.  The  purity  and  elegance  of 
his  Latin  are  proved  by  a  specimen  preserved 
in  Cotton's  '  Magnalia.'  Urian's  brother 

THOMAS  OAKES  (1644-1719),  speaker  of 
the  Massachusetts  House  of  Representatives, 
born  in  Cambridge,  Massachusetts,  on  18  June 
1644,  was  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1662, 
subsequently  studied  medicine  in  London, 
and  obtained  some  eminence  as  a  physician. 
He  was  elected  a  representative  after  the  re- 
volution and  the  expulsion  of  Sir  Edmund 
Andros  in  1689,  and  was  chosen  speaker.  In 
the  following  year  he  was  chosen  assistant. 
In  that  year  he  went  to  England  with  Elisha 
Cooke  to  represent  the  interests  of  the  colo- 
nists in  the  matter  of  a  new  charter.  He 
was  again  chosen  speaker  to  the  House  of 
Representatives  in  1705.  He  died  at  East- 
haven  in  Massachusetts  on  15  July  1719, 
leaving  two  sons  (HiTTCHiNsoif,  History  of 
Massachusetts). 

[Savage's  Genealogical  Diet,  of  New  England ; 
Cotton  Mather's  Magnalia ;  Tyler's  History  of 
American  Literature ;  Holmes's  History  of  Cam- 
bridge ;  Peirce's  Hist,  of  Harvard  University, 
pp.  44-6 ;  Appleton's  Cyclop,  of  American  Biogr. 
iv.  548  ;  Hutc'ainson's  History  of  Massachusetts.] 

J.  A.  D. 

OAKLEY,  EDWARD  (ft.  1732),  archi- 
tect, was  probably  a  native  of  Carmarthen- 
shire. He  stated  in  1730  that  he  had  been 
a  government  civil  servant  abroad,  where  he 
had  '  long  contemplated  a  famous  republic  ' 
{Mag.  Architect,  pt.  ii.  Pref.)  Before  1725 
he  was  residing  in  the  town  of  Carmarthen, 
where  he  held  the  position  of  provincial 
senior  grand  warden  of  the  freemasons'  lodge. 
In  1725  he  was  one  of  the  wardens  of  a 
lodge  meeting  at  the  Three  Compasses  (or 
Carpenters'  Arms)  in  Silver  Street,  Golden 
Square,  London,  and  there  on  31  Dec.  1728, 
as  master  of  the  lodge,  he  delivered  a  speech, 
principally  concerned  with  architecture.  At 
the  time  he  was  described  as  an  architect.  In 
1730  he  was  residing  '  over  against  Tom's 
Coffee  House,  in  St.  Martin's  Lane.'  In 
1732  he  designed  the  greenhouses  and  hot- 
houses for  the  Botanic  Garden  at  Chelsea ; 
the  first  stone  was  laid  by  Sir  Hans  Sloane 
on  12  Aug.  1732,  and  they  were  completed 
in  1734.  Elevations,  plans,  and  sections, 
drawn  by  Oakley,  and  engraved  by  B.  Cole, 
are  in  the  King's  Library,  British  Museum. 


Oakley 


291 


Oakley 


Oakley  published:  1.  'The  Magazine  of 
Architecture,  Perspective,  and  Sculpture,' 
Westminster,  1730,  fol.  A  second  edition 
was  appearing  in  parts  in  1732  (London  Mag. 
1732,  p.  494).  2.  '  Every  Man  a  Cotnpleat 
Builder ;  or  Easy  Rules  and  Proportions  for 
drawing  and  working  the  several  Parts  of 
Architecture,' London,  1738, 1766  (by  which 
year  he  was  no  longer  living),  1774.  In  1756 
he  published  three  designs  for  Blackfriars 
Bridge  (MAITLAND,  London,  1756,  p.  1392). 

[Diet,  of  Architecture ;  Antient  Constitutions 
of  the  Free-Masons,  1731,  pt.  ii.  p.  25;  Lane's 
Masonic  Lodges,  pp.  4-5 ;  Field  and  Semple's 
Botanic  Garden  at  Chelsea,  pp.  53-4  ;  informa- 
tion from  John  Lane,  esq.,  of  Torquay.]  B.  P. 

OAKLEY,  JOHN  (1834-1890),  dean  of 
Manchester,  son  of  John  Oakley,  estate  and 
land  agent,  of  Blackheath,  Kent,  was  born 
at  Frindsbury,  near  Rochester,  Kent,  on 
28  Oct.  1834,  and  educated  first  at  Rochester 
Cathedral  school,  and  afterwards  at  Hereford 
grammar  school.  At  Hereford  he  won  a 
Somerset  scholarship,  and,  going  to  Oxford  in 
1852,  entered  Brasenose  College.  He  had  ob- 
tained an  exhibition  tenable  at  that  college 
from  Rochester  Cathedral  school.  He  was 
president  of  the  Oxford  Union  in  1856.  His 
father  intended  him  for  a  civil  engineer,  and 
for  some  short  time  he  worked  in  an  engineer's 
office  at  Chatham ;  but  his  own  leanings  were 
strongly  towards  the  church.  In  1857  he 
graduated  B.  A.,  and  in  the  following  year  was 
ordained  deacon,  his  first  curacy  being  at 
St.  Luke's,  Berwick  Street,  Soho,  London, 
under  the  Rev.  Harry  Jones.  He  took 
priest's  orders  and  proceeded  M.A.  in  1859. 
He  was  afterwards  curate  at  St.  James's, 
Piccadilly,  and  acted  with  great  zeal  as  secre- 
tary to  the  London  diocesan  board  of  edu- 
cation, and  as  a  promoter  of  the  lay  helpers' 
association.  In  1867  he  was  appointed  vicar 
of  St.  Saviour's,  Hoxton,  which  post  he  held 
until  1881.  For  over  twenty  years  he  was 
one  of  the  most  zealous  and  active  of  the  clergy 
of  the  metropolis.  He  was  a  decided  high 
churchman,  but  his  ritual  gave  little  offence. 
In  many  things  he  was  a  disciple  of  Frederick 
Denison  Maurice  [q.  v.],  of  whom  he  once 
wrote  an  interesting  estimate  in  the  '  Man- 
chester Guardian.'  His  views  in  politics  and 
social  questions  were  essentially  liberal.  His 
courage  was  unfailing  when  he  believed  that 
he  had  a  righteous  cause,  and,  though  he 
always  valued  the  good  will  and  sympathy  of 
friends,  he  was  utterly  indifferent  to  the  scoffs 
of  those  who  resented  his  incursions  into 
new  paths.  With  the  working  man  he  had 
genuine  sympathy,  and  he  was  not  a  little 
proud  of  the  compliment  of  a  costermonger 


who  called  him  'the  poor  bloke's  parson. 
He  acted  as  chairman  of  several  important 
conferences  between  members  of  trade  unions 
and  others  both  in  London  and  elsewhere, 
and  some  action  which  he  took  on  behalf  of 
the  men  in  a  great  gas-workers'  strike  at 
Manchester  was  typically  generous.  Some 
of  his  acts  and  utterances  were  deemed  in- 
discreet, and  caused  distress  to  his  friends  : 
but  they  are  among  the  incidents  of  his  career 
which  are  most  honourable  to  his  memory. 

In  1865  he  was  offered  the  bishopric  of 
Nelson,  New  Zealand ;  in  1876  he  declined 
the  living  of  Tewkesbury,  and  in  1880  that 
of  Ramsgate,  which  was  offered  to  him  by 
Archbishop  Tait.  In  1881  he  accepted  the 
deanery  of  Carlisle  at  the  hands  of  Mr.  Glad- 
stone. Before  leaving  London  he  received 
an  address  and  valuable  testimonial  from  a 
large  number  of  clergy  and  laity.  He  re- 
mained at  Carlisle  for  only  about  two  years, 
but  the  time  was  long  enough  for  him  to  make 
his  mark  there  both  inside  and  outside  the 
cathedral.  In  November  1883  he  was  ap- 
pointed dean  of  Manchester.  It  was  a  time 
of  peculiar  local  difficulty,  on  account  of 
vexatious  legal  disputes  between  the  cathe- 
dral chapter  and  the  Manchester  rectors,  and 
of  the  prosecution  of  the  Rev.  S.  F.  Green, 
whose  cause  he  espoused  in  opposition  to 
Bishop  Fraser.  Here,  as  in  London  and 
Carlisle,  every  movement  that  promised  to 
elevate  the  condition  of  the  working  classes 
had  his  hearty  support.  In  education  gene- 
rally he  took  great  interest ;  he  was  a  governor 
of  the  Victoria  University  and  of  the  grammar 
school,  as  well  as  one  of  the  Hulme  trustees. 
He  constantly  attended  and  read  papers  at  the 
church  congresses,  and  was  a  prolific  contri- 
butor to  the  press.  Among  other  articles  in 
the  '  Manchester  Guardian,'  written  under 
the  nom  de  guerre  of '  Vicesimus,'  was  a  long 
memoir  of  his  friend,  Henry  Nutcombe 
Oxenham  [q.  v.],  and  an  admirable  series  of 
papers  on  Dean  Burgon's  '  Lives  of  Twelve 
Good  Men,'  1888-9.  Besides  many  separate 
sermons  and  papers,  he  published '  The  Chris- 
tian Aspect  and  Application  of  the  Deca- 
logue,' 1865,  and  '  The  Conscience  Clause : 
its  History,'  1866. 

Oakley  was  of  a  commanding  figure,  and 
his  fine  countenance  impressed  all  who  met 
him.  He  was  one  of  the  most  approachable 
of  men. 

He  died,  after  a  tedious  illness,  at  Deganwy, 
near  Llandudno,  North  Wales,  on  10  June 
1890,  and  was  buried  at  Chiselhurst,  Kent. 
A  stained  glass  window  was  erected  by  public 
subscription  to  his  memory  in  the  south  aisle 
of  Manchester  Cathedral.  He  married,  on 
21  Jan.  1861,  Clara,  daughter  of  Joseph 

u  2 


Oakley 


292 


Oasland 


Phelps,  of  the  island  of  Madeira  and  had  a 
large  family. 

[Guardian,  18  June  1890,  p.  973;  Manchester 
Guardian,  14  Nov.  1883,  11  and  16  June  1890; 
Health  Journal  (Manchester),  June  1887,  with 
portrait;  London  Figaro,  24  Nov.  1883;  in- 
formation supplied  hy  Mr.  F.  P.  Oakley  of  Man- 
chester.] C.  W.  S. 

OAKLEY,  OCTAVIUS  (1800-1867), 
water-colour  painter,  born  in  Bermondsey, 
London,  on  27  April  1800,  was  the  son  of  a 
London  wool  merchant.  He  was  educated 
at  the  school  of  Dr.  Nicholas  at  Baling,  and 
was  intended  for  the  medical  profession.  This 
design  Avas  frustrated  by  the  embarrassed 
state  of  his  father's  affairs,  and  he  was  placed 
with  a  cloth  manufacturer  near  Leeds.  There 
he  drew  portraits  of  his  acquaintances  in 
pencil,  and  by  degrees  his  practice  increased 
so  much  that  he  left  business  and  embarked 
on  a  professional  career.  About  1825  he 
settled  in  Derby,  where  he  painted  portraits 
in  water-colours,  and  was  patronised  by  the 
Duke  of  Devonshire  and  other  noblemen  of  the 
neighbourhood.  He  removed  to  Leamington 
in  1836,  and  about  1841  he  came  to  London. 
In  1842  he  was  elected  an  associate,  and  in 
1844  a  member,  of  the  Society  of  Painters  in 
Water-Colours,  where  he  exhibited  in  all  210 
drawings  of  rustic  figures,  landscapes,  and 
groups  of  gipsies,  which  earned  for  him  the 
sobriquet  of '  Gipsy  Oakley.'  Meanwhile  he 
continued  to  send  occasional  portraits  in 
water-colours  to  the  Royal  Academy,  where 
he  exhibited  from  1826  until  1860. 

Oakley  died  at  7  Chepstow  Villas,  Bays- 
water,  London,  on  1  March  1867,  and  was 
buried  in  Highgate  cemetery.  His  remain- 
ing works  were  sold  at  Christie's  in  March 
1869.  Drawings  by  him  of  '  Primrose 
Gatherers  '  and  '  Buy  my  Spring  Flowers ' 
are  in  the  South  Kensington  Museum.  His 
youngest  daughter  Isabel  married  Paul  Jacob 
Naftel  [q.  v.],  the  water-colour  painter. 

[Art  Journal,  1867,  p.  115;  Bryan's  Diet, 
of  Painters  and  Engravers,  ed.  Graves  and 
Armstrong.  1886-89,  ii.  220;  Koget's  History 
of  the  Old  Water-Colour  Society,  1891,  ii.  268- 
271  ;  Royal  Academy  Exhibition  Catalogues, 
1826-60  ,:  Exhibition  Catalogues  of  the  Society 
of  Painters  in  Water- Colours,  1842-67.] 

K.  E.  G. 

OAKMAN,  JOHN  (1748  P-1793),  engra- 
ver and  author,  was  born  at  Hendon  in  Middle- 
sex about  1748.  He  was  at  first  apprenticed 
to  the  map-engraver,  Emanuel  Bowen  [see 
under  BOWEN,  THOMAS],  but  left  him  in  con- 
sequence of  an  intrigue  with  his  daughter, 
whom  he  afterwards  married.  Oakman  next 
kept  a  shop  for  the  sale  of  caricatures  and 
similar  prints,  and,  having  some  literary 


facility,  made  money  by  writing  several 
worthless  and  disreputable  novels,  such  as 
'  The  Life  and  Adventures  of  Benjamin 
Brass,'  London,  1765,  12mo ;  '  The  History 
of  Sir  Edward  Haunch,'  &c.  A  book  called 
'  The  Adventures  of  William  Williams,  an 
African  Prince,'  whom  Oakman  met  in 
Liverpool  gaol,  had  some  success  through  its 
attack  on  slavery  as  an  institution.  Oakman 
had  a  considerable  gift  for  song-writing,  and 
wrote  many  popular  songs  for  Vauxhall,  Ber- 
mondsey Spa,  &c.  He  also  wrote  burlettas 
for  the  performances  at  Astley's  Theatre  and 
elsewhere.  Besides  these  occupations,  he 
engraved  on  wood  illustrations  for  children's 
books  and  cheap  literature.  After  a  some- 
what vagrant  life,  Oakman  died  in  distress 
at  his  sister's  house  in  King  Street,  West- 
minster, in  October  1793. 

[Gent,  Mag.  1793,  ii.  1080;  Redgrave's  Diet,  of 
Artists.]  L.  C. 

OASLAND     or    OSLAND,    HENRY 

(1625-1703),  ejected  minister,  the  son  of 
'Edward  Osland  and  Elizabeth  his  wife,' 
was  born  at  Rock  in  Worcestershire  in  1625, 
and  was  baptised  there  on  1  May  (Parish  Re- 
gister). His  parents  were  well-to-do  people, 
and  Oasland,  after  having  been  educated  at  the 
grammar  school  at  Bewdley,  entered  Trinity 
College,  Cambridge,  about  1644.  The  in- 
fluence of  Dr.  Thomas  Hill  (d.  1653)  [q.  v.], 
who  was  master  of  Trinity  College,  gave  his 
thoughts  a  religious  turn,  and  he  experienced 
a  bitter  feeling  of  remorse  for  having  in  earlier 
life  engaged  in  dancing  and  sports  on  the 
Sabbath. 

In  1648,  when  on  a  visit  to  his  parents  at 
Rock,  he  preached  in  the  locality  with  great 
success.  He  graduated  B.A.  at  Cambridge 
in  1649,  and  M.A.  in  1653.  In  1650  he 
temporarily  officiated  at  Sheriff  Hales  in  Staf- 
fordshire, while  the  incumbent  went  to  Lon- 
don to  be  ordained  by  the  assembly.  He 
had  already,  on  1  Jan.  1649-50,  taken  part 
in  Bewdley  Chapel  in  a  disputation  between 
John  Tombes,  vicar  of  Bewdley,  and  Richard 
Baxter  on  the  subject  of  infant  baptism 
(BAXTEK,  Infant  Membership).  Soon  after- 
wards Tombes  left  Bewdley,  and  Oasland, 
after  a  first  refusal,  accepted  the  pastorate 
there  in  1650.  He  always  adapted  his  ser- 
mons to  the  requirements  and  capacities  of 
his  hearers, and  his  church  was  soon  crowded. 
In  1651  he  went  to  London,  and  was  ordained 
by  the  presbyterian  ministers  S.  Clarke  and 
Simeon  Ashe  at  Bartholomew's  Exchange. 

In  1661  he  was  arrested  on  suspicion  of 
being  concerned  in  a  plot  of  the  presbyterians 
against  the  government,  which  is  known 
both  as  Pakington's  plot  and  Baxter's  plot. 


Oastler 


293 


Oastler 


A  man  named  Churm,  who  owed  a  grudge  to 
Oasland,  claimed  to  have  accidentally  found 
a  letter  mentioning  Oasland's  complicity, 
which  had  been  dropped  from  the  pack  of  a 
Scottish  pedlar,  and  was  addressed  to  Sir 
John  Pakington  [q.  v.]  Oasland  was  kept 
in  close  confinement  at  the  George  Inn  m 
Worcester  till  2  April  1062,  when  his  fel- 
low-prisoner, Andrew  Yarrenton,  Yarranton, 
or  Yarrington  [q.  v.],  on  examination  by  the 
lord-lieutenant,  satisfied  him  of  his  own  and 
of  Oasland's  innocence  (YABRANTON,  full 
Discovery,  passim). 

Oasland  was  much  associated  with  Bax- 
ter, who  appreciated  his  fluency  in  the  pulpit. 
In  August  1662  Oasland  was  ejected  from 
his  living  in  Bewdley  by  the  Act  of  Uni- 
formity, and  removed  to  Staffordshire,  where 
he  preached  privately.  He  had  many  re- 
markable escapes  from  arrest,  but  the  respect 
with  which  he  was  universally  regarded  often 
prompted  even  men  of  opposite  opinions  to 
shelter  him.  He  was  cited  by  the  court  of 
Lich6eld,  but  discharged  by  the  declaration 
for  liberty  of  1685.  After  the  Toleration  Act 
of  1688  he  preached  regularly  till  3  Oct.  1703, 
when  he  was  taken  ill.  He  died  on  the  19th. 
Baxter  described  Oasland  as  '  the  most 
lively,  fervent,  moving  preacher  in  all  the 
county,  of  an  honest,  upright  life,'  and  not 
carried  '  too  far  from  conformity.'  His 
generosity  to  the  poor  was  great,  and  he  had 
a  peculiar  talent  for  winning  the  love  and 
confidence  of  children. 

Oasland  married,  in  1660,  a  daughter  of 
Mr.  Maxwell,  banker  and  mercer,  of  Bewdley, 
by  whom  he  had  several  children.  Edward, 
his  eldest  son,  was  presbyterian  minister  at 
Bewdley,  and  died  in  January  1752,  at  which 
time  he  was  possessed  of  a  farm  at  Rock 
and  a  house  at  Bewdley. 

Oasland  published:  1.  'The  Christian's 
Daily  Walk'  (under  the  initials  O.  N.), 
London,  n.d.  (?  1660).  2.  'The  Dead  Pas- 
tor yet  speaketh,'  London,  1662  (KEXXET, 
Register,  p.  748) ;  the  substance  of  two 
sermons  preached  at  Bewdley,  and  printed 
without  his  knowledge. 

[Oasland's  Autobiography,  and  Life  by  his  son, 
n  Bewdley  Parish  Magazine,  March  1878,  and 
following  numbers;  Sylvester's  Reliq.  Bax- 
terianae,  pt.  i.  pp.  90,  95,  pt.  ii.  p.  383,  pt.  iii. 
p.  91 ;  Burton's  Hist,  of  Bewdley,  pp.  23-4,  49  ; 
Palmer's  Nonconformist's  Memorial,  iii.  383-7  ; 
Cal.  State  Papers,  1661-2,  pp.  143,  149;  assis- 
tance from  the  Rev.  E.  Winnington  Ingram  of 
Bewdley ;  Cambr.  Univ.  Reg.  per  the  Registrary  ] 

B.  P. 

OASTLER,  RICHARD  (1789-1861), 
'  the  factory  king,'  the  youngest  of  the  eight 
children  of  Robert  Oastler  of  Leeds,  was 


born  in  St.  Peter's  Square  in  that  town  on 
20  Dec.  1789.  His  mother,  a  daughter  of 
Joseph  Scurr  of  Leeds,  died  in  1828.  His 
father,  originally  a  linen  merchant  at  Thirsk, 
settled  at  Leeds,  and  became  steward  of  the 
Fixby  estates,  Huddersfield,  the  property  of 
the  Thornhills  of  Riddlesworth,  Norfolk. 
Disinherited  by  his  father  for  his  methodism, 
the  elder  Oastler  was  one  of  the  earliest  ad- 
herents of  John  Wesley,  who  frequently 
stayed  at  his  house  on  his  visits  to  Yorkshire. 
On  Wesley's  last  visit  he  is  said  to  have 
taken  Richard  Oastler,  then  a  child,  in  his 
arms  and  blessed  him. 

Educated  at  the  Moravian  school  at  Ful- 
nek,  where  Henry  Steinhauer  was  his  tutor, 
Richard  Oastler  wished  to  become  a  barrister; 
but  his  father  articled  him  to  Charles  Watson, 
architect,  at  Wakefield.  Compelled  by  weak- 
ness of  sight  to  abandon  this  profession  after 
four  years,  he  became  a  commission  agent, 
and  by  his  industry  accumulated  considerable 
wealth.  But  he  lost  everything  in  1820.  His 
father  dying  in  July  of  that  year,  Thomas 
Thornhill,  the  absentee  owner  of  Fixby,  ap- 
pointed him  to  the  stewardship,  at  a  sakry  of 
300/.  a  year.  Oastler  removed  from  Leeds  to 
Fixby  Hall  on  5  Jan.  1821,  and  devoted  him- 
self to  his  new  duties.  The  estate  contained 
at  that  time  nearly  one  thousand  tenants, 
many  of  them  occupying  very  small  tenures ; 
but  the  annual  legal  expenses  of  Oastler's 
management  were  not  more  than  o/.  (fleet 
Papers,  vol.  i.  No.  26,  p.  203). 

Oastler  was  at  this  time  well  known  in 
the  West  Riding.  He  had  been  since  1807 
an  advocate  of  the  abolition  of  slavery  in 
the  West  Indies.  He  also  supported  Queen 
Caroline  and  opposed  Roman  catholic  eman- 
cipation. While  he  was  on  a  visit  in  1830 
to  John  Wood  of  Horton  Hall,  afterwards  of 
Thedden  Grange,  Hampshire,  an  extensive 
manufacturer  of  Bradford,  who  had  intro- 
duced many  reforms  into  his  own  factory, 
lis  host  told  him  (29  Sept.)  of  the  evils  of 
children's  employment  in  the  Bradford  dis- 
trict, and  exacted  from  him  a  promise  to 
devote  himself  to  their  removal.  '  I  had 
ived  for  many  years,'  wrote  Oastler, '  in  the 
very  heart  of  the  factory  districts;  I  had  been 
on  terms  of  intimacy  and  of  friendship  with 
many  factory  masters,  and  I  had  all  the  while 
kncied  that  factories  were  blessings  to  the 
poor '  (ib.  vol.  i.  No.  13,  p.  104).  After  Wood's 
disclosure  he  on  the  same  day  (29  Sept.)  wrote 
letter  to  the  '  Leeds  Mercury  entitled 
'  Yorkshire  Slavery,'  in  which  he  described 
what  he  had  heard.  Oastler's  statements 
were  met  with  denial  and  criticism ;  but  he 
established  their  truth,  and  won  the  gratitude 
of  working  men.  He  indicated  the  policy 


Oastler 


294 


Oastler 


by  which  parliament  might  be  induced  to 
protect  the  factory  hands  in  a  letter  in  the 
'  Leeds  Intelligencer '  (20  Oct.  1831)  entitled 
'  Slavery  in  Yorkshire,'  and  addressed  '  to  the 
working  classes  of  the  West  Riding.'  '  Use 
your  influence,'he  wrote, '  to  prevent  any  man 
being  returned  who  will  not  distinctly  and  un- 
equivocally pledge  himself  to  support  a  "  Ten- 
Hours-a-day  and  a  Time-book  Bill." '  About 
the  same  time  he  formed  the  'Fixby  Hall  Com- 
pact '  with  the  working  men  of  Huddersfield, 
by  which  they  agreed  to  work  together,  with- 
out regard  to  parties  in  politics  or  sects  in  reli- 
gion, for  the  reduction  of  the  hours  of  labour. 
Oastler  was  also  in  constant  correspondence 
with  Michael  Thomas  Sadler  [q.v.],  the  parlia- 
mentary leader  of  the  movement.  The  in- 
troduction of  Sadler's  bill  for  regulating  the 
labour  of  children  and  young  persons  in 
mills  and  factories  was  followed  by  nume- 
rous meetings,  at  which  Oastler  advocated 
the  claims  of  the  children.  He  was  ex- 
amined at  length  by  the  select  committee  on 
Sadler's  bill.  He  took  the  chief  part  in  or- 
ganising a  great  meeting  on  24  April  1832, 
when  thousands  of  working  people  from  all 
parts  of  the  clothing  districts  joined  in  a 
'  pilgrimage  of  mercy '  to  York  in  favour  of 
the  bill.  At  Bradford,  at  Manchester,  and 
other  places,  Oastler,  sometimes  in  company 
with  Sadler,  was  received  with  enthusiasm. 
His  opponents  nicknamed  him '  king,'  a  title 
which  he  took  to  himself,  and  by  which  he 
soon  became  known  throughout  Lancashire 
and  Yorkshire. 

On  23  Feb.  1833  Oastler  addressed  an  im- 
portant meeting  at  the  City  of  London  Tavern, 
convened  by  the  London  society  for  the  im- 
provement of  the  factory  children.  This 
was  the  first  meeting  held  in  London  in 
connection  with  the  movement,  and  the  first 
under  the  parliamentary  leadership  of  Lord 
Ashley.  After  the  defeat  of  Lord  Ashley's 
bill  and  the  passing  of  the  mild  government 
measure  generally  known  as  Lord  Althorp's 
Act,  Oastler  continued  to  write  and  speak 
in  favour  of  a  ten-hours  day.  In  the  sum- 
mer of  1835  he  published  a  series  of  letters 
on  that  and  similar  subjects  in  some  of  the 
most  popular  unstamped  periodicals  of  the 
day,  in  order  that  he  might  impress  his  views 
on  a  class  otherwise  beyond  his  reach. 
Poulett  Thomson's  bill  to  repeal '  the  thir- 
teen-year-old clause,'  thus  making  twelve 
years  the  age-limit  for  those  employed  eight 
hours  a  day,  caused  a  fresh  outburst  of  ex- 
citement, during  which  Oastler  went  from 
one  town  to  another  addressing  meetings. 
At  a  meeting  organised  by  the  Blackburn 
short  time  committee  (15  Sept.  1836)  he 
taxed  the  magistrates,  who  were  there,  with 


their  refusal  to  enforce  the  Factory  Acts, 
threatening  to  teach  the  children  to  '  apply 
their  grandmothers'  old  knitting-needles  to 
the  spindles '  if  they  again  refused  to  listen 
to  their  complaints.  This  threat  naturally 
provoked  severe  criticism ;  and  Oastler,  in 
order  to  make  his  position  clear,  published  a 
pamphlet,  '  The  Law  and  the  Needle,'  in 
which  he  justified  himself,  on  the  ground 
that,  if  the  magistrates  refused  to  put  the 
law  into  execution  for  the  protection  of 
children,  there  was  no  remedy  but  an  appeal 
to  force. 

Meanwhile  Oastler's  views  on  the  new 
poor  law,  a  subject  inseparably  connected  in 
his  mind  with  the  ten-hours  agitation,  were 
involving  him  in  serious  difficulties.  He 
believed  that  the  powers  with  which  parlia- 
ment had  invested  the  poor-law  commis- 
sioners for  the  supply  of  the  factory  districts 
with  labourers  from  the  agricultural  coun- 
ties would  lead  to  the  diminution  of  wages 
and  the  deterioration  of  the  working  classes. 
He  also  objected  to  the  new  poor  law  on  the 
ground  that  it  severed  the  connection  be- 
tween the  ratepayers  and  their  dependents, 
and  sapped  the  parochial  system.  When,  in 
accordance  with  his  views,  he  resisted  the 
commissioners  in  the  township  of  Fixby, 
Frankland  Lewis,  on  their  behalf,  asked 
Thornhill  to  assist  them  in  enforcing  the  law. 
Thornhill  had  hitherto  regarded  Oastler's 
public  work  with  approval.  He  had  intro- 
duced Oastler  to  several  statesmen,  among 
them  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  with  whom 
Oastler  carried  on  a  long  correspondence.  But 
Thornhill  would  not  countenance  Oastler's 
opposition  to  the  poor-law  commissioners, 
and  ultimately  discharged  him  (28  May 
1838). 

Oastler  removed  to  Brompton,  and  was 
supported  by  the  gifts  of  anonymous  friends 
in  Lancashire  and  Yorkshire.  But  when  he 
left  Thornhill's  service  he  owed  him  2,000/., 
and  Thornhill  took  proceedings  at  law  to  re- 
cover it.  The  case  was  tried  in  the  court  of 
common  pleas  before  Lord-chief-justice  Tin- 
dal  and  a  special  jury  on  10  July  1840,  when 
judgment  was  given  against  Oastler;  but 
there  was  no  imputation  on  his  character. 
Unable  to  pay  the  debt,  Oastler  was  on 
9  Dec.  1840  sent  to  the  Fleet  Prison,  and 
there  he  remained  for  more  than  three  years. 

During  his  imprisonment  Oastler  was  not 
inactive.  He  published  on  2  Jan.  1841  the 
first  number  of  'The  Fleet  Papers;  being 
Letters  to  Thomas  Thornhill  Esquire  of 
Riddlesworth  .  .  .  from  Richard  Oastler 
his  prisoner  in  the  Fleet.  With  occasional 
Communications  from  Friends.'  By  means  of 
these  papers,  which  appeared  weekly,  and  in 


Oastler 


295 


Gates 


which  Oastler  pleaded  the  cause  of  the  fac 
tory  workers,  denounced  the  new  poor  la 
and  defended  the  corn  laws,  he  exercise 
great  influence  on  public  opinion.  '  Oastle 
Committees '  were  formed  at  Manchester  an 
other  places  in  order  to  assist  him,  and '  Oast 
ler  Festivals,'  the  proceeds  of  which  were  for 
warded  to  him,  were  arranged  by  workint 
men.  In  1842  an  '  Oastler  Liberation  Fund 
was  started.  At  the  end  of  1843  the  func 
amounted  to  2,5001.  Some  of  Oastler's  friend 
guaranteed  the  remaining  sum  necessary  tc 
effect  his  release,  and  in  February  1844  he  was 
set  at  liberty.  He  made  a  public  entry  intc 
Huddersfield  on  20Feb.  From  that  time  unti 
1847  he  continued  to  agitate  for  a  ten-hours 
day ;  but  with  the  passing  of  Lord  Ashley's 
Act  his  public  career  practically  terminated 
He  edited  a  weekly  newspaper  called  '  The 
Home,'  which  he  commenced  on  3  May  1851 
and  discontinued  in  June  1855.  He  died  al 
Harrogate  on  22  Aug.  1861,  and  wasburiec 
in  Kirkstall  churchyard. 

Oastler  was  a  churchman,  a  tory,  and  a 
protectionist.  One  of  his  objections  to  the 
new  poor  law  was  that  it  would  prove  fatal 
to  the  interests  of  the  church  and  the 
landed  proprietors,  and  that  the  repeal  of  the 
corn  laws  would  inevitably  follow  its  enact- 
ment. He  defined  his  toryism  to  the  Duke 
of  Wellington  as  '  a  place  for  everything, 
and  everything  in  its  place.'  He  hated 
'  Liberal  philosophy,'  and  was  bitterly  op- 
posed to  the  whig  manufacturers.  Violent 
in  his  denunciations,  and  unfair  to  his  oppo- 
nents, he  has  been  called  the  Danton  of  the 
factory  movement.  He  was  a  powerfully 
built  man.  over  six  feet  in  height,  and  had 
a  commanding  presence.  His  voice  was 
'stentorian  in  its  power  and  yet  flexible, 
with  a  flow  of  language  rapid  and  abundant ' 
(TROLLOPE).  There  is  a  portrait  of  him  by 
J.  H.  Illidge,  engraved  by  William  Barnard, 
published  at  Leeds,  1832;  another  portrait 
by  W.  P.  Frith,  engraved  by  Edward  Mor- 
ton ('  Life  and  Opinions,'  &c.)  ;  an  engraving, 
'  Richard  Oastler  in  his  Cell '  ('  Fleet  Papers,' 
vol.  i.  No.  12) ;  an  engraving  in  [Spence's] 
*  Eminent  Men  of  Leeds ; '  a  steel  engraving 
by  J.  Passel  White,  after  B.  Garside,  given 
with  the  '  Northern  Star '  about  1838;  and  a 
bronze  statue  by  J.  Bernie  Philip  at  Bradford, 
unveiled  by  Lord  Shaftesbury  on  15  May 
1869.  A  stained-glass  window  was  erected 
to  his  memory  in  1864  in  St.  Stephen's 
Church,  Kirkstall. 

Oastler  married  Mary,  daughter  of  Thomas 
and  Mary  Tatham  of  Nottingham,  on  16  Oct. 
1816.  Born  on  24  May  1793,  she  was  a 
woman  of  great  natural  ability  and  religious 
feeling.  She  died  at  Headingley,  near  Leeds, 


on  12  June  1845,  and  was  buried  at  Kirkstall. 
Oastler  s  two  children  by  her,  Sarah  and 
Robert,  both  died  in  infancy.  After  his  wife's 
death  Oastler  lived  at  South  Hill  Cottajre 
Guildford,  Surrey. 

Oastler  was  a  constant  contributor  to 
newspapers  and  other  periodicals,  and  he 
published  many  pamphlets  concerning  the 
factory  agitation.  A  volume  of  his  <  Speeches ' 
was  published  in  1850.  He  also,  in  con- 
junction with  the  Rev.  J.  R.  Stephens,  edited 
the  '  Ashton  Chronicle,'  a  weekly  journal. 
His  last  tract,  on  Convocation,"  appeared 
shortly  before  his  death. 

[Sketch  of  the  Life  nnd  Opinions  of  Richard 
Oastler  (Hobson :  Leeds,  1838);  Taylor's  Bio- 
graphia  Leodiensis,  pp.  499-503  (mainly  founded 
on  the  obituary  notice  of  Oastler  in  the  Leeds 
Mercury),  Supplement,  p.  671 ;  Yorkshire  Anec- 
dotes, p.  69  ;  [Spence's]  Eminent  Men  of  Leeds, 
pp.  53-9  ;  Life  of  Edward  Baines,  p.  86  ;  Beau- 
mont's Memoir  of  Mary  Tatham,  pp.  187,  189, 
205 ;  Hodder's  Life  of  the  Earl  of  Shaftesbury, 
i.  214-16,  304,  ii.  189,  211,  iii.  249;  Trollope's 
What  I  remember,  ii.  11,  12, 13;  Bull's  Lecture 
on  the  Career  and  Character  of  Richard  Oastler, 
Esq.  (Leeds  Intelligencer,  7  Feb.  1863);  Ash- 
ton's  Fleet  Prison ;  Chambers's  Book  of  Days, 
ii.  244  ;  Von  Plener's  English  Factory  Legisla- 
tion, passim  ;  Alfred's  (i.e.  Samuel  Kydd's)  His- 
:ory  of  the  Factory  Movement,  passim  ;  Report 
from  the  Committee  on  the  Bill  to  Regulate  the 
Labour  of  Children  in  the  Mills  and  Factories 

of   the  United  Kingdom,    1832,   pp.   454-63 ; 

Times,  11   July  1840;    Fleet  Papers,  passim; 

The  Home,  passim  ;  Leeds  Intelligencer,  24  and 

31  Aug.,  7  Dec.  1861 ;  Gent.  Mag.  1861,  ii.  449, 
154,  689;  Ann.  Reg.  1861,  p.  476;  Leeds 

Mercury,  Weekly  Supplement,  8  Sept.  1894; 
md  information  kindly  supplied  by  Mrs.  Earle, 
laughter  of  the  late  Rev.  J.  R.  Stephens.  High- 

ampton,  Devonshire ;  the  Rev.  John  Pickford, 
ectorof  Newbourne,  Suffolk ;  Charles  W.  Button, 

.-sq.,  Manchester,  and  others.]      W.  A.  S.  H. 

GATES,  FRANCIS(1840-1875),traveller 
and  naturalist,  second  son  of  Edward  Oates  of 
Heanwoodside,  Yorkshire,  by  Susan,  daugh- 
er  of  Edward  Grace  of  Burley,  in  the  same 
ounty,  was  born  at  Meanwoodsideon  6  April 
840.  He  matriculated  from  Christ  Church, 
)xford,  on  9  Feb.  1861,  but  took  no  degree, 
wing  to  bad  health.  For  some  years  from 
804  he  was  an  invalid.  In  1871  he  travelled 
n  Central  America,  where  he  made  a  collec- 
ion  of  birds  and  insects.  On  his  return  in 
872  he  was  elected  a  fellow  of  the  Royal 
Geographical  Society.  On  5  March  1873,  ac- 
ompanied  by  his  brother,  W.  E.  Oates,  he 
ailed  from  Southampton  for  Natal  with  the 
nteution  of  making  a  journey  to  the  Zam- 
esi,  and,  if  possible,  to  some  of  the  unex- 
lored  country  to  the  northward,  for  the 


Gates 


296 


Gates 


purpose  of  acquiring  a  knowledge  of  the 
natural  features  of  the  country  and  of  study- 
ing its  fauna.  Leaving  Maritzburg  on  16  May 
1873,  he  spent  some  time  in  the  Matabele 
country  north  of  the  Limpopo  river.  Three 
attempts  to  proceed  were  frustrated  by  the 
weather  and  the  opposition  of  the  natives. 
Finally,  starting  on  3  Nov.  1874,  he  arrived 
on  the  banks  of  the  Zambesi  on  31  Dec., 
and  succeeded  in  amassing  large  collections 
of  objects  of  natural  history.  He  was  one 
of  the  first  white  men  who  had  seen  the 
Victoria  Falls  in  full  flood  ;  but  no  entries 
are  found  in  his  journal  after  his  arrival 
there.  The  unhealthy  season  came  on,  and 
Gates  contracted  a  fever.  After  an  illness 
of  twelve  days,  he  died  when  near  the  Ma- 
kalaka  kraal,  about  eighty  miles  north  of  the 
Tati  river,  on  5  Feb.  1875,  and  was  buried  on 
the  following  morning.  Dr.  Bradshaw,  who 
happened  to  be  in  the  neighbourhood, 
attended  him,  and  saw  to  the  safety  of  his 
collections.  Oates's  journals  were  edited 
and  published  by  his  brother,  Charles  George 
Gates,  in  1881,  under  the  title  of  '  Matabele 
Land  and  the  Victoria  Falls :  a  Naturalist's 
Wandering  in  the  Interior  of  South  Africa.' 
A  second  and  enlarged  edition  appeared  in 
1889,  with  appendices  by  experts  on  the 
natural  history  collections. 

[Journal  of  the  Royal  Geographical  Society, 
1875,  vol.  xlv.  p.  clii ;  Memoir  (pp.  xix-xlii)  in 
Matabele  Land,  1889,  with  portrait;  Foster's 
Pedigrees  of  Families  of  Yorkshire,  1874;  Times, 
26  May  1875,  p.  10.]  G.  C.  B. 

GATES,  TITUS  (1649-1705),  perjurer, 
the  son  of  Samuel  Gates  (1610-1683),  rector 
of  Marsham  in  Norfolk,  was  born  at  Oakham 
in  1649.  His  father,  the  descendant  of  a 
family  of  Norwich  ribbon-weavers,  left  the 
establishedchurch,  and  gained  some  notoriety 
as  a  '  dipper '  or  anabaptist  in  East  Anglia 
in  1646.  In  1649  he  appears  to  have  been 
chaplain  to  Colonel  Pride's  regiment,  but  he 
was  expelled  from  that  post  by  Monck  in 
1654  for  stirring  up  sedition  in  the  army.  In 
1666  he  received  a  living  in  the  church, 
that  of  All  Saints,  Hastings,  but  he  was  ex- 
pelled for  improper  practices  in  1674.  He 
is  stated  by  Wood  to  have  died  on  6  Feb. 
1683  (Life  and  T.mes,  iii.  36 ;  cf.  Addit.MS. 
5860,  f.  288).  According  to  Oates's  own  testi- 
mony when  appealing  for  the  payment  of 
the  arrears  of  his  pension  in  1697,  his  aged 
mother,  whose  name  is  unknown,  was  living 
in  that  year.  He  also  oeems  to  have  had 
a  brother  named  Samuel  (Trial  of  Thomas 
Knox  and  John  Lane,  1679). 

Titus  was  entered  at  Merchant  Taylors' 
School  in  June  1665,  but  was  expelled  in 
the  course  of  his  first  year,  and  it  was  from ., 


Sedlescombe  school,  near  Hastings,  that  he 
passed,  in  1607,  as  a  poor  scholar,  to  Gonville 
and  Caius  College,  Cambridge.  Early  in 
1669  he  had  to  migrate  to  St.  John's  Col- 
lege, where  his  father,  now  a  zealous  Anglican, 
having  baptised  him,  sought  an  Arminian 
tutor  for  him.  His  choice  fell  upon  Dr. 
Thomas  Watson  [q.  v.],  who  left  this  note 
concerning  his  pupil  (now  preserved  in  the 
Baker  MSS.  at  St.  John's) :  « He  was 
a  great  dunce,  ran  into  debt  ;  and,  being 
sent  away  for  want  of  money,  never  took  a 
degree  '  (MAYOK,  St.  John's  College  Register  ; 
cf.  WILSON,  Memorabilia  Cantabri</iana,]8Q3, 
p.  69).  Nevertheless,  after  some  failures, 
Gates  contrived  to  '  slip  into  orders '  in  the 
established  church,  being  instituted  to  the 
vicarage  of  Bobbing  in  Kent  on  7  March 
1673,  on  the  presentation  of  George  Moore 
(Key.  Sheldon.  Archiep.  Cantuar.  f.  534).  In 
1674  he  left  Bobbing,  with  a  license  for  non- 
residence,  and  went  as  a  curate  to  his  father 
at  All  Saints,  Hastings.  There,  within  a  few 
months  of  his  arrival,  he  was  a  party  to  a 
very  disgraceful  charge,  trumped  up  by  him- 
self and  his  father,  against  a  certain  William 
Parker,  a  local  schoolmaster.  The  indict- 
ment was  quashed,  Gates  was  arrested  in  an 
action  for  1 ,0001.  damages,  and  thrown  into 
prison,  while  his  father  was  ejected  from  his 
living  (WooD,  Life  and  Times,  Oxf.  Hist. 
Soc.  ii.  417).  Titus  was  removed  to  Dover 
prison,  and  it  was  probably  in  connection 
with  this  case  that,  in  1675,  a  crown-office 
writ  was  issued  to  the  corporation  of  Dover 
to  remove  to  the  king's  bench  an  indictment 
of  perjury  preferred  by  Francis  Norwood 
against  Gates  (see  Sussex  Archaological 
Trans,  xiv.  80).  Before  the  case  came  on 
Gates  managed  to  escape  from  Dover  gaol,  and 
he  hid  in  London  for  a  few  weeks,  at  the  end 
of  which  period  he  obtained  a  berth  as  chap- 
lain on  board  a  king's  ship,  and  appears  to 
have  made  the  voyage  to  Tangier.  Within  a 
few  months,  however,  he  was  expelled  the 
navy.  Criminal  though  he  was,  he  next 
found  means  of  obtaining  the  post  of  chaplain 
to  the  protestants  in  the  Duke  of  Norfolk's 
household.  At  Arundel  he  came  into  con- 
tact with  a  number  of  papists,  and  it  is  pro- 
bable that  there  he  first  conceived  the  plan  of 
worming  himself  into  secret  counsels  which 
he  might  betray  for  his  personal  profit  to  the 
government.  Circumstances  favoured  such 
a  design.  In  the  winter  of  1676,  being  once 
more  in  London  and  in  a  destitute  condition, 
Gates  encountered  Israel  Tonge  [q.  v.],  rector 
of  St.  Mary  Staining,  and  formerly  vicar  of 
Pluckley  in  Kent.  Gates  had  probably  made 
his  acquaintance  during  his  brief  residence 
in  the  neighbouring  parish  of  Bobbing. 


Gates 


297 


Gates 


Tonge  was  now  devoting  all  his  energies  to 
the  production  of  diatribes  against  the  Jesuits, 
whom  he  suspected  of  plotting  an  English 
version  of  the  massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew. 
In  return  for  food  and  shelter  Gates  readily 
joined  him  in  his  literary  labours,  and  for  a 
short  period  lodged  in  the  Barbican,  where 
Tonge  was  then  living  in  Sir  Richard  Barker's 
house  (State  Trials,  vii.  1321),  'the  more 
conveniently  to  discourse  with  the  doctor 
about  their  common  purpose.'  In  1677,  under 
Tonge's  directions,  Gates  began  '  The  Cabi- 
net of  Jesuits  Secrets  opened,'  a  somewhat 
colourless  account  of  the  supposed  methods 
adopted  by  the  order  for  obtaining  legacies, 
said  to  be  translated  from  the  Italian ;  it 
was  issued, 'completed  by  a  person  of  quality,' 
in  1679.  But  the  acquisition  of  such  an  ally 
as  Gates  enabled  Tonge  to  greatly  enlarge 
the  sphere  of  his  activities.  Convinced  that 
a  Jesuit  plot  was  in  progress,  Tonge's  object 
was  to  '  make  the  people  jealous  of  popery.' 
That  once  effected,  he  convinced  Gates  that 
their  fortunes  would  be  made.  The  books 
produced  little  effect;  a  more  potent  stimu- 
lus to  public  opinion  was  needed.  Gates 
proved  an  instrument  absolutely  devoid  of 
scruples.  He  set  himself  laboriously  to 
leam  the  secrets  of  the  Jesuits,  haunted  the 
Pheasant  coffee-house  in  Holborn  and  other 
favourite  resorts  of  the  catholics,  with  whom 
he  lost  no  opportunity  of  ingratiating  him- 
self. In  April  1677  he  formally  professed 
reconciliation  with  the  church  of  Rome.  He 
picked  up  acquaintance  with  Whitbread, 
Pickering,  and  others  of  the  fathers  at  Somer- 
set House,  where  Charles's  queen-consort 
had  her  private  chapel,  and  eagerly  sought 
admission  among  the  Jesuits.  Consequently 
he  embraced  with  much  satisfaction  an  offer 
of  admission  to  a  college  of  the  society  abroad. 
He  embarked  in  the  Downs  in  the  spring  of 
1677,  and  entered  the  Jesuit  Colegio  de  los 
Ingleses  at  Valladolid  on  7  June  in  that 
year.  In  about  five  months,  however,  his 
scandalous  behaviour  procured  his  summary 
and  ignominious  expulsion.  In  memory  of 
his  sojourn  in  Spain,  Gates  subsequently 
styled  himself  D.I),  of  Salamanca;  but  this 
assumption  had  no  foundation  in  fact,  and 
was  justly  ridiculed  by  Dryden,  Tom  Brown, 
Sir  Roger  L'Estrange,  and  others.  Gates 
also  stated  at  a  later  date  that  he  had  been 
sent  to  Madrid  as  Jesuit  emissary,  to  treat 
with  the  general  of  the  order,  Paulus  de 
Oliva,  concerning  the  conspiracy  against  Eng- 
land; but  in  1679  the  muleteer  who  con- 
ducted Gates  to  and  from  Valladolid  was 
found,  and  his  testimony  conclusively  proved 
that  Gates  could  not  have  visited  either  Sala- 
manca or  Madrid  (Hist.  MSS.  Comm.  llth 


Rep.  App.  ii.  98 ;  cf.  Bagfurd  Ballads,  ii. 
667).  He  returned  to  Tonge  with  very  little 
information ;  his  patron  deemed  it  indispen- 
sable that  he  should  increase  it ;  so  on  10  Dec. 
1677  he  obtained  admission  as  a  '  younger 
student'  (though  he  was  now  twenty-eight)  to 
the  English  seminary  at  St.  Omer.  He  kept  a 
footing  there  until  23  June  1678,  when  an 
inevitable  expulsion  precipitated  his  dis- 
closures (Florus  Anglo-Bavaricus,  Liege, 
1685).  He  returned  to  Tonge,  who  was  then 
lodging  in  the  house  of  one  Lambert,  a  bell- 
founder  in  Vauxhall,  and  the  pair  managed 
to  involve  in  their  schemes  one  Christopher 
Kirkby,  a  Lancashire  gentleman,  whose  in- 
terest in  chemistry  had  introduced  him  to  the 
notice  of  Charles  II. 

The  fictitious  details  of  the  '  popish  plot ' 
were  fabricated  during  the  six  weeks  that 
followed  Oates's  return.  With  a  view  to 
starting  it  upon  its  career,  Kirkby  was  in- 
structed by  his  companions  to  apprise  the 
king  of  a  pretended  secret  design  upon  his 
life,  as  Charles  was  walking  with  his  spaniels 
in  St.  James's  Park  on  12  Aug.  1678.  Kirkby 
was  backed  up  by  a  paper  giving  details, 
which  was  prepared  by  Gates,  and  was  sub- 
mitted toDanbybyTonge  (EACHARD).  Gates 
himself  did  not  appear  in  the  matter  until 
6  Sept.  1678,  when,  in  company  with  Tonge, 
he  visited  Sir  Edmund  Berry  Godfrey  [q.  v.], 
a  well-known  justice  of  the  peace,  and  de- 
posed to  the  truth  of  a  long  written  narra- 
tive, giving  particulars  of  a  comprehensive 
plot  against  the  life  of  Charles  II,  and  the 
substitution  of  a  Roman  catholic  ministry 
for  that  in  existence,  with  the  Duke  of  York 
as  king.  The  original  narrative  consisted  of 
forty-three  articles  or  clauses ;  but,  by 
assiduous  labour  in  the  course  of  the  next 
three  weeks,  Gates  managed  to  raise  this 
number  to  eighty-one.  He  knew  just  enough 
about  the  personnel  of  the  Jesuits  in  London 
to  fit  the  chief  actors  in  his  plot  with  names, 
but  the  majority  of  the  details  were  palpably 
invented,  and  the  narrative  teemed  with 
absurdities.  The  drift  of  his  so-called  revela- 
tion was  to  the  effect  that  the  Jesuits  had 
been  appointed  by  Pope  Innocent  XI  (a 
pontiff  whose  policy  was  in  reality  rather 
directed  against  the  Jesuits  and  all  extremists 
within  the  church)  to  supreme  power  in 
England.  The '  Black  Bastard,'  as  they  called 
the  king,  was  a  condemned  heretic,  and  was 
to  be  put  to  death.  Pere  la  Chaise  had  lodged 
10,000/.  in  London  for  any  one  who  would 
do  the  deed,  and  this  sum  was  augmented 
by  10.000/.  promised  by  the  Jesuits  in  Spain, 
and  6,000/.  by  the  prior  of  the  Benedictines  at 
the  Savoy.  Three  schemes  were  represented  as 
actually  on  foot.  Sir  George  Wakeman,  the 


Gates 


298 


Gates 


queen's  physician,  had  been  paid  8,000^.  down, 
in  earnest  of  15,000/.,to  poison  the  king.  Four 
Irish  ruffians  had  been  hired  by  Dr.  Fogarty 
to  stab  the  king  at  Windsor  ;  and,  thirdly, 
two  Jesuits,  named  Grove  and  Pickering, 
were  to  be  paid  1,500/.  to  shoot  the  king 
with  silver  bullets.  The  assassination  of  the 
king  was  to  be  followed  by  that  of  his 
councillors,  by  a  French  invasion  of  Ireland, 
and  a  general  massacre  of  protestants,  after 
which  the  Duke  of  York  was  to  be  offered  the 
crown  and  a  Jesuit  government  established 
(GATES,  True  Narrative  of  the  Horrid  Plot}. 
This  had  all  been  settled,  according  to  Gates, 
at  a  'general  consult'  held  by  the  Jesuits  on 
24  April  1678,  at  the  White  Horse  tavern  in 
Fleet  Street ;  and  he  stated  that  he  had  re- 
ceived a  patent  from  the  general  of  the  order 
to  be  of  the  '  consult.'  It  was  true  that  the 
usual  triennial  congregation  of  the  society 
of  Jesus  was  held  in  London  on  that  day, 
but  it  was  not  held  at  the  White  Horse 
tavern ;  and  it  was  quite  impossible  that  Gates, 
not  being  a  member  of  the  order,  could  have 
been  admitted  to  it  (REKESBY,Af<??no«rs,1875, 
p.  325 ;  Concerning  the  Congregation  of  Jesuits 
.  .  .  which  Mr.  Oates  calls  a  Consult,  1679, 
4to;  cf.  CLARKE,  Life  of  James  II,  1816). 

The  result  of  his  inflammatory  disclosures, 
however,  fully  justified  Oates's  calculations. 
On  28  Sept.  he  was  summoned  before  the 
privy  council,  and  repeated  his  story  to  them, 
with  many  embellishments  and  with  extra- 
ordinary volubility  and  assurance.  His  story 
leaked  out  into  the  town,  and  its  extra- 
vagance commended  it  to  the  bigoted  cre- 
dulity of  the  mob.  At  the  council-board 
the  only  sceptic  was  the  king,  who  detected 
the  informer  in  several  glaring  misstate- 
ments  (ib.  1816,  i.  520).  To  the  majority, 
any  inconsistencies  in  Oates's  tale  seemed 
more  than  counterbalanced  by  the  mass  of 
circumstantial,  and  often  quite  irrelevant, 
detail  which  he  had  woven  with  no  little  in- 
genuity into  his  narrative.  He  had  doubtless 
while  living  among  the  Roman  catholics 
picked  up  many  little  facts  which  they  and 
their  friends  would  have  preferred  to  conceal. 
Thus  Symon  Patrick  relates  how,  in  the  early 
days  of  the  plot,  a  certain  Feather  Dupuis 
was  brought  before  Oates,  who  looked 
earnestly  upon  him  and  said :  '  This  is  Father 
du  Puis,  who  was  to  write  the  king's  life 
after  they  killed  him.  Now  Dupuis  had  a 
good  Latin  pen,  and  when  they  searched  him 
they  found  an  almanac  in  his  pocket  which 
set  down  every  day  that  year  what  pranks 
the  king  had  played — that  such  a  night  he 
was  drunk,  how  he  had  this  or  that  woman, 
and  what  discourse  he  had  against  religion ' 
(Account  of  Patrick"  s  Life,  1839,  p.  96).  The 


possession  of  a  few  such  facts,  combined  with 
his  inventive  audacity,  rendered  Oates  for  a 
brief  period  almost  omnipotent  in  the  capital. 
The  night  following  his  examination  by  the 
council  he  spent  in  going  about  London 
making  arrests,  followed  by  pursuivants 
bearing  torches.  A  number  of  the  persons 
whom  he  denounced,  including  Wakeman, 
Grove,  Pickering,  and  Fogarthy,  were 
promptly  committed  to  Newgate.  Oates  was 
next  assigned  lodgings  in  Whitehall,  with  a 
guard  for  his  better  security,  and  a  monthly 
salary  of  40/. 

In  October  1678  Sir  Edmund  Berry  Godfrey 
[q.  v.]  was  found  dead  under  mysterious  cir- 
cumstances, and  the  catholics  were  popularly 
credited  with  having  murdered  him  by  way 
of  revenging  themselves  on  him  for  taking 
Oates's  depositions.  It  is  possible  that  Oates 
was  himself  responsible  for  Godfrey's  assas- 
sination. At  any  rate,  the  incident  com- 
pletely assured  Oates's  success.  A  panic 
followed,  and  the  proscription  of  the  priests 
and  other  Roman  catholics  against  whom 
Oates  had  testified  was  loudly  demanded  by 
the  public.  '  People's  passions,'  wrote  Roger 
North,  '  would  not  allow  them  to  attend  to 
any  reason  or  deliberation  on  the  matter' 
(Examen,  1740,  p.  177 ;  STEPHENS,  Cat.  of 
Satiric  Prints  and  Drawings,  i.  632  sq.) 

In  the  meantime,  on  21  Oct.,  the  House  of 
Commons  had  assembled  and  called  Oates 
before  them.  On  31  Oct.  the  commons  re- 
solved, nemine  contradicente,  '  that  upon  the 
evidence  that  hath  already  appeared,  this 
House  is  of  opinion  that  there  is  and  hath 
been  a  damnable  and  hellish  plot  contriv'd 
and  carried  on  by  Popish  recusants  for  assassi- 
nating and  murdering  the  king,  for  sub- 
verting the  government  and  rooting  out  and 
destroying  the  Protestant  religion.'  With 
this  vote  the  House  of  Lords  concurred.  A 
general  fast  day  was  appointed  for  13  Nov. 
The  popish  recusants  were  ordered  out  of 
London,  and  a  proclamation  was  subsequently 
issued  offering  a  reward  of  20/.  to  any  one 
who  should  discover  and  apprehend  a  Romish 
priest  or  Jesuit  (Hist.  MSS.  Comm.  llth 
Rep.  App.  i.  17).  Naturally,  among  the  lower 
classes  (see  CALAMY,  Life,  1829,  i.  83),  every- 
thing that  Oates  affirmed,  as  Evelyn  remarked, 
was  now  '  taken  for  gospel.'  Before  October 
was  out  warrants  were  sealed  for  the  appre- 
hension of  twenty-six  additional  persons,  in- 
cluding the  catholic  Lords  Powis,  Stafford, 
Petre,  Bellasis,  and  Arundel.  Early  in  No- 
vember a  scoundrel  named  William  Bedloe 
[q.  v.]  came  forward  to  corroborate  Oates's 
depositions.  The  first  prisoner  to  be  tried  was 
Edward  Coleman  [q.  v.],  who  had  been  one  of 
the  earliest  to  be  arrested  as  a  prime  mover 


Gates 


299 


Gates 


of  the  plot,  and  he  was  indicted  at  the  king's 
bench  on  27  Nov.  for  compassing  the  death  of 
the  king.  Gates  was  the  chief  witness.  The 
jury  convicted  Coleman,  and  he  was  executed 
on  3  Dec.  A  proclamation  issued  on  the  day 
of  the  trial  promising  pardon  to  the  evidence 
and  a  reward  of  200/.  for  further  disclosures 
evoked  a  crop  of  tortuous  and  mendacious  tes- 
timony against  the  catholics;  but  no  serious 
rival  to  Gates  and  Bedloe  was  forthcoming. 
That  Gates  was  perjuring  himself  was  more 
transparent  at  the  next  trial,  that  of  Ire- 
land, Grove,  and  Pickering,  on  17  Dec.  1678. 
He  swore  that  he  had  seen  Ireland  at  the 
White  Horse  on  24  April,  and  in  Fleet 
Street  again  in  August,  when  he  had  heard 
him  discussing,  with  the  other  prisoners,  the 
assassination  not  only  of  the  king,  but  of  the 
Duke  of  Buckingham  and  the  Earl  of  Shaftes- 
bury.  It  was  proved  by  abundant  evidence 
that  on  the  first  of  these  dates  Gates  himself 
was  at  St.  Omer,  and  that  on  the  second 
Ireland  was  in  Staffordshire.  Scroggs,  in 
summing  up,  treated  the  jury  to  a  violent 
harangue  against  papists,  and  the  three  men 
were  executed  on  3  Feb.  1679. 

In  February  1679  Oates's  position  was  so 
well  established  that  he  confidently  submitted 
to  the  commons  a  bill  of  678/.  12s.  Qd.  for 
expenses  incurred  in  bringing  the  truth  to 
light,  and  the  amount  was  paid  over  and 
above  his  weekly  salary.  Among  these 
fictitious  expenses  he  had  the  effrontery  to 
include  the  item  50/.  for  a  manuscript  of  the 
Alexandrian  version  of  the  Septuagint  which 
he  said  he  gave  to  the  Jesuits  at  St.  Omer 
(L'EsTRANGE,  Brief  History,  p.  130;  cf. 
LINGARD,  Hist,  of  England,  vol.  ix.  App.) 
Gates  still  further  raised  himself  in  the  esti- 
mation of  the  house  by  some  damaging  state- 
ments concerning  Danby,  and  another  re- 
solution was  passed  expressing  their  confi- 
dence in  the  plot  and  its  discoverer.  In  April 
1679  was  published,  by  order  of  the  House 
of  Lords,  his  '  True  Narrative  of  the  Horrid 
Plot  and  Conspiracy  of  the  Popish  Party 
against  the  Life  of  his  Sacred  Majesty,  the 
Government,  and  the  Protestant  Religion, 
with  a  list  of  such  Noblemen,  Gentlemen,  and 
others,  as  were  the  Conspirators ;  and  the 
Head  Officers,  both  civil  and  military,  that 
were  to  effect  it,'  London,  fol.  It  occupies 
sixty-eight  pages,  but  Gates  calls  it  his  short 
narrative  or  '  minutes '  of  the  plot  pending 
his  'journal,'  in  which  the  whole  hellish 
mystery  was  to  be  laid  open.  He  complains 
of  unauthorised  issues  of  the  narrative,  and, 
indeed,  since  he  furnished  the  model  by  his 
depositionsbefore Godfrey, as  many  as  twenty 
different  narratives  of  the  plot  had  found 
their  way  into  circulation.  In  June  his  old 


evidence  was  repeated  against  Whitbread, 
Harcourt,  Fenwick,  Gawen,  and  Turner,  and 
the  respectable  Roman  catholic  lawyer,  Ri- 
chard Langhorne  [q.  v.],  all  of  whom  were 
executed.  On  18  July  followed  the  impor- 
tant trial  of  Sir  George  Wakeman ;  his  con- 
demnation would  have  involved  that  of  the 
queen,  whom  Gates  had  the  audacity  to 
accuse  before  the  council  of  being  privy  to  the 
design  to  kill  the  king.  But  here  Gates  had 
overshot  the  mark  (see  Bayford  Ballads, 
ii.  692).  Although  he  was  supported  by 
Bedloe,  Jennison,  and  Dugdale,  he  lost  his 
presence  of  mind  under  a  searching  inter- 
rogatory to  which  the  prisoner  submitted 
him,  and  asked  leave  to  retire  on  the  score 
of  feeling  unwell.  Scroggs,  in  summing  up, 
disparaged  the  evidence,  and  Wakeman  was 
declared  not  guilty.  The  acquittal  was  a 
severe  blow  to  Gates  and  to  the  prosperity 
of  his  plot.  Immediately  afterwards  Titus 
edited  two  scurrilous  little  books,  '  The 
Pope's  Warehouse ;  or  the  Merchandise  of  the 
Whore  of  Rome,'  London,  1679,  4to,  'pub- 
lished for  the  common  good,'  and  dedicated 
to  the  Earl  of  Shaftesbury  ;  and  '  The  Witch 
of  End  or ;  or  the  Witchcrafts  of  the  Roman 
Jezebel,  in  which  you  have  an  account  of 
the  Exorcisms  or  Conjurations  of  the  Pa- 
pists, as  they  be  set  forth  in  their  Agends, 
Benedictionals,  Manuals,  Missals,  Journals, 
Portasses.  .  .  .  Proposed  and  offered  to  the 
consideration  of  all  sober  Protestants,'  Lon- 
don, 1679,  fol.  In  October  1679  he  paid  a 
visit  to  Oxford,  where  he  was  feted  by  the 
townspeople  and  entertained  by  Lord  Love- 
lace [see  LOVELACE,  JOHN,  third  BARON 
LOVELACE],  though  the  vice-chancellor  had 
the  strength  of  mind  to  refuse  him  the  degree 
of  D.D.  He  returned  to  London  before  the 
end  of  the  month,  accused  a  number  of  the 
officers  of  the  court  by  name  to  the  king,  and 
witnessed  with  satisfaction  (25  Nov.)  the 
conviction  of  two  of  his  discarded  servants, 
Knox  and  Lane,  for  attempting  to  defame 
his  character.  In  January  1680,  in  con- 
junction with  Bedloe,  he  sought  to  avenge 
himself  on  Scroggs  for  Wakeman 's  acquittal 
by  exhibiting  against  him  before  the  king  and 
council  thirteen  articles  respecting  his  pub- 
lic and  private  life  (HATTON,  Correspon- 
dence, Camd.  Soc.  i.  220).  Scroggs  defended 
himself  in  person,  and  completely  turned  the 
tables  upon  his  opponents. 

The  drooping  credit  of  the  plot  was  some- 
what revived  by  Dangerfield's  pretended  dis- 
closure of  the  meal-tub  plot  and  by  Bedloe's 
dying  affirmation  of  the  truth  of  the  plot  and 
the  complicity  of  the  Duke  of  York.  Never- 
theless, Lord  Castlemaine,  who  was  brought 
to  trial  in  June  1680,  was  acquitted.  Gates 


Gates 


300 


Gates 


would  doubtless  have  sought  in  vain  for 
further  victims  had  not  the  new  parliament, 
which  met  on  21  Oct.  1680,  been  from  the 
first  '  filled  and  heated  with  fears  and  appre- 
hensions of  Popery  Plots  and  Conspiracies.' 
A  proclamation  was  promptly  issued  to  en- 
courage the  '  fuller  discovery  of  the  horrid 
and  execrable  Popish  Plot.'  Informers  multi- 
plied anew,  and  Oates's  popularity  was  in- 
creased by  the  currency  given  to  several 
pretended  plots  against  his  life.  A  Portu- 
guese Jew,  Francisco  de  Feria,  swore  that  a 
proposal  to  murder  Bedloe.  Buckingham,  and 
Shaftesbury  had  been  made  to  him  by  the 
Portuguese  ambassador,  Gaspar  de  Abreu  de 
Frittas.  About  the  same  time  Simpson,  son 
of  Israel  Tonge,  was  committed  to  Newgate 
for  endeavouring  to  defame  Oates,  a  crime 
to  which  he  said  he  had  been  incited  by  Sir 
Roger  L'Estrange  (Hist.  MSS.  Comm.  llth 
Rep.  App.  ii.  pp.  246-9).  On  30  Nov.  Oates 
bore  false  witness  against  Lord  Stafford  at  his 
trial ;  and  the  death  in  the  following  month 
of  Israel  Tonge,  who  had  for  some  time  past 
been  increasingly  jealous  and  suspicious  of 
his  old  pupil,  removed  a  possible  danger  from 
his  path.  At  a  dinner  given  by  Alderman 
Wilcox  in  the  city  in  the  summer  of  1680 
much  scandal  had  been  caused  by  Oates  and 
Tonge  openly  disputing  their  respective 
claims  to  the  proprietorship  of  the  plot,  and 
their  whig  friends  had  some  difficulty  in 
explaining  away  the  revelations  that  re- 
sulted. 

Oates  had  now  arrived  at  the  highest 
point  of  his  fortunes.  lie  made  constant 
and  seldom  unsuccessful  demands  upon  the 
privy  purse  (see  ACKERMAN,  Secret  Service 
Money,  Camden  Soc.,  passim).  '  He  walked 
about  with  his  guards,'  says  Roger  North 
(Exameri),  '  assigned  for  fear  of  the  Papists 
murdering  him.  .  .  .  He  put  on  an  episcopal 
garb  (except  the  lawn  sleeves),  silk  gown 
and  cassock,  great  hat,  satin  hatband  and 
rose,  long  scarf,  and  was  called  or  blasphe- 
mously called  himself  the  saviour  of  the 
nation.  Whoever  he  pointed  at  was  taken 
up  and  committed ;  so  many  people  got  out 
of  his  way  as  from  a  blast,  and  glad  they 
could  prove  their  last  two  years'  conversa- 
tion.' Parliament  made  the  Duke  of  Mon- 
mouth  responsible  for  the  safety  of  his  per- 
son, the  lord  chamberlain  for  his  lodging, 
the  lord  treasurer  for  his  diet  and  necessaries. 
'  Three  servants  were  at  his  beck  and  call, 
and  every  morning  two  or  three  gentlemen 
waited  upon  him  to  dress  him,  and  contended 
for  the  honour  of  holding  the  basin  for  him 
to  wash '  (SITWELL,  The  First  Whiff,  p.  44). 
The  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  from  whom 
he  received '  several  kindnesses '  at  Lambeth, 


recommended  him  for  promotion  in  the 
church,  and  Shaftesbury  encouraged  him  to 
expect,  if  not  to  demand,  a  bishopric.  Sir 
John  Reresby  relates  how,  dining  with  him- 
self and  the  Bishop  of  Ely  in  December 
1680,  Oates  reflected  upon  the  Duke  of  York 
and  upon  the  queen-dowager  in  such  an 
outrageous  manner  as  to  disgust  the  most 
extreme  partisan  present.  Yet  no  one  dared 
to  contradict  him  for  fear  of  being  made 
party  to  the  plot,  and  when  Reresby  himself 
at  length  ventured  to  intervene,  Oates  left 
the  room  in  some  heat,  to  the  dismay  of 
several  present  (Memoirs,  p.  196). 

From  the  commencement  of  1681,  how- 
ever, the  perjurer's  luck  changed.  In  Fe- 
bruary 1681  a  priest  named  Atwood  whom 
he  had  denounced  was  reprieved  after  con- 
viction by  the  king.  The  condemnation 
and  death  of  Fitzharris  and  of  Archbishop 
Plunket  in  the  summer  of  this  year  proved  a 
last  effort  on  the  part  of  those  whose  interest 
it  was  to  sustain  the  vitality  of  the  plot. 
The  credulity  of  the  better  part  of  the  nation 
was  exhausted,  but  not  before  Oates  had 
directly  or  indirectly  contrived  the  judicial 
murder  of  some  thirty-five  men. 

In  August  1681  he  charged  with  libel  a 
former  scholar  and  usher  of  Merchant  Taylors', 
Isaac  Backhouse,  master  of  Wolverhampton 
grammar  school,  on  the  ground  that  Back- 
house had  called  after  him  in  St.  James's 
Park, '  There  goes  Oates,  that  perjured  rogue,' 
but  the  action  was  allowed  to  fall  to  the 
ground  (CLODE,  Titus  Oates  and  Merchant 
Taylors'}.  In  January  1682  some  ridiculous 
charges  which  he  brought  against  Adam 
Elliott  [q.  v.]  were  not  only  disproved,  but 
Oateswas  cast  in  20/.  damages  in  an  action  for 
defamation  of  character  with  which  Elliott 
retaliated.  In  April  of  the  same  year  his 
pension  was  reduced  to  21.  a  week,  and  in 
August  his  enemies  were  strong  enough  to 
forbid  him  to  come  to  court  and  to  withdraw 
his  pension  altogether  (Hatton  Correspond- 
ence, ii.  7).  He  took  refuge  in  the  city,  amid 
the  taunts  of  the  court  pamphleteers,  in  the 
van  of  whom  was  Sir  Roger  L'Estrange.  In 
his  •  Hue  and  Cry  after  Dr.  O.'  L'Estrange 
described  Titus  as  drinking  the  tears  of  widows 
and  orphans,  and  in  the  same  year  Oates  was 
ridiculed  on  the  stage  as  '  Dr.  Panchy,  an 
ignorant  railing  fellow,'  in  Crowne's  '  City 
Politiques.'  It  was  significant  of  the  dis- 
repute into  which  he  felt  himself  to  be  falling 
that  in  June  1682  he  did  not  venture  to  give 
evidence  against  Kearney  (one  of  the  '  four 
Irish  ruffians'  who  were  to  have  beaten  the 
king  to  death).  On  28  Feb.  1684  he  had  the 
assurance  to  petition  the  king  and  Sir  Leoline 
Jenkins  against  '  the  scandalous  pamphlets 


Gates 


301 


Gates 


of  Sir  Roger  L'Estrange,'  and  demanded 
pecuniary  reparation.  Ten  weeks  later,  on 
10  May,  Gates  was  suddenly  arrested  at  the 
Amsterdam  coffee-house,  in  an  action  of 
scandalum  magnatum,  for  calling  the  Duke 
of  York  a  traitor.  About  the  same  time 
two  of  his  men,  Dalby  and  Nicholson,  were 
convicted  at  nisi  prius  for  seditious  words 
against  Charles  II,  and  both  stood  in  the 
pillory.  Gates  himself,  after  a  brief  trial 
before  Jeffreys,  was  cast  in  damages  to  the 
amount  of  100.000/.,  and  in  default  was 
thrown  into  the  King's  Bench  prison,  where 
he  was  loaded  with  heavy  irons. 

James  II  succeeded  to  his  brother  in  Fe- 
bruary, and  on  8  May  1685  Gates  was  put  upon 
his  trial  for  perjury.  There  were  two  indict- 
ments :  first,  that  Gates  had  falsely  sworn  to 
-a  consult  of  Jesuits  held  at  the  White  Horse 
tavern  on  24  April  1678,  at  which  the  king's 
death  was  decided  upon ;  secondly,  that  he  had 
falsely  sworn  that  William  Ireland  was  in 
London  between  8  and  12  Aug.  in  the  same 
year.  Gates  defended  himself  with  consider- 
able ability,  but  things  naturally  went  against 
him  now  that  the  evidence  of  Roman  catholics 
was  regarded  with  attention.  Jeffreys,  now 
lord  chief  justice,  summed  up  with  great 
weight  of  eloquence  against  his  favourite 
witness  of  former  days.  '  He  has  deserved 
much  more  punishment,'  he  concluded, '  than 
the  laws  of  this  land  can  inflict.'  The  pri- 
soner was  found  guilty  upon  both  indict- 
ments, and  nine  days  later  Jeffreys  deputed 
Sir  Francis  Withins  to  pronounce  sentence. 
Gates  was  to  pay  a  heavy  fine,  to  be  stripped 
of  his  canonical  habits,  to  stand  in  the  pillory 
annually  at  certain  specified  places  and  times, 
to  be  whipped  upon  AVednesday,  20  May, 
from  Aldgate  to  Newgate,  and  upon  Friday, 
22  May,  from  Newgate  to  Tyburn,  and  to 
be  committed  close  prisoner  for  the  rest  of 
his  life  (CoBBETT,  State  Trials,  x.  290;  cf. 
BRAMSTOX,  Autobiography,  p.  194).  The 
flogging  was  duly  inflicted  with  '  a  whip  of 
six  thongs '  by  Ketch  and  his  assistants.  That 
Gates  should  have  been  enabled  to  outlive  it 
seemed  a  miracle  to  his  still  numerous  sym- 

gathisers  (cf.  ABRAHAM  DE  LA  PRYME,  Diary, 
urtees  Soc.  p.  9).  Edmund  Calamy  wit- 
nessed the  second  flogging,  which  the  king, 
in  spite  of  much  entreaty,  had  refused  to  remit, 
when  the  victim's  back,  miserably  swelled 
with  the  first  whipping,  looked  as  if  he 
had  been  flayed  (Life,  \.  120;  ELLIS,  Cor- 
respondence, i.  340).  After  his  scourgings 
his  troubles  were  by  no  means  at  an  end. 
'  Because,'  he  wrote  with  ironical  bitterness 
in  his  'Account  of  the  late  King  James' 
( 1 696), '  through  the  great  mercy  of  Almighty 
God  supporting  me,  and  the  extraordinary  I 


Care  and  Skill  of  a  judicious  chyrurgeon,  I  out- 
lived your  cruelty  .  .  .  you  sent  some  of  your 
Cut-throat  Crew  whilst  I  was  weak  in  my 
Bed  to  pull  off  those  Plasters  applied  to  cure 
my  Back,  and  in  your  most  gracious  name  they 
threatened  with  all  Courtesie  and  Humanity 
to  destroy  me.'  The  name,  address,  and 
charges  of  the  'judicious  chyrurgeon  'are  given 
at  the  end  of  the  book,  and  iterated  reference 
is  made  to  him  in  Oates's  later  writings.  He 
was  doubtless  paid  for  the  advertisement. 

In  1688  it  was  plausibly  rumoured  that 
Gates  was  dead.  Notices,  however,  appear 
from  time  to  time  in  the  newspapers,  to  the 
effect  that  he  stood  in  the  pillory  at  the  Royal 
Exchange  and  elsewhere  in  accordance  with 
the  terms  of  his  sentence.  In  August  1688  he 
begot  a  bastard  son  of  a  bedmaker  in  the 
King's  Bench  prison  (WooD,  Life  and  Times), 
and  issued  another  coarse  pamphlet  on '  popish 
pranks,'  entitled  '  Sound  Advice  to  Roman 
Catholics,  especially  the  Residue  of  poor  se- 
duced and  deluded  Papists  in  England  who 
obstinately  shut  both  eyes  and  ears  against 
the  clearest  Light  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ.' 

Oates's  hopes  revived  as  the  protestant 
current  gathered  strength  under  the  auspices 
of  the  Prince  of  Orange.  Sarotti,  the  Venetian 
ambassador,  wrote  to  the  signory  that  when 
Gates  stood  on  the  pillory  the  people  would 
not  permit  any  to  inflict  the  least  hurt  upon 
him.  Soon  after  the  landing  of  William  of 
Orange  he  emerged  from  prison,  and  was 
received  by  the  new  king  early  in  1689.  On 
31  March  he  petitioned  the  House  of  Lords 
for  redress  and  a  reversal  of  his  sentence, 
and,  after  some  deliberation,  the  judges  pro- 
nounced his  sentence  to  have  been  erroneous, 
cruel,  and  illegal  (Hist.  MSS.  Comm.  12th 
Rep.  App.  vi.  75-84).  But  while  this  de- 
cision was  pending  Gates  had  unadvisedly 
sent  in  a  petition  for  a  reversal  of  sentence 
to  the  commons,  an  act  which  provoked  the 
upper  house  into  committing  him  to  the 
Marshalsea  for  breach  of  privilege.  The  com- 
mons regarded  this  in  the  light  of  an  outrage, 
and  the  two  houses  were  on  the  verge  of 
a  serious  quarrel  when  the  prorogation  of 
20  Aug.  1689  set  Gates  at  liberty.  Shortly 
afterwards  the  king,  at  the  request  of  the 
lower  house,  granted  the  perjurer  a  pension 
of  51.  a  week. 

His  testimony  remaining  invalid  in  a  court 
of  law,  Gates  had  to  reconcile  himself  hence- 
forth to  a  private  career ;  but  from  the  eaeer 
patronage  that  he  extended  in  1691  to  Wil- 
liam Fuller  [q.  v.]  the  impostor,  who  boarded 
for  a  time  with  Gates  and  his  friend,  John 
Tutchin,  in  Axe  Yard,  Westminster,  it  is 
evident  that  he  was  still  interested  in  the 
fabrication  of  plots.  Gates  lent  Fuller  money 


Gates 


302 


Gates 


on  the  security  of  a  Jacobite  plot,  which  the 
latter  was  prepared  to  divulge ;  but  this  fair 
prospect  was  ruined,  in  Oates's  estimation, 
by  Fuller's  cowardly  scruples  (  The  whole  Life 
of  William  Fuller,  1703,  p.  623).  An  ad- 
vantageous marriage  became  his  next  object, 
and  on  18  Aug.  1693  Gates  was  married  to 
a  widow  named  Margaret  Wells,  a  Muggle- 
tonian,  with  a  jointure  of  2,000/.  (LTJTTRELL, 
Brief  Historical  Relation,  iii.  165).  The 
event  provoked  some  lively  pasquinades,  one 
by  Thomas  Brown  being  the  cause  of  the 
satirist's  commitment  to  prison  by  order  of 
the  council  (ib,  iii.  173;  BROWN,  The  Sala- 
manca Wedding).  His  wife's  money  proved 
inadequate  to  the  needs  of  Gates,  who  had 
contracted  extravagant  tastes  and  habi- 
tually lived  beyond  his  income.  In  1693, 
moreover,  his  annuity  had  been  suspended 
at  the  instance  of  Queen  Mary,  who  was 
greatly  incensed  at  the  atrocious  libels  upon 
the  character  of  her  father  to  which  Gates 
had  given  currency.  Upon  Mary's  death, 
however,  Oates's  powers  of  coarse  invective 
were  fully  displayed  in  his  elaborate  '  Eincwi/ 
Bao-tXiKi; ;  or  the  Picture  of  the  late  King 
James  drawn  to  the  Life.  In  which  it  is 
made  manifest  that  the  whole  Course  of  his 
Life  hath  to  this  day  been  a  continued  Con- 
spiracy against  the  Protestant  Religion,  Laws, 
and  Liberties  of  the  Three  Kingdoms.  In  a 
Letter  to  Himself.  And  humbly  dedicated 
to  the  King's  Most  Excellent  Majesty,  Wil- 
liam the  Third,  our  Deliverer  and  Restorer ; ' 
part  i.  (three  editions),  1696,  4to ;  part  ii., 

1697  ;  part  iii.,  1697 ;  part  iv.,  1697.     The 
pecuniary  reward  for  his  labour  was  probably 
small.    Early  in  1697  he  wrote  a  piteous  ap- 
peal to  the  king  for  the  payment  of  his  debts 
and  the  restitution  of  his  pension,  mention- 
ing that  he  had  no  clothes  worthy  to  appear 
before  his  majesty  in  person.    '  The  doctor,' 
as  he  was  still  styled  by  advanced  whigs, 
retained  a  certain  influence,  and  on  15  July 

1698  the  treasury  granted  him  500/.  to  pay 
his  debts,  and  300/.  per  annum,  to  date  from 
Lady  day  1698,  during  his  own  and  his  wife's 
lifetime,  out  of  the  post-office  revenues  (Cal. 
of  Treasury  Papers,  1697-1702,  p.  116).   De- 
liverance from    pecuniary  embarrassments 
enabled  Gates  to  obtain,  what  he  had  long 
coveted,  admission  into  the  sect  of  baptists ; 
his  craving  for  publicity  doubtless  obtained 
satisfaction  in  the  pulpit  of  the  Wapping 
chapel,  where  he  frequently  officiated.     He 
was,  however,  foiled  in  a  discreditable  intrigue 
for  wringing  a  legacy  from  a  wealthy  devotee, 
and  in  1701  he  was  expelled  from  the  sect 
as   '  a   disorderly  person   and  a  hypocrite ' 
(CROSBY,  Hist,  of  the  Baptists,  1738,  iii.  166, 
182).     He  returned  to  his  old  lodging  in 


Axe  Yard,  and  resumed  his  favourite  occupa- 
tion of  attending  the  sittings  of  the  courts 
in  Westminster  Hall.  In  July  1702  he  in- 
voluntarily attended  the  quarter  sessions,  and 
narrowly  escaped  imprisonment  for  assault- 
ing the  eccentric  Eleanor  James  [q.  v.],  who 
had  questioned  his  right  to  appear,  as  was 
his  practice,  in  canonical  garb  {An  Account 
of  the  Proceedings  against  Dr.  Titus  Oates 
at  the  Quarter  Sessions  held  in  Westminster 
Hall  on  2  July  1702).  He  died  in  Axe 
Yard  on  12  July  1705  (LTJITRELL,  v.  572). 
Roger  North  says  of  Oates,  with  substantial 
justice  :  '  He  was  a  man  of  an  ill  cut,  very 
short  neck,  and  his  visage  and  features  were 
most  particular.  His  mouth  was  the  centre 
of  his  face,  and  a  compass  there  would  sweep 
his  nose,  forehead,  and  chin  within  the  peri- 
meter. ...  In  a  word,  he  was  a  most  con- 
summate cheat,  blasphemer,  vicious,  perjured, 
impudent,  and  saucy,  foul-mouth'd  wretch, 
and,  were  it  not  for  the  Truth  of  History  and 
the  great  Emotions  in  the  Public  he  was  the 
cause  of,  not  fit  to  be  remembered.' 

Oates's  idiosyncrasies  might  be  fairly  de- 
duced from  the  character  of  his  associates — 
men  such  as  Aaron  Smith  (his  legal  adviser), 
Goodenough,  Rumsey,  Colledge,  Rumbold, 
Nelthrop,  West,  Bedloe,  Tutchin,  and  Fuller. 
These  men  he  entertained  in  his  chambers  at 
Whitehall,  and  sought  to  eclipse  in  abuse  of 
the  royal  family  at  their  common  head- 
quarters, the  Green  Ribbon  Club,  which, 
from  1679  onwards,  held  its  meetings  at  the 
King's  Head  in  Chancery-lane  End  (SMITH, 
Intrigues  of  the  Popish  Plot;  cf.  SITWELL, 
The  First  Whig,  p.  49).  Among  all  these 
scoundrels  Oates  was  distinguished  for  the 
effrontery  of  his  demeanour  110  less  than  by 
the  superior  villany  of  his  private  life.  He 
was  an  adept  in  all  the  arts  of  arrogance  and 
bluster,  but  though  voluble  of  speech,  he  spoke 
with  a  strange,  broad  accent  and  a  nasal 
drawl.  His  fondness  for  foul  language  was 
such  that  in  the  presence  of  superiors  he  is 
said  to  have  missed  no  opportunity  of  nar- 
rating the  blasphemies  of  others  (NoKTH, 
Examen ;  CALAMY,  Life,  i.  120). 

Lord -keeper  North  once  heard  Oates  preach 
at  St.  Dunstan's,  and  much  admired  his  thea- 
trical behaviour  in  the  pulpit.  A  certain 
dramatic  talent,  combined  with  the  unrivalled 
assurance  of  his  manner,  had  probably  more 
to  do  with  the  success  of  his  fabrication  than 
any  real  cleverness  on  his  part.  He  certainly 
exhibited  some  astuteness  in  the  early  stages 
of  the  plot ;  but,  as  his  inventions  grew  more 
complicated,  his  memory  was  not  good  enough 
to  save  him  from  self-contradiction.  Such 
a  career  was  only  possible  at  a  time  when 
party  feeling  raged  in  politics  and  religion 


Gates 


3°3 


O'Beirne 


with  the  virulence  of  a  disease.  The  indis- 
cretion of  the  Duke  of  York,  the  bigotry  of 
the  mob,  the  violence  of  Shaft esbury  and  his 
partisans,  and  the  pusillanimity  of  Charles, 
all  co-operated  with  the  incautious  display  of 
activity  made  by  the  papists  in  England  to 
sustain  the  imposture  of  which  Gates  was 
the  mouthpiece. 

Of  the  numerous  portraits  of  Gates  the 
best  is  that  drawn  and  engraved  ad  vivum 
by  R.  White,  with  the  inscription  '  Titus 
Gates.  Anagramma  Testis  ovat,'  which  was 
probably  executed  in  1679.  (The  fine  example 
in  the  British  Museum  print-room  is  repro- 
duced in  '  Twelve  Bad  Men,'  ed.  Seccombe, 
p.  95.)  A  very  similar  portrait  is  that  en- 
graved by  R.  Tompson  after  Thomas  Hawker. 
In  1685  portraits  of  him  in  the  pillory,  or  as 
A  Oats  well  thresh't,'  became  the  fashion,  and 
there  are  several  Dutch  prints  of  him,  in  one 
of  which  he  is  represented  in  the  pillory, 
surrounded  by  the  heads  of  seven  of  his 
victims,  while  underneath  is  a  representation 
of  his  flogging,  with  inscriptions  in  Dutch 
and  in  French.  In  the  'Archivist'  for  June 
1894  is  a  facsimile  of  a  typical  letter  written 
by  Gates. 

[For  the  early  period  of  Oates's  life,  Isaac 
Milles's  Life,  Mayor's  St.  John's  Coll.  Kegister, 
Wood's  Life  and  Times,  the  Florus  Anglo-Ba- 
varicus  (a  Roman  catholic  account  of  the  plot  in 
Latin  published  at  Liege),  the  House  of  Lords 
MSS.,  now  being  published  by  the  Historical 
MSS.  Commission,  and  certain  collectanea  in  the 
sixth  series  of  Notes  and  Queries,  and  in  the 
Gent.  Mag.  for  1849  have  proved  of  special 
value.  For  the  central  portion  of  his  life  the 
State  Trials  are  supplemented  by  Roger  North's 
Examen  and  Lives  of  the  Norths,  and  by  the 
histories  of  Burnet,  Eachard,  Rapin,  Ralph, 
HaUam,  Lingard,  and  Macaulay,  and  the  same 
period  is  illustrated  by  the  Narratives  of  the 
Plot  by  Gates  and  others ;  by  the  numerous  pam- 
phlets catalogued  under  Gates,  Popish  Plot,  and 
L'Estrange,  Roger,  in  the  British  Museum 
(especially  L'Estrange's  Brief  History  of  the 
Times,  1687,  and  William  Smith's  Intrigues 
of  the  Popish  Plot  laid  Open,  1685) ;  by 
the  Roxburghe  and  Bagford  Ballads,  ed.  Ebs- 
worth;  and  by  Stephens's  valuable  Cat.  of  Prints 
and  Drawings  (satirical)  in  the  British  Museum. 
Mr.  Willis  Bund's  Selection  from  the  State  Trials 
recently  published  contains  a  number  of  excel- 
lent comments  upon  the  character  of  Oates's 
evidence.  Oates's  career  also  forms  the  subject 
of  a  short  article  in  Blackwood's  Mag.  for 
February  1889,  and  of  a  longer  essay  by  the 
present  writer  in  Lives  of  Twelve  Bad  Men,  cd. 
Seccombe,  1894,  with  bibliography.  The  writer 
is  indebted  to  Sir  George  Sitwell,  bart.,  M.P. 
for  some  valuable  notes  on  Oates's  career,  form- 
ing part  of  the  materials  for  a  forthcoming  work 
4  The  First  Whig.'  See  also  Luttrell's  Brief  His- 


orical  Relation  of  State  Affairs,  freq. ;  Western 
Vlartyrology,  1705;  Tuke's  Memories  of  God- 
frey, 1682;  H.  Care's  Hist,  of  the  Plot;  Hist, 
of  King  Killers,  1719;  Evelyn's  Diary;  Reresby's 
Vlemoir?,  ed.  Cartwright ;  Aubrey's  Lives  in 
Letters  from  the  Bodleian  Library ;  Hatton 
Correspondence,  Camden  Soc. ;  Sidney's  Diary, 
ed.  Blencowe,  1843  ;  Thomas  Brown's  Collected 
Works,  1720;  Crowne's  Works,  1873,  vol.  ii. ; 
^alamy's  Account,  1829  ;  Dryden's  Works  ; 
Jrosby's  Hist,  of  the  Baptists ;  Hearne's  Col- 
ectanea,  ed.  Doble ;  Challoner's  Memoirs  of  Mis- 
sionary Priests ;  Foley's  Records  of  Soc.  of 
Jesus ;  Lemon's  Cat.  of  Broadsides ;  Piukerton 
and  Griiber's  Medallic  Hist,  of  England  ;  Smith's 
British  Mezzotinto  Portraits  ;  Stoughton's  Hist, 
of  Religion  in  England ;  Pike's  Hist,  of  Crime ; 
Campbell's  Lord  Chancellors;  Thornbury  and 
Walford's  Old  and  New  London ;  Wheatley  and 
Cunningham's  London  Past  and  Present;  and 
the  following  articles :  BEDLOE,  WILLIAM  ;  COLE- 
MAN,  EDWARD  ;  DANGEBFIELD,  THOMAS  ;  GOD- 
FRET,  SIR  EDMUND  BEKRT  ;  IRELAND,  WILLIAM  ; 
L'ESTRANGE,  SIR  ROGER;  PBAXCE,  MILES;  TONGK, 
ISRAEL.]  T.  S. 

OATLANDS,  HENRY  OF.  [SeeHEXRY, 
DTTKE  OF  GLOUCESTEB,  1639-1660.] 

O'BEIRNE,  THOMAS  LEWIS  (1748  ?- 
1823),  divine  and  pamphleteer,  born  at  Far- 
nagh,  co.  Longford,  about  1748,  received  his 
first  education  at  the  diocesan  school  of  Ar- 
dagh.  His  father,  a  Roman  catholic  fanner, 
then  sent  him  with  his  brother  John  to  St. 
Omer  to  complete  his  training  for  the  priest- 
hood. John  remained  in  the  paternal  creed, 
but  Thomas  adopted  protestant  views ;  and  it 
is  said  that  the  two  brothers,  with  their  oppo- 
site forms  of  belief,  afterwards  ministered  in 
the  same  Irish  parish.  In  1776  O'Beirne  was 
appointed  chaplain  in  the  fleet  under  Lord 
Howe.  While  with  the  fleet  in  America  he 
preached  a  striking  discourse  at  St.  Paul's, 
New  York,  the  only  church  which  was  pre- 
served from  the  flames  during  the  calamitous 
fire  of  September  1776.  On  his  return  to 
England,  when  the  conduct  of  the  brothers 
Howe  was  condemned,  O'Beirne  vindicated 
their  proceedings  in  '  A  Candid  and  Im- 
partial Narrative  of  the  Transactions  of  the 
Fleet  under  Lord  Howe.  By  an  Officer 
then  serving  in  the  Fleet,  1779.'  About 
this  time  he  became  acquainted  with  some 
of  the  whig  leaders,  and  wrote  in  their  in- 
terest in  the  journals  of  the  day.  George 
Croly,in  the  'Personal  History  of  George  IV,' 
i.  156,  &c.,  attributes  the  connection  to  a 
chance  meeting  of  O'Beirne  with  the  Duke 
of  Portland  and  Fox  in  a  country  inn.  In 
the  early  months  of  1780  he  contributed  to 
a  daily  newspaper  a  series  of  articles  as  '  a 
country  gentleman  '  against  Lord  North. 
The  first  six  were  reprinted  in  a  pamphlet, 


O'Beirne 


3°4 


O'Beirne 


and  an  abstract  of  the  others  was  inserted  in 
Almon's  <  Anecdotes,'  iii.  53-107, 116-22  (cf. 
ALMOX,  iii.  108-16). 

At  this  time  the  pen  of  O'Beirne  was 
never  idle.  He  supported  the  cause  of  the 
whigs  in  three  anonymous  pamphlets :  (1) '  A 
Short  History  of  the  Last  Session  of  Parlia- 
ment,' 1780 ;  (2)  '  Considerations  on  the  Late 
Disturbances,  by  a  Consistent  Whig,'  1780 ; 
{3) '  Considerations  on  the  Principles  of  Naval 
Discipline  and  Courts-martial,  in  which  the 
Doctrines  of  the  House  of  Commons  and 
the  Conduct  of  the  Courts-martial  on  Ad- 
miral Keppel  and  Sir  Hugh  Palliser  are 
compared,'  1781.  For  the  theatre  of  Drury 
Lane  he  adapted  from  the  French  play  of  the 
*  Dissipateur,'  by  Destouches,  a  comedy  en- 
titled '  The  Generous  Impostor,'  which  was 
acted  at  Drury  Lane  for  seven  nights  from 
22  Nov.  1780,  and  printed  in  1781  with  a 
dedication  to  the  whig  beauties,  Mrs.  Greville 
and  Mrs.  Crewe  (GENEST,  English  Stage,  vi. 
177-8).  He  assisted  the  beautiful  Duchess 
of  Devonshire  in  translating  and  adapting 
for  the  English  stage  two  dramas  from  the 
French  ;  but  they  met  with  no  success.  He 
was  also  the  author  of  an  '  Ode '  to  Lord 
Northampton,  and  of  some  of  the  minor  con- 
tributions to  the '  Rolliad,'  the  chief  of  which 
was  the  fourteenth  '  Probationary  Ode.' 

In  1782  O'Beirne  attended  the  Duke  of 
Portland,  the  viceroy  of  Ireland,  as  chap- 
lain and  private  secretary,  and  he  held  the 
post  of  private  secretary  to  the  duke  in 
1783,  when  that  statesman  became  the  first, 
lord  of  the  treasury.  On  his  last  day  of 
office  the  duke  gave  him  two  valuable  liv- 
ings, one  in  Northumberland  and  the  other 
in  Cumberland,  both  of  which  he  resigned 
in  1791,  on  obtaining  from  the  Archbishop 
of  Tuam,  through  the  ducal  interest,  the 
rich  benefices  of  Temple-Michael  and  Mohill. 
The  degree  of  B.D.  was  conferred  upon  him 
from  Trinity  College,  Cambridge,  in  1783 ; 
but  there  is  no  information  about  him  in  the 
college  books,  although,  according  to  Rose's 
'  Biographical  Dictionary,'  he  dwelt  there 
for  some  time  under  the  tutorship  of  Wat- 
son, afterwards  bishop  of  Llandaff.  He  is 
said  to  have  held  the  college  living  of  Gren- 
don,  and  to  have  received  from  the  lord 
chancellor  the  rectory  of  West  Deeping  in 
Lincolnshire. 

On  the  defeat  of  the  Portland  ministry 
O'Beirne  withdrew  to  France,  and  dwelt  for 
a  time  at  Aubigny,  the  Duke  of  Richmond's 
seat.  But  in  1785  he  again  rushed  into  Eng- 
lish politics,  with  an  anonymous  pamphlet 
called  'A  Gleam  of  Comfort  to  this  Distracted 
Empire,  in  despite  of  Faction,  Violence, 
and  Cunning.'  When  Pitt  attempted  to 


establish  a  commercial  system  with  Ireland, 
a  pamphlet  on  'The  Proposed  System  of 
Trade  with  Ireland  Explained,'  which  was 
attributed  to  George  Rose,  was  answered  by 
O'Beirne  in  '  A  Reply  to  the  Treasury  Pam- 
phlet,' 1785.  His  whig  friends  did  not  for- 
get his  services,  and  in  December  1794  he 
accompanied  Lord  Fitzwilliam  to  Ireland  as 
his  first  chaplain  and  private  secretary,  being 
rewarded  by  the  bishopric  of  Ossory,  to 
which  he  was  consecrated  at  Christ  Church, 
Dublin^  on  1  Feb.  1795.  When  Fitzwilliam 
ceased  to  be  the  lord-lieutenant  of  Ireland, 
his  conduct  was  defended  by  O'Beirne  in  the 
Irish  House  of  Peers  iu  a  speech  which  was 
highly  applauded.  By  patent  dated  18  Dec. 
1798  he  was  translated  to  the  see  of  Meath, 
and  remained  there  until  his  death.  He 
made  an  admirable  prelate,  appointing  to 
vacant  benefices  on  the  ground  of  merit,  en- 
forcing personal  residence,  aiding  in  the  re- 
vival of  the  office  of  rural  deans,  and  insisting 
upon  the  stricter  examination  of  candidates 
for  ordination  (MANT,  History  of  Church  of 
Ireland,  ii.  736-41).  Numerous  letters  to 
and  from  him  in  the  earlier  volumes  of  the 
'  Castlereagh  Correspondence '  mainly  relate 
to  projects  for  more  closely  uniting  the 
churches  of  England  and  Ireland,  or  for  con- 
trolling the  education  of  the  Roman  catholic 
clergy. 

The  bishop  died  at  Lee  House,  Ardbraccan, 
Navan,  on  17  Feb.  1823,  aged  75,  and  was 
buried  in  Ardbraccan  churchyard,  in  the 
same  vault  with  Bishop  Pococke  (CoGAN, 
Meath  Diocese,  ii.  259).  During  his  epi- 
scopacy of  Meath  fifty-seven  churches  and 
seventy-two  glebe-houses  were  built.  He 
married,  at  St.  Margaret's,  Westminster,  on 
1  Nov.  1783,  Jane,  only  surviving  child  of 
the  Hon.  Francis  Stuart,  third  son  of  the 
seventh  Earl  of  Moray,  and  had  issue  one 
son  and  two  daughters. 

Very  high  praise  is  given  by  Edward 
Mangin  [q.  v.]  in  '  Piozziana,'  pp.  137-9,  to 
the  bishop's  style  of  preaching,  both  for  matter 
and  manner.  His  voice  was  of  exquisite  modu- 
lation, and  the  effect  was  heightened  by  a 
'  pale  and  penetrating  face,  with  long  flow- 
ing snow-white  locks.  O'Beirne's  poem  on 
'  The  Crucifixion,'  1776,  did  not  augment  his 
reputation.  He  also  issued  many  single 
sermons,  addresses,  and  episcopal  charges. 
Three  volumes  of  his  collected  sermons  were 
published — the  first  in  1799,  the  second  in 
1813,  and  the  last  in  1821.  So  long  as  his 
vigour  lasted  the  bishop  continued  the  issue 
of  controversial  tracts.  Among  them  were  : 
1.  '  A  Letter  to  Dr.  Troy,  titular  Archbishop 
of  Dublin,  on  the  Coronation  of  Bonaparte 
by  Pope  Pius  the  Seventh,'  1805,  which  was 


O'Braein 


305 


O'Brien 


signed  Melanchtbon.  2.  'A  Letter  from  an 
Irish  Dignitary  to  an  English  Clergyman  on 
the  subject  of  Tithes  in  Ireland'  (anon.), 
1807 ;  reprinted  1822.  3.  A  letter  to  Canning 
on  his  proposed  motion  for  catholic  emancipa- 
tion (anon.),  1812.  4.  '  A  Letter  to  the  Earl 
of  Fingal,  by  the  Author  of  the  Letter  to 
Mr.  Canning '  (anon.),  1813. 

[Gent.  Mag.  1783  pt.  ii.  p.  978,  1822  pt.  i.  p. 
471,  1823  pt.  i.  p.  276;  Cotton's  Fasti  Eci-1.' 
Hib.  ii.  288-9,  iii.  123-4,  v.  159;  Cornwallis 
Correspondence,  ii.  417-18  ;  Nichols's  Illustr.  of 
Lit.  vii.  55 ;  Cogan's  Meath  Diocese,  iii.  355-7  ; 
Nichols's  Lit.  Anecd.  ix.  129-30  ;  Webb's  Irish 
Biography;  Beloe's  Sexagenarian,  ii.  170-4; 
Notes  and  Queries,  1st  ser.  ii.  242,  iii.  130-1 ; 
Almon's  Anecdotes,  i.  95-100;  Halkett  and 
Laing's  Anon.  Literature,  i.  484,  487,  1004, 
1016,  1355,  1394,  2369  ;  Georgian  Era,  i.  516- 
518.]  W.  P.  C. 

O'BRAEIN,  TIGHE  AENACH  (rf.1088), 
Irish  annalist,  belonged  to  a  Connaught 
family  which  produced  before  him  an  abbot 
of  Clonmacnoise,  Donnchadh,  who  died  in 
987,  and  after  him  Dermot,  coarb  of  St. 
Comman  (d.  1170);  Gilla  Isa,  prior  of  Ui 
Maine  (d.  1187)  ;  Stephen,  erenach  of  Mayo 
(d.  1231) ;  Tipraide,  coarb  of  St.  Comman 
(d.  1232) ;  and  Gillananaemh,  erenach  of 
Roscommon  (d.  1234) ;  but  which  does  not 
seem  to  have  been  a  literary  clan.  He  became 
abbot  of  Clonmacnoise,  and  is  therefore  called 
comharba  Chiarain,  coarb  or  successor  of  St. 
Ciaran  (516-549)  [q.  v.],  and  was  also  abbot,  of 
Roscommon  or  coarb  of  St.  Comman.  Clon- 
macnoise, of  which  considerable  ruins  remain, 
stands  on  flat  ground  close  to  the  left  bank 
of  the  Shannon,  and  had  produced  several 
learned  men  before  his  time.  He  there  wrote 
annals  in  which  Irish  events  are  synchronised 
with  those  of  Europe  from  the  earliest  times 
to  his  own  day.  These  were  afterwards  con- 
tinued by  Augustin  MacGradoigh  [q.  v.] 
There  is  a  copy  of  these  annals,  written  in 
the  time  of  the  contemporaries  of  the  original 
author,  in  the  Bodleian  Library,  which  also 
contains  an  ancient  fragment.  Three  copies 
exist  in  the  Royal  Irish  Academy,  and  one 
in  Trinity  College,  Dublin.  The  British 
Museum  has  two  inferior  copies.  The  annals 
are  in  Latin,  and  the  critical  discernment  of 
the  author  has  often  been  praised,  because 
he  dates  accurate  history  in  Ireland  from  the 
founding  of  Emhain  Macha,  co.  Armagh,  in 
B.C.  289.  He  quotes  Bseda,  as  well  as  Jo- 
sephus,  Eusebius,  and  Orosius,  and  gives  in 
Irish  part  of  a  poem  by  Maelmura  [q.  v.] 
He  died  in  1088,  and  was  buried  at  Clon- 
macnoise. Dr.  O'Conor  printed  a  text  of 
Tighearnach  in  his  '  Rerum  Hibernicarum 
Scriptores,'  but  the  inaccuracies  are  so  nume- 

VOL.  XLI. 


rous  that  in  quoting  Tighearnach  a  reference 
to  one  of  the  manuscripts  is  necessary. 

[Annala  Rioghachta  Eireann,  ed.  O'Donovan, 
vol.  ii.  Dublin,  1851 ;  O'Conor's  Rerum  Hiber- 
nicarum Scriptores;  Manuscripts  in  Bodleian 
Library,  Rawlinson,  Nos.  488,  502;  O'Curry's 
Lectures  on  Manuscript  Materials  of  Ancient 
Irish  History,  Dublin,  1873;  Facsimiles  of 
National  MS.  of  Ireland,  vol.  i.]  N.  M. 

O'BRIEN,  BARXABAS,  sixth  EARL  OF 
THOMOND  (d.  1657),  was  the  second  son  of 
Donough  O'Brien,  fourth  earl  of  Thomond 
[q.v.],  by  his  second  wife,  Elizabeth,  fourth 
daughter  of  Gerald  Fitzgerald,  eleventh  earl 
of  Kildare  [q.  v.]  His  elder  brother,  Henry, 
fifth  earl  of  Thomond,  who  succeeded  to  the 
earldom  on  his  father's  death  in  1624,  was  a 
strenuous  adherent  of  the  government  in  Ire- 
land, was  warmly  commended  by  Straflbrd 
for  his  loyalty,  and  died  without  male  issue 
in  1639.  Barnabas  entered  the  Irish  parlia- 
ment in  1613  as  member  for  Coleraine.  In 
1634  he  was  returned  for  Clare  as  colleague 
of  his  uncle,  Daniel  O'Brien,  afterwards 
first  Viscount  Clare  [q.v.]  ;  but,  being  com- 
pelled to  go  to  England  for  a  time,  a  writ 
Avas  issued  for  a  fresh  election.  In  1639  he 
succeeded  his  brother  as  sixth  earl,  and 
applied  for  the  governorship  of  Clare,  which 
Straflbrd  refused  him  on  the  ground  that 
his  conduct  differed  entirely  from  that  of 
his  brother,  and  that  he  deserved  nothing. 
Nevertheless  he  was  lord-lieutenant  of  Clare 
in  1640-1.  "When  the  Irish  rebellion  broke 
out  he  attempted  to  maintain  neutrality,  in 
spite  of  the  support  given  by  his  kinsmen 
to  the  confederation  (CARTE,  Ormonde,  ii. 
146),  and  did  not  sign  the  oath  of  association 
in  1641.  He  lived  quietly  on  his  lands  in 
Clare,  and  was  in  frequent  communication 
with  Ormonde.  In  1644  the  council  of  the 
confederation  forbade  Thomond's  agents  to 
collect  his  rents,  and  even  formed  a  scheme 
for  seizing  his  chief  stronghold  at  Bunratty, 
which  his  uncle,  Sir  Daniel  O'Brien,  was 
appointed  to  carry  out.  Thereupon  Tho- 
mond, finding  that  no  troops  were  forth- 
comingwherewithto  defend  Bunratty  Castle, 
entered  into  negotiations  with  the  parlia- 
mentarians, in  spite  of  Glamorgan's  remon- 
strances. At  the  instigation  of  his  kinsman, 
Morough  O'Brien,  first  earl  of  Inchiquin 
[q.  v.],  he  admitted  a  parliamentary  garrison 
to  the  castle,  and  went  to  live  in  England 
(Bloody  Neicesfrom  Ireland,  1646,  pp.  4-5 ; 
LODGE,  Dev'd.  Cur.  Hib.  ii.  193-4,  322). 

Thomond  soon  joined  the  king  at  Oxford, 
and  received,  on  3  May  1645,  a  patent  creating 
him  Marquis  of  Billing  in  Northamptonshire 
(BAKER,  Northamptonshire,  i.  20-1).  But 
the  patent  never  passed  under  the  great  seal. 


O'Brien 


306 


O'Brien 


A  few  years  later  he  petitioned  parliament 
for  the^recovery  of  2,000/.  which  had  been 
seized  in  Bunratty,  pleading  that  his  real 
estate  was  in  the  hands  of  the  Irish  rebels, 
and  that  he  had  spent  16,OOOJ.  on  the  par- 
liamentary cause.  His  petit  ion  was  granted, 
and  he  apparently  gave  no  cause  for  sus- 
picion to  the  Commonwealth  or  protectorate, 
for  his  son's  request,  on  15  Dec.  1657,  for 
the  governorship  of  Thomond  was  favourably 
received  by  Henry  Cromwell  (THTJKLOE,  vi. 
681).  He  died  in  November  1657,  and  his 
will,  dated  1  July  1657,  in  which  he  left 
some  bequests  to  Great  Billing,  was  proved  in 
England  on  6  Feb.,  and  in  Ireland  on  28  April 
in  the  same  year.  Lodge  (ed.  Archdall,  ii. 
37)  maintains  that  Thomond  was  of  strict 
loyalty,  religion,  and  honour,  and  that  his 
lands  were  taken  from  him  during  the  re- 
bellion through  the  unnatural  conduct  of 
his  nearest  relations ;  it  was  also  believed 
that  he  gave  up  Bunratty  at  Ormonde's  in- 
stigation (  GILBEET,  Contemp.  Hist,  of  Affairs 
in  Ireland,  i.  105-6). 

Thomond  married  Mary,  youngest  daugh- 
ter of  Sir  George  Fermor  and  widow  of 
James,  lord  Sanquhar,  by  whom  he  had  one 
son,  Henry,  his  successor  (1621-1691),  who 
matriculated  from  Exeter  College,  Oxford, 
on  19  Aug.  1636,  aged  15,  became  governor 
of  Clare,  and  died  at  Billing  on  2  May  1691 ; 
and  one  daughter,  Penelope,  m  arried  to  Henry 
Mordaunt,  second  earl  of  Peterborough  [q.  v.] 

[Authorities  quoted ;  Lodge's  Peerage,  ed. 
Archdall,  ii.  37,  &c. ;  Collins's  Peerage  of  Eng- 
land, passim;  Cal.  State  Papers,  Dom.  Ser. 
16-45-7,  pp.  243,  429  ;  Cal.  Proc.  of  Committee 
for  Advance  of  Money,  pp.  634,  947  ;  Morrin's 
Close  and  Patent  Kolls,  Ireland,  iii.  41 ;  Claren- 
don State  Papers,  ed.  Macray,  iii.  381  ;  Gilbert's 
Contemporary  History  of  Affairs  in  Ireland 
and  Hist,  of  the  Confederation,  passim  (in  the 
index  to  the  latter  he  is  confused  with  his  brother 
Henry,  fifth  earl) ;  Carte's  Ormonde,  passim ; 
Ludlow's  Memoirs,  ed.  Firth,  i.  18;  Cox's  Hi- 
bernia  Anglicana,  passim ;  Whitelocke's  Memo- 
rials, pp.  201,  420 ;  Commons'  Journals,  vi.  279, 
445 ;  Official  Returns  of  Members  of  Parl. ; 
Dwyer's  Diocese  of  Killaloe,  pp.  196,  206,  220, 
267 ;  O'Donoghue's Hist.  Memoirsof  theO'Briens, 
passim;  Carlyle's  Oliver  Cromwell,  ii.  147; 
Meehan's  Confederation  of  Kilkenny ;  Strafford 
Papers,  ii.  98,  113,  &c. ;  Narratives  illustrative 
of  the  Contests  in  Ireland  (Camd.  Soc.),  passim  ; 
Rinuccini's  Embassy  in  Ireland,  transl.  Hughes, 
pp.  150,  155,  159  ;  C.  G.  Walpole's  Kingdom  of 
Ireland,  p.  241  ;  Castlehaven's  Memoirs,  ed. 
1753,  p.  74.]  A.  F.  P. 

O'BRIEN,  BRIAN  RUADH  (d.  1276), 
king  of  Thomond,  was  second  son  of  Con- 
chobhar  O'Brien  [q.  v.]  On  his  father's  death 
iu  1267  he  was  inaugurated  chief  of  the 


Dal  Cais,  or  king  of  Thomond,  on  Magh 
Adhair  ;  and  when  Sioda  MacXeill  MacCon- 
mara  proclaimed  his  title,  not  one  of  the 
assembled  chiefs  of  the  septs  spoke  in  oppo- 
sition. He  demolished  Castle  Connell  on 
the  Shannon  in  1261.  He  went  to  war  with 
the  English  in  1270,  and  captured  the  castle 
of  Clare,  co.  Clare,  and  in  1272  slew  one  of 
the  lords  justices.  In  1275  Sioda  MacCon- 
mara,  who  had  proclaimed  him  king,  rose 
against  him  in  the  interest  of  Turlough 
O'Brien,  son  of  Tadhg  of  Caoluisce  O'Brien, 
and  in  alliance  with  the  O'Deas,  by  whom 
Turlough  had  been  fostered.  They  marched 
to  Clonroad  in  such  force  that  Brian  Ruadh, 
with  his  sons  and  household,  fled  across  the 
Shannon  to  the  cantred  of  Omullod.  There 
he  raised  his  subordinate  chiefs,  and,  with 
his  son  Donogh,  entered  into  alliance  with 
the  English  of  Munster  under  De  Clare.  He 
agreed  to  give  De  Clare  all  the  lands  between 
Athsollus  and  Limerick  in  return  for  his 
alliance.  The  trysting-place  was  Limerick, 
and  thence  Brian  Ruadh,  with  the  men  of 
Cuanach  and  of  Omullod  and  De  Clare,  with 
the  Geraldines  and  the  Butlers,  marched  by 
night,  reaching  Clonroad  before  sunrise,  but 
failed  to  capture  Turlough,  as  he  was  absent 
on  a  visit  to  Tadhg  Buidh  and  Ruaidhri 
MacMathghamhna  in  Corcovaskin.  Brian 
Ruadh  occupied  Clonroad,  which  his  father 
had  fortified,  and  thither  came  to  support 
him  Mathghamhain  MacDomhnaill  Connach- 
tach  O'Brien,  with  his  sons  and  fighting  men, 
and  the  O'Gradys  and  O'Heichirs.  Brian 
attacked  the  O'Deas  and  O'Griobhthas,  and 
then  marched  to  Quin,  co.  Clare,  to  attack 
Clancullen  and  MacConmara,  who  retired 
into  the  woods  of  Echtghe.  De  Clare  had 
meantime  built  the  castle,  of  which  the  ruins 
remain,  at  Bunratty,  co.  Clare,  while  Tur- 
lough O'Brien  collected  an  army.  Brian 
Ruadh  O'Brien  and  De  Clare  marched  to 
meet  him  at  Moygressan,  but  were  defeated 
by  Turlough  after  a  long  and  obstinate  battle, 
and  retreated  in  disorder  to  Bunratty.  Patrick 
Fitzmaurice,  De  Clare's  brother-in-law,  was 
slain,  and  De  Clare's  wife  incited  her  hus- 
band against  Brian  as  the  cause  of  this  loss. 
Her  father,  Fitzmaurice  of  Kerry,  was  in  the 
castle,  and,  by  way  of  satisfaction  to  them, 
De  Clare,  mortified  and  enraged  by  his  de- 
feat, hanged  Brian  Ruadh  O'Brien  there  and 
then  (Caitkreim).  He  was  succeeded  as 
chief  of  the  Dal  Cais  and  king  of  Thomond 
by  his  nephew,  Turlough  O'Brien  (d.  1306), 
son  of  Tadhg  of  Caoluisce,  grandson  of  Con- 
chobhar  O'Brien ;  the  history  of  Turlogh's 
wars  with  De  Clare  is  related  in  the  '  Caith- 
reim  Thoirdhealbhaigh '  of  Magrath.  That 
work  was  doubtless  composed  contempora- 


O'Brien 


3°7 


O'Brien 


neously  with  the  war,  as  has  been  shown 
for  the  first  time  by  S.  H.  O'Grady  in  the 
edition  of  the  '  Caithreim '  now  in  course  of 
publication  by  the  Cambridge  University 
press. 

[Annala  Rioghachta  Eireann,  ed.  O'Donovan, 
vol.  iii. ;  Caithreim Thoirdhealbhaigh of  Magrath, 
ed.  S.  H.  O'Grady,  kindly  lent  by  the  editor.] 

N.  M. 

O'BRIEN,  CHARLES,  fifth  VISCOUNT 
CLARE  (d.  1706),  was  the  son  of  Daniel,  third 
viscount  [see  under  O'BRIEN,  DANIEL,  first 
VISCOUNT  CLARE],  by  Philadelphia,  daugh- 
ter of  Francis  Leonard,  lord  Dacre.  As  the 
Honourable  Charles  O'Brien  he  commanded 
a  regiment  of  foot  in  James  II's  army  in  Ire- 
land during  1689  and  1690,  and  in  1691  took 
over  a  cavalry  regiment  and  served  at  the 
second  siege  of  Limerick.  On  leaving  Ireland 
'for  France  in  1692  he  was  promoted  captain 
of  the  gardes  du  corps,  and  was  subse- 
quently attached  to  the  Queen  of  England's 
dragons-u-pied,  of  which  he  became  colonel 
on  the  death  of  Francis  O'Carrol  at  the  battle 
of  Marsaglia  on  4  Oct.  1693.  His  brother 
Daniel,  the  fourth  viscount,  was  mortally 
wounded  on  the  same  occasion,  and  he  suc- 
ceeded to  the  title.  On  8  April  1696  he 
became  colonel  of  the  Clare  regiment,  so 
named  in  honour  of  his  family,  and  served  at 
Valenza  and  on  the  Meuse  during  the  cam- 
paigns of  1696  and  1697.  On  the  outbreak 
of  the  war  of  the  Spanish  succession  he  joined 
the  army  of  Germany,  was  promoted  brigadier- 
general  on  2  April  1703,  and  took  a  distin- 
guished part  in  the  rout  of  the  imperialists 
at  Hochstadt  on  20  Sept.  1703.  Promoted 
major-general  early  in  1704,  he  commanded 
the  three  Irish  regiments  of  Clare,  Lee,  and 
Dorrington  at  Blenheim,  cut  his  way  out  of 
the  village  of  Oberklau,  and  escaped  with 
his  three  regiments,  in  admirable  order,  to 
the  Rhine  (SsviN  DE  QUINCY,  Hist.  Mili- 
taire,  iv.  280).  He  was  created  marechal- 
de-camp  on  2  Oct.  1704,  joined  the  army  of 
Flanders,  and  was,  eighteen  months  later, 
mortally  wounded  at  Ramillies  on  23  May 
1706.  A  monument  to  his  memory  was 
erected  by  his  widow  in  the  church  of  the 
Holy  Cross  at  Louvain. 

O'Brien  married  Charlotte,  eldest  daughter 
of  the  Hon.  Henry  Bulkeley ;  Lady  Clare  re- 
married Colonel  Daniel  O'Mahony  [q.  v.]  at 
St.  Germains  in  1712.  O'Brien  left  a  daugh- 
ter, Laura,  who  married  the  Comte  de  Bre- 
teuil  $  and  a  son,  CHARLES  O'BRIEN,  sixth 
viscountClare(1699-1761),bornon27March 
1699.  The  command  of  the  Clare  regiment 
devolved  upon  its  lieutenant-colonel,  a  kins- 
man of  the  Clare  family,  the  gallant  Murrough 
O'Brien,  but  six  thousand  livres  per  annum 


were  set  apart  by  order  of  Louis  XIV,  out  of 
the  emoluments  of  the  position,  for  the  main- 
tenance of  the  young  viscount.  The  latter  had 
been  enrolled  a  captain  in  the  French  service 
during  his  father's  lifetime,  but  did  not  com- 
mence his  active  military  career  until  1719, 
when  he  joined  the  French  army  in  Spain. 
In  1715  he  paid  a  visit  to  England,  and  was 
presented  to  George  I,  who  offered  to  procure 
him  the  reversion  of  the  title  and  estates  of 
his  relative,  the  Earl  of  Thomond,  provided 
that  he  would  enter  the  English  sen-ice  and 
would  change  his  religion ;  but  with  these 
conditions  O'Brien  refused  to  comply.  He 
returned-  to  France,  excited  the  admiration 
of  George  II  by  his  conduct  at  Dettingen, 
and  bore  a  distinguished  part  in  the  French 
victories  at  Fontenoy,  where  the  behaviour 
of  the  Irish  brigade  turned  the  fortune  of 
the  day,  and  at  Roucoux  and  LafFeldt.  He 
was  created  a  marshal  of  France  on  24  Feb. 
1757,  and  was  known  as  Marechal  Thomond, 
having  assumed  the  title  of  Comte  de 
Thomond  upon  the  death  of  Henry,  eighth 
earl  of  Thomond,  in  1741.  He  died  at  Mont- 
pellier,  during  his  tenure  of  the  command- 
in-chief  of  the  province  of  Languedoc,  on 
9  Sept.  1761.  By  his  wife,  Marie  Genevieve 
Louise  Gauthier  de  Chiffreville,  he  left  a  son 
Charles,  colonel  of  the  Clare  regiment,  who 
died  at  Paris,  without  issue,  on  29  Dec.  1774. 
[Burke's  Extinct  Peerage,  p.  407 ;  G.  E.  C.'s 
Peerage,  s.  v.  Clare ;  O'Hart's  Irish  Pedigrees, 
1887,  i.  167-8  ;  Webb's  Compendium  of  Irish 
Biogr.p.  366 ;  O'Callaghan's  Irish  Brigades  in  the 
Service  of  France,  pp.  38-44;  O'Conor's  Military 
History  of  the  Irish  Nation,  pp.  290,  316;  D'Al- 
ton's  King  James's  Irish  Army  List,  p.  315  ; 
O'Donoghue's  Historical  Memoirs  of  the  O'Briens, 
pp.  348-74.1  T.  S. 

O'BRIEN,  CONCHOBHAR  (d.  1267), 
king  of  Thomond,  called  '  na  siudaine,'  from 
the  name  of  the  wood  near  Belaclugga,  co. 
Clare,  where  he  was  slain  (MAGRATH,  Caith- 
reim), was  son  of  Donogh  Cairbrech  O'Brien 
[q.  v.l,  and  succeeded  his  father  in  1242.  In 
1257  ne  had  some  successes  against  the  Eng- 
lish, and  in  1268  sent  his  son  Tadhg  to 
Caoluisce  on  Lough  Erne  to  treat  with  Brian 
O'Neill.  In  the  '  Annals  of  Clonmacnoise ' 
and  in  the  '  Annals  of  Ulster '  it  is  stated 
that  the  result  was  that  it  was  agreed  that 
Brian  O'Neill  should  be  king  of  Ireland,  and 
that  the  O'Briens,  O'Connors,  and  O'Kellys 
gave  him  hostages.  In  the '  Caithreim  Thoir- 
dhealbhaigh,' however,  a  better  account  is 
given  of  this  meeting,  and  the  date  is  fixed 
six  years  earlier.  Tadhg  O'Brien,  says  the 
author  of  the  'Caithreim,'  sent  a  hundred 
horses  to  O'Neill  as  a  present  and  sign  of 
his  father  Conchobhar's  supremacy.  0  Neill 

x2 


O'Brien 


308 


O'Brien 


sent  them  back,  with  two  hundred  others, 
with  grand  trappings,  in  token  of  his  own 
supremacy,  and  so  the  meeting  broke  up. 
After  the  death  of  his  son  Tadgh  in  1248 
O'Brien  seldom  appeared  in  public,  and  at- 
tended no  feasts.  His  subjects  refused  to  pay 
his  royal  rents  and  dues.  He  then  made  a 
muster  of  Clancullen  under  Sioda  MacNeill 
MacConmara,  and  of  Cinel  Domhnaill  under 
Aneslis  O'Grady,  and  they,  with  his  son 
Brian  Ruadh,  marched  into  the  cantred  of 
O'Blood  and  carried  off  captives  and  spoil 
from  Birr,  King's  County,  to  Knockany,  co. 
Limerick,  and  from  the  Eoghanacht  of  Cashel, 
co.  Tipperary,  to  Killaloe,  co.  Clare.  These 
they  brought  to  Conchobhar  at  Clonroad, 
where  he  had  made  a  permanent  camp  with 
earthworks.  Conchobhar  himself,  with  the 
O'Deas  and  O'Cuinns,  under  Donnchadh 
O'Dea,  and  O'Haichir  with  his  force,  marched 
to  O'Lochlainn's  country,  co.  Clare.  Con- 
chobhar Carrach  O'Lochlainn  met  this  army 
at  Belaclugga,  and  defeated  and  slew  Con- 
chobhar O'Brien.  This  was  in  1267.  He 
was  buried  in  the  monastery  of  East  Burren, 
now  the  abbey  of  Corcomroe  (O'Grady's 
translation  of  Caithreini).  His  tomb  and 
full-length  effigy  wearing  a  crown  are  still 
to  be  seen  in  the  abbey.  O'Brien  married 
Mdr,  daughter  of  MacConmara,  and  had 
three  sons:  Tadhg,  who  died  in  1248;  Brian 
Ruadh  [q.  v.], king  of  Thomond ;  and  Seoinin. 
His  son  Seoinin  and  his  daughter,  who  was 
married  to  Ruaidhri  O'Grady,  were  killed 
by  Murtough  O'Brien;  but  Murtough  was 
soon  after  killed,  and  Brian  Ruadh  became 
lord  of  Thomond  and  chief  of  the  Dal  Cais. 

[Annala  Rioghachta  Eireann,  ed.  O'Donovan, 
vol.  iii.;  Annals  of  Ulster,  ed.  MacCarthy  (Rolls 
Ser.);  Annals  of  Loch  Ce,  ed.  Hennessy ;  manu- 
script text  of  Caithreim  Thoirdhealbhaigh,with 
translation  and  notes,  and  extract  from  Historical 
Book  of  the  O'Mulconry's  MS.  kept  to  ]608, 
kindly  lent  by  S.  H.  O'Grady,  esq.]  N.  M. 

O'BRIEN,  CONOR  (d.  1539),  prince  of 
Thomond,  was  eldest  son  of  Turlough  O'Brien 
(d.  1528)  by  his  wife  Raghnailt,  daughter  of 
John  Macnamara,  chief  of  Clancullen.  The 
'  Four  Masters '  say  of  Turlough  that  '  he,  of 
all  the  Irish  in  Leath  Mogha,  had  spent  the 
longest  time  in  [acts  of]  nobility  and  hospi- 
tality, the  worthy  heir  of  Brian  Boroimhe  in 
maintaining  war  against  the  English '  (An- 
nals, v.  1393).  Conor  succeeded  to  the 
throne  in  1528,  when  his  brother  Donogh  was 
nominated  tanist.  Donogh, '  a  man  of  hospi- 
tality and  nobleness,' died,  however,  in  1531, 
and  gave  place  to  a  third  brother,  Murrough 
O'Brien,  first  earl  of  Thomond  [q.  v.]  A 
fourth  brother,  Teige,  was  killed  in  1523, 


when  fighting  against  the  Earl  of  Ormonde 
at  the  ford  of  Camus  on  the  river  Suir. 

Conor  O'Brien  became  prince  of  Thomond 
at  a  very  critical  period.  To  check  the  pre- 
ponderance of  the  Earl  of  Kildare,the  Butlers 
had  been  supported  by  the  English  court.  In 
the  intrigues  which  ensued  Kildare  got  the 
better  of  his  enemies,  and  became  deputy  in- 
stead of  Butler  in  1524.  O'Brien's  family  was 
divided  within  itself  in  the  long-continued 
struggles  between  the  two  great  rival  houses. 
Conor  had  married,  for  his  first  wife,  Ana- 
bella  de  Burgh,  daughter  of  the  MacWilliam, 
and  by  her  had  a  son  Donogh.  On  the  death 
of  his  first  wife  he  married  Ellen,  daughter 
of  James  Fit z John  Fitzgerald  [q.  v.],  four- 
teenth earl  of  Desmond,  by  whom  he  had 
five  sons.  The  Geraldines,  Avho  were  akin 
to  O'Brien's  second  wife,  formed  an  alli- 
ance with  Conor  O'Brien  and  the  sons  of 
his  second  marriage.  The  Butlers,  on  the 
other  hand,  gained  the  adherence  of  Donogh, 
O'Brien's  eldest  son  by  his  first  wife,  and  this 
connection  was  strengthened  by  a  marriage 
between  Donogh  and  Helen  Butler,  daugh- 
ter of  the  Earl  of  Ossory.  When  the 
Geraldines  were  ravaging  the  lands  of  the 
Butlers  in  1534,  Conor,  who  was  allied 
with  the  attacking  party,  wrote  a  letter  to 
the  Emperor  Charles  V,  dated  21  July  1534, 
in  which  he  asked  help,  and  offered  to  sub- 
mit to  his  authority  (Letters  and  Papers  of 
Henry  VIII,  vii.  999).  A  battle  took  place 
at  Jerpoint,  in  which  Donogh  O'Brien,  on 
the  side  of  the  Butlers,  was  wounded  ;  but 
the  arrival  of  Skeffington  with  reinforce- 
ments, and  the  capture  of  Maynooth  in 
1535,  caused  the  Geraldines  to  lose  ground. 
Thomas  Fitzgerald,  tenth  earl  of  Kildare 

&.  v.],  surrendered  the  same  year.  But  the 
Briens,  with  the  exception  of  Donogh,  still 
continued  rebellious,  though  Conor  made 
promises  of  good  behaviour  (cf.  State  Papers, 
ii.  287).  In  1536  Lord  Leonard  Grey,  the  new 
lord-deputy,  advanced,  under  Donogh's  guid- 
ance, against  Conor,  and  captured  O'Brien's 
Bridge  over  the  Shannon.  For  six  months 
early  in  1537  Conor  kept  safely  in  Thomond 
Gerald  FitzGerald,  eleventh  earl  of  Kildare 
[q.  v.],  whom  the  English  government  were 
anxious  to  capture.  The  earl  afterwards 
escaped,  by  aid  of  the  O'Donnells,  into  France. 
An  expedition  of  1537  resulted  in  O'Brien's 
making  peace  for  a  year,  by  a  solemn  agree- 
ment entered  into  at  Limerick.  He  died  in 
1539,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  brother 
Murrough  (d.  1551)  [q.  v.] 

Conor  O'Brien  was  the  last  independent 
prince  in  Thomond.  His  son  Donogh  by  his 
first  wife,  by  virtue  of  the  limitation  of  the 
peerage  granted  to  his  uncle  Murrough, 


O'Brien 


3°9 


O'Brien 


became  in  1551  second  Earl  of  Thomond. 
From  1543  to  1551  he  was  Baron  Ibrickan, 
this  title  having  been  given  him  at  the 
pacification  of  1543.  He  was  father  of 
Conor  O'Brien,  third  earl  of  Thomond  [q.  v.] 

By  his  second  wife  Conor  had  Donald,  Tor- 
logh,  Teige,  Murrough  [q.  v.],  and  Mortogh. 

[O'Donoghue's  Hist.  Mem.  of  the  O'Briens, 
chaps,  xi.  xii. ;  The  Four  Masters,  ed.  O'Donovan, 
vol.  ii. ;  Bagwell's  Ireland  under  the  Tudors, 
vol.  i. ;  State  Papers,  i.  601,  ii.  and  iii.  passim  ; 
Cal.  State  Papers,  Irish  Ser.  lo07-73  ;  Carew 
MBS.  1509-74.]  W.  A.  J.  A. 

O'BRIEN,  CONOR,  third  EAEL  OF  THO- 
MOND (1534  P-1581),  called  Groibleach,  or  the 
'  long-nailed,'  eldest  son  of  Donogh  O'Brien, 
second  earl  of  Thomond  [see  under  O'BRIEN, 
MURROUGH,  first  EARL  OF  THOMOND],  and 
-  -Helen  Butler,  youngest  daughter  of  Piers, 
eighth  earl  of  Ormonde,  succeeded  to  the  earl- 
dom on  the  death  of  his  father  in  April  1553. 
His  right  was  challenged  by  his  uncle  Don- 
nell,  who  was  formally  inaugurated  O'Brien  j 
and  chief  of  the  Dal  Cais.  Obliged  to  sur- 
render Clonroad,  the  usual  residence  of  the  : 
O'Briens,  Conor  retired  to  the  castle  of  Doon-  j 
mulvihill,  on  the  borders  of  Galway,  where 
he  was  besieged  by  Donnell,  but  relieved  by  , 
his  kinsman  Thomas,  tenth  earl  of  Ormonde. 
Subsequently  Donnell  petitioned  for  official 
recognition  as  chief  of  Thomond,  and  St. 
Leger,  though  unable  to  grant  his  request, 
promised  to  write  to  the  queen  in  his  favour. 
Matters  continued  in  this  uncertain  state  till 
the  summer  of  1558,  when  the  Earl  of  Sussex, 
having  marched  to  Limerick  with  a  large 
army,  caused  Donnell  and  Teige  and  Donough, 
sons  of  Murrough,  first  earl  of  Thomond  [q.  v.], 
to  be  proclaimed  traitors,  and  Conor  to  be  re- 
instated in  his  possessions  (  Cal.  Carew  MSS. 
i.  276).  Donnell  took  refuge  with  Maguire 
in  Fermanagh,  and  Teige  and  Donough 
found  a  powerful  protector  in  the  Earl  of 
Desmond.  Peace  prevailed  for  a  brief  season, 
and  Conor  won  Sussex's  approbation  for  his 
good  execution  of  justice.  But  in  1559 
Teige  and  Donough  returned  to  Inchiquin, 
and  not  merely  defied  Conor's  efforts  to  oust 
them,  but,  with  the  assistance  of  the  Earl  of 
Desmond,  actually  inflicted  a  sharp  defeat 
on  him  and  his  ally,  the  Earl  of  Clanricarde, 
at  Spancel  Hill.  'Teige  was  shortly  after- 
wards arrested  by  Lord-justice  Fitzwilliam, 
and  confined  in  Dublin  Castle ;  but  early  in 
1562  he  managed  to  escape,  and,  being  joined 
by  Donnell,  they  opposed  a  formidable  army 
to  the  Earl  of  Thomond.  With  the  help  of 
some  ordnance  lent  him  by  Sussex,  Tho- 
mond succeeded  in  wresting  Ballyally  and 
Ballycarhy  from  them ;  and  eventually,  in 
April  1565,  after  reducing  the  country  to  a 


wilderness,  Donnell  consented  to  surrender 
his  claim  to  the  lordship  of  Thomond  on 
condition  of  receiving  Corcomroe.  War 
broke  out  again  in  the  following  year ;  but 
the  resources  of  the  combatants  were  ex- 
hausted,and  Sidney,  when  he  visited  Limerick 
in  April  1567,  described  it  as  utterly  im- 
poverished owing  to  the  Earl  of  Thomond's 
'  insufficiency  to  govern.' 

The  suspicion  with  which  he  was  regarded 
made  him  discontented,  and  on  8  July  1569 
he  entered  into  league  with  the  '  arch-rebel ' 
James  Fitzrnaurice  Fitzgerald  (d.  1579)  [q.  v.] 
In  February  1570  he  attacked  the  president 
of  Cpnnaught,  Sir  Edward  Fitton  [q.  v.],  at 
Ennis,  and  compelled  him  to  seek  refuge  in 
Galway.  A  strong  force  under  the  Earl 
of  Ormonde  was  immediately  despatched 
against  him,  and  a  few  weeks  later  he  sub- 
mitted unconditionally.  But  being  '  seized 
with  sorrow  and  regret  for  having  sur- 
rendered his  towns  and  prisoners,'  and  deter- 
mined never  to  '  submit  himself  to  the  law, 
or  to  the  mercy  of  the  council  of  Ireland,'  he 
fled  in  the  beginning  of  June  to  France. 
There  he  introduced  himself  on  18  July  to 
Sir  Henry  Norris,  baron  Norris  of  Rycote 
[q.  v.],  the  English  ambassador,  and,  after 
protesting  his  loyalty,  begged  him  to  inter- 
cede with  the  queen  for  his  pardon.  Norris, 
who  thought  him  a  '  barbarous  man,'  want- 
ing '  neither  vainglory  or  deceitfulness,  and 
yet  in  his  talk  very  simple,'  soon  became 
aware  that  he  was  intriguing  with  the 
French  court,  and  urged  Elizabeth  to  coax 
him  home  at  any  price.  Elizabeth,  though 
she  spoke  of  him  as  a  '  person  of  small 
value '  and  declined  to  pardon  him  before- 
hand, was  sufficiently  alive  to  his  power 
to  do  mischief,  and  promised  if  he  returned 
to  give  his  grievances  a  favourable  hearing. 
But  Thomond  showed  no  disposition  to  leave 
Paris,  and  Norris  was  forced  to  lend  him  a 
hundred  crowns  and  make  endless  promises 
before  he  would  consent  to  take  his  departure. 

He  returned  to  Ireland  in  December,  and, 
having  made  public  confession  of  his  treason 
to  Sir  Henry  Sidney,  he  was  pardoned.  Sub- 
sequently, in  April  1571,  he  made  surrender 
of  all  his  lands  to  the  queen.  He  obtained  per- 
mission to  go  to  England  to  solicit  their  re- 
storation, but,  owing  to  the  rebellion  of  the 
Earl  of  Clanricarde's  sons,  his  presence  was 
required  in  Ireland.  He  won  the  approval  of 
the  lord-deputy  and  council,  and  warrant  was 
apparently  given  in  June  1573  for  the  restora- 
tion of  his  lands.  In  December  1575  he 
went  to  Cork  in  order  to  show  his  respect  to 
the  lord-deputy,  Sir  Henry  Sidney,  whom  he 
attended  to  Limerick  and  Galway,  whither 
the  principal  men  of  Thomond  repaired  to 


O'Brien 


310 


O'Brien 


him.  '  And  finding  that  the  mutuall  Hurtes 
and  Revenges  donne  betwixt  the  Earle  and 
Teige  MacMurrough  Avas  one  great  Cawse 
of  the  Ruyne  of  the  Country,'  Sidney '  bounde 
theim  by  Bondes,  in  great  sommes,'  to  sur- 
render their  lands,  and  to  submit  to  the  ap- 
pointment of  Donnell,  created  Sir  Donnell 
O'Brien,  as  sheriff  of  the  newly  constituted 
county  of  Clare.  This  arrangement,  though 
acquiesced  in,  was  naturally  displeasing  to 
Thomond,  and  he  was  reputed  to  have  said 
that  he  repented  ever  '  condescending  to  the 
queen's  mercy.'  The  arrangement  did  not 
put  an  end  to  the  disputes  between  him  and 
Teige,  and  in  1 577  Sir  William  Drury  was 
compelled  to  place  the  county  under  martial 
government.  Thomond  thereupon  repaired 
to  England,  and  on  7  Oct.  warrant  was  is- 
sued for  a  new  patent  containing  the  full 
effect  of  his  former  patent,  with  remainder 
to  his  son  Donough,  baron  of  Ibrickan.  He 
returned  to  Ireland  about  Christmas ;  but 
before  his  arrival,  according  to  the  'Four 
Masters,' '  the  marshal  had  imposed  a  severe 
burden  on  his  people,  so  that  they  were  ob- 
liged to  become  tributary  to  the  sovereign, 
and  pay  a  sum  of  ten  pounds  for  every  barony, 
and  this  was  the  first  tribute  ever  paid  by 
the  Dal  Cais.'  Thomond,  however,  seems  to 
have  lived  on  good  terms  with  the  new  presi- 
dent of  Connaught,  Sir  Nicholas  Malby.  He 
died,  apparently,  in  January  1581,  and  was 
succeeded  by  his  eldest  son,  Donough,  baron 
of  Ibrickan  and  fourth  earl  of  Thomond  [q.  v.] 

Conor  O'Brien,  married,  first,  Ellen  or 
Eveleen,  daughter  of  Donald  MaeCormac 
MacCarthy  Mor  and  widow  of  James  Fitz- 
john  Fitzgerald,  fourteenth  earl  of  Desmond 
[q.  v.]  ;  she  died  in  1560,  and  was  buried  in 
Muckross  Abbey :  secondly,  Una,  daughter  of 
Turlough  Mac-i-Brien-  Ara,  by  whom  he  had 
issue  three  sons — viz.:  Donough,  his  heir 
[q.  v.] ;  Teige,  and  Daniel,  created  first  Vis- 
count Clare  [q.  v.] — and  three  daughters. 
Honora,  first  wife  of  Thomas  Fitzmaurice, 
eighteenth  lord  Kerry  fq.  v.] ;  Margaret, 
second  wife  of  James  Butler,  second  lord 
Dunboyne:  and  Mary,  wife  of  Turlough  Roe 
MacMahon  of  Corcovaskin. 

[O'Donoghue's  Hist.  Memoir  of  the  O'Briens, 
Dublin,  1860;  Annals  of  the  Four  Masters,  ed. 
O'Donovan ;  Cal.  State  Papers,  Ireland,  ed. 
Hamilton ;  Cal.  Carew  MSS.  ;  Cal.  State  Papers, 
Foreign,  1570  ;  Irish  genealogies  in  Harl.  MS. 
1425 ;  Bagwell's  Ireland  under  the  Tudors.l 

R.  D. 

O'BRIEN,  DANIEL,  first  VISCOTJNT 
CLAEE  (1677  P-1663),  called  of  Moyarta  and 
Carrigaholt,  third  son  of  Conor  O'Brien,  third 
earl  of  Thomond  [q.  v.],  was  probably  born 
about  1577 ;  his  eldest  brother,  Donough, 


fourth  earl  of  Thomond,  and  his  nephew 
Barnabas,  sixth  earl  of  Thomond,  are  sepa- 
rately noticed.  In  1598  Daniel  was  left  to 
defend  his  brother's  estates  in  Clare  while 
Thomond  was  in  England ;  Tyrone's  victory 
at  the  Yellow  Ford  was  followed  by  the 
spread  of  the  rebellion  into  Clare,  and  Daniel's- 
second  brother,  Teige  O'Brien,  entered  into 
communication  with  the  rebels.  Daniel  was 
attacked  in  the  castle  of  Ibrickan,  on  which 
a  treacherous  assault  was  made  on  1  Feb. 
1599.  The  castle  surrendered,  and  O'Brien 
was  wounded  and  made  prisoner ;  after  a 
week's  confinement  at  Dunbeg  he  was  re- 
leased, and,  on  the  return  of  his  eldest  brother, 
Thomond,  the  rebels  were  defeated.  O'Brien 
subsequently  served  under  his  brother  during- 
the  remainder  of  the  war;  in  1600  Thomond 
took  him  to  Elizabeth's  court,  where  he  was 
well  received,  and  granted  various  lands  in 
consideration  of  his  wound  and  services.  He 
was  knighted,  not,  as  O'Donoghue  states,  by 
Elizabeth,  but  on  1  July  1604  at  Lexlipp. 

O'Brien  now  took  opposite  sides  to  Tho- 
mond, becoming  an  ardent  catholic,  while 
his  brother  was  a  protestant ;  in  1613,  being- 
then  member  for  co.  Clare,  he  played  a  pro- 
minent part  in  the  scenes  attending  the  elec- 
tion of  a  speaker  in  the  Irish  House  of 
Commons.  He  was  summoned  to  England 
to  answer  for  his  conduct,  and  was  charged 
with  having  forcibly  held  Everard  in  the 
chair;  Thomond  had  gone  to  England  as  agent 
for  the  protestants,  and  O'Brien  was  dis- 
missed with  a  reprimand.  In  November  1634 
he  was  again  elected  member  for  co.  Clare, 
not  in  conjunction  with,  but  in  place  of,  his 
nephew  Barnabas,  who  after  his  election  in 
June  had  gone  to  England  (  Official  Heturns, 
p.  608 ;  cf.  O'DoJTOGHiiE,  Hist.  Memoir  of  the 
O'Briens} ;  he  is  also  said  to  have  served  on 
the  committee  of  grievances.  His  conduct 
was  evidently  obnoxious  to  the  lord-deputy, 
for  an  information  was  laid  against  him  for 
his  action  in  parliament ;  this  subsequently 
afforded  the  House  of  Commons  an  opportu- 
nity of  vindicating  its  right  of  free  speech. 

In  1641  O'Brien  joined  the  confederation 
of  Kilkenny,  which  he  vigorously  supported 
during  the  war ;  he  was  a  member  of  the 
supreme  council,  and  took  an  active  share  in 
its  proceedings  (cf.  GILBERT,  History  of  the 
Confederation;  CARTE,  Ormonde, passim).  In 
November  1641  he  played  a  vigorous  part  in 
the  siege  of  Ballyally  Castle,  co.  Clare  (The 
Siege  of  Ballyaly  Castle,  Camden  Soc.  pp.  14, 
18).  In  1645  he  was  appointed  to  seize  his 
nephew's  castle  of  Buuratty,  a  scheme  which 
was  frustrated  by  its  surrender  to  the  parlia- 
mentarians (LODGE,  Desiderata  Curiosa  Hi- 
bernica,  ii.  190-3).  He  was  fighting  in  Clare 


O'Brien 


O'Brien 


in  1649,  but  in  1651  the  last  of  his  castles 
surrendered,  and  O'Brien  fled  abroad  to 
Charles  II.  He  returned  with  Charles  in 
1660,  and  was  mentioned  in  the  king's  de- 
claration as  one  of  the  objects  of  his  especial 
favour.  In  return  for  his  own  and  his  chil- 
dren's services,  he  was,  by  a  patent  dated 
11  July  1663,  created  Viscount  Clare.  He 
died  in  1663,  when  his  age  cannot  have  been 
much  less  than  eighty-five.  He  married 
Catherine,  third  daughter  of  Gerald  Fitz- 
gerald, sixteenth  earl  of  Desmond.  By  her 
he  had  four  sons — Donough,  who  predeceased 
him;  Connor,  his  successor  as  second  vis- 
count; Murrough,  and  Teige — and  seven 
daughters,  of  whom  Margaret  married  Hugh, 
only  son  and  heir  of  Philip  O'Reilly. 

DANIEL  O'BRIEN,  third  VISCOUNT  CLARE 
(d.  1690),  son  of  Connor,  second  viscount,  by 
his  wife  Honora,  daughter  of  Daniel  O'Brien 
of  Duagh,  co.  Kerry,  followed  Charles  II  into 
exile,  and  his  services  are  said  to  have  been 
mainly  instrumental  in  procuring  the  vis- 
county  for  his  grandfather.  He  was  lord- 
lieutenant  of  Clare  under  James  II,  member 
of  the  Irish  privy  council,  and  sat  among  the 
peers  in  1689.  He  raised,  in  James's  service, 
a  regiment  of  dragoons,  called  after  him  the 
Clare  dragoons,  and  two  regiments  of  infantry. 
He  died  in  1 690  ;  his  son  Charles,  fifth  vis- 
count, i  s  separately  not  iced  (cf  .  O'CALLAGHAN, 
Irish  Brigades,  pp.  26-27  ;  D' ALTON,  Irish 
Army  Lists  of  James  //,*p.  314 ;  Memoirs 
of  Ireland,  pp.  107,  121,  125). 

[Cal.  State  Papers,  Ireland ;  Carew  MSS. ; 
Morrin's  Cal.  Close  and  Patent  Rolls,  Elizabeth 
and  Charles  I,  passim;  Cox's  Hibernia  Anglicana, 
ii.  23,  &c.;  Stafford's  Pacata  Hibernia,  through- 
out;  O'Sullevan's  Hist.  Catholics  Hib.  pp.  243-5, 
&c. ;  Narratives  illustrative  of  the  Contests  in 
Ireland,  1641  and  1690  (Camden  Soc.),  passim; 
Lodge's  Peerage,  ed.  Archdall.ii.  32-3;  Gilbert's 
Hist,  of  the  Confederation  and  Contemporary 
Hist,  of  Affairs,  passim  ;  Carte's  Ormonde  ; 
Meehan's  Confederation  of  Kilkenny  ;  Bagwell's 
Ireland  under  the  Tudors.vol.  iii.;  O'Donoghue's 
Historical  Memoir  of  the  OBriens;  Addit.  MSS. 
20712  fol.  27,  20713,  20717;  Hist.  MSS.  Comm. 
13th  Eep.  App.  v.  243  ;  Collins's  Letters  and 
Memorials  of  State;  Metcalfe's  Book  of  Knights.] 

A.  F.  P. 

O'BRIEN,  DOMHNALL  (d.  1194),  king 
of  Munster,  son  of  Turlogh  O'Brien  (1009- 
1086)  [q.  v.],  first  appears  in  the  chronicles 
in  11 63,  when  he  slew  Maelruanaidh  O'Cear- 
bhaill,  a  chief  whose  territory  was  in  the 
present  county  of  Tipperary.  He  became 
king  of  Munster  in  1168.  He  put  out  the 
eyes  of  his  kinsman  Brian  O'Brien  of  Slieve 
Bloom  in  1169,  and  made  war  on  Roderic 
O'Connor  [q.  v.]  In  1174  he  met  the  Nor- 


mans in  battle  at  Thurles,  co.  Tipperary,  and 
defeated  them,  and  in  1175  strengthened  his 
power  at  home  by  putting  out  the  eyes  of 
Dermot  O'Brien  and  of  Mathghamhain 
O'Brien  at  Caislen  Ui  Chonaing,  now  Castle 
Connell,  co.  Limerick,  but  was  nevertheless 
driven  out  of  Thomond  by  Roderic  O'Connor 
in  the  same  year.  In  1176  he  drove  the 
English  out  of  Limerick,  and  in  1185,  when 
John  was  in  Ireland,  again  defeated  them, 
when  they  made  an  expedition  from  Ard- 
finnan  on  the  Suir  to  plunder  Thomond.  In 
1188  he  aided  the  Connaughtmen  under 
Conchobhar  Moenmhoighe  O'Connor  in  the 
defeat  of  John  de  Courcy  in  the  Curlew 
mountains.  In  1193  the  English  invaded 
Clare,  and  he  in  return  ravaged  their  pos- 
sessions in  Ossory.  Though  often  fighting 
against  the  English,  he  submitted  to  Henry  IE 
at  Cashel  in  1171,  and  part  of  his  territory 
was  granted  during  his  life  to  Philip  de 
Braose.  He  died  in  1194  ;  and  the  chro- 
niclers, who  elsewhere-  only  describe  his 
wars,  blindings,  and  plunderings,  comme- 
morate him  as  '  a  beaming  lamp  in  peace 
and  war,  and  the  brilliant  star  of  the  hos- 
pitality and  valour  of  the  Munstermen.'  His 
son  Donogh  Cairbrech  is  separately  noticed. 

[Annala  Rioghachta  Eireann,  ed.  O'Donovan, 
vols.  ii.  and  iii.  Dublin,  1851  ;  Annals  of  Ulster, 
ed.  MacCarthy,  vol.  ii.,  Annals  of  Loch  Ce,  ed. 
Hennessy,  vol.  i.,  Giraldus  Cambrensis,  vol.  v. 
(all  in  the  Rolls  Ser.)]  N.  M. 

O'BRIEN,  DON  AT  HENCHY  (1786- 
1857),  rear-admiral,  was  born  in  Ireland  in 
March  1785,  and  entered  the  navy  in  1796, 
on  board  the  Overyssel  of  C4  guns,  in  which, 
notwithstanding  his  extreme  youth,  he  was 
actively  employed  on  boat  service,  and  in 
1799  was  put  in  command  of  a  hoy  laden 
with  stone,  to  be  sunk  at  the  entrance  of 
Goree  harbour  so  as  to  block  in  three  of  the 
enemy's  line-of-battle  ships.  In  a  sudden 
squall  the  hoy  sank  in  the  wrong  place  at 
the  wrong  time,  and  O'Brien  and  his  few 
men  were  with  difficulty  rescued.  He  passed 
his  examination  in  February  1803,  and  a 
year  later  was  master's  mate  of  the  Hussar 
frigate,  when  she  was  wrecked  on  the  Saints 
(He  de  Sein),  8  Feb.  1804.  O'Brien  was  sent 
as  a  prisoner  of  war  to  Verdun,  where  he  re- 
mained for  three  years.  He  then  commenced 
a  series  of  attempts  to  escape.  Two  of  these 
ended  in  failure,  after  he  had  sustained  the 
most  severe  hardships  from  cold,  wet,  and 
hunger.  A  third  attempt  proved  successful, 
and  in  November  1808  he,  with  two  com- 
panions, reached  Trieste,  and  finally  got  on 
board  the  Amphion,  from  which  he  was  sent  to 
Malta.  There  he  joined  theOcean,the  flagship 
of  Lord  Collingwood.  The  latter  promoted 


O'Brien 


312 


O'Brien 


him,  29  March  1809,  to  be  lieutenant  of  the 
Warrior,  in  which  he  assisted  at  the  reduc- 
tion of  the  Ionian  Islands.  In  March  1810 
he  was  appointed  to  the  Amphion,  and  was 
still  in  her  in  the  action  oft'  Lissaon  13  March 
1811  [see  HOSTE,  SIR  WILLIAM].  In  No- 
vember 1811  he  followed  Iloste  to  the  Bac- 
chante, and,  after  repeatedly  distinguishing 
himself  in  the  arduous  and  dashing  service 
of  the  frigates  or  their  boats,  was  promoted 
to  be  commander,  22  Jan.  1813.  From  1818 
to  1821  he  commanded  the  Slaney  on  the 
South-American  station,  which  then  in- 
cluded the  West  Coast.  On  5  March  1821 
he  was  promoted  to  post  rank,  though  the 
news  did  not  reach  him  for  some  months. 
In  October  he  was  relieved  in  the  Slaney, 
and  returned  to  England.  He  had  no  further 
service,  but  was  promoted  to  be  rear-admiral 
on  the  reserved  list  on  8  March  1852.  He 
died  on  13  May  1857.  He  had  married  in 
1825  Hannah,  youngest  daughter  of  John 
Walmsley  of  Castle  Mere  in  Lancashire,  and 
by  her  had  a  large  family. 

In  1814  O'Brien  published  'The  Narrative 
of  Captain  O'Brien,  R.N.,  containing  an  Ac- 
count of  his  Shipwreck,  Captivity,  and  Escape 
from  France;'  and,  in  1839, '  My  Adventures 
during  the  late  War,  comprising  a  Narrative 
of  Shipwreck,  Captivity,  Escapes  from  French 
Prisons,  &c.,  from  1804  to  1827/2  vols.  8vo, 
with  an  engraved  portrait,  which  can  scarcely 
have  been  flattering.  In  conj  unction,  to  some 
extent,  with  the  similar  narratives  by  Edward 
Boys  (1785-1866)  [q.v.]  and  Henry  Ashworth 
(1785-1811)  [q.v.],it  formed  the  groundwork 
of  the  celebrated  episode  in  Marryat's '  Peter 
Simple.' 

[Marshall's  Eoy.  Nav.  Biogr.  viii.  (Suppl. 
pt.  iv.)  231  ;  O'Byrne's  Nav.  Biogr.  Diet. ;  Gent. 
Mag.  1857,  ii.  742.]  J.  K.  L. 

O'BRIEN,  DONOGH  CAIRBRECH  (d. 

1242),  king  of  Thomond, called  in  Irish  Donn- 
chadh  Cairbrech  Ua  Briain,  was  son  of  Domh- 
nall  O'Brien  [q.  v.],  king  of  Munster,  and  in 
1208  betrayed  his  brother  Murtogh  to  the 
English  of  Limerick,  and  succeeded  him  as 
king  of  Thomond.  In  1210he  ravaged  southern 
Connaught,  in  company  with  the  English  of 
Munster  under  Geoffrey  March,  and  again 
invaded  Connaught  in  1225.  In  1235  he  re- 
pelled with  partial  success  an  English  invasion 
of  Thomond.  He  married  Sadhbh,  daughter 
of  O'Cenneidigh,  who  died  in  1240,  and  he  had 
two  sons:  Turlogh,  who  died  in  1242,  the  same 
year  as  his  father ;  and  Conch  obhar  [q.v.l,  who 
succeeded  him  as  king  of  Thomond.  He  had 
one  daughter,  Finnguala,  who  married  Toir- 
dhealbhach  O'Connor,  and  died  in  1335.  He 
is  described  in  the  chronicles  at  his  death  as 


'  tur  ordain  agus  oireachais  deiscirt  Ereann ' 
('tower  of  splendour  and  supremacy  of  the 
south  of  Ireland').  He  showed  his  respect  for 
literature  by  protecting  Muiredhach  O'Daly 
[q.  v.],  and  his  regard  for  religion  by  founding 
a  Franciscan  abbey  near  Ennis,  co.  Clare. 

[Annala  Rioghachta  Eireann,  ed.  O'Donovan, 
vol.  iii.  Dublin,  1851 ;  Annals  of  Loch  Ce,  ed. 
Hennessy  (Rolls  Ser.) ;  Annals  of  Ulster,  ed. 
MacCart.hy  (Rolls  Ser.) ;  Lewis's  Topogr.  Diet, 
of  Ireland,  vol.  i.  London,  1850.]  N.  M. 

O'BRIEN,  DONOUGH  (rf.1064),  king  of 
Munster,  called  by  Irish  writers  Donnchadh 
MacBriain,  since  he  was  mac,  son,  and  not  ua, 
grandson,  of  Brian  (926-1014)  [q.  v.],  king 
of  Ireland,  from  whom  the  O'Briens  (in  Irish 
Ui  Briain)  take  their  patronymic.  His  mother 
was  Dubhchobhlaigh,  daughter  of  the  chief 
of  the  Sil  Muireadhaigh.  She  died  in  1008, 
and  he  was  her  youngest  son,  and  was  old 
enough  to  lead  a  foray  into  Desmond  in 
1013,  and  to  carry  off  captive  Domhnall,  son 
of  Dubhdabhoreann,  ancestor  of  the  O'Do- 
noghues.  In  1019  he  lost  the  upper  part  of 
his  right  hand  in  a  single  combat,  and  the 
same  sword-cut  also  wounded  his  head. 
In  1026  he  obtained  hostages  in  acknow- 
ledgment of  supremacy  from  Meath,  Ossory, 
Leinster,  and  the  Danes  of  the  seaports 
(Annals  of  Clonmacnoise),  but  in  1027  he 
was  defeated  in  Ossory.  He  burnt  Ferns, 
co.  Wexford,  in  1041,  and  in  1044  some  of 
his  men  plundered  Clonmacnoise.  He  made 
reparation  by  giving  a  grant  of  freedom  from 
all  dues  to  that  church  for  ever  and  an  im- 
mediate gift  of  forty  cows.  In  1054  (Annals 
of  Inisf alien)  he  plundered  Meath  and  the 
country  north  of  Dublin  known  as  Fingall, 
and  in  1057  made  war  on  his  kinsman 
Maelruanaidh  O'Fogarta  in  Eliogarty,  co. 
Tipperary,  and  killed  him.  Dermot  Mac 
Maelnambo,  king  of  Ui  Ceinnseallaigh  in 
Leinster,  attacked  him  at  Mount  Grud  in  the 
glen  of  Aherlagh,  co.  Tipperary,  routed  his 
army,  and  took  much  plunder  from  him.  In 
1064  he  was  deposed,  went  on  pilgrimage  to 
Rome,  and  there  died  in  the  same  year  in 
the  monastery  of  St.  Stephen. 

[Annala  Rioghachta  Eireann,  ed.  O'Donovan, 
vol.  ii.,  Dublin,  1851,  and  the  notes  contain 
extracts  from  the  Annals  of  Clonmacnoise  and 
of  Inisfallen ;  Annals  of  Ulster,  vol.  ii.  ed. 
MacCarthy  (Rolls  Ser.) ;  OTlaherty's  Ogygia, 
London,  1685.]  N.  M. 

O'BRIEN,  DONOUGH,  BARON  OF 
IBRICKAN  and  fourth  EARL  OF  THOMOND  (d. 
1624),  called  the  'great'  earl  of  Thomond, 
was  the  eldest  son  of  Conor  O'Brien,  third 
earl  of  Thomond  [q.  v.],  and  his  second  wife, 
Una,  daughter  of  Turlough  Mac-i-Brien-Ara. 


O'Brien 


313 


O'Brien 


Donough  was  brought  upat  Elizabeth'scourt. 
There  he  was  residing  in  1577,  when  he  was 
mentioned  as  Baron  of  Ibrickan  in  the  new 
patent  granted  on  7  Oct.  to  his  father.    On 
his  father's  death  in  1581  he  succeeded  him  as 
fourth  earl  of  Thomond ;  by  1582  he  had  re- 
turned to  Ireland,  and,  though  some  suspicion 
seems  to  have  been  entertained  of  his  loyalty, 
he  was  assiduous  in  his  attendance  upon  the  | 
lord-deputy  in  1583  and  1584.  Hismainobject  i 
was  to  obtain  an  acknowledgment  that  the  \ 
county  of  Clare,  where  his  possessions  were 
situated,  was  part  of  Munster,  and  thus  to  | 
free  it  from  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Connaught 
government,  under  which  it  had  been  placed  | 
previous  to  his  father's  death  (BAGWELL,  Ire-  , 
land  under  the  Tudors,  iii.  127)  ;  but  it  was  ; 
many  years  before  he  succeeded.     In  1584  ! 
he  was  one  of  the  commissioners  who  esta-  j 
blished  the  agreement  that  tanistry  and  the  i 
law  of  partible  succession  should  be  abolished 
in  Connaught,  and  a  tax  of  ten  shillings  a 
quarter  be  paid  on  land.     Next  year  he  at-  ! 
tended  the  parliament  held  at  Dublin  in  i 
April.     In  1589  he  was  active  in  subduing 
the  rebellious  Irishry  in  the  mountains;  and 
when  Tyrone's  rebellion  broke  out  in  1595,  j 
he  played  a  considerable  part  in  its  suppres- 
sion.  In  command  of  a  large  force,  he  passed 
'the  Erne  in  July  and  invaded  O'Donnell's 
country,  but  retreated  in  August  when  a 
truce  was  signed.     In  the  following  Sep- 
tember he  was   detached   by  Sir  William 
Russell  [q.v.],  with  five  companies  of  foot  j 
and  145  horse,  for  the  defence  of  Newry. 
In  1597  he  served  in  Lord  Burgh's  campaign, 
but  early  next  year  proceeded  to  England, 
arriving  in  London  on  19  Jan.  1598  ;  there 
he  remained  during  the  greater  part  of  the 
year,  and  produced  a  favourable  impression. 
Meanwhile  Tyrone's  victory  at  the  Yellow 
Ford  was  followed  by  the  spread  of  disaffec- 
tion into  Thomond's  country.  Teige  O'Brien, 
Thomond's  next  brother,  entered  into  com- 
munication with  Tyrone's  son,  and  joined 
the   rebels.      In   1599    O'Donnell   invaded 
Clare,  ravaging  the  country,  capturing  most 
of  the   castles,  and  making  a  prisoner  of 
Thomond's  youngest  brother,  Daniel  O'Brien 
[q.  v.],  afterwards  first  Viscount  Clare,  who 
had  been  left  to  defend  it.  Thomond  returned 
from  England,   and    after   spending    three 
months  with  his  kinsman,  the  Earl  of  <  )r- 
monde,  in  collecting  forces,  he  invaded  Clare 
to    revenge  his  brother's  imprisonment  and 
recoveries  possessions.  He  procured  ordnance 
from  Limerick,  and  laid  siege  to  such  castles 
I  is  resisted,  capturing  them  after  a  few  days' 
fighting ;  at  Dunbeg,  which  surrendered  im- 
mediately, he  hanged  the  garrison  in  couples 
on  trees.      The   invaders  were  completely 


driven  out  of  Clare  and  the  neighbouring 
country,  and  the  loyalists  had  their  strong- 
holds restored  to  them.  During  the  rest  of 
1599  Thomond  accompanied  Essex  on  his 
progress  through  Munster,  but  left  him  at 
Dungarvan  and  returned  to  Limerick,  being 
appointed  governor  of  Clare  on  15  Aug.,  and 
made  a  member  of  the  privy  council  on 
22  Sept. 

During  1600  Thomond  was  constantly 
occupied  in  the  war.  In  April  he  was  with 
Sir  George  Carew,  and  narrowly  escaped 
capture  with  the  Earl  of  Ormonde;  his 
prompt  and  vigorous  action  saved  Carew's 
life  and  enabled  them  both  to  cut  their  way 
through  thoir  enemies,  though  Thomond  was 
wounded  (STAFFORD,  Pacnta  Hibernia).  He 
was  present  at  an  encounter  with  Florence 
MacCarthy  Reagh  [q.  v.],  and  assisted  at  his 
submission  in  May.  In  June  he  was  com- 
manding in  Clare  and  opposing  O'Donnell's 
raids.  He  entertained  the  lord-deputy  at 
Bunratty  and  marched  out  to  oppose  Tyrone's 
progress  southwards,  but  no  battle  was 
fought,  and  Tyrone  returned  without  having 
even  seen  an  enemy.  Next  year,  after  hold- 
ing an  assize  at  Limerick  in  February,  at 
which  sixteen  men  were  hanged,  Thomond 
again  went  to  England,  probably  with  the 
object  of  obtaining  the  governorship  of  Con- 
naught  and  of  securing  the  union  of  Clare 
with  Munster.  He  delayed  there  longer 
than  was  desired,  and  his  return  with  rein- 
forcements was  eagerly  looked  forward  to  by 
the  besiegers  at  Kinsale.  At  length  he  set 
out  by  Bristol,  and,  landing  at  Castlehaven 
on  11  Nov.  1601, proceeded  to  Kinsale,  where 
he  took  a  prominent  part  in  the  siege.  After 
the  surrender  of  K  insale  he  proceeded  through 
Munster,  established  himself  in  Bere  Island, 
and  was  in  command  at  the  siege  of  Dun- 
boy,  and  hanged  fifty-eight  of  the  survivors. 
Till  June  1602  he  was  constantly  with 
the  army.  He  then  again  visited  England, 
and,  as  a  recompense  for  his  services,  his  re- 
|  quest  for  the  transfer  of  Clare  was  granted, 
though  the  lord-deputy  and  privy  council 
of  Ireland  were  opposed  to  the  measure. 
I  He  returned  in  October.  As  a  further  re- 
|  ward  the  queen  ordered  that  his  name  should 
l  be  always  placed  next  to  those  of  the  lord- 
deputy  and  chief-justice  in  commissions  of 
oyer  and  terminer  and  gaol  delivery.  On 
30  July  1604  he  was  appointed  constable 
of  Carlow,  and  on  6  May  1005  he  became 
i  president  of  Munster.  In  1613  he  strongly 
upheld  the  protestant  party  in  opposition  to 
the  recusants  in  the  disputes  about  the 
speaker  of  the  Irish  House  of  Commons; 
and  on  17  May  1(519  he  was  reappointed 
governor  of  Clare.  He  became  one  of  the 


O'Brien 


314 


O'Brien 


sureties  for  Florence  MacCarthyReagh,  who 
had  been  imprisoned  since  his  surrender  in 
1600,  and  who  dedicated  to  Thomond  his 
work  on  the  antiquity  and  history  of  Ire- 
land. He  died  on  5  Sept.  1624,  and  was 
buried  in  Limerick  Cathedral,  where  a  fine 
monument,  with  an  inscription,  was  erected 
to  his  memory. 

Thomond  was  one  of  the  most  influential 
and  vigorous  of  the   Irish  loyalists ;   and, 
though  his  devotion  and  motives  were  some- 
times suspected,  Carew  wrote  that  '  his  ser- 
vices hath  proceeded  out  of  a  true  nobleness 
of  mind  and  from  no  great  encouragement 
received  '  from  the  court.    He  married,  first, 
Ellen,  daughter  of  Maurice  Roche,  viscount  ; 
Fermoy,  who  died  in  1597 ;  by  her  he  had 
one  daughter,  married  to  Cormac,  son  and 
heir  of  Lord  Muskerry.     His  second  wife, 
who  died  on  12  Jan.  1617,  was  Elizabeth,  ! 
fourth  daughter  of  Gerald,  eleventh  earl  of 
Kildare ;  by  her  he  had  Henry,  fifth  earl, 
and  Barnabas,  sixth  earl  of  Thomond,  who 
is   separately  noticed.      Thomond's  second 
brother,    Teige,   was    long    imprisoned    in 
Limerick  on  account  of  his  rebellion,  but  I 
was  released  on  protest  ing  his  loyalty;  after  ! 
another  imprisonment  he  joined  in  O'Don-  i 
nell's  second  invasion  of  Clare  in  1599,  and  \ 
was  killed  during  Thomond's  pursuit  of  the  j 
rebels.     Daniel,  the  third  brother,  is  sepa- 
rately noticed. 

[Cal.  State  Papers,  Ireland,  passim;  Carew 
MSS.  passim ;  Morrin's  Cal.  of  Close  and  Patent 
Rolls  ;  Annals  of  the  Four  Masters,  vols.  v.  and 
vi. ;  Stafford's Pacata,  Hibernia, throughout; Cox's 
Hibernia  Anglicana;  Chamberlain's  Letters 
(Camden  Soc.)  ;  Lodge's  Peerage,  ed.  Archdall, 
ii.  35,  &c. ;  Brady's  Records  of  Cork,  Cloyne, 
and  Ross ;  Gibson's  Hist,  of  Cork ;  Lenihan's 
Limerick,  passim ;  MacCarthy's  Life  and  Letters 
of  Florence  MacCarthyReagh;  Camden's  Annals ; 
O'Donoghue's  Memoirs  of  the  O'Briens ;  Hardi- 
man's  Hist,  of  Gal  way,  p.  91  ;  Collins's  Letters 
and  Memorials ;  Bagwell's  Ireland  under  the 
Tudors,  iii. ;  Gardiner's  Hist,  of  England,  i.  379  ; 
Notes  and  Queries,  1st  ser.  ix.  125, 328,  xii.  307.] 

A.  F.  P. 

O'BRIEN,  EDWARD  (1808-1840),  au- 
thor, third  son  of  Sir  Edward  O'Brien,  bart., 
of  Dromoland,  co.  Clare,  and  younger  brother 
of  William  Smith  O'Brien  [q.  v.],  was  born  in 
1808.  He  was  educated  at  Trinity  College, 
Cambridge,  whence  he  graduated  B.A.  in 
1829,  and  M.A.  in  1832;  and  he  was  subse- 
quently called  to  the  Irish  bar.  He  died  at 
Whitkirk  vicarage,  Yorkshire,  the  residence 
of  his  brother-in-law,  the  Rev.  A.  Martineau, 
on  19  May  1840,  his  early  death  being  due  to 
a  fever  caught  in  consequence  of  exertions  on 
behalf  of  various  Dublin  charities.  His  post- 
humous work,  described  by  those  who  knew 


O'Brien  as  a  portrait  of  himself,  depicts  a 
lawyer  of  ideal  holiness.  It  was  entitled 
'  The  Lawyer :  his  Character  and  Rule  of 
Holy  Life,  after  the  manner  of  George 
Herbert's  Country  Parson'  (London,  Picker- 
ing, 1842,  8vo;  Philadelphia,  1843).  The 
author  writes  without  effort  in  the  language 
of  Herbert  and  of  Hooker,  and  with  a  sim- 
plicity of  purpose  no  less  characteristic  of  a 
bygone  age.  Ignoring  to  a  large  extent  any 
notion  of  a  conflict  between  the  worldly 
practice  of  a  modern  lawyer  and  the  altru- 
istic sentiments  of  the  Xew  Testament,  the 
writer  lingers  over  his  conception  of  the 
lawyer  frequenting  the  temple  of  God,  medi- 
tating, 'like  Isaac  of  old,  upon  divine  things, 
or  communing  with  a  friend  as  he  walks, 
after  the  manner  of  the  disciples  journeying 
to  Emmaus,  seeking  out  the  poor  and  assist- 
ing the  minister  in  catechising  the  poor 
children  of  his  parish.'  The  treatise  con- 
cludes with  a  beautifully  written  '  Lawyer's 
Prayer.'  The  text,  no  less  than  the  notes, 
evidences  wide  reading  and  a  pure  taste. 
The  book  was  highly  eulogised  by  Sir  Aubrey 
de  Vere,  and  there  is  an  able  appreciation  of 
it  in  the  'Dublin  Universitv  Magazine ' (xxi. 
42-54). 

[Gent.  Mag.  1840,  pt.  ii.  p.  222;  Graduati 
Cantabr. ;  Allibone's  Diet,  of  English  Literature ; 
introduction  to  The  Lawyer.]  T.  S. 

O'BRIEN,  HENRY  (1808-1835),  anti- 
quary, born  in  1808,  was  a  native  of  co. 
Kerry.  He  was  educated  at  Trinity  College, 
Dublin,  where  he  graduated  B.A.  in  1831. 
In  1832  he  wrote  a  dissertation  on  the 
'Round  Towers  of  Ireland'  for  the  prize 
offered  by  the  Royal  Irish  Academy.  He 
did  not  gain  the  prize,  but  was  awarded  a 
small  gratuity.  In  1833  he  published  a 
translation  of  Villanueva's  'Phoenician  Ire- 
land '  (8vo),  with  an  introduction  and  notes, 
which  were  ridiculed  as  fanciful  in  the '  Gen- 
tleman's Magazine,'  1833  (pt.  ii.  pp.  340  f.), 
In  1834  he  published  'The  Round  Towers 
of  Ireland ;  or  the  Mysteries  of  Freemasonry, 
of  Sabaism,  and  of  Budhism  [sic]  for  the 
first  time  Unveiled,'  London,  8vo.  The  ob- 
ject of  this  work  (which  was  the  prize  essay 
enlarged)  was  to  show  that  the  round  towers 
are  Buddhistic  remains.  The  book  was  con- 
demned as  wild  and  extravagant  in  the 
'  Gentleman's  Magazine'  for  March  1834  (p. 
299 ;  cf.  ib.  October,  pp.  365  f.),  and  in  the 
'  Edinburgh  Review  '  for  April  1834  (vol.  lix. 
pp.  146  ff.)  The  Edinburgh  reviewer  was  Tom 
Moore  (Moons,  Diary,  vii.  31).  O'Brien,  in 
a  correspondence,  accused  Moore  of  appro- 
priating his  discoveries  in  his  '  History  of 
Ireland.'  Father  Prout,  a  warm  friend  and 


O'Brien 


315 


O'Brien 


reckless  admirer  of  O'Brien's  ingenuity,  also 
retaliated  on  Moore  in  his  '  Reliques.' 

O'Brien  was  at  one  time  tutor  in  the 
family  of  the  master  of  the  rolls,  and  was 
for  some  years  a  regular  reader  at  the  British 
Museum.  He  was  a  man  of  excitable  tem- 
perament, who  imagined  himself  the  author 
of  profound  discoveries.  He  talked  of  com- 
piling in  six  months  a  dictionary  of  Celtic, 
a  subject  of  which  he  then  knew  nothing. 
He  announced,  but  never  published,  'The 
Pyramids  of  Egypt  for  the  first  time  un- 
veiled.' He  died  on  28  June  1835,  aged  27, 
being  found  dead  in  his  bed  in  the  house  of 
a  friend,  The  Hermitage,  at  Ilanwell,  Mid- 
dlesex. He  was  buried  in  Ilanwell  church- 
yard. A  fanciful  sketch  of  him  lying  on 
his  death-bed  (by  Maclise)  appears  in  Father 
Prout's  '  Reliques.' 

[Gent.  Mag.  1835  pt.  ii.  p.  553;  Father 
Prout's  Eeliques,  1859.]  W.  W. 

O'BRIEN",  JAMES,  third  MARQUIS  OF 
THOMOND  (1769-1855),  admiral,born  in  1769, 
Avas  second  son  of  Edward  O'Brien,  a  captain 
in  the  army,  who  died  in  March  1801.  His 
mother  was  Mary  Carrick,and  his  uncle,  Mur- 
rough  O'Brien,  was  first  Marquis  of  Thomond. 
As  a  captain's  servant,  he  entered  the  navy 
on  17  April  1783  on  board  the  Hebe,  then 
stationed  in  the  Channel.  From  1786  to  1789 
he  was  a  midshipman  in  the  Pegasus  and 
Andromeda  frigates,  both  commanded  by 
the  Duke  of  Clarence,  under  whom  he  also 
served  with  the  Channel  fleet  in  the  Valiant 
in  1790.  As  a  lieutenant  he  joined,  in  suc- 
cession, on  the  home  station,  the  London  (98), 
the  Artois  (38),  and  the  Brunswick  (74). 
In  the  latter  ship  he  was  present  in  Corn- 
wallis's  celebrated  retreat,  16  and  17  June 
1795.  On  5  Dec.  1796  he  was  promoted  to 
the  command  of  the  Childers  sloop.  From 
1800  to  1804  he  commanded  the  Emerald 
on  the  West  India  station,  where,  on  24  June 
1803,  he  made  a  prize  of  the  L'Enfant  Pro- 
digue,  a  French  national  schooner  of  16  guns, 
and  in  the  spring  of  1804  distinguished  him- 
self in  forwarding  the  supplies  at  the  capture 
of  Surinam,  as  well  as  by  defeating  a  projected 
expedition  by  the  enemy  against  Antigua. 
In  February  1808  he  was  advanced  to  the 
same  precedency  as  if  his  father  had  suc- 
ceeded to  the  marquisate  of  Thomond,  and 
was  henceforth  known  as  Lord  James  O'Brien . 
From  September  1813  till  November  1815 
he  served  in  the  Channel  in  the  Warspite 
(74).  He  became  a  rear-admiral  in  1825,  a 
vice-admiral  1837,  a  full  admiral  13  May 
1847,  and  an  admiral  of  the  red  in  1853. 
On  the  accession  of  William  IV,  he  was 
made  a  lord  of  the  bedchamber,  and  nomi- 


nated G.C.H.  on  13  May  1831.  He  suc- 
ceeded his  brother,  William  O'Brien,  on 
21  Aug.  1846  as  the  third  Marquis  of  Tho- 
mond. He  died  at  his  residence,  near  Bath, 
on  3  July  1855,  and  was  buried  in  the  cata- 
combs of  St.  Saviour's  Church,  Walcot,  Bath, 
on  10  July.  He  married,  first,  on  25  Nov. 
1800,  Eliza  Bridgman,  second  daughter  of 
James  Willyams  of  Carnanton,  Cornwall 
(she  died  on  14  Feb.  1802);  secondly,  in 
1806,  while  in  the  West  Indies,  Jane,  daugh- 
ter of  Thomas  Ottley,  and  widow  of  Valen- 
tine Home  Horsford  of  Antigua  (she  died 
on  8  Sept.  1843) ;  and,  thirdly,  on  5  Jan. 
1847,  at  Bath,  Anne,  sister  of  Sir  C.  W. 
Flint,  and  widow  of  Rear-admiral  Fane. 
The  marquis  leaving  no  issue,  the  marquisate 
of  Thomond  and  the  earldom  of  Inchiquin 
became  extinct ;  but  the  barony  of  Inchi- 
quin devolved  to  the  heir  male,  Sir  Lucius 
O'Brien,  bart..  who  became  thirteenth  Baron 
Inchiquin  on  3  July  1855. 

[Gent.  Mag.  1855,  pt.  ii.  p.  193  ;  Hardwicke's 
Annual  Biography,  1856,  pp.  38-9;  Cokayne's 
Complete  Peerage,  1892,  iv.  317;  Burke's  Dor- 
mant and  Extinct  Peerages,  1866,  p.  407; 
O'Byrne's  Naval  Biogr.  Diet.  1849,  p.  1171.] 

G.  C.  B. 

O'BRIEN,  JAMES  TBRONTERRE] 
(1805-1864),  chartist,  was  born  in  1805. 
His  father,  who  was  'an  extensive  wine 
and  spirit  merchant,  as  well  as  a  tobacco 
manufacturer,  in  the  county  of  Longford' 
(GAMMAGE),  failed  in  business  during  James's 
early  boyhood,  and  he  was  educated  at  the 
Edgeworthstown  school  which  had  been  pro- 
moted by  Richard  Lovell  Edgeworth  [q.  v.] 
He  was,  however,  able  to  proceed  to  Dublin 
University,  where  he  graduated  B. A.  in  1829. 
He  then  went  to  London,  and  entered  as  a 
law  student  at  Gray's  Inn.  Here  he  almost 
at  once  became  acquainted  with  Henry 
Hunt  [q.  v.]  and  William  Cobbett  [q.  v.l 
In  1831  Henry  Hetherington  [q.  v.]  started 
the  unstamped  'Poor  Man's  Guardian,' and 
O'Brien  became  practically  the  real,  though 
Hetherington  was  the  nominal,  editor.  He 
also  wrote  in  Hetherington's  '  Poor  Man's 
Conservative.'  O'Brien  used  to  sign  his 
articles  '  Bronterre,'  and  afterwards  called 
himself  James  Bronterre  O'Brien.  He  seems 
at  first  to  have  adopted  many  of  Cobbett's 
opinions  on  the  national  debt,  currency,  &c., 
but  afterwards  to  have  steadily  developed 
ideas  of  his  own.  He  read  widely  in  the 
literature  of  the  French  revolution,  publish- 
ing in  1836  a  translation,  with  notes,  of 
Buonarotti's  'History  of  Babeuf's  Con- 
spiracy,' and  in  1837  the  first  volume  of  a 
eulogistic  '  Life  of  Robespierre.'  By  this  time 
his  own  opinions  were  strongly  revolutionary 


O'Brien 


316 


O'Brien 


and  socialistic,  although  he  never  adopted 
the  name  of  socialist.  He  started  in  1837 
'  Bronterre's  National  Reformer,'  which  soon 
died,  and  in  1838  'The  Operative,'  which 
came  to  an  end  in  July  1839. 

From  the  beginning  of  the  chartist  move- 
ment O'Brien  was  one  of  the  most  prominent 
figures  in  it.  He  was  a  delegate  to  the  meet- 
ing in  Palace  Yard  (17  Sept.  1838)  which 
opened  the  campaign  in  London.  He  was 
the  best-informed  man  among  the  chartists  at 
that  time,  and  was  generally  known,  after  a 
nickname  given  by  Feargus  O'Connor  [q.v.],  as 
the  '  schoolmaster.'  When  the  '  chartist  con- 
vention '  met  in  the  spring  of  1839,  he  repre- 
sented the  chartists  of  Manchester  and  other 
places.  In  the  earlier  months  of  the  con- 
vention he  constantly  advocated  '  physical 
force.'  On  8  May  1839,  for  instance,  in  pre- 
senting a  draft  '  Address  to  the  People,'  he 
stated  that  '  it  was  his  intention  to  tell  the 
people  to  arm  without  saying  so  in  so  many 
words.'  Throughout  1839  he  contributed  vio- 
lent articles  which  he  signed  to  the  'Northern 
Star.'  But  as  the  convention  went  on,  and 
particularly  after  a  tour  as  '  missionary  '  in 
various  parts  of  the  country,  he  gave  more 
moderate  advice.  On  16  July  1839  he  carried 
in  the  convention  a  resolution  against  the 
proposed  '  sacred  month,'  or  general  strike, 
and  it  was  on  his  motion  that  the  convention 
dissolved  itself  (6  Sept.  1839).  In  conse- 
quence of  the  'Newport  rising'  (November 
1839),  a  number  of  trials  for  sedition  took  place 
in  the  spring  of  1840.  O'Brien  was  acquitted 
(February  1840)  at  Newcastle  on  a  charge 
of  conspiracy,  but  found  guilty  at  Liverpool 
(April  1840)  of  seditious  speaking.  He  was 
sentenced  to  eighteen  months'  imprisonment. 
Towards  the  end  of  his  imprisonment  both 
he  and  Feargus  O'Connor  found  means  of 
communicating  with  the  newspapers,  and 
carried  on  a  controversy  as  to  the  chartist 
policy  at  the  general  election,  O'Connor  ad- 
vocating and  O'Brien  condemning  an  active 
alliance  with  the  tory  party. 

Released  in  September  1841,  O'Brien 
shortly  afterwards  began  a  series  of  bitter 
personal  quarrels  with  Feargus  O'Connor, 
whom  he  afterwards  called  the  '  Dictator,' 
and  who  called  him  the  '  Starved  Viper.' 
During  the  chartist  struggle  against  the 
anti-corn  law  league  he  argued  that  free- 
trade  would  lower  prices,  and  so  increase 
the  proportion  which  the  landlords,  holders 
of  consols,  &c.,  were  able  to  appropriate  from 
the  national  product.  These  views  he  ex- 
pounded at  enormous  length  in  the  '  British 
Statesman,'  of  which  he  was  editor  (June- 
December  1842).  He  opposed  Feargus 
O'Connor's  land  scheme  from  the  beginning. 


In  1845  he  was  editor  of  the  '  National  Re- 
former,' in  which  he  advocated  '  symbolic 
money '  and  '  banks  of  credit  accessible  to  all 
classes  '  (GAMMAGE,  p.  280). 

AVhen  the  chartist  convention  met  on 
4  April  1848,  O'Brien  was  one  of  the  dele- 
gates, and  spoke  strongly  against  physical 
force.  He  was,  however,  completely  out  of 
touch  with  the  other  delegates,  and  on 
9  April  withdrew. 

After   the  fiasco   of    chartism    in    1848, 

'  O'Brien  was  for  a  short  time  editor  of 
'Reynolds's Newspaper,' but  mainly  lived  by 

!  lecturing  at  the  John  Street  Institute,  and 
at  the  Eclectic  Institute,  Denmark  Street, 

;  Soho,  on  his  '  scheme  of  social  reform,'  i.e. 
land  nationalisation,  the  payment  of  the  na- 

!  tional  debt  by  the  owners  of  property,  state 
industrial  loans,  and  symbolic  currency. 
Between  1856  and  1859  he  published  odes 
to  Lord  Palmerston  and  Napoleon  Bona- 
parte, and  an  elegy  on  Robespierre.  He  was 
for  the  latter  part  of  his  life  extremely  poor, 
and  his  books  were  on  several  occasions  seized 
for  debt.  In  February  1862  Charles  Brad- 
laugh  lectured  for  the  '  Bronterre  O'Brien 

i  Testimonial  Fund.' 

He  died  on  23  Dec.  1864.  In  1885  a  few 
of  his  disciples  published  a  series  of  his  news- 
paper articles  in  book  form,  under  the  title 

;  of  The  Rise,  Progress,  and  Phases  of  Human 

j  Slavery.' 

Bronterre  O'Brien  was  the  only  prominent 
chartist  who  showed  himself  in  any  way  an 
original  thinker.  But  his  literary  work, 
though  sometimes  eloquent,  was  always 
rambling  and  inaccurate,  and  he  was  a 
rancorous  and  impracticable  politician.  He 
had,  however,  a  great  power  of  attracting 
and  preserving  the  affection  of  his  personal 
followers,  several  of  whom,  though  poor 
themselves,  used  to  contribute  regularly  to 
his  support  in  his  later  years.  He  was  mar- 
ried, and  had  four  children. 

[Gammage's  Hist,  of  Chartism,  1854 ;  North- 
ern Star,  1837-48;  Charter,  1839;  Place  MSS. 
in  Brit.  Mus.]  G.  TV. 

O'BRIEN,  JAMES  THOMAS  (1792- 
1874),  bishop  of  Ossory,  Ferns,  and  Leigh- 
lin,  born  at  New  Ross,  co.  Westmeath,  in 
September  1792,  was  son  of  Michael  Burke 
O'Brien,  a  corporation  officer,  with  the  title 
of  deputy  sovereign  of  New  Ross,  who  died 
in  1826.  His  mother,  Dorothy,  was  daughter 
of  Thomas  Kough.  The  father,  who  came 
originally  from  Clare,wasdescended,  although 
himself  a  protestant,  from  a  Roman  catholic 
branch  of  the  great  O'Brien  family,  which 
had  been  deprived  of  its  property  by  the 
penal  laws ;  he  was  well  educated,  but  more 


O'Brien 


317 


O'Brien 


convivial  than  provident.  The  son  was  edu- 
cated at  the  endowed  school  of  New  Ross, 
and  entered  Trinity  College,  Dublin,  as  a 
pensioner  in  November  1810.  A  portion  of 
the  cost  of  his  education  was  defrayed  by  the 
borough  of  New  Ross ;  in  September  18:26  he 
refunded  the  amount — 116/. — and  was  voted 
the  freedom  of  the  borough  and  a  gold  box. 
O'Brien  obtained  a  scholarship  at  Trinity 
College  in  1813,  graduated  B.A.,  and  took  the 
gold  medal  in  1815.  He  was  especially  dis- 
tinguished in  mathematics,  in  1820  obtained 
a  fellowship,  and,  taking  holy  orders,  was 
created  D.D.  in  1830.  He  was  one  of  the  six 
Dublin  University  preachers  from  1828  till 
1842,  and  became  Archbishop  King's  lecturer 
in  1833,  when  the  divinity  school  in  the 
university  was  thoroughly  reorganised. 

O'Brien  maintained  through  life  strongly 
evangelical  views.  He  was  Avell  read  in  the 
works  of  the  reformers  and  their  opponents, 
and  was  familiar  with  Bishop  Butler's  writ- 
ings. In  1829  and  1830  he  made  the  re- 
formation doctrine  of  justification  by  faith 
the  subject  of  his  university  sermons,  which, 
when  published  in  1833,  became  a  standard 
work.  As  Archbishop  King's  lecturer,  he 
lectured  on '  The  Evidences  of  Religion,  with 
a  special  reference  to  Sceptical  and  Infidel 
Attempts  to  invalidate  them,  and  the  Socinian 
Controversy.'  Resigning  his  fellowship  in 
1836,  he  became  vicar  of  Clonderhorka,  Ra- 
phoe,  but  removed  in  1837  to  the  vicarage  of 
Arboe,  Armagh,  which  he  held  till  1841. 
On  9  Nov.  1841  he  was  nominated  dean  of 
Cork,  and  instituted  on  5  Jan.  1842.  On 
9  March  in  the  same  year  he  was  raised  by 
Sir  Robert  Peel  to  the  bishopric  of  the  united 
dioceses  of  Ossory,  Ferns,  and  Leighlin. 

O'Brien  was  a  daily  worshipper  in  his 
cathedral,  in  which  he  restored  the  use  of 
the  offertory,  but  seldom  preached  or  spoke 
except  at  the  meetings  of  the  church  educa- 
tion society,  of  which  he  was  an  active  cham- 
pion. Naturally  opposed  to  the  Oxford  move- 
ment, he  did  what  he  could  to  stem  its  ad- 
vance in  sermons  and  writings  between  1840 
and  1850.  In  1850  appeared  his  'Tracta- 
rianism:  its  present  State,  and  the  only  Safe- 
guard against  it .'  To  the  disestablishment  of 
the  Irish  church  O'Brien  opposed  a  well-sus- 
tained resistance,  and  Archbishop  Trench 
acknowledged  much  aid  from  his  advice  in 
the  course  of  the  struggle.  When  disesta- 
blishment came,  <  VBrien  helped  to  reorganise 
the  church,  and  moderated  the  zeal  of  his 
evangelical  friends  in  their  efforts  to  revise 
the  prayer-book  in  accordance  with  their  own 
predilections.  O'Brien  died  at  49  Thurloe 
Square,  London,  12  Dec.  1874,  and  was  buried 
in  the  churchyard  of  St.  Canice's  Cathedral, 


Kilkenny.  On  19  Dec.  Archbishop  Trench 
described  him,  when  addressing  the  clergy  of 
the  diocese  assembled  to  elect  a  successor  in 
the  see,  as  a  fit  representative  of  the  ideal 
dvf]p  TfTpiiyuvos,  i.e.  the  philosopher's  four- 
square man,  able  to  resist  attack  from  what- 
ever quarter  made.  His  personal  appearance 
was  dignified  and  imposing. 

He  married  in  1836  Ellen,  second  daughter 
of  Edward  Pennefather,  lord  chief  justice  of 
Ireland,  by  whom  he  had  seven  sous  and  six 
daughters. 

O'Brien's  chief  work, '  An  Attempt  to  ex- 
plain the  Doctrine  of  Justification  by  Faith 
only,  in  Ten  Sermons,'  1833,  was  long  popu- 
lar ;  a  second  edition  appeared  in  1862,  and 
a  third  in  the  following  year.  His  primary 
and  second  charges,  1842  and  1845,  published 
in  London,  and  directed  against  ritualism, 
each  went  to  two  or  three  editions,  and  'the 
substance  of  the  second  was  again  reproduced 
in  1847.  In  1833  he  attacked  Edward 
Irving's  views  in  '  Two  Sermons  on  the 
Human  Nature  of  our  Blessed  Lord,'  which 
were  published  in  1873  with  a  'Plea  from  the 
Bible  for  the  Doctrine  of  Baptismal  Regenera- 
tion.' 

Others  of  his  works  were :  1 .  '  Sermons 
upon  the  Nature  and  Effects  of  Faith,'  1833  ; 
5th  ed.  1891.  2.  'The  Expediency  of  re- 
storing at  this  Time  to  the  Church  her  Syno- 
dical  Powers,'  1843.  3.  'The  Church  in 
Ireland  :  our  Duty  in  regard  to  its  Defence,' 
1866.  4.  'The "Case  of  the  Established 
Church  in  Ireland/  with  an  appendix,  1867- 
1868 ;  3rd  ed.  1868.  5.  '  The  Disestablish- 
ment and  Disendowment  of  the  Irish  Branch 
of  the  United  Church  considered,'  1869 ; 
three  editions. 

[Private  information ;  Carroll's  Memoir  of 
J.  T.  O'Brien,  D.D..  1875,  with  portrait,  which 
takes  a  some* hat  hostile  view  of  the  bishop; 
Illustr.  London  News,  1875,  Ixvi.  23  ;  Men  of  the 
Time,  1872,  p.  727;  Webb's  Compendium  of 
Irish  Biography,  1878,  p.  371  ;  Cotton's  Fasti, 
1847,  i.  199,  ii.  290-1.]  G.  C.  B. 

O'BRIEN,  JOHN  (d.  1767),  Irish  catholic 
prelate,  was  vicar-general  of  the  united  dio- 
ceses of  Cork,  Cloyne,  and  Ross.  In  audience 
of  10  Dec.  1747  Pope  Benedict  XIV  approved 
the  separation  of  Cork  and  Cloyne,  which 
had  been  held  in  union  since  1429,  and  the 
appointment  of  O'Brien  to  the  bishopric  of 
Cloyne  and  Ross.  His  brief  was  dated  10  Jan. 
1 74*7-8.  He  died,  according  to  Brady,  in 
1707,  when  he  was  succeeded  in  his  see  by 
Matthew  MacKenna  (Episcopal  Succexxi"//, 
ii.  99).  Martin  states,  however,  that  O'Brien 
was  bishop  of  Cloyne  and  Ross  from  1748  to- 
1775. 
To  him  is  generally  attributed,  though  oa 


O'Brien 


318 


O'Brien 


somewhat  doubtful  authority,  the  authorship 
of  '  Focaloir  Gaoidhilge-Sax-Bhearla,  or  an 
Irish-English  Dictionary.  Whereof  the  Irish 

? art  hath  been  compiled  not  only  from  various 
rish  vocabularies,  particularly  that  of  Mr. 
Edward  Lhuyd,  but  also  from  a  great  variety 
of  the  best  Irish  manuscripts  now  extant, 
especially  those  that  have  been  composed 
from  the  ninth  and  tenth  centuries  down  to 
the  sixteenth,  besides  those  of  the  lives  of 
St.  Patrick  and  St.  Brigit,  written  in  the 
sixth  and  seventh  centuries'  (anon.),  Paris, 
1768, 4to ;  and  again  Dublin,1832,8vo,  edited 
by  Robert  Daly,  wit  h  the  assistance  of  Mich  ael 
McGinty.  In  the  library  of  Trinity  College, 
Dublin,  there  is  a  copy  of  the  first  edition, 
•with  manuscript  notes  by  Peter  O'Connell ; 
and  another  copy,  with  marginal  notes  chiefly 
in  the  handwriting  of  Maurice  O'Gorman  and 
Charles  Vallancey,  is  preserved  in  the  British 
Museum  (EgertonMS.  87).  The  'Dictionary' 
is  chiefly  compiled  from  the  vocabularies  of 
Michael  O'Clery  [q.  v.],  Richard  Plunkett 
[q.  v.],  and  Edmund  Lhuyd  [q.  v.],  but  wants 
thousands  of  words  still  existing  in  the  written 
and  living  language.  The  preface  to  the  work 
is  a  learned  discourse  on  the  antiquity  of  the 
Iberno-Celtic  language  and  its  affinity  to  other 
tongues,  and  the  remarks  which  precede  each 
letter  of  the  alphabet  are  valuable.  Much 
curious  genealogical  and  historical  informa- 
tion is  scattered  through  the  work. 

The  bishop  edited  '  Monita  Pastoralia  et 
Statuta  Ecclesiastica,  pro  unitis  Dicecesibus 
Cloynensiet  Rossensi.  Inquibusetc.  Lecta, 
acceptata,  et  promulgata  in  Con  vent  ibus  Cleri 
Saecularis  et  Regularis  utriusque  Dioecesis, 
habitis  Anno  Domini  1755,'  sine  loco,  1756, 
16mo,  pp.  96  (cf.  MARTIN,  Privately  Printed 
Books,  2nd  ed.  p.  565). 

He  also  wrote  '  A  Critico -Historical 
Dissertation  concerning  the  Antient  Irish 
Laws,  or  National  Customs,  called  Gavel- 
Kind,  and  Thanistry,  or  Senior  Government,' 

2  parts,  Dublin,  1774-5, 8vo,  forming  numbers 

3  and  4  of  Vallancey's  '  Collectanea  de  Rebus 
Hibe^nicis.'     O'Brien's  dissertation  was  pub- 
lished by  Vallancey  as  if  he  were  himself  the 
author  of  it  (cf.  O'DoNOVAN,  Irish  Grammar, 
Introd.  p.  Iviii  n). 

[O'Curry's  Cat.  of  Irish  MSS.  in  Brit.  Mus. 
p.  73 ;  O'Keilly's  Irish  Writers,  p.  232 ;  James 
Scurry's  Review  of  Irish  Grammars  and  Dic- 
tionaries, p.  62,  in  vol.  xv.  of  Transactions  of 
Royal  Irish  Acad. :  Cat.  of  Library  of  Trinity 
College,  Dublin ;  Vallancey's  Grammar  of  the 
Iberno-Celtic  or  Irish  Language,  1773,  p.  3.] 

T.  C. 

O'BRIEN,  SIR  LUCIUS  HENRY 
(d.  1795),  Irish  politician,  a  member  of  a 
younger  branch  of  the  O'Briens,  earls  of 


Thomond  and  of  Inchiquin,  was  the  eldest 
son  of  Sir  Edward  O'Brien  (d.  1765),  second 
baronet  of  Dromoland,  co.  Clare,  who  repre- 
sented Clare  in  the  Irish  House  of  Commons 
for  thirty  years,  by  his  wife  Mary,  daughter 
of  Hugh  Hickman  of  Fenloe.  He  entered 
parliament  in  1763  as  member  for  Ennis 
borough,  and  in  the  same  year  signalised 
himself  by  a  remarkable  speech  describing 
the  condition  of  the  country,  which  is  largely 
quoted  by  Mr.  Lecky  (History  of  England, 
iv.  326).  He  formed  a  friendship  withCharles 
Lucas  (1713-1771)  [q.  v.],  the  Irish  patriot, 
and  soo7i  became  a  prominent  member  of 
the  popular  party.  '  By  means  of  a  rational 
understanding  and  very  extensive  and  ac- 
curate commercial  information  he  acquired 
a  considerable  degree  of  public  reputation, 
though  his  language  was  bad — his  address 
miserable  and  his  figure  and  action  unmean- 
ing and  whimsical — yet,  as  his  matter  was 
generally  good,  his  reasoning  sound,  and  his 
conduct  frequently  spirited  and  independent, 
he  was  attended  to  with  respect,  and  in  return 
always  conveyed  considerable  information' 
(BARRINGTONJ  Historic  Memoirs,  i.  213-14). 
In  1765  he  succeeded  his  father  as  third 
baronet  of  Dromoland ;  in  March  of  the 
following  year  he  was  placed  at  the  head  of 
a  committee  to  prepare  and  introduce  a  bill 
making  the  judges'  offices  tenable  quamdiu 
se  bene  yesserint,  and  not  as  heretofore  in 
Ireland  during  the  king's  pleasure.  The  bill 
was  passed,  but  did  not  receive  the  assent  of 
the  English  privy  council  until  1782.  In 
1768  O'Brien  contested  his  father's  seat,  co. 
Clare,  at  the  cost  of  2,000/.  (Charlemont 
Papers,  i.  119) ;  he  was  elected,  and  repre- 
sented the  county  until  1776,  when  he  was 
returned  for  Ennis.  Hugh  Dillon  Massy, 
however,  one  of  the  members  for  Clare,  being 
unseated,  O'Brien  was  returned  in  his  stead, 
and  chose  to  sit  for  the  county.  He  now 
busied  himself  with  endeavours  to  remove 
the  restrictions  on  trade  between  England 
and  Ireland,  and  made  frequent  speeches  on 
the  subject  in  parliament  in  opposition  to  the 
government:  but  his  speeches  lacked  lucidity, 
and  his  audience  were  said  to  be  seldom  the 
wiser  for  them.  He  visited  England  in 
1778-9  in  pursuance  of  the  same  object.  In 
the  same  year  he  reported  to  the  lord 
lieutenant  on  the  state  of  co.  Clare,  and  was 
one  of  the  first  to  urge  the  arming  of  the 
militia  to  meet  the  expected  invasion  of  Ire- 
land. Following  the  lead  of  Charlemont,  he 
headed  the  volunteer  movement  in  Clare,  and 
took  an  active  part  in  the  agitation  for  Irish 
legislative  independence.  In  1780  he  led  the 
opposition  to  the  government  in  the  matter 
of  the  import  duties  between  Portugal 


O'Brien 


O'Brien 


and  Ireland,  and  in  1782  he  supported 
Grat  tan's  motion  for  an  address  to  the  king 
in  favour  of  legislative  independence. 

In  spite  of  his  advocacy  of  the  popular 
cause,  O'Brien  was  defeated  at  Clare  in  1783 
by  an  unknown  man  (ib.  i.  119);  he  was, 
however,  returned  for  Tuam,  which  he  repre- 
sented until  1790.  In  1787  he  was  sworn  a 
privy  councillor,  and  appointed  clerk  of  the 
crown  and  hanaper  in  the  high  court  of 
chancery.  He  took  a  prominent  part  in  the 
debates  on  Pitt's  proposals  for  removing  the 
restrictions  on  Irish  trade,  and  also  on  the 
regency  question  of  1788.  In  1790  he  was 
returned  for  Ennis,  and  he  represented  it 
until  his  death.  In  1791  he  moved  a  reso- 
lution for  the  more  satisfactory  trying  of 
election  petitions,  and  his  last  recorded  speech 
.in  parliament  was  made  in  March  of  the 
same  year  on  the  subject  of  India  trade. 
Arthur  Young  [q.  v.]  acknowledges  his  in- 
debtedness to  OBrien,  at  whose  house  he 
stayed,  and  who  was  indefatigable  in  pro- 
curing materials  for  Young's '  Tour  in  Ireland.' 
O'Brien  died  on  15  Jan.  1795  at  Dromoland. 

He  married,  on  26  May  1768,  Nichola, 
daughter  of  Robert  French  of  Monivea  Castle, 
co.  Galway.  By  her  he  had  six  daughters  and 
five  sons,  of  whom  the  eldest,  Edward,  suc- 
ceeded him,  and  became  the  father  of  Wil- 
liam Smith  O'Brien  [q.  v.],  and  of  Edward 
O'Brien  [q.  v.] 

[Lecky's  Hist,  of  England,  vol.  iv.  passim ; 
Sir  Jonah  Harrington's  Historic  Memoirs,  passim ; 
Charlemont  Papers  in  Hist.  MSS.  Comm.  Hep. 
Appendix ;    O'Donoghue's  Hist.   Mem.   of    the 
O'Briens,  pp.   395-447 ;    Lodge's  Peerage,  ed.  i 
Archdall,   ii.    45 ;    Lascelles's  Liber   Munerum 
Hibern. ;  O'Hart's  Irish  Pedigrees,  ed.  1887,  i.  ' 
170  ;  Gent.  Mag.  1795,  i.  170;  Burke's  Peerage 
and  Baronetage ;  Official  Returns  of  Members  of 
Parl. ;  Webb's  Compendium  of  Irish  Biography.] 

A.  F.  P. 

O'BRIEN,  MATTHEW  (1814-1855), 
mathematician,  was  born  at  Ennis  in  1814, 
the  son  of  Matthew  O'Brien,  M.D.  He  ; 
entered  Gonville  and  Caius  College,  Cam-  j 
bridge,  as  a  scholar  in  1834,  and  graduated 
third  wrangler  in  the  mathematical  tripos  of 
1838  (M.A.  1841).  He  became  junior  fellow  j 
of  his  college  in  1840,  but  resigned  his  fel- 
lowship in  the  following  year.  He  was  mode- 
rator in  the  mathematical  tripos  for  1843  and 
1844.  He  was  lecturer  in  practical  astro- 
nomy in  the  Royal  Military  Academy,  Wool- 
wich, from  10  Jan.  1849  till  his  death,  and 
professor  of  natural  philosophy  and  astro- 
nomy in  King's  College,  London,  from 
8  March  1844  to  17  Aug.  1854.  He  died 
in  Petit  Menage,  Jersey,  on  22  Aug.  1855. 

He  was  the  author  of  two  elementary  text- 


books—on <  Differential  Calculus '  (1842),  and 
on  '  Plane  Co-ordinate  Geometry'  (1844).  In 
the  former  of  these  he  makes  exclusive  use  of 
the  method  of  limits.  He  published  '  Solu- 
tions to  the  Senate-House  Problems  for  1844 ;' 
'  Lectures  on  Natural  Philosophy,'  given  at 
Queen's  College,  London  (1849);  and  'A 
Treatise  on  Mathematical  Geography,'  being 
part  i.  of  'A  Manual  of  Geographical  Science 
( 1852).  He  also  wrote  some  tracts  on  mathe- 
matical questions  connected  with  astronomy, 
in  which  he  claimed  a  certain  latitude  in  the 
symbolic  use  of  divergent  series. 

[O'Brien's  Works ;  information  kindly  sup- 
plied by  Dr.  Venn;  Gent.  Mag.  1855,  ii.  551.1 

C.  P. 

O'BRIEN,  MCJRROUGH,  first  EAKL  OF 
THQXOVD  (d.  1551),  lineal  descendant  of 
Brian  (Boroimhe)  [q.  v.],king  of  Ireland,  was 
the  third  or  fourth  son  of  Turlough  O'Brien, 
lord  of  Thomond,  who  died  in  1528,  and 
Raghnailt,  daughter  of  John  MacNamara. 
On  the  death  oi  his  brother,  Conor  O'Brien 
[q.  v.],  in  1539,  he  succeeded  by  the  custom 
of  tanistry  to  the  lordship  of  Thomond  and 
the  chieftainship  of  the  Dal  Cais.  Conor  had 
made  a  vain  endeavour  to  divert  the  succes- 
sion to  his  children  by  his  second  wife,  Ellen, 
sister  of  James  Fitzjohn  Fitzgerald,  four- 
teenth earl  of  Desmond,  and  there  had  been, 
in  consequence,  much  dissension  between 
the  brothers. 

O'Brien's  first  step  on  attaining  the  chief- 
tainship was  to  join  Con  O'Neill  [q.  v.]  and 
Manus  O'Donnell  [q.  v.]  in  a  confederacy 
against  the  English  government.  Their 
scheme,  however,  was  frustrated  by  the  vigi- 
lance of  Sir  William  Brereton ;  and  on  the 
arrival  shortly  afterwards  of  Sir  Anthony  St. 
Leger  as  viceroy,  O'Brien  expressed  a  wish  to 
parley  with  him.  Early  in  1541  O'Brien  met 
the  lord-deputy  at  Limerick.  Conditions  of 
peace  and  submission  were  propounded  to 
him ;  but,  as  these  included  the  restriction  of 
his  authority  to  the  west  of  the  Shannon, 
and  other  stipulations  affecting  his  clan 
as  well  as  himself,  he  asked  time  for  de- 
liberation. He  made,  however,  no  difficulty 
about  acknowledging  Henry  VIII  as  his  sove- 
reign or  renouncing  the  supremacy  of  the 
pope,  and  was  represented  in  the  parliament 
which  in  that  year  conferred  on  Henry  the 
title  of  king  of  Ireland.  On  the  adjournment 
of  the  parliament  to  Limerick  on  15  Feb. 
1542,  he  repaired  thither.  The  recent  sub- 
mission of  Con  O'Neill  in  December  1541 
exercised  a  profound  effect  upon  him,  and  he 
not  only  consented  to  the  curtailment  of  his 
authority  to  the  west  of  the  Shannon,  but 
expressed  his  intention  of  personally  renew- 


O'Brien 


320 


O'Brien 


ing  his  submission  to  Henry,  promising  for 
himself  and  his  followers  to  live  and  die  his 
'  true,  faithful,  and  obedient  servants.'  He 
appeared  to  St.  Leger  '  a  very  sobre  man, 
and  very  like  to  contynewe  your  Majesties 
trewe  subjecte;'  and  Henry,  gratified  by 
his  submission,  expressed  his  intention  of 
conferring  on  him  some  title  of  honour, 
together  with  a  grant  of  all  the  suppressed 
religious  houses  in  his  country. 

There  was  some  difficulty  in  reconciling 
the  Irish  succession  by  tanistry  with  that  of 
primogeniture  ;  but  it  was  finally  concluded 
that  O'Brien  himself  should  be  created  Earl 
of  Thomond  for  life,  the  title  to  revert  after 
his  death,  not  to  his  eldest  son,  who  was 
created  Baron  of  Inchiquin,  but  to  his  nephew 
Donough,  created  at  the  same  time  Baron  of 
Ibrickan.  This  ingenious  solution  of  a  perplex- 
ing problem  clearly  demonstrated  Henry's 
intention  to  proceed  in  the  reconquest  of  Ire- 
land by  conciliatory  methods,  if  possible ;  he 
hoped  that  time  would  bring  with  it  a  prac- 
tical reconciliation  of  the  laws  and  customs 
of  the  two  countries.  On  the  adjournment  of 
the  parliament  to  Trim  (12  to  21  June  1542), 
O'Brien  repaired  thither  with  his  nephew 
Donough,  '  both  honestly  accompanied  and 
apparelled,'  and  attended  the  lord-deputy  to 
Dublin,  where  he  remained  for  three  or  four 
days.  At  his  own  request  he  was  included 
in  the  commission  for  the  suppression  of  the 
religious  houses  in  Thomond,  and  in  the 
following  year  visited  England.  Owing  to 
the  general  dearth  of  money  in  Ireland,  St. 
Leger  was  obliged  to  lend  him,  for  his  j  ourney , 
100A  in  harp-groats,  i.e.  in  pence.  He  arrived 
at  court,  accompanied  by  Ulic  de  Burgh,  first 
earl  of  Clanricarde,in  June  1543,  and,  having 
renewed  his  submission,  he  was,  on  Sunday, 
1  July,  created  Earl  of  Thomond.  The  ex- 
penses of  his  installation  were  defrayed  by 
Henry,  who  also, for  his  'better satisfaction,' 
granted  him  a  house  and  lands  in  Dublin  for 
his  entertainment  during  his  attendance  on 
parliament. 

After  a  brief  sojourn  in  London  O'Brien 
returned  to  Ireland.  The  honours  conferred 
upon  him  were  followed  by  beneficial  results. 
He  had,  of  course,  his  quarrels  with  his  neigh- 
bours, the  Burkes  and  Munster  Geraldines, 
and  more  than  once  his  attitude  threatened 
the  general  peace.  But  he  had  a  sincere 
regard  for  St.  Leger,  and  a  word  from  him 
was  sufficient  to  control  him.  He  accom- 
panied St.  Leger  to  the  water's  edge  at  his 
departure  in  April  1546,  and  was  one  of  those 
who  welcomed  him  on  his  return  in  1550. 
He  died  in  the  following  year  and  was  suc- 
ceeded by  his  nephew  Donough,  who  sur- 
rendered his  patent,  and  was  granted  a  new 


one  on  7  Nov.  1552,  conferring  the  title  on 
him  and  the  heirs  male  of  his  body.  He  did 
not  long  enjoy  the  honour,  being  killed  in 
April  1553  by  his  brother  Donnell,  called  Sir 
Donnell,who  had  married  his  cousin,  a  daugh- 
ter of  Murrough  O'Brien.  The  earldom  passed 
to  Conor  O'Brien,  third  earl  [q.  v.],  Donogh's 
eldest  son,  by  Helen  Butler,  youngest  daugh- 
ter of  Piers,  eighth  earl  of  Ormonde. 

[O'Donoghue's  Historical  Memoirs  of  the 
O'Briens ;  State  Papers,  Ireland,  Hen.  VIII 
(printed) ;  Annals  of  the  Four  Masters,  ed. 
O'Donovan ;  Ware's  Rerum  Hibernicarum  An- 
nales;  Annals  of  Loch  Ce,  ed.  Hennessy ;  Lodge's 
Peerage,  ed.  Archdall,  vol.  ii.]  E.  D. 

O'BRIEN,  MURROUGH,  first  EAKL  OF 
INCHIQTJIIT  (1614-1674),  known  in  Irish  tra- 
dition as  Murchadh  na  atoithean,  or  '  of  the 
conflagrations,'  was  the  eldest  son  of  Dermod, 
fifth  baron  of  Inchiquin,  by  Ellen,  eldest 
daughter  of  Sir  Edmond  Fitzgerald  of 
Cloyne.  His  grandfather  and  namesake  was 
killed  in  July  1597  at  the  passage  of  the 
Erne,  fighting  for  Queen  Elizabeth.  It  ap- 
pears from  an  inquisition  taken  after  the 
death  of  his  father  that  Inchiquin  was  born 
in  September  1614.  His  wardship  was  given 
to  Patrick  Fitzmaurice,  and  the  custody  of 
his  property  to  Sir  William  St.  Leger  [q.  v.], 
lord  president  of  Munster,  whose  daughter 
he  married.  He  had  a  special  livery  of  his 
lands  in  1636,  and  afterwards  went  to  study 
war  in  the  Spanish  service  in  Italy.  He 
returned  in  1639,  and  prudently  yielded  to 
Wentworth's  high-handed  scheme  for  the 
colonisation  of  Clare.  In  a  letter  to  Went- 
worth  Charles  took  notice  of  this,  and 
directed  that  he  should  not  '  in  course  of 
plantation  have  the  fourth  part  of  his  lands 
in  that  county  taken  from  him  as  from  the 
other  the  natives  there '  (LODGE).  On  2  April 
1640  he  was  made  vice-president  of  Munster, 
and  sat  as  a  peer  in  the  parliament  which 
Stratford  held  that  year. 

The  great  Irish  rebellion  began  on  23  Oct. 
1641 ,  and  in  December  Inchiquin  accompanied 
the  president  in  an  expedition  against  the 
Leinster  rebels  who  were  harassing  Water- 
ford  andTipperary.  All  the  prisoners  taken  in 
a  fight  near  Carrick-on-Suir  were  executed 
by  martial  law  (CAKTE,  Ormonde,  i.  264). 
In  April  1642,  during  the  siege  of  Cork  by 
Muskerry  with  four  thousand  men,  Inchi- 
quin, '  one  of  the  young  and  noble-spirited 
commanders,'  led  a  sally  of  two  troops  of 
horse  and  three  hundred  musketeers,  which 
broke  up  the  Irish  camp  for  a  time.  Mus- 
kerry left  baggage  and  provisions  behind, 
and  Inchiquin  was  able  to  ship  guns  and  to- 
take  two  castles  on  the  west  side  of  Cork 
harbour  which  had  annoyed  the  navigation 


O'Brien 


321 


O'Brien 


(Lismore  Papers,  v.  44  ;  Hist.  MSS.  Comm. 
5th  Rep.  p.  346).  St.  Leger  died  on  2  July, 
and  Inchiquin  became  the  legal  governor  of 
Munster,  as  he  announced  to  the  lords  jus- 
tices before  the  end  of  the  month  (CARTE, 
letter  95).  David,  first  earl  of  Barrymore, 
was  associated  with  him  in  the  civil  govern- 
ment, but  died  on  Michaelmas  day.  Alex- 
ander, lord  Forbes,  with  Hugh  Peters  [q.  v.] 
as  his  chaplain,  landed  at  Kinsale  early  in 
July  with  forces  provided  by  adventurers  in 
England ;  but  he  paid  no  attention  to  Inchi- 
quin's  request  for  help,  and  he  effected 
nothing.  On  20  Aug.  Inchiquin,  accompanied 
by  Barrymore,  Kinalmeaky,  and  Broghill 
[see  BOYLE,  ROGER,  BARON  BROGHILL,  and 
first  EARL  OF  ORRERY],  with  only  two  thou- 
sand foot  and  four  hundred  horse,  overthrew 
General  Barry  at  Liscarrol  with  seven  thou- 
sand foot  and  fifteen  hundred  horse ;  but  he 
lacked  means  to  improve  his  victory,  though 
seven  hundred  are  said  to  have  fallen  on  one 
side  and  only  twelve  on  the  other.  He  was 
himself  wounded  in  the  head  and  hand. 

Richard  Boyle,  first  earl  of  Cork  [q.  v.], 
and  his  sons  did  much  to  preserve  the 
counties  of  Cork  and  Waterford,  and  Inchi- 
quin co-operated  with  them,  but  not  cor- 
dially. The  difficulty  was  to  support  an  army 
on  any  terms.  In  November  1642  Inchiquin 
seized  all  the  tobacco  in  the  hands  of  the 
patentees  at  Cork,  Youghal,  and  Kinsale 
(SMITH,  Hist,  of  Cork,  i. 142 ;  Youghal  Council- 
Book,  p.  223),  and  no  compensation  was 
paid  until  after  the  Restoration.  The  cattle 
and  corn  in  the  districts  under  his  control 
were  taken  of  course.  The  king  had  no 
money  to  give,  and  the  parliament  had  neither 
time  to  attend  to  Ireland  nor  money  to 
entrust  to  unsafe  hands.  Inchiquin  gave  a 
commission  to  the  commandant  at  Youghal  as 
early  as  26  July  1642  to  execute  martial  law 
there  upon  both  soldiers  and  civilians,  and 
his  dealings  with  the  town  are  recorded  in 
the  '  Council  Book.'  The  raw  material  of 
soldiers  was  abundant,  for  fighting  was  now 
the  only  industry  ;  but  there  were  no  means 
of  paying  them.  Yet  the  parliament  sent 
men  to  Ireland  without  arms,  for  no  purpose, 
wrote  Inchiquin  to  Ormonde,  'unless  it  be 
to  plot  that  these  men  shall  with  jawbones 
kill  so  many  rebels'  (CARTE, letter  11 3).  At 
the  end  of  May  1643  he  took  the  field  with 
four  thousand  foot  and  four  hundred  horse, 
but  could  only  threaten  Kilmallock,  '  for 
want  of  provisions  and  money  for  the  officers,' 
and  he  begged  Cork  to  lend  or  borrow  3007. 
for  victualling  Youghal  (SMITH,  ii.  142). 
While  threatening  Kinsale  himself,  he  sent 
one  detachment  as  far  as  Tralee,  who 
had  to  subsist  on  a  country  then  in  Irish 

VOL.   XLI. 


hands.  Another  small  force  was  sent  to 
Fermoy,  but  suffered  a  crushing  defeat  near 
Castlelyons  on  4  June  from  a  body  of  horse 
under  Castlehaven,  who  had  been  specially 
sent  by  the  Kilkenny  confederation  (CASTLE- 
HAVEX,  Memoirs,  p.  40). 

Muskerry  threatened  the  county  of  Water- 
ford,  and  Inchiquin,  according  to  his  own 
account,  intrigued  with  him  until  he  was  in 
a  position  to  fight.  The  Irish  leader  offered 
to  spare  Youghal  and  its  district  if  Cappo- 
quin  and  Lismore  surrendered  at  once ;  other- 
wise he  would  burn  both  places.  By  a  mix- 
ture of  threats  and  promises  Inchiquin  in- 
duced him  to  say  that  he  would  withdraw  if 
Cappoquin  and  Lismore  were  not  token  bv  a 
certai  n  day .  Unt  il  that  date  had  passed  he  was 
not  to  be  attacked.  Inchiquin  had  so  garri- 
soned Cappoquin  as  to  make  it  safe  for  a 
much  longer  time,  and  Cork's  castle  of  Lis- 
more was  also  well  prepared.  The  situation 
was  maintained  with  little  sincerity  on  either 
side  until  Cork  himself  landed  with  orders 
from  Charles  to  promote  a  truce.  Active 
hostilities  ceased,  and  Muskerry,  who  had 
been  outwitted,  tried  to  be  even  with  Inchi- 
quin by  telling  the  king  that  he  designed  to 
betray  the  two  towns  to  the  Irish— a  state- 
ment without  foundation.  '  If  ever,'  he 
wrote  to  an  officer  who  had  been  present 
during  the  whole  period,  '  I  did  anything  to- 
wards the  defence  of  Munster  against  the 
Irish,  this  was  what  I  had  cause  to  brag  of ' 
(CARTE,  letters  306,  317). 

The  cessation  of  arms  for  a  year,  which 
Ormonde,  at  the  king's  command,  concluded 
with  the  confederates  on  15  Sept.  1643,  was 
formally  approved  by  Inchiquin  in  a  docu- 
ment which  he  signed  along  with  Clan- 
ricarde  and  many  other  persons  of  distinc- 
tion (ib.  172),  but  he  did  not  think  it  really 
favourable  to  the  cause  of  the  Irish  pro- 
testants.  The  immediate  result  was  that  a 
great  part  of  the  force  under  his  orders  was 
sent  to  serve  the  king  in  England,  two  regi- 
ments being  assigned  to  Hopton  in  Sussex  (ib. 
232)  and  the  rest  scattered  under  various 
leaders.  Eight  hundred  of  Inchiquin's  men, 
described  as  '  native  Irish  rebels,  landed  at 
Weymouth,  under  his  brother  Henry(  WHITE- 
LOCKE,  Memorials,  p.  80,  where  the  brothers 
are  confounded),  and  some  were  hanged  as 
such,  though  their  old  general  was  by  that 
time  serving  the  parliament  (ib.  p.  95).  His 
own  regiment  of  horse  went  over  before  the 
cessation,  and  was  present  before  Gloucester 
in  August  and  September,  but  did  little  except 
plunder  the  country  (Somen  Tracts,  v.  335). 

Inchiquin  went  to  Oxford  early  in  Fe- 
bruary 1643-4,  his  main  object  being  to  get 
the  king's  commission  as  president  of  Mun- 


O'Brien 


322 


O'Brien 


ster;  but  a  formal  promise  had  already  been 
given  to  Jerome,  earl  of  Portland,  who  re- 
ceived a  patent  for  life  on  1  March.  Or- 
monde was  against  slighting  a  man  who  had 
done  great  service  in  Ireland  for  the  sake  of 
one  who  had  done  nothing  at  all ;  but  his 
advice  was  neglected,  and  Inchiquin  was 
dismissed  with  fair  words.  He  had  a  warrant 
from  the  king  for  an  earldom,  but  this  he 
forbore  to  use.  He  left  Oxford  after  a  stay 
of  about  a  fortnight,  apparently  in  tolerable 
humour,  but  it  was  soon  known  in  Ireland 
that  he  came  discontented  from  court  (CARTE, 
letters  239,  258).  What  he  saw  at  Ox- 
ford was  not  likely  to  raise  his  estimate 
of  the  king's  power ;  and  in  any  case  the  par- 
liament were  masters  of  the  sea,  and  the 
only  people  who  could  help  the  protestants 
of  Monster.  A  visit  to  Dublin  on  his  way 
did  not  change  his  opinion,  and  in  July  he 
and  his  officers  urged  the  king,  in  a  formal 
address,  to  make  peace  with  his  parliament. 
At  the  same  time  they  called  upon  the 
houses  to  furnish  supplies  for  prosecuting 
the  war  against  the  Irish  (CARTE,  i.  513 ; 
RUSHWORTH,  Hist.  Collections,  v.  918).  In 
November  1642  Inchiquin  had  told  Ormonde 
that  he  was  no  roundhead,  and  in  August  1645 
he  assured  his  brother-in-law,  Michael  Boyle 
[q.  v.],  the  future  primate  and  chancellor, 
that  he  would  waive  all  dependence  on  the 
parliament  if  he  could  see  safety  for  the  pro- 
testants by  any  other  means  (CARTE,  letter 
407) ;  and  between  these  dates  he  made 
many  appeals  to  Ormonde  not  to  desert  the 
protestants  for  an  Irish  alliance,  exposing 
the  '  apparent  practice  of  the  Irish  papists  to 
extirpate  the  protestant  religion,  which  I 
am  able  to  demonstrate  and  convince  them 
of,  if  it  were  to  any  purpose  to  accuse  them 
of  anything'  (Clarendon  State  Papers,  ii. 
168,  170,  173).  In  June  1644  he  was  going 
to  England,  but  Ormonde  advised  him  to 
wait  until  he  had  cleared  himself  from  Mus- 
kerry's  charges  about  the  Cappoquin  busi- 
ness (Clarendon  Cal.  i.  250).  During  the 
next  few  weeks  he  edged  away  both  from 
the  confederate  catholics  and  from  Ormonde, 
and  on  25  Aug.  1644  he  informed  the  latter 
that  a  parliamentary  ship  had  reached 
Youghal,  that  the  town  had  embraced  that 
cause,  and  that  he  should  have  to  do  the 
same ;  and  he  entreated  him  to  put  himself 
at  the  head  of  the  protestant  interest  (ib. ; 
Youghal  Council-Book,  p.  247).  In  August 
Inchiquin  expelled  nearly  all  the  Roman 
catholics  from  Cork,  Youghal,  and  Kinsale ; 
and  they  were  allowed  to  take  only  as  much 
property  as  they  could  carry  on  their  persons. 
'  All  the  Irish  inhabitants '  are  the  words 
used  by  this  chief  of  the  O'Briens  (Clarendon 


State  Papers,  ii.  171 ;  RTTSHWORTH,  v.  290 ; 
GILBERT,  Confederation  and  War,  ii.  235). 

The  English  parliament  made  Inchiquin 
president  of  Munster,  and  he  continued  to 
act  without  reference  to  Portland  or  to  Or- 
monde, who  was  the  king's  lord-lieutenant. 
Receiving  no  supplies  from  England,  he 
managed  to  keep  the  garrisons  together,  and, 
although  he  had  opposed  the  general  armi- 
stice, was  forced  to  make  a  truce  with  the 
Irish  in  the  winter  of  1644-5.  The  siege  of 
Duncannon  Fort,  which  Lord  Esmond  held 
for  the  parliament,  was  nevertheless  pro- 
ceeded with ;  and  at  its  surrender,  on  18  March 
1645-6,  it  was  found  that  Esmond  had  been 
acting  under  Inchiquin's  directions,  although 
the  fort  is  not  in  Munster  (ib.  iv.  186).  The 
truce  expired  10  April  1645,  and  Castlehaven 
at  once  invaded  Munster  with  six  thousand 
men,  reducing  most  of  the  detached  strong- 
holds easily,  capturing  Inchiquin's  brother 
Henry,  and  ravaging  the  country  to  the  walls 
of  Cork.  Inchiquin  was  active,  but  too  weak 
to  do  much  ;  and  on  16  April  Castlehaven 
came  before  Youghal,  which  was  valiantly 
defended  by  Broghill.  The  latter  took  the 
offensive  early  in  May  with  his  cavalry,  and 
won  a  battle  near  Castlelyons.  Inchiquin 
sent  in  many  supplies  by  sea  from  Cork,  in 
which  he  had  the  help  of  Vice-admiral 
Crowther's  squadron ;  a  larger  convoy  was 
sent  by  the  parliament  after  Naseby,  and  in 
September  Broghill,  who  had  been  to  England 
for  help,  finally  relieved  the  place.  At  the 
end  of  the  year  Inchiquin  induced  his  kins- 
man, Barnabas  O'Brien,  sixth  earl  of  Thomond 
[q.  v.],  to  admit  parliamentary  troops  into 
Bunratty  Castle,  near  Limerick,  but  it  was 
retaken  in  the  following  July  (RiNUCCiNi, 
Embassy  in  Ireland,  p.  191). 

On  5  Jan.  1645-6  the  English  House  of 
Commons  voted  that  Ireland  should  be 
governed  by  a  single  person,  and  on  the  21st 
that  that  person  should  be  Philip  Sidney,  lord 
Lisle  [q.  v.],  who  had  already  seen  service 
in  that  country  (R0SHWORTH,  vi.  248).  Or- 
monde's treaty  with  the  confederate  catholics, 
to  which  Inchiquin  was  no  party,  was  rati- 
fied on  29  July,  but  was  denounced  by 
Rinuccini  and  the  clergy  adhering  to  him. 
It  had,  however,  the  effect  of  checking  active 
warfare  in  Munster.  Lisle  did  not  land  at 
Cork  until  March  1646-7  (WIOTELOCKE,  p. 
239),  when  he  brought  money,  arms,  and  a 
considerable  body  of  men.  He  did  little  or 
nothing,  and,  his  appointment  expiring  in 
April,  Inchiquin  produced  his  own  commis- 
sion under  the  great  seal  of  England,  and 
declined  to  acknowledge  any  other.  The 
officers  of  the  army  pronounced  in  their  old 
leader's  favour,  and  amusing  details  of  the 


O'Brien 


323 


O'Brien 


proceedings  are  given  by  Sellings  (GILBERT, 
Confederation  and  War,  iv.  19).  Broghill 
opposed  Inchiquin,  but  Admiral  Crowther 
took  his  part,  and  Lisle  was  not  sorry  to  get 
away  on  any  terms.  Inchiquin  remained '  in 
entire  possession  of  the  command,  and  in 
greater  reputation  than  he  was  before '  (CLA- 
RENDON, Hist.  bk.  xi.  §  2).  He  reported  to 
parliament  in  person  on  7  May,  and  received 
the  thanks  of  the  House  of  Commons 
(WHITELOCKE,  p.  246). 

Inchiquin  now  proceeded  to  reconquer 
the  districts  which  Castlehaven  had  overrun. 
Cappoquin  and  Dromana,  against  which  he 
had  cherished  designs  since  1642  (Lismore 
Papers,  v.  Ill),  were  easily  taken.  There 
was  a  little  fighting  at  Dungarvan,  and 
twenty  English  redcoats,  who  had  deserted 
to  the  Irish,  were  hanged;  but  on  the  whole 
Inchiquin's  men  thought  him  too  lenient 
(RusHWORTH,  vi.  486).  This  was  early  in 
May,  and  he  took  the  field  again  at  mid- 
summer. On  12  Aug.  he  reported  to  Len- 
thall  that  he  had  taken  many  castles  and 
vast  quantities  of  cattle.  A  detachment 
crossed  the  Shannon,  and  Bunratty  was 
burned  by  its  garrison,  though  it  had  taken 
the  confederate  catholics  much  pains  to  win. 
*  We  stormed  and  burned  the  abbey  of  Adare, 
held  by  the  rebels,  where  four  friars  were 
burned  and  three  took  prisoners'  (ib.  vii. 
788).  On  12  Sept.  he  attacked  the  rock  of 
Cashel,  the  strong  position  of  which  had 
tempted  many  persons  of  both  sexes  to  take 
refuge  upon  it,  with  their  valuables.  Failing 
to  make  a  breach  with  his  guns,  Inchiquin 
piled  up  turf  against  the  wall  of  the  en- 
closure and  set  fire  to  it.  It  was  the  dry 
season,  and  the  heat  disabled  the  defenders, 
who  were  crowded  within  a  narrow  space. 
The  rock  was  carried  by  assault,  and  no 
quarter  was  given  to  any  one.  About  thirty 
priests  and  friars  were  among  the  slain.  ! 
According  to  Ludlow  (Memoirs,  i.  92)  three  I 
thousand  were  slaughtered, '  the  priests  being 
taken  even  from  under  the  altar.'  According 
to  Father  Sail,  who  was  a  native  of  Cashel,  i 
Inchiquin  donned  the  archiepiscopal  mitre 
(MURPHY,  Cromwell  in  Ireland,  App.  p.  5). 

At  the  beginning  of  November,  fearing  a 
juncture  between  the  Munster  chief  and  the 
victorious  Michael  Jones  [q.  v.],  the  con- 
federate catholics  sent  Taafe  into  the  county 
of  Cork  with  six  thousand  foot  and  twelve 
hundred  horse.  Inchiquin  at  once  returned 
from  Tipperary,  leaving  a  garrison  in  Cahir, 
and  came  up  with  the  invader  at  the  hill  of 
Knocknanuss,  about  three  miles  east  of 
Kanturk.  In  a  curious  letter  (MEEHAN, 
Confed.  of  Kilkenny,  p.  202)  he  offered  to 
forego  all  advantage  of  ground,  trusting  to 


the  goodness  of  his  cause,  and  to  fight  in 
the  open,  although  his  force  was  inferior. 
No  answer  was  given,  and  Inchiquin  attacked 
with  complete  success  on  13  November. 
Taafe  lost  two-thirds  of  his  men  and  nearly 
all  his  arms,  while  the  victor  had  only  about 
150  killed.  Inchiquin  received  the  thanks 
of  parliament,  and  was  voted  1,000/.  to  buv 
horses ;  but  he  was  already  distrusted  (RUSH- 
WORTH,  vii.  800,  91G  ;  Confederation  and 
War,  vii.  350 ;  RINUCCINI,  p.  335 ;  Warr  of 
Ireland,  n.  72). 

For  a  time  Inchiquin  was  master  of  the 
south  of  Ireland,  and  no  one  dared  meet  him 
in  the  field.  At  the  beginning  of  February 
1647-8  he  took  Carrick  with  a  small  force, 
threatened  Waterford,  and  levied  contribu- 
tions to  the  walls  of  Kilkenny  (Risuccixi, 
pp.  367-73).  He  returned  to  Cork  at  the 
end  of  the  month,  and  persuaded  his  officers 
to  sign  a  remonstrance  to  the  House  of  Com- 
mons as  to  its  neglect  of  the  Munster  army 
(RTTSHWORTH,  vii.  1041).  This  was  received 
27  March,  and  it  was  at  first  decided  to  send 
three  members  to  confer  with  the  discon- 
tented general ;  but  on  14  April  came  news 
that  he  had  actually  declared  for  the  king(t'6. 
vii.  1060 ;  RixucciNi,p.  380).  The  three  mem- 
bers  were  recalled,  all  commissions  made  to 
Inchiquin  revoked,  and  officers  and  soldiers 
forbidden  to  obey  him.  He  managed  to  keep 
his  army  together,  while  insisting  on  the 
necessity  for  Ormonde's  return  to  Ireland, 
and  even  sent  an  officer  to  Edinburgh  with 
a  proposal  for  joining  the  Scots  with  six 
thousand  men  ( Thurloe  State  Papers,  i.  93). 
Cork,  Kinsale,  Youghal,  Baltimore,  Castle- 
haven,  Crookhaven,  and  Dungarvan  were  in 
his  hands,  and  he  so  fortified  these  harbours 
that  no  parliamentary  ship  could  anchor  in 
any  one  of  them  (CARTE,  letter  575).  In 
spite  of  Rinuccini,  he  concluded  a  truce  with 
the  confederate  catholics  on  22  May,  and  Or- 
monde converted  this  into  a  peace  in  the  fol- 
lowing January.  Owen  Roe  O'Neill  [q.  v.] 
advanced  in  July  as  far  as  Nenagh,  his  object 
being  to  reach  Kerry,  whose  mountains  were 
suited  to  his  peculiar  tactics,  and  whose  un- 
guarded inlets  would  give  him  the  means  of 
communicating  with  the  continent ;  but  In- 
chiquin, whose  operations  are  detailed  by 
Sellings  (Confederation  and  War,  vol.  vi.), 
forced  him  back  to  Ulster.  Ormonde,  who 
was  still  the  legal  lord-lieutenant,  landed  at 
Cork  on  30  Sept.,  and  he  and  Inchiquin 
thenceforth  worked  together,  Clanricarde  and 
Preston  siding  with  them  as  against  the 
nuncio  and  the  hated  Ulster  general. 

The  Munster  army  had  been  buoyed  up 
with  the  hopes  of  pay  at  Ormonde's  arrival, 
but  he  had  only  thirty  pistoles,  and  some  of 

Y  2 


O'Brien 


324 


O'Brien 


the  disappointed  cavalry  left  their  colours 
with  a  view  to  joining  either  Jones  or  O'Neill. 
Inchiquin  quelled  the  mutiny  with  great 
skill  and  courage ;  and  Ormonde  could  only 
promise  that  the  king  would  pay  all  arrears 
as  soon  as  he  could.  In  January  1648-9 
Rupert's  fleet  was  on  the  Munster  coast,  and 
Inchiquin  saw  Maurice  at  Kinsale  about  the 
contemplated  visit  of  the  Prince  of  Wales 
to  Ireland  (ib.  vii.  237).  He  was  still  fearful 
lest  a  royalist  government  of  his  province 
should  lead  to  the  oppression  of  the  English 
race,  who  would  with  good  cause  despair  '  of 
ever  having  any  justice  against  an  Irishman 
for  anything  delivered  him  on  trust '  (ib.  p. 
247).  The  conclusion  of  the  peace  between 
Ormonde  and  the  confederate  catholics,  the 
execution  of  the  king,  and  the  flight  of 
Rinuccini  followed  close  upon  each  other  at 
the  beginning  of  1649.  O'Neill,  acting  in 
concert  with  the  bulk  of  the  priests,  refused 
to  accept  the  peace,  while  Monro  and  his 
Scots  made  professions  of  royalism.  Inchi- 
quin received  a  commission  from  Ormonde 
as  lieutenant-general,  made  himself  master 
of  Drogheda,  and  prepared  to  besiege  Dun- 
dalk.  George  Monck,  first  duke  of  Albe- 
marle  [q.  v.],  was  governor  of  this  town,  and 
he  had  just  concluded  an  armistice  for  three 
months  with  O'Neill.  On  1  July  Inchiquin 
captured  the  convoy  of  ammunition  which 
Monck  sent  to  O'Neill's  assistance,  and  the 
garrison  of  Dundalk  then  compelled  their 
leader  to  surrender  (GARDINER,  Hist.  Com- 
monwealth, i.  110).  After  this  Newry,  Trim, 
and  the  neighbouring  strongholds  were  soon 
taken,  and  Inchiquin  returned  to  the  royalist 
camp  near  Dublin.  Ormonde,  who  now 
seemed  to  have  Ireland  almost  at  his  feet, 
sent  him  with  a  large  force  of  horse  to  Mun- 
ster, where  he  was  now  lord-president  by 
Charles  II's  commission,  and  where  Crom- 
well was  expected  to  land.  He  was  thus 
absent  from  the  fatal  battle  of  Rathmines, 
fought  on  2  Aug.  1649,  after  which  most  of 
his  old  soldiers  joined  the  parliamentarians 
under  Jones. 

Cromwell  landed  on  18  Aug.,  and  stormed 
Drogheda  on  12  Sept.  It  was  evident  that 
nothing  could  resist  him,  and  the  Munster 
garrisons,  who  had  protestant  sympathies, 
began  to  fall  away  from  Inchiquin  (ib.  i.  151). 
A  conspiracy  of  certain  officers  to  seize  his 
person  was  frustrated,  and  he  gained  admis- 
sion to  Youghal  while  the  conqueror  was  busy 
at  Wexford.  Inchiquin  returned  to  Leinster 
at  the  end  of  October,  and  on  1  Nov.  was 
at  the  head  of  some  three  thousand  men, 
chiefly  horse,  and  he  advanced  through  the 
hills  from  Carlow  to  attack  about  half  that 
number  of  English  soldiers  who  had  been 


left  sick  in  Dublin.  The  Cromwellians,  many 
of  whom  had  but  imperfectly  recovered,  had 
a  hard  fight  on  the  shore  at  Glascarrick,  be- 
tween Arklow  and  Wexford ;  but  their  left 
was  covered  by  the  sea,  and  they  succeeded 
inbeatingoff  their  assailants  (LuDLOw,i.267 ; 
CARTE;  CARLYLE,  Cromwell,  letter  109).  At 
this  moment  Munster  revolted  from  Inchi- 
quin. Blake's  blockade  having  been  tempo- 
rarily raised  by  bad  weather,  Rupert  escaped 
from  the  Irish  coast,  and  on  13  Nov.  Crom- 
well wrote  that  Cork  and  Youghal  had  sub- 
mitted. The  other  port  towns  followed  suit, 
and  Broghill  succeeded  to  most  of  Inchiquin's 
influence  in  Munster  (Report  on  Carte  Papers, 
pp.  139-45).  The  English  or  protestant  in- 
habitants of  Cork,  '  out  of  a  sense  of  the 
good  service  and  tender  care  of  the  Lord 
Inchiquin  over  them,'  asked  Cromwell  to  see 
his  estate  secured  to  him  and  his  heirs ;  but  to 
this  the  victor  '  forbore  to  make  any  answer ' 
(  Youf/hal  Council  Hook,  p.  281).  On  24  Nov. 
Inchiquin,  at  the  head  of  a  force  consisting; 
chiefly  of  Ulster  Irish,  made  an  attempt  vipon 
Carrick-on-Suir,  but  was  repulsed  with  great 
loss  (CARLYLE,  letter  110).  He  then  re- 
tired westward,  and  obtained  possession  of 
Kilmallock,  but  had  only  some  four  hundred 
men  with  him  (WHITELOCKE,  p.  436).  On 
19  Dec.  he  wrote  to  Ormonde  concerning 
the  Clonmacnoise  bishops :  '  I  am  already 
condemned  among  them ;  and  I  believe  your 
Excellency  has  but  a  short  reprieve,  for  they 
cannot  trust  you  unless  you  go  to  mass' 
(  Clarendon  State  Papers,  ii .  503).  In  January 
1649-50  he  withdrew  into  Kerry,  and  raised 
some  forces  there,  with  which  he  returned  to 
the  neighbourhood  of  Kilmallock  about  the 
beginning  of  March  (WHITELOCKE,  pp.  439, 
445).  Henry  Cromwell  joined  Broghill,  and 
defeated  these  new  levies — which  consisted 
chiefly  of  Englishmen — towards  the  end  of 
the  month ;  and  Inchiquin,  after  plundering 
most  of  the  county  Limerick,  crossed  the 
Shannon  into  Clare  '  with  more  cows  than 
horses '  (ib.  p.  448). 

Neither  Ormonde  nor  Inchiquin  had  now 
much  to  do  in  Ireland,  and  neither  hence- 
forth appeared  to  the  east  of  the  Shannon. 
The  Roman  catholic  hierarchy  had  met  in 
December  1649  at  Clonmacnoise ;  but  they 
could  never  work  cordially  with  a  protestant 
chief  like  Ormonde,  and  their  object  was  to 
obtain  the  protection  of  some  foreign  prince. 
In  their  declaration  made  at  Jamestown  on 
12  Aug.  1650,  they  absurdly  accused  Inchi- 
quin of  betraying  Munster,  and  charged  both 
him  and  Ormonde  with  spending  their  time 
west  of  the  Shannon  '  in  play,  pleasure,  and 
great  merriment.'  They  had  no  army,  and 
the  walled  towns  refused  to  admit  them,  so 


O'Brien 


325 


O'Brien 


it  is  not  easy  to  say  what  they  could  have 
done.  Ormonde  was  told  that  he  was  dis- 
trusted solely  on  account  of  his  relations 
with  Inchiquin,  while  the  latter  was  assured 
that  he  alone,  as  of  the  '  most  ancient  Irish 
blood,' could  fill  O'Neill's  place  in  the  popular 
esteem.'  Clarendon  (  Hist,  of  Rebellion  in  Ire- 
land, p.  106)  not  unfairly  sums  up  the  case 
by  saying  that  '  when  these  two  lords  had 
communicated  each  to  other  (as  they  quickly 
did)  the  excellent  addresses  which  had  been 
made  to  them,  and  agreed  together  how  to 
draw  on  and  encourage  the  proposers,  that 
they  might  discover  as  much  of  their  purposes 
as  possible,  they  easily  found  their  design 
•was  to  be  rid  of  them  both.'  The  choice  of 
Emer  MacMahon  [q.  v.],  bishop  of  Clogher, 
as  O'Neill's  successor  naturally  brought  dis- 
aster, and  Ormonde,  accompanied  by  Inchi- 
quin and  some  forty  other  officers,  left  Ireland, 
and,  after  three  weeks'  tossing,  landed  safely 
at  Perros  Guirec,  in  Brittany. 

Charles  II  was  at  this  time  in  Holland, 
and  Inchiquin  was  called  upon  to  defend 
himself  against  many  charges  brought  by  Sir 
Lewis  Dyve  [q.  v.],  but  soon  withdrawn  as 
without  foundation  (Clarendon  Cal.  ii.  522). 
Charles  investigated  the  matter  at  Paris  after 
his  escape  from  Worcester,  and  on  2  April  1 652 
wrote  himself  to  Inchiquin  to  declare  his  con- 
iidenceinhim($.p.  691).  On  11  May  he  was 
made  one  of  the  royal  council/  of  whose  com- 
pany,' Hyde  wrote,'  I  am  glad ;  who  is,  in  truth, 
a  gallant  gentleman  of  good  parts  and  great 
industry,  and  a  temper  fit  to  struggle  with 
the  affairs  on  all  sides  that  we  are  to  contend 
with'  (Clarendon  State  Papers,  iii.  67).  But 
neither  Henrietta  Maria,  Jermyn,  nor  Wilmot 
liked  the  new  appointment.  In  1653  Inchi- 
quin sought  the  command  of  all  Irish  soldiers 
in  France;  but  this  was  opposed  by  the  Irish 
clergy,  who  told  the  nuncio  that  he  was  a 
*  murderer  of  priests,  friars,  and  such  like  ' 
(Thurloe  State  Papers,  i.  562);  but  he  had 
either  one  or  two  regiments  under  him  (ib. 
i.  590,  ii.  85).  In  May  1654  he  received 
the  earldom  which  he  had  spurned  ten  years 
before  (Clarendon  Cal.  ii.  1875).  At  this 
time  the  exiled  king's  council  consisted  of 
eleven  persons,  divided  into  two  parties.  The 
majority  consisted  of  Ormonde,  Rochester, 
Percy,  Inchiquin,  Taafe,  and  Hyde,  who  con- 
trolled the  whole  policy.  Henrietta  Maria, 
the  I)uke  of  York,  Rupert,  the  Duke  of 
Buckingham,  and  Jermyn  were  the  minority 
(Thurloe  State  Papers, 'ii.  510).  In  October 
Inchiquin  shipped  his  regiment  from  Mar- 
seilles, and  it  was  destroyed  in  Guise's  hare- 
brained expedition  to  Naples  (ib.  ii.  679 ,  iii. 
39).  He  himself  went  to  Catalonia,  where 
he  became  governor  of  the  districts  which 


still  adhered  to  France,  and  occupied  himself 
with  some  success  in  seducing  Irish  soldiers 
from  the  Spanish  to  the  French  service.  He 
was  back  at  Paris  early  in  1655,  Charles  II 
being  then  resident  at  Cologne.  Inchiquin 
remained  at  Paris,  or  near  it,  till  the  summer 
of  165(3,  and  was  more  or  less  engaged  in  the 
Sexby  plot.  A  Colonel  Clancy,  from  his 
name  probably  a  native  of  Clare,  was  em- 
ployed by  him  as  a  secret  agent  in  London 
(ib.  iv.  704,  766),  and  Henry  Cromwell  had 
information  that  Inchiquin  himself  was  to 
command  in  Ireland  (ib.  v.  477).  Charles  II, 
who  was  now  at  Bruges,  wished  Inchiquin 
and  his  Irish  soldiers  to  be  at  hand,  and 
Hyde  favoured  all  Spanish  designs  (  Claren- 
don Cal.  iii.  586,  595).  Inchiquin  was  in 
Catalonia  during  the  autumn  of  1656,  but  at 
Paris  again  in  the  summer  of  1657  (ib.  p. 
319).  By  this  time  he  had  joined  the  church 
of  Rome,  his  wife  remaining  a  staunch  pro- 
testant,  and  there  were  great  bickerings. 
The  English  envoy  Lockhart  says  the  lady 
was  persecuted,  and  that  he  had  given  her  a 
pass  to  England  without  consulting  the  Pro- 
tector's government,  for  fear  of  the  French 
protestants,  who  were  witnesses  of  her  suf- 
ferings (  Thurloe  State  Papers,  vi.  385).  The 
great  question  was  as  to  the  custody  of  her 
young  son,  Lord  O'Brien,  Henrietta  Maria  and 
the  cat holicparty  favouring  Inchiquin'sclaim, 
and  the  protestants  taking  the  other  side. 
Lockhart's  diplomacy  triumphed,  and  In- 
chiquin, who  had  violently  carried  the  boy 
off  from  the  English  embassy,  was  ordered  to 
restore  him  on  pain  of  being  banished  from 
France  and  losing  all  his  commissions  and 
allowances  (ib.  p.  681).  He  was  in  Catalonia 
during  the  autumn  of  1657,  but  returned  to 
Paris  in  the  following  January,  having  been 
sent  for  expressly  about  his  son's  business 
(ib.  p.  732).  In  April  1658  this  son,  about 
whom  there  had  been  so  much  dispute,  was 
among  his  father's  friends  in  Ireland ;  but 
Henry  Cromwell  sent  him  away  with  a 
caution  only  (ib.  vii.56). 

Inchiquin's  own  letters  during  1658  and 
1659  are  in  a  hopeless  strain  (ib.  vol.  vii.), 
and  he  sought  employment  in  any  attempt 
which  might  be  made  on  England.  But 
Ormonde  had  been  prejudiced  against  him, 
and  probably  his  change  of  religion  was  fatal 
to  his  influence  amongtheprotestant royalists 
(Clarendon  State  Papers,  iii.  41")).  The 
negotiations  which  led  to  the  peace  of  the 
Pyrenees  destroyed  his  chances  in  Catalonia ; 
but  Mazarin  connived  at  his  going  with 
Count  Schomberg  to  help  the  Portuguese, 
and  he  started  for  Lisbon  in  the  autumn  of 
1659.  On  10-20  Feb.  1659-60  it  was  known 
i  at  Paris  that  he  and  his  sou  had  been  taken 


O'Brien 


326 


O'Brien 


at  sea  by  the  Algerines  (Cal.  State  Papers. 
Dom.)  The  English  council  wrote  on  his 
behalf  to  the  pasha,  and  by  23  Aug.  he  was 
in  England,  but  his  son  remained  in  Africa 
as  a  hostage.  The  House  of  Commons  specially 
recommended  the  case  of  both  father  and  son 
to  the  king,  and  on  10  Nov.  a  warrant  was 
granted  to  export  7,500  dollars  for  ransom 
(ib. ;  KENNET,  Register,  p.  179).  Lady  In- 
chiquin  petitioned  for  her  husband's  release 
in  August,  but  during  the  same  month  Sir 
Donough  O'Brien  wrote  that  she  had  no 
mind  to  see  any  of  his  relations  'for  his 
being  a  papist'  (Dromoland  MS.)  Inchiquin 
went  to  Paris  soon  after,  and  returned  with 
Henrietta  Maria,  of  whose  household  he 
became  high  steward  (ib.)  During  1661 
he  signed  the  declaration  of  allegiance  to 
Charles  II  by  Irish  catholic  nobility  and 
gentry,  notwithstanding  any  papal  sentence 
or  dispensation  (Somers  Tracts,  vii.  544). 
He  was  generally  in  attendance  on  the  queen- 
mother,  either  in  London  or  Paris,  and  on 
23  June  1662  it  is  noted  that '  this  famous 
soldier  in  Ireland '  sailed  as  general-in-chief 
of  the  expeditionary  force  sent  by  Charles 
to  help  the  Portuguese  ;  that  he  landed  at 
Lisbon  on  31  July  with  two  thousand  foot 
and  some  troops  of  horse,  and  that  he  made 
a  short  speech  to  his  men  (KENNET,  p.  719). 
The  Spaniards  avoided  a  battle,  and  allowed 
the  strangers  to  waste  themselves  by  long 
marches  and  by  indulgence  in  fruit.  Inchi- 
quin returned  to  England  in  1663,  and  seems 
soon  to  have  gone  to  Ireland. 

Inchiquin's  military  career  was  now  closed, 
and  the  presidency  of  Munster,  which  he 
had  so  much  coveted,  was  denied  to  him  on 
account  of  his  religion,  and  given  to  the 
astute  Broghill,  now  Earl  of  Orrery.  But 
when  the  latter  went  to  England  in  June 
1664  he  made  his  old  rival  vice-president, 
and  they  remained  friends  afterwards.  In- 
chiquin seems  to  have  lived  quietly  in  Ire- 
land during  the  greaterpart  of  his  remaining 
years.  In  1666  he  was  made  a  magistrate 
for  Clare ;  but  Rostellan,  on  Cork  harbour,  be- 
came the  favourite  residence  of  his  family. 
Henrietta  Maria  finally  departed  into  France 
in  1665,  and  when  she  was  gone  he  had  little 
to  draw  him  to  London.  When  Orrery  was 
impeached  in  1668,  the  third  article  against 
him  was  that  he  had  unjustly  used  his  pre- 
sidential power  to  secure  Rostellan  for  In- 
chiquin, whose  eldest  son  had  married  his 
daughter  Margaret.  As  the  impeachment 
was  dropped,  it  is  hard  to  say  how  far 
Orrery's  defence  was  good.  Part  of  it  was 
that  Fitzgerald  of  Cloyne,  the  other  claimant, 
was  a  '  known  notorious  papist,  and  the 
house  a  stronghold  near  the  sea '  (MoRRiCE). 


The  Capuchin  Pere  Gamache,  who  wrote 
during  Inchiquin's  life,  says  his  banishment, 
imprisonment,  and  other  troubles  were  a 
judgment  for  his  offences  against  the  church; 
'  and  now  he  continues  his  penitence  with  a 
Dutch  wife,  who  is  furious  against  the 
catholic  religion,  and  keeps  her  husband  in 
a  state  of  continual  penance.'  Her  mother 
was  a  native  of  Dort.  By  a  will  made  in 
1673  Inchiquin  left  a  legacy  to  the  Francis- 
cans and  for  other  pious  uses,  and  he  died  on 
9  Sept.  1674.  By  his  own  desire  he  was 
buried  in  Limerick  Cathedral,  probably  in 
the  O'Brien  tomb  still  extant  there.  The 
commandant  gave  full  military  honours,  and 
salutes  were  fired  at  his  funeral,  but  there  is 
no  inscription  or  other  record.  To  judge  from 
his  portraits,  of  which  there  are  two  at  Dro- 
moland,  Inchiquin  must  have  been  a  hand- 
some man.  His  widow  (Elizabeth,  daugh- 
ter of  Sir  William  St.  Leger  [q.  v.])  survived 
him  till  1685,  leaving  directions  for  her  burial 
in  the  church  which  her  father  had  built  at 
Doneraile.  Inchiquin's  eldest  son  William, 
the  second  earl,  is  separately  noticed.  He 
left  two  other  sons  and  four  daughters. 

In  the  Cromwellian  Act  of  Settlement, 
12  Aug.  1652,  Inchiquin  was  excepted  by 
name  from  pardon  for  life  or  estate.  A  pri- 
vate act  was  passed  in  September  1660  which 
restored  him  to  all  his  honours  and  lands  in 
Ireland  (KENNET,  p.  255),  and  this  was 
confirmed  by  the  Act  of  Settlement  in  1 662. 
An  estate  of  about  sixty  thousand  acres  in 
Clare,  Limerick,  Tipperary,  and  Cork  was 
thus  secured ;  8,000/.  was  given  him  out  of 
the  treasury,  in  consideration  of  his  losses  and 
sufferings.  He  was  compensated  at  the  rate 
of  101.  a  day  for  his  arrears  as  general  in 
Munster  before  5  June  1649,  and  received 
several  other  more  or  less  lucrative  grants. 

[Carte's  Life  of  the  Duke  of  Ormonde,  es- 
pecially appendix  of  letters  in  vol.  iii. ;  Russell 
and  Prendergast's  Report  on  Carte  MSS.  in  32nd 
Rep.  of  Deputy-Keeper  of  Public  Records ;  Cla- 
rendon's Hist,  of  the  Rebellion;  Clarendon  State 
Papers,  Cal.  of  Clarendon  State  Papers  ;  Thurloe 
State  Papers ;  Cal.  of  State  Papers,  Dom. ; 
Council-Books  of  Youghal  and  Kinsale,  ed.  Caul- 
field  ;  Lismore  Papers,  ed.  Grosart,  2nd  ser. ; 
Rushworth's  Collections;  Rinuccini's  Embassy  in 
Ireland,  Engl.  transl. ;  Whitelocke's  Memorials  ; 
Confederation  and  War  in  Ireland,  and  Con- 
temporary Hist,  of  Affairs  in  Ireland,  ed.  Gil- 
bert; Warr  of  Ireland,  ed.  E.  H.,  Dublin,  1873  ; 
Orrery  State  Papers  and  Life,  by  Morrice; 
Castlehaven's  Memoirs,  ed.  1815 ;  Meehan's  Con- 
federation of  Kilkenny  ;  Carlyle's  Cromwell  ; 
Walsh's  Hist,  of  the  Remonstrance  ;  Kennet's 
Register  and  Chronicle ;  Somers  Tracts,  vols.  v. 
and  vi.  ;  Lodge's  Irish  Peerage,  ed.  Archdall,  vol. 
ii.  and  vi. ;  Biographic  Universelle,  art.  '  Schom- 


O'Brien  3' 

berg ; '  Murphy's  Cromwell  in  Ireland ;  Smith's 
Hist,  of  Cork ;  Lenihan's  Hist,  of  Limerick ;  Pere  \ 
Cyprien  de  Gamaches's  narrative  in  Court  and 
Times  of  Charles  1.1648,  vol.  ii.    Lord  Inchiquin 
has  many  manuscripts  at  Dromoland,  co.  Clare,  j 
including  transcripts  from  the  Crosbie  Papers,  ! 
which  relate  chiefly  to  Kerry  during  the  days  of 
Inchiquin's  power  in  Munster.]  R.  B-L. 

O'BRIEN,  MURTOUGH  (d.  1119),  king 
of  Munster,  called  in  Irish  Muircheartach 
mdr  Ua  Briain,  was  son  of  Turlough  O'Brien 
[q.  v.],  king  of  Munster.  He  first  appears  in 
the  chronicles  as  righdhamhna  Mumhan, 
royal  heir  of  Munster,  in  1075,  when  he  fought 
a  battle  at  Ardmonann,  near  Ardee,  co.  Louth, 
with  the  Oirghialla,  the  people  of  that  region, 
and  was  defeated  with  much  slaughter,  reach- 
ing home  without  any  spoil.  In  1084  O'Rourke 
and  other  Connaughtmen  invaded  Leinster, 
and  were  met  by  forces  from  Leinster,  Ossory, 
and  Munster,  under  Murtough,  at  Monecro- 
nock,  co.  Kildare,  on  29  Oct.,  and,  after  severe 
fighting,  were  defeated.  In  1087  he  defeated 
the  Leinstermen  near  Howth,  co.  Dublin, 
but  in  the  following  year  he  was  himself 
defeated,  in  his  own  country,  by  Roderic 
O'Connor,  and  soon  after  Limerick  was  burnt. 
He  sailed  up  the  Shannon  in  the  spring,  and 
ravaged  the  shores  of  Lough  Ree,  but  was 
defeated  near  Athlone  on  his  way  home. 
He  invaded  Meath  in  1090,  and  fought  its 
king,  at  Moylena,  King's  County,  with  ill 
success,  but  was  able  later  in  the  year  to 
make  a  foray  to  Athboy,  co.  Meath.  He 
plundered  Clonmacnoise  and  attacked  Con- 
naught  in  1092,  and  made  another  expedi- 
tion into  Connaught  in  1093,  and  another, 
with  no  success,  in  1094.  In  the  same  year 
he  made  two  expeditions  into  Meath.  His 
father  having  died  in  1086,  he  was  now  king 
of  Munster,  and  in  1096  rebuilt  Ceanncoradh, 
the  royal  residence  of  the  chief  of  the  Dal 
Cais.  In  1097— long  known  as  '  bliadhain  na 
ccnd  bfionn '  (year  of  the  fine  nuts),  from  the 
abundance  of  the  hazel  nuts — he  made  a  war- 
like expedition  to  Louth,  but  the  archbishop 
of  Armagh  interposed  and  made  peace.  In 
1098  he  made  a  second  unsuccessful  northern 
march,  and  also  ravaged  Magh  Dairbhre  in 
Meath.  He  attempted  the  invasion  of  Ulster 
by  way  of  Assaroe,  co.  Donegal,  in  1100, 
but  failed.  At  the  same  time  he  tried  to 
persuade  the  Danes  to  attack  Derry  from  the 
sea.  In  1101,  however,  he  crossed  the  Erne 
at  Assaroe,  and,  marching  rapidly  north,  cap- 
tured Ailech,  the  residence  of  the  northern 
kings.  He  ruined  it  in  revenge  for  the  sack 
of  Ceanncoradh  by  Domhnall  O'Lochlainn, 
king  of  Ailech,  and  ordered,  says  an  old  verse, 
his  soldiers  each  to  carry  off  a  stone  from  it. 
Many  of  the  stones  of  Ailech  are  heavy,  and 


7  O'Brien 

even  before  the  late  restoration  a  great  many, 
in  spite  of  the  king's  order,  remained  m 
their  places.  He  then  crossed  the  Ban  at 
Camus  Macosquin,  took  hostages  of  Ulidia,  or 
LesserUlster,  and  completed  the  circuit  of  Ire- 
land in  six  weeks,  returning  from  the  north  by 
the  famous  ancient  road  called  SligheMidhlu- 
achra,  which  led  from  Ulster  to  Tara.  This 
expedition  was  long  known  as  '  an  sldighedh 
timchill  '(the  circuitous  hosting).  He  granted 
the  Rock  of  Cashel  and  the  town  round  it, 
which  up  to  this  time  had  been  the  royal  re- 
sidence of  the  kings  of  Munster,  to  the  church 
in  the  same  year.  The  ancient  stone-roofed 
cathedral,  which  now  stands  on  the  rock,  was 
built  rather  less  than  forty  years  after  this 
event.  He  plundered  Magh  Murtheimhne, 
co.  Louth,  in  1104,  Meath  in  1105,  Breifne  in 
1109,  and  Clonmacnoise  for  the  second  time 
in  1111.  He  attended  a  synod  at  Fiadh  Mic 
nAenghuis,  co.  Westmeath,  with  Ceallach, 
archbishop  of  Armagh,  Maelmuire  O'Dunain, 
bishop  of  Meath,  fifty  other  bishops,  three 
hundred  priests,  and  three  thousand  students. 
In  1113  he  fought  for  Donnchadh,  king  of 
Ulidia,  against  the  Cinel  Eoghain,  Cinel 
Conaill,  and  the  Oirghialla,  but  was  defeated. 
He  fell  ill  in  1114,  became  greatly  ema- 
ciated, and  seemed  so  devoid  of  strength  that 
Dermot  O'Brien  assumed  the  kingship  of 
Munster;  but  in  1115  Murtough  took  him 
prisoner  and  made  an  expedition  into  Lein- 
ster. He  died,  probably  of  pulmonary  con- 
sumption, which  began  in  1114,  on  10  March 
1119,  and  was  buried  in  the  church  of  Kil- 
laloe.  His  wife's  name  was  Dubhchobhlaigh, 
and  she  died  in  1086. 

[Annala  Rioghachta  Eireann,  od.  O'Donovan, 
vol.  ii.;  Annals  of  Ulster  (Rolls  Ser.),  ed.  Mac- 
Carthy,vol  ii.;  Colgan's  Acta  Sanctorum  Hiber- 
nise,  Louvain,  1645 ;  Ordnance  Survey  of  the 
County  of  Londonderry,  Dublin,  1837.]  N.  M. 

O'BRIEN,  PATRICK  (1761  ?-1806)rthe 
Irish  giant.  [See  COTTER.] 

O'BRIEN,  PAUL  (1750P-1820),  pro- 
fessor of  Irish  at  Maynooth,  was  bom  near 
Moynalty,  co.  Meath,  about  1750.  He  was 
a  great-grandnephew  of  Turlough  O'Carolan 
[q.  v.l  the  harper,  and  great-grandson  of 
William  O'Brien,  a  poet,  of  co.  Clare,  who 
married  a  daughter  of  Betagh,  the  owner  of 
Moynalty,  and  whose  poems  in  Irish  on  the 
exile  of  John  and  William  Betagh  to  France 
in  1720  are  still  rememberod  in  the  district. 
His  father  was  a  well-to-do  farmer.  In  the 
district  of  Meath,  in  which  his  boyhood  was 
spent,  Irish  literature  flourished,  so  that 
during  the  last  century,  within  a  circuit  of 
ten  miles  round  Moynalty,  eight  Irish  poets, 
three  English  poets,  ancl  several  excellent 


O'Brien 


328 


O'Brien 


Irish  scribes  were  to  be  found,  and  he  thus 
early  formed  a  taste  for  Irish  verse.  After 
school  education  he  was  ordained  priest,  and 
in  July  1802  he  was  appointed  to  the  pro- 
fessorship of  the  Irish  language  which  Mr. 
Keenan  had  founded  at  St.  Patrick's  Col- 
lege, Maynooth.  The  endowment  was  only 
60/.  a  year.  The  professor  became  an  active 
member  of  the  Gaelic  Society  of  Dublin, 
and  when  the  first  and  only  volume  of  its 
transactions  appeared  in  1808,  he  wrote  for 
it  an  introductory  address  of  seventeen  four- 
line  stanzas  of  Irish  verse.  In  1809  he  pub- 
lished a  'Practical  Grammar  of  the  Irish  Lan- 
guage,' of  which  the  manuscript  had  been 
completed  and  sent  to  H.  Fitzpatrick,  the 
publisher,  in  1806  (Fitzpatrick's  advertise- 
ment). Seven  stanzas  of  Irish  verse  by  the 
professor  are  prefixed,  in  which  Fodhla  or 
Ireland  is  made  to  incite  her  children  to  the 
study  of  their  ancient  speech.  It  is  curious 
that,  though  a  native  of  Meath,  he  speaks  of 
Tara  as  the  chief  place  of  Leinster  asEamhain 
was  of  Ulster  and  Cruachan  of  Connaught,  an 
error  of  scholarship  ;  for  in  Irish  literature 
Tara,  the  capital  of  all  Ireland,  always  appears 
as  the  enemy  of  Leinster,  and  never  as  part  of 
it.  John  O'Donovan  (Irish  Grammar,  Pre- 
face) speaks  of  O'Brien's  work  as  the  worst 
of  Irish  grammars,  but  it  has  some  interest 
as  illustrating  the  dialect  of  Meath.  It  was 
intended  for  the  clerical  students  of  May- 
nooth, and  this  is  probably  the  reason  that 
the  author  only  gives  two  examples  from 
the  poetic  literature  of  the  seventeenth  and 
eighteenth  centuries,  with  which  he  was  so 
well  acquainted  that  he  could  repeat  a  greater 
part  of  the  works  of  O'Carolan,  Cathaoir 
MacCabe  [q.v.],  Brian  O'Clery  (1730),  Colla 
MacSeaghain  (1726),  Brian  O'Reilly  (1725), 
John  O'Neill  (1722),  Fiachra  MacBrady 
[q.  v.],  James  MacCtiairt  [q.  v.],  William 
MacCartain  [q.  v.],  William  O'Ciarain  (1750), 
and  Maurice  O'Dugan  (1660).  He  was  gene- 
rous to  other  scholars,  and  gave  Edward 
O'Reilly  [q.  A-.]  much  valuable  information, 
and  wrote  an  introductory  poem  in  Irish  for 
his  '  Irish-English  Dictionary.'  He  con- 
tinued to  be  Irish  professor  at  Maynooth  till 
his  death,  on  20  May  1820. 

[O'Reilly's  Chronological  Account  of  Irish 
Writers,  Dublin,  1820,  and  Irish-English  Dic- 
tionary, Dublin,  1821;  Anderson's  Historical 
Sketches  of  the  Native  Irish  and  their  Descen- 
dants, Edinburgh,  1830,  pp.  100,  125  ;  Transac- 
tions of  the  Gaelic  Society  of  Dublin,  1808, 
vol.  i. ;  O'Donovan 's  Grammar  of  the  Irish 
Language,  Dublin,  1845,  p.  Ixi.]  N.  M. 

O'BRIEN,  TERENCE  or  TOIRDHEL- 
BHACH  (d.  1460).  bishop  of  Killaloe, 
second  son  of  the  lord  Thomond,  was  ap- 


pointed bishop  of  Killaloe  by  papal  provision, 
apparently  in  succession  to  James  O'Ghone- 
lan,  or  O'Conghalain,  who  held  the  see  in 
1441.  He  was  treacherously  slain  at  Ennis  in 
1460  byBrian-an-Chobhlaigh  O'Brien  (Brian 
of  the  Fleet),  one  of  his  own  kinsmen. 

[Ann.  of  the  Four  Masters,  iv.  1005,  ed.  O'Do- 
novan ;  Ware's  Works,  i.  594,  ed.  Harris ;  Cot- 
ton's Fasti  Eccl.  Hibern.  i.  400.]  W.  H. 

O'BRIEN,  TERENCE  ALBERT  (1600- 
1651),  bishop  of  Emly,  was  born  at  Limerick. 
Reputed  to  be  of  ancient  family,  he  was 
educated  mainly  by  his  uncle,  Maurice 
O'Brien,  prior  of  the  Limerick  Dominicans. 
In  1620  O'Brien,  who  had  been  received  into 
the  order,  was  sent  to  Toledo,  where  he  lived 
eight  years,  and  was  ordained  priest.  He  then 
returned  to  Limerick,  and  was  elected  prior 
there,  having  first  filled  that  office  at  Lorrha 
in  Tipperary.  In  1643,  when  the  confederate 
catholics  had  established  their  government 
at  Kilkenny,  O'Brien  was  elected  provincial 
of  the  Irish  Dominicans  at  a  chapter  held 
there.  He  was  one  of  two  representatives 
of  his  province  in  the  general  chapter  held 
at  Rome  early  in  1644  (Ilibernia  Dominicana, 
p.  115).  He  had  a  special  letter  of  recom- 
dation  from  the  supreme  council  of  the  con- 
federation (GILBERT, Confederat ion  and  War, 
ii.  99).  From  Rome  O'Brien  went  to  Lisbon, 
whence  he  was  recalled  to  Ireland  by  a  report 
that  he  had  been  made  Bishop  of  Emly,  but 
his  preferment  was  delayed  by  the  death  of 
Urban  VIII  on  29  July  1644.  As  provincial 
of  the  Dominicans,  he  signed  the  protest, 
dated  at  Kilkenny  6  Feb.  1645-6,  against 
the  peace  with  Ormonde,  but  resigned  not 
long  afterwards,  for  Gregory  O'Ferrall  was 
provincial  in  August  following  (Ilibernia 
Dominicana,  p.  659). 

On  31  Dec.  1645,  the  Nuncio  Rinuccini,  in 
a  letter  to  Cardinal  Pamphili,  recommended 
O'Brien  for  the  episcopate  as  '  a  man  of  pru- 
dence and  sagacity,  who  has  been  in  Italy, 
and  is  so  expert  in  the  management  of 
church  revenues  that  happy  results  might 
be  expected  from  his  care.' 

Rinuccini  again  recommended  O'Brien  on 
11  Aug.  1646,  and  on  11  March  1647  (n.s.) 
he  was  appointed  by  papal  provision  to 
the  see  of  Emly  (BRADY).  While  Inchiquin 
harried  his  diocese,  the  confederate  catho- 
lics fought  among  themselves,  and  it  was  to 
Rinuccini's  party  that  O'Brien  attached  him- 
self. He  was  at  or  near  Kilkenny  dur- 
ing a  great  part  of  1648,  and  was  one  of  five 
bishops  who  on  9  May  1648  wrote  to  the 
pope  recommending  that  Thaddeus  or  Tadhg 
O'Clery,  prior  of  St.  Patrick's  Purgatory, 
should  be  made  bishop  of  Deny  (Spicilegiwn 


O'Brien 


329 


O'Brien 


Ossoriense,  i.  307).  O'Brien  was  among  the 
bishops  who  on  30  Aug.  pronounced  it  'a 
deadly  sin  against  the  law  of  God  and  of  his 
church '  to  obey  or  proclaim  the  truce  with 
Inchiquin  (Confederation and  War,  vi.  279). 
He  supported  the  excommunication  and  in- 
terdict fulminated  by  Rinuccini  against  those 
who  did  not  agree  with  him,  or  who  refused 
to  obey  him.  Towards  the  end  of  the  year 
O'Brien  went  to  join  the  nuncio,  who  had 
retired  to  Galway,  but,  learning  at  Oran- 
more  that  he  had  sailed,  turned  aside  to 
his  own  diocese.  He  attended  the  great  as- 
sembly of  bishops  who  met  at  Clonmacnoise 
in  December  1649,  and  on  10  Feb.  following 
wrote  to  some  great  man  to  say  that  they 
were  united  against  the  common  enemy, 
though  without  retracting  individual  opinions 
^Spidlegium  Ossoriense,  i.  331).  O'Brien  was 
one  of  the  prelates  who  signed  the  declara- 
tion of  Jamestown  on  12  Aug.  1650,  releas- 
ing the  people  from  their  allegiance  to  Or- 
monde as  lord-lieutenant,  and  excommuni- 
cating those  who  persisted  in  following  him, 
and  later  in  the  same  month  he  was  one 
of  the  committee  who  repeated  this  excom- 
munication at  Galway.  Ormonde  left  Ire- 
land in  December,  leaving  Clanricarde  as 
deputy.  O'Brien  was  one  of  those  who  at 
this  time  invited  Charles,  duke  of  Lorraine,  to 
Ireland.  The  duke  reported  this  invitation 
to  the  pope  (ib.  ii.  84)  on  11  Feb.  1651 
(N.S.),  and  sent  some  supplies  to  Galway, 
but  he  never  came  himself,  and  the  negotia- 
tions had  no  real  effect. 

The  diocese  of  Emly  had  long  been  over- 
run by  the  parliamentarians,  and  O'Brien 
wrote  from  Galway  on  29  March  (ib.  i.  367) 
that  the  Irish  cause  was  lost  east  of  the 
Shannon,  and  that  the  enemy  commanded 
the  sea.  He  went  to  Limerick  before  the 
memorable  siege,  which  began  2  June  1651, 
exhorted  the*  people  to  resist,  and  helped 
to  prevent  them  from  accepting  the  com- 
paratively favourable  terms  at  first  offered 
by  Ireton.  He  devoted  himself  to  the  suf- 
ferers from  a  malignant  fever  which  raged 
among  the  besieged,  and  was  found  in  the 
hospital  when  Ireton's  soldiers  entered  on 
29  Oct.  He  was  one  of  those  excepted  by 
name  from  pardon  in  the  articles  of  capitu- 
lation, on  the  ground  that  he  had  opposed 
surrender  when  there  was  no  hope  of  relief, 
and  that  he  had  been  '  an  original  incendiary 
of  the  rebellion,  or  a  prime  engager  therein ' 
(Contemporary  Hist.  iii.  267).  He  was 
hanged  on  the  31st,  and  his  head  impaled 
over  St.  John's  gate.  By  those  of  his  own 
creed  in  Ireland,  O'Brien  has  always  been 
regarded  as  a  martyr.  In  the  acts  of  the 
Dominican  chapter-general  held  at  Rome  in 


1656,  it  is  asserted,  with  little  probability, 
that  he  refused  a  bribe  of  forty  thousand 
aurei  offered  to  him  to  quit  Limerick  before 
its  in  vestment  (Hibernia  Dominica  tin,  p.  488). 
It  is  stated  on  the  same  authority,  and  has 
been  often  repeated,  that  he  foretold  speedy 
divine  vengeance  on  the  conqueror,  and  that 
Ireton,  who  died  of  fever  within  a  month, 
bitterly  regretted  his  execution,  and  cast  the 
blame  upon  the  council  of  war.  Ireton  was 
hardly  the  man  to  shirk  responsibility,  even 
in  the  delirium  of  fever,  and  neither  his  own 
despatch  nor  Ludlow's  gives  any  hint  of  the 
kind. 

[De  Burgo's  Hibernia  Dominican;!;  Rinuc- 
cini's  Embassy  in  Ireland,  English  Trans.; 
Cardinal  Moran's  Spicilegium  Ossoriense ;  Con- 
temporary Hist,  of  War  in  Ireland,  and  Hist,  of 
Confederation  and  War  in  Ireland,  ed.  Gilbert; 
Clanricarde's  Memoirs,  1744  ;  Ludlow's  Memoirs, 
1751,  vol.  i. ;  O'Daly's  Geraldines,  translated 
by  Meehan  ;  Brady's  Episcopal  Succession ; 
Lenihan's  Hist,  of  Limerick.  The  biography  of 
Bishop  O'Brien  in  Myles  O'Reilly's  Memorials 
is  derived  from  an  article  signed  M.  (?  Cardinal 
Moran)  in  Duffy's  Hibernian  Magazine  for  April 
1864.]  R.  B-L. 

O'BRIEN,  TURLOUGH  (1009-1086), 
king  of  Munster,  called  in  Irish  Toirdhealbh- 
ach  Ua  Briain,  was  nephew  of  Donnchadh 
O'Brien,  son  of  Brian  (926-1014)  [q.  v.l  king 
of  Ireland.  His  name  is  pronounced  Trel- 
lach  in  his  own  country,  that  of  the  Dal  Cais, 
a  great  part  of  which  is  the  present  county 
of  Clare.  His  father  was  Tadhg,  son  of  Brian 
Boroimhe.  He  was  born  in  1009,  and  fostered 
or  educated  by  Maelruanaidh  O'Bilraighe, 
lord  of  Ui  Cairbre  in  the  plain  of  Limerick, 
who  died  in  1105.  His  first  recorded  act  was 
the  slaying  of  O'Donnacain,  lord  of  Aradh- 
tire,  near  Lough  Derg  of  the  Shannon,  in 
1031.  After  this  he  was  perhaps  banished, 
for  in  1054  he  plundered  Clare  with  an 
army  of  Connaughtmen,  and  in  1055  won 
a  battle  over  his  kinsman  Murchadh  an  sceith 
ghirr  (short  shield),  in  which  400  men  and 
fifteen  chiefs  were  slain.  His  accession  as 
chief  of  the  Dal  Cais  is  dated  from  1055  by 
some  writers,  but  his  sway  was  at  first  not 
undisputed;  and  O'Flaherty's  date,  1064 
(Ogygia,  p.  437),  is  certainly  correct.  He 
defeated  Murchadh  for  the  second  time  in 
1063.  In  1067  he  made  war  on  Connaught 
and  on  the  Deisi,  co.  Waterford,  and  on  the 
death  of  Murchadh  became  king  of  Mun- 
ster. He  carried  off  the  head  of  Conchobhar 
O'Maelsechlainn  and  two  rings  of  gold  on  the 
night  of  Good  Friday  1073  from  Clonmacnoise. 
According  to  an  old  story,  a  mouse  emerged 
from  the  dried  head  and  ran  into  Turlough's 
garments,  and  was  supposed  to  have  carried 


O'Brien 


33° 


O'Brien 


the  disease  which  attacked  him,  and  in  which 
his  hair  and  beard  fell  off.  He  returned  the 
head,  with  an  offering  of  gold.  He  marched 
to  Ardee,  co.  Louth,  to  attack  the  Oirghialla 
and  the  people  of  Ulidia,  in  1075,  but  met 
with  no  success.  In  1077  he  led  his  troops 
against  the  Ui  Ceinnseallaigh  of  Leinster, 
and  captured  Domhnall  the  Fat,  their  chief. 
In  1080  he  marched  to  Dublin  and  took 
hostages  from  the  city.  He  plundered  the 
district  known  as  Muintir  Eolais,  co.  Leitrim, 
in  1085,  and  captured  its  chief,  Muireadh- 
ach  MacDuibh.  Turlough  had  long  been  ill, 
since  his  robbery  from  Clonmacnoise  in  1073, 
say  the  chronicles,  and  died,  after  much  suf- 
fering and  intense  penance  for  his  sins,  at 
Ceanncoradh,  co.  Clare,  14  July  1086.  Arch- 
bishop Lanfranc  wrote  to  him  in  1074  as '  mag- 
nifico  Hibernise  regi  Terdelvaco '  (USHEK, 
ep.  27)  ;  but  his  only  claim  to  the  title  of  king 
of  Ireland  was  his  descent  from  Brian,  whose 
title  was  purely  one  of  conquest,  and  not 
of  hereditary  right.  He  married  Gormlaith, 
daughter  of  O'Fogartaigh,  a  chief  of  the  dis- 
trict in  Ormond  called  Eile  Ui  Fhogartaigh, 
now  Eliogarty,  co.  Tipperary,  but  who  was 
a  descendant  of  Eochaidh  Balldearg,  king  of 
Thomond  in  the  fifth  century,  and  therefore 
belonged,  like  her  husband,  to  the  Dal  Cais, 
the  greatest  tribe  of  North  Munster.  He  had 
two  sons  :  Murtough  [q.  v.],  who  succeeded 
him  as  king  of  Munster ;  and  Tadhg,  who  died 
in  July  1086,  and  left  sons  who  fought  with 
Murtogh  till  peace  was  made  between  them 
in  1091. 

[Annala  Eioghachta  Eireann,  ed.  O'Donovan, 
vol.  ii.  Dublin,  1851 ;  Annals  of  Ulster,  ed. 
MacCarthy,  vol.  ii ;  Annals  of  Loch  Ce,  ed.  Hen- 
nessy  (Rolls  Ser.) ;  O'Flaherty's  Ogygia,  Lon- 
don, 1685  ;  Ussher's  Epistolarum  Hibernicarum 
Sylloge.]  N.  M. 

O'BRIEN,  WILLIAM,  second  EARL  OF 
INCHIQTJIN  (1638  P-1692),  born  about  1638, 
was  the  son  of  Murrough  O'Brien,  sixth  baron 
and  first  earl  of  Inchiquin  [q.  v.]  Brought  up 
in  London  at  the  house  of  Sir  Philip  Percival, 
his  father's  friend,  he  was  a  companion  to  his 
guardian's  son,  afterwards  Sir  John  Percival. 
On  7  April  1658  Henry  Cromwell,  protector  in 
Ireland,  informed  Thurloe  that  Lord  O'Brien, 
as  Inchiquin's  son  was  called  in  his  father's 
lifetime,  had  come  to  him  in  Ireland  without 
pass  or  permission.  But  most  of  his  early  life 
was  spent  with  his  father  in  foreign  military 
service  in  France  or  Spain.  In  February 
1659-60  he  accompanied  the  earl  on  his 
way  to  Lisbon  with  a  French  force,  destined 
to  assist  the  Portuguese  against  Spain. 
Almost  within  sight  of  Lisbon,  the  vessel 
in  which  the  earl  and  his  son  were  sail- 
ing was  attacked  by  an  Algerine  corsair, 


under  the  Turkish  flag.  In  the  consequent 
encounter  O'Brien  lost  an  eye,  and,  together 
with  the  earl,  he  was  carried  into  Algiers. 
The  council  of  state  in  England  made  a  de- 
mand on  the  dey  of  Algiers  for  their  release. 
O'Brien  at  once  returned  to  England,  but 
his  son  remained  as  a  hostage.  Early  in 
1674  he  was  appointed  captain-general  of 
his  majesty's  forces  in  Africa,  and  governor 
and  vice-admiral  of  the  royal  citadel  of 
Tangier  (ceded  by  the  Portuguese  as  a  part 
of  the  marriage  portion  of  Catherine  of  Bra- 
ganza).  He  held  the  post  for  six  years.  He 
was  gazetted  colonel  of  the  Tangier  (or  queen's 
own)  regiment  of  foot  on  5  March  1674,  and 
was  sworn  of  his  majesty's  privy  council.  He 
succeeded  to  the  title  as  second  Earl  of  Inchi- 
quin at  his  father's  death  on  9  Sept.  1674. 

Lord  Inchiquin  welcomed  the  Prince  of 
Orange  in  1688,  and  in  1689  he  and  his  eldest 
son,  William  (afterwards  third  earl),  were 
attainted  by  the  Irish  parliament  of  King 
James  II,  and  their  estates  sequestrated. 
Joined  by  his  relatives  of  the  Boyle  family, 
he  thereupon  headed  a  large  body  of  the 
protestants  of  Munster  to  oppose  the  pro- 
gress of  the  catholics.  He  was,  however,  so 
ill  sustained  by  the  government  in  England 
that  his  troops  were  dispersed  by  the  supe- 
rior forces  of  Major-general  Macarthy,  and, 
along  with  his  son,  he  was  obliged  to  take 
refuge  in  England.  He  was  present  at  the 
battle  of  the  Boyne,  accompanied  King  Wil- 
liam III  to  Dublin,  and  subsequently  appears 
to  have  passed  some  time  in  co.  Cork  with 
Captain  Patrick  Bellew  (nephew  to  Mathew, 
first  lord  Bellew  of  Duleek),  afterwards 
portreeve  of  Castle  Martyr,  co.  Cork. 

After  the  revolution  in  1689-90  he  was  ap- 
pointed governor  of  Jamaica.  On  his  arrival 
an  assembly  was  immediately  summoned : 
its  first  act  was  to  offer  him  a  bill  abrogat- 
ing the  laws  passed  in  the  late  reign  of 
tyranny  and  terror.  He  was  overwhelmed 
with  addresses  and  congratulations  upon  the 
victory  of  William  III.  But  when  discus- 
sions arose  in  the  assembly  respecting  a  bill 
for  the  defence  of  the  island,  he  intemperately 
rejected  the  congratulatory  address  of  the 
house  to  himself,  and  '  threw  it  to  them 
with  some  contempt.'  When  war  was  de- 
clared by  England  against  France,  French 
cruisers  committed  continual  depredations 
on  the  seaside  plantations,  and  a  large  sum 
was  raised  by  Inchiquin  for  the  relief  of  the 
sufferers.  Subsequently  the  runaway  negroes 
grew  troublesome ;  they  came  down  from  the 
woods,  robbed  the  neighbouring  settlements, 
and  committed  atrocious  cruelties.  The 
anxieties  of  his  position,  increased  by  his  own 
want  of  tact,  ruined  his  health,  and  sixteen 


O'Brien 


33* 


O'Brien 


months  after  his  arrival  he  died  (in  January 
1691-2)  at  St.  Jago  de  la  Vega.  He  was 
buried  there,  in  the  parish  church. 

He  married,  first,  Lady  Margaret  Boyle, 
third  daughter  of  Roger,  first  earl  of  Orrery 
[q.  v.],  by  his  wife,  Lady  Margaret  Howard, 
third  daughter  of  Theophilus,  second  earl  of 
Suffolk,  and  had  by  her  three  sons — William 
(his  successor);  Henry,  who  died  an  infant; 
and  James,  who  died  unmarried  on  his  return 
from  Jamaica ;  a  daughter  Margaret  also  died 
unmarried.  His  second  wife  was  Elizabeth, 
youngest  daughter  and  coheiress  of  George 
Brydges,  lord  Chandos,  and  relict  of  Edward, 
third  lord  Herbert  of  Cherbury  [see  under 
HERBERT,  EDWARD,  first  LORD  HERBERT 
OF  CHERBURY]  ;  but  by  her — who  married, 
thirdly,  Charles,  lord  Howard  of  Escrick,  and 
•  died  in  February  1717 — he  had  no  issue. 

[Cal.  State  Papers,  Dom.  1659-60;  Lodge's 
Peerage,  ed.  Archdall,  li.  57 ;  O'Donoghue's  His- 
torical Memoir  of  the  O'Briens;  Burke's  Peerage, 
1892  ;  Heath's  Chronicle,  p.  440;  Bridges's  An- 
nals of  Jamaica,  i.  300.]  W.  W.  W. 

O'BRIEN,  WILLIAM  (d.  1815),  actor 
and  dramatist,  the  son  of  a  fencing  master, 
was  distantly  connected  with  the  O'Briens, 
viscounts  Clare,  and  appears,  though  this  is 
not  certain,  in  early  life  to  have  shared  the 
ostracism  of  his  family,  who  were  warm  ad- 
herents of  the  Stuarts"[see  O'BRIEN,  DANIEL, 
first  VISCOUNT  CLARE  ;  O'BRIEN,  CHARLES, 
sixth  VISCOUNT  CLARE].  After  losing  Wood- 
ward, Garrick,  who  had,  it  must  be  supposed, 
seen  O'Brien  act  in  Ireland,  engaged  him  for 
Drury  Lane,  where  he  appeared  on  3  Oct. 

1758  as  Brazen  in  the  '  Kecruiting  Officer.' 
Lucio  in  '  Measure  for  Measure,'  Polydore  in 
the '  Orphan,'  Jack  Meggot,  the  Fine  Gentle- 
man,  in   '  Lethe,'  Brisk    in    the    '  Double 
Dealer,'  Witwoud  Tom  in '  Conscious  Lovers,' 
Laertes,  Lord  Foppington  in  the  '  Careless 
Husband,'  were  among  the  parts  he  took  in 
his  first  season,  in  which  also  he  was  the 
original  Felix  in   the  '  Rout,'  and  Young 
Clackit  in  Garrick's  '  Guardian.'     On  31  Oct. 

1759  he  was  the  first  Lovel  in  '  High  Life 
below  Stairs.'     Subsequently  he  played  an 
original  part  in  '  Marriage  a  la  Mode,'  and 
added  to  his  repertory  Witling  in  the  '  Re- 
fusal,' Campley  in  the  '  Funeral,'  Fribble  in 
'  Miss  in  her  Teens,'  Slender  in  the  '  Merry 
Wives  of  Windsor,'  Numps  in  the  '  Tender 
Husband,'  and  Lord   George   Brilliant   in 
the  'Lady's  Last  Stake.'     On  31  Jan.  1761 
lie  was  the  original  Edgar  in  '  Edgar  and 
Emmeline,'  in  which  he  was  excellent.  Later 
he  played    Lord  Trinket   in  the  '  Jealous 
Wife,'  and  Archer  in  the  'Beaux'  Strata- 
gem.'  Beverley  in '  All  in  the  Wrong,' Wild- 
ing in  the  '  Citizen,'  Clerimont  in  the  '  Old 


Maid,'  Marplot  in  the '  Busybody,'  Guiderius 
in  'Cymbeline,'  Sir  Harry  Wildair  in  the 
'  Constant  Couple,'  Clodio  in  '  Love  makes 
a  Man,'  and  Felix  in  the  '  Wonder,'  fol- 
lowed in  the  succeeding  season,  in  which, 
on  10  Feb.  1762,  he  was  the  original  Bel- 
mour  in  Whitehead's  '  School  for  Lovers.' 
In  1762-3  he  was  Valentine  in  '  Two  Gentle- 
men of  Verona,'  the  first  Sir  Harry  Flutter 
in  Mrs.  Sheridan's  '  Discovery,'  Lothario  in 
the  '  Fair  Penitent,'  and  Master  Johnny  in 
the  'Schoolboy.'  In  1763-4  he  played 
Tattle  in  '  Love  for  Love,'  Sir  Andrew  Ague- 
cheek,  Colonel  Tamper,  an  original  part  in  Col- 
man's  '  Deuce  is  in  him,'  Prince  of  Wales  in 
'  King  Henry  IV,'  pt.  i.,  Ranger  in  the  '  Sus- 
picious Husband,'  Benedick,  Maiden  in  'Tun- 
bridge  Walks,'  Lovemore  in  the  '  Way  to 
keep  him,'  and  Squire  Richard  in  the '  Pro- 
voked Husband.'  This,  3  April  1764,  is  the 
last  part  to  which  his  name  appears.  Like 
Woodward,  O'Brien  was  harlequin.  After 
his  marriage,  in  1764,  at  which  time  he  had 
a  cottage  at  Dunstable,  he  retired  from  the 
stage.  In  the '  Dialogue  in  the  Shades '  Mrs. 
Gibber  says  to  Mrs.  Woffington :  '  The  only 
performers  of  any  eminence  that  have  made 
their  appearance  since  your  departure  are 
O'Brien  and  Powell.  The  first  was  a  very 
promising  comedian  inWoodward's  walk, and 
was  much  caressed  by  the  nobility  ;  but  this 
apparent  good  fortune  was  his  ruin,  for  having 
married  a  young  lady  of  family  without  her 
relations'  knowledge,  he  was  obliged  to  trans- 
port himself  to  America,  where  he  is  now 
doing  penance  for  his  redemption '  (GENEST, 
v.  49-50).  The '  Dramatic  Censor '  speaks  of 
him  as  the  best  Mercutio  after  Woodward. 
He  probably  played  the  part  during  an  en- 
gagement he  fulfilled  at  the  Crow  Street 
Theatre,  Dublin,  in  the  summer  of  1763. 

After  he  ceased  to  be  an  actor  he  wrote  for 
Covent  Garden  '  Cross  Purposes,'  8vo,  1772, 
an  adaptation  in  two  acts  of  Lafont's  '  Trois 
Freres  Rivaux,'  and  'The  Duel,'8vo,  1773,  an 
adaptation  of '  Le  Philosophe  sans  le  eavoir ' 
of  Sedaine.  The  latter  piece  had  less  success 
than  it  merited ;  the  former  was  more  than 
once  repeated,  having  been  given  in  Bath  so 
late  as  1821. 

Meanwhile  O'Brien  had  settled  for  a  while 
in  America,  where  he  appears  to  have  held 
an  appointment  under  Sir  Henry  Moore, 
governor  of  the  province  of  New  York.  On 
Sir  Henry's  death  in  1709  he  went  to  Quebec. 
In  May  1768  he  was  gazetted  secretary  and 
provost-master-general  of  the  islands  of  Ber- 
muda. By  the  interest  of  Lord  Ilch«-t,  r, 
O'Brien  was  subsequently  appointed  receiver- 
general  of  Dorset.  He  died  at  Stinsford  I  louse 
on  2  Sept.  1815,  and  was  buried  in  Stinsford 


O'Brien 


332 


O'Brien 


Church,  where  there  are  monuments  to  him 
and  his  wife.  O'Brien  had  a  good  and  gentle- 
manly bearing,  easy  manners,  grace,  and 
elegance,  and  in  the  conduct  of  the  sword 
was  unapproached.  In  deportment  he  threw 
other  actors  into  the  shade,  and  Horace  Wai- 
pole  wrote :  '  Gibber  and  O'Brien  were  what 
Garrick  could  never  reach — coxcombs  and 
men  of  fashion '  (Letters,  ed.  Cunningham,  iv. 
226).  Upon  retiring,  he  sought  to  hide  the 
fact  that  he  had  been  on  the  stage. 

O'Brien  married,  7  April  1764,  at  St.  Paul's 
Church,  Covent  Garden,  without  her  father's 
knowledge,  Lady  Susan  Sarah  Louisa  (1744- 
1827),  eldest  daughter  of  Stephen  Fox- 
Strangways,  first  earl  of  Ilchester,  and  niece 
of  Henry  Fox,  first  lord  Holland  [q.  v.]  Wai- 
pole  mentions  a  rumour  that  they  were  to  be 
transported  to  the  Ohio  and  granted  forty 
thousand  acres  of  land  (ib.  pp.  226, 262,  284). 
Lady  Susan  O'Brien  died  on  9  Aug.  1827, 
aged  83,  and  was  buried  with  her  husband 
(HuTCHiNS,  Dorset,  ii.  567). 

[Genest's  Account  of  the  English  Stage ;  Tate 
Wilkinson's  Memoirs  ;  Davies's  Life  of  Garrick. 
Tate  Wilkinson  and  Davies,  though  referring  to 
him,  do  not  mention  his  name.  Doran's  Annals 
of  the  English  Stage,  ed.  Lowe  ;  Victor's  Hist,  of 
the  Theatres;  BiographiaDramatica;  Gent.  Mag. 
1815,  pt.  ii.  p.  285 ;  Notes  and  Queries,  8th  ser. 
v.  72,  152,  279;  Walpole's  Letters,  ed.  Cunning- 
ham, passim.  The  marriage  certificate  of  O'Brien 
and  Lady  Susan  or  Susanna  Fox- St  rang  ways  has 
been  consulted.]  J.  K. 

O'BRIEN,  WILLIAM  SMITH  (1803- 
1864),  Irish  nationalist,  born  at  Dromoland, 
co.  Clare,  on  17  Oct.  1803,  was  the  second 
son  of  Sir  Edward  O'Brien,  bart.,  a  descen- 
dant of  the  ancient  earls  of  Thomond,  by 
his  wife  Charlotte,  eldest  daughter  and  co- 
heiress of  William  Smith  of  Cahinnoyle, 
co.  Limerick.  His  grandfather,  Sir  Lucius 
O'Brien,  and  his  younger  brother,  Edward, 
are  separately  noticed.  He  was  educated  at 
Harrow  and  Trinity  College,  Cambridge, 
where  he  graduated  B.A.  in  1826  as  William 
O'Brien.  He  assumed  the  additional  name 
of  Smith  on  the  death  of  his  maternal  grand- 
father, William  Smith  of  Cahirmoyle,  whose 
estates  in  Limerick  he  inherited.  At  a  by- 
election  in  April  1828  he  was  returned  to  the 
House  of  Commons,  as  a  supporter  of  Sir 
Robert  Peel,  for  the  borough  of  Ennis,  which 
he  continued  to  represent  until  April  1831. 
He  appears  to  have  addressed  the  house  for 
the  first  time  on  3  June  1828,  when  he  spoke 
in  favour  of  a  paper  currency  (Parl.  Debates, 
2nd  ser.  xix.  1014).  In  the  following  month 
he  declared  his  approval  of  Roman  catholic 
emancipation,  and  avowed  himself  a  member 
of  the  catholic  association  (ib.  2nd  ser.  xix. 


1613-14).  During  the  debate  on  the  intro- 
duction of  the  Bill  for  the  suppression  of 
that  association  in  February  1829,  he  ex- 
pressed his  '  concurrence  in  any  act  which 
would  put  an  end  to  the  ascendancy  of  a 
faction  which  already  revelled  in  the  antici- 
pated triumph  of  a  civil  war'  (ib.  2nd  ser. 
xx.  212).  In  the  same  year  he  opposed 
O'Connell's  second  candidature  for  Clare, 
and  fought  a  duel  with  Thomas  Steele, 
O'Connell's  '  head  pacificator '  (CusACK, 
The  Liberator :  his  Life  and  Times,  1872, 
pp.  573-5).  In  1830  he  published  a  pam- 
phlet entitled  '  Considerations  relative  to 
the  Renewal  of  the  East  India  Company's 
Charter '  (London,  8vo)  ;  and  in  May  of  this 
year  spoke  against  O'Connell's  Manhood 
Suffrage  Bill  and  defended  the  borough  sys- 
tem (Parl.  Debates,  2nd  ser.  xxiv.  1234-5). 
On  8  Feb.  1831  O'Brien  brought  in  a  bill  for 
the  relief  of  the  aged  and  helpless  poor  of 
Ireland  (ib.  3rd  ser.  ii.  246),  but  failed  to 
carry  it  through  the  house.  He  was  absent 
unpaired  from  the  division  on  the  second 
reading  of  the  first  Reform  Bill,  but  voted 
with  the  government  against  General  Gas- 
coigne's  amendtoient  on  19  April  1831.  At 
the  general  election  in  January  1835  O'Brien 
was  returned  for  the  county  of  Limerick. 
In  the  following  March  he  again  brought 
the  question  of  the  Irish  poor  laws  before 
the  house  (ib.  3rd  ser.  xxvi.  1206-11,  1230- 
1231),  and  seconded  Sir  Richard  Musgrave's 
I  motion  for  leave  to  bring  in  a  bill  for  the 
relief  of  the  poor  in  Ireland  (ib.  3rd  ser.  xxvii. 
203).  In  May  he  seconded  the  introduction 
of  Mr.  Wyse's  bill  for  the  establishment  of 
a  board  of  national  education,  and  the  ad- 
vancement of  elementary  education  in  Ire- 
land (ib.  3rd  ser.  xxvii.  1228).  On  8  March 
1836  he  supported  the  Irish  Municipal  Re- 
form Bill  (ib.  3rd  ser.  xxxii.  1-7),  and  on 
5  July,  at  O'Connell's  suggestion,  withdrew 
his  resolutions  '  expressive  of  regret  expe- 
rienced by  the  house  at  the  conduct  of  the 
House  of  Lords  in  rejecting '  that  bill  (ib. 
3rd  ser.  3rd  ser.  xxxiv.  1282).  His  own  bill 
for  the  relief  of  the  poor  in  Ireland  was  read 
a  second  time  on  11  May  1836,  but  was  sub- 
sequently shelved  (ib.  3rd  ser.  xxxiii.  833- 
834).  On  28  April  1837  he  supported  the 
second  reading  of  the  Irish  Poor  Law  Bill, 
which  he  considered  capable,  after  a  few 
modifications  in  committee,  '  of  being  ren- 
dered a  most  efficient  and  useful  enactment ' 
(ib.  3rd  ser.  xxxviii.  392-402).  Although  a 
protestant,  O'Brien  expressed  his  opinion 
that  the  principal  objection  to  the  Maynooth 
grant  was  that  it  was  so  small,  and  advo- 
cated the  payment  of  the  Roman  catholic 
clergy  by  the  state  (ib.  3rd  ser.  xxxviii.  1628). 


O'Brien 


333 


O'Brien 


On  5  March  1839  he  brought  in  a  bill  for  the 
registration  of  voters  in  Ireland  (ib.  3rd  ser. 
xlv.  1286).  During  the  prolonged  debate  on 
Mr.  C.  P.  Villiers's  motion  in  the  same  month, 
O'Brien  expressed  his  opinion  that  he  '  did 
not  see  that  any  advantage  would  result  from 
the  repeal  of  the  corn  laws  sufficient  to 
counterbalance  the  sacrifice  of  the  agricul- 
tural interest'  (ib.  3rd  ser.  xlvi.  809-11);  and 
on  6  May,  much  to  O'Connell's  disgust,  he 
voted  with  Sir  Robert  Peel  against  the 
Jamaica  Government  Bill  (ib.  3rd  ser.  xlvii. 
971 ;  Correspondence  of  Daniel  O'Connell, 
edited  by  W.  J.  Fitzpatrick,  1888,  ii.  177, 
183-4).  In  this  year  a  paper  written  by 
O'Brien,  on  '  Education  in  Ireland,'  was  pub- 
lished by  the  Central  Society  of  Education 
(third  publication,  pp.  140-83,  London,  8vo). 
On  4  I  eb.  1840  O'Brien  seconded  a  motion 
for  the  appointment  of  a  select  committee  to 
inquire  into  the  causes  of  discontent  among 
the  working  classes  (Par/.  Debates,  3rd  ser. 
li.  1234-6),  and  on  2  June  he  moved  a  reso- 
lution in  favour  of  free  emigration  to  the 
colonies  (ib.  3rd  ser.  liv.  832-67).  In  Fe- 
bruary 1841  he  supported  the  second  reading 
of  the  Parliamentary  Voters  (Ireland)  Bill  (ib. 
3rd  ser.  Ivi.  867-9),  and  on  6  April  strongly 
advocated  the  appointment  of  a  minister 
of  public  instruction  (ib.  3rd  ser.  Ivii.  942-8). 
During  the  debate  on  the  address  in 
August  1841  O'Brien  warmly  defended  the 
whig  ministry,  and  declared  that  it  was  '  the 
first  government  that  had  made  an  approach 
towards  governing  Ireland  upon  the  prin- 
ciples upon  which  alone  she  could  now  be 
governed'  (ib.  3rd  ser.  lix.  290-3).  On 
23  March  1843  he  moved  for  the  appoint- 
ment of  a  select  committee  to  inquire  into 
the  manner  in  which  the  act  for  the  relief  of 
the  poor  in  Ireland  (1  &  2  Viet.  c.  56)  had 
been  carried  into  operation,  but  was  defeated 
by  a  majority  of  eighty-five  (Par/.  Debates, 
3rd  ser.  Ixvii.  1347-69,  1405).  On  30  May 
he  opposed  the  second  reading  of  the  Arms 
Bill,  and  threatened  '  to  divide  not  only  on 
every  stage  of  the  bill,  but  upon  every  clause ' 
(ib.  3rd  ser.  Ixix.  1118-20).  On  the  re- 
moval of  O'Connell  and  other  prominent  re- 
pealers from  the  list  of  magistrates  by  the 
Irish  lord  chancellor,  O'Brien  resigned  his 
seat  on  the  bench  as  a  protest  against  such  | 
an  arbitrary  act.  He  was,  however,  re- 
appointed  a  justice  of  the  peace  in  1846  at 
the  special  request  of  the  magistrates  of , 
Limerick  (DcrFFr,  Four  Years  of  Irish  His- 
tory, 1883,  pp.  331-2).  Still  an  avowed  oppo-  ' 
nent  to  repeal,  O'Brien,  on  4  July  1843,  as 
a  final  effort  to  obtain  justice  for  his  country, 
moved  that  the  house  should  take  into  con- 
sideration '  the  causes  of  the  discontent  at 


present  prevailing  in  Ireland,  with  a  view  to 
the  redress  of  grievances  and  to  the  esta- 
blishment of  a  system  of  just  and  impartial 
government  in  that  part  of  the  United  King- 
dom.' In  a  long  and  forcible  speech,  O'Brien 
made  a  full  and  temperate  statement  of  the 
Irish  claims.  While  arraigning  '  the  British 
government  and  the  British  parliament  for 
having  misgoverned'  Ireland,  he  confessed 
that  he  began  to  doubt  whether '  the  abstract 
opinions  which  I  have  formed  in  favour  of 
an  union,  such  as  seems  never  about  to  be 
realised,  are  consistent  with  the  duty  which 
I  owe  to  the  country  possessing  the  first 
claim  upon  my  devotion  '  (Par/.  Debates,  3rd 
ser.  Ixx.  630-77).  O'Brien's  motion,  though 
supported  by  '  young  England,'  was  rejected 
after  five  nights'  debate  by  a  majority  of 
seventy-nine. 

Despairing  of  obtaining  relief  from  par- 
liament, and  incensed  at  the  prosecution  of 
O'Connell,  O'Brien  formally  joined  the  Re- 
peal Association  on  20  Oct.  1843,  and  '  im- 
mediately became  by  common  consent  the  se- 
cond man  in  the  movement '  (DuFFT,  Thomas 
Davis,  1890,  p.  188).  During  O'Connell'a 
confinement  in  Richmond  penitentiary  the 
leadership  of  the  association  was  entrusted 
to  O'Brien,  who  vowed  not  to  taste  wine  or 
any  intoxicating  liquor  until  the  union  was 
repealed  (DuFFY,  Young  Ireland,  1880,  p. 
481).  In  the  federal  controversy  O'Brien 
avowed  his  preference  for  repeal  'as  more 
easily  attainable,  and  more  useful  when 
attained,  than  any  federal  constitution  which 
could  be  devised'  (ib.  p.  592).  Though 
he  endeavoured  to  maintain  a  complete  neu- 
trality between  the  two  sections  of  the  Irish 
party,  he  pronounced  in  favour  of  mixed  edu- 
cation, in  spite  of  O'Connell's  denunciations 
of  the  '  godless  colleges.'  He  also  opposed 
O'Connell  in  the  matter  of  the  whig  alliance, 
declaring  that  his  motto  was '  Repeal  and  no 
compromise.'  In  the  spring  of  1846  O'Brien 
appears  to  have  made  some  approaches  to 
Lord  George  Bentinck,  who  assured  him  that 
he  would  cordially  assent  to  a  temporary 
suspension  of  the  corn  laws  during  the  Irish 
famine  if  desired  by  the  Irish  members 
(Par/.  Debates,  3rd  ser.  Ixxxv.  980-92 ;  see 
D'IsRAELi,  Lord  George  Bentinck,  a  Political 
Biography,  1861,  pp.  130-44).  In  conse- 
quence of  his  refusal  to  serve  on  a  railway 
committee  of  which  he  had  been  appointed 
a  member,  a  motion  declaring  O'Brien  'guilty 
of  a  contempt  of  this  house '  was  carried  by 
133  to  13  votes  on  28  April  1846  (Par/. 
Debates,  3rd  ser.  Ixxxv.  1 152-92),  and  on  the 
30th  he  was  committed  to  the  custody  of  the 
serjeant-at-arms  (ib.  3rd  ser.  Ixxxv.  1192-8, 
1290-5,  1300,  1351-2).  AVhile  in  custody 


O'Brien 


334 


O'Brien 


he  was  permitted  by  the  house  to  attend  and 
give  evidence  before  a  committee  of  the 
House  of  Lords  on  the  operation  of  the  Irish 
poor  law  (ib.  3rd  ser.  Ixxxv.  1333-4),  and  on 
25  May  the  order  for  his  discharge  was  unani- 
mously made  (ib.  3rd  ser.lxxxvi.  1198-1201). 
O'Brien's  reasons  for  declining  to  serve  on 
the  railway  committee  appear  to  have  been 
his  desire  that  '  none  but  the  representatives 
of  the  Irish  nation  should  legislate  for  Ire- 
land,' and  that  they  should  not '  intermeddle 
with  the  affairs  of  England  or  Scotland, 
except  so  far  as  they  may  be  connected  with 
the  interests  of  Ireland  or  with  the  general 
policy  of  the  empire'  (ib.  3rd  ser.  Ixxxv.  1156). 
On  27  July  1846  the  final  rupture  between 
the  young  Irelanders  and  the  followers  of 
O'Connell  took  place  on  the  question  of  the 
peace  resolutions,  and  O'Brien,  followed  by 
Duffy,  Meagher,  Mitchel,  and  their  adhe- 
rents, seceded  from  Conciliation  Hall.  At 
O'Brien's  suggestion  special  papers  on  the 
public  wants  and  interests  of  Ireland  were 
from  time  to  time  published  in  the  '  Nation,' 
to  which  he  contributed  several  letters  ad- 
vocating the  establishment  of  model  farms 
and  agricultural  schools,  the  colonisation 
of  waste  lands,  and  a  national  system  of 
railways  (DUFFY,  Four  Years  of  Irish 
History,  pp.  316-17,  332-3).  Soon  after- 
wards O'Brien,  aided  by  Duffy  and  other 
prominent  seceders  from  the  Repeal  Asso- 
ciation, founded  the  Irish  Confederation,  the 
first  meeting  of  which  took  place  on  13  Jan. 
1847.  On  the  19th  of  that  month  O'Brien 
drew  the  attention  of  the  House  of  Com- 
mons to  the  state  of  distress  in  Ireland  (Parl. 
Debates,  3rd  ser.  Ixxxix.  76-84),  and  on 
18  March  moved  a  resolution  in  favour  of 
imposing  a  tax  upon  the  estates  of  Irish  ab- 
sentee proprietors,  which  was  defeated  by  70 
to  19  votes  (ib.  3rd  ser.  xci.  159-66,  186). 
He  took  part  in  the  conference  which  was 
held  on  4  May  in  the  vain  attempt  to  recon- 
cile the  differences  between  the  Confedera- 
tion and  the  Repeal  Association.  In  Novem- 
ber O'Brien,  accompanied  by  a  strong  depu- 
tation from  the  Confederation,  visited  the 
north  of  Ireland,  where  he  made  a  favourable 
impression.  On  13  Dec.  he  spoke  against 
the  third  reading  of  the  Crime  and  Outrage 
Bill  (ib.  3rd  ser.  xcv.  976-9,  990).  Towards 
the  close  of  this  year  he  published  '  Repro- 
ductive Employment ;  or  a  Series  of  Letters  to 
the  Landed  Proprietors  of  Ireland,  with  a  pre- 
liminary letter  to  Lord  John  Russell '  (Dublin, 
8vo).  At  the  meeting  of  the  confederation 
early  in  1848  O'Brien  carried  his  series  of  ten 
resolutions,  the  keynote  of  which  was  '  that 
this  confederation  was  established  to  attain 
an  Irish  parliament  by  the  combination  of 


classes,  and  by  the  force  of  opinion  exercised 
in  constitutional  operations,  and  that  no 
means  of  a  contrary  character  can  be  recom- 
mended or  promoted  through  its  organisation 
while  its  present  fundamental  rules  remain 
unaltered '  (  DUFFY,  Four  Years  of  Irish  His- 
tory, pp.  511-12  n.)  These  resolutions  were 
aimed  at  Mitchel,  who  had  declared  in  favour 
of  a  more  violent  policy,  but  who  was  de- 
feated by  a  majority  of  129  votes.  The  com- 
bined effects  of  the  French  revolution  of 
1 848  and  the  pressure  of  the  Irish  famine,  how- 
ever, accelerated  the  course  of  events,  and 
on  15  March  O'Brien  addressed  a  great  meet- 
ing of  the  confederates  in  the  music-hall  in 
Abbey  Street,  Dublin,  when  he  urged  the 
formation  of  a  national  guard,  and  added 
that '  he  had  recently  deprecated  the  advice 
that  the  people  ought  to  be  trained  in  mili- 
tary knowledge  ;  but  the  circumstances  were 
entirely  altered,  and  he  now  thought  that 
the  attention  of  intelligent  young  men  should 
be  turned  to  such  questions  as  how  strong 
places  can  be  captured  and  weak  ones  de- 
fended' (ib.  pp.  561-2).  Accompanied  by 
Meagher  and  Holy  wood,  O'Brien  went  to 
Paris  to  present  a  congratulatory  address 
from  the  Confederation  to  the  newly  formed 
French  republic.  They  were  received  by 
Lamartine,  whose  refusal  to  interfere  with 
the  internal  affairs  of  the  British  empire  was 
a  great  disappointment  to  the  deputation,  the 
main  object  of  which  was  to  awaken  sym- 
pathy for  Ireland  in  France.  Returning 
through  London,  O'Brien  made  his  last 
speech  in  the  House  of  Commons  on  10  April 
1848  (the  day  of  the  great  chartist  demon- 
stration), during  the  debate  on  the  second 
reading  of  the  Treason-Felony  Bill.  He 
warned  the  government  that  if  the  Irish 
claims  for  a  separate  legislature  were  refused 
'  during  the  present  year,  you  will  have  to 
encounter  the  chance  of  a  republic  in  Ire- 
land.' Amid  a  chorus  of  groans  and  hisses, 
he  denied  the  charge  of  being  a  traitor  to  the 
crown,  though,  he  added,  '  if  it  is  treason  to 
profess  disloyalty  to  this  house  and  to  the 
government  of  Ireland  by  the  parliament  of 
Great  Britain — if  that  be  treason,  I  avow 
the  treason ; '  he  boldly  confessed  that  he 
had  been  '  instrumental  in  asking  his  country- 
men to  arm '  (Parl.  Debates,  3rd  ser.  xcviii. 
73-80,  82,  102).  On  29  April  O'Brien  met 
Mitchel  at  the  confederate  soiree  at  Limerick, 
an  event  burlesqued  by  Thackeray  in  his 
amusing  '  Battle  of  Limerick.' 

The  government  had  now  resolved  to  pro- 
ceed against  the  leaders  of  the  Confederation. 
On  15  May  O'Brien  was  tried  before  Lord 
chief-justice  Blackburne  and  a  special  jury 
in  the  court  of  queen's  bench,  Dublin,  for  his 


O'Brien 


335 


O'Brien 


speech  at  the  meeting  of  the  Irish  Confede- 
ration on  the  previous  15  March.  He  was 
defended  by  Isaac  Butt,  and  the  jury,  being 
unable  to  agree,  were  discharged  on  the  fol- 
lowing morning  without  returning  a  verdict. 
Meanwhile  (29  March)  Mitchel  had  been 
sentenced  to  transportation.  The  confederate 
chiefs,  who  were  fiercely  denounced  for  their 
procrastination  by  some  of  their  more  violent 
followers,  were  thus  compelled  to  take  some 
decisive  course.  August  was  fixed  as  the  date 
of  a  proposed  insurrection,  but  no  prepara- 
tions were  made,  and  O'Brien  was  still  unable 
to  abandon  his  delusive  hope  that  support 
would  be  forthcoming  from  the  Irish  landed 
gentry.  Meanwhile  Lord  Clarendon  took  im- 
mediate measures  for  the  suppression  of  any 
disturbance,  and  Duffy,  Martin,  and  others 
were  arrested.  O'Brien  visited  the  south  of 
Ireland  for  the  purpose  of  organising  that 
part  of  the  country,  and  on  his  return  to  Dub- 
lin a  war  directory  of  five  was  appointed 
(21  July),  consisting  of  Dillon,  Meagher, 
O'Gorman,  McGee,and  Devin  Reilly,O'Brien's 
name  being  omitted  from  the  list  by  his  own 
desire.  On  the  following  morning  O'Brien 
started  for  Wexford  in  order  to  continue  his 
tour  of  inspection.  The  same  day  the  news 
reached  Dublin  that  the  suspension  of  the 
Habeas  Corpus  Act  had  been  resolved  on  by 
the  government,  and  Dillon,  Meagher,  and 
McGee  joined  O'Brien  at  Ballynakill.  On 
hearing  the  news  O'Brien  agreed  that  they 
must  fight,  and  at  Enniscorthy  (23  July)  he 
announced  his  intention,  though  warned  by 
the  priest  that  the  people  were  not  prepared 
for  war.  Failing  to  raise  Kilkenny,  Carrick, 
or  Cashel,  O'Brien  determined  to  fall  back 
upon  the  rural  districts,  and  on  the  25th  pro- 
ceeded to  Mullinahone,  where  the  chapel  bell 
was  rung.  A  number  of  peasants  armed  with 
pikes  answered  his  appeal,  and  some  barri- 
cades were  erected.  There  were,  however, 
no  provisions,  and  most  of  those  who  had 
joined  the  movement  returned  home  on  being 
told  by  O'Brien  that  they  would  have  to 
procure  food  for  themselves, '  as  he  had  no 
means  of  doing  so,  and  did  not  mean  to  offer 
violence  to  any  one's  person  or  property' 
(FITZGERALD,  Personal  Recollections  of  the 
Insurrection  at  Ballingarry,  1861,  pp.  13-14). 
The  succeeding  three  days  were  spent  by 
O'Brien  in  endeavouring  to  gather  adherents. 
On  the  29th  he  attacked  a  body  of  police, 
numbering  forty-six  men,  under  the  command 
of  Sub-inspector  Trant,  who  defended  them- 
selves in  a  house  on  Boulah  Common,  near 
Ballingarry.  The  scene  of  the  encounter 
was  known  as  widow  McCormack's  '  cabbage 
garden.'  The  attack  failed,  and  the  half- 
armed  mob  of  disorganised  peasants  fled. 


With  this  pitiable  incident  the  abortive  in- 
surrection terminated.  O'Brien,  for  whose 
capture  a  reward  of  500/.  had  been  offered, 
successfully  concealed  himself  from  the 
police  for  several  days.  Tired  of  hiding, 
he  determined  to  go  straight  home,  and  on 
5  Aug.  was  arrested  at  the  railway  station 
at  Thurles  by  Hulme,  a  guard  in  the  em- 
ployment of  the  railway  company.  O'Brien 
was  sent  by  special  train  to  Dublin  the  same 
day,  and  lodged  in  Kilmainham  gaol.  He 
was  tried  at  Clonmel  by  a  special  commis- 
sion, consisting  of  Lord  chief-justice  Black- 
burne,  Lord  chief-justice  Doherty,  and  Mr. 
Justice  Moore,  on  28  Sept.  1848.  He  was 
defended  by  James  Whiteside  (afterwards 
lord  chief-justice  of  the  queen's  bench)  and 
Francis  Alexander  Fitzgerald  (afterwards  a 
baron  of  the  exchequer).  The  trial  lasted 
nine  days,  and  on  7  Oct.  he  was  found  guilty 
of  high  treason,  the  verdict  of  the  jury  being 
accompanied  by  a  unanimous  recommenda- 
tion that  his  life  should  be  spared.  On  the 
9th  he  was  sentenced  by  Blackburne  to  be 
hanged,  drawn,  and  quartered.  The  writ  of 
error,  which  was  subsequently  brought  on 
purely  technical  grounds,  was  decided  against 
O'Brien  on  16  Jan.  1849  by  the  Irish  court 
of  queen's  bench,  whose  judgment  was  con- 
firmed by  the  House  of  Lords  on  11  May 
following  (CLARK  and  FINXELLT,  House  of 
Lords  Cases,  1851,  ii.  465-96).  On  the 
motion  of  Lord  John  Russell  the  House  of 
Commons  on  18  May  ordered  the  speaker  to 
issue  a  writ  for  a  new  election  for  the  county 
of  Limerick  '  in  the  room  of  William  Smith 
O'Brien,  adjudged  guilty  of  high  treason.' 
(Parl.  Debates,  3rd  ser.  cv.  667-70).  On  the 
intimation  to  O'Brien  that  the  queen  had 
been  advised  to  commute  the  sentence  of 
death  into  transportation  for  life,  he  declared 
that  he  preferred  death  to  transportation, 
and  insisted  that  the  government  had  no 
power  to  force  him  to  accept  the  commuta- 
tion of  the  sentence.  Accordingly  an  '  act 
to  remove  doubts  concerning  the  transporta- 
tion of  offenders  under  judgment  of  death,  to 
whom  mercy  may  be  extended  in  Ireland ' 
(12  &  13  Viet.  c.  27),  was  rapidly  passed 
through  both  houses,  and  received  the  royal 
assent  on  26  June.  On  29  July  following 
O'Brien  was  sent  on  board  the  Swift  from 
Kingstown  to  Tasmania.  On  reaching  Hobart 
Town  he  refused  a  ticket-of-leave,  which  had 
been  accepted  by  his  companions  in  exile. 
He  was  accordingly  confined  on  Maria  Island, 
from  which  he  made  an  ineffectual  attempt 
to  escape,  and  was  subsequently  removed  to 
Port  Arthur.  Owing  to '  the  statement  made 
and  repeated  several  times  at  long  intervals 
by  Lord  Palmerston  in  the  House  of  Com- 


O'Brien 


336 


O'Brien 


mons,'  it  was  generally  supposed  that  O'Brien 
disapproved  of  the  plan  adopted  by  John 
Mitchel  in  escaping  from  Tasmania.  This, 
however,  is  not  the  case,  as  O'Brien  at  a 
public  dinner  given  to  him  at  Melbourne  in 
1854  expressed  his  entire  approval  of  the 
manner  of  Mitchel's  escape,  and  asserted  that 
his  only  reason  for  not  adopting  it  himself 
was  that  he  was  not  prepared  to  take  a  step 
which  would  have  rendered  it  impossible  for 
him  to  return  to  Ireland  (MCCARTHY,  His- 
tory of  our  own  Times,  1880,  vol.  iv.  p.  vi). 

His  health  having  broken  down,  O'Brien 
was  induced  to  accept  a  ticket-of-leave, 
and,  having  given  his  parole,  was  allowed 
to  reside  in  the  district  of  New  Norfolk, 
whence  he  subsequently  removed  to  Avoca. 
There  he  remained  until  a  pardon  was 
granted  to  him  (26  Feb.  1854)  on  con- 
dition that  he  should  not  set  his  foot  in  the 
United  Kingdom.  In  1854  he  came  to 
Europe,  and  settled  at  Brussels  with  his 
family.  Here  he  completed  his  '  Principles 
of  Government,  or  Meditations  in  Exile' 
(Dublin,  1856,  8vo,2  vols.),  the  greater  part 
of  which  had  been  written  by  him  in  Tas- 
mania. Receiving  an  unconditional  pardon 
in  May  1856,  O'Brien  returned  to  Ireland  in 
July  of  that  year.  Though  he  took  no  fur- 
ther active  part  in  politics,  he  frequently 
contributed  letters  to  the  '  Nation '  on  Irish 
topics.  In  1859  he  made  a  voyage  to  Ame- 
rica, and  upon  his  return  in  November  of 
that  year  he  delivered  two  lectures  on  his 
American  tour  in  the  hall  of  the  Mechanics' 
Institute,  Dublin.  In  1863  he  visited  Poland. 
A  letter  written  by  him,  dated  1  May  1863, 
was  published  in  Paris  under  the  title  of 
'  Du  veritable  Caractere  de  1'Insurrection 
Polonaise  de  1863'  (8vo),  and  on  1  July 
1863  he  gave  a  lecture  at  the  Rotunda,  Dub- 
lin, for  the  benefit  of  the  Polish  relief  fund. 
Early  in  1864  he  visited  England  for  the 
sake  of  his  health.  He  died  at  the  Pen- 
rhyn  Arms,  Bangor,  on  18  June  1864,  aged 
60.  The  arrival  of  his  body  at  Dublin  on 
23  June  was  the  scene  of  a  great  nationalist 
demonstration,  and  he  was  buried  in  Rath- 
ronan  churchyard,  co.  Limerick,  on  the  fol- 
lowing day. 

O'Brien,  who  was  inordinately  proud  of 
his  descent  from  the  famous  Brian  Boroimhe, 
was  a  truthful,  kind-hearted,  vain  man,  of 
good  abilities,  and  a  great  capacity  for  work. 
Though  grave  and  frigid  in  his  demeanour, 
and  devoid  of  humour  and  eloquence,  his 
chivalrous  devotion  to  Ireland  and  the  trans- 
parent integrity  of  his  motives  secured  him 
the  enthusiastic  attachment  of  the  people. 
The  growth  of  his  political  views  was 
curiously  gradual.  '  He  advanced,'  says  Sir 


C.  G.  Duffy, '  slowly  and  tentatively,  but  he 
never  made  a  backward  step.  An  opinion 
which  he  accepted  became  part  of  his  being, 
as  inseparable  from  him  as  a  function  of  his 
nature'  (Four  Years  of  Irish  History,  p. 
547).  Destitute  of  judgment  and  foresight, 
and  incapable  of  prompt  decision,  O'Brien 
was  singularly  unfitted  for  the  part  of  a 
revolutionary  leader.  In  order  to  avoid  for- 
feiture, O'Brien,  previously  to  the  insurrec- 
tion in  1848,  conveyed  his  property  to  trus- 
tees for  the  benefit  of  his  family.  On  his 
return  to  Ireland  he  instituted  a  chancery 
suit  against  the  trustees,  but  a  compromise 
was  ultimately  arrived  at  on  O'Brien's  formal 
resignation  of  his  position  as  a  landed  pro- 
prietor in  consideration  of  an  annuity  of 
2,000/.  His  eldest  brother  Lucius  succeeded 
his  father  as  the  fifth  baronet  in  March  1837, 
and  in  July  1855  became  thirteenth  Baron 
Inchiquin  on  the  death  of  his  kinsman, 
James,  third  marquis  of  Thomond,  his  right 
to  the  barony  being  confirmed  by  the  com- 
mittee of  privileges  of  the  House  of  Lords 
on  11  April  1862.  The  surviving  brothers 
and  sisters  of  Lord  Inchiquin  (with  the  ex- 
ception of  William  Smith  O'Brien)  were  by 
royal  license  dated  12  Sept.  1862  granted 
the  style  and  precedence  of  the  younger 
children  of  a  baron. 

O'Brien  married,  on.  19  Sept.  1832,  Lucy 
Caroline,  eldest  daughter  of  Joseph  Gabbett 
of  High  Park,  co.  Limerick,  by  whom  he  had 
five  sons  and  two  daughters.  His  wife  died 
on  13  June  1861.  The  voluminous  corre- 
spondence addressed  to  O'Brien,  to  which 
Sir  C.  G.  Duffy  was  given  access  when 
writing  his  '  Young  Ireland,'  is  in  the  pos- 
session of  Mr.  Edward  William  O'Brien  at 
Cahirmoyle.  A  statue  of  O'Brien  by  Thomas 
Farrell,  R.H.A.,  was  erected  in  1870  at  the 
end  of  Westmorland  Street,  Dublin,  close 
to  O'Connell  Bridge.  The  only  painting  of 
O'Brien  is  a  small  miniature  in  the  posses- 
sion of  Mr.  E.  W.  O'Brien. 

[Besides  the  authorities  quoted  in  the  text  the 
following,  among  others,  have  been  consulted : 
Walpole's  Hist,  of  England.  1880-6,  vols.  iii. 
and  iv. ;  Dillon's  Life  of  John  Mitchel,  1888; 
Mitchel's  Jail  Journal,  1868  ;  Mitchel's  Hist,  of 
Ireland,  1869,  ii.  302-460  ;  Sullivan's  New  Ire- 
land, 1878,  pp.  1-103  ;  Sullivan's  Speeches  from 
the  Dock,  1887,  pp.  110-37;  Doheny's  Felon's 
Track,  1867;  Lecky's  Leaders  of  Public  Opinion 
in  Ireland,  1871,  pp.  314-15  ;  Webb's  Compen- 
dium of  Irish  Biogr.  1878,  pp.  368-71 ;  Wills's 
Irish  Nalion,  1875,  iv.  44-8;  Read's  Cabinet 
of  Irish  Lit.  1880.  iii.  27o-9 ;  Hodges's  Re- 
port of  the  Trial  of  William  Smith  O'Brien  for 
High  Treason,  1819  ;  Times  for  18,  20,  21,  24, 
27  June  1864;  Freeman's  Journal  for  '20,  23, 


O'Brolchain 


337 


O'Brolchain 


24,  25  June  1864;  Nation  for  18  and  25  June 
1864  ;  Annual  Keg.  1848,  chron.  pp.  93-6,  364- 
373,  389-445,  1864  pt.  ii.  pp.  199-201 ;  Gent. 
Mag.  1864,  pt.  ii.  pp.  250-2;  Burke's  Peerage, 
1893,  pp.  751-2  ;  Foster's  Peerage,  1883,  pp. 
385-6  ;  Graduati  Cantabr.  1884, p.  385  ;  Welch's 
Harrow  School  Register,  1894,  p.  41 ;  Notes  and 
Queries,  8th  ser.  iii.  368;  Official  Return  of 
Lists  of  Members  of  Parliament,  pt.  ii.  pp.  312, 
325,  362,  377,  395,  411  ;  Brit.  Mus.  Cat.] 

G.  F.  R.  B. 

O'BROLCHAIN,  FLATBHERTACH 
(rf.  1175),  first  bishop  of  Deny,  belonged  to 
a  family  which  produced  several  learned  men 
and  distinguished  ecclesiastics  from  the 
twelfth  to  the  thirteenth  century.  They 
were  descended  from  Suibhne  Meann,  king 
of  Ireland  from  615  to  628,  and  their  clan 
was  called  Cinel  Fearadhaich,  from  the  king's 
grandfather  Fearadhach,  who  was  fourth  in 
descent  from  Eoghan,  son  of  Niall  Naighial- 
lach,  so  that  they  were  one  of  the  branches  of 
the  Cinel  Eoghain.  Flaibhertach  O'Brolchain 
was  abbot  of  Derry  in  1150,  and  as  such  was 
the  chief  of  the  Columban  churches  in  Ireland, 
and  entitled  Comharba  Choluim  Chille,  or 
successor  of  Columba.  Derry  had  been  burned 
in  1149,  and  in  1150  he  made  a  visitation  of 
Cinei  Eoghain,  obtaining  grants  from  the 
whole  territory — a  gold  ring,  his  horse  and 
outfit  from  Muircheartach  O'Lochlainn  [q.  v.] 
as  king  of  Ireland,  and  twenty  cows  as  king 
of  Ailech ;  a  horse  from  every  chief,  which 
would  have  given  him  about  fifty  from  the 
Cinel  Eoghain ;  a  cow  from  every  two  biatachs, 
or  great  farmers;  a  cow  from  every  three 
saerthachs,  or  free  tenants ;  and  a  cow  from 
every  four  diomhains,  or  men  of  small  means. 
In  1158  he  attended  an  ecclesiastical  convo- 
cation at  Brie  Mic  Taidhg  in  Ui  Laeghaire, 
a,  district  of  Meath,  at  which  a  papal  legate 
was  present ;  and  it  was  resolved  that  he 
should  have  '  a  chair  like  every  other  bishop.' 
This  is  generally  considered  the  foundation 
of  the  bishopric  as  distinct  from  the  abbacy 
of  Derry.  After  the  synod  he  visited  the 
territory  of  Ui  Eachdhach  Cobha,  now  Iveagh, 
co.  Down,  and  Dal  Cairbre,  the  site  of  which 
has  not  before  been  determined,  but  which 
is  no  doubt  the  same  as  Dalriada,  the  part 
of  Antrim  north  of  the  mountain  Slemish, 
called  after  Cairbre  Riada,  son  of  Conaire  II, 
king  of  Ireland.  Flaibhertach  thus  visited 
the  two  parts  of  Ulidia,  or  Lesser  Ulster,  and 
obtained  from  its  king,  O'Duinnsleibhe,  a 
horse,  five  cows,  and  a  '  screaball' — probably 
a  payment  in  some  kind  of  coin — an  ounce  of 
gold  from  the  king's  wife,  a  horse  from  each 
chief,  and  a  sheep  from  each  hearth.  In 
1161  he  freed  the  churches  and  communities 
of  Durrow,  Kells,  Swords,  Lambay,  Moone, 

VOL.  XLI. 


Skreen  (co.  Meath),  Columbkille  (co.  Long- 
ford), Kilcolumb,  Columbkille  (co.  Kil- 
kenny), Ardcolum,  and  Mornington,  from  all 
dues  to  the  kings  and  chiefs  of  Meath  and 
Leinster,  and  visited  Ossory.  He  pulled 
down  more  than  eighty  houses  which  stood 
adjacent  to  the  cathedral  of  Derry,  and  built 
round  it  an  enclosure  of  masonry  called 
Caisil  an  urlair,  the  stone  close  of  the  floor, 
in  1162;  and  in  1163  built  a  limekiln  at 
Derry  seventy  feet  square  intwentydays.  This 
was  probably  in  preparation  for  rebuilding 
his  cathedral,  which  he  did  in  1164,  with 
the  aid  of  Muircheartach  O'Lochlainn.  He 
made  it  eighty  feet  long,  a  vast  extent  com- 
pared with  the  very  small  churches  then  com- 
mon in  Ireland ;  but,  as  it  is  recorded  to  have 
been  finished  in  forty  days,  it  cannot  have 
been  an  elaborate  structure.  In  the  same 
year  (Annals  of  Ulster}  Augustin,  chief 
priest  of  lona ;  Dubhsidhe,  lector  there ; 
MacGilladuibh,  head  of  the  hermitage ;  and 
MacForcellaigh,  head  of  the  association 
called  the  Fellowship  of  God,  and  others, 
came  to  ask  him  to  accept  the  vacant  abbacy 
of  lona.  The  Cinel  Eoghain,  Muircheartacn 
O'Lochlainn,  and  Gilla-Mac-Liag,  coarb  of 
Patrick,  all  opposed  his  leaving  them,  and 
he  did  not  go.  He  died  at  Derry  in  1175, 
and  was  succeeded  in  the  abbacy  of  Derry 
by  Gilla  MacLiag  O'Branain,  of  a  family 
which  furnished  several  abbots  to  Derry. 
Other  important  members  of  the  learned 
family  of  O'Brolchain  are : 

Maelbrighde  O'Brolchain  (d.  1029),  who  is 
called  in  the  '  Annals '  priomhshaor  or  arch- 
wright  of  Ireland. 

Maelisa  O'Brolchain  (d.  1086),  who  lived 
for  the  first  part  of  his  life  in  Inishowen, 
co.  Donegal,  at  Bothchonais,  where  an  old 
graveyard  and  a  very  ancient  stone  cross, 
with  an  ox  carved  on  its  base,  still  indicate 
his  place  of  residence.  He  afterwards  mi- 
grated to  Lismore,  co.  Waterford,  and  there 
built  a  dertheach  or  oratory.  He  is  described 
in  the  'Annals'  as  learned  in  literature (fili- 
dhecht)  in  both  languages,  i.e.  in  Irish  and 
Latin.  He  died  on  16  Jan.  1086.  Colgan 
states  that  he  possessed  some  manuscripts 
in  the  handwriting  of  Maelisa  O'Brolchain. 

Maelcoluim  O'Brolchain  (d.  1122),  bishop 
of  Armagh. 

Maelbrighte  O'Brolchain  (d.  1140),  bishop 
of  Armagh. 

Maelbrighte  Mac  an  tSair  O'Brolchain 
(d.  1197),  bishop  of  Kildare. 

Domhnall  O'Brolchain  (d.  1202),  prior  of 
lona.  He  built  part  of  the  existing  cathe- 
dral at  lona,  and  on  the  capital  of  the  south- 
east column,  under  the  tower,  close  to  the 
angle  between  the  south  trausept  and  choir, 

z 


O'Bruadair 


338 


O'Bruadair 


are  the  remains  of  an  inscription,  Avhich  was 
perfect  in  1844,  '  Donaldus  Obrolchan  fecit 
hoc  opus,'  but  has  since  been  defaced,  and  now 
shows  only  some  fragments  of  letters  at  the 
beginning  and  end.  He  died  on  27  April  1202. 

Flann  O'Brolchain  (/.  1219),  abbot  of 
Deny,  was  elected  coarb  of  St.  Columba  in 
1219.  He  was  elected  by  the  Cinel  Eoghain, 
and  the  community  of  Derry  opposed  him. 
Aedh  O'Neill  put  him  into  office,  but  the  com- 
munity of  Derry  soon  after  expelled  him  and 
elected  another  abbot. 

[ Annala  Rioghachta  Eireann,  ed.  O'Donovan, 
vols.  ii.  and  iii. ;  Annals  of  Ulster,  ed.  M'Carthy, 
vol.  ii.  Rolls  Ser. ;  Annals  of  Loch  C&,  ed.  Hen- 
nessy,  vol.  i.  Rolls  Ser.  ;  Reeves's  Antiquities  of 
Down,  Connor,  and  Dromore;  Reeves's  Life  of 
St.  Columba,  written  by  Adamnan,  Dublin,  1857  ; 
Colgan's  Acta  Sanctorum  Hibernise.]  N.  M. 

O'BRUADAIR,  DAVID  (/.  1650-1694), 
Irish  poet,  was  born  in  Limerick,  and  had 
already  begun  to  write  verses  in  1650.  He 
knew  little  English,  but  was  learned  in  Irish 
literature  and  history,  and  wrote  the  difficult 
metre  known  as  Dan  direch  correctly.  He 
was  a  Jacobite,  and  warmly  attached  to  the 
old  families  of  Munster.  He  detested  the 
English  nation  and  language  and  the  pro- 
testant  religion.  His  writings  supply  the 
best  existing  evidence  of  the  feelings  of  the 
Irish-speaking  gentry  and  men  of  letters  in 
Munster  in  the  latter  half  of  the  seventeenth 
century.  Nearly  all  his  poems  refer  to 
events  of  his  own  time,  and  are  of  a  high 
order  of  literary  merit.  Large  fragments 
have  been  printed  and  translated  by  Standish 
Hayes  O'Grady  in  the  '  Catalogue  of  Irish 
Manuscripts'  in  the  British  Museum,  and 
some  small  extracts  by  John  O'Daly  in  his 
edition  of  Ormonde's  'Panygyric.'  Over 
twenty  of  his  poems  are  extant,  and  their 
approximate  chronological  order  is :  (1)  of 
fifty  stanzas,  about  1652,  '  Crecht  do  dhail 
me  am  arrthach  galair '  ('  A  wound  that  has 
reduced  me  to  the  condition  of  a  vessel  of 
disease  '),  on  the  laying  down  of  their  arms 
by  the  Irish.  (2)  Epithalamium,  in  prose 
and  verse,  on  the  marriage  of  Oliver  Stephen 
to  Eleanora,  daughter  of  John  FitzRedmond 
Burke  of  Cahirmoyle,  co.  Limerick,  be- 
ginning '  Cuirfed  cluain  ar  chrobaing  ghel- 
ghall'  ('Upon  a  couple  of  white  English 
I  will  attempt  a  bit  of  cajolery'),  written  in 
December  1674 ;  he  had  himself  attended  the 
wedding,  having  heard  of  it  when  near 
Youghal.  (3)  A  political  poem  on  Ireland's 
ills  from  1641  to  1684,  of  twenty-six  stanzas 
and  a  ceangal  or  summary.  (4)  Advice  to  a 
trooper  named  James  O'Eichthighern,  going 
to  serve  under  Tyrconnel,  full  of  scorn  for 
the  English,  written  on  13  Oct.  1686,  and 


beginning  '  A  thruipfhir  mas  musgailt  o'n 
mbaile  t'ailgeas '  (•  Oh  trooper,  if  thy  desire  be 
to  rouse  out  from  home ! ')  ;  this  was  perhaps 
the  most  popular  of  his  poems.  (5)  'Caith- 
reim  an  dara  King  Semus '  ('Triumphs  of  the 
secon  d  King  James') ,  written  in  October  1 686. 

(6)  Address  to  John  Keating,  chief  justice 
of  the    common  pleas  in  Ireland  in  1688. 

(7)  On  the  taking  of  their  horses  and  arms 
from  the  protestants,  beginning  '  Inait   an 
rnhagaidhse  i  naitreabaibh  gall  do  bha '  ('  In 
place  of  the  derisive  mirth  which  prevailed 
in    the    homes    of    protestants '),    written 
26  Feb.  1688.  (8)  '  Na  dronga  sin  d'iompuig- 
ciil  re  creasaibh  Eorpa '  ('  Those  people  that 
have  turned  their  back  on  all  the  rest  of 
Europe ') ;  in  praise  of  James  II  and  dis- 
praise of  William  III,  written  on  24  Dec. 
1688.     (9)  Address  of  welcome  to  Sir  James 
Cotter,  M.P.,  on  his  return  from  England. 

(10)  Answer  to  a  poem  in  praise  of  James, 
duke  of  Ormonde,  entitled  '  Freagra  Dhaibhi 
ui  Bruadair  ar  an  lainbhreig  sin '  ('  Answer  of 
David  O'Bruadair  to  that  out-and-out  lie '). 

(11)  On  Sarsfield's  destruction  of  the  siege- 
train  brought  against  Limerick  at  Ballineety, 
composed  for  the  Earl  of  Lucan  at  the  time, 
1690,  beginning  '  A  ri  na  cruinne  dorighne 
isi  is  gach  ni  uirre  ata  d6nta '  ('  Oh  king  of 
the  globe  that  madest  it  and  all  things  on  it 
that  are  created ! ')  ;  the  poem  is  of  eighteen 
stanzas  and  a  ceangal.     One  of  the  two  copies 
in  the  British  Museum  is  a  transcript  of  the 
poet's  original  manuscript  (Add.  MS.  29614, 
fol.  436).  (12)  '  Longar  langar  Eirenn '  ('  Ire- 
land's hurly-burly '),  a  poem  of  forty  stanzas 
and  a  ceangal,  written  in  1691.     The  writer 
laments  the  dissensions  of  the  Irish,  and 
praises  Sarsfield's  party.     The  ceangal  de- 
clares the  poet's  disappointment  and  poverty. 
(13)  Short  poem  on  the  exile  of  the  native 
gentry  after  the  siege  of  Limerick.  (14)  Short 
poem  ridiculing  those  who,   to    be   in  the 
fashion,  tried  to  speak  English,  '  Ni  chanaid 
glor  acht  gosta  gairbhbherla '  ('  They  utter 
not  a  sound  but  the  mere  ghost  of  rough 
English ').    (15)  On  people  who  had  become 
protestants  after  the  surrender  of  Limerick, 
'  Gidh   ainbfiosach    feannaire    nar  f  hiar    a 
ghliin '  ('  How  much  soever  this  or  that  ex- 
tortioner that    has    not    bent    his  knee'), 
written  in  October  1692.     (16)  A  lament  of 
forty-two  verses  for  the  loss  of  the  poet's 
ancient  patrons  among  the  gentry,  and  the 
exaltation  of  churls  in  their  place,  written 
on  1  Nov.  1692,  and  beginning    'Mithigh 
soicheim  go  siol  gCarrthaig '  ('  Time  it  is  to 
take  a  pleasant  journey  to  the  MacCarthys'). 
(17)  A  wish  for  a  second  Brian  Boroimhe 
[see    BRIAN,   926-1014],    'Is    mairg   nach 
fiadaid  triatha  chloinne  Eibhir:  Aithris  ar 


O'Bryan 


339 


O'Bryan 


riaghail  Bhriain  mhic  Chinneide '  ('  Woe  is 
me  that  the  leaders  of  the  children  of  Eber 
cannot  reproduce  the  rule  of  Brian,  son  of 
Cenneite ! ').  (18)  Address  to  our  Lady, 
'  Eist  m'osnadh  a  Mhuire  mhor  '  ('  Hear 
my  groaning,  oh  great  Mary ! '),  of  twenty- 
one  stanzas  and  a  ceangal.  (19)  Epithala- 
mium  for  the  marriage  of  Dominic  Roche 
and  Una  Bourke  of  Cahirmoyle,  in  which 
the  poet  states  that,  much  as  he  loves  good 
drink,  he  is  obliged  to  pass  it  by  when  a  pre- 
vious conversation  in  English  is  necessary, 
so  little  has  he  the  power  '  mo  theanga  do 
chuibhriughadh  dochum  an  ghaillbhearla  do 
labhairt '  ('  to  fetter  my  tongue  towards 
speaking  the  foreign  language ').  (20)  Ad- 
dress to  Ireland,  under  the  name  of  '  Sile 
ni  Chorbain/  as  if  she  were  a  lady  who  had 
married  and  left  off  being  bountiful  to  the 
poets.  (21)  A  poem  on  the  passion,  in 
twenty-four  verses,  '  Adhraim  tha  a  thaidh- 
bhse  ar  gru ! '  ('  I  adore  thee,  oh  price  of  our 
blood  ! ')  (22)  A  longer  poem  on  the  same 
subject,  '  Go  brath  a  mheic  rug  Muire 
miorbhuileach '  ('  For  ever  is  the  Son  that 
Mary  miraculously  bore ').  (23)  '  Do  bhi 
duine  eigin  roimh  an  r6  si '  ('  There  was  a 
certain  man  before  this  time '). 

He  made  a  transcript  of  the  '  Leabhar 
Irse  '  of  the  literary  family  of  O'Maolconaire, 
which  is  in  the  library  of  Trinity  College, 
Dublin. 

[S.  H.  O'Grady's  Catalogue  of  the  Irish  MSS. 
in  the  British  Museum,  in  which  large  parts  of 
several  poems  are  printed ;  Manuscripts  in  the 
British  Museum  (Addit.  29614,  -written  by  John 
O'Murchadha  of  Kaheenagh,  co.  Cork,  born  in 
1700,  contains  many  of  these  poems;  Egerton 
154  contains  others);  O'Reilly  in  the  Transactions 
of  the  Iberno-Celtic  Society,  1820  ;  O'Daly's  Re- 
liques  of  Irish  Jacobite  Poetry,  Dublin,  1849.1 

N.  M. 

O'BRYAN,  WILLIAM  (1778-1868), 
founder  of  the  Bible  Christian  sect,  claimed 
descent  from  one  of  Oliver  Cromwell's  Irish 
officers  who  settled  at  Boconnock,  Cornwall, 
on  the  Restoration,  probably  the  Colonel 
William  Bryan,  or  Brayne,  from  Ireland  who 
was  employed  in  the  pacification  of  the  high- 
lands of  Scotland  in  1654,  ttnd  afterwards, 
with  the  rank  of  lieutenant-general,  com- 
manded the  forces  in  Jamaica  (Cal.  State 
Papers,  Dom.  1654,  and  1657-9;  WHITE- 
LOCKE,  Mem.  p.  592 ;  Thurloe  State  Papers, 
ii.  405). 

After  the  settlement  of  the  family  in 
Cornwall  the  name  was  spelt  indifferently 
Bryan  or  Bryant,  and  William  O'Bryan  was 
the  first  to  restore  the  Irish  orthography.  He 
was  the  second  son  of  a  substantial  yeoman 
who  owned  several  farms  in  the  coterminous 


parishes  of  Lnxulyan,  Lanivet,  and  Lanivery , 
Cornwall,  by  Thomasine,  daughter  of  John 
Lawry  of  Luxulyan,  and  was  born  at  Gunwen, 
Luxulyan,  on  6  Feb.  1778.  Both  his  parents 
werecnurch  people,  but  had  joined  the  Metho- 
dist Society  before  their  marriage.  His  ma- 
ternal grandmother  was  a  Quakeress.  From 
the  first  an  extremely  religious  lad,  O'Bryan 
was  much  impressed  by  the  preachingof  John 
Wesley,  and  studied  his  '  Christian  Pattern.' 
Other  favourite  books  were  Law's  '  Serious 
Call,'  Baxter's  '  Saints'  Rest,'  and  Bunyan's 
'  Holy  War.'  His  actual  conversion  took 
place  on  5  Nov.  1795,  and  he  at  once  began 
to  preach,  and  for  some  time  laboured  with 
marked  success  in  East  Cornwall  and  West 
Devon.  Differences  with  the  methodists  in 
regard  to  matters  of  discipline  led  to  his  ex- 
pulsion from  their  society  in  November  1810. 
He  continued  his  labours,  however,  and  gra- 
dually formed  a  little  sect  of  his  own,  which 
was  formally  constituted  in  1810  under  the 
designation  of  Arminian  Bible  Christians. 
The  tenets  of  the  Bryanites — as  these  sec- 
taries were  popularly  called — did  not  mate- 
rially differ  from  those  of  the  Arminian  Me- 
thodists. 

O'Bryan  was  a  man  of  immense  zeal  and 
some  power,  but  his  methods  of  church 
government  were  felt  by  his  adherents  to  be 
unduly  autocratic,  and  in  1829  the  major 
part  of  them  seceded  and  formed  themselves 
into  a  separate  society  under  the  name  of 
Bible  Christians.  The  omission  of  the  term 
Arminian,  however,  denoted  no  modification 
of  doctrine,  and  the  new  society  continued 
to  cherish  the  memory  of  its  founder.  Its 
members  now  number  more  than  thirty 
thousand.  In  1831  O'Bryan  emigrated  to 
America,  where  he  preached  much,  but  failed 
to  found  a  church.  During  his  later  years 
he  resided  at  Brooklyn,  New  York,  but 
frequently  visited  England.  He  died  at 
Brooklyn  on  8  Jan.  1868. 

O'Bryan  married  on  9  July  1803  Catherine, 
daughter  of  William  Cowlin,  farmer,  of  Per- 
ranzabuloe,  Cornwall,  a  woman  of  strong  un- 
derstanding and  fervent  piety,  by  whom  he 
was  assisted  in  his  work.  She  died  at 
i  Brooklyn  in  March  1860. 

O'Bryan  published  the  following  works  : 
i  1.  '  The  Rules  of  Society,  or  a  Guide  to  con- 
duct for  those  who  desire  to  be  Arminian 
Bible    Christians,    with  a    Preface  stating 
the  Causes  of  Separation  between  William 
!  O'Bryan  and  the  People  called  Methodists,' 
1  2nd  ed.,  Launceston,  1812, 12mo.   2.  <  A  Col- 
'  lection  of  Hymns  for  the  Use  of  the  People 
i  called   Arminian   Bible  Christians '  (based 
I  upon  the  Wesleyan  hymn-book),  Devon,  Stoke 
Damerel,  1825,  12mo.    3.  '  Travels  in  the 


O'Bryen 


340 


O'Bryen 


United  States  of  America,'  London,  1836, 
12mo. 

[Stevenson's  Jubilee  Memorial  of  Incidents  in 
the  Rise  and  Progress  of  the  Bible  Christian  Con- 
nexion, 1866;  Bible  Christian  Magazine,  1868; 
Thome's  William  O'Bryan,  1888;  Hayman's 
History  of  the  Methodist  Revival  of  the  Last 
Century  in  its  Relations  to  North  Devon,  1885 ; 
Bigest  of  the  Rules  and  Regulations  of  the 
People  denominated  Bible  Christians,  1838; 
Allen's  Liskeard,  p.  106  ;  Complete  Parochial 
History  of  Cornwall,  1870,  iii.  195;  Boase  and 
Courtney's  Bibl.  Cornub.;  London  Quarterly 
Review,  July  1887-1  J.  M.  R. 

O'BRYEN,  DENNIS  (1755-1832),  dra- 
matist and  political  pamphleteer,  born  in  Ire- 
land in  1755,  became  a  surgeon,  but  relin- 
quished the  practice  of  his  profession  and 
settled  in  London,  where  he  distinguished 
himself  as  a  zealous  political  partisan  of 
Fox,  with  whom  he  was  on  terms  of  great 
intimacy.  The  work  which  first  brought  him 
into  notice  was  an  ironical  '  Defence  of  the 
Earl  of  Shelburne  from  the  Reproaches  of 
his  numerous  Enemies,  in  a  Letter  to  Sir 
George  Saville,  bart.,  to  which  is  added  a 
Postscript  addressed  to  the  Earl  of  Stair'  re- 
lative to  his  pamphlet  on  the  state  of  the 
public  debt,  London,  1782, 8vo;  2nded.  1783. 
He  next  wrote  '  A  Friend  in  Need  is  a  Friend 
indeed,'  a  three-act  comedy  performed  at  the 
Haymarket  Theatre  on  5  July  1783,  but  not 
printed.  The  cast  included  Palmer,  Edwin, 
Parsons,  Baddeley,  and  Mrs.  Inchbald.  This 
play,  which  in  some  respects  resembled  Gold- 
smith's '  Good-natured  Man,'  was  acted  eight 
times,  but  did  not  meet  with  a  very  cordial 
reception,  and  it  gave  rise  to  a  newspaper 
controversy  between  the  author  and  Colman, 
the  manager  of  the  theatre  (BAKEE,  Biogr. 
Dramatica,  1812,  i.  545,  ii.  252 ;  GBNEST, 
vi.  281). 

In  1784  he  published  another  ironical  work, 
entitled  'A  Gleam  of  Comfort  to  this  dis- 
tracted Empire,  demonstrating  the  Fairness 
and  Reasonableness  of  National  Confidence 
in  the  present  Ministry' — meaning  the  minis- 
try of  Pitt.  About  the  same  time  he  pub- 
lished two  papers,  called  'The  Reasoner,' 
which  subsequently  appeared  in  several  com- 
pilations, the  first  being  attributed  by  the 
compiler  to  Lord  Erskine,  and  the  second  to 
Sheridan.  In  1786  he  printed '  A  View  of  the 
Commercial  Treaty  with  France,'  negotiated 
by  William  Eden,  afterwards  Lord  Auckland 
[q.  v.]  This  was  followed  by  '  Lines  written 
at  Twickenham,'  1788,  in  which  year,  imme- 
diately upon  the  king's  illness,  he  published 
anonymously  '  The  Prospect  before  us,  being 
a  Series  of  Papers  upon  the  great  Question 
[i.e.  of  the  regency]  which  now  agitates  the 


Public  Mind.'  This  was  reproduced  under 
the  title  of  '  The  Regency  Question/  with  a 
new  preface,  in  consequence  of  the  discussions 
caused  by  the  return  of  his  majesty's  malady 
in  1810.  In  1796  he  published  '  Utrum 
Horum  ?  The  Government  or  the  Country? ' 
which  rapidly  passed  through  three  editions. 
Upon  the  change  of  ministry  in  1806  he 
succeeded  to  the  lucrative  sinecure  of  deputy 
paymaster-general,  and  in  the  same  year  he 
was  appointed  by  Fox  to  the  patent  office  of 
marshal  of  the  admiralty  at  the  Cape  of 
Good  Hope,  worth,  it  was  said,  4,000/.  per 
annum.  He  died  at  Margate  on  13  Aug. 
1832.  He  had  resided  in  London  in  Craven 
Street,  Strand.  His  political  correspondence 
was  sold  by  auction  a  year  or  two  after  his 
death. 

[Addit.  MS.  12099  ;  Biogr.  Diet,  of  Living 
Authors,  1816,  p.  255  ;  Gent.  Mag.  1832,  ii.  189, 
1835,i.48;  Literary  Gazette,  6  Dec.  1834,  p.  820; 
Lit.  Memoirs  of  Living  Authors,  ii.  87  ;  Reuss's 
Register  of  Authors,  ii.  147,  Suppl.  p.  293  ; 
Watkins's  Memoirs  of  Sheridan,  ii.  348.]  T.  C. 

O'BRYEN,  EDWARD  (1754  P-1808), 
rear-admiral,  born  about  1754,  after  serving 
for  nearly  five  years  in  the  ^Eolus  in  the  Me- 
diterranean, and  for  upwards  of  three  in  the 
j  Prudent  in  the  East  Indies  with  Sir  John 
J  Clerke,  passed  his  examination  on  9  Aug. 
I  1775,  being  then,  according  to  his  certificate, 
|  more  than  twenty-one.  He  was  promoted  to 
j  be  lieutenant  on  11  April  1778.  In  1779-80 
I  he  was  serving  in  the  Ambuscade  frigate 
j  attached  to  the  Channel  fleet,  and  early  in 
1781  went  out  to  the  West  Indies  in  the 
Monsieur,  from  which  he  was  appointed  to 
the  Actaeon,  on  the  Jamaica  station.  On 
17  March  1783  he  was  promoted  to  the  com- 
mand of  the  Jamaica  sloop,  and  on  6  Aug. 
1783  was  posted  to  the  Resistance  of  44 
guns,  which,  in  the  following  year,  he 
brought  home  and  paid  off.  For  the  next 
eleven  years  he  seems  to  have  remained  on 
half-pay,  and  in  June  179o  was  appointed 
to  the  Windsor  Castle,  which  he  joined  in 
the  Mediterranean  and  brought  to  England 
in  the  following  year,  with  the  flag  of  Rear- 
admiral  Man  on  board.  In  April  1797  he 
was  appointed  to  the  Nassau,  but  it  seems 
doubtful  if  he  ever  joined  her.  In  July  he 
joined  the  Monarch  as  flag-captain  of  Vice- 
admiral  Onslow,  and  had  a  very  distin- 
guished part  in  the  battle  of  Camperdown 
on  11  Oct.  Sir  William  Hotham  [q.  v.] 
noted  that '  soon  after  the  action  a  nobleman 
very  unkindly  insinuated  to  the  king  that 
it  was  a  lucky  thing  for  Sir  Richard  Onslow 
that  he  had  O'Bryen  for  his  captain.  His 
Majesty  differed,  and  told  his  lordship  they 
were  equally  brave  men.'  The  circumstance 


O'Byrne 


341 


O'Byrne 


was  reported  to  O'Bryen,  who  declared  em- 
phatically '  from  the  time  in  which  the 
enemy  appeared  to  the  hour  at  which  the  ac- 
tion ended,  Sir  Richard  Onslow  was  his  own 
captain.'  From  1801  to  1803  O'Bryen  com- 
manded the  Kent  in  the  Mediterranean.  In 
May  1803  he  was  invalided.  He  had  no  fur- 
ther service ;  was  promoted  to  be  rear-admiral 
on  9  Nov.  1805,  and  died  on  18  Dec.  1808. 

[Official  documents  in  the  Public  Record 
Office ;  Gent.  Mag.  1809,  i.  87.]  J.  K.  L. 

O'BYRNE,  FIAGH  MAC  HUGH  (1544  ?- 
1597),  in  Irish  Fiacha  mac  Aodha  na  Broin, 
chief  of  the  sept  of  the  O'Byrnes  of  Wicklow, 
called  Gabhal-Raghnaill,  born  about  1544, 
was  the  lineal  descendant  of  Cathaeir  Mor, 
king  of  Ireland  in  the  second  century.  He 
was  a  man  of  great  ambition  and  considerable 
ability,  but,  as  Spenser  remarked,  he  derived 
his  importance  chiefly  from  the  wild  and  in- 
accessible nature  of  his  country  and  its 
proximity  to  the  metropolis.  After  the  death 
m  1580  of  Dunlaing,  son  of  Edmund,  the 
last  inaugurated  O'Byrne,  he  was  generally 
recognised  as  chief  of  the  O'Byrnes ;  but  his 
authority  was  always  more  or  less  disputed 
by  members  of  the  senior  branch,  and  it  is 
probable  that  their  jealousy  of  him  ulti- 
mately led  to  his  ruin.  He  is  first  mentioned 
in  connection  with  the  escape  of  Sir  Ed- 
mund Butler  from  Dublin  Castle  in  Septem- 
ber 1569,  at  which  time  he  was  apparently 
about  twenty-five  years  of  age.  Two  years 
later,  in  April  1571,  he  combined  withRory 
Oge  O'More  [q.  v.]  in  an  attack  on  the  Pale. 
But  he  first  became  notorious  owing  to  his 
implication  in  the  murder,  in  May  1572,  of 
Robert  Browne  of  Mulcranan  in  co.Wexford. 
For  his  share  in  this  outrage  he  was  prose- 
cuted by  Captain  Francis  Agard,  seneschal 
of  Wicklow,  and,  though  he  himself  managed 
to  escape,  his  brother  and  two  of  his  prin- 
cipal followers  were  killed.  Owing,  however, 
to  the  unsettled  state  of  the  country,  the 
lord-deputy,  Sir  William  Fitzwilliam,  was 
afraid  to  pursue  an  extreme  course  with  him, 
and,  with  the  assistance  of  Agard  and  the 
Earl  of  Kildare,  he  was  in  good  hope  of  in- 
ducing Fiagh  to  surrender  the  real  murderers 
of  Browne  as  '  the  price  of  his  own  redemp- 
tion.' But  his  purpose  was  frustrated  by  the 
officious  zeal  of  the  seneschal  of  Wexford, 
Nicholas  White,  '  and  his  frindes  thundring 
abroade  (in  advauncement  of  their  owne 
credit)  the  Q[ueen's]  Indignacon  and  reso- 
lucon  never  to  pardon  any  the  partakers  of 
Brownes  murther.'  Fitzwilliam  was  unable 
to  retrieve  White's  blunder,  and  Fiagh,  being 
confined  to  his  own  territory,  revenged  him- 
self by  plundering  the  farmers  in  Wexford 


and  the  Pale.  On  26  Aug.  he  invaded  Wex- 
ford with  three  or  four  hundred  followers, 
and  having  fired  a  number  of  villages,  in- 
cluding that  of  Nicholas  Devereux  of  Dun- 
brody,  and  having  defeated  the  seneschal  who 
tried  to  intercept  him,  he  retired  in  safety 
with  his  plunder  to  his  fastness  in  Glen- 
malure.  In  February  1573  government 
granted  him  a  pardon.  Later  in  the  year  his 
sister  married  Rory  Oge  O'More ;  and  Fiagh, 
as  he  was  returning  from  the  wedding  in 
Leix  through  Kildare,  was  attacked  by  the 
sheriff  of  that  county,  Maurice  Fitzjames 
of  Ballyshannon ;  but  the  sheriff,  '  being 
traitorously  forsaken  of  his  men,  was  taken 
prisoner  and  ledd  away  into  the  glennes  of 
Cowlranyll.'  At  first  Fiagh  refused  to  sur- 
render him  unless  '  he  would  condescend  to 
pay  800/.  ransom  and  be  sworn  never  to 
seek  revenge  for  his  taking,'  but  he  ultimately 
consented  '  for  a  consideration '  to  give  him 
up  to  Captain  Agard. 

For  several  subsequent  years  Fiagh  ceased 
to  cause  the  government  any  trouble.  After 
the  death  of  his  brother-in-law  Rory  Oge, 
in  July  1578,  some  anxiety  was  felt  lest  ne 
should  be  tempted  to  revenge  his  death ;  but, 
by  the  good  offices  of  Sir  Henry  Harington, 
he  was  induced  to  submit  formally  to  Sir 
William  Druryin  Christ  Church,  Dublin,  on 
21  Sept.  In  professing  his  wish  to  live  as 
became  a  loyal  subject,  he  complained,  not 
without  some  show  of  reason,  that  he  had 
been  driven  into  rebellious  courses  by  the 
violence  of  his  neighbours,  who  had  Killed 
his  uncle  and  were  seeking  his  own  destruc- 
tion. A  few  days  later  he  renewed  his  sub- 
mission at  Castledermot.  '  Ffeagh  M'Hughe,' 
wrote  Drury  to  Burghley  at  the  time,  '[is] 
the  most  doubted  man  of  Leinster  after  the 
death  of  Rorie  Oge.' 

For  some  time  Fiagh  faithfully  observed 
his  promise  ;  but  in  April  1580  Captain  Mas- 
terson,  seneschal  of  \Vexford,  killed  a  num- 
ber of  the  Kavanaghs,  some  of  whom  were 
near  allied  to  him,  and  Fiagh  swore  to  be 
revenged.  Having  become  reconciled  to  his 
ancient  enemy,  Gerald  Owen  O'Byrne,  '  by 
theire  solempe  oathe,  by  theire  baghall '  (i.e. 
crozier),  he  invaded  Wexford,  '  the  most 
syvell  and  englishe  country  of  all  the 
Realme,'  and  utterly  wasted  it.  He  dis- 
claimed any  other  motive  for  his  conduct 
than  personal  hostility  to  Masterson ;  but, 
feeling  probably  that  such  excuse  would  not 
serve  nim  at  Dublin,  he  declined  to  justify 
himself  before  the  council,  and  shortly  after- 
wards threw  in  his  lot  with  Viscount  Baltin- 
glas.  In  August  he  defeated,  in  a  memo- 
rable encounter  in  Glenmalure,  a  strong  force 
under  the  command  of  the  depujty,  Arthur, 


O'Byrne 


342 


O'Byrne 


fourteenth  lord  Grey  de  Wilton  [q.  v.]  In 
September  he  plundered  and  burnt  Rathmore 
and  Tassagard  in  the  Pale,  but  was  over- 
taken and  defeated  by  Lieutenant  Francis 
Acham.  On  19  Oct.  he  burnt  Rathcoole,  a 
prosperous  village  ten  miles  from  Dublin, 
and  the  inhabitants  of  the  suburbs  trembled 
for  their  safety.  During  the  winter  he  was 
held  in  check  by  a  garrison  stationed  at 
Wicklow  under  Sir  William  Stanley.  An 
attempt  to  dislodge  the  garrison  on  12  Jan. 
1581  failed,  and  a  few  days  later  Grey  re- 
ported that  he  and  Baltinglas  '  woulde  wil- 
linglye  seeke  peace,  if  they  knewe  what  waye 
to  begynne  that  it  mighte  not  bee  refused.' 
On  4  April  Stanley  and  Captain  Russell 
attempted  to  surprise  Fiagh  in  his  own 
country,  but  they  found  him  on  the  alert, 
and  were  compelled,  after  burning  his  house 
of  Ballinacor  and  killing  a  few  churls,  to 
retire.  Towards  the  end  of  June  Grey  made 
a  fresh  attempt  in  person  to  capture  him, 
'  every  day  hunting  the  glinnes,'  so  that 
Fiagh,  finding  himself '  thus  ernestly  followed 
and  the  garrisons  planted  so  neere  in  his 
bosome,'  was  compelled  to  sue  for  peace, 
'  but  his  letters  so  arrogante,  as  thoughe  he 
woulde  haue  yt  none  otherwise,  but  to  haue 
therle  of  Desmonde,  and  all  other  his  con- 
federats  conteined  in  yt  as  well  as  him  self, 
and  required,  that  in  effecte,  all  the  rebells 
of  Leinster  might  depende  vppon  him,  and 
vse  whate  religion  he  listed.'  To  these  terms 
Grey  refused  to  listen  ;  but  want  of  victuals 
compelling  him  to  retire,  and  Fiagh  shortly 
afterwards  renewing  his  offer  of  submission 
to  Sir  Henry  Harington,  he  consented,  mainly 
in  order  to  detach  him  from  Baltinglas,  to 
grant  him  a  pardon.  In  December  Fiagh 
gave  offence  by  hanging  a  certain  Captain 
Garrat,  an  ex-rebel,  who  had  received  a 
pardon  on  condition  of  giving  information  as 
to  the  part  taken  by  the  Earl  of  Kildare  in 
the  rebellion  of  Lord  Baltinglas,  and  it  was 
seriously  proposed  to  hang  Fiagh's  pledges 
in  retaliation.  Eventually  more  moderate 
counsels  prevailed,  and  for  several  years 
Fiagh  caused  little  anxiety  to  government. 

In  June  1584  he  presented  himself  before  Sir 
John  Perrot  [q.  v.J  at  Dublin,  and  consented 
to  put  in  substantial  pledges  for  his  loyalty. 
The  master  of  the  rolls,  Sir  Nicholas  White, 
after  completing  the  circuit  of  Wicklow, 
visited  him  in  August  at  Ballinacor,  '  where 
Lawe  never  approched,'  and  reported  favour- 
ably of  him.  A  month  or  two  later  a  number 
of  cattle  were  lifted  in  the  Pale,  and  '  carried 
with  a  pipe  to  the  mountain.'  Fiagh  at 
once  restored  the  cattle  and  surrendered  the 
thieves  to  Perrot.  Early  in  1586  some  of 
his  pledges  escaped  out  of  Dublin  Castle,  but 


Fiagh  appeared  before  the  lord-deputy, 
decently  clothed  in  English  apparel,  and, 
having  exonerated  himself  and  consented  to 
put  in  fresh  pledges,  was  granted  a  new 
pardon.  Still  there  were  not  wanting  cir- 
cumstances that  went  to  show  that  he  was 
merely  biding  his  time,  and  Sir  Henry 
Wallop,  who  regarded  all  Irishmen  with 
suspicion,  thought  it  would  be  a  good  thing 
if  he  could  be  cut  off.  Perrot  was  much  of 
Wallop's  opinion,  and  offered,  if  permission 
were  granted  him,  to  have  his  head  or  drive 
him  into  the  sea,  and  settle  his  country  so 
that  it  should  no  longer  be  the  gall  of 
Leinster.  Wallop,  however,  was  obliged  to 
admit  that  he  had  done  little  damage  of  late 
years,  and  that  the  worst  that  could  be  alleged 
against  him  was  a  propensity  to  harbour 
rebels.  In  July  1588  he  renewed  his  sub- 
mission to  Perrot's  successor,  Sir  William 
Fitzwilliam  [q.v.]  But  he  continued  to  be 
regarded  with  suspicion.  His  very  existence 
so  near  the  capital  was  looked  upon  as  a 
standing  menace  to  the  public  peace,  and  it 
was  evident  that  nothing  but  a  plausible 
excuse  was  wanted  to  induce  government  to 
make  a  fresh  effort  to  suppress  him.  On 
18  March  1594  his  son-in-law,  Walter  Reagh 
Fitzgerald,  and  three  of  his  sons  attacked 
and  burnt  the  house  of  Sir  Piers  Fitzjames 
Fitzgerald,  sheriff  of  Kildare,  at  Ardree, 
near  Athy,  after  Sir  Piers  had  expelled 
Walter  Reagh  from  Kildare.  Sir  Piers  him- 
self, his  wife,  two  of  his  sisters,  his  daughter, 
and  one  gentlewoman  perished  in  the  fire. 
For  this  outrage  government  held  Fiagh  re- 
sponsible, though  he  disclaimed  all  participa- 
tion in  it,  and  begged  Burghley  to  intercede 
with  the  queen  for  his  pardon.  But  Fitz- 
william was  too  ill  and  probably  too  wary 
to  attack  him  in  person,  and  left  his  punish- 
ment to  his  successor,  Sir  William  Russell. 

In  January  1595  Russell  captured  and 
garrisoned  Ballinacor,  and  made  active  pre- 
parations for  hunting  Fiagh  out  of  his  den. 
He  was  proclaimed  a  traitor,  and  a  reward 
of  1501.  offered  for  his  capture  and  1001.  for 
his  head.  After  the  capture  and  execution 
of  Walter  Reagh  in  April,  a  camp  was  formed 
at  Money,  halfway  between  Tullow  and 
Shillelagh,  which  the  lord-deputy  made  his 
headquarters  for  several  weeks.  A  number 
of  Fiagh's  relations,  including  his  wife  Rose, 
fell  into  his  hands ;  but  Fiagh,  though  he 
had  one  or  two  hairbreadth  escapes,  con- 
tinued to  elude  his  pursuers.  On  30  May 
he  was  surprised  by  Captain  Streete's  com- 
pany, but,  though  severely  wounded  and  op- 
pressed with  age  and  sickness,  he  managed 
to  escape.  It  seemed  as  if  every  effort  to 
capture  him  was  doomed  to  fail.  He  offered 


O'Byrne 


343 


O'Byrne 


to  submit  and  to  put  in  Owny  Mac  Rory 
Oge  O'More  as  a  pledge.  lie  actually  sur- 
rendered his  son  Turlough,  and  in  November 
presented  himself  before  the  deputy  in  coun- 
cil, and  upon  his  knees  exhibited  his  sub- 
mission and  petition  to  be  received  to  her 
majesty's  mercy.  The  Irish  government 
referred  his  case  to  the  privy  council,  and 
meanwhile  renewed  his  protection  from 
time  to  time.  In  April  1596  he  appealed  to 
Burghley  to  mediate  with  the  queen  for  his 
forgiveness  and  restoration  to  his  chiefry. 
His  petition  was  granted,  but  before  the 
patent  for  his  restoration  arrived  he  had  en- 
tered into  a  close  alliance  with  Hugh  O'Neill, 
earl  of  Tyrone.  In  September  he  recaptured 
Ballinacor,  and  though  to  attack  him  would, 
in  the  general  opinion,  lead  to  a  rupture  with 
Tyrone,  Russell,  after  some  hesitation,  deter- 
mined to  make  the  attempt.  Before  the  end 
of  the  month  a  new  fort  was  erected  at 
Rathdrum,  and,  despite  the  protests  of  Ty- 
rone, who  insisted  that  Sir  John  Norris  had 
passed  his  word  for  his  pardon,  Fiagh  was 
hotly  prosecuted  during  the  winter.  In 
February  1597  he  was  reported  to  be  ready 
to  submit  to  any  conditions,  but  Russell  had 
made  up  his  mind  to  capture  him  at  all 
hazards,  and  capture  him  he  eventually  did. 
On  Sunday,  8  May,  he  was  surprised  by '  one 
Milborne,  sergeant  to  Captain  Lee,'  and 
his  captor  was  compelled  by  the  fury  of  the 
soldiers  to  strike  off  his  head.  On  his  way 
back  to  Dublin  the  inhabitants  greeted  Rus- 
sell '  with  great  joy  and  gladness,  and  be- 
stowed many  blessings  on  him  for  perform- 
ing so  good  a  deed,  and  delivering  them 
from  their  long  oppressions.' 

Fiagh's  head  and  quarters  were  for  some 
time  exposed  over  the  gate  of  Dublin  Castle. 
Four  months  later  one  Lane  presented  what 
purported  to  be  his  head  to  Cecil,  but  he  was 
told  that  head-money  had  already  been  paid 
in  Ireland.  The  head  was  given  to  a  lad  to 
bury,  but  instead  of  doing  so  he  stuck  it  in 
a  tree  in  Enfield  Chase,  where  it  was  found 
by  two  boys  looking  for  their  cattle. 

Fiagh  was  twice  married.  By  his  first 
wife  he  had  three  sons — Turlough,  who  ap- 
pears to  have  been  hanged  in  1596  for  his 
share  in  the  attack  on  Sir  Piers  Fitzjames 
Fitzgerald  ;  Phelim,  who  succeeded  his 
father;  and  Redmond— and  one  daughter, 
who  was  married  to  Walter  Reagh  Fitzgerald. 
Fiagh's  second  wife  was  Rose,  daughter  of 
Turlough  O'Toole,  who,  after  being  sentenced 
to  be  burnt  as  a  traitor,  was  pardoned  by  the 
queen  on  promising  to  do  service  against  her 
stepson.  Two  of  her  sisters  were  married 
to  her  stepsons  Phelim  and  Redmond. 

Fiagh's  death  did  not,  as  had  been  expected, 


lead  to  the  settlement  of  Wicklow.  On 
the  outbreak  of  Tyrone's  rebellion  in  1598, 
Phelim  and  Redmond  immediately  took  up 
arms,  the  former  inWicklow,  the  latter  joining 
the  earl  in  Ulster.  On  29  May  1599  Phelim 
routed  a  strong  force  under  Sir  Henry  Har- 
ington  between  Ballinacor  and  Rathdrum, 
but  was  shortly  afterwards  defeated  by  the 
Earl  of  Essex  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Ark- 
low.  During  that  winter  and  the  following 
year  he  created  great  havoc  in  the  Pale,  and 
in  December  1600  Mountjoy  made  a  deter- 
mined effort  to  suppress  him.  Stealthily 
crossing  the  snow-covered  mountains  of 
Wicklow  from  the  west,  he  unexpectedly 
appeared  with  a  strong  force  before  Ballina- 
cor, at  the  head  of  Glenmalure,  on  Christmas 
eve.  Phelim  saved  himself  by  escaping 
naked  out  of  a  back  window,  but  his  wife 
and  son  were  captured.  The  deputy  re- 
mained in  the  neighbourhood  for  three  weeks, 
and  Phelim, '  to  vent  his  anger,  daily  offered 
slight  skirmishes  upon  advantage,  but  his 
heart  was  nothing  eased  therewith,  being 
continually  beaten.'  He  eventually  sub- 
mitted, and  on  10  May  1601  Mountjoy  gave 
warrant  to  pass  a  pardon  for  him  and  his 
followers. 

It  was  evidently  the  intention  of  govern- 
ment to  restore  him  to  his  chiefry,  and  in 
1613  he  represented  co.  Wicklow  in  parlia- 
ment. But  in  1623  a  scheme  was  set  on 
foot  by  Lord-deputy  Falkland  to  establish  a 
plantation  in  his  country.  The  design  did 
not  meet  with  the  approval  of  the  commis- 
sioners for  Irish  affairs,  who  suggested  that 
the  lands  belonging  to  the  O'Byrnes  as  a 
clan  should  be  allotted  to  them  individually 
at  profitable  rents.  Their  suggestion,  how- 
ever, was  not  acted  upon,  and  two  years 
later  Falkland  announced  that  he  had  dis- 
covered a  formidable  conspiracy  against  the 
state,  in  which  two  of  Phelim's  sons  were 
implicated.  He  again  suggested  the  advis- 
ability of  planting  the  O'Byrnes'  territory, 
and  again  the  commissioners  for  Irish  affairs 
stood  between  him  and  the  O'Byrnes,  advis- 
ing, '  as  the  best  course  to  reduce  that  bar- 
barous country  to  some  good  settlement,' 
that  a  grant  should  be  made  to  Phelim  of  all 
the  lands  claimed  by  him,  on  condition  that 
he  in  turn  made  a  grant  in  freehold  of  two 
hundred  acres  to  each  of  his  younger  sons. 
The  suggestion  of  the  commissioners  was 
again  ignored  by  Falkland,  who  on  27  Aug. 
1628  announced  that  Phelim  and  five  of  his 
sons  had  been  indicted  on  a  charge  of  con- 
spiracy, that  a  true  bill  had  been  found 
against  them  by  a  Wicklow  jury,  and  that, 
pending  their  trial,  they  had  been  committed 
to  Dublin  Castle.  But  Phelim  had  power- 


O'Cahan 


344 


O'Cahan 


ful  friends  at  court,  and  a  committee  of  the 
Irish  privy  council  was  appointed  to  inves- 
tigate the  matter  impartially.  In  the  end, 
Phelim  was  found  innocent  of  the  charges  pre- 
ferred against  him,  and  he  and  his  sons  were 
restored  to  their  liberty.  It  is  uncertain  when 
lie  died.  He  married  Una  Ni  Tuathail,  called 
in  English  Winifred  O'Toole,  and  by  her,  who 
died  of  grief  in  consequence  of  his  arrest  in 
1628,  he  had  eight  sons  and  one  daughter. 

[Annals  of  the  Four  Masters,  ed.  O'Donovan, 
v.  1746,  vi.  2017  ;  State  Papers,  Ireland,  Eliz., 
and  Chas.  I ;  O'Byrne's  Historical  Remiir'scenees 
of  the  O'Byrnes,  London,  1843;  O'Toole's  The 
O'Tooles,  anciently  lords  of  Powerscourt,  etc., 
Dublin ;  Spenser's  View  of  the  Present  State 
of  Ireland;  Gilbert's  Account  of  the  National 
MSS.  of  Ireland,  p.  218  ;  Moryson's  Itinerary,  pt. 
ii.  bks.  i.  and  ii. ;  O'Sullevan  Beare's  Historic 
Catholicse  Iberniae  Compendium  ;  Bagwell's  Ire- 
land under  the  Tudors ;  Gardiner's  Hist,  of 
England,  viii.  20-6  ;  Hickson's  Ireland  in  the 
Seventeenth  Century ;  Gilbert's  Hist,  of  the  Irish 
Confederation ;  Carte's  Life  of  Ormonde,  5.  55 ; 
Harl.  MS.  1425;  Leabhar  Branach,  or  Book  of 
the  O'Byrnes,  in  Trinity  Coll.  DubL.MS.  H.i.  14, 
containing  several  poems  in  celebration  of  Fiagh 
Mac  Hugh;  and  Brit.  Mus.  M.S.  Eg.  176.]  E.  D. 

O'CAHAN  or  O'KANE,  SIR  DONNELL 
BALLAGH  or  '  the  freckled '  (d.  1617  ?), 
in  Irish  Domhnall  na  Cathain,  Irish  chieftain, 
was  eldest  son  of  Rory  O'Cahan,  who  died  on 
14  April  1598,  when  Donnell  succeeded  to 
his  possessions  in  Ulster.  These  were  very 
extensive,  and  were  situated  chiefly  round 
Dungiven,  co.  Londonderry.  The  O'Cahan 
was  Tyrone's  principal  vassal  or '  uriaght,'  and 
had  the  privilege  of  inaugurating  each  suc- 
cessor to  the  O'Neill.  Before  the  end  of  1598 
O'Cahan  was  in  rebellion  under  Tyrone,  in 
command  of  sixty  horse  and  sixty  foot ;  during 
the  next  four  years  O'Cahan,  with  his  brother 
Rory,  was  actively  opposing  Sir  Henry  Doc- 
wra  [q.  v.J  in  Ulster,  and  more  than  once  his 
lands  were  ravaged  (cf.  BAGWELL,  Ireland 
under  the  Tudors,  iii.  362,  &c.)  After  the 
siege  of  Kinsale  he  saw  that  the  struggle  was 
hopeless,  and  thinking,  no  doubt,  that  a  timely 
return  to  allegiance  would  enable  him  to 
secure  substantial  advantages  at  Tyrone's 
expense, he  gave  in  his  submission  to  Docwra 
and  suffered  forfeiture  of  one-third  of  his 
lands.  From  that  time  he  served  on  the 
English  side,  furnishing  a  force  of  50  horse 
and  150  foot  at  his  own  expense.  The  lord 
deputy,  Mountjoy,  promised  in  return  that 
O'Cahan  should  hold  his  lands  direct  from 
the  crown ;  but  before  the  promise  was  car- 
ried out  Tyrone  submitted,  and  received  a 
fresh  grant  of  all  his  lands.  He  now  at- 
tempted to  revenge  himself  on  O'Cahan  for 
his  desertion,  and  demanded  O'Cahan's  sub- 


mission, two  hundred  cows,  and  the  promise 
of  an  annual  rent ;  as  a  pledge  for  its  fulfil- 
ment he  took  possession  of  a  large  district 
belonging  to  O'Cahan.  On  the  other  hand, 
O'Cahan  maintained  that  as  soon  as  he  had 
performed  certain  services  due  to  the  O'Neill, 
he  was  as  much  lord  of  his  own  land  as  any 
English  freeholder;  but  knowing  that  Tyrone 
was  supported  by  Mountjoy,  he  submitted 
for  the  time,  and  signed  an  agreement  with- 
drawing all  claims  to  independence. 

In  1606  George  Montgomery,  bishop  of 
Deny,  instigated  O'Cahan  to  proceed  at  law 
against  Tyrone,  who  was  attempting  further 
aggressions,  and  had  driven  off  all  the  cattle 
he  could  find  in  O'Cahan's  district.  The 
government  were  now  inclined  to  support 
Tyrone's  chief  vassals,  who  might  prove  a 
check  upon  his  power,  and  O'Cahan  felt  sure 
of  a  favourable  hearing ;  his  request  for  the 
services  of  Sir  John  Davis  [q.  v.],  attorney- 
general,  was  granted,  and  in  May  he  laid  his 
case  before  the  deputy  and  privy  council.  At 
the  trial  Tyrone  behaved  with  violence,  and 
snatched  from  O'Cahan's  hands  the  paper  from 
which  he  was  reading ;  an  order  was  made 
that  two-thirds  of  the  lands  should  remain 
in  O'Cahan's  possession,  while  Tyrone  should 
hold  the  remaining  third  until  the  question 
was  decided ;  shortly  afterwards  Tyrone  fled. 

O'Cahan  was  knighted  on  20  June  1607, 
and  in  the  same  year  was  a  commissioner  to 
administer  justice  in  Ulster  in  place  of  Tyrone 
and  Tyrconnell ;  but  the  removal  of  Tyrone 
gradually  led  to  O'Cahan's  assumption  of  a 
position  of  hostility  to  the  government.  He 
had  territorial  disputes  with  Montgomery, 
who  had  supported  him  against  Tyrone, 
because  he  thought  O'Cahan  would  be  a  less 
powerful  neighbour ;  and  his  refusal  to  sub- 
mit to  the  crown  officers  until  a  force  had 
been  despatched  to  compel  him  lent  colour 
to  Chichester's  suspicion  that  O'Cahan  was 
implicated  in  O'l)ogherty's  designs  [see 
O'DoGHERTY,  SIR  CAHIR].  His  brothers 
actually  joined  in  the  subsequent  rising,  but 
O'Cahan  took  no  part  in  it,  as  he  had  at  his 
own  request  been  placed  in  confinement  at 
Dublin  Castle.  After  five  months'  imprison- 
ment Chichester  asked  leave  to  release  him, 
but  this  was  refused,  and  O'Cahan  remained 
in  Dublin  Castle  till  June  1609,  when  he  was 
indicted  on  six  charges  of  treason.  The  failure 
of  the  government,  however,  to  obtain  a  ver- 
dict against  Sir  Neill  O'Donnell  induced 
them  to  postpone  O'Cahan's  trial,  and  he  was 
sent  to  London  and  imprisoned  in  the  Tower. 
Here,  in  spite  of  his  petitions  and  complaints 
of  the  illegality  of  the  proceeding,  he  remained, 
attended  by  his  wife,  until  his  death,  which 
apparently  took  place  in  1617. 


O'Callaghan 


345 


O'Callaghan 


O'Cahan  married,  firstly,  a  daughter  of  the 
Earl  of  Tyrone ;  her  repudiation  by  O'Cahan 
was  one  of  Tyrone's  complaints  against  him 
(E.u^L,Macdonnells  of  Antrim,-^.  219).  Mary, 
daughter  of  Hugh  MacManus  O'Donnell,  is 
said  to  have  been  a  second  wife  of  O'Cahan ; 
but  her  matrimonial  relations  were  very  com- 
plicated. She  is  said  to  have  been  the  wife  in 
O'Cahan's  lifetime  of  two  other  men,  one  of 
whom  was  Teige  O'Rourke  (Cox,  Hibernia 
Anglicana,  ii.  32).  O'Cahan  was  succeeded  by 
Rory,  a  younger  son,  according  to  O'Hart's 
« Irish  Pedigrees,'  1887,  i.  624-5  (cf.  Ulster 
Journal  of  Archeology,  iv.  140-5,  where 
Rory  is  confused  with  his  father). 

[O'Cahan's  case  is  dealt  with  in  great  detail 
in  the  Cal.  State  Papers,  Ireland,  1608-14,  and 
notices  of  him  are  contained  in  the  prefaces  to 
these  volumes ;  see  also  Gardiner's  Hist,  of  Eng- 
land, chap.  x.  throughout ;  Carew  MSS.  passim ; 
Annals  of  Four  Masters,  s.  a.  1598  ;  Dockwra's 
Narration  in  the  Celtic  Society's  Miscellany; 
O'Sullevan's  Hist.  Cath.  Ibern.  Compendium ; 
Fynes  Moryson's  Itinerary,  pt.  ii.  pp.  226,  236, 
&c. ;  Stafford's  Hibernia  Pacata ;  Cox's  Hibernia 
Anglicana ;  Carte's  Ormonde,  i.  25,  43  ;  Wai- 
pole's  Kingdom  of  Ireland,  passim;  Meehan's 
Fate  of  the  Earl  of  Tyrone,  passim  ;  Hill's  Mac- 
donnells  of  Antrim  and  Montgomery  MSS. 
passim ;  Miss  Hickson's  Ireland  in  the  1 7th 
Cent.  i.  2,  &c.  ;  Bagwell's  Ireland  under  the 
Tudors,  vol.  iii.]  A.  F.  P. 

O'CALLAGHAN,  EDMUND  BAILEY 

(1797-1880),  historian,  youngest  son  in  a 
large  family,  was  born  in  Ireland  on  28  Feb. 
1797,  and  there  carefully  educated.  About 
1820  he  went  for  two  years  to  Paris  to  study 
medicine.  In  1823  he  emigrated  to  Canada, 
and  completed  his  student's  career  at  Quebec, 
where  he  was  admitted  to  practise  in  1827. 
His  wit  and  genial  manner,  combined  with  an 
earnest  character  and  skill  in  his  profession, 
soon  attracted  friends  and  brought  him  prac- 
tice, and  about  1830  he  removed  to  Montreal. 
O'Callaghan  early  took  part  in  political 
life ;  in  Quebec  he  had  joined  in  organising 
the  Society  of  the  Friends  of  Ireland.  At 
Montreal  he  took  an  active  part  at  political 
meetings,  and  wrote  political  articles.  In  1834 
he  became  editor  of  the '  Vindicator,'  the  organ 
of  the  Canadian  '  patriots ;'  and  in  1835  was 
elected  for  Yamaska,  in  the  assembly  of  Upper 
Canada,  where  he  posed  as  one  of  the  leaders 
of  the  revolutionary  party,  dressed  in  Cana- 
dian homespun,  as  their  fashion  was,  in  order 
to  encourage  home  industries.  On  6  Nov. 
1835  the  ofhce  of  his  paper  was  attacked  and 
wrecked  by  members  of  the  tory  Doric  Club. 
In  October  1837  the  revolutionary  party  met 
at  Richelieu  River  to  determine  their  final 
course  of  action,  and  O'Callaghan  supported 


Papineau  in  condemning  the  resort  to  arms. 
When  the  crisis  came,  however,  he  took  the 
field  with  others,  and  was  in  the  action  at 
St.  Denis  on  23  Nov.  On  the  failure  of  the 
rising  he  fled  with  Papineau  to  the  States, 
and  on  29  Nov.  1837  a  reward  was  offered 
for  his  apprehension  as  a  traitor. 

O'Callaghan  found  such  a  congenial  home 
in  New  York  that,  when  his  companions  re- 
turned to  Canada  under  amnesty,  he  remained 
in  the  States,  removing  to  Albany,  where  he 
practised  as  a  doctor,  and  also  edited  the 
|  Northern  Light,'  an  industrial  journal.  His 
interest  in  one  of  the  current  questions  in- 
duced him  to  study  the  records  of  the  State 
of  New  York,  and,  struck  by  the  richness  of 
the  material  buried  there,  he  was  led  to  in- 
vestigate the  old  Dutch  records.  In  1846  he 
published  the  first  volume  of  his  '  History 
of  New  Netherland,  or  New  York  under  the 
Dutch.'  The  work  marked  an  epoch  in  the 
historical  research  of  the  United  States ;  it 
was  the  first  real  history  of  New  York  State. 
Yet  O'Callaghan  lost  money  over  the  first 
volume,  which  he  made  up  only  by  publish- 
ing the  second  himself  in  1849.  One  of  the 
immediate  results  of  this  work  was  J.  R. 
Broadhead's  mission  to  consult  the  archives 
of  the  chief  European  states  for  illustrations 
of  the  New  York  history.  O'Callaghan  was 
requested  to  edit  the  results  of  these  labours, 
and  eleven  quarto  volumes  of  '  State  Re- 
cords, or  Documentary  History  of  the  State 
of  New  York,'  1849-51,  with  a  full  index, 
are  a  monument  of  his  care  and  ability.  It 
was  while  preparing  this  work  that  he  called 
public  attention  to  the  value  of  the  '  Jesuit 
Relations,'  which  he  issued  in  1847. 

For  some  years  O'Callaghan  was  attached 
to  the  office  of  the  secretary  of  state,  and 
edited  the  old  colonial  archives.  In  1870 
he  was  induced,  much  against  his  will,  to 
remove  to  New  York,  and  undertake  the 
translation  and  arrangement  of  the  municipal 
archives;  but  the  corporation  treated  him 
badly,  first  cramping  him  for  money,  and 
afterwards  declining  to  continue  the  work. 
After  1877  he  was,  owing  to  an  accident,  con- 
fined to  his  house,No.  651  Lexington  Avenue, 
New  York.  He  died  on  29  May  1880. 

O'Callaghan  was  a  Roman  catholic  and  a 
member  of  the  Catholic  Union  of  New  York. 
Religious  and  earnest,  he  was  a  donor  to  St. 
Mary's  Church  at  Albany.  In  1846  he  was 
made  honorary  M.D.  by  the  university  of 
St.  Louis,  and  later  LL.D.  by  St.  John's  Col- 
lege, Fordham,  Massachusetts. 

[Notice  by  John  G.  Shea  in  Mag.  of  American 
Hist.  1880,  vol.  ii. ;  Dominion  (Canada)  Ann. 
Register,  1 880 ;  M.  Garneau's  H  istoire  du  Canada, 
iv.  272.]  C.  A.  H. 


O'Callaghan 


346 


O'Callaghan 


O'CALLAGHAN,  JOHN  CORNELIUS 
(1805-1883),  Irish  historical  writer,  son  of 
John  O'Callaghan,  who  was  one  of  the  first 
catholics  admitted  to  the  profession  of  at- 
torney in  Ireland  after  the  partial  relaxation 
of  the  penal  laws  in  1793,  was  born  at  Dub- 
lin in  1805.  He  was  educated  at  the  Jesuit 
school  of  Clongoweswood,  co.  Kildare,  and 
afterwards  at  a  private  school  at  Blanchards- 
town,  near  Dublin,  and  was  called  to  the 
Irish  bar  in  1829,  but,  preferring  a  literary 
life,  did  not  practise.  He  contributed  to  a 
weekly  newspaper,  published  in  Dublin  from 
1830  to  1833,  called  '  The  Comet,' which  ad- 
vocated the  disestablishment  of  the  protes- 
tant  church  in  Ireland,  and  which  counted 
O'Connell  among  its  contributors.  When  the 
'  Comet '  ceased  he  wrote  for  the  '  Irish 
Monthly  Magazine,'  and  his  contributions  to 
these  two  journals  were  collected,  and  were, 
with  other  writings  of  his,  published  under 
the  title  of  '  The  Green  Book ;  or  Gleanings 
from  the  Writing  Desk  of  a  Literary  Agitator ' 
(Dublin,  1840,  8vo).  When  the  well-known 
'  Nation '  newspaper  was  started  in  1842  as 
the  organ  of  the  party  afterwards  known  as 
the  Young  Ireland  party,  O'Callaghan  joined 
the  staff,  and  its  first  number  contained  'The 
Exterminator's  Song,'  written  by  him,  and 
subsequently  republished  in  the  '  Spirit  of 
the  Nation,'  a  collection  of  the  poetry  of  the 
*  Young  Irelanders.' 

It  is,  however,  as  an  historical  writer  that 
O'Callaghan  has  acquired  fame.  His  first  prin- 
cipal work  of  the  kind  was  his  edition  of  the 
'  Macariae  Excidium  ;  or  the  Destruction  of 
Cyprus,'  the  secret  history  of  the  revolution 
in  Ireland  from  1688  to  1691,  written  by 
Colonel  Charles  O'Kelly  [q.  v.],  an  officer  of 
James  II's  army.  On  this  work,  which  was 
published  in  1846  (Dublin,  4to),  O'Callaghan 
spent  four  or  five  years,  and  his  notes  to  it 
are  most  valuable.  About  twenty-three 
years  after  this  he  published  his  greatest 
work,  his  '  History  of  the  Irish  Brigades  in 
the  Service  of  France,  from  the  Revolution  in 
Great  Britain  and  Ireland  under  James  II  to 
the  Revolution  in  France  under  Louis  XVI ' 
(Glasgow,  1869,  8vo),  on  which  he  spent 
'  more  than  twenty-five  years'  research  and 
labour,'  but  for  which  he  could  not  find  a 
publisher  in  Dublin.  Though  very  diffuse  in 
style,  and  in  some  respects  unscholarly  (both 
index  and  references  being  very  incomplete), 
this  history  displays  the  most  careful  research, 
and  must  always  be  considered  a  standard 
work.  The  ground  that  it  breaks  is,  more- 
over, practically  new,  the  previous  work  by 
Matthew  O'Connor  [q.  v.]  being  little  more 
than  an  essay  which  was  left  unfinished 
owing  to  O'Connor's  death. 


Though  by  nature  a  student,  O'Callaghan 
took  a  keen  interest  in  politics,  and  was  a 
strong  admirer  and  supporter  of  O'Connell ; 
it  was  he,  with  Johu  Hogan  [q.  v.],  the 
sculptor,  who  placed  a  crown  on  O'Connell's 
head  at  one  of  the  well-known  'monster' 
meetings  of  O'Connell's  supporters  held  at 
the  Hill  of  Tara,  the  ancient  crowning-place 
of  the  kings  of  Ireland. 

O'Callaghan  died  in  Dublin  on  24  April 
1883,  in  his  seventy-seventh  year. 

Sir  Charles  Gavan  Duffy,  in  his  '  Young 
Ireland,'  describes  him  as  a  tall  and  strong 
man,  '  speaking  a  dialect  compounded  ap- 
parently in  equal  parts  of  Johnson  and 
Cobbett,  in  a  voice  too  loud  for  social  inter- 
course. "  I  love,"  he  would,  say  "  not  the 
entremets  of  literature,  but  the  strong  meat 
and  drink  of  sedition ;  "  or  "  I  make  a  daily 
meal  on  the  smoked  carcass  of  Irish  history." ' 

[Freeman's  Journal,  25  April  1883;  Irish 
Monthly,  vol.  xvii. ;  Duffy's  Young  Ireland ; 
Lecture  by  Dr.  More  Madden  on  O'Callaghan, 
given  in  Dublin  in  February  1892;  Freeman's 
Journal,  5  Feb.  1892.]  P.  L.  N. 

O'CALLAGHAN,  SIR  ROBERT  WIL- 
LIAM (1777-1840),  general,  second  son  of 
Cornelius  O'Callaghan,  first  baron  Lismore, 
and  Frances,  second  daughter  of  Mr.  Speaker 
Ponsonby,  was  born  in  October  1777.  He  was 
descended  '  from  one  of  the  very  few  native 
families  that  have  been  dignified  by  the 
peerage  of  Ireland.'  He  was  appointed  en- 
sign in  the  128th  regiment  of  foot  29  Nov. 

1794,  and  was  transferred  as  lieutenant  to 
the   30th  light  dragoons  6  Dec.  1794,  in 
which  regiment  he  became  captain  31  Jan. 

1795.  He    was  transferred   to  the   22nd 
light  dragoons  19  April  1796.     These  three 
corps  were  all  subsequently  disbanded.     He 
was  appointed  major  to  the  40th  regiment 
of  foot  17  Feb.  1803,  and  became  lieutenant- 
colonel  in  the  39th  regiment  of  foot  16  July 
1803.     In  March  1805  he  embarked  in  com- 
mand of  the  first  battalion  of  the  39th  regi- 
ment, which  had  been  selected  to  form  part 
of  the  expedition  destined  for  the  Mediter- 
ranean under  Lieutenant-general  Sir  James 
Craig,   and     subsequently    proceeded  from 
Malta  to  Naples  with  the  flank  companies. 
When  those  companies  returned  to  Malta  in 
February  1806,  he  remained  in  Sicily,  and  at 
the  battle  of  Maida  (4  July  1806)  he  com- 
manded   a    grenadier   battalion,    receiving 
after  the  victory  a  gold  medal.  At  the  end  of 
August  1811  he  went  with  the  first  battalion 
of  the  39th  regiment  from  Sicily  to  join  the 
army  in  the  Peninsula.      He  was  advanced 
to  the  brevet  rank  of  colonel.  At  the  battle  of 
Yittoria(21  June  1813)  he  was  placed  in  tem- 
porary command  of  the  brigade,  and  his  con- 


O'Caran 


347 


O'Carolan 


duct  was  specially  noticed  in  Wellington's 
despatches  (vi.  541).  He  also  commanded  the 
brigade  during  the  actions  in  the  Pyrenees  in 
July  1813,  and  was  present  at  the  passage  of  the 
Nivelle  and  Nive.  His  conduct  in  command 
of  the  first  battalion  of  the  39th  regiment  at 
Garris  (15  Feb.  1814)  was  again  mentioned 
in  Wellington's  despatches  (vii.  324).  He 
was  present  at  the  victory  of  Orthes  (27  Feb. 
1814),  and  received  a  cross  with  two  clasps 
for  Maida,  Vittoria,  Pyrenees,  Nivelle,  Nive, 
and  Orthes.  He  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of 
major-general  4  June  1814,  and  was  created 
a  K.C.B.  2  Jan.  1815.  He  was  appointed  to 
the  staff  of  the  army  in  Flanders  25  June 
1815,  and  to  the  staff  of  the  army  in  France 
22  April  1818.  He  commanded  the  troops 
in  North  Britain  from  15  June  1825  to  22  July 
1830.  He  was  gazetted  colonel  of  the  97th 
regiment  7  Sept.  1829,  and  was  promoted  to 
the  rank  of  lieutenant-general  22  July  1830. 
He  was  appointed  to  command  the  army  at 
Madras  4  Oct.  1830,  and  was  made  colonel  of 
the  39th  regiment  4  March  1833.  In  the 
spring  of  1835,  on  the  departure  of  Lord 
William  Bentinck  for  England,  he  held  for 
some  months  command  of  the  troops  in  India, 
and  was  in  command  at  Madras  till  October 
1836.  He  was  created  G.C.B.  19  July  1838. 
He  died  unmarried  in  London  on  9  June 
1840. 

[Napier's  Peninsular  War;  Cannon's  Histori- 
cal Kecords  of  the  39th  Regiment  of  Foot ;  Army 
Lists.]  B.  H.  S. 

O'C  ARAN,GILL  A-AN-C  HOIMHDEDH 
(d.  1180),  archbishop  of  Armagh,  who  is 
called  Gilbert  by  Roger  Hoveden  and  else- 
where (COTTON,  Fasti),  a  name  which  has 
no  relation  to  Gilla-an-Choiinhdedh  (ser- 
vant of  the  Lord),  was  in  1157  witness  of 
the  charter  granted  to  the  abbey  of  Newry 
by  Muircheartach  O'Lochlainn  [q.  v.]  The 
two  chief  northern  bishops  were  then  often 
called  of  Cinel  Eoghain  and  Cinel  Conaill, 
and  the  bishopric  of  Cinel  Conaill  or  Tyr- 
connel,  which  was  the  title  of  Gilla-an- 
Choimhdedh  O'Caran,  corresponded  in  gene- 
ral with  the  present  diocese  of  Raphoe. 
If  they  were  convertible  terms  in  his  time, 
he  had  ceased  to  be  bishop  before  10  Feb. 
1173,  when  the  chronicles  record  the  death 
of  Muireadhach  O'Cobhthaigh  ('  epscop  Doire 
agus  Ratha  Both'),  bishop  of  Derry  and 
Raphoe.  In  1175  he  became  archbishop  of 
Armagh,  and  held  office  during  the  visita- 
tion of  Cardinal  Vivianus,  sent  to  Ireland  as 
apostolic  legate  by  Pope  Alexander  III  in 
1177.  The  'Annals  of  Inisfallen' (Dublin 
copy)  state  that  he  was  with  O'Lochlainn, 
bearing  the  '  Canoin  Phatraic,'  believed  to  be 


the  present '  Book  of  Armagh,'  in  a  battle  near 
Downpatnck  in  1177,  in  which  John  de 
Courcy  defeated  the  Cinel  Eoghain  and  the 
Ulidians.  In  the  last  year  of  his  episcopate 
Armagh  and  most  of  its  churches  were  burnt. 
He  gave  Builebachuill,  co.  Dublin,  to  St. 
Mary's  Abbey,  near  Dublin  (WAKE).  He 
died  in  1180. 

[Annals  of  Loch  Ce,  ed.  Hennessy,  i.  160 ; 
Ware's  Commentary  of  the  Prelates  of  Ireland*. 
Dublin,  1704,  pp.  11,  63;  Reeves's  Ecclesiastical 
Antiquities  of  Down,  Connor,  and  Dromore; 
Stuart's  Historical  Memoirs  of  the  City  of 
Armagh,  Newry,  1819;  Clarendon  MS.  in  British 
Museum,  vol.  xlii.  p.  179.  This  is  the  copy  of 
the  charter  of  Newry,  originally  belonging  to 
Sir  James  Ware,  from  which  the  printed  texts  of 
it,  nearly  all  of  which  are  inaccurate,  have  been 
made.]  N.  M. 

O'CAROLAN    or    CAROLAN,  TOR- 
LOGH  (1670-1738),  Irish  bard,  the  son  of 
John  O'Carolan,  a  farmer,  was  born  in  1670 
at  the  village  of  Newtown,  three  and  a  half 
miles  from  Nobber,  Meath  (O'REILLY).    The 
inhabitants  of  the  village  of  Carlanstown,  co. 
Meath,  point  to  a  slight  irregularity  of  sur- 
face in  a  field  near  the  bridge  at  the  end  of  the 
village  as  the  site  of  the  house  in  which  he 
was  born ;  this  field  is  either  adjacent  to  or 
included  within  the  parish  of  Newtown.  The 
family,  known  in  Irish  as  Ua  Cearbhallain, 
are  stated  to  have  been  a  branch  of  the  sept 
of  Mac  Bradaigh  of  Cavan,  to  which  Philip 
Mac  Brady   [q.  v.],   a  friend  of   Carolan, 
belonged,  and  who  were  allied  to  the  Ui 
Sioradain  or  Sheridans.   Terence  O'Kerrolan 
was  rector  of  Knogh,  co.  Meath,  in  1550. 
Shane  Grana  O'Carrolan,  said  to  be  the  great- 
grandfather of  the  bard,  was  in  1607  the 
chief  of  his  sept.     During  the  civil  wars  his 
descendants  were   deprived  of  their  lands 
(E-rcheguer  Rolls,  quoted  by  Hardiman). 

The  father  settled  at  Carrick-on-Shannon, 
Leitrim.  O'Carolan's  education,  begun  at 
Cruisetown  (O'REILLY),  was  carried  on,  in 
company  with  the  children  of  M'Dermott 
Roe,  of  Alderford,  Roscommon.  Attacked 
by  small-pox  at  the  age  of  fourteen,  O'Carolan 
lost  his  eyesight.  His  natural  musical  gifts 
were  developed  by  special  training ;  he  was 
provided  with  a  good  master  for  the  harp,  and, 
though  he  never  attained  to  great  proficiency 
in  execution,  the  use  of  that  instrument  as- 
sisted him  in  composition.  The  adoption  by 
blind  men  of  music  as  a  profession  was  not 
uncommon  in  Ireland ;  and  when  O'Carolan, 
in  his  twenty-second  year,  began  his  wander- 
ing life  as  a  bard,  there  were  many  Irish 
harpers  who  used  to  play  at  the  houses  of 
the  gentry  throughout  Ireland  and  the  high- 
lands of  Scotland.  Denis  O'Conor,  father  of 


O'Carolan 


348 


O'Carolan 


Charles  O'Conor  [q.  v.],  of  Belanagare,  was 
one  of  his  earliest  friends,  and  he  was  always 
welcome  at  Belanagare. 

His  patrons  supplied  the  musician  with 
horses  and  a  servant  to  carry  the  harp,  and, 
thus  equipped,  O'Carolan  passed  thro  ugh  Con- 
naught,  visiting  on  his  way  the  great  houses 
of  Leitrim,  and  there  composed  '  The  Fairy 
Queens,'  '  Planxty  Reynolds,'  and  '  Gracey 
Nugent.'  Another  early  song,  '  Bridget 
Cruise,'  was  inspired  by  a  love  affair,  the 
memory  of  which  clung  to  him  even  to 
middle  age,  when,  as  he  related  to  O'Conor, 
he  recognised  the  long-lost  lady  of  his  ro- 
mance by  the  touch  of  her  fingers  as  he 
assisted  her  among  other  chance  passengers 
into  the  ferry-boat  taking  them  as  pilgrims 
to  the  island  in  Loch  Derg,  co.  Donegal 
(WALKER).  A  marriage  with  Mary  Maguire 
of  co.  Fermanagh  was  as  happy  as  the  con- 
ditions of  O'Carolan's  life  would  allow.  They 
built  a  house  on  a  small  farm  near  Mohill  in 
Leitrim,  where  Mary  was  wont  to  await  in 
patience  the  irregular  appearances  of  her 
gifted  husband.  She  bore  him  six  daughters 
and  one  son,  and  upon  her  death  in  1733 
O'Carolan  wrote  a  lament  in  a  strain  of 
genuine  pathos. 

O'Carolan's  patrons  and  admirers,  the  rich 
and  poor  of  Connaught  and  the  neighbouring 
counties,  continually  sent  messengers  in 
quest  of  him.  The  honour  and  hospitality 
lavished  upon  him  he  repaid  in  songs  and 
tunes  known  under  the  names  of  the  persons 
for  whom  they  were  composed.  At  Castle 
Kelly  in  Galway  he  made  the  fine  song, 
'  Mild  Mable  Kelly.'  Mr.  Kelly  of  Cargin, 
near  Tulsk,  Roscommon,  an  old  and  hos- 
pitable friend,  he  celebrated  in  'Planxty 
Kelly.'  Proceeding  from  Cargin  on  one 
occasion,  he  stopped  at  Mr.  Stafford's,  near 
Elphin,  and  the  famous  '  Receipt  for  Drink- 
ing,' or  '  Planxty  Stafford,'  will  long  com- 
memorate his  affectionate  reception  there. 
On  his  arrival  at  Grey  field,  Roscommon, 
where  his  presence  always  attracted  a  number 
of  visitors,  he  composed  his  '  Fair-haired 
Mary '  (HAKDIMAN).  '  Bumpers,  Squire 
Jones,'  is  Dawson's  paraphrase  of  O'Carolan's 
'  planxty '  in  honour  of  Thomas  Morris  Jones, 
the  squire  of  Moneyglass,  co.  Antrim.  The 
well-known  '  Planxty  Maguire  '  was  written 
at  Tempo,  the  house  most  frequently  visited 
by  O'Carolan  in  Ulster.  He  was  often  en- 
tertained at  Eallymascanlan,  co.  Louth, 
and  there  composed  '  Mo  chuairt  go  baile 
iSganlain'  ('My  visit  to  Ballymascanlan'),  in 
honour  of  his  host  Mac  Neale's  daughter.  In 
Mayo  he  composed  verses  and  music  to  Lord 
Bourke,  Lord  Dillon,  Mrs.  Garvey  of  Murrisk, 
the  Palmers,  Costellos,  and  O'Donnells.  His 


best  known  Sligo  tunes  are  those  to  the 
Croftons,  Colonel  Irwin,  and  Loftus  Jones. 
In  co.  Roscommon  Mrs.  French,  Nelly  Plun- 
ket,  the  O'Conors,  and  the  M'Dermotts  in- 
spired fine  melodies.  One  of  these,  called 
'  The  Princess  Royal '  (for  a  Miss  M'Dermott), 
is  identical  with  the  tune  '  Arethusa '  in 
Shield's '  Lock  and  Key.'  He  also  celebrated 
his  early  friends  the  Betaghs  of  Moynalty, 
co.  Meath,  and  Cathaoir  Mac  Cabe  [q.  v.] 

He  fell  ill  at  Tempo,  composed  a  farewell 
to  Maguire,  and  rode  to  the  house  of  Mr. 
Brady,  near  Ballinamore,  co.  Leitrim,  and 
thence  by  Lahire  to  Alderford,  where  he  took 
to  his  bed.  He  made  his '  Farewell  to  Music ' 
there,  and,  after  a  lingering  illness,  '  spent 
his  last  moments  in  prayer,'  and  passed  away 
on  25  March  1738,  in  his  sixty-eighth  year. 
The  funeral  was  attended  by  a  vast  concourse 
of  people ;  tents  were  erected  for  numbers 
who  were  unable  to  find  lodgings  for  the  four 
days'  wake.  O'Carolan's  grave  at  the  east 
end  of  the  old  parish  church  of  Kilronan 
has  been  neatly  enclosed,  and  an  inscription 
placed  near  the  spot  by  Lady  Louisa  Tenison 
(GROVE).  His  skull,  once  preserved  in  a  niche 
close  by,  was  destroyed  by  a  pistol-shot  fired 
at  it  by  a  drunken  horseman  in  1796.  A  por- 
trait of  O'Carolan  was  painted  on  copper  in 
1720,  at  the  instance  of  Dean  Massey,  by  a 
Dutch  artist,  supposed  to  be  Van  der  Hagen. 
The  picture  was  in  1840  in  the  possession  of 
Sir  Henry  Marsh  (BUNTING).  It  was  en- 
graved and  published  by  Martyn  in  1822, 
and  again  by  J.  Rogers,  and  published  by 
Robins  for  the  frontispiece  to  Hardiman's 
'  Irish  Minstrelsy,'  1831.  Hogan  executed 
from  it  a  bas-relief  of  the  head  in  marble, 
which  has  been  placed  in  St.  Patrick's  Cathe- 
dral, Dublin  (GROVE). 

O'Carolan  was  diligent  in  the  observance 
of  the  ritual  of  his  faith  and  honourable  in 
all  the  relations  of  life.  He  was  stated  by 
Charles  O'Conor,  who  knew  him  well,  to  be 
'  moral  and  religious.'  He  was  of  convivial 
disposition,  but  '  was  seldom  surprised  by 
intoxication.'  Goldsmith,  in  his  essay  on 
O'Carolan,  describes  the  bard  as  having  fallen 
a  victim  to  his  bacchanalian  habits,  but  this 
idea  was  probably  derived  from  the  recital 
of  some  other  bard,  who  thought  such  an 
end  appropriate  to  the  author  of  '  The  Re- 
ceipt for  Drinking.'  Goldsmith  attributes 
'  O'Rourke's  Feast '  to  O'Carolan.  The  air 
only  was  his  ;  the  words,  of  which  Swift 
made  an  English  verse  paraphrase  from  a 
translation,  were  by  Aodh  MacGabhrain  of 
Glengoole,  co.  Leitrim. 

His  poetry  was  not  intended  for  study 
without  music,  and  was  suitable  to  the  festive 
or  melancholy  occasions  of  its  composition. 


O'Carolan 


349 


O'Carroll 


It  has  been  found  impossible  to  preserve  the 
metre  in  translation,  or  to  force  English 
words  to  musical  airs  which  were  composed  to 
suit  the  accents,  the  vowel  assonance,  and 
other  peculiarities  of  Irish  metre.  O'Carolan's 
knowledge  of  English  was  very  slight,  as  is 
apparent  in  his  poetical  address  of  one  English 
stanza  to  Miss  Fetherstone.  To  his  melodies, 
critical  as  well  as  general  admiration  has  been 
freely  accorded.  As  a  musical  genius  he  was 
original,  representative,  many-sided.  His 
earliest  pieces  show  him  to  have  followed  his 
predecessors,  the  O'Kanes  and  others,  who 
played  old  Irish  music  only.  The  later  produc- 
tions of  the  bard  exhibit  the  influence  of  the 
foreign  school,  and  his  imitations  of  Corelli 
became  very  apparent,  particularly  in  the 
responses  between  treble  and  bass,  in  his 
'  Concerto,'  '  Madam  Bermingham,'  '  Lady 
Blaney ,' '  Colonel  O'Hara,' '  Mrs.  Crofton,'  and 
'  Madam  Cole '  (BUNTING).  His  music  was 
in  the  highest  degree  popular  in  his  own 
country.  It  continued  to  be  so  as  long  as 
Irish  was  spoken,  and  much  of  it  may  still 
be  heard  in  the  counties  of  Meath,  Cavan, 
Roscommon,  and  Sligo.  It  was  first  publicly 
introduced  into  England  as  part  of  the 
musical  setting  of  O'Keeffe's  '  Poor  Soldier,' 
and  others  of  his  plays ;  Arnold  and  Shield 
noted  down  the  airs  from  O'KeefiVs  singing. 
About  fifty  pieces,  in  excellent  setting,  are 
included  in  Bunting's  three  collections  of 
'Ancient  Music  of  Ireland,'  published  in 
1796, 1809,  and  1840  respectively.  A  number 
of  airs  were  published  in  Terence  Carolan's 
'  Collection  of  O'Carolan's  Compositions,' 
2nd  edit.  1780.  The  Irish  verses  of  several, 
with  paraphrases  in  English,  are  in  Hardi- 
man's  '  Irish  Minstrelsy,'  which  also  contains 
an  account  of  the  bard  and  his  peregrina- 
tions. In  the  '  Transactions  of  the  Iberno- 
Celtic  Society  '  Edward  O'Reilly,  who 
was  assisted  by  Paul  O'Brien,  a  native  of 
O'Carolan's  district,  mentions  twenty-four 
of  his  poems.  Among  the  chief  are  six  on 
events  of  his  own  life,  the  most  famous  being 
'  Mas  tinn  no  slan  do  tharlaidh  me '  ('  If 
sickness  or  health  happen  to  me '),  commonly 
called  '  The  Receipt,  and  the  air  of  which  is 
known  to  nearly  every  fiddler  and  piper  in 
Ireland,  and  the  words  to  all  who  sing  in  Irish. 
In  all,  about  one  hundred  pieces  by  O'Carolan 
are  accounted  for  in  the  works  noticed,  while 
more  no  doubt  exist  in  the  manuscript  col- 
lections of  verse  to  be  found  here  and  there 
in  Ireland. 

[Walker's  Irish  Bards,  1786,  p.  156,  and  App. 
vi.;  O'Keeffe's  Recollections,  ii.  17,  70,  77,  357  ; 
Bunting's  Ancient  Music  of  Ireland,  1840,  pp.9, 
71  ;  Foreter's  Life  of  Goldsmith,  p.  11  ;  Gold- 
smith's Works,  iii.  271  Walsh's  Hist,  of  Dublin, 


ii.  903  ;  Grove's  Diet,  of  Music,  ii.  490 ;  O'Reilly 
in  Trans,  of  Iberno-Celtic  Soc.  Dublin,  1820; 
authorities  quoted."!  L.  M.  M. 

O'CARROLL,  MAOLSUTHAIN  (d. 
1031),  confessor  of  Brian  (926-1014)  fa.  Y.I, 
king  of  Ireland,  was  probably  son  of  Maol- 
suthain  Ua  Cearbhaill,  or  O'Carroll,  who  died 
at  Inisfallen,  in  the  lower  Lake  of  Killarney, 
in  1009,  chief  of  Eoghanacht  Locha  Lein,  and 
famous  for  learning.  Brian's  brother  Marcan 
was  the  chief  ecclesiastic  of  Minister  (Annala 
Rioghachta  Eireann,  1009)  in  the  time  of  the 
elder  Maolsuthain,  and  it  was  perhaps  through 
Marcan  that  the  younger  became  attached  to 
Brian.  O'Carroll  accompanied  Brian  in  his 
journey  round  Ireland  in  1004,  and  at  Armagh 
wrote  in  the '  Book  of  Armagh,'  on  f.  16A,  the 
short  charter  in  Latin,  which  is  still  legible, 
and  ends  with  the  words  '  ego  scripsi  id  est 
calvus  perennis  in  conspectu  briain  impera- 
toris  scotorum  et  quod  scripsi  finituit  pro 
omnibus  regibus  maceriae.'  '  Calvus  perennis ' 
is  a  version  of  Maolsuthain  (maol  =  bald,  and 
suthain  =  everlasting),  while  Maceria  is  a 
translation  of  the  Irish  word  Caisil  or  Cashel, 
the  chief  city  of  Munster.  There  is  no  satis- 
factory evidence  that  O'Carroll  wrote  any 
part  of  the  '  Annals  of  Inisfallen,'  as  is  sug- 
gested by  E.  O'Curry  (Lectures,  p.  79)  and 
E.  O'Reilly  (7mA  Writers,  p.  70).  In  a 
manuscript  of  1404  there  is  a  curious  tale  of 
O'Carroll,  which  has  been  printed  by  O'Curry 
(Lectures,  p.  77,  and  App.  p.  xli).  Three  of 
Maolsutham's  pupils  wished  to  visit  Judaea. 
He  told  them  they  would  die  there,  but  gave 
them  leave  to  go  on  condition  that  they 
should  visit  him  after  their  deaths  and  tell 
him  how  long  he  should  live,  and  what 
should  be  his  doom  after  death.  They  died, 
asked  the  archangel  Michael  for  the  informa- 
tion, and  thus  learned  that  their  tutor  had 
three  years  and  a  half  to  live,  and  that  at  the 
day  of  judgment  he  would  be  sent  to  hell, 
for  three  reasons :  The  way  he  interpolated 
the  canon,  his  profligate  conduct,  and  his 
omission  to  recite  the  hymn  of  St.  Columba 
known  as  '  Alt  us  prosator.'  His  pupils  re- 
turned as  white  doves,  and  communicated 
the  gloomy  intelligence.  He  announced  his 
intention  of  abandoning  vice  and  ceasing  to 
interpolate  the  holy  scriptures,  of  fasting 
three  days  a  week,  of  performing  one  hun- 
dred genuflexions  a  day,  and  repeating  the 
Altus  seven  times  every  night,  and  asked 
the  doves  to  return  on  the  day  of  his  death. 
They  came,  informed  him  that  heaven  was 
now  open  to  him,  and  flew  off  with  his  soul. 
His  manuscripts,  the  tale  adds,  are  still  in 
the  church  of  Inisfallen.  He  died  in  1031. 

[Annala  Rioghachta  Eireann,  ed.  O'Donovan, 
vol.  ii. ;  Facsimiles  of  Historical  Manuscripts  of 


O'Carroll 


35° 


Ochino 


Ireland,  ed.  Gilbert,  vol.  i.  Dublin,  1874; 
Eeeves's  Memoir  of  the  Book  of  Armagh,  Lusk, 
1861;  O'Curry's  Lectures  on  the  Manuscript 
Materials  of  Ancient  Irish  History,  Dublin, 
1873.]  N.  M. 

O'CARROLL,  MARGARET  (d.  1451), 
hospitable  lady,  was  daughter  of  Tadhg 
O'Carroll,  and  married  Calbhach  O'Connor 
Faly  of  Ui  Failghe.  As  is  still  the  custom 
in  parts  of  Ireland,  she  retained  her  maiden 
surname  after  marriage.  Twice  in  one  year 
she  gave  a  great  entertainment — one  on 
26  March,  and  the  other  en  15  Aug.  The 
first  was  at  Killeigh,  King's  County ;  the 
second  at  Rathangan,  both  at  the  ends 
of  Ophaly.  Gillananaemh  MacAedhagain, 
O'Connor  Faly's  chief  brehon,  wrote  out  for 
her  a  list  of  the  learned  of  the  time,  be- 
ginning with  Maoilin  O'Maelchonaire,  and 
she  feasted  2,700  of  them.  Her  husband 
approved,  and  rode  round  looking  after  the 
guests,  who  seem  to  have  been  entertained  in 
the  open  air,  near  the  church.  She  had  two 
sons,  one  of  whom,  Feidhlimidh,  died  the 
day  after  her  own  death ;  and  one  daughter, 
Finola,  who  married,  first,  Nial  GarbhO'Don- 
nell,  and  then  Aedh  Buidh  O'Neill,  and  died 
26  July  1493.  She  built  several  churches, 
mended  roads  and  made  bridges,  and  gave 
two  chalices  of  gold  to  the  church  of 
Dasinchell  in  Ophaly.  She  died  of  cancer 
of  the  breast  in  1451. 

[Annala  Eioghachta  Eireann,  ed.  O'Donovan 
vol.  iv.]  N.  M. 

OCCAM,  NICHOLAS  OF  (fl.  1280), 
Franciscan,  also  called  Nicholas  de  Hotham, 
was  eighteenth  regent  doctor  of  theology 
among  the  Franciscans  at  Oxford.  Several 
'  Qusestiones '  disputed  by  him  at  Oxford  are 
preserved  in  Codex  158  in  the  Municipal 
(formerly  Conventual)  Library  at  Assisi. 
Leland  mentions  several  of  his  works  on  the 
authority  of  the  lost '  Catalogue  of  learned 
Franciscans  ; '  none  of  these  appear  to  be  ex- 
tant. A  manuscript  in  the  cathedral  library 
at  Worcester,  entitled  '  Sermones  Occham,' 
may  contain  sermons  by  Nicholas  ;  they  are 
certainly  not  by  the  great  William  Ockham 
[q.  v.] 

[Tanner's  Bibliotheca  ;  Grey  Friars  in  Oxford 
(Oxford  Hist.  Soc.)]  A.  G.  L. 

OCCAM,  WILLIAM  (d.  1349?), 'Doctor 
invincibilis.'  [See  OCKHAM.] 

OCCLEVE,  THOMAS  (1370  P-1450  ?), 
poet.  [See  HOCCLEVE.] 

O'CEARBHALL,  lord  of  Ossory  (d.  888). 
[See  CEARBHALL.] 

O'CEARNAIDH,  BRIAN  (1567-1640), 
Jesuit.  [See  KEARNEY,  BARNABAS.] 


OCHILTREE,  second  BARON.  [See 
STEWART,  ANDREW,  d.  1568.]  ^ 

OCHILTREE,  MICHAEL  (fi.  1425- 
1445),  bishop  of  Dunblane,  was  dean  of  Dun- 
blane some  time  before  18  March  1424-5, 
when  the  king,  as  a  mark  of  friendship,  con- 
ceded to  him  a  tenement  in  the  burgh  of  Perth 
(Reg.  Mag.  Sig.  Scot.  1424-1513,  No.  18). 
While  dean  of  Dunblane  he  rebuilt  the  church 
at  Muthill,  the  residence  of  the  deans,  of 
which  the  ancient  Romanesque  belfry  and 
the  nave  and  aisles  erected  by  him  still 
remain.  He  became  bishop  of  Dunblane  some 
time  before  24  Jan.  1429-30,  when  he  was 
appointed  a  commissioner  to  meet  the  Eng- 
lish ambassadors  at  Hawdenstank  (Gal. 
Documents  relating  to  Scotland,  iv.  1032). 
In  1439  he  set  his  seal  to  a  solemn  agreement 
between  the  queen-dowager  and  a  committee 
of  parliament  about  the  keeping  of  the  young 
king,  James  II.  He  continued  in  the  bishopric 
of  Dunblane  until  1445. 

[Keg.  Mag.  Sig.  Scot.  1424-1513;  Cal.  Docu- 
ments relating  to  Scotland,  vol.  iv. ;  Rymer's 
Foedera ;  Keith's  Scottish  Bishops.]  T.  F.  H. 

OCHINO,  BERNARDINO  (1487-1564), 
reformer,  was  born  at  Siena  in  1487.  His 
father,  Domenico  Tomasini,  called  Ochino, 
perhaps  because  he  resided  in  the  Via  del- 
1'Oca  (Goose  Street),  is  said  to  have  been  a 
barber.  Bernardino  early  entered  the  austere 
order  of  the  Observant ine  Franciscans,  but 
quitted  it  in  1534  for  the  still  more  rigorous 
rule  of  the  Capuchins,  which  he  observed  with 
supererogatory  exactitude.  He  also  became 
a  competent  latinist,  meditated  much  on 
theology,  and  improved  by  art  an  extraor- 
dinary gift  of  natural  eloquence.  No  such 
preacher  had  been  known  in  Italy  since  Sa- 
vonarola. Discarding  scholastic  subtleties, 
he  made  his  appeal  at  once  to  the  conscience, 
the  intelligence,  and  the  heart.  His  influence 
was  felt  throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of 
Italy.  Gradually  Ochino's  theology  assumed 
a  Lutheran  hue,  and  at  Naples  in  1536  an 
attempt  was  made  to  inhibit  him  from  preach- 
ing. It  failed,  and  in  1538  he  was  chosen 
vicar-general  of  the  Capuchins.  He  again 
preached  at  Naples  in  1539,  and  was  de- 
nounced to  Cardinal  Carafa  as  a  heretic. 
His  '  Seven  Dialogues,'  published  the  same 
year,  increased  the  suspicion  with  which  he 
was  regarded,  but  did  not  prevent  his  being 
re-elected  vicar-general  of  the  Capuchins  in 
1541.  Preaching  at  Venice  in  Lent  1542,  he 
indignantly  declaimed  against  the  recent 
arrest  of  his  friend,  Giulio  Terenzano,  by 
order  of  the  papal  nuncio.  The  nuncio  re- 
plied by  inhibition,  but,  in  deference  to  the 
lamour  of  the  populace,  suffered  Ochino  to 


Ochino 


351 


Ochino 


resume  preaching  on  giving  a  pledge  to  keep 
clear  of  polemics.  On  the  establishment  of  the 
inquisition  in  the  summer,  he  was  at  once 
cited  before  it.  Ochino  forthwith  fled  to 
Geneva,  where,  after  a  rigorous  catechisation 
by  Calvin,  he  was  licensed  to  preach  on 
23  Oct.  His  flight  he  justified  by  apostolic 
precedents  in  several  published  letters  (cf. 
bibliographical  note,  infra).  During  his  resi- 
dence at  Geneva  he  began  the  publication  of 
his  sermons  in  Italian,  and  printed,  in  the 
same  language,  an  '  Exposition  of  St.  Paul's 
Epistle  to  the  Romans,'  which  was  severely 
censured  by  Lancellotto  Politi  (Ambrosio 
Catharine)  in  his '  Compendio  d'  Errori  et  In- 
ganniLuterani/Rome,  1544,4to(cf.  OCHINO'S 
animated  Risposta  alle false  Calunnie  et  impie 
Biastemmie  di  frate  Ambrosio  Catharine, 
3546,  4to).  In  1545  Ochino  (now  married) 
settled  at  Augsburg,  where  (3  Dec.)  he  was  i 
appointed  pastor  of  the  Italian  church.  On  j 
the  eve  of  the  surrender  of  the  city  to  the  ' 
imperial  forces  in  January  1547  (N.S.)  he 
escaped  to  Basel,  whence,  at  Cranmer's  in- 
vitation, he  migrated  to  England,  arriving 
in  London  with  Peter  Martyr  on  20  Dec. 
following  [see  VEEMIGLI,  PIETKO  MARTIRE].  ; 
Cranmer  received  the  exiles  under  the  hos- 
pitable roof  of  Lambeth  Palace,  and  provided 
Ochino,  9  May  1548,  with  a  non-residentiary 
prebend  in  the  church  of  Canterbury.  He 
was  also  granted  a  crown  pension  of  one 
hundred  marks,  and  appointed  preacher  to 
the  Italian  church.  Some  of  his  sermons  were 
translated  into  English  [cf.  BACON,  ANN,  ' 
LADY];  and  in  London,  in  1549,  appeared  the 
unique  edition  of  his  most  trenchant  polemic 
against  the  papacy,  viz.  '  A  Tragedie  or  Dia- 
loge  of  the  unjust  usurped  Primacie  of  the 
Bishop  of  Rome.'  This  curious  pasquinade  ! 
consists  of  nine  colloquies,  the  interlocutors 
beingsometimes  celestial,  sometimes  diabolic, 
sometimes  historical  personages.  It  does  not 
lack  dramatic  power,  but  the  view  of  the 
origin  of  the  papacy  which  it  presents  is 
unhistorical.  It  is  dedicated,  in  a  somewhat 
fulsome  style,  to  Edward  VI. 

On  the  accession  of  Mary,  Ochino  returned 
to  Basel,  and  was  deprived  of  his  prebend. 
Removing  to  Zurich,  he  was  for  some  years 
pastor  there  of  a  congregation  of  refugees 
from  Locarno.  During  this  period  he  pub- 
lished a  volume  of  '  Apologues '  defamatory 
of  the  pope,  the  higher  clergy,  and  the  reli- 
gious orders;  a '  Dialogue  on  Purgatory-,'  and 
some  tracts  on  the  Eucharist,  of  which  he  had 
adopted  the  Zwinglian  theory ;  besides  per- 
plexing still  further  the  vexed  question  of 
free  will  in  a  curious  treatise,  entitled  '  The 
Labyrinth.'  This  book  probably  inspired  Mil- 
ton's fine  passage  ('  Paradise  Lost,'  ii.  557-61 ) 


about  the  '  wandering  mazes,'  in  which  the 
speculative  thinkers  of  the  infernal  regions 
'  found,'  like  Ochino, '  no  end.'  In  his '  Thirty 
Dialogues,'  published  in  1563,  he  handled 
with  a  certain  freedom  both  the  doctrine  of 
the  Trinity  and  the  relations  between  the 
sexes.  The  book  was  at  once  censured  by  the 
theologians,  and  its  author  was,  by  decree  of 
the  senate  (22  Nov.),  banished  from  the  town 
and  territory  of  Ziirich.  Refused  an  asylum 
at  Basel  and  Miihlhausen,  and  expelled,  after 
a  brief  sojourn,  from  Niirnberg,  Ochino  sought 
the  protection  of  the  Polish  Prince  Nicolaus 
Radziwill,  a  Lutheran,  to  whom  he  had 
dedicated  the  obnoxious  dialogues.  He  was 
suffered  to  preach  to  the  Italian  residents  at 
Cracow,  but,  in  deference  to  the  representa- 
tions of  the  Roman  curia,  was  banished  from 
Poland  by  royal  edict  of  6  Aug.  1564.  He 
died  at  Slakow  in  Moravia  towards  the  end 
of  the  same  year. 

As  a  thinker,  Ochino  is  distinguished  rather 
by  ingenuity  and  agility  than  by  originality 
or  depth.  Disgusted  by  his  mental  instability, 
catholic,  Calvinist,  and  Zwinglian  combined 
to  misrepresent  his  opinions  and  traduce  his 
character.  Though  he  dealt  with  delicate 
questions  in  an  incautious  manner,  there  is 
no  reason  to  suppose  that  his  own  life  was 
impure ;  and,  though  he  has  been  commonly 
ranked  among  anti-trinitarians,  his  language 
does  not  necessarily  imply  more  than  a  lean- 
ing towards  Ari&msm  (Dialoyi  XXX,  lib.  ii. 
Dial.  xx.  ad  fin.)  Ochino's  works  were  pro- 
hibited in  Italy  upon  his  flight  to  Geneva, 
and  in  England  in  1555.  The  three  earliest, 
the  '  De  Confessione,'  '  Vita  Nuova,'  and 
'  Quaedam  Simplex  Declaratio,'  were  effectu- 
ally suppressed  (VERGERIO,  Cat.  Lib.  Con- 
dann.  1548,  and  Archiv.  Stor.  Ital.  lm»  ser. 
vol.  x.  App.  p.  168).  Addit.  MS.  38MB 
contains  the  autograph  of  his  dialogues 
j  '  Dello  Peccato '  and  '  Delia  Prudenza  Hu- 
i  mana.'  The  latter  is  printed  in  Schelhorn's 
'Ergiitzlichkeiten,'  pp.  2009  et  seq.  A  Latin 
translation  of  one  of  his  sermons,  done  by 
the  Princess  Elizabeth,  and  dedicated  to 
Edward  VI,  is  among  the  autographs  in  the 
Bodleian  Library  (No.  B.  6.) 

The  following  are  the  principal  editions 
!  of  his  extremely  rare  extant  works :  1 . '  Pre- 
]  diche  Nove,'  Venice,  1539, 1547, 8vo.  2,'Pre- 
diche,'  Geneva,  1542,  8vo.  3.  '  Sette  Dia- 
logi,'  Venice,  1542,  8vo.  4.  'Responsio  ad 
Mutium  Justinopolitanum,'  Venice,  1543, 
8vo.  4.  '  Epistola  alii  molto  Magnifici  Ii 
Signori  di  Balia  della  Citta  di  Siena,'  Geneva, 
1643,  8vo.  5. '  Sermones,'  Geneva,  1543-4, 
8vo.  6.  '  L'Image  de  I'Antichrist  compost 
en  langue  Italienne  par  Bernardin  Ochin  de 
Siene,  translate  en  Fran^oys,'  Geneva,  1544, 


Ochino 


35* 


Ochino 


Svo.  7.  '  Sermo  ...  ex  Italico  in  Latinum 
conversus  Coelio  Secundo  Interpreted  Basel, 
1544,  Svo.  ^8.  '  Espositione  sopra  laEpistola 
di  S.  Paolo  alii  Romani,'  Geneva,  1545,  Svo 
(Latin  and  German  translations,  Augsburg, 
1545-6).  9.  'XX  Prediche,' Neuburg,1545, 
8vo.  10.  '  Espositione  sopra  la  Epistola  di 
S.  Paolo  alii  Galati,'  1546,  Svo  (contem- 
poraneous German  translation,  Augsburg, 
Svo).  11.  '  Ain  christliches  schemes  und 
trostliches  Bett  (Gebet),'  &c.,  Augsburg, 
1546  (?).  12.  '  Ain  Gesprech  der  flaisch- 
lichen  Vernunfft,'  &c.,  Augsburg,  1546,  Svo. 
13.  '  Von  der  Hoffnung  aines  christlichen 
Gemiits,' Augsburg,  1547,  Svo.  14. '  Five  Ser- 
mons of  Barnardine  Ochine  of  Sena,  godly, 
frutefull,  and  very  necessary  for  all  true 
Christians ;  translated  out  of  Italien  into 
Englishe,'  London,  1548.  15.  '  Sermons  of 
the  ryght  famous  and  excellent  Clerke,  Mas- 
ter Barnardine  Ochine,  borne  within  the 
famous  Universitie  of  Siena  in  Italy,  nowe 
also  an  exyle  in  this  life  for  the  faythful  tes- 
timony of  Jesus  Christ'  (transl.  R.  Argentine), 
Ipswich,  1548,  8vo.  16.  '  Fourtene  Sermons 
of  Barnardine  Ochyne  concernyng  the  Pre- 
destinacion  &  Eleccion  of  God  ;  very  ex- 
pedient to  the  settynge  forth  of  hys  Glorye 
among  his  Creatures.  Translated  out  of 
Italian  into  cure  natyve  Tounge  by  A.  G.' 
(apparently  for  A.C.,  i.e.  Anne  Cooke,  after- 
wards wife  of  Sir  Nicholas  Bacon  [q.v.]), 
London,  1549  (?),  Svo.  17.  '  Certayne  Ser- 
mons,' &c.  (rest  of  the  title  follows  the  pre- 
ceding), London,  1549  (?),  Svo  (twenty-one 
sermons  reprinted  from  the  editions  by 
Argentine  and  Cooke).  18.  '  A  Tragedie  or 
Dialoge  of  the  unjuste  usurped  Primacie  of 
the  Bishop  of  Rome,  and  of  all  the  just 
abolishing  of  the  same,  made  by  Master 
Barnardine  Ochine,  an  Italian,  and  trans- 
lated into  Englische  by  Master  John  Ponet, 
Doctor  of  Divinitie,  never  before  printed  in 
any  Language,'  London,  1549,  8vo.  19. '  Ser- 
mones  Tres  .  .  .  de  Oflicio  Christiani  Prin- 
cipis  ;  item  Sacrse  Declamationes  Quinque ' 
(Latin  version  by  Cselius  Horatius  Curio, 
appended  to  his  'De  Amplitudine  Miseri- 
cordiae  Dei'),  Basel,  1550,  Svo.  20.  '  Apologi 
nelli  quali  si  scuoprano  li  Abusi,  Sciocheze, 
Superstition!,  Errori,  Idolatrie  et  Impieta 
della  Sinagoga  del  Papa  et  spetialmente  di 
suoi  preti,  monaci,  e  frati,'  Geneva,  1554,  Svo 
(German  translation,  with  additions,  1559, 
4to;  Dutch  translation  1607  and  1691). 
21.  '  Dialogo  del  Purgatorio,'  Zurich,  1555, 
Svo  (contains  contemporaneous  Latin  and 
German  versions ;  French  versions  1559  and 
1878  [Paris]  Svo).  22.  '  Syncerse  et  Verae 
Doctrinaede  Ccena  Domini  Expositio,' Zurich, 
1556,  Svo.  23.'  Sermons  en  Francoys,'  Geneva 


and  Lyons,  1561.  24.  '  Disputa  intorno  alia 
Presenza  del  Corpo  di  Giesu  Christo  nel 
Sacramento  della  Cena,'  Basel,  1561,  Svo. 
25.  'Prediche  .  .  .  nomate  Laberinti  del 
libero  over  servo  Arbitrio,  Prescienza,  Pre- 
destinatione  et  Liberta  divina  e  del  modo 
per  uscirne'  (dedicated  to  Queen  Elizabeth), 
Basel,  1561  (?),  Svo  (Latin  version,  probably 
contemporaneous,  with  title  '  Labyrinthi, 
Hoc  est  de  libero  aut  servo  Arbitrio,  de 
Divina  Prsenotione,  Destinatione,  et  Liber- 
tate  Disputatio.  Et  quonam  pacto  sit  ex  iis 
Labyrinthisexeundum,'Basel,8vo).  26.  'Li- 
ber de  Corporis  Christi  Praesentia  in  Coense 
Sacramento.  In  quo  acuta  est  Tractatio 
de  Missad  origine  atque  erroribus ;  itemque 
altera  de  Conciliatione  Controversies  inter 
Reformatas  Ecclesias  '  (with  the  Latin  ver- 
sion of  the  'Labyrinth'),  Basel,  1561,  Svo. 
27.  '  II  Catechismo  o  vero  Institutione  Chris- 
tiana .  .  .  in  forma  di  Dialogo,' Basel,  1561, 
Svo.  28. '  Dialogi  XXX  in  duos  libros  divisi, 
quorum  primus  est  de  Messia,  continetque 
Dialogos  XVIII.  Secundus  est  cum  de  rebus 
variis  turn  potissimum  de  Trinitate,'  Basel, 
1563,  Svo.  29.  '  Certaine  Godly  and  very 
profitable  Sermons  of  Faith,  Hope,  and 
Charitie,  first  set  foorth  by  Master  Barnar- 
dine Occhine  of  Siena  in  Italy,  and  now 
lately  collected  and  translated  out  of  the 
Italian  Tongue  into  the  English  by  Wil- 
liam Phiston  of  London,  student,'  London, 
1580,  4to.  30.  'A  Dialogue  of  Polygamy, 
written  originally  in  Italian  ;  rendered  into 
English  by  a  Person  of  Quality,'  London, 
1657. 

One  of  the  dialogues  censured  by  the 
Zurich  theologians  was  reprinted  with  a  ver- 
sion of  the  companion  dialogue  on  divorce 
in  '  The  Cases  of  Polygamy,  Concubinage, 
Adultery,  Divorce,'  &c.,  London,  1732,  Svo 
(cf.  Hist.  MSS.  Comm.  1st  Rep.  App.  p.  53). 

[Boverius,  Annal.  Capucc.  a.g.  1534  and 
1541-2 ;  Baronius,  Ann.  ed.  Eaynald,  a.g.  1542  ; 
Rosso,  Istoria  di  Napoli.  a.£.  1536;  Mem. 
Storicocrit.  di  Siena,  ed.  Pecci,  iii.  104;  Arch. 
Stor.  Ital.  Ima  ser.  torn.  ix.  pp.  27-8  ;  Car- 
teggio  di  Vittoria  Colonna,  ed.  Ferrero  eMiiller, 
1889;  Reumont's  Vittoria  Colonna  (transl. 
Mtiller  e  Ferrero),  1883  ;  Guidiccioni,  Opere,  ed. 
Minutoli,  1867,  i.  47;  Bembo,  Lettere,  1552, 
iv.  98;  Pietro  Aretino,  Lettere,  1542,  ii.  127; 
Giannone,  Istoria  di  Napoli,  1823,  ix.  338  et 
seq. ;  Curionis  Epist.  1553,  p.  58;  Muzio 
Giustinopolitano,  Mentite  Ochiniane,  1551  ; 
Sleidan,  DeStatu  Reliq.  1558, ff. 353, 475 ;  Ciacon. 
Vit.  Pontif.  (1677),  iii.  595;  Peter  Martyr's 
Loci  Comm.  (1583),  p.  1071  ;  Lit.  Rem.  Ed- 
ward VI  (Roxburghe  Club) ;  Archaeologia.  xxi. 
469 ;  Gratian,  De  Vita  Commendon.  Card. 
(1669),  lib.  ii.  c.  0 ;  Strype's  Cranmer  (fol.) 
pp.  196,329,  400,  Memorials,  vol.  ii.  pt.i.pp.  198, 


Ochs 


353 


Ochterlony 


265,  iii.  pt.  i.  p.  250,  Annals,  vol.  iii.  pt.  i.  pp. 
198-9  ;  Burnet's  .Reformation,  ed.  Pocock,  ii. 
113,  iii.  331,  449  ;  Hist.  MSS.  Comm.  4th  Eep. 
App.  p.  589,  9th  Rep.  App.  p.  101  ;  Fox's  Acts 
and  MOD.  (1847),  vii.  127  ;  Sand's  Bibl.  Antitrin. 
(1684);  Lubienski's  Hist.  Reform.  Polon.  (1685), 
p.  110 ;  Observant.  Select,  ad  rem  litt.  spectant. 
(Halle,  1701\  vol.  iv.  Obs.  xx. ;  Antiq.  Repert.  i. 
386;  Bityle's  Diet.  Hist,  et  Grit.,  ei.  Des  Mai- 
zeaux ;  Moreri's  Diet.  Hist. ;  Nouv.  Biogr.  Gener. ; 
Krasinski's  Reformation  in  Poland  (1838),  i. 
323  ;  Hagenbach's  Vater  der  reformirten  Kirche, 
Th.  vii. ;  Trechsel's  Antitrinitarier  vor  Faustus 
Socin(1839),  ii.  22  et  seq.;  McCrie's  Reforma- 
tion in  Italy,  2nd  edit.  (1833),  pp.  135  et  seq.  ; 
Wallace's  Antitrin.  Biogr.  (1850);  Cantu's  Gli 
Eretici  d' Italia  (1865) ;  Ranke's  Popes  of  Rome 
(transl.  Austin,  1866),  i.  96;  Dixon's  Church  of 
England,  ii.  521,  iii.  97,  112,  337;  Meyer's 
Essai  sur  Bernardin  Ochin  (1851);  Biron's 
Essai  sur  Bernardin  Ochin  (1855);  Grimm's 
Michael  Angelo  (transl.  Bunnet,  1865); 
Symonds's  Life  of  Michelangelo  Buonarroti 
(1893) ;  Buchsenschutz's  Etude  sur  Bernardino 
Ochino  (1871);  Benrath's  Bernardino  Ochino 
(1875) ;  Dibdin's  Typogr.  Antiq.  (Ames).] 

J.  M.  R. 

OCHS  or  OCRS,  JOHN  RALPH  (1704- 
1788),  medallist,  born  in  1704,  was  the  son 
of  JOHANN  RUDOLPH  OCHS  (167 3-1749),  who, 
born  at  Bern,  adopted  the  profession  of  a 
seal-cutter,  but  afterwards  gained  reputation 
as  an  engraver  of  gems.  He  twice  visited 
England,  the  second  time  in  1719.  He  was 
employed  at  the  English  mint,  and  died  in 
London  in  1749  (cf.  Gent.  Mag.  1749,  p.  477; 
T?UESSLi,Allgemeines  Kiinstler-Lexicon,  s.  v. ; 
SEUBERT,  Allgeineines  Kiinstler-Lexicori). 

John  Ralph,  the  son,  obtained  employment 
as  one  of  the  engravers  or  assistant-engravers 
at  the  Royal  Mint,  London.  His  name  first 
appears  in  Ruding's  list  of  engravers  at  the 
mint  {Annals  of  the  Coinage,  i.  45)  in  1740- 
1741,  and  is  subsequently  mentioned  to- 
gether with  the  names  of  Yeo  and  the  Tan- 
ners. He  engraved  the  dies  of  the  Maundy 
money  of  George  III  (first  variety),  1763- 
1786.  He  died  at  Battersea  in  1788,  aged  84. 
Hawkins  (Silver  Coins,  p.  416)  states  that 
he  held  a  situation  at  the  mint  for  seventy- 
two  years,  in  which  case  he  would  have 
been  first  employed  when  he  was  only  about 
twelve  years  old.  Possibly  some  of  the 
years  of  the  mint  employment  of  the  father, 
Johann  Rudolph  Ochs,  have  been  credited 
to  the  son,  John  Ralph  Ochs. 

[Ruding's  Annals,  i.  45 ;  Redgrave's  Diet,  of 
Artists.]  W.  W. 

OCHTERLONY,  SIR  DAVID  (1758- 
1825),  conqueror  of  Nepaul  (Nipal),  eldest 
son  of  David  Ochterlony,  a  gentleman  who 
had  settled  at  Boston  in  North  America,  was 

VOL.  XLI. 


born  in  Boston,  Massachusetts,  on  12  Feb- 
1758.  His  paternal  great-grandfather  was 
Alexander,  laird  of  Pitforthy,  Angus.  Ochter- 
I  lony  went  to  India  as  a  cadet  in  the  Bengal 
j  army  of  the  East  India  Company  in  1777. 
He  obtained  a  commission  as  ensign  in  the 
24th  Bengal  native  infantry  on  7  Feb.  1778, 
and  was  promoted  lieutenant  on  17  Sept. 
the  same  year.  In  1781  his  regiment  formed 
part  of  a  force  under  Colonel  Thomas  Deane 
Pearse  [q.  v.]  which  was  sent  to  reinforce 
Lieutenant-general  Sir  Eyre  Coote  after  the 
disastrous  defeat  of  Colonel  Baillie  at  Param- 
bakam  in  1780.  The  operations  were  under- 
taken for  the  relief  of  the  Karnatik,  and  to 
aid  the  presidency  of  Madras  against  Haider 
Ali  and  the  French  under  Bussy.  Pearee 
marched  eleven  hundred  miles  through  the 
provinces  of  Katak  and  Northern  Sarkars 
to  Madras,  and  took  part  in  all  the  arduous 
and  brilliant  services  of  Sir  Eyre  Coote's 
campaigns.  The  force  particularly  distin- 
guished itself  in  the  attack  on  the  French 
line  at  Gudaliir  in  1783.  It  was  the  first 
time  in  which  trained  and  disciplined  Indian 
troops  under  English  officers  had  crossed 
bayonets  with  Europeans.  The  French  were 
defeated,  with  severe  loss.  Ochterlony  was 
wounded  and  taken  prisoner,  but  was  released 
on  the  death  of  Haider  and  the  declaration 
of  peace  in  1784. 

In  1785  Ochterlony  returned  with  his  regi- 
ment to  Calcutta,  and,  in  recognition  of  his 
services,  was  appointed  to  the  staff  as  deputy 
judge-advocate-general  for  one  of  the  divi- 
sions of  the  army.  On  7  Jan.  1796  he  was 
promoted  captain,  on  21  April  1800  major, 
and  on  18  March  1803  lieutenant-colonel, 
when  he  ceased  to  hold  the  appointment 
of  deputy  judge-advocate-general,  and  com- 
manded his  regiment  under  the  orders  of  the 
commander-in-chief,  Ixml  Lake  [see  LAKE, 
GERARD,  first  VISCOUNT  LAKE],  being  pre- 
sent at  the  capture  of  the  forts  of  Sasni, 
Bejgarh,  and  Kachoura  in  the  Doab.  On  the 
outbreak  of  the  Maratha  war,  Ochterlony 
was  appointed  deputy  adjutant-general  of 
the  army  taking  the  field  under  Lord  Lake, 
and  was  present  at  the  action  near  Koel  on 
29  Aug.,  and  at  the  assault  and  capture  of 
Aligarh  on  4  Sept,  On  7  Sept,  1803  Lake 
advanced  on  Delhi,  and  Ochterlony  was  with 
him  at  the  battle  of  Delhi,  when  the  Marat  has, 
under  M.  Louis  Bourquin,  were  defeated, 
their  guns  taken,  and  three  thousand  of  t  h.'ir 
men  killed  and  wounded.  Ochterlony  was 
then  appointed  British  resident  at  the  court 
of  Shah  Alam,  emperor  of  Hindustan,  at 
Delhi.  When  Holkar  marched  on  Delhi  with 
twenty  thousand  men  and  one  hundred  guns, 
Ochterlony  called  in  the  scattered  detach- 

A  A 


Ochterlony 


354 


Ochterlony 


ments,  and,  with  a  force  under  Colonel  Burn, 
so  weak  that  they  were  unable  to  afford 
reliefs  and  the  men  had  to  be  provisioned  at 
their  posts  on  the  ramparts,  he  defended  the 
place  from  7  Oct.  to  16  Oct.  1804.  Holkar 
had  already  made  breaches,  and  was  prepared 
to  assault,  when  the  advance  of  Lake's  army 
raised  the  siege.  No  action  of  the  war  with 
Holkar  deserves  greater  commendation  than 
this  brave  and  skilful  defence  of  an  almost 
untenable  position. 

On  5  June  1806  Ochterlony  was  appointed 
to  command  the  fortress  of  Allahabad,  and  a 
very  complimentary  order  from  the  governor- 
general  in  council  was  issued  on  his  relin- 
quishing the  appointment  of  British  resident 
at  the  court  of  the  mogul.  In  1808  the  Sikhs, 
under  Ranjit  Singh,  attempted  to  advance 
beyond  the  Satlaj  to  Jamna,  and  Ochterlony 
was  selected  to  command  a  force  on  the 
north-west  frontier  to  keep  them  in  check. 
Ochterlony  placed  the  prince  of  Sirhind  under 
British  protection,  and  a  treaty  of  peace  was 
concluded  with  Ranjit  Singh.  Ochterlony 
established  a  position  on  the  banks  of  the 
Satlaj,  and  continued  in  command  there.  He 
was  promoted  colonel  on  1  Jan.  1812,  and 
major-general  on  4  June  1814. 

On  29  May  1814  the  Nipalese  had  attacked 
and  murdered  the  British  police  at  Batwal, 
and  it  was  determined  to  invade  Nipal.  The 
force  was  divided  into  four  columns.  Och- 
terlony, with  six  thousand  men  and  sixteen 
guns,  took  part  on  the  west  of  the  Gurkha 
frontier  to  operate  in  the  hilly  country  near 
the  Satlaj.  General  Gillespie  advanced  with 
3,500  men  on  the  east,  and  there  were  two 
central  columns — one  of  4,500  men  under 
General  J.  S.  Wood,  and  the  other  of  eight 
thousand  men  under  General  Marley.  These 
two  central  columns  were  to  advance  on  Khat- 
mandu,  the  Gurkha  capital,  Lord  Hastings 
directing  the  whole  of  the  operations  from 
Lucknow.  The  British  troops  had  to  advance 
through  a  rugged,  unknown,  and  almost  im- 
practicable region,  full  of  defensive  defiles. 
They  had  no  experience  of  mountain  warfare, 
while  the  Giirkhas  were  a  very  warlike 
people,  who  understood  the  value  of  the  moun- 
tain passes,  and  had  occupied  and  fortified 
them.  The  campaign  opened  disastrously. 
Gillespie's  column  met  with  reverses,  was 
beaten  back,  and  Gillespie  himself  killed 
before  it  succeeded  in  capturing  Kalanga  or 
Nalapani  on  30  Nov.  It  was  again  repulsed 
before  Jaitak.  Wood's  division,  after  a  slight 
check,  remained  inactive.  Marley's  column 
did  nothing.  Ochterlony  alone  succeeded. 
He  crossed  the  plains  from  Loodiana,  entered 
the  hill  country,  and  on  1  Nov.  1814  en- 
camped before  the  for't  of  Nalagur.  After 


pouring  a  continuous  fire  into  the  fort  for 
thirty  hours,  it  surrendered.  Ochterlony 
advanced  by  paths  indescribably  bad  as  far 
as  Bilaspur,  forcing  the  local  rajas  to  submit, 
and  turned  the  enemy's  flank  at  Arki.  This 
was  the  state  of  affairs  at  the  end  of  January 
181 5.  Early  in  February  Lord  Hastings  de- 
termined to  make  a  diversion  by  attacking 
with  Rohilla  levies  the  province  of  Kumaun, 
lying  between  the  two  theatres  of  war,  which 
were  four  hundred  miles  apart.  The  diver- 
sion was  successful.  Almora  was  captured, 
and  on  27  April  1815  a  convention  was 
agreed  to,  by  which  the  province  of  Kumaun 
was  surrendered  to  the  British. 

In  the  meantime  General  Martindell,  who 
had  succeeded  to  Gillespie's  command,  was 
still  investing  Jaitak.  Ochterlony  by  the  end 
of  March  had  reduced  and  occupied  all  the 
forts  that  were  besieged  in  rear  of  his  advance 
to  Bilaspur.  His  communications  being 
clear,  he  advanced  against  a  strongly  forti- 
fied position  on  a  site  near  to  which  Simla 
now  is.  At  an  elevation  of  five  thousand  feet, 
at  the  most  inclement  season  of  the  year, 
amid  falls  of  snow,  his  pioneers  blasted  rocks 
and  opened  roads  for  the  two  18-pounder 
guns,  and  men  and  elephants  dragged 
them  up  the  heights.  Ochterlony's  energy 
enkindled  enthusiasm  in  his  force.  On 
14  April  he  attacked  A  mar  Singh  by  night, 
and  carried  two  strong  points.  On  the  15th 
Amar  Singh  found  himself  confined  to  the 
fort  of  Malaun  on  a  mountain  ledge,  with  a 
steep  declivity  of  two  thousand  feet  on  two 
sides.  On  the  16th  Amar  Singh,  with  his 
whole  force,  assaulted  the  British  position, 
and,  after  a  desperate  fight,  was  defeated  with 
the  loss  of  his  ablest  general  and  five  hundred 
men  killed.  Ochterlony  now  closed  upon 
Malaun,  the  chief  work  of  the  position. 
Early  in  May  a  battery  was  raised  against 
it,  but  it  was  not  until  a  breach  was  made, 
on  15  May,  that  Amar  Singh  capitulated. 
Ochterlony  took  possession  of  Malaun,  and 
allowed  Amar  Singh  to  march  out  with  his 
arms  and  colours  and  personal  property, 
in  consideration  of  the  skill,  bravery,  and 
fidelity  with  which  he  had  defended  his 
country.  For  his  services  Ochterlony  was 
made  a  K.C.B.  and  created  a  baronet  by 
the  prince-regent,  while  the  court  of  directors 
of  the  East  India  Company  on  6  Dec.  1815 
granted  him  a  pension  of  1,000^.  per  annum,  to 
date  from  his  victory  of  16  April  of  that  year. 

By  the  convention  the  Gurkhas  retired  to 
the  east  of  the  Kali  river,  and  the  whole  of 
the  Nipalese  territory  to  the  west  was  sur- 
rendered to  the  British.  Jaitak  also  capitu- 
lated. During  the  hot  weather  preparations 
were  made  in  view  of  a  renewal  of  hostilities. 


Ochterlony 


355 


Ochterlony 


Ochterlony  was  withdrawn  from  the  west 
and  placed  in  command  of  the  main  force 
destined  to  march  on  Khatmandu.  The 
Gurkha  government  sued  for  peace,  and  a 
treaty  was  negotiated,  which  was  signed  on 
28  Nov.,  and  ratified  by  the  supreme  govern- 
ment at  Calcutta  on  9  Dec.  1815.  The 
Giirkha  government,  however,  refused  to 
ratify,  and  Ochterlony  was  ordered  to  take 
the  field.  He  had  with  him  twenty  thou- 
sand men  (including  three  European  regi- 
ments), which  he  divided  into  four  brigades : 
one  on  the  right  was  directed  on  Hari- 
harpur,  another  on  the  left  up  the  Gan- 
dak  to  Rainnagur,  while  the  other  two 
brigades,  forming  the  main  body,  Ochterlony 
himself  commanded  and  directed  upon  the 
capital,  Khatmandu. 

Ochterlony  advanced  in  the  beginning  of 
February.  On  the  10th,  with  the  main  body, 
he  reached  the  entrance  of  the  celebrated 
Kourea  Ghat  pass,  having  traversed  the  great 
Sal  forest  without  the  loss  of  a  man.  Finding 
the  enemy  entrenched  behind  a  triple  line  of 
defence,  he  determined  to  turn  the  flank  of 
the  position,  which  was  too  strong  for  a  front 
attack,  and,  taking  with  him  a  brigade  with- 
out any  baggage  or  incumbrances,  he  pro- 
ceeded on  the  night  of  14  Feb.  up  an  un- 
guarded path,  moving  laboriously  in  single 
file  through  deep  and  rocky  defiles,  across 
sombre  and  tangled  forests,  and  by  rugged 
and  precipitous  ascents,  until  the  next  clay 
he  reached  and  occupied  a  position  in  rear 
of  the  enemy's  defences.  The  Gurkhas,  sur- 
prised and  almost  surrounded,were  compelled 
hurriedly  to  evacuate  their  works.  They 
fled  northwards  without  striking  a  blow. 
Ochterlony's  brigade  was  obliged  to  bivouac 
on  the  bleak  mountain-tops  for  four  days, 
waiting  for  the  arrival  of  their  tents  and 
baggage.  Ochterlony  shared  with  his  men 
the  hardships  of  the  campaign.  The  two 
brigades  of  his  main  column  formed  a  junc- 
tion on  the  banks  of  the  Rapti  river.  Having 
established  a  depot,  protected  with  a  stockade, 
Ochterlony  came  up  with  the  enemy  at  Mag- 
wampur,  twenty  miles  from  Khatmandu, 
and  seized  a  village  to  the  right  of  the 
enemy's  position.  The  Gurkhas  attacked 
the  village  occupied  by  Ochterlony  furiously, 
but  they  were  repulsed  with  the  loss  of  their 
guns  and  eight  hundred  men.  Ochterlony 
then  prepared  to  attack  Magwampur.  The 
following  day  he  was  joined  by  the  left  bri- 
gade which  had  advanced  by  Ramnagur.  It 
reached  the  valley  of  the  Rapti  with  but  slight 
opposition,  and  managed  to  secure  its  rear 
as  it  advanced.  The  right  brigade  had  been 
delayed  in  its  advance  upon  Hariharpur  by 
the  difficulties  of  the  ground,  but  on  1  March 


the  position  at  Hariharpur  was  successfully 
turned,  and  an  attack  by  the  Gurkhas  was 
defeated  with  great  loss.  Hariharpur  was 
evacuated  by  the  enemy,  and  converted  into 
a  depot.  This  brigade  was  about  to  advance 
to  join  Ochterlony  when  the  war  ended. 
The  success  and  energy  of  Ochterlony's 
operations  had  dismayed  the  court  of  Xipal. 
The  treaty,  which  they  had  refused  to  ratify 
in  December,  was  sent  duly  ratified  to  Och- 
terlony, who  accepted  it,  on  2  March  1816. 
The  Gurkhas,  who  were  not  only  the  most 
valiant  but  the  most  humane  foes  the  British 
had  encountered  in  India,  proved  also  to  be 
most  faithful  to  their  engagement. 

For  his  later  services  in  this  war,  Ochter- 
lony was  made  a  G.C.B.  in  December  1816. 
On  14  Jan.  1817  the  prince-regent  granted, 
as  a  further  mark  of  distinction,  an  augmen- 
tation to  his  coat  of  arms,  by  which  the  name 
of  Nepaul  (Nipal)  was  commemorated.  On 
6  Feb.  the  thanks  of  parliament  were  voted 
to  him  for  his  skill,  valour,  and  perseverance 
in  the  war.  A  piece  of  plate  was  presented 
to  him  by  the  officers  who  served  under  his 
command. 

Towards  the  close  of  1816  Lord  Hastings, 
with  the  approval  of  the  authorities  in  Eng- 
land, determined  to  suppress  the  Pindaris 
who  had  been  laying  waste  British  territory, 
and  also  to  place  Central  India  on  a  more 
satisfactory  footing  by  subjugating  the  Ma- 
ratha  chiefs.  For  this  purpose,  in  the  autumn 
of  1817  he  assembled  six  corps — one  under 
himself  at  Mirzapur,  another  on  the  Jamna, 
the  third  at  Agra,  the  fourth  at  Kalinjar 
in  Bandalkhand,  the  fifth  in  the  Narbada, 
and  the  sixth  under  Ochterlony  at  Rewari, 
to  cover  Delhi  and  to  act  in  Rajputana. 
The  total  army  amounted  to  120,000  men 
and  three  hundred  guns.  Ochterlony  had 
to  act  in  the  Dakhan,  and  from  Rewari 
advanced  to  the  south  of  Jaipur.  The  suc- 
cesses at  Puna  and  Nagpur,  and  the  position 
of  Amir  Khan  between  Ochterlony  and  the 
third  corps  on  the  Chambal,  brought  about  an 
amicable  settlement  with  Amir  Khan,  and 
a  treaty  was  made  with  him  on  19  Dec. 
Thenceforward  Amir  Khan  proved  a  peace- 
able ally,  and  the  Pindaris  lost  his  support 
just  when  they  most  required  it.  Ochter- 
lony remained 'in  the  vicinity,  and,  placing 
himself  skilfully  between  the  two  principal 
divisions  of  the  Pathan  forces,  he  effected 
the  disarmament  of  the  greater  portion  of 
this  army  in  January  and  February  1818 
without  striking  a  blow.  The  artillery  was 
surrendered,  and  some  of  the  best  troops 
were  drafted  temporarily  into  the  British 
service.  The  last  body  of  these  merce- 
naries was  disbanded  in  March.  Affairs  in 

A  A  '2 


Ochterlony 


356 


Ochterlony 


the  northern  part  of  Central  India  being 
nearly  settled,  new  dispositions  were  made, 
and  Ochterlony  was  left  in  Rajputana. 

On  20  March  1818  Lord  Hastings  invested 
Ochterlony  with  the  insignia  of  the  G.C.B., 
at  a  durbar  in  camp  at  Terwah,  observing 
that  he  had  obliterated  a  distinction  painful 
for  the  officers  of  the  East  India  Company, 
and  had  opened  the  door  for  his  brethren  in 
arms  to  a  reward  which  their  recent  display 
of  exalted  spirit  and  invincible  intrepidity 
proved  could  not  be  more  deservedly  extended 
to  the  officers  of  any  army  on  earth. 

By  June  1818  the  Maratha  powers  were 
overthrown,  and  the  reconstruction  of  govern- 
ment in  Central  India  and  the  south-west 
commenced.  In  the  work  of  pacification 
Lord  Hastings  had  the  good  fortune  to  be 
assisted  by  some  of  the  most  distinguished 
Anglo-Indian  administrators  that  had  ruled 
in  India.  Among  these  Ochterlony  was 
prominent.  The  pacification  of  Rajputana 
was  at  first  entrusted  to  Charles  Theophilus 
Metcalfe  [q.  v.],  and  when  he  was  nominated 
for  the  post  of  political  secretary  to  the  go- 
vernment, Ochterlony  was  appointed  resident 
in  Rajputana,  with  command  of  the  troops. 
He  made  protective  treaties  with  the  rajas  of 
Kotah,  Jodhpur,  Udapur,  Bundi,  Jaipur, 
and  many  others,  and  he  adjusted  the  dis- 
putes which  some  of  these  princes  had  with 
their  thakurs  or  vassals.  In  Jaipur,  however, 
affairs  were  not  easily  settled,  and  Ochter- 
lony had  to  undertake  the  reduction  of  two 
forts  before  the  more  turbulent  feudatories 
submitted.  In  December,  Ochterlony  was 
appointed  resident  at  Delhi  with  Jaipur  an- 
nexed, and  was  given  the  command  of  the 
third  division  of  the  army.  The  same  month 
the  raja  of  Jaipur,  Jagat  Singh,  died,  and, 
although  a  contest  for  the  succession  was 
avoided  by  the  birth  of  a  posthumous  child, 
it  was  not  until  1823  that  peace  was  esta- 
blished. In  1822  Ochterlony  was  appointed 
resident  in  Malwa  and  Rajputana,  thus  hav- 
ing the  entire  superintendence  of  the  affairs 
of  Central  India. 

In  1824  the  raja  of  Bhartpur,  brother  of 
Ranjit  Singh,  was  in  feeble  health,  and  at 
his  request,  and  by  order  of  the  governor- 
general  in  council,  his  son,  a  child  of  six 
years  of  age,  was  recognised  as  his  successor. 
On  26  Feb.  1825  the  old  raja  died,  and  the 
boy,  Balwant  Singh,  succeeded  under  the 
guardianship  of  his  maternal  uncle ;  but  before 
a  month  had  elapsed  his  cousin,  Durjan  Sal, 
an  ambitious  youth,  corrupted  the  troops, 
put  the  guardian  to  death,  and  placed  his 
cousin  in  confinement.  Ochterlony,  acting 
on  his  own  responsibility  and  with  his  usual 
energy  and  promptitude,  issued  a  proclama- 


tion to  the  Jats  to  rally  round  their  lawful 
sovereign,  and  ordered  a  force  of  sixteen 
thousand  men  and  one  hundred  guns  into 
the  field  to  support  the  right  of  the  young 
raja  and  vindicate  the  authority  of  the 
British  government.  Lord  Amherst,  the 
governor-general,  disapproved  of  Ochter- 
lony's  proceedings,  denied  that  the  govern- 
ment were  bound  to  uphold  their  nominee 
by  force  of  arms,  considered  it  imprudent, 
during  the  war  with  Burma  then  going  on, 
to  embark  in  hostilities  during  the  hot 
weather  in  the  north-west,  and  directed 
Ochtertyny  to  countermand  the  march  of  the 
troops  and  recall  his  proclamation.  Ochter- 
lony complied,  issuing  a  further  proclama- 
tion intimating  that  before  taking  action  the 
government  had  determined,  in  the  first  in- 
stance, to  investigate  the  merits  of  the  ques- 
tion of  the  succession.  At  the  same  time  he 
tendered  his  resignation  to  the  governor- 
general  in  council,  warmly  defended  his  ac- 
tion in  letters  dated  25  April  and  11  May, 
and  expressed  his  conviction  of  the  correct- 
ness of  his  judgment.  He  was  deeply  hurt  at 
the  action  of  the  governor-general,  and  pointed 
out  that  after  forty-eight  years'  experience 
he  might  have  expected  a  certain  confidence 
in  his  discretion  on  the  part  of  the  govern- 
ment. Pending  the  acceptance  of  his  re- 
signation, he  went  to  his  usual  place  of  re- 
sidence near  Delhi.  The  feeling  that  he  had 
been  disgraced  after  nearly  fifty  years'  active 
and  distinguished  service  preyed  upon  his 
mind,  and  caused  his  death  on  15  July  1825  at 
Mirat,  whither  he  had  gone  for  change  of  air. 

A  general  order  was  issued  by  the  governor- 
general  in  council,  eulogising  both  the  military 
and  civil  services  of  Ochterlony,  and  con- 
cluding with  a  direction  that,  as  an  especial 
testimony  of  the  high  respect  in  which  his 
character  and  services  were  held,  and  as  a 
public  demonstration  of  sorrow,  minute  guns 
to  the  number  of  sixty-eight,  corresponding 
with  his  age,  should  be  fired  the  same  evening 
at  sunset  from  the  ramparts  of  Fort  William. 
The  diplomatic  qualifications  of  Ochterlony 
were  no  less  conspicuous  than  his  soldier- 
ship ;  with  a  vigorous  intellect  and  consum- 
mate address  he  united  an  intimate  know- 
ledge of  the  native  character,  language,  and 
manners. 

It  remains  to  add  that  when  Metcalfe, 
who  was  sent  to  Bhartpur,  took  precisely 
the  same  view  as  Ochterlony  had  done,  Lord 
Amherst  gave  way.  But  in  order  to  effect 
what  Ochterlony  might  have  accomplished 
unaided  in  a  fortnight  had  he  not  been  in- 
terfered with,  it  was  found  necessary  at  a 
later  date  to  employ  the  commander- in- 
chief,  Lord  Cornbermere,  with  an  army  of 


Ockham 


357 


Ockham 


twenty  thousand  men.  Bhartpurwas  stormed 
and  taken  on  3  Jan.  1826. 

A  column  was  erected  in  Calcutta  to 
Ochterlony's  memory. 

[India  Office  Records  ;  Despatches ;  Histories 
of  India  by  Thornton,  Marshman,  MacFarlane, 
Meadows-Taylor,  &c.  ;  East  India  Military 
Calendar  ;  Ross-of-Bladensburg's  Marquess  of 
Hastings  (Rulers  of  India) ;  Higginbotham's 
Men  whom  India  has  known.]  R.  H.  V. 

OCKHAM,  BARONS  OF.  [See  KING, 
PETEK,  first  LORD  KING,  1669-1734;  KING, 
PETER,  seventh  LORD  KING,  1776-1833.] 

OCKHAM,  NICHOLAS  OF  (fl.  1280), 
Franciscan.  [See  OCCAM.] 

OCKHAM  or  OCCAM,  WILLIAM  (d. 
1349  ?),  '  Doctor  invincibilis,'  was  possibly  a 
native  of  the  village  in  Surrey  from  which 
he  bore  his  name.  He  studied  at  Oxford  in 
all  probability  as  a  member  of  the  Franciscan 
house  there,  and  not  (as  has  commonly  been 
asserted)  as  a  fellow  of  Merton  College.  His 
name  does  not  appear  in  the  '  Old  Catalogue ' 
of  fellows  of  the  college  drawn  up  in  the  fif- 
teenth century,  and  his  connection  with  it 
*  seems  to  rest  almost  entirely  on  the  autho- 
rity of  Sir  Henry  Savile,  who  cites  an  entry 
in  a  college  manuscript  which  Kilner,'  the 
Merton  antiquary  of  the  eighteenth  century, 
•*  failed  to  find '  (G.  C.  BRODRICK,  Memorials 
of  Merton  College,  1885,  p.  194).  Even  An- 
thony Wood  was  disposed  to  doubt  the  fact 
{manuscript  cited  ib.  p.  ix  n.  1).  Ockham 
is  said  to  have  been  a  pupil  of  Duns  Scotus, 
who  is  likewise  claimed  on  equally  slender 
grounds  as  a  fellow  of  Merton,  but  who  was 
certainly  a  member  of  the  Oxford  Franciscan 
house  in  1300  (WooD,  Survey  of  the  Antiq. 
of  the  City  of  Oxford,^.  Clark,  ii.  386, 1890) 
and  probably  remained  there  until  1304 
<LITTLE,  Grey  Friars  in  Oxford,  1892,  p.  220). 
The  date  of  Ockham's  admission  to  the  order 
of  friars  minor  is  unknown.  He  received  the 
degree  of  B.D.  at  Oxford  (ib.  p.  224,  n.  5), 
and  afterwards  passed  on  to  the  university  of 
Paris,  where  he  incepted  as  D.D.  At  Paris 
he  became  closely  associated  with  the  famous 
Marsiglio  of  Padua,  who  held  the  office  of 
rector  of  the  university  in  March  1312-13 
(DENTFLE,  Chartul.  Univ.  Paris,  vol.  ii.  pt.  i. 
p.  158, 1891 ).  Ockham  exercised  a  strong  in- 
fluence upon  Marsiglio's  political  specula- 
tions, and  it  has  consequently  been  supposed 
that  Ockham  was  the  elder  of  the  two,  but 
for  this  inference  the  data  are  insufficient. 

Down  to  this  point  no  certain  date  in 
Ockham's  life  has  been  established.  It  may, 
however,  be  accepted  that  at  least  the  first 
book  of  his  commentary  on  the  '  Sentences ' 
•was  composed  during  his  residence  at  Oxford 


(LITTLE,  pp.  227,  228),  and  there  is  no  rea- 
son for  contesting  the  common  tradition 
which  makes  Paris  the  scene  of  that  course 
of  study  and  teaching  which  formed  an 
epoch  in  the  history  of  logical  theory. 
How  far  by  this  time  Ockham  had  advanced 
in  his  political  speculations  need  not  be  de- 
fined, though  his  influence  on  Mareiglio's 
'  Defensor  Pacis,'  which  was  written  while 
he  was  still  at  Paris  in  1324,  can  hardly  be 
doubted  (cf.  CLEMENT  VI,  ap.  HOFLER,  Aus 
Avignon,  p.  20).  Ockham,  as  a  Franciscan, 
entered  loyally  into  the  controversy  which 
arose  in  his  order  in  1321  concerning  '  evan- 
gelical poverty.'  Previously  to  that  year  the 
dispute  among  the  Franciscans  had  turned 
on  the  question  of  their  obligation  to  observe 
strictly  their  vow  of  absolute  poverty ;  the 
new  controversy  related  to  a  matter  of  his- 
torical fact,  whether  Christ  and  his  disciples 
ever  possessed  any  property  (see  F.  Ehrle, 
in  Archiv  fur  Lilt,  und  Kirchengexch.  des 
Mittelalters,  i.  [1885],  pp.  509  ff.)  In  1322 
a  general  chapter  of  the  order  assembled  at 
Perugia  formally  accepted  the  doctrine  of 
evangelical  poverty.  Ockham  was,  until 
lately,  believed  to  have  occupied  a  prominent 
place  at  this  chapter,  and  to  have  acted  as 
provincial  minister  of  England  (WADDING, 
Ann.  Min.  vii.  7) ;  but  it  is  certain  that  the 
'William'  who  subscribes  the  declaration 
was  not  Ockham,  but  William  of  Notting- 
ham (Little,  in  Engl.  Hist.  Rev.  vi.  74  / , 
[1891] ;  DENIFLE,  Chartul.  Vniv.  Paris,  vol. 
ii.  pt.  i.  p.  277),  though  very  probably  Ock- 
ham was  also  present  (LITTLE,  Grey  Friars, 
p.  224).  In  any  case,  next  year  he  is  found 
taking  an  active  part  in  defence  of  the  doc- 
trine against  Pope  John  XXII,  who  had 
authoritatively  condemned  it.  On  1  Dec. 
1323  the  pope  sent  a  mandate  to  the  bishops 
of  Ferrara  and  Bologna,  calling  upon  them 
to  make  inquiry  touching  a  report  that 
Ockham  had  in  a  public  sermon  at  Bologna 
maintained  the  pope's  definition  to  be  hereti- 
cal, and  ordering  him,  if  guilty,  to  be  sent 
to  Avignon  (WADDING,  Ann.  Min.  vii.  7). 
What  actually  took  place  we  do  not  know ; 
but  his  capture  seems  not  to  have  been  effected 
until  more  than  four  years  had  passed,  and 
then  in  connection  not  with  the  old  sermon 
at  Bologna,  but  with  a  renewed  defence  of 
his  opinions  at  Paris.  John  of  Winterthur 
says  that  '  quidam  valens  lector  de  online 
fratrum  minorum,  dictus  Wilnheim,'  was,  on 
this  ground,  accused  by  the  Dominicans  be- 
fore the  pope,  subjected  to  repeated  examina- 
tion, and  imprisoned  for  seventeen  weeks 
(Jon.  VITODUR.  Chron.  pp.  88  f.)  This 
precise  statement  conflicts  with  the  account 
of  his  detention  for  four  years  which  Dr.  Carl 


Oclvham 


358 


Ockham 


Miiller  has  cited  (i.  208,  n.  3)  from  an  un- 
published letter  of  Ockham;  but,  at  any  rate, 
until  Dr.  Miiller's  document  is  printed,  we 
are  inclined  to  assume  that  in  it  months 
have  been  mistaken  for  years.  The  pope 
himself  in  his  bull  of  6  June  1328  (printed 
by  MARTENE  and  DURAND,  Thesaurus  novus 
Anecdotorum,  ii.  749  if.,  and  given  in  a  better 
text  by  G  LASSBERGER,  Chron.  pp.  141  ff. )  states 
that  Ockham  was  charged  with  errors  and 
heresies  also  in  his  writings ;  and  according 
to  Wadding  (Ann.  Min.  vii.  82)  he  wrote 
during  his  confinement  a  treatise  '  de  quali- 
tate  propositionum '  which  he  afterwards  in- 
corporated in  his  great  '  Dialogus.' 

Ockham,  with  Michael  da  Cesena,  the 
general  of  his  order,  Bonagratia  of  Bergamo, 
and  other  friars,  resolved  on  flight.  Lewis 
the  Bavarian  was  appealed  to,  and  sent  a 
ship.  ,The  fugitives  escaped  from  Avignon 
by  night  on  25  May  1328  (NicoL.  MINOR. 
manuscript  cited  by  DENIFLE,  Chartul.  Univ. 
Paris,  vol.  ii.  pt.  i.  p.  290 ;  GLASSBERGER,  p. 
140) ;  they  slipped  by  boat  down  the  Rhone, 
and  though  pursued  by  Cardinal  Peter  of 
Porto,  reached  Aigues-Mortes  in  safety 
(JoHN  XXIl's  bull,  ubi  supra).  Here  they 
entered  the  galley  sent  them  by  the  emperor, 
and  on  8  June  arrived  at  Pisa,  where  they 
were  warmly  welcomed  by  the  inhabitants 
and  by  Lewis's  officers  ('  Chron.  Sanese,'  in 
MTTRATORI,  Her.  Ital.  Script,  xv.  81 ;  '  Ann. 
Csesen. '  ib.  xiv,  1148;  cf.  RIEZLER,  Liter. 
Widers.  derPcipste,  p.  68).  According  to  an 
old  tradition,  which  is  not,  however,  trace- 
able beyond  the  '  De  Scriptoribus  Ecclesias- 
ticis  '(f.  82  b)  of  Tritheim,  abbot  of  Sponheim 
(Basle,  1494),  Ockham  presented  himself 
before  Lewis  with  the  words,  '  O  imperator, 
defende  me  gladio  et  ego  defendam  te  verbo' 
(Opp.  Hist.  i.  313,  ed.  Frankfurt,  1601).  At 
any  rate  he  thenceforward  attached  himself 
to  the  emperor's  fortunes,  and  probably  re- 
mained at  his  court  during  the  time  of  his 
residence  in  Italy,  and  accompanied  him  back 
to  Bavaria  in  February  1330  (cf.  Sachs. 
Weltchr.,  3te  Bair.  Fortsetz.  in  Deutsche 
Chroniken,  ii.  346).  Meanwhile  the  pope 
lost  no  time  in  denouncing  the  fugitives.  On 
6  June  he  published  their  excommunication 
(bull,  ubi  supra)  ;  on  the  20th  he  notified  to 
the  Archbishop  of  Milan  the  process  against 
them,  and  ordered  its  publication  (Vatik. 
Akten,  No.  1044,  p.  389)  ;  and  in  a  series 
of  undated  mandates  he  warned  the  Mar- 
grave of  Baden,  the  Count  Palatine,  the 
Duke  of  Wirttemberg,  the  Bishop  of  Strass- 
burg,  and  other  princes  to  look  out  for  them, 
as  they  were  expected  shortly  to  pass  through 
their  territories,  and  informed  them  that  the 
three  friars  were  under  excommunication 


and  must  be  captured  and  sent  back  to  the 
papal  court  (ib.  No.  1105,  p.  404).  In  March 
1329  and  a  year  later  (in  April  1330)  we  find 
the  pope  still  pursuing  them  with  rescripts  to 
the  six  archbishops  of  the  German  provinces, 
urgently  demanding  their  imprisonment  (ib. 
No.  1143,  p.  414 ;  No.  1288,  p.  452 ;  cf.  No. 
1178,  p.  421).  The  fugitives,  however,  while 
still  at  Pisa,  had  appealed  from  the  pope's 
sentence  to  that  of  a  general  council  (GLASS- 
BERGER, p.  146;  cf.  OCKHAM, 'Comp.  Error. 
Papae,'  v.,  in  GOLDAST,  ii.  964  f.),  and,  after 
passing  xinharmed  into  Bavaria,  lived  on 
under  the  protection  of  Lewis  in  the  house 
of  their  order  at  Munich  (Sachs.  Weltchr., 
ubi  supra) ;  and  though  the  greater  part  of 
the  Franciscan  order  was  by  degrees  reduced 
to  submission,  a  powerful  minority  remained 
staunch,  and  found  their  rallying-post  in  the 
imperial  court.  Of  these  '  fraticelli '  Michael 
da  Cesena  and,  next  to  him,  Ockham  were 
the  leaders ;  and  after  Michael's  death  in 
1342  Ockham  became  the  undisputed  chief. 
His  life  for  the  twenty  years  following  his 
flight  from  Avignon  has  its  record  almost 
solely  in  the  works  which  he  produced,  and 
the  dates  of  which  are  ascertained  by  in- 
ternal evidence  alone. 

When,  in  November  1329,  John  XXII 
published  his  constitution  or '  libellus,' '  Quia 
vir  reprobus,'  against  Michael  da  Cesena 
(printed  in  RAYNALD.  Ann.  v.  423-49),  con- 
demning the  whole  Franciscan  doctrine  con- 
cerning poverty,  Ockham  set  himself  at  once 
to  deal  with  it.  He  produced  his  '  Opus 
nonaginta  Dierum '  (printed  by  GOLDAST,  ii. 
993-1236),  in  which  he  replied  to  the  pope's 
treatise  sentence  by  sentence.  The  fact  that 
he  wrote  a  work  of  solid  argument  and  mas- 
sive erudition,  which  would  fill  a  substantial 
volume  of  modern  pattern,  continuously 
within  the  space  of  ninety  days  (see  p.  1236), 
shows  that  the  undertaking  was  a  matter  of 
urgent  pressure,  and  it  may  be  dated  with 
confidence  in  1330;  in  no  case  can  it  be  later 
than  1332  (see  RIEZLER,  p.  243,  n.  3). 
Ockham's  next  work, '  De  Dogmatibus  Papse 
Johannis  XXII,'  relates  to  the  doctrine  con- 
cerning the  beatific  vision  of  the  saints 
which  the  pope  had  revived  in  certain  ser- 
mons which  he  delivered  at  Avignon  be- 
tween 1  Nov.  1331  and  5  Jan.  1332  (OCKHAM, 
'Defens. '  in  BROWN,  ii.  454;  Jo.  MINOR.,  in 
BALFZE,  iii.  349  f. ;  DENIFLE,  Chartul.  Univ. 
Paris,  vol.  ii.  pt.  i.  pp.  414  f.)  Ockham  ob- 
tained knowledge  of  the  propositions  on 
3  Jan.  1333,  and  forthwith  proceeded  to  ex- 
amine them  in  two  treatises  which,  although 
not  written  in  the  form  of  a  dialogue,  were 
subsequently  incorporated  in  the  '  Dialogus r 
as  pt.  ii.  (GOLDAST,  ii.  740-770).  In  1334  he 


Ockham 


359 


Ockham 


wrote  an  'Epistola  ad  Fratres  miuores  in 
capitulo  apud  Assisium  congregatos,'  which 
has  not  been  printed  (manuscript  at  Paris 
Bibl.  Nat.  3387,  ff.  262  6-265  a ;  see  LITTLE, 
p.  229). 

After  the  death  of  John  XXII  on  4  Dec. 
1334  and  the  accession  of  Benedict  XII, 
Ockham  did  not  cease  his  attack  upon  the 
papacy.  In  October  1336  the  emperor,  seek- 
ing to  make  terms  with  Benedict,  offered  to 
abandon  and  destroy  Ockham  and  his  allies 
(  Vatik.  Akten,  No.  1841,  p.  642;  cf.  RIEZLER, 
p.  312)  ;  but  the  negotiation  came  to  nothing. 
Ockham  wrote,  probably  before  1338  (ib.  p. 
245),  a  '  Compendium  errorum  papae '  (GoL- 
DAST,  ii.  957-76),  in  which  he  made  John  an- 
swerable for  seventy  errors  and  seven  heresies, 
and  a '  Defensorium  contra  Johannem  papam' 
(BROWtf,  ii.  439-65,  who  identifies  it  with  the 
tract  cited  by  Tritheim,  Opp.  hist.  p.  313, 
'  Contra  Johannem  22  de  pauper tate  Christ i 
et  apostolorum ').  '  The  Defensorium,'  which 
is  addressed  in  the  name  of  the  Franciscans 
to  all  Christian  people,  is  in  part  a  sort  of 
summary  of  the  '  Opus  nonaginta  dierum,' 
though  differently  arranged,  and  in  part  (from 
the  second  paragraph  on  p.  453  onwards)  an 
indictment  of  the  papal  authority.  It  pro- 
bably belongs  to  the  same  period  as  the 
'Compendium,'  for  Dr.  Riezler's  argument 
(p.  247)  in  favour  of  a  later  date  is  not  con- 
clusive. M.  Haureau's  contention  (vol.  ii. 
pt.  ii.  p.  359)  that  it  was  written  before 
1323  is  manifestly  impossible,  because  of  the 
discussion  it  contains  of  the  pope's '  heresies,' 
which  were  not  published  until  1331-2.  The 
work  is  ascribed  byNicolaus  Minorita  (manu- 
script at  Paris  ;  see  C.  MULLER,  i.  355),  but 
without  plausibility,  not  to  Ockham,  but  to 
Michael  da  Cesena.  About  1 338  also  Ockham 
wrote  a  '  Tractatus  ostendens  quod  Bene- 
dictus  papa  XII  nonnullas  Johannis  XXII 
hsereses  amplexus  est  et  defendit,'  in  seven 
books  (manuscript  at  Paris,  Bibl.  Nat.  3387, 
ff.  2146-262  a ;  see  LITTLE,  p.  232). 

It  was  the  defence  of  his  order  that  had 
thrown  Ockham  into  opposition  to  the  pa- 
pacy ;  this  opposition  had  been  strengthened 
and  denned  by  the  discovery  of  strictly  dog- 
matic heresies  in  the  teaching  of  John  XXII ; 
and  his  attack  upon  the  authority  of  the  holy 
see  came  as  a  result  of  his  controversy.  It 
was  the  conclusion  to  which  his  reasoning 
led,  not,  as  with  Marsiglio,  the  premise  from 
which  he  started.  The  conditions  of  the 
struggle  had  driven  him  to  cast  in  his  lot  with 
the  emperor  Lewis,  and  when  in  1338  the 
crisis  in  Lewis's  contest  arrived  it  was  Ock- 
ham whose  services  were  called  for.  In  July 
the  electors  declared  at  Rense  that  the  prince 
whom  they  elected  needed  no  confirmation  by 


the  pope  ;  and  on  8  Aug.  Lewis,at  Frankfurt, 
protested,  in  virtue  of  his  plenary  authority 
m  things  temporal,  that  the  action  taken  by 
the  pope  against  him  at  Avignon  was  null, 
and  made  his  solemn  appeal  from  the  pope  to 
a  general  council.  The  authorship  of  this  ap- 
peal is  attributed  by  Andrew  of  Ratisbon  to 
Francesco  da  Ascoli  and  Ockham,  and  Ock- 
ham lost  no  time  in  writing  a  set  defence 

,  of  the  imperial  authority  (Chron.  Gen.  in 
FEZ,  vol.  iv.  pt.  iii.  pp.  5»>5  f.)  Glassberger, 
who  quotes  Andrew's  notice,  says  that  the 
defence  in  question  was  the '  Opus  uonaginta 
dierum'  (p.  168) ;  but  this  is  a  manifest  error. 
The  work  is  no  doubt  the  '  Tractatus  de  po- 
testate  imperiali,'  preserved  in  manuscript  at 
the  Vatican  (Cod.  Palat.  Lat.  679,pt.i.f.  117; 

i  see  LITTLE,  pp.  232  f.) 

The  controversy  being  now  broadened  into 
a  general  discussion  of  the  nature  of  the 
papal  and  the  imperial  authority,  Lupold  of 

i  Bebenburg  wrote  his  great  treatise,   'De 

i  juribus  regni  et  imperii,'  and  Ockham  fol- 
lowed it  up  by  his  '  Octo  quaestiones  super 
potestate  ac  dignitate  pupali '  (GOLDAST,  ii. 
314-391),  otherwise  entitled 'De  potestate 
pontificum  et  imperatorum,'  between  1339 
and  1342  ;  in  connection  with  which  may  be 
mentioned  an  unpublished  treatise, '  de  pon- 
tificum et  imperatorum  potestate,'  opened  by 
a  letter  and  divided  into  twenty-seven  chap- 
ters, which  is  preserved  in  the  British  Mu- 
seum (Royal  MS.  10  A.  xv. ;  LITTLE,  p. 
232).  To  1342  belongs  also  a  '  Tractatus 
de  jurisdictione  imperatoris  in  causis  matri- 
monialibus '  (GOLDAST,  i.  21-4),  written  with 
reference  to  the  proposed  marriage  of  Lewis's 
son,  Lewis  of  Brandenburg,  with  Margaret 
Maultasch,  the  wife  of  John  of  Luxemburg. 
The  genuineness  of  this  work  has  been  con- 
tested on  insufficient  grounds  (see  RIEZLER, 
pp.  254-7  ;  cf.  MULLER,  ii.  161  f.) 

Not  long  alter  the  declarations  of  Rense 
and  Frankfurt,  Ockham  resolved  to  elaborate 
his  views  on  the  questions  agitated  between 
church  and  state  in  the  form  of  an  immense 
dialogue  between  a  master  and  a  disciple. 
There  is  evidence  that  this  '  Dialogus,'  ar- 
ranged and  divided  as  we  now  have  it  (GoL- 
DAST,  ii.  398-967),  was  in  circulation  in 
1343,  for  in  that  year  Duke  Albert  of  Austria 
refused  to  allow  Clement  VI's  interdict  to 
operate  within  his  dominions,  on  the  ground 
that  the  emperor  had  convinced  him  of  its 
illegitimacy — so  we  must  read  a  sentence 
which  is  defective  in  our  authority — by 
means  of  Ockham's  book  which  he  sent  him 

(JOHN    OP    VlKTRINO,    vi.     12    in     H'UIMKK, 

Fontes,  i.  447) ;  but  whether  the  work  was 
ever  actually  completed  according  to  the 
axithor's  design  remains  uncertain.  It  con- 


Ockham 


360 


Ockham 


sists  of  three  parts,  whereof  the  first  ('  de 
fautoribus  haereticorum,'  as  it  is  entitled  in 
manuscripts ;  LITTLE,  p.  229)  discusses  in 
seven  books  the  seat  of  authority  in  matters 
of  faith,  with  special  reference  to  the  deter- 
mination of  heresy ;  and  the  second,  in  two 
treatises,  is  the  work  on  the  heresies  of 
John  XXII,  already  mentioned.  Part  iii., 
'  de  gestis  circa  fidem  altercantium,'  was 
planned  on  a  more  extensive  scale.  It  was 
to  consist  of  nine  treatises,  whereof  the  first, 
on  the  authority  of  the  pope  and  clergy,  in 
four  books,  and  the  second,  on  the  authority 
of  the  Roman  empire,  in  three  books,  are 
all  that  remain,  and  the  latter  is  imperfect. 
Cardinal  Peter  d'Ailly  knew  the  titles  of 
two  further  books  of  the  second  treatise, 
but  not  their  contents ;  and  all  the  manu- 
scripts that  have  been  examined  break  off 
at  one  point  or  another  in  the  third  book 
(ib.  pp.  230  f.)  But  Ockham  himself  has 
given  us  the  titles  of  the  remaining  seven 
treatises  (GOLDAST,  ii.  771)  ;  and  a  note  pre- 
fixed to  the  '  Opus  nonaginta  dieruni '  sug- 
gests that  this  work  was  destined  to  find 
its  place  among  them  as  treatise  vi.  It  may 
be  conjectured  that  the  '  Compendium  erro- 
rum '  and  the  work  against  Benedict  XII 
were  intended  to  be  incorporated  as  treatises 
iii.  and  v.,  so  that  only  the  end  of  treatise  ii. 
and  the  whole  of  iv.,  vii.,  viii.,  and  ix. 
would  be  unrecovered  (cf.  RIEZLER,  pp. 
262  ff. ;  POOLE,  p.  278,  n.  24;  LITTLE,  pp. 
229-32)  ;  but  the  loss  of  treatise  viii.,  which 
dealt  with  Ockham's  own  doings,  is  specially 
to  be  regretted.  After  the  death  of  Lewis  IV 
in  1347,  and  the  election  of  Charles  of 
Luxemburg,  Ockham  wrote,  either  in  1348 
or  early  in  1349  (see  RJEZLER,  p.  272,  n.  1), 
a '  Tractatus  de  electione  Caroli  IV,'  of  which 
only  a  fragment  has  been  printed  by  Con- 
stantin  von  Hofler  (Aus  Avignon,  pp.  14  f.) 
Some  years  earlier,  in  1342,  Michael  da 
Cesena,  who  still  claimed  to  be  general  of 
the  Franciscan  order,  had  died ;  and  from 
him  the  seal  of  office  passed  into  the  hands  of 
Ockham,  who  retained  it  and  styled  himself 
vicar  of  the  order  (CLEMENT  VI,  ap.  HOFLER, 
I.e.,  p.  20).  But  in  time  he  wearied  of  his 
situation  of  increasing  isolation,  and  he  sent 
the  ring  to  the  acknowledged  general,  Wil- 
liam Farinerius,  with  a  view  to  his  reconcilia- 
tion to  the  church.  Clement  VI,  who  had 
declared  in  1343  his  earnest  desire  to  effect 
this,  now  supplied,  8  June  1349,  the  re- 
quired instrument  for  the  purpose,  condi- 
tional upon  the  recantation  of  his  more  ob- 
noxious doctrines  (printed  by  WADDING, 
viii.  12  f.,  and  RAYNALD.  vi.  491  f.)  That 
Ockham  performed  the  conditions  and  ob- 
tained absolution  is  asserted  by  Tritheim 


(Opp.  Hist.  i.  313)  and  maintained  by  Wad- 
ding ;  it  is,  on  the  other  hand,  disputed  by 
Raynaldus. 

Clement's  document,  as  Avell  as  Ockham's 
tract,  on  the  election  of  Charles  IV  disprove 
the  statement  that  the  friar  died  so  early  as 
10  April  1347  which  is  made  by  Glassberger 
(p.  184)  on  the  authority,  no  doubt,  of  a 
gravestone  placed  with  others  bearing  equally 
incorrect  inscriptions  at  a  later  date  (see 
RIEZLER,  p.  127).  His  death  cannot  have 
occurred  before  1349,  but  it  is  unlikely  that 
he  long  survived  that  year.  He  died  in  the 
convent  of  his  order  at  Munich,  and  was 
buried  there  (GLASSBERGER,  I.e.)  Wadding 
(vol.  viii.  10  ff.)  notes  and  corrects  several 
other  erroneous  statements  with  respect  to 
the  time  and  place  of  his  death. 

Ockham's  eminence  lies  in  his  work  in  logic, 
in  philosophy,  and  in  political  theory.  In  the 
first  two  he  powerfully  influenced  the  schools 
of  his  day  ;  in  the  last  he  profoundly  agitated 
the  church.  Carl  von  Prantl  considers  (iii. 
328)  the  peculiar  characteristic  of  Ockham's 
logic  to  lie  in  the  fact,  not  that  he  was  the 
second  founder  of  nominalism,  but  that  he 
made  the  method  of  logic  known  as  the  '  By- 
zantine logic  '  his  fundamental  basis.  Prantl 
assumes  that  the  so-called  '  Byzantine  logic ' 
was  made  known  to  the  west  in  the '  Synopsis ' 
bearing  the  name  of  Psellus,  a  writer  of  the 
eleventh  century.  Powerful  arguments  have, 
however,  been  adduced  to  prove  that  the 
'  Synopsis '  of  Psellus  is  in  fact  only  a  fif- 
teenth-century translation  into  Greek  of  the 
'  Summulae '  of  Petrus  Hispanus,  who  lived 
in  the  thirteenth  century.  It  therefore  fol- 
lows that  Prantl's  theory  that  Ockham  de- 
rived his  method  from  the  '  Byzantine  logic  ' 
in  the  '  Synopsis '  of  Psellus  must  be  con- 
sidered at  least  doubtful  (see  C.  Thurot  in 
the  Revue  Archeologique,  new  ser.  x.  267- 
281,  [1864],  and  Revue  Critique,  1867,  i.  199- 
202,  ii.  4-11  ;  and  compare  Valentin  Rose 
in  Hermes,  ii.  146  f,  1867,  and  UEBERWEG, 
i.  404  n.)  But  if  it  was  not  Byzantine 
logic  by  which  Ockham  was  permeated, 
it  was  not  the  less  a  new  method  of  logical 
treatment  which  came  into  currency  in  the 
middle  of  the  thirteenth  century  through 
the  works  of  William  Shyreswood  or  Sher- 
wood, and  of  Petrus  Hispanus,  and  which 
left  its  impression  upon  Duns  Scotus  and 
others  of  his  contemporaries.  This  method, 
in  the  form  in  which  it  was  expounded  by 
Ockham,  maybe  said  to  have  proceeded  onthe 
supposition  that  logic  deals  not  with  things 
nor  with  thoughts,  but  with  terms  arbitrarily 
imposed  by  ourselves.  When  we  use  certain 
terms  in  logic  for  the  sake  of  convenience  in 
drawing  out  a  syllogism,  we  neither  assert 


Ockham 


361 


Ockham 


nor  prove  anything  as  to  the  relation  of  those 
terms  to  our  thoughts  or  to  existing  realities. 
Argument  is  only  true  ex  supposito.  Duns 
Scotus,  on  the  other  hand,  conceived  the 
function  of  logic  to  deal  with  thoughts.  As 
to  the  metaphysical  basis,  they  were  still  more 
strongly  opposed.  Duns  held  to  the  reality 
of  universals  in  the  most  uncompromising 
form  to  which  the  matured  mediaeval  realism 
ever  attained :  Ockham  declined  to  go  beyond 
the  logical  necessity ;  he  enforced  the '  law  of 
parcimony '  ('  Entia  non  sunt  multiplicanda 
prseter  necessitatem  ')  and  regarded  them  as 
terms  in  a  syllogism.  It  is  because  his  view 
was  confined  to  the  region  of  logic  that  his 
doctrine  is  now  often  described  as  termi- 
nalism  rather  than  nominalism.  Universals 
were  not  so  much  names  which  we  give 
to  the  results  of  our  observation  of  many 
individuals  more  or  less  alike,  as  terms 
which  we  use  to  describe  them  for  the  pur- 
pose of  arguing.  The  relation  between 
terms  and  thoughts,  and  the  relation  between 
thoughts  and  facts,  were  both  imperfect ; 
words  ultimately  considered  were  but  the 
signs  of  thoughts  which  were  themselves 
signs  of  something  else. 

But  if  Duns  and  Ockham  so  diversely 
conceived  the  province  of  logic  and  the 
nature  of  its  subject-matter,  in  one  important 
respect  they  were  led  to  a  practical  result 
not  dissimilar.  Since  the  days  of  Albert 
the  Great  there  had  been  a  gradual  reaction 
against  the  earlier  philosophy  of  the  middle 
ages,  which  made  the  reconciliation  of  reason 
and  faith  its  leading  aim.  St.  Thomas 
Aquinas  had  reserved  certain  truths  of  re- 
velation as  unprovable  by  reason,  and  Duns 
had  gone  beyond  him  in  such  a  way  as  to  place 
theology  outside  the  pale  of  the  sciences. 
Duns's  indeterminism  was  further  extended 
by  Ockham  and  the  road  left  open  for  gene- 
ral theological  scepticism.  But  it  was  only 
through  this  scepticism  that  he  was  able  to 
retain  his  faith  in  theological  dogmas,  since 
these  lay  entirely  beyond  the  possibility  of 
human  proof.  In  the  uncertainty  of  intel- 
lectual processes  he  was  forced  to  fall  back 
upon  the  vision  of  faith.  Morality,  too,  he 
held  to  be  something  not  essential  to  man's 
nature,  but  (with  Scotus)  as  founded  in  the 
arbitrary  will  of  God. 

With  Ockham  the  sphere  of  logic  was  cir- 
cumscribed, but  within  its  limits  it  was  the 
keenest  of  instruments.  Revelation,  indeed, 
was  beyond  its  sphere,  but  it  is  not  easy  to 
say  to  what  extent  Ockham  admitted  the 
authority  of  the  ecclesiastical  tradition.  As 
to  the  nature  and  power  of  the  church,  Ock- 
ham disputed  with  a  vehement  assurance 
doubtless  born  not  so  much  of  his  philo- 


sophical principles  as  of  loyalty  to  his  order. 
Yet  we  cannot  assert  without  qualification 
that  he  attacked  the  authority  of  the  church 
in  its  strictly  spiritual  sphere  (cf.  J.  Sil- 
bernagl  in  the  Hist.  Jahrb.  vii.  423-33, 
1886).  He  was  indeed  strongest  on  the 
critical  or  negative  side ;  and  while  he  denied 
the  '  plenitude  potestatis '  claimed  for  the 
papacy,  he  was  not  altogether  disposed  to 
place  the  emperor  above  the  pope,  nor  was 
he  happy  in  invoking,  as  was  required  by  the 
controversy,  the  ultimate  resort  of  a  general 
council,  even  though  formed  alike  of  clergy 
and  laymen,  men  and  women.  The  in- 
firmity of  reason  was  with  him  the  counter- 
part to  the  strength  of  the  logician.  He 
could  criticise  with  freedom,  but  had  scruples 
in  reconstructing.  He  furnished  invaluable 
weapons  to  those  after  him  who  opposed  the 
authority  of  the  pope,  and  even  helped 
Luther  in  the  elaboration  of  his  doctrine 
concerning  the  sacrament ;  but  his  most  en- 
during monument  is  found  in  the  logical 
tradition  which  he  established  in  the  univer- 
sity of  Paris.  At  first,  in  1339,  the  faculty 
of  arts  forbade  any  one  to  teach  his  doc- 
trine (DEXIFLE,  Chartul.  Univ.  Paris,  vol.  ii. 
pt.  ii.  pp.  485  f.) ;  but  it  grew  and  prevailed 
until  by  the  end  of  the  century'it  had  be- 
come the  generally  accepted  system  in  the 
leading  school  of  Europe.  It  was  from  his 
position  as  the  first  man  to  bring  the  new 
nominalism  into  wide  currency  that  Ockham 
received  the  title  of  '  Venerabilis  Inceptor/ 
which  is  apparently  older  than  the  more 
familiar  one  of  '  Doctor  invincibilis.' 

Ockham's  logical  works  are :  1.  'Summa 
Logices '  (ad  Adamum),  printed  at  Paris, 
1488;  Venice,  1522:  Oxford,  1675,  &c. 
2.  Commentaries  on  Porphyry's  Introduc- 
tion to  Aristotle's  '  Organon,'  and  on  the 
earlier  books  of  the  latter,  the  '  Categories,' 
'  De  Interpretatione,'  and  '  Elenchi,'  partly 
printed  at  Bologna,  1496,  under  the  title 
'  Expositio  aurea  super  totam  artem  veterem.' 
In  philosophy  and  theology  he  wrote : '  Qutes- 
tiones  in  octo  libros  Physicorum,'  printed 
at  Rome,  1637 ;  and  '  Summulffl '  on  the 
same ;  '  Qusestiones  in  quatuor  libros  Senten- 
tiarum,'  printed  at  Lyons,  1495,  &c. ;  ;  Quod- 

KI     .  .«  '    «.;.,.  .  ]     nt     !>.-•-     1  .Ift7     At 


libeta  septem,'  printed  at  Paris  1487.  at 
Strassburg  1491 ;  '  De  Sacramento  Altaris ' 
and  '  De  Corpore  Christi,'  printed  at  the  end 
of  the '  Quodhbeta,'  in  the  Strassburg  edition ; 
'  Centilogium  theologicum,'  printed  at  Lyons, 
1495,  with  the  '  Qusestiones '  on  the  '  Sen- 
tences ; '  and  several  other  works  which  re- 
main in  manuscript.  Ockham's  political 
writings  have  all  been  enumerated  in  his 
biography.  To  them  is  usually  added  a  '  Dis- 
putatio  intermilitem et clericum '  on  the  civil 


Ockham 


362 


Ockley 


and  ecclesiastical  power  (printed  by  Goldast, 
i.  13  ff.),  which  was  translated  into  English 
in  the  sixteenth  century  and  twice  published 
by  Berthelet  (2nd  edit.  1540) ;  but  Dr.  Riez- 
ler  has  shown  (pp.  144-8)  that  it  is  not  by 
Ockham,  but  probably  by  Pierre  du  Bois. 
The  '  Sermones  Ockam '  preserved  in  a  fif- 
teenth-century manuscript  in  the  Worcester 
Cathedral  Library  (74  Qu.),  and  extending 
to  270  pages,  are  of  a  practical  character, 
and  contain  occasional  translations  of  sen- 
tences and  phrases  into  French,  and  here 
and  there  anecdotes  (e.g.  one  about  Lon- 
doners on  p.  141)  :  everything  points  to 
their  being  the  work  of  some  other  Ockham. 

Ockham  is  not  to  be  confounded  with 
William  de  Ocham,  who  appears  as  arch- 
deacon of  Stow  in  1 302  (see  DENIFLE,  Chartul. 
Univ.  Paris,  vol.  ii.  pt.  i.  p.  486). 

The  name  is  spelt  in  a  multiplicity  of 
ways,  but  the  form  '  Occam,'  which  is  now 
fashionable  on  the  continent,  seems  to  have 
the  slightest  contemporary  support,  most  of 
our  older  authorities  writing  the  name  with 
at  least  one  k. 


[Johannes  Victoriensis,  in  Bohmer's  Fontes 
Kerum  Germanicarum,  vol.  i.,  Stuttgart,  1843  ; 
Johannis  Yitodurani  Chronicon,  ed.  G.  von 
Wyss,  in  the  Archiv  fur  schweizerische  Ge- 
schichte, vol.  xi.,  Zurich,  1856  ;  Johannis  Mi- 
noritse  Chronicon,  in  Baluze's  Miscellanea,  vol. 
iii.,  ed.  Mansi,  Lucca,  1762;  Jficolai  Glass- 
berger  Chronicon,  in  the  Analecta  Franciscans, 
vol.  ii.,  Quaracchi,  1887;  Sachsische  Weltchro- 
nik.dritte  bairische  Fortsetzung,  ed.  L.  Weiland, 
in  the  Monumenta  Germanise  historica,  Deutsche 
Chroniken, vol. ii., Hanover,  1876.  Ockham'spoli- 
tical  works  are  chiefly  in  Goldast's  Monarchia  s. 
Romani  Imperii,  vol.  ii.,  Frankfurt,  1614,  or 
vol.  iii.  in  the  reissue  of  the  same  book,  Frank- 
furt, 1621;  Documents  in  MarteneandDurand's 
Thesaurus  novus  Anecdotorum,  vol.  ii.,  Paris, 
1727  ;  Wadding's  Annales  Minorum,  ed.  Fon- 
seca,  vols.  vii.viii.,  Rome,  1733;  Raynaldi  Annales 
Ecclesiastic!, vols.  v.,vi.,  ed.  Mansi,  Lucca,  1750; 
C.  von  Hofler's  Aus  Avignon,  in  the  Abhand- 
lungen  der  koniglich  bohmischen  Gesellschaft 
der  Wissenschaften,  6th  ser.  vol.  ii.,  Prague, 
1868 ;  Denifle  and  Chatelain's  Chartularium 
Universitatis  Parisiensis,  vol.  ii.  pt.  i ,  Paris, 
1887  ;  Vatikanische  Akten  zur  deutschen  Ge- 
schichte  in  der  Zeit  Ludwigs  des  Baiern,  ed.  S. 
Riezler,  Innsbruck,  1891.  The  best  modern 
life  of  Ockham  is  contained,  with  a  full  treat- 
ment  of  his  political  works,  in  S.  Riezler's  Die 
literarischen  Widersacher  der  Papste  zur  Zeit 
Ludwig  des  Baiers,  Leipzig,  1874 ;  see  also 
C.  Miiller's  Der  Kampf  Ludwigs  des  Baiern  mit 
der  romischen  Curie,  2  vols.,  Tubingen,  1879- 
1880.  For  the  philosophy,  see  C.  von  Prantl's 
Geschichte  der  Logik  im  Abendlande,  iii.  327- 
420,  Leipzig,  1867,  cf.  vol.  iv.  41-4,  1870  ;  A. 
Stockl's  Geschichte  der  Philosophie  des  Mittel- 


alters,  ii.  986-1021,  Mainz,  1865;  F.  Ueber- 
weg's  History  of  Philosophy  (transl.  by  G.  S. 
Morris),  i.  460-4,  London,  1872 ;  J.  E.  Erd- 
mann's  Grundriss  der  Geschichte  der  Philo- 
sophie, i.  423-34,  3rd  edit.  Berlin,  1878;  B. 
Haureau'sHistoire  cle  la  Philosophie  scolastique, 
vol.  ii.  pt.  ii.  pp.  356-430,  Paris,  1880;  R.  L. 
Poole's  Illustrations  of  the  History  of  Medieval 
Thought,  pp.  276-81,  London,  1884;  T.  M.Lind- 
say, in  the  Encyclopaedia  Britannica,  9th  edit., 
xvii.  717  ff.,  1884  ;  cf.  A.  Seth,  ib.  art.  'Scho- 
lasticism,' xxi.  430,  &c.  1886.  Fuller  lists  of 
Ockham's  works  will  be  found  in  Tanner's 
Bibliotheca  Britannica,  pp.  555  f.,  in  Wadding's 
Scriptoros  ordinis  Minorum,  pp.  106  f.,  and 
J.  H.  Sbaralea's  supplement,  pp.  326-8  (Home, 
1806),  and  in  Mr.  Little's  Grey  Friars,  pp. 
225-34,  which  contains  the  best  critical  cata- 
logue. For  the  political  works  reference  should 
be  made  specially  to  Dr.  Riezler,  pp.  241-72; 
and  for  the  philosophical  ones  to  Prantl,  iii. 
322,  notes  737-40,  and  C.  Thurot,  in  the  Revue 
Critique  for  1867,  i.  194,  note  1.]  R.  L.  P. 

OCKLAND,  CHRISTOPHER  (d. 
1590?),  Latin  poet.  [See  OCLAND.] 

OCKLEY,  SIMON  (1678-1720),  oriental- 
ist, came  of  a  '  gentleman's  family '  of  Great 
Ellingham  in  Norfolk,  where  his  father  lived, 
but  he  was  born  at  Exeter  in  1678.  He  was 
apparently  brought  up  in  Norfolk,  where  Sir 
Algernon  Potts  of  Mannington  took  an  in- 
terest in  the  studious  boy  (Dedication  to  Ac- 
count of  Earbary).  At  the  age  of  fifteen  he 
entered  (1693)  Queens'  College,  Cambridge, 
where,  according  to  Hearne, '  being  naturally 
inclin'd  to  ye  Study  of  ye  Oriental  Tongues, 
he  was,  when  abl  17  years  of  Age,  made 
Hebrew  Lecturer  in  ye  said  College,  chiefly 
because  he  was  poor  and  could  hardly  sub- 
sist '  (Remarks  and  Collections  of  Thomas 
Hearne,  ed.  Doble,  i.  245).  He  took  holy 
orders  before  he  was  twenty,  and  became 
curate  at  Swavesey,  Cambridgeshire  (near  St. 
Ives),  under  the  vicar,  Joseph  Wasse,  as  early 
as  1701  (Swavesey  Parish  Register) ;  and  in 
1705  he  succeded  to  the  vicariate  by  presenta- 
tion of  Jesus  College,  Cambridge,  on  the  re- 
commendation of  Simon  Patrick,  bishop  of 
Ely,  '  wch  BP  pretends  to  be  his  Patron,  tho' 
(like  some  other  Prelates)  'tis  only  Pretence, 
he  having  as  yet  given  him  nothing  to  support 
himself  and  Family'  (HEAENE,  I.e.,  i.  246). 
Ockley  had  married  very  young,  and  the  parish 
register  at  Swavesey  records  the  baptisms  of 
six  children  between  May  1702  and  September 
1708,  two  of  whom  (Avis  and  Edward)  died 
young.  He  never  obtained  any  richer  pre- 
ferment, but  remained  vicar  of  Swavesey 
till  his  death.  Hearne  (I.e.)  states  that  he 
would  have  received  a  better  parsonage  from 
his  college  but  for  '  a  certain  Accident,  wch 
redounded  much  to  his  Disgrace' — probably 


Ockley 


363 


Ockley 


referring  to  rumours  of  intemperance,  which 
Ockley  indignantly  repudiated  some  years 
later  (1714)  in  a  letter  to  the  Lord-treasurer 
Harley,  who  had  appointed  him  his  chaplain 
in  or  before  1711  (D'IsRAELi,  Calamities  of 
Authors,  Works,  v.  189-92,  ed.  1858). 
There  is  no  evidence  but  Hearne's  hint  of 
disgrace,  and  Ockley's  specific  denial  of  the 
charge  of  sottishness ;  but  the  letter  to  Har- 
ley was  explicitly  called  forth  by  some  act  of 
indiscretion  reported  to  have  been  committed 
at  the  lord-treasurer's  table,  though  it  may 
well  have  been  an  indiscretion  in  conversa- 
tion (as  Ockley  imagined),  and  not  in  wine. 
The  uncouth  scholar,  who  at  Oxford  struck 
Hearne  (I.e.  iii.  286)  as  '  somewhat  crazed,' 
may  easily  be  supposed  to  have  stumbled 
into  some  maladroit  speech  or  clumsy  be- 
haviour when  he  found  himself  bewildered 
among  the  wits  and  courtiers  at  Harley's 
dinner.  Hearne  (i.  245)  records  that  Ockley 
was  '  admitted  student  into  ye  Publick  Li- 
brary 'on  8  Aug.  1701,  for  the  purpose  of  con- 
sulting some  Arabic  manuscripts,  and  that  in 
the  spring  of  1706  he  again  journeyed  to  Ox- 
ford, where  he  was  (15  April)  '  incorporated 
Master  of  Arts '  (ib.  i.  227).  '  This  Journey 
was  also  undertaken  purely  for  ye  sake  of  y" 
Publick  Library,  wch  he  constantly  frequented 
till  Yesterday  [i.e.  17  May],  when  he  went 
away.  He  is  upon  other  Publick  Designs, 
and  for  y'  end  consulted  divers  of  our  Arabick 
MSSts ;  in  wch  Language  he  is  said  by  some 
Judges  to  be  ye  best  skill'd  of  any  Man  in 
England  ;  wch  he  has  in  a  great  Measure  made 
appear  by  his  quick  Turning  into  English 
about  half  of  one  of  ye  Said  Arabic  MSts  in 
folio  during  his  Stay  with  us,  besides  ye  other 
Business  upon  his  Hands.  He  is  a  man  of 
very  great  Industry,  and  ought  to  be  in- 
courag'd,  wch  I  do  not  question  but  he  will 
if  he  lives  to  see  Learning  once  more  in- 
courag'd  in  England,  wch  at  present  is  not ' 
(ib.  i.  246). 

In  spite  of  injurious  reports  and  the  grind- 
ing poverty  of  his  domestic  circumstances, 
Ockley  devoted  himself  with  passionate 
energy  to  oriental  learning ;  and  his  visits  to 
Oxford  for  the  examination  of  Arabic  manu- 
scripts, together  with  his  constant  preoccupa- 
tion in  his  studies  when  at  home,  can  hardly 
have  conduced  to  the  good  management  of 
either  vicarage  or  parish.  But  whatever  he 
may  have  been  as  a  parish  priest,  Ockley  was 
a  scholar  of  the  rarest  type.  As  his  grandson, 
Dr.  Ralph  Heathcote,  says,  '  Ockley  had  the 
culture  of  oriental  learning  very  much  at  heart, 
and  the  several  publications  which  he  made 
were  intended  solely  to  promote  it '  (CHAL- 
MERS, Gen.  Biogr.  Diet.  ed.  1815,  xxiii.  294). 
They  certainly  were  not  calculated  for  profit, 


since  Hearne  observjes  (I.e.  i.  246)  of  Ockley's 
first  book,  the  '  Introductio  ad  linguae  orien- 
tales '  (Cambridge,  1706),  that  '  there  were 
only  500  printed,  and  conseq""  he  ought  to 
have  recd  a  gratuity  from  some  Generous 
Patron  to  satisfy  him  in  y '  wch  he  could  not  ex- 
pect from  a  Bookseller  when  y'  Number  was 
so  small.'  The '  Introductio'  was  dedicated  to 
the  Bishop  of  Ely,  and  the  preface  exhorts 
the  '  juventus  academica '  to  devote  its  atten- 
tion to  oriental  literature,  both  for  its  own 
merits,  and  also  for  the  aid  which  it  supplies 
towards  the  pro  perstudyofdivinity.  The  work 
contains,  among  many  evidences  of  research, 
an  examination  of  the  controversy  between 
Buxtorf  and  Capellus  upon  the  antiquity  of 
the  Hebrew  points,  on  which,  however,  it  is 
obvious  that  the  young  scholar  had  himself 
come  to  no  fixed  conclusions.  In  December 
1706  he  dates  from  Swavesey  the  preface  to 
his  translation  from  the  Italian  of  the  Vene- 
tian rabbi  Leon  Modena's  '  History  of  the 
present  Jews  throughout  the  World '  (Lon- 
don, 1707),  to  which  he  added  two  supple- 
ments on  the  Carraites  and  Samaritans  from 
the  French  of  Father  Simon ;  for  he  was  a 
good  French,  Italian,  and  Spanish  scholar  as 
well  as  an  orientalist  of  whose  acquaintance 
with  Eastern  languages  A  drian  Reiand  could 
write  '  vir,  si  quis  alius,  harum  literarum 
peritus.'  His  dedication  of  '  The  Improve- 
ment of  Human  Reason,  exhibited  in  the 
Life  of  Hai  ebn  Yokdhan,'  to  Edward  Pocock, 
'  the  worthy  son  of  so  great  a  father,'  shows 
one  source  of  his  enthusiasm  for  oriental 
learning ;  and  he  may  fairly  be  classed  as 
a  disciple  of  '  the  Reverend  and  Learned 
Dr.  Pocock,  the  Glory  and  Ornament  of  our 
Age  and  Nation,  whose  Memory  I  much 
reverence '  (Ded.  to  Human  Reason,  London, 
1708,  with  quaint  woodcuts ;  but  the  British 
Museum  copy  has  a  later  substituted  title-page 
of  a  different  publisher,  dated  1711).  This 
translation  (from  the  Arabic  of  Ibn  at-TufaiH, 
designed  to  stimulate  the  curiosity  and  ad- 
miration of  young  students  for  oriental 
authors,  contains  an  appendix  by  Ockley 
(printed  in  1708)  on  the  possibility  of  mans 
attaining  to  the  true  knowledge  of  God 
without  the  use  of  external  means  of  grace ; 
the  appendix,  however,  disappears  from  the 
slightly  abridged  edition  of  1731. 

In  1708  Ockley  published  the  first  volume 
of '  The  Conquest  of  Syria,  Persia,  and  Egypt 
by  the  Saracens,'  the  work  which  under  its 
general  but  less  accurate  title,  'The  History 
of  the  Saracens,'  achieved  a  wide  popularity, 
and,  to  all  but  specialists,  constitutes  Ockley's 
single  tit  le  to  fame.  The  second  volume,  bring- 
ing the  history  down  to  A.D.  705  (A.H.  86),  did 
not  appear  till  1718  (London),  together  with 


Ockley 


364 


Ockley 


a  second  edition  of  vol.  i.  A  third  was  pub- 
lished by  subscription  in  1757  (Cambridge, 
with  a  prefixed '  Life  of  Mahomet,'  attributed 
to  Dr.  Long,  master  of  Pembroke  College) 
'  for  the  sole  benefit  of  Mrs.  Anne  Ockley ' 
{title-page),  the  daughter  of  Ockley,  born  in 
1703.  The  '  History '  was  included  in  Bohn's 
Standard  Library  in  1848,  and  many  times 
reprinted  in  various  series.  A  French  trans- 
lation by  A.  F.  Jault  was  published  as  early 
as  1748.  The  work  was  based  upon  a  manu- 
script in  the  Bodleian  Library  ascribed  to  the 
Arabic  historian  El-Wakidi,  with  additions 
from  El-MeMn,  Abu-1-Fida,  Abu-1-Faraj ,  and 
others.  Hamaker,  however,  has  proved  that 
the  manuscript  in  question  is  not  the  cele- 
brated '  Kitab  el-Maghazi'  of  El-Wakidi,  but 
the  '  Futuh  esh-Sham,'  a  work  of  little 
authority,  which  has  even  been  characterised 
as  '  romance  rather  than  history '  (^EncycL 
Britannica,  9th  ed.,  s.v.  Ockley,  written  or 
•endorsed  by  Professor  W.  Robertson  Smith). 
But,  although  many  of  its  details  require  cor- 
rection, the  importance  of  Ockley's  work  in 
relation  to  the  progress  of  oriental  studies 
cannot  be  overestimated.  Following  in  the 
steps  of  Pocock's  famous '  Specimen  Historise 
Arabum,'but  adopting  a  popular  method,  and 
recommending  it  by  an  admirable  English 
style,  Ockley  for  the  first  time  made  the 
history  of  the  early  Saracen  conquests  at- 
tractive to  the  general  reader,  and  stimulated 
the  student  to  further  research.  With  all  its 
inaccuracies,  Ockley's  '  History  of  the  Sara- 
cens '  became  a  secondary  classic,  and  formed 
for  generations  the  main  source  of  the  average 
notions  of  early  Mohammedan  history.  Gib- 
bon did  not  disdain  to  use  it  freely. 

The  evidences  of  unwearied  research  in 
which  it  abounds  insured  its  author's  succes- 
sion to  the  first  vacant  professorship  of  orien- 
tal languages.  He  was  admitted  a  B.D.  at 
Cambridge  in  1710,  and  in  December  1711 
(HEABNE,  I.e.,  iii.  286)  he  was  appointed 
to  the  chair  of  Arabic  at  his  university  ;  but 
the  increase  of  income  and  consideration  came 
too  late.  In  his  inaugural  address  as  pro- 
fessor, Ockley  expatiates  with  enthusiasm 
upon  the  beauty  and  utility  of  the  Arabic 
language  and  literature,  and  pays  tribute  to 
the  past  labours  of  Erpenius,  Golius,  Pocock, 
and  Herbelot ;  but  refers  sadly  to  fortune, 
always  '  venefica,'  and  to  the  '  mordaces 
•curae,'  which  had  so  long  embittered  his  life 
(Oratio  Inaugurates  habita  Cantabrigiee  in 
Scholis  Publicis  Kalend.  Febr.  1711  [1712J). 

It  is  not  known  whether  he  had  any  pupils, 
or  devoted  much  time  to  lecturing  at  Cam- 
bridge. He  continued  to  write  and  publish, 
however,  on  various  branches  of  learning.  In 
1712  appeared  his  'Account  of  the  Authority  of 


the  Arabic  MSS.  in  the  Bodleian  Library  con- 
troverted between  Dr.Grabe  and  Mr.Whiston, 
in  a  Letter  to  Mr.  Thirlby,'  in  which  Ockley 
endeavoured  to  clear  himself  of  the  charge  of 
sympathising  with  Whiston's  Arian  pro- 
clivities (referred  to  in  Hearne,  iii.  57,  where 
Ockley's  visit  to  the  Bodleian  Library  in 
Whiston's  company,  in  September  1710,  is 
noticed  ;  cf.  iii.  485).  Ockley  translated  the 
Second  Book  of  Esdras  from  the  Arabic  for 
Whiston,  but  issued  it  separately  in  1716, 
in  order  to  emphasise  his  disagreement  with 
Whiston's  opinions.  Harley  had  apparently 
recommended  the  poor  professor  to  Mr.  Secre- 
tary St.  John,  for  it  is  recorded  that  Boling- 
broke  employed  Ockley  to  translate  some 
letters  from  Morocco.  Connected  with  this 
task,  no  doubt,  was  the  publication  (London, 
1713)  of  the  '  Account  of  South- West  Bar- 
bary,'  a  narrative  of  captivity  by  an  un- 
known Christian  slave  who  escaped  in  1698. 
Besides  editing  the  captive's  story,  Ockley 
appended  two  letters  from  the  Emperor  of 
Morocco,  Muley  Ismail,  one  to  Captain  Kirk 
of  Tangier  (in  Arabic,  with  translation),  the 
others  to  Sir  Cloud  esley  Shovel  'on  board  the 
Charles  galley,'  with  reply ;  and  also  a  letter 
from  Hulagu  Khan  to  the  Sultan  of  Aleppo, 
written  in  1259.  The  fall  of  Harley  and 
Bolingbroke,  however,  soon  deprived  Ockley 
of  any  hopes  of  advancement  from  the  go- 
vernment. In  1717  (London)  appeared  a 
translation  from  the  Arabic  of  '  The  Sen- 
tences of  All,'  made  by  Ockley  at  the  request 
of  Thomas  Freke  of  Hannington,  Wiltshire 
(who  also  had  urged  the  preparation  and 
provided  for  the  expense  of  publishing  the 
'  History  of  the  Saracens.')  The  preface  con- 
tains a  spirited  eulogy  of  the  Arabs  and  their 
literature ;  and  at  the  end  is  found  a '  proposal 
for  printing '  the  second  volume  of  the  '  His- 
tory of  the  Saracens'  (to  which  the  'Sen- 
tences of  Ali '  was  appended  in  1718),  dated 
21  Dec.  1716,  from  which  it  appears  that  all 
Ockley  asked  from  the  subscribers  was  2d. 
per  sheet,  of  which  2s.  6d.  was  to  be  paid 
down,  and '  the  rest  on  delivery  of  the  quires ; ' 
but  a  '  small  number  to  be  on  Royal  Paper  at 
10s.  a  book.'  The  preparation  of  this  second 
volume  occupied  much  time,  and  involved 
protracted  residence  at  Oxford.  In  a  letter 
to  his  daughter  (published  by  Heathcote,  in 
CHALMERS,  Gen.  Biogr.  Diet.  ed.  1815,  xxiii. 
296-8),  Ockley  describes  the  labour  of  deci- 
phering the  manuscripts,  abridging,  com- 
paring, and  selecting ;  and  the  difficulty  of 
rendering  an  oriental  language  into  English. 
He  was  much  hampered  by  the  want  of  suf- 
ficient authorities,  and  adds :  '  We  are  all 
swallowed  up  in  politics  ;  there  is  no  room 
for  letters ;  and  it  is  to  be  feared  that  the 


Ocks 


365 


Ocland 


next  generation  will  not  only  inherit  but  im- 
prove the  polite  ignorance  of  the  present.'  He 
nevertheless  worked  at  his  manuscripts '  from 
the  time  I  rise  in  the  morning  till  I  can  see 
no  longer  at  night,'  and  endured  the  drudgery 
in  the  hope  of  '  obliging  his  country '  and 
'making  new  discoveries.'  The  preface  to 
the  second  volume  of  his  '  History'  was 
stoically  dated  (December  1717)  from  Cam- 
bridge Castle,  where  he  was  then  imprisoned 
for  debts  amounting  altogether  to  no  more 
than  200/. ;  but  the  quiet  of  a  prison  he  found 
more  conducive  to  steady  toil  than  the  in- 
terruptions of  an  overpopulated  parsonage 
(Preface  to  vol.  ii.)  Except  some  annota- 
tions to  Wotton's  '  Miscellaneous  Discourses ' 
(London,  1718),  this  wasOckley's  last  work, 
and  on  9  Aug.  1720,  at  the  age  of  forty-two, 
he  died  at  Swavesey ;  he  was  buried  there  on 
the  following  day. 

Two  of  Ockley's  sermons  were  published  : 
the  one  on  the  dignity  and  authority  of  the 
Christian  priesthood,  preached  at  Ormond 
Chapel,  London,  1710 ;  the  other  on  the  duty 
of  instructing  children  in  the  Holy  Scriptures, 
at  St.  Ives,  in  1713.  But  it  is  not  as  a  parson 
but  as  a  pioneer  in  oriental  scholarship  that 
his  memory  lives ;  while  his  troubles  and 
bitter  penury  have  gained  him  a  record  in 
D'Israeli's  melancholy  catalogue  of  the '  Cala- 
mities of  Authors.'  On  his  death  his  debts 
exceeded  his  assets,  and  his  widow  was  left 
in  great  distress  with  a  son,  Anthony,  aged 
eighteen,  and  three  daughters.  Martha,  the 
third  daughter,  was  mother  of  Dr.  Ralph 
Heathcote  [q.  v.] 

[The  original  source  of  all  the  various  notices  of 
Ockley  is  the  article  contributed  by  his  grandson, 
Dr.Kalph  Heathcote,  to  the  first  edition(1761)pf 
Chalmers's  Gen.  Biogr.  Diet.,  and  reprinted  in 
the  edition  of  1815.  Isaac  D'Israeli  had  some 
original  letters  of  Ockley  in  his  hands  when  he 
wrote  the  notice  for  the  Calamities  of  Authors 
(Works,  v.  189-92).  The  Prefaces  and  Dedica- 
tions to  Ockley's  works  contain  many  autobio- 
graphical allusions.  Hearne's  Collections  are 
useful.  Extracts  from  Swavesey  Parish  Regis- 
ters, contributed  by  the  Rev.  J.  G.  L.  Lushinpton, 
vicar.]  S.  L.-P. 

OCRS,  JOHN  RALPH  (1704-1788), 
medallist.  [See  OCHS.] 

OCLAND,  CHRISTOPHER  (d.  1590  ?), 
Latin  poet  and  controversialist,  was  a  native 
of  Buckinghamshire,  and  is  conjectured  by 
Joseph  Hunter  to  be  identical  with  the 
Okeland  who  contributed  to  the  anthems  in  a 
music-book  printed  by  John  Day  in  1565. 
It  is  certain  that  in  January  1571-2  he  was 
elected  master  of  the  grammar  school  founded 
by  Q.ueen  Elizabeth  in  the  parish  of  St. 
Olave,  Southwark,  but  it  is  not  clear  that  he 


entered  on  the  office.  Subsequently  he  became 
master  of  the  grammar  school  at  Chelten- 
ham, which  was  also  of  royal  foundation. 
The  publication  in  1580  of  his  '  Anglorum 
Prselia,'  a  Latin  historical  poem,  brought 
him  into  public  notice,  as  it  wns  appointed 
by  Queen  Elizabeth  and  her  privy  council  to 
be  received  and  taught  in  every  grammar 
and  free  school  within  the  kingdom,  '  for  the 
remouing  of  such  lasciuious  poets  as  are 
commonly  reade  and  taught  m  the  saide 
grammer  schooles'  (AMES,  Typogr.  Antiq.  ed. 
Herbert,  ii.  910  «.)  The  author,  however, 
went  unrewarded,  and  in  December  1582  he 
petitioned  Secretary  Walsingham  for  an  alms- 
knight's  room  then  void  in  the  college  of 
Windsor  (Cal.  State  Papers,  Dom.  Eliz. 
1581-90,  p.  80).  In  September  1589  he  was 
residing  at  the  sign  of  the  George  in  the 
parish  of  AVhitechapel,  and  was  suffering  great 
poverty.  On  13  Oct.  1590  he  wrote  to  Lord 
Burghley,  asking  to  be  relieved  in  his  distress. 
He  humbly  desired  that  her  majesty  might 
give  him  a  prebend  or  benefice — so  that  he 
was  probably  in  holy  orders — and  he  added : 
'  I  never  had  any  thing  at  her  graces  hands 
for  all  my  bookes  heretofore  made  of  her 
Hieghnes.'  In  the  same  letter  he  mentioned 
that  he  had  just  received  tidings  that  one 
Hurdes,  a  serjeant  of  London,  who  cast  him 
in  the  Counter  at  Christmas,  1589,  had  a 
capias  utlagatum  out  for  him  ;  and  he  com- 
plained that  he  had  been  condemned  to  pay 
40/.  although  he  owed  Hurdes  only  51.  He 
stated  that  his  wife  had  been  paralysed  for 
upwards  of  three  years,  and  that  her  malady 
became  worse  daily  on  account  of  the  malady 
of  her  sons.  Incidentally  he  remarked  that 
he  had  an  only  daughter,  and  in  conclusion 
he  wrote:  'I  teach  schole  at  Grenewych, 
where  my  labor  wyll  not  fynde  me  bread 
and  drynck.'  Probably  he  died  soon  after- 
wards. Among  the  petitions  presented  to 
Charles,  prince  of  Wales,  is  one  from  his 
daughter,  Jane  Ocland,  dated  14  Jan.  1017, 
setting  forth  that  she  was  in  distress.  She 
received  a  gift  of  22«. 

Bishop  Hall  alludes  to  Ocland  in  his 
'  Satires '(bk.  iv.  Sat.  3): 

Or  cite  old  Ocland's  verse,  how  they  did  wield 
The  wars  in  Turwin,  or  in  Turney  field. 

His  works  are:  1.  'Anglorum  Praelia,  Ab 
Anno  Domini  1327,  Anno  nimirum  primo 
inclytiss.  Principis  Eduardi  eius  nominis 
tertii,  vsque  ad  annum  Do.  1558^Carmine 
summatimperstricta,' London  (R.  Neuberie), 
1580, 4to,  without  pagination  ;  dedicated  to 
Queen  Elizabeth.  A  copy  of  the  rare  first 
edition  is  preserved  in  the  Grenville  Library. 
The  work  is  an  hexameter  poem,  versified 


O'Clery 


366 


O'Clery 


from  the  chronicles  '  in  a  tame  strain,  not 
exceedingly  bad,  but  still  farther  from  good ' 
(HALLAM,  Literature  of  Europe,  1854,  ii.  148). 
A  second  edition  appeared  at  London, 
1582,  8vo,  with  the  addition  of  Ocland's 
'  Eiprjvapxla,'  and  of  Alexander  Neville's  Latin 
poem  on  Kett's  rebellion.  2.  '  'Elpr^vap^ia 
sine  Elisabetha.  De  pacatissiino  Anglise 
statu,  imperante  Elizabetha,  compendiosa 
narratio.  Hue  accedit  illustrissimorum  vi- 
rorum,  qui  aut  iam  mortui  fuerunt,  authodie 
sunt  Elisabethse  Reginse  a  consiliis,  perbreuis 
Catalogus,'  London,  1582,  8vo  ;  dedicated  in 
hexameters  to  Mildred,  lady  Burghley.  A 
translation  into  English  by  '  lohn  Sharrock  ' 
appeared  under  the  title  of  Elizabeth  Queene,' 
black  letter,  London  (R.  Waldegrave),  1585, 
4to.  The  copy  of  this  translation,  preserved 
in  the  Grenville  Library,  is  believed  to  be 
unique.  There  afterwards  appeared  in  Eng- 
lish verse,  '  The  Pope's  Farwel ;  or  Queen 
Ann's  Dream.  Containing  a  True  Prognostick 
of  her  own  Death.  .  .  .  Written  originally  in 
Latine  Verse  by  Mr.  Christopher  Ocland,  and 
printed  in  the  Year  1582.  Together  with 
some  few  Remarques  upon  the  late  Plot,  or 
Non-Con-Conspiracy'  [London,  1680?],  4to. 
3.  '  Elizabetheis,  siue  de  Pacatissimo  et 
Florentissimo  Anglite  Statu  sub  Fcelicissimo 
Augustissimpe  Reginse  Elizabeths  Imperio. 
Liber  secundus.  In  quo  prpeter  cetera,  His- 
panicse  classis  profligatio,  Papisticarumque 
molitionum  &  consiliorum  hostilium  mira 
subversio,  bona  fide  explicantur,'  in  verse, 
London  (T.  Orwin),  1589, 4to.  4. '  The  Foun- 
taine  and  Welspring  of  all  Variance,  Sedi- 
tion, and  deadlie  Hate.  Wherein  is  declared 
at  large  the  Opinion  of  the  famous  Diuine 
Hipcrius  and  the  consent  of  the  Doctors  from 
S.  Peter  the  Apostle  his  Time  and  thePrimi- 
tiue  Church  in  order  to  this  Age  :  expressly 
set  downe,  that  Rome  in  Italie  is  signified 
and  noted  by  the  name  of  Babylon,  mentioned 
in  the  14.  17.  and  18  Chapters  of  the  Reuela- 
tion  of  S.  lohn,'  London  (R.  Ward),  1589, 
4to.  Dedicated  to  the  Earls  of  Huntingdon 
and  Warwick. 

[Addit.  MSS.  5877  f.  108,  24493  f.  185; 
Ames's  Typogr.  Antiq.  (Herbert),  pp.  909-911, 
1809  ;  Brydges's  Cens.  Lit.  ix.  42 ;  Ellis's  Letters 
of  Eminent  Literary  Men,  p.  65;  Haslewood's 
Ancient  Critical  Essays,  ii.  150,  312  ;  Lansdowne 
MSS.  65  art.  55,  99  art.  12,  161  f.  4;  Lowndes's 
Bibl.  Man.  (Bohn),  p.  1716  ;  Manning  and  Bray's 
Surrey,  iii.  654;  Strype's  Annals,  iii.  155,  598, 
iv.  269.]  T.  C. 

O'CLERY,  LUGHAIDH  (f.  1609),  Irish 
historian,  son  of  Maccon,  chief  of  the 
O'Clerys  of  Donegal,  was  ninth  in  descent 
from  Cormac  MacDiarmada  O'Clerigh,  an 
ollav  of  the  civil  and  canon  law,  who  migrated 


before  1382  to  Donegal  from  Tirawley,  co. 
Mayo,  and  whose  descendants  were  devoted 
to  literature.  Lughaidh  succeeded  his  father 
as  chief  of  the  sept  in  1595.  He  took  part  in 
1600  in  the  '  lomarbadh  na  bfiledh,'  or  con- 
tention between  the  bards  of  the  north  and 
the  south  of  Ireland,  in  four  poems  amounting 
to  1,520  verses.  'A  Thaidhg  na  tathaoir 
Torna  '  ('O  Tadhg,  revile  not  Torna');  'Do 
chuala  ar  thagrais  a  Thaidhg '  ('  I  have 
heard  all  you  have  pleaded,  O  Tadhg'); 
'  Na  brosd  meise  a  mheic  Daire'  ('Provoke 
me  not,  MacDaire ') ;  '  An  ccluine  me  a  mheic 
Daire '  ('  Do  you  hear  me,  O  MacDaire?'),  in 
answer  to  Tadhg  MacDaire  MacBruaidedh. 
His  most  interesting  work  is  his  '  Life  of 
Aodh  Ruadh  O'Donnell'  [see  O'DONNELL, 
HUGH  ROE],  which  is  not  a  mere  chronicle, 
but  a  biography  of  much  literary  merit.  It 
begins  with  the  parentage,  and  ends  with 
the  death  of  Aodh  Ruadh  in  Spain  in  1602. 
O'Donnell's  history,  with  its  many  adven- 
tures, is  admirably  told  in  literary  but  not 
pedantic  Irish,  and  the  composition  is  free 
from  the  archaic  and  sometimes  stilted  dic- 
tion found  in  parts  of  the  '  Annals  of  the 
Four  Masters.'  It  was  written  down  from 
his  father's  dictation  by  Cucoigcriche  O'Clery 
[see  below],  whose  original  manuscript  is  in 
the  Royal  Irish  Academy.  A  text  and  trans- 
lation of  it  were  made  by  Edward  O'Reilly 
in  1820  (Irish  Writers,  p.  90),  and  an  edition 
based  upon  these  has  been  published,  with 
an  elaborate  introduction,  by  the  Rev.  Denis 
Murphy,  S.  J.  The  date  of  O'Clery's  death  is 
not  known,  but  it  is  certain  that  he  was  not 
living  in  1632. 

The  son,  CUCOIGCRICHE  O'CLERY  (d.  1664), 
Irish  chronicler,  was  chief  of  his  family,  and 
was  born  at  Kilbarron,  co.  Donegal.  He  was 
one  of  the  body  of  learned  men  who  under 
the  general  direction  of  Michael  O'Clery  [q.  v.] 
compiled  the  collection  of  chronicles  known 
as  the  '  Annals  of  the  Four  Masters.'  He 
made  a  copy  of  the  '  Leabhar  Gabhala,'  one 
of  the  poems  of  O'Dubhagain  and  O'Huid- 
hrin,  and  one  of  Irish  genealogies  now 
in  the  library  of  the  Royal  Irish  Academy. 
His  Irish  handwriting  was  clear,  the  cha- 
racters somewhat  rounder  than  those  of 
Michael  O'Clery.  A  facsimile  of  his  writing 
is  given  in  O'Curry's  '  Lectures  on  the  Manu- 
script Materials  of  Ancient  Irish  History.' 
He  wrote  '  lonmhuin  an  laoidh  leaghthar 
sunn'  ('Dear  the  lay  which  is  read  here'),  a 
long  poem  for  the  Calbhach  Ruadh  O'Don- 
nell. praising  his  love  of  learning  and  learned 
men,  and  the  goodness  of  his  wife ;  and 
'  Mo  Mhallacht  ort  a  shaoghal'  ('  My  curse  on 
thee,  O  world  ! '),  a  longer  poem  addressed  to 
Toirdhealbhach,  son  of  Cathbarr  O'Donnell. 


O'Clery 


367 


O'Clery 


Both  have  been  printed,  v.itb  translations,  by 
O'Curry  (Lectures,  p.  5t>:>).  On  25  May 
1632  an  inquisition  taken  at  Lifford,  co. 
Donegal,  shows  that  he  held  Coobeg  and 
Donghill,  in  the  barony  of  Boylagh  and 
Banagh,  co.  Donegal,  as  a  tenant  at  8/.  a 
year,  from  the  Earl  of  Annandale.  '  Being  a 
meere  Irishman,'  he  was  dispossessed  and  his 
lands  forfeited  to  the  crown.  He  soon  after 
migrated  to  Ballycroy,  co.  Mayo,  taking  his 
books  with  him.  His  will,  written  in  Irish 
at  Curr  na  heilte,  co.  Mayo,  is  preserved  in 
the  Royal  Irish  Academy.  He  desires  to  be 
buried  in  the  monastery  of  Borrisoole,  and 
says,  '  I  bequeath  the  property  most  dear  to 
me  that  ever  I  possessed  in  this  world — 
namely,  my  books — to  my  two  sons,  Dermot 
and  John.'  He  died  in  1664. 

[Annals  of  the  Four  Masters,  O'Donovan's 
Introduction,  Dublin,  1851 ;  E.  O'ReillyinTrans- 
actions  of  Iberno-Celtic  Society,  Dublin,  1820; 
Beatha  Aodha  Ruaidh  Ui  Domhnaill,  ed.  Rev. 
Denis  Murphy,  S.J., Dublin,  1893;  AnnalaRiogh- 
achta  Eireann,  Dublin,  1851  ;  E.  0' Curry's 
Lectures  on  the  Manuscript  Materials  of  Ancient 
Irish  History,  Dublin,  1873.]  N.  M. 

O'CLERY,  MICHAEL  (1575-1643), 
Irish  chronicler,  was  the  fourth  son  of 
Donnchadh  O'Clery,  son  of  William  O'Clery, 
eon  of  Tuathal  O'Clery,  who  died  in  1512, 
chief  of  the  sept  of  O'Clery  of  Donegal.  He 
was  therefore  third  cousin  once  removed 
of  his  colleague  Cucoigcriche  O'Clery  [see 
under  O'CLERY,  LTTGHAIDH],  third  cousin 
of  Lughaidh  O'Clery  [q.  v.J,  and  ninth  in 
descent  from  Cormac  O'Clery,  who  migrated 
in  1382  from  Tirawley,  co.  Mayo,  to  Done- 
gal. He  was  born  in  1575  at  Kilbarron, 
on  Donegal  Bay,  was  baptised  Tadhg,  a 
name  which,  according  to  O'Davoren's 
'Glossary'  (Stokes's  edition,  p.  121),  means 
a  poet,  and  which  had  been  borne  by  two 
chiefs  of  his  sept — his  great  uncle,  who  died 
in  1565,  and  his  great-great-grandfather,  who 
died  in  1492 — and  was  generally  known  as 
Tadhg-an-tsleibhe  or  of  the  mountain,  till, 
on  his  entrance  into  the  Franciscan  order,  he 
took  the  name  of  Michael.  His  elder  brother, 
Maolmuire,  had  entered  the  order  before  him, 
took  the  name  of  Bernardin,  and  afterwards 
became  his  ecclesiastical  superior.  Michael 
had  studied  Irish  history  and  literature  under 
Baothghalach  Ruadh  Mac  Aedhagain  in  East 
Munster,  and  was  already  esteemed  one  of 
the  first  Irish  antiquaries  of  his  day  (Coi> 
GAN,  Preface  to  Acta  Sanctorum)  when  he 
entered  the  Franciscan  convent  of  Louvain. 
The  guardian  of  the  convent,  Macanward 
[q.  v.J,  was  able  to  appreciate  his  learning, 
and  sent  him  in  1620  to  collect  Irish  manu- 
scripts, and  especially  lives  of  saints  in 


Ireland.     He  worked  for  fifteen  years   in 
this  way,  transcribing  and  collecting  every- 
thing he  could  find  of  historical  or  hagio- 
logical  interest.    On  3  Sept.  1624  he  began 
to  compose  a  book  called   '  Reim   lliogh- 
raidhe'    ('The  Royal  List')  in  the  house 
of  Conall  Mageoghegan  [q.  v.]  at  Lismoyny, 
co.  Westmeath.     The  book  was  to  contain 
the  succession  of  the  Irish  kings  and  their 
pedigrees,  the  lives  of  Irish  saints  and  their 
genealogies,  with  other  transcripts  from  old 
manuscripts,  such  as  '  Leabhar  na  gCeart,' 
the  treatise  on  the  dues  of  the  kings  of  all 
the  principalities  of  Ireland.    Another  Fran- 
ciscan, Paul  O'Colla,  who  was  also  a  guest  of 
Conall  Mageoghegan,  made  some  additions, 
and    further  help  was  given  by  Fearfeasa 
O'Maolconaire  of  Baile  Maelconaire,  co.  Ros- 
common,  and  Cucoigcriche  O'Duigeanain  of 
Castleford,  co.  Leitrim,  two  learned   Irish 
scholars,  and  by  the  editor's  kinsman,  Cu- 
coigcriche O'Clery.    The  book  was  finished 
in  the  Observantine  convent  at  Athlone  on 
4  Nov.  1630.     It  is  dedicated  to  Toirdheal- 
bhach  MacCochlain,  chief  of  Delvin,  King's 
County.    The  dedication  is  followed  by  an 
address  to  the  reader,  signed  first  by  O'Clery, 
and  then  by  his  fellow-workers.  The  original 
manuscript  is  in  the  Burgundian  Librarv  in 
Brussels,  in  which  many  Irish  manuscripts, 
taken  by  the  French  from  Louvain,  have  been 
deposited;  and  there  is  a  copy,  made  in  1760  by 
j  Maurice  O'Gorman,  in  the  library  of  Trinity 
College,  Dublin,  and  another  made  by  Ri- 
chard Tipper  in  1716,  in  the  library  of  the 
Royal  Irish  Academy.   In  1627,  encouraged 
by  Brian  Maguire,  lord  Enniskillen,    and 
aided  by  the  same  scholars  as  before,  with 
the  addition  of  Gillapatrick  O'Luinin  of  Ard 
O'Luinin.  co.  Fermanagh,  Maguire'ssenachie, 
O'Clery  finished  on  22  Dec.  1631  a  revised 
edition  of  the  '  Leabhar  Gabhala,'  or  '  Book 
of  Invasions,'  an  account  of  the  several  settle- 
ments of  Ireland.    It  was  dedicated  to  Brian 
Maguire,  and  was  written  in  the  convent  of 
Lisgoole,  co.  Fermanagh.   Francis  Magrath, 
the  guardian  of  the  convent,  wrote  an  approval 
of  it  from  a  theological  point  of  view,  and 
Flann  MacAedhagain,  of  the  famous  family 
of  hereditary  brehons  and  men  of  letters  of 
Ballymacegan,  co.  Tipperary,  wrote  an  ap- 
proval of  it  as  a  piece  of  Irish   learning. 
There  is  a  copy  in  the  handwriting  of  Cucoig- 
criche O'Clery  in  the  library  of  the  Royal 
Irish  Academy.   The  next  work  undertaken 
by  O'Clery  was  the  great   collection    and 
digestof  annals  called 'AnnalesDungallensea,' 
or  '  Annala  Rioghachta  Eireann '  ('  Annals  of 
the  Kingdom  of  Ireland'),  but  better  known 
by  the  title  given  to  it  by  John  Colgan  [q.  v.] 
of '  Annals  of  the  Four  Masters '  (Preface  to 


O'Clery 


368 


O'Clery 


Acta  Sanctorum).  This  was  begun  in  the 
convent  of  Donegal  on  22  Jan.  1632,  and 
finished  there  on  10  Aug.  1636.  The  convent, 
of  which  the  ruins  still  remain,  had  been  un- 
roofed by  fire  in  1601,  and  the  book  was 
written  in  a  cottage  within  the  precincts 
(0'DowovAN,  Preface,  p.  xxix).  The '  Annals ' 
have  been  translated  and  edited  by  John 
O'Donovan  [q.  v.],  and  fill  six  volumes  4to. 
Fragments  had  before  been  translated  bv  Dr. 
Charles  O'Conor  (1764-1828)  [q.v.]  and  by 
Owen  Connellan  [q.  v.]  Michael  O'Clery  signs 
the  dedication  to  Fearghal  O'Gara,  M.P.  for 
Sligo  in  1634,  and  is  mentioned  first  in  the 
approbation  signed  by  the  guardian  of  the 
convent,  Bernardin  O'Clery.  The  same  ap- 
probation states  that  the  other  chroniclers 
and  learned  men  engaged  in  the  work  were 
Muiris  and  Fearfeasa  O'Maolchonaire,  Cu- 
coigcriche  O'Clery,  Cucoigcriche  O'Duibh- 
genain  and  Conaire  O'Clery,  and  mentions 
the  chief  manuscripts  used  by  them.  Many 
of  these  are  extant,  and  demonstrate  the 
fidelity  of  the  compilers.  The  'Annals '  begin 
with  the  coming  of  Ceasair,  granddaughter  of 
Noah,  to  Ireland  in  A.M.  2242,  and  at  first  con- 
tain only  brief  statements  of  names  and  acts 
and  explanations  of  nomenclature.  Obits, 
battles,  and  successions,  with  occasional  quo- 
tations from  the  historical  poets,  form  the 
substance  of  the  events  of  the  year,  and  the 
entries  become  fuller  and  fuller  as  time  ad- 
vances, till  in  the  later  years  up  to  1616  the 
authors  often  write  as  literary  historians, 
and  not  as  mere  chroniclers.  Their  style  is 
somewhat  stilted,  and  a  diction  more  archaic 
than  the  literary  language  of  the  time  is 
often  used.  The  poetical  quotations  are 
generally  brief ;  very  rarely,  as  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  battle  of  Killaderry  in  866,  there 
is  a  passage  of  verse  long  enough  to  suggest 
comparison  with  the  Brunanburh  song  in  the 
'  Saxon  Chronicle.' 

An  original  copy  of  the  '  Annals '  is  in  the 
library  of  the  Royal  Irish  Academy,  in  two 
parts,  of  which  that  up  to  1171  was  formerly 
at  Stow,  and  then  in  the  Ashburnham  col- 
lection ;  while  the  latter,  1172-1616,  once 
belonged  to  Charles  O'Conor  (1710-1791) 
Tq.  v.],who  received  it  in  1734  from  his  uncle, 
Bishop  O'Rourke,  to  whom  it  had  been 
given  by  Colonel  O'Gara,  a  descendant  of  the 
Fearghal  O'Gara  of  the  dedication.  Michael 
O'Clery 's  handwriting  last  appears  in  the  nine 
lines  which  end  the  account  of  the  year  1605 
(  O'DONOVAN,  Introduction,  p.  xiv,  note  c). 

After  the  completion  of  the  '  Annals ' 
O'Clery  produced  in  November  1636  '  Mar- 
tyrologium  Sanctorum  Hiberniae,'  a  complete 
calendar  of  the  saints  of  Ireland,  giving  short 
lives  of  the  more  famous  saints,  with  some  • 


verse   quotations;    names  and    localities  of 
others,  and  the  names  only  on  their  feast- 
days  of  the  remainder.     He  had  enlarged  this 
work  from  a  shorter  compilation  made  by 
himself  in  1629,  and  both  have  as  their  basis 
a  large  collection  of  Irish  hagiological  lite- 
rature, of  which  the  chief  compositions  are 
the  'Felire  of  Aengus,'  a  metrical  calendar, 
extant  in  a  manuscript  written  about  1400 
(edited  by  Stokes,  with  other  texts  and  trans- 
lation, Dublin,  1871);  the  '  Martyrology  of 
Tallaght,'  probably  composed    about    900, 
of  which  a  twelfth-century  copy  exists ;  the 
'  Calendar  of  Cashel,' which  Colgan  states  was 
written  about  1030,  but  which  is  not  known 
to    exist;    the   '  Martyrology   of    Marianus 
O'Gormain,"  written  in  Irish  verse  about  1 1 67. 
Numerous  early  poems  and  more  than  thirty 
lives  of  saints  were  also  consulted.     When 
complete  the  work  was  formally  approved 
by  Flann,  son  of  Cairpre  MacAedhagain  of 
Ballymacegan,  co.  Tipperary,  Flann  being 
the  most  learned  living  member  of  a  family 
of  hereditary  men  of  letters(l  Nov.  1636),  and 
by  the  head  of  another  family  of  hereditary 
men  of  letters,  Conchobhar  MacBruaidedha 
of  Kilkeedy,  co.  Clare  (11  Nov.  1636).    It 
was  afterwards  commended  by  four  bishops, 
all  of  them  famous  as  Irish  scholars — Maol- 
seachlainn  O'Cadhla,  archbishop   of  Tuam ; 
Baothalach  Mac  Aodh  again,  bishop  of  Ross ; 
Thomas  Fleming,  archbishop  of  Dublin;  and 
Ross  MacGeoghegan,  bishop  of  Kildare,  who 
dated  his  approval  8  Jan.  1637.    The  original 
manuscripts  of  this  '  Martyrology '  are  pre- 
served in  the  Burgundian  Library  at  Brussels 
(xvi.  5095-6).     The  text,  with  translation 
by  J.  O'Donovan,  was  published  in  Dublin 
in  1864,  edited  by  James  Henthorne  Todd 
[q.  v.]  and  William  Reeves  [q.  v.]     In  1643 
O'Clery  printed    at   Louvain    '  Focloir    no 
Sanasan  Nuadh,'  a  glossary  of  difficult  Irish 
words,  dedicated  to  Baothghalach  MacAodh- 
again,  bishop  of  Elphin.      This  book   was 
already  very  rare   in   1686,  when  Patrick 
MacOghannain  made  the  manuscript  copy  in 
the  Cambridge  University  Library. 

The  Burgundian  Library  also  contains,  in 
O'Clery's  hand,  two  volumes  of  lives  of  Irish 
saints,  written  in  1628  and  1629;  a  copy  of 
the  '  Cogadh  Gaedhel  re  Gallaibh,'  or  wars  of 
the  Irish  with  the  Danes,  made  from  a  manu- 
script of  Cuchonnacht  O'Daly  in  1635 ;  a 
volume  of  poems  on  the  6'Donnells  of 
Donegal,  from  various  sources;  a  volume  con- 
taining a  collection  of  Irish  historical  poems; 
and  a  copy  of  the '  Felire  of  Aenghus  CeleDe.' 
He  also  translated  into  Irish  the  rules  of 
the  religious  order  of  St.  Clare,  and  there 
was  a  copy  of  this  work  in  the  Stowe  Library 
(O'REILLY). 


O'Cobhthaigh  369  O'Cobhthaigh 


Michael  O'Clery's  life  M  one  of  disin- 
terested devotion  to  learning.  He  received 
in  his  own  time  no  reward  save  the  esteem 
of  every  one  who  cared  for  Irish  learning. 
He  lived  in  poverty,  and  wrote  his  longest 
book  in  an  incommodious  cottage.  He  some- 
times laments  the  ruin  of  ancient  Irish 
families  and  religious  foundations,  but  never 
complains  of  his  own  discomforts  or  boasts 
of  his  performances  (Preface  to  Leabhar 
Gabhala).  He  usually  wrote  in  Irish  charac- 
ters of  rather  small  size,  in  which  every  letter 
or  contraction  is  perfectly  formed,  but  with 
some  inequality  of  height  in  the  letters. 
O'Curry,  in  his  '  Lectures,'  has  printed  a 
characteristic  page  of  his  hand  in  facsimile. 
He  died  at  Louvain  at  the  end  of  1643. 

[Colgan's  Acta  Sanctorum  Hiberniae,  Louvain, 
1645 ;  O'Donovan's  Annals  of  the  Kingdom  of 
Ireland  by  the  Four  Masters,  Introduction,  Dub- 
lin, 1851 ;  O'Donovan's  Genealogies,  Tribes, 
and  Customs  of  Hy  Fiachrach,  Dublin,  1844  ; 
O'Curry's  Lectures  on  the  Manuscript  Materials 
of  Ancient  Irish  History,  Dublin,  1873;  Todd's 
Coeadh  Gaedhel  re  Gallail>h(RollsSer.),  London. 
1867;  O'Donovan,  Todd,  and  Reeves's  Mar- 
tyrology  of  Donegal,  Dublin,  1864  ;  Transactions 
of  Iberno-Celtic  Society  for  1820,  ed.  O'Reilly, 
Dublin,  1820:  Patrick MacOghanain's  manuscript 
copy  of  O'Clery's  Glossary  in  Cambridge  Uni- 
versity Library  .formerly  the  property  of  Edward 
O'Reilly,  then  of  John  Macadam,  and  then  of 
Bishop  Reeves ;  Miller  and  Miiller's  reprint  of 
O'Clery's  Focloir  no  Sanasan  in  Revue  Celtique, 
vol.  iv.  Paris,  1879-80.]  N.  M. 

O'COBHTHAIGH,  DERMOT  (/.  1584), 
Irish  poet,  belonged  to  a  family  of  hereditary 
poets  settled  during  the  fifteenth  and  six- 
teenth centuries  in  the  barony  of  Rathcon- 
rath,  co.  Westmeath.  He  wrote  a  lament 
of  150  verses  for  his  kinsman  Uaithne,  also 
a  poet,  who  was  murdered,  with  his  wife,  at 
Ballinlig,  co.  AVestmeath,  in  1556,  which 
begins '  Da  nell  orchra  os  iath  Uisnigh'  ('  Two 
clouds  of  woe  over  the  land  of  Uisneach '). 
He  also  wrote  five  theological  poems :  '  Dion 
cloinne  a  necc  a  nathar'  ('Safeguard  of 
children  in  the  death  of  their  father'),  a 
poem  of  160  verses:  'Fiu  a  bheatha  has 
Tighearna '  ('  The  cost  of  life  the  death  of  the 
Lord'),  of  156  verses;  'Mairg  as  aidhne 
anaghaidh  breithimh  '  ('  Alas !  the  pleader 
is  facing  the  Judge  '),  of  148  verses  ;  '  Mairg 
nach  taithigh  go  teagh  riogh '  ('  Alas !  that 
I  did  not  go  to  the  king's  house '),  of  156 
verses  ;  and  '  Deacair  aidhneas  earca  riogh ' 
('  A  powerful  argument  the  tributes  of  a 
king'),  of  160  verses.  Copies  of  all  these 
are  extant,  and  some  are  in  the  collection 
of  the  Royal  Irish  Academy. 

Other  members  of  the  family  whose  works 

VOL.   XLI. 


survive  or  who  are  mentioned  in  chronicles 
are: 

An  Clasach  (d.  1415),  a  famous  poet  and 
man  of  learning. 

Maeleachlainn  (d.  1429),  son  of  An  Clas- 
ach, killed  by  Edmond  Dalton,  who  had  con- 
quered his  district. 

Domhnall  (d.  1446),  another  son  of  An 
Clasach,  killed,  with  his  two  sons,  on  the  is- 
land called  Croinis  in  Lough  Ennell,  co. 
Westmeath,  by  Art  O'Maelsheachlainn  and 
the  sons  of  Fiacha  MacGeoghegan.  He  was 
famous  as  a  soldier  as  well  as  a  poet.  One 
of  his  poems,  of  168  verses,  is  extant :  '  Aire 
riot  a  mhic  Mhurchadha '  ('  Be  cautious,  oh 
son  of  Murchadh  ! ')  It  urges  the  Leinster- 
men  to  resist  the  English. 

Aedh  (d.  1452),  described  by  O'Clery  as 
a  learned  poet,  who  kept  a  house  of  hospi- 
tality. He  died  of  the  plague  at  Fertullagh, 
co.  Westmeath. 

Thomas  (d.  1474),  'Murchadh  the  lame' 
(d.  1478),  both  mentioned  in  the  chronicles 
as  ollavs. 

Tadhg  (Jl.  1554),  poet,  son  of  another 
Aedh,  wrote  a  poem  of  sixty-eight  verses  in 
praise  of  the  Cross,  beginning  'Cran  seoil  na 
cruinne  an  chroch  naomhtha'  ('The  Holy 
Cross  is  the  mast  of  the  world ') ;  and  a  hun- 
dred verses  on  the  death  of  Brian  O'Connor 
Failghe.  Both  are  extant.  He  was  probably 
also  the  author  of  the  poem  in  praise  of 
Manus,  son  of  Black  Hugh  O'Donnell,  be- 
ginning'Cia  re  ccuirfinn  sed  suirghe'  ('  Who 
sends  gifts  of  courtship ').  It  contains  twenty 
stanzas,  for  each  of  which  O'Donnell  gave 
the  poet  a  mare. 

Uaithne  (d.  1556),  poet,  son  of  William, 
was  murdered  at  Ballinlig,  co.  Westmeath, 
in  1556.  He  wrote  a  poem  of  156  verses 
in  praise  of  James,  earl  of  Desmond,  begin- 
ning '  Mo  na  iarla  ainm  Sh6mais '  ('  Greater 
than  earl  is  the  name  of  James  );  and  a 
theological  one  of  160  verses,  beginning 
'  Fada  an  cuimhne  so  ar  choir  nD6  '  ('  Long 
be  this  remembrance  on  the  justice  of 
God'). 

Muircheartach  (Jl.  1586), poet,  who  wrote 


jght  of  aphyf 
one  of  148  verses  on  the  death  of  Garrett 
Nugent,  baron  of  Delvin,  beginning  '  Mairg 
is  daileamh  don  digh  bhroin '  ('  Alas !  that 
sorrow  is  attendant  on  drink');  another,  on 
Christopher  Nugent,  fourteenth  Baron  Del- 
vin [q.  v.l,  of  184  verses,  beginning  '  Geall 
re  hiarlacht  ainm  barun'  ('  The  name  baron 
is  the  promise  of  an  earldom ') ;  and  one  of 
124  verses  on  William  Nugent,  beginning 
'Do  ghni  clu  ait  oighreachda'  ('Place  of 

B  B 


O'Connell 


370 


O'Connell 


inheritance  gives  reputation ').  There  are 
copies  of  these  in  the  Royal  Irish  Academy. 
[Annala  Rioghachta  Eireann,  ed.  O'Donovan, 
vols.  iii.  and  iv. ;  Transactions  of  the  Iberno- 
Celtic  Society  for  1820.]  N.  M. 

O'CONNELL,  DANIEL  or  DANIEL 
CHARLES,  COUNT  (1745 P-1833),  French 
general,  one  of  the  twenty-two  children  of 
Daniel  O'Connell  of  Darrynane,  co.  Kerry, 
and  his  wife  Mary  O'Donoghue,  daughter  of 
O'Donoghue  Duff  of  Anwys,  Kerry,  was  born, 
according  to  his  own  belief,  on  '2\  May  1745. 
His  mother  was  in  some  doubt  as  to  the 
dates  of  birth  of  her  numerous  children,  and 
an  idea  prevailed  in  the  family  that  he  was 
born  two  years  later.  At  home  he  learned 
some  Latin  and  Greek,  and  before  he  was 
sixteen  went  to  the  continent  with  his 
cousin,  Murty  O'Connell  of  Tarmon,  co.  Kerry 
[see  O'CONNELL,  MORITZ,  BARON  O'CONNELL], 
and  obtained  the  cherished  wish  of  his  boy- 
hood— an  appointment  in  the  French  army. 
On  13  Feb.  1760  he  became  a  cadet  in  the 
French  infantry  regiment  of  royal  Suedois, 
in  which  he  succeeded  to  a  commission  in 
due  course.  Like  other  young  exiles  of  his 
class  and  time,  O'Connell  appears  to  have 
been  an  honest,  sensible,  home-loving  lad, 
the  very  antithesis  of  the  rollicking  youths 
depicted  by  Lever.  He  is  described  as  tall 
for  his  age,  handsome,  fair,  with  dark  hair, 
and  of  winning  manners.  With  the  royal 
Suedois  he  made  the  last  two  campaigns  of 
the  seven  years'  war,  and  afterwards  be- 
came assistant-adjutant  (sous-aide-major)  of 
the  regiment.  A  year  later  he  succeeded 
his  cousin  Conway  [see  CONWAT,  THOMAS, 
COUNT,  1734-1800]  as  adjutant  of  the  famous 
regiment  of  Clare  of  the  Irish  brigade,  with 
which  he  arrived  in  the  Isle  of  France 
(Mauritius),  after  a  six  months'  voyage,  in 
1771.  '  It  is  with  the  utmost  trouble  that 
we  support  life  here,'  he  wrote  to  his  eldest 
brother  ;  '  we  are  a  numerous  corps  of  troops, 
and  provisions  very  scarce.  No  money  at 
all.  ...  I  hope  you  have  paid  my  debts. 
It's  the  only  pecuniary  request  I  purpose 
ever  making  you.'  This  purpose  was  not 
fulfilled,  as  until  late  in  life  he  appears  to 
have  been  short  of  money,  and  his  appeals 
to  the  generosity  of  the  head  of  the  house 
were  many.  Reductions  in  the  brigade  de- 
stroyed his  prospects  of  promotion  therein, 
and  for  some  years  he  was  a  capitaine  en 
second.  He  appears  to  have  applied  his 
enforced  leisure  to  various  studies.  He  was 
an  excellent  linguist,  and  retained  the  love 
of  his  native  country  to  the  last.  Some 
criticisms  written  by  him  on  a  recently  pub- 
lished '  Ordonnance '  for  the  Discipline  of  the 


Army  came  under  the  notice  of  the  military 
authorities,  and  obtained  for  him  the  cross 
of  St.  Louis,  with  a  pension  of  two  thousand 
livres  (about  80/.)  a  year  and  the  brevet  of 
lieutenant-colonel,  with  which  he  was  posted 
to  his  old  regiment,  royal  Su6dois,  and  served 
with  it  at  the  taking  of  Minorca  and  at  the 
famous  siege  of  Gibraltar,  where  he  was 
severely  wounded  (cf.  MRS.  O'CONNELL, 
Last  Colonel  of  the  Irish  Brigade,  i.  275- 
300).  After  the  sieges  O'Connell  was  made 
a  count,  and  given  the  colonelcy  of  the 
German  regiment  of  Salm-Salm  in  French 
pay.  Some  years  of  prosperity  followed,  in. 
which  the  count  proved  himself  a  good 
friend  to  a  host  of  needy  young  relatives 
claiming  his  good  offices.  At  a  grand  review 
of  thirty  thousand  French  troops  in  Alsace, 
in  the  summer  of  1785,  Salm-Salm  was 
pronounced  the  best  regiment  in  the  field. 
Five  years  later  a  mutiny  of  his  men  left 
O'Connell  in  the  anomalous  position  of  a 
colonel  without  a  regiment.  He  appears  to 
have  accepted  the  revolution,  although  de- 
testing it,  and  remained  in  Paris  through 
1790  and  1791  as  member  of  a  commission 
engaged  in  revising  the  army  regulations, 
which  is  the  revised  form  now  adopted  in 
the  republican  armies.  In  1792  considera- 
tions of  duty  or  of  personal  safety  led  him 
to  join  the  Bourbon  princes  at  Coblentz, 
and,  like  many  other  French  officers,  he 
made  the  disastrous  campaign  of  that  year 
as  a  private  in  Berchini's  hussars.  In 
November  the  same  year  he  was  an  emigr6 
in  London,  almost  penniless,  but  bent  on 

;  concealing  the  fact  that  he  had  served  against 
the  republic,  lest  it  should  debar  his  future 
return  to  France.  An  alibi  was  procured, 
and  attested  at  Tralee,  to  the  effect  that 
O'Connell  had  been  in  Ireland  all  the  time, 
and  was  forwarded  to  Paris  to  prevent  the 
confiscation  of  his  property.  O'Connell  sub- 
mitted to  Pitt  a  scheme  for  reconstruct- 
ing the  Irish  brigade  in  the  service  of  King 

i  George,  which  was  adopted.  Six  regiments 
were  to  be  raised  in  Ireland,  and  officered  as 
much  as  possible  from  the  survivors  of  the 
old  brigade  in  the  service  of  France.  O'Con- 
nell was  appointed  colonel  of  the  4th  regi- 
ment of  the  new  Irish  brigade.  But  the 
government  mismanaged  the  recruit  ing  busi- 
ness, and  the  disabilities  of  the  Roman 
catholic  officers  further  complicated  the 
arrangements.  In  September  1796  the  regi- 
ments of  Berwick,  O'Connell,  and  Conway 
were  ordered  to  be  incorporated  with  those 
of  Dillon,  Walsh  de  Serrant,  and  AValsh 

1  junior,  and  two  years  later  the  brigade  ceased 

'  to  exist  altogether.  On  the  drafting  of  his 
regiment  O'Connell  retained  his  full  pay  as 


O'Connell 


371 


O'Connell 


f, 


a  British  c-o1  -n.  I  -vhich  he  drew  to  the  end 
of  his  life.  In  ! ,  .tf>  O'Connell  married,  at 
the  French  chap*!  iu  King  Street,  Co  vent 
Garden,  Martha  Gonraud,  Comtesse  de 
Bellevue  (ne6  Drou.;>ard  de  Lamarre),  'a 
charming  young  widov  ,'  with  three  children. 
She  came  of  a  family  of  St.  Domingo  planters, 
and  her  first  husband  had  lost  estates  in  that 
island  at  the  revolution.  She  had  no  issue 
by  her  marriage  with  O'Connell. 

At  the  peace  of  Amiens  O'Connell  re- 
turned to  France,  with  his  wife  and  step- 
daughters, to  look  after  the  West  India 
iroperty,  which  was  unexpectedly  recovered, 
n  France  they  remained.  On  the  renewal 
of  the  war  with  England  they  were  detained 
by  Napoleon  as  British  subjects.  At  the 
restoration  of  the  Bourbons  O'Connell  re- 
ceived the  rank  of  lieutenant-general  in  the 
army  of  France,  and  it  was  supposed  that  a 
marshal's  baton  awaited  him  in  recognition 
of  his  having  saved  the  life  of  Charles  X  at 
the  siege  of  Gibraltar  ;  but  after  the  revolu- 
tion of  1830  he  refused  to  take  the  oaths  of 
allegiance  to  Louis-Philippe,  and  was  conse- 
quently struck  off  the  rolls.  He  died  on 
9  July  1833,  at  the  age  of  eighty-eight,  at 
the  chateau  of  Madon,  in  Blois,  where  he  had 
long  resided.  His  nephew,  Daniel  O'Con- 
nell '  the  Liberator,'  said  of  him  that  '  in  the 
days  of  his  prosperity  he  never  forgot  his 
country  or  his  God.  Never  was  there  a  more 
sincere  friend  or  a  more  generous  man.  It 
was  a  surprise  to  those  who  knew  how  he 
could  afford  to  do  all  the  good  he  did  to  his 
kind.'  He  was  buried  in  a  vault  in  the 
village  cemetery  at  Coude,  in  which  parish 
Madon  is  situate.  Much  of  his  property  was 
left  to  his  nephew,  the  '  Liberator.' 

Two  portraits  of  O'Connell  are  known : 
one  in  his  youth,  in  the  gay  uniform  of 
Clare,  a  scarlet  coat,  with  broad  yellow 
facings,  green  turnbacks,  and  silver  epau- 
lettes ;  the  other  late  in  life,  of  the  period 
of  the  restoration,  in  a  blue  uniform  and 
the  ribbon  of  St.  Louis. 

[Mrs.  O'Connell's  Last  Colonel  of  the  Irish 
Brigade,  London,  1892,  and  the  reviews  of  that 
•work  in '  Times,'  14  July  1892,  and  '  Athenaeum,' 
9  April  1892  and  25  Aug.  1894,  pp.  253-4,  fur- 
nish the  most  authentic  information  about  Count 
O'Connell.  taken  almost  entirely  from  his  own 
letters  and  other  family  sources.  The  name  of 
the  book  is  misleading,  as  O'Connell  was  never  a 
colonel  in  the  Irish  brigade  in  the  French  ser- 
vice; and  Henry  Dillon,  and  not  O'Connell,  was 
the  last  colonel  of  the  so-called  Irish  brigade  in 
British  pay.  All  previous  biographies — including 
those  in  Biogr.  Universelle  (Michaud).  vol. 
xxxi.  and  in  O'Callaghan's  Irish  Brigades  in 
the  Service  of  France,  Glasgow,  1870,  pp.  275- 
300 — are  wrong  as  to  dates  and  regiments.  The 


Bouillon  Correspondence,  preserved  among  the 
Homo  Office  Papers,  throws  light  on  the  period 
of  the  French  emigration.]  H.  M.  C. 

O'CONNELL,    DANIEL    (1775-1847), 
politician,  eldest  son  of  Morgan  O'Connell, 
of  Carhen  House,  Cahirciveen,  co.  Kerry,  the 
scion  of  an  ancient  but  historically  insignifi- 
cant house,  and  Catherine,  daughter  of  John 
O'Mullane  of  Whitechurch,  co.  Cork,  was 
born  at  Carhen    House  on  6  Aug.   1775. 
Through    his  great-grandmother,  Elizabeth 
Con  way,  the  wife  of  John  O'Connell  of  Darry- 
nane,  he  was  descended  from  an  Elizabethan 
undertaker,  Jenkin  Conway,  who  obtained 
for  himself  and  his  associates  a  grant  of  the 
castle  and  knds  of  Killorglin,  formerly  in  the 
possession   of  the   Earls  of  Desmond  (see 
Notes  and  Queries,  4th  ser.  vii.  242).     He 
obtained  the    elements  of  education    from 
David  Mahony,  an  old  hedge-school  master; 
but  being  at  an  early  age  adopted  by  his 
uncle,    Maurice    O'Connell    of   Darrynano, 
familiarly  known  as  '  Old  Hunting  Cap,'  head 
of  the  family,  and  without  children  of  his 
own,  he  was  sent  by  him  at  the  age  of  thir- 
teen to  Father  Harrington's  school  at  Cove, 
now  Queenstown.     At  school  O'Connell  did 
not  display  remarkable  ability,  but  he  claimed 
the  unique  distinction  of  being  the  only  boy 
who  never  was  flogged.     Trinity  College 
being  practically  closed  against  him  as  a 
Roman  catholic,  he  was  sent  at  the  age  of 
sixteen  to  complete  his  education  on  the  con- 
tinent ;  but  being  too  old  for  admission  into 
the  school  at  Liege,  for  which  he  was  origi- 
nally intended,  he  and  his  brother  Maurice 
entered  the  English  College  of  St.  Omer  in 
January  1791  (C*\KOis,O'Connelltt  le  College 
Anglais  a  Saint- Omer).  During  his  residence 
there  he  produced  a  very  favourable  impres- 
sion on  the  principal  of  the  college,  Dr.  Gre- 
gory Stapleton,  wno  predicted  a  great  future 
for  him.  On  18  Aug.  1792  he  and  his  brother 
were  transferred  to  Douay ;  but  the  college 
being  shortly  afterwards  suppressed,   they 
returned  to  England  in  January  1793,  not 
without  some  personal  experience  of  the  ex- 
cesses of  the  French  revolutionists,  and  of 
the  passionate  hatred  of  the  peasantry  to- 
wards the  religious  orders,  which  left  a  deep 
impression  on  <  >'(  '<>n noil's  mind,  and  made 
him,  as  he  declared,  with  more  truth  than 
be  was  perhaps  conscious  of,  almost  a  tory 
at  heart.     Having  for  a  short  time  after  his 
return  attended  a  private  school  in  London, 
kept  apparently  by  a  relative  of  the  family, 
lie  entered  Lincoln's  Inn  on  30  Jan.  1794, 
and  settled  down  to  the  serious  study  of 
law  (extract  from  '  Lincoln's  Inn  Admission 
Book '  in  PEARCE'S  Inns  of  Court,  p.  187 ; 
O'Connell  kept  one  term  in  Gray's  Inn,  a 


O'Connell 


372 


O'Connell 


fact  which  helps  to  account  for  the  extra- 
ordinary confusion  of  his  biographers  on  this 
point).  '  I  have  now,'  he  wrote  in  1795  to 
his  brother  Maurice,  '  two  objects  to  pursue 
— the  one,  the  attainment  of  knowledge ;  the 
other,  the  acquisition  of  those  qualities  which 
constitute  the  polite  gentleman  ...  I  have 
indeed  a  glowing  and,  if  I  may  use  the  ex- 
pression, an  enthusiastic  ambition,  which 
converts  every  toil  into  a  pleasure,  and  every 
study  into  an  amusement  ...  If  I  do  not 
rise  at  the  bar,  I  will  not  have  to  meet  the 
reproaches  of  my  own  conscience.' 

Having  completed  his  terms  he  returned 
to  Ireland  in  1796,  and  was  called  to  the. 
Irish  bar  on  19  May  1798,  being  one  of  the 
first  Irish  catholics  to  reap  the  benefit  of  the 
Catholic  Relief  Act  of  1793.  His  first  brief 
is  dated  24  May  1798.  During  this  time  he 
lodged  at  14  Trinity  Place,  Dublin,  studying 
moderately,  occasionally  attending  the  de- 
bates in  the  House  of  Commons  and  the 
meetings  of  the  Historical  Society,  but  living 
on  the  whole  convivially,  as  became  a  mem- 
ber of  the  lawyers'  artillery  corps  and  a  free- 
mason. He  took  no  active  interest  in  the 
revolutionary  politics  of  the  United  Irish- 
men, of  which  he  always  spoke  contemptu- 
ously. The  arrival  of  the  French  fleet  in 
Bantry  Bay  in  December  1796  drew  from  him 
the  expression  of  opinion :  '  The  Irish  are 
not  yet  sufficiently  enlightened  to  bear  the 
sun  of  Freedom.  Freedom  would  soon 
dwindle  into  licentiousness  ;  they  would  rob, 
they  would  murder.  The  liberty  which  I 
look  for  is  that  which  would  increase  the 
happiness  of  mankind  '  (Irish  Monthly  Ma- 
gazine, x.  455).  Still,  after  the  outbreak 
of  the  rebellion,  Dublin  was  no  safe  place 
even  for  a  man  of  O'Connell's  moderate  views, 
and  he  took  the  first  opportunity  to  return 
to  Carhen.  He  was  passionately  fond  of 
hunting,  and,  while  indulging  in  his  favourite 
pastime,  he  contracted  a  severe  illness  from 
exposure,  so  that  his  life  was  for  a  time  de- 
spaired of.  On  his  return  he  joined  the 
Munster  circuit.  His  natural  good  humour 
and  wit  made  him  from  the  first  a  universal 
favourite.  His  fee-book  shows  an  income  of 
(JOl.  for  the  first  year,  rising  to  420Z.  17s.  6d. 
in  the  second,  to  1,077*.  4s.  3d.  in  1806,  and 
to  3,808/.  7s.  in  1814.  In  1828,  though  wear- 
ing a  stuff  gown  and  belonging  to  the  outer 
bar,  his  professional  emoluments  exceeded 
8,000/.  (ib.  p.  591).  He  continued  to  go  circuit 
for  twenty-three  years,  but  subsequently  only 
went  for  a  special  fee,  when  his  visits  were 
made  the  occasion  of  public  rejoicings. 

On  13  Jan.  1800  O'Connell  made  his  first  , 
public  speech  at  a  meeting  of  catholics  in  the 
Royal  Exchange,  Dublin,  convened  to  protest 


against  the  Act  of  Union,  and  to  repudiate 
the  insinuation  that  the  catholics  regarded 
it  with  favour.  He  argued  in  favour  of 
subordinating  purely  religious  questions  to 
those  of  national  importance ;  and  in  after 
years,  when  agitating  for  the  repeal  of  the 
union,  he  regarded  it  as  a  curious  fact  that 
all  the  principles  of  his  subsequent  political 
life  were  contained  in  his  first  speech.  His  in- 
tervention in  politics  was  not  pleasing  to  his 
uncle,  who  was  naturally  anxious  that  he 
should  not  endanger  his  success  in  his  profes- 
sion by  active  opposition  to  government.  But 
there  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that  O'Connell  at 
this  time  felt  any  particular  predilection  for 
politics.  On  23  June  1802  he  married  at  Dub- 
lin his  cousinJMary,  daughter  of  Dr.  O'Connell 
ofTralee.  It  was  a  love-match.  His  wife  had 
no  fortune,  and  O'Connell  was  for  some  time 
apprehensive  that  his  uncle,  who  was  opposed 
to  the  match,  would  disinherit  him.  Fortu- 
nately his  fears  in  this  respect  were  not 
realised,  and  O'Connell  had  every  reason  to 
congratulate  himself  on  the  happy  choice 
he  made.  During  the  time  of  Emmet's  in- 
surrection he  assisted  personally  in  the  pre- 
servation of  the  peace  of  Dublin,  and  the 
experience  he  thus  acquired  strongly  im- 
pressed him  with  the  danger  of  entrusting 
civilians  with  arms.  He  continued  to  apply 
himself  assiduously  to  his  profession,  and  his 
reputation  for  legal  ability,  especially  in 
criminal  cases,  where  his  unrivalled  power 
of  cross-examination  was  brought  into  play, 
steadily  increased. 

As  time  went  on  he  began  to  take,  so  far 
as  the  general  apathy  and  the  suspension  of 
the  Habeas  Corpus  Act  would  permit  him,  a 
more  active  interest  in  politics.  At  a  meet- 
ing of  the  catholic  committee  in  February 
1805  he  successfully  opposed  the  procrasti- 
nating and  timid  policy  of  the  catholic  leaders, 
and  his  name  appears  as  the  seventeenth 
among  the  subscribers  to  the  first  catholic 
petition  in  behalf  of  emancipation  presented 
to  the  imperial  parliament.  He  was  even 
at  this  time  strongly  in  favour  of  sessional 
petitions,  but  was  compelled  to  acquiesce  in 
the  general  desire  not  to  embarrass  the  go- 
vernment of  Fox.  After  Fox's  death  bolder 
counsels  began  to  prevail.  At  an  aggre- 
gate meeting  of  catholics  on  7  Feb.  1807 
it  was  resolved  to  petition  parliament.  The 
petition  was  actually  printed ;  but,  in  conse- 
quence of  the  dismissal  of  Lord  Grenville  and 
the  accession  of  the  tories  to  power,  it  was 
thought  wiser  by  Grattan  and  the  friends  of 
the  catholics  not  to  present  it.  O'Connell 
reluctantly  acquiesced  in  this  policy;  but 
at  a  meeting  of  catholics  on  19  Jan.  1808 
he  succeeded  in  carrying  the  meeting  with 


O'Connell 


373 


O'Connell 


him,  and  the  petition  was  presented  by 
Grattan  on  23  May.  When  proposing  to  refer 
it  to  a  committee,  Grattan  claimed  to  have 
been  authorised  by  the  catholics  to  concede 
a  veto  to  the  crown  on  the  nomination  of 
bishops  (Parl.  Debates,  xi.  556).  It  soon 
appeared  that  catholic  opinion  in  Ireland 
was  divided  on  the  subject — the  aristocracy 
and  a  large  portion  of  the  mercantile  class 
favouring  the  veto,  the  hierarchy  and  the 
people  generally  repudiating  it.  The  schism 
did  much  harm  to  the  catholic  cause.  Despair 
succeeded  to  a  state  of  apathy.  O'Connell, 
who  from  the  first  had  sided  with  the  priests 
and  the  people,  constantly,  it  is  true,  urged 
the  necessity  of  agitating ;  but  his  words  fell 
for  the  most  part  on  dull  and  hostile  ears. 
The  first  symptom  of  revival  came  from  an 
unexpected  quarter.  Early  in  1810  a  move- 
ment had  been  set  on  foot  in  the  Dublin  Cor- 
poration for  a  repeal  of  the  union,  and  it  had 
met  with  so  much  success  that  a  meeting  of 
freemen  and  freeholders  was  convened  in  the 
Royal  Exchange  on  18  Sept.  to  discuss  the 
subject.  O'Connell  attended  the  meeting,  and 
delivered  an  important  speech.  He  claimed 
that  the  prophecies  of  Grattan  and  Foster 
as  to  the  evil  consequences  of  the  union  had 
been  more  than  realised.  For  himself,  he 
would  abandon  all  wish  for  emancipation  if 
it  delayed  the  repeal  of  the  union.  '  Nay,' 
he  concluded,  '  were  Mr.  Perceval  to-morrow 
to  offer  me  the  Repeal  of  the  Union  upon  the 
terms  of  re-enacting  the  entire  penal  code,  I 
declare  it  from  my  heart,  and  in  the  presence 
of  my  God,  that  I  would  most  cheerfully  em- 
brace his  offer.'  The  subject  of  the  penal 
code  was  one  which  at  this  time  seriously 
occupied  O'Connell's  attention  as  chairman 
of  a  sub-committee  for  reporting  on  the  laws 
affecting  the  catholics.  The  report  of  the 
committee  was  published  in  1812  under  the 
title  '  A  Statement  of  the  Penal  Laws  which 
aggrieve  the  Catholics  of  Ireland,'  and  is 
generally  attributed  to  Denis  Scully  [q.  v.], 
but  the  moving  spirit  of  the  committee  was 
O'Connell. 

It  was  by  quiet  unostentatious  work  of 
this  sort,  by  framing  resolutions  for  adoption 
at  aggregate  meetings,  and  by  unremitting 
attention  to  practical  details,  that,  in  spite 
of  incredible  jealousy,  he  gradually  asserted 
his  leadership  of  the  catholics.  His  great 
object  was  to  reconcile  the  differences  that 
existed  among  the  catholics  themselves,  and 
to  devise  some  scheme  for  placing  their 
affairs  on  a  broad  national  basis.  The  Con- 
vention Act  of  1793  made  representation  by 
delegation  illegal,  and  O'Connell  had,  as  he 
said,  no  intention  '  to  violate  the  law  and 
expose  the  catholic  committee  to  a  prosecu- 


tion.' But  it  was  possible,  he  thought,  to 
increase  the  influence  of  the  committee  by 
adding  to  it  informally  from  other  parts  of 
the  country  than  Dublin.  At  his  instance,  ac- 
cordingly, a  letter  (ib.  xix.  :{)  was  published 
on  1  Jan.  1811,  addressed  to  the  catholic* 
generally,  calling  on  them  to  appoint  ten 
managers  of  the  catholic  petition  in  each 
county.  This  the  chief  secretary,  Wellesley 
Pole,  pronounced  on  1 2  Feb.  to  be  a  contra- 
vention of  the  Convention  Act.  Pole's  ac- 
tion was  severely  criticised  in  parliament, 
and  for  a  time  he  deemed  it  prudent  to  over- 
look the  proceedings  of  the  reorganised  com- 
mittee. During  the  summer  numerous  meet- 
ings to  protest  against  Pole's  conduct,  and 
to  petition  for  his  removal,  took  place,  and 
at  one,  held  during  the  assizes  at  Limerick, 
O'Connell  presided.  It  was  the  general 
opinion  that  government  had  suffered  a  de- 
feat, and  at  a  meeting  of  catholics  on  9  July 
it  was  resolved  to  extend  the  principle  of 
'  appointment '  to  five  persons  chosen  by  the 
catholic  inhabitants  of  each  parish  in  Dublin. 
In  taking  this  step  O'Connell  recognised 
that  they  were  sailing  very  close  to  the 
wind  ;  but  '  he  considered  it  a  legal  experi- 
ment, and  he  cheerfully  offered  himself  as 
the  first  victim  of  prosecution.'  Government 
immediately  accepted  the  challenge,  and, 
after  giving  the  catholics  a  chance  of  with- 
drawing from  their  position,  issued  a  pro- 
clamation on  2  Aug.  declaring  such  elections 
illegal.  The  elections,  however,  took  place, 
and  on  12  Aug.  a  number  of  persons  who  had 
taken  part  in  them  were  arrested  on  a  war- 
rant by  Chief-justice  Downes.  On  21  Nov. 
the  state  trial  of  Dr.  Sheridan,  one  of  th<> 
traversers,  began,  O'Connell  being  retained 
as  one  of  the  counsel  for  the  defence.  Go- 
vernment failed  to  convict ;  but  in  charging 
the  jury,  Chief-justice  Downes  clearly  inti- 
mated that  under  the  act  the  catholic  com- 
mittee as  reorganised  was  an  illegal  as- 
sembly ;  and  the  trial  and  conviction  of  Mr. 
Kirwan  on  a  similar  charge  in  the  following 
year  proved,  as  O'Connell  said,  that  the  re- 
sources of  government  were  adequate  to 
a  conviction.  On  23  Dec.  the  catholic  com- 
mittee as  reorganised  was  dispersed,  and  it 
was  resolved  to  revert  to  the  old  plan  of 
entrusting  the  preparation  of  the  petition 
to  a  non-delegated  board  of  catholics,  mid 
for  ordinary  purposes  to  fall  back  on  the 
cumbersome  machinery  of  aggregate  meet- 
ings. 

With  the  catholics  generally,  O'Connell 
had  looked  forward  to  the  regency  as  liki-ly 
to  witness  the  success  of  emancipation.  1 1  is 
expectations  had  been  disappointed,  and  his 
disappointment  was  all  the  keener  because 


O'Connell 


374 


O'Connell 


he  had  persisted,  even  to  fatuity,  in  dis- 
tinguishing between  what  was  supposed  to 
be  the  real  intentions  of  the  prince  and  the 
conduct  of  his  ministers.  After  the  death 
of  Perceval,  and  the  reconstruction  of  the 
Liverpool  administration  on  more  or  less 
anti-catholic  lines,  delusion  was  no  longer 
possible  ;  but  the  unexpected  success  of  Can- 
ning's motion  on  22  June  1812  gave  the  ca- 
tholics new  hope.  O'Connell,  while  sharing 
in  the  general  satisfaction,  strongly  empha- 
sised the  necessity  'never  to  relax  their 
efforts  until  religious  freedom  was  esta- 
blished.' Speaking  at  Limerick  on  24  July, 
he  seized  on  an  allusion  made  by  Canning 
to  '  agitators  with  ulterior  views,'  and  began, 
'  I  feel  it  my  duty  as  a  professed  agitator,' 
&c.  He  poured  contempt  on  the  doctrine 
of  the  necessity  of  securities.  The  ques- 
tion of  securities,  he  declared,  was  an  in- 
sult to  the  understandings  and  principles 
of  the  catholics.  Nothing  but  the  simple  re- 
peal of  all  catholic  disabilities  would  satisfy 
the  country.  The  apathy  of  the  mass  of  the 
people,  as  shown  by  the  results  of  the  general 
election,  greatly  depressed  him;  but  he  was 
more  alarmed  by  the  prospect  of  the  passing 
of  a  bill  on  the  lines  laid  down  by  Canning, 
which  G  rattan,  with  the  best  intention  in  the 
world,  but  with  altogether  insufficient  know- 
ledge of  the  state  of  catholic  opinion  in  Ire- 
land, had  introduced  on  30  April  1813.  It 
was  a  critical  moment  in  O'Connell's  life. 
Not  an  instant  he  felt  was  to  be  lost  in  op- 
posing the  measure.  The  catholic  board  met 
on  1  Slay,  and,  though  its  proceedings  were 
conducted  in  private,  a  report  was  furnished 
by  O'Connell  to  the  '  Dublin  Evening  Post ' 
of  4  May,  in  which  he  denounced  the  bill  as 
'  restricted  in  principle,  doubtful  in  its  word- 
ing, and  inadequate  to  that  full  relief  which 
had  been  generally  expected.'  As  for  the  ec- 
clesiastical provisions  of  the  bill,  he  left  them, 
he  declared,  to  the  decision  of  the  catholic 
prelates,  but  not  without  a  strong  hint  that, 
in  case  they  thought  fit  to  accept  them,  he 
might  find  it  his  duty  '  to  protest  against 
any  measure  that  might  tarnish  the  last  relic 
of  the  nation's  independence — its  religion.' 
On  27  May  the  clergy  confirmed  O'Connell's 
decision  by  pronouncing  the  clause  to  be  in- 
compatible with  the  discipline  of  the  Roman 
catholic  church.  Two  days  previously  the 
obnoxious  bill  had  been  defeated  and  with- 
drawn. 

O'Connell's  opposition  to  the  securities  ex- 
posed him  to  much  abuse,  and  led  to  an  un- 
fortunate schism  both  in  the  board  and  in 
the  country.  But,  quite  apart  from  the  prin- 
ciple involved  in  the  securities,  there  can  be 
little  doubt  that  his  opposition  to  the  bill 


was  entirely  justifiable  on  political  grounds 
(see  particularly  Peel  to  Richmond,  21  May 
1813,  in  PARKER,  Sir  Kodert  Peel,  i.  85). 
For  the  nonce  the  catholics,  split  up  into 
vetoists  and  anti-vetoists,  seemed  further 
than  ever  from  emancipation.  But,  much 
as  he  might  deplore  this  unhappy  issue  to 
their  affairs,  O'Connell  had  no  intention  of 
retreating  from  his  position.  Hitherto  he 
had  tried  by  every  means  in  his  power  to 
conciliate  his  opponents.  Conciliation  had 
failed ;  it  only  remained  to  try  other  and 
more  radical  methods. 

Among  the  stauuchest  of  O'Connell's  allies 
at  this  juncture  was  John  Magee  [q.  v.],  pro- 
prietor and  editor  of  the  '  Dublin  Evening 
Post,'  a  paper  which,  with  a  very  wide 
circulation,  gave  an  unflinching  support 
to  the  catholic  claims.  In  order,  as  Peel 
admitted  to  Abbot  (COLCHESTER,  Diary,  ii. 
471),  to  wrest  this  formidable  weapon  out 
of  the  hands  of  the  catholics,  proceedings 
were  begun  in  the  summer  of  1813  against 
Magee  for  libelling  the  viceroy,  the  Duke  of 
Richmond.  O'Connell  was  Magee's  leading 
counsel,  and  in  a  speech  of  four  hours'  dura- 
tion, by  many  regarded  as  his  greatest  foren- 
sic effort,  he  poured  contempt  and  ridicule 
on  the  charge,  on  the  government  that  pre- 
ferred it,  and  on  the  jury  that  was  to  decide 
it.  As  Peel,  who  was  present,  said,  he  took 
'  the  opportunity  of  uttering  a  libel  even 
more  atrocious  than  that  which  he  proposed 
to  defend.'  The  fact  was,  O'Connell  felt  it 
•was  utterly  useless  to  appeal  for  justice  to 
a  jury  composed  entirely  of  Orangemen,  and 
so,  with  Magee's  consent,  he  devoted  himself 
to  a  full  exposition  and  vindication  of  the 
catholic  policy.  The  court  was  hostile.  He 
knew  it,  and  rejoiced  in  it.  Into  those  four 
brief  hours  he  compressed  the  indignation  of 
a  lifetime.  His  enemies,  the  enemies  of  his 
creed  and  his  country,  were  at  last  before 
him.  He  would  compel  them  to  listen  to 
him.  When  the  chief  justice  tried  to  stem 
the  torrent  of  his  vituperative  eloquence,  he 
turned  on  him  with  fury.  '  You  heard,'  he 
cried,  '  the  attorney-general  traduce  and 
calumniate  us.  You  heard  him  with  patience 
and  with  temper  ;  listen  now  to  our  vindi- 
cation.' His  speech,  of  which  a  full  report 
was  published  by  Magee,  was  received  with 
applause  not  unmingled  with  symptoms  of 
disapproval  from  the  more  moderate  mem- 
bers of  his  party.  When  Magee  appeared  for 
judgment  on  27  Nov.,  the  attorney-general 
urged  his  publication  of  the  speech  as  an 
aggravation  of  his  original  offence.  O'Con- 
nell, though  he  may  have  been  unaware  that 
the  benchers  had  been  sounded  on  the  pro- 
priety of  stripping  him  of  his  gown,  recog- 


O'Connell 


375 


O'Connell 


nised  that  the  motion  in  aggravation  was 
directed  against  him.  He  construed  some- 
thing the  attorney-general  said  into  a  per- 
sonal insult,  and  in  presence  of  the  whole 
court  declared  that  only  his  respect  for  the 
temple  of  justice  prevented  him  from  per- 
sonally chastising  him.  His  violence  had 
the  effect  of  frightening  his  client,  and  at 
the  end  of  his  speech  Magee  repudiated  his 
counsel.  The  solicitor-general,  however,  re- 
fused to  draw  any  distinction  between  coun- 
sel and  client,  and  Magee  was  sentenced  to 
fines  of  6001.  and  1,000/.  and  imprisonment 
for  two  years  and  six  months.  O'Connell 
felt  Magee's  action  keenly,  not  merely  on  his 
own  account,  but  as  likely  to  increase  '  dis- 
sension amongst  the  few  who  remained  de- 
voted, in  intention  and  design  at  least,  to  the 
unfortunate  land  of  our  birth.'  At  the  same 
time  he  judged  it  impossible  to  allow  him  to 
sutler  the  full  brunt  of  the  punishment  alone, 
and,  with  the  assistance  of  Purcell  O'Gor- 
man,  he  seems  to  have  paid  Magee's  fines. 
On  the  other  hand,  O'Connell's  conduct  did 
not  escape  censure.  As  the  solicitor-gene- 
ral expressed  it,  the  catholic  board  '  entered 
into  partnership  with  Magee,  but  left  the 
gaol-part  of  the  concern  exclusively  to  him.' 
So  strong  indeed  was  this  feeling  that 
O'Connell's  friends  felt  obliged  to  mark  their 
approbation  by  presenting  him  with  a  service 
of  plate  worth  a  thousand  guiileas. 

The  year  1814  opened  gloomily  for  the 
catholics.  They  had  alienated  their  friends 
in  parliament,  and,  to  add  to  their  misfor- 
tunes, there  arrived  in  February  Quarantotti's 
famous  rescript  sanctioning,  in  the  name  of 
the  pope,  the  acceptance  of  the  very  securi- 
ties they  had  denounced  as  incompatible 
with  the  discipline  of  the  church.  Ihe  re- 
script was  voted  by  the  board  and  the  bishops 
to  be  mischievous  and  non-mandatory.  But 
the  controversy  it  raised  was  still  at  its 
height  when,  on  3  June,  government  inter- 
fered and  suppressed  the  catholic  board. 
How  low  the  board  had  sunk  in  public  esti- 
mation may  be  gathered  from  the  fact  that 
not  a  voice  was  raised  in  its  favour  in  par- 
liament. Except  his  declining  days,  the  next 
eight  years  were  the  darkest  of  O'Connell's 
life.  Still,  he  never  abandoned  hope  in  the 
ultimate  success  of  emancipation,  and  the 
gloomier  the  prospect  became  the  more  con- 
fident was  his  language.  The  strain  of  the 
struggle  fell  on  him  almost  entirely  alone. 
At  a  time  when,  to  use  his  own  words,  his 
minutes  counted  by  the  guinea,  when  his 
emoluments  were  limited  only  by  the  extent 
of  his  physical  and  waking  powers,  when  his 
meals  were  shortened  to  the  narrowest  space 
and  his  sleep  restricted  to  the  earliest  hours 


before  dawn,  there  was  not  one  day  that  he 
did  not  devote  one  or  two  hours,  often  much 
more,  to  the  working  out  of  the  catholic 
cause;  and  that  without  receiving  any  re- 
muneration, even  for  the  personal  expendi- 
ture incurred  in  the  agitation.  It  is  not  sur- 
prising that  his  language  at  times  exceeded 
the  bounds  of  decorum.  But  it  is  difficult  to 
understand  how,  except  on  the  supposition 
that  it  had  been  determined  by  the  Castle 
party  to  pick  a  quarrel  with  him,  his  appli- 
cation of  such  an  epithet  as  '  beggarly  to 
the  corporation  of  Dublin  should  have  been 
construed  by  any  member  of  it  into  a  per- 
sonal insult.  But  D'Esterre,  one  of  the  guild 
of  merchants,  regarded  it  in  that  light.  After  in 
vain  trying  to  make  O'Connell  the  challenger, 
D'Esterre  sent  him  a  message,  which  O'Con- 
nell accepted.  On  Wednesday,  1  Feb.  1816, 
O'Connell  and  D'Esterre  met  at  Bishops- 
court,  near  Naas,  about  twelve  miles  from 
Dublin.  O'Connell  won  the  choice  of  ground. 
Both  parties  fired  almost  simultaneously, 
D'Esterre  slightly  the  first.  O'Connell  fired 
low,  and  struck  D'Esterre  fatally  in  the  hip. 
After  D'Esterre's  death  the  courtesy  of  his 
second,  Sir  Edward  Stanley,  relieved  O'Con- 
nell from  fear  of  legal  proceedings,  and  he,  on 
his  part,  behaved  with  thoughtful  generosity 
to  D'Esterre's  family.  To  O'Connell's  per- 
sonal friends  the  result  of  the  duel  was  highly 
satisfactory,  especially  as  the  patching  up  of 
a  former  affair  of  honour  between  him  and 
a  brother  barrister  had  given  his  enemies 
cause  to  sneer  at  his  courage  (Irish  Monthly 
Magazine,  x.  029). 

O'Connell's  duel  with  D'Esterre  was  still 
fresh  when  he  became  involved  in  an  atf'uir 
of  honour  with  Peel,  who  at  that  time  filled 
the  post  of  Irish  secretary.  Ever  since  Peel 
had  come  to  Ireland  O'Connell  had  spoken 
of  him  in  most  contemptuous  language — 
language,  perhaps,  not  altogether  unwar- 
ranted when  one  remembers  Peel's  youth 
and  inexperience,  and  the  indifference  to  Ire- 
land which  his  appointment  might  be  con- 
ceived to  imply.  Peel,  moreover,  had  not 
been  wanting  in  arrogance.  Affecting  to  look 
down  on  O'Connell  as  a  noisy  agitator,  he 
spoke  of  him  to  his  friends  as  an  '  itinerant 
demagogue,'  and  he  had,  it  was  reported, 
insinuated  that  O'Connell's  agitation  of  the 
catholic  question  was  dishonest.  The  rumour 
reached  O'Connell,  and  he  declared  on  more 
than  one  occasion  that  Peel  would  not  dare 
to  repeat  the  suggestion  in  his  presence. 
Neither  Peel  nor  his  friends  were  inclined  to 
overlook  this  challenge,  and,  at  Peel's  request, 
Sir  George  Saxton  called  on  O'Connell,  who 
at  once  avowed  his  words;  but  explanations 
followed,  in  the  course  of  which  O'Connell 


O'Connell 


376 


O'Connell 


admitted  that  he  had  spoken  under  a  mis- 
apprehension. This  peaceful  ending  of  the 
affair  did  not  commend  itself  to  Saxton,  who, 
with  the  intention  of  branding  O'Connell  as  a 
coward,  published  in  the  public  press  on 
Saturday  evening  a  partial  statement  of  what 
had  happened.  Smarting  under  the  imputa- 
tion, O'Connell  charged  Peel  and  Saxton 
with  resorting  to  a  paper  war.  This,  of 
course,  led  to  a  direct  challenge  from  Peel. 
A  meeting  was  arranged,  but  was  frustrated 
by  Mrs.  O'Connell.  It  was  then  agreed  to 
meet  on  the  continent,  and  the  parties  were 
already  on  their  way  thither  when  O'Connell 
was  arrested  in  London  on  the  information 
of  James  Beckett,  under-secretary  of  state, 
and  bound  over  in  heavy  penalties  to  keep 
the  peace.  In  1825,  after  the  second  reading 
of  the  Catholic  Relief  Bill,  O'Connell,  think- 
ing to  do  an  act  of  justice  to  Peel,  tendered  a 
full  apology  to  him,  acknowledging  himself 
to  have  originally  been  in  the  wrong.  The 
apology  was  certainly  more  than  Peel  had 
any  right  to  expect,  and  O'Connell  was 
immediately  charged  with  crouching  to  the 
most  implacable  and  dangerous  enemy  of  the 
catholic  cause.  To  this  charge  O'Connell 
replied, '  There  was,  I  know  it  well,  personal 
humiliation  in  taking  such  a  step.  But  is 
not  this  a  subject  upon  which  I  merit  humilia- 
tion ?  Yes.  Let  me  be  sneered  at  and  let 
me  be  censured  even  by  the  generous  and 
respected ;  but  I  do  not  shrink  from  this 
humiliation.  He  who  feels  conscious  of 
having  outraged  the  law  of  God  ought  to 
feel  a  pleasure  in  the  avowal  of  his  deep  and 
lasting  regret '  (Dublin  Evening  Post,  3  Nov. 
1825). 

Meanwhile,  the  bitterness  which  marked 
the  '  securities '  controversy  in  its  first  phase 
was  giving  way  to  a  feeling  of  apathy  and 
despair.  Aggregate  meetings  grew  rarer. 
A  Catholic  Association — the  suppressed  board 
under  a  new  name — met  seldom  and  effected 
nothing.  It  ran  into  debt,  and,  having 
been  extricated  by  O'Connell,  moved  into 
smaller  rooms  in  Crow  Street.  In  par- 
liament the  proposal  to  emancipate  the 
catholics  on  any  terms  was  rejected  by  over- 
whelming majorities.  O'Connell,  who  was 
watching  with  interest  the  progress  of  the 
democratic  movement  in  England,  was  seri- 
ously revolving  in  his  own  mind  whether 
more  was  not  to  be  obtained  by  supporting 
the  movement  for  a  reform  of  parliament 
than  by  presenting  petitions  to  a  parliament 
which  showed  itself  so  obstinately  opposed  to 
the  catholic  claims.  The  general  tranquillity 
of  the  country,  however,  under  the  neutral 
government  of  Peel's  successor,  Sir  Charles 
Grant  [see  GRANT,  CHARLES,  LORD  GLEXELG], 


coupled  with  the  representations  of  friends- 
in  parliament  and  the  tacit  conversion  of 
Grattan  on  the  securities  question,  induced 
him  to  advise  one  more  effort  on  the  old 
lines.  He  spoke  sanguinely  of  success.  '  One 
grand  effort  now,'  he  wrote  to  the  O'Conor 
Don  on  21  Oct.  1819,  'ought  to  emanci- 
pate us,  confined,  as  it  should  be,  exclu- 
sively to  our  own  question.  After  that  I 
would,  I  acknowledge,  join  the  reformers- 
hand  as  well  as  heart,  unless  they  do  now 
emancipate.  By  they,  of  course,  I  mean  the 
parliament '  (FiTZPATRiCK,  Corresp.  i.  61). 
The  death  of  Grattan  intervened,  and  it 
was  suggested  that  the  petition  should  be- 
entrusted  to  Plunket.  To  this  O'Connell 
objected,  on  the  ground  that  Plunket  had 
declared  that  conditions  and  securities  were- 
just  and  necessary.  Accordingly,  in  an  ad- 
dress to  the  catholics  of  Ireland  on  1  Jan. 
1821,  he  urged  that  it  was  impossible  to  ex- 
pect emancipation  from  an  unreformed  parlia- 
ment, and  that  consequently  reform  must  and 
ought  to  precede  emancipation.  For  this 
advice  he  was  roundly  censured  by  Sheil,. 
and  the  consent  of  parliament  to  take  the 
catholic  claims  into  consideration  confirmed  r 
for  the  time,  Shell's  argument.  But  the  appear- 
ance of  Plunket's  bills  soon  justified  O'Con- 
nell's  apprehensions.  He  was  at  the  time  on, 
circuit,  but,  without  losing  a  moment,  he  ad- 
dressed a  letter  to  the  catholics  of  Ireland  de- 
nouncing the  insidious  nature  of  the  measures. 
His  warning  was  unheeded.  The  bills  passed 
the  commons,  but  were  rejected,  to  O'Con- 
nell's  entire  satisfaction,  by  the  lords. 

The  visit  of  George  IV  to  Ireland  in 
August  1821  threw  Irishmen  of  all  classes- 
and  creeds  into  a  state  of  violent  excitement. 
A  wave  of  intense  loyalty  swept  the  country. 
For  a  moment  Orangemen  and  catholics 
agreed  to  co-operate  in  offering  an  harmonious- 
greeting  to  his  majesty.  No  one  was  more 
profoundly  affected  by  the  spirit  of  con- 
ciliation than  O'Connell.  To  him  the  pro- 
spect of  a  union  between  protestant  and 
catholic  seemed  so  desirable  that  no  sacri- 
fice was  too  great  to  promote  it.  He  sup- 
ported every  motion  for  commemorating  the 
king's  visit,  and  even  went  as  far  as  to  pre- 
sent him  on  his  departure  with  a  crown  of 
laurel.  The  whole  affair  ended  in  disappoint- 
ment ;  but  the  futility  of  the  king's  visit  was 
not  immediately  apparent.  The  appoint- 
ment of  Lord  Wellesley  as  viceroy,  and  the 
substitution  of  Plunket  for  Saurin  as  attorney- 
general,  seemed  to  indicate  a  more  favourable 
attitude  on  the  part  of  government  towards 
the  catholic  claims,  and  O'Connell  was 
strongly  impressed  with  the  advisability  of 
again  petitioning  parliament.  Accordingly,  in. 


O'Connell 


377 


O'Connell 


his  address  to  the  catholics  in  January  1822, 
he  urged  that  a  fresh  petition  should  be  pre- 
pared ;  and,  at  the  same  time,  submitted  a 
proposal  for  the  domestic  nomination  of 
catholic  prelates,  which,  while  not  infring- 
ing the  liberties  of  the  church,  offered  all 
reasonable  security  to  the  state.  His  inten- 
tion to  bring  the  catholic  claims  under  the 
notice  of  parliament  was,  however,  defeated, 
owing  to  the  revival  of  the  old  feud  between 
the  catholics  and  Orangemen,  attended  by  a 
recrudescence  in  the  south-western  counties 
of  agrarian  outrage.  The  government  of  Lord 
Wellesley,  in  its  anxiety  to  steer  a  neutral 
course,  had  succeeded  in  offending  both 
parties.  The  Bottle  riot,  on  14  Dec.  1822, 
when  a  disgraceful  attack  was  made  on  the 
viceroy,  was  distinctly  traced  to  an  Orange 
source,  and  reprobated  by  the  more  respect- 
able men  of  the  party ;  it  afforded  O'Counell 
an  opportunity  to  point  the  moral  that  loyalty 
was  not  the  peculiar  prerogative  of  one  section 
or  another.  But  something  more  than  mere 
advice,  he  felt,  was  needed  if  the  peasantry 
were  to  be  rescued  from  the  malice  of  their 
enemies  and  the  consequences  of  their  own 
poverty  and  crime.  Accordingly,  at  a  general 
meeting  of  catholics  on  12  May  1823,  he  gave 
practical  expression  to  his  views  by  propos- 
ing that  an  association  should  then  be 
formed  of  such  gentlemen  as  wished  volun- 
tarily to  come  forward  for  the  purpose  of 
conducting  the  affairs  of  the  Irish  catholics, 
the  qualification  for  membership  being  the 
payment  of  an  annual  subscription  of  one 
guinea.  The  object  of  the  association,  he 
announced,  was  not  to  be  to  force  on  parlia- 
ment the  annual  farce,  or  more  properly  a 
triennial  interlude,  of  a  debate  on  the  catholic 
claims,  but  to  deal  with  practical  questions 
in  a  practical  way.  There  were,  he  insisted, 
many  grievances  under  which  the  poor  and 
unprotected  catholic  peasant  smarted  which 
would  not  admit  of  waiting  for  redress  until 
the  day  of  emancipation  arrived,  and  which 
might  very  properly  be  made  the  subject  of 
separate  applications  to  parliament  and  the 
laws. 

In  such  fashion  did  the  Catholic  Associa- 
tion come  into  existence.  But  the  enthusiasm 
which  O'Connell's  words  aroused  speedily 
evaporated,  and  on  31  May  the  meeting  of 
the  association  stood  adjourned  owing  to  in- 
ability to  form  the  necessary  quorum  of  ten. 
O'Connell  was  not  baffled.  He  was  re- 
solved to  make  '  the  people  of  England  see 
that  catholic  millions  felt  a  deep  interest  in 
the  cause,  and  that  the  movement  was  not 
confined  to  those  who  were  styled  agitators.' 
After  several  ineffectual  efforts  to  get  a 
meeting  together,  O'Connell  succeeded  on 


4  Feb.  1824  in  expounding  his  plan  of '  a  ca- 
tholic rent.'  In  effect  it  amounted  simply 
to  this — that,  in  addition  to  members  paying 
an  annual  subscription  of  a  guinea,  and'  the 
clergy,  who  were  members  ex  oflicio,  any 
one  who  paid  a  penny  a  month,  orone  shilling 
in  the  year,  was,  by  virtue  of  that  payment, 
a  member  of  the  association.  It  was  not  long 
before  the  usefulness  of  the  new  organisa- 
tion was  generally  recognised.  The  rent, 
which  in  the  first  week  of  its  collection 
amounted  only  to8/.,  reached  in  the  last  week 
of  the  year  the  sum  of  1,032/.  It  never,  it  is 
true,  reached  at  any  time  the  dimensions  that 
O'Connell  anticipated,  but  it  did  more  than 
ever  he  dreamed  of.  It  called  a  nation  into 
existence.  It  infused  a  spirit  of  hope  into  the 
peasantry.  It  made  them  feel  their  import- 
ance, and  gave  an  interest  to  the  proceedings  of 
the  association  which  they  had  never  before 
possessed.  It  was,  so  to  speak,  the  first 
step  in  their  political  education ;  the  first 
step  out  of  servitude  into  nationality.  The 
clergy,  too,  after  a  brief  period  of  hesitation, 
threw  themselves  heart  and  soul  into  the 
movement ;  and,  with  their  assistance,  a 
branch  of  the  association  was  established  in 
almost  every  parish  in  Ireland.  To  O'Connell 
personally,  although  he  modestly  disclaimed 
the  honour  of  having  originated  the  scheme, 
the  success  of  the  undertaking  was  rightly 
ascribed.  Hitherto  he  had  been  only  one  of 
their  leaders,  but  the  establishment  of  the 
rent  lifted  him  in  the  imagination  of  his 
countrymen  into  a  unique  position.  Wher- 
ever he  went  on  circuit,  he  met  with  an 
ovation.  Willing  hands  dragged  his  carriage, 
and  banquets  met  him  at  every  turn.  He 
felt  his  power,  and  did  all  he  could  to 
augment  it;  but  his  object  was  entirely 
patriotic  and  unselfish. 

Government,  which  at  first  had  regarded 
the  association  with  languid  interest,  ^•as- 
alarmed  when  it  saw  the  dimensions  it  was 
assuming.  Early  in  November  1824  a  report 
that  O'Connell,  at  a  meeting  of  the  associa- 
tion, had  darkly  hinted  at  the  necessity  there 
might  be  for  a  new  Bolivar  to  arise  in  defence 
of  Irish  liberty,  was  regarded  as  sufficient 
grounds  for  prosecuting  him  on  a  charge  of 
directly  inciting  to  rebellion.  The  prosecu- 
tion, however,  broke  down,  owing  to  the 
refusal  of  the  newspaper  reporters  to  produce 
their  notes  or  to  swear  to  the  accuracy  of 
their  report,  and  the  grand  jury  accordingly 
ignored  the  bill.  Alluding  to  his  prosecut  ion 
at  the  next  meeting  of  the  association,  O'Con- 
nell indignantly  disclaimed  the  construction 
that  had  been  placed  on  his  words.  The 
notion  of  arraying  a  barefooted,  turbulent, 
undisciplined  peasantry  against  the  mar- 


O'Connell 


378 


O'Connell 


shalled  troops  of  the  empire  he  scouted  as 
only  worthy  of  a  doting  driveller.  But  the 
failure  to  convict  him  did  not  prevent  govern- 
ment from  taking  immediate  steps  to  suppress 
the  association,  and  on  10  Feb.  1825  a  hill  for 
that  purpose  was  introduced  into  parliament 
by  Goulburn.  The  association  lost  no  time 
in  petitioning  against  it,  and  a  deputation, 
which  O'Connell  reluctantly  joined,  pro- 
ceeded to  London  to  strengthen  the  hands 
of  the  opposition.  Parliament,  however,  re- 
fused to  hear  counsel  in  support  of  the  peti- 
tion, and  in  due  time  the  bill  became  law. 
But  O'Connell's  visit  to  London  was  pro- 
ductive of  important  political  results ;  for, 
besides  bringing  him  into  closer  relations 
with  the  leaders  of  the  whig  party,  it  was 
the  means  of  reviving  a  discussion  on  the 
catholic  claims  in  parliament,  with  the 
result  that  on  28  Feb.  leave  was  given  to 
introduce  a  relief  bill.  More  than  this,  it 
enabled  him,  as  a  witness  before  committees 
of  both  houses  appointed  to  inquire  into  the 
state  of  Ireland,  to  expound  his  views  on 
such  subjects  as  tithes,  education,  the  Orange 
societies,  the  condition  of  the  peasantry,  the 
electoral  franchise,  the  endowment  of  the 
clergy,  and  the  administration  of  justice. 
His  behaviour  as  a  witness — his  modesty, 
reasonableness,  and  willingness  to  conciliate 
— extorted  admiration  even  from  his  oppo- 
nents. 

The  preparation  of  the  Catholic  Relief  Bill 
was  naturally  a  subject  of  profound  interest 
to  him  ;  and  there  is  good  reason  to  believe 
that  he  was  not  merely  consulted  as  to  its 
main  provisions,  but  had  actually  a  hand  in 
the  drafting  of  it,  though  his  indiscretion 
in  announcing  the  fact  offended  his  whig 
friends,  and  elicited  a  denial  from  Sir  Francis 
Burdett.  With  equal  indiscretion  he  caused 
a  premature  statement  of  the  contents  of  the 
bill  to  be  published  in  the  Dublin  news- 
papers. His  tacit  approbation  of  the  pro- 
posal to  accompany  the  measure  with  two 
supplementary  bills,  subsequently  known  as 
'  the  wings,'  for  endowing  the  catholic  clergy 
and  disfranchising  the  forty-shilling  free- 
holders, was  fiercely  denounced  by  Lawless 
in  Ireland  and  in  England  by  Cobbett. 
Before  the  second  reading  of  the  bill  he  paid 
a  hurried  visit  to  Dublin.  On  14  April  he 
addressed  a  large  aggregate  meeting.  But 
nothing  was  said  about '  the  wings ; '  and  it 
seems  to  have  been  agreed  to  leave  the 
matter  entirely  to  the  discretion  of  parlia- 
ment. On  10  May  the  bill  passed  the  House 
of  Commons ;  but  a  week  later  it  was  re- 
jected by  the  lords,  in  consequence  of  the 
violent  opposition  of  the  Duke  of  York. 
O'Connell  returned  to  Ireland  on  1  June, 


and  was  greeted  with  a  great  public  demon- 
stration. A  few  days  later  he  addressed  an 
aggregate  meeting  in  Anne  Street  Chapel. 
Overlooking  an  attempt — the  first  of  several 
— on  the  part  of  Lawless  to  pass  a  resolution 
censuring  the  conduct  of  the  delegates  in  as- 
senting to  '  the  wings,'  he  announced,  amid 
wild  applause,his  intention  to  set  on  foot  a  new 
catholic  association.  He  speedily  redeemed  his 
promise,  and  early  in  July  the  new  associa- 
tion started  into  existence.  Disclaiming  any 
intention  to  agitate  for  the  redress  of  griev- 
ances, it  professed  to  be  simply  a  society  to 
which  Christians  of  all  denominations  paying 
an  annual  subscription  of  II.  were  admissible, 
'  for  the  purposes  of  public  and  private  charity, 
and  such  other  purposes  as  are  not  prohibited 
by  the  said  statute  of  the  6th  Geo.  IV,  c.  4.' 
As  for  the  catholic  rent — which  was  really 
the  mainspring  of  the  whole  agitation,  but 
which  it  was  no  longer  possible  to  connect 
with  the  association — O'Connell  declared  his 
intention  to  take  the  management  of  it  upon 
himself. 

Meanwhile  the  opposition  to  the  principle 
involved  in  '  the  wings '  gained  ground 
rapidly,  and  O'Connell,  while  still  retaining 
his  opinion  as  to  the  advisability  of  raising 
the  franchise,  yielded  to  the  general  opinion, 
and  declared  himself  in  favour  of  their 
abandonment.  His  declaration  afforded  uni- 
versal satisfaction,  and  greatly  added  to  his 
popularity.  In  the  autumn  he  was  specially 
briefed  to  attend  the  courts  at  Antrim  in 
the  celebrated  O'Hara  case,  Newry,  Galway, 
and  Wexford.  Everywhere  his  appearance 
was  the  signal  for  great  popular  demonstra- 
tions. His  uncle  Maurice  died  at  the  be- 
ginning of  the  year,  leaving  him  the  bulk  of 
his  property,  estimated  at  about  1,000/,  a 
year  ;  and  in  September  1825  he  took  posses- 
sion of  Darrynane.  This  addition  to  his  in- 
come was  welcome  to  him ;  for,  habitually 
extravagant  and  careless  in  money  matters, 
he  was  already  embarrassed  by  debt. 

By  the  close  of  the  year  the  machinery 
of  the  new  agitation  was  in  full  operation. 
Provincial  meetings,  at  nearly  all  of  which 
O'Connell  was  present,  were  held  at  Limerick, 
Cork,  Carlow,  Ballinasloe,  and  elsewhere. 
On  16  Jan.  1826  the  first  of  the  '  fourteen 
days'  meetings '  began  in  Dublin  ;  and,  in 
order  to  emphasise  his  adoption  of  the  '  anti- 
wings  '  policy,  O'Connell  moved  a  resolu- 
tion deprecating  '  the  introduction  into  par- 
liament of  any  measure  tending  to  restrict 
the  elective  franchise,  or  interfering  with 
the  discipline  or  independence  of  the  catholic 
church  in  Ireland.'  He  was  shortly  to  be- 
come convinced  of  the  wisdom  of  his  policy. 
In  June  1826,  during  the  general  election, 


O'Connell 


379 


O'Connell 


Villiers  Stuart,  afterwards  Lord  Stuart  of 
the  Decies,  was  returned  for  co.  Waterford, 
in  opposition  to  Lord  George  Beresford. 
Hitherto  the  county  had  been  regarded  as 
the  property  of  the  Beresfords ;  but  under 
the  influence  of  the  new  organisation,  and 
with  the  assistance  of  O'Connell,  it  broke 
away  from  its  allegiance.  The  defeat  of 
Beresford  was  the  work  of  the  despised 
forty-shilling  freeholders,  and  their  example 
was  followed  elsewhere — in  Monaghan, 
Louth,  and  Westmeath.  O'Connell,  who  was 
astonished  at  the  extraordinary  independence 
•which  their  conduct  revealed,  took  imme- 
diate steps  for  their  protection.  Towards 
the  end  of  August  he  founded  his  '  order  of 
Liberators ' — whence  his  title  of  '  the  Libe- 
rator ' — to  which  every  man  who  had  per- 
formed one  real  act  of  service  to  Ireland  was 
entitled  to  belong.  The  object  of  the  society 
was  to  conciliate  Irishmen  of  all  classes  and 
creeds ;  to  prevent  feuds  and  riots  at  fairs ; 
to  discountenance  secret  societies ;  to  pro- 
tect all  persons  possessed  of  the  franchise, 
especially  the  forty-shilling  freeholders,  from 
vindictive  proceedings  ;  and  to  promote  the 
acquisition  of  that  franchise  and  its  due 
registry.  In  order  to  render  the  new  organi- 
sation effective,  local  committees  were  formed 
and  a  new  fund  started,  called  the  '  New 
Catholic  Rent,'  to  be  devoted  to  the  defence 
of  the  forty-shilling  freeholders  by  buying 
up  outstanding  judgments  and  procuring  the 
foreclosure  of  mortgages  against  landlords 
who  acted  in  an  arbitrary  fashion. 

The  accession  of  Canning  to  power  in  April 
1827  seemed  to  offer  a  more  impartial  system 
of  government  than  had  hitherto  prevailed ; 
and  O'Connell,  to  whom  good  government  was 
of  greater  importance  than  any  number  of 
acts  of  parliament,  consented  to  suspend  his 
agitation  in  order  not  to  embarrass  govern- 
ment. But  his  hopes  of  administrative  reform 
were  doomed  to  disappointment.  ,  The  '  old 
warriors,'  Manners,  Saurin,  and  Gregory,  still 
retained  their  former  position  and  influence 
in  the  government ;  and  whatever  prospect  of 
gradual  change  there  might  have  been  was 
dashed  by  the  premature  death  of  Canning,  ' 
and  the  accession  of  Wellington  to  power, 
in  January  1828.  Of  necessity,  the  catholic 
agitation  immediately  recommenced ;  but 
O'Connell,  who  governed  his  policy  by  the 
necessities  of  the  moment,  was  willing  to 
give  the  new  administration  a  fair  trial — 
the  more  so  as  the  views  of  the  Marquis  of 
Anglesey  [see  PAGET,  HENRY  WILLIAM,  first 
MARQTJIS  OF  ANGLESEY],  who  had  accepted 
the  post  of  lord-lieutenant,  were  suspected  to 
have  undergone  an  alteration  in  favour  of  the 
catholics.  Affairs  were  thus  in  a  state  of 


suspense  when  the  resignation  of  Huskisson 
and  the  appointment  of  Vesey  Fitzgerald  [see 
FITZGERALD,  WILLIAM  VESEY,  LORD  FITZ- 
GERALD AND  VESEY]  as  president  of  the  board 
of  trade  rendered  a  new  election  for  co.  Clare 
necessary.  Fitzgerald  was  a  popular  candi- 
date, and  his  return  was  regarded  as  inevi- 
table. But  at  the  eleventh  hour  it  was  sug- 
gested to  O'Connell  that  he  should  personally 
contest  the  constituency,  although  it  was 
generally  assumed  that  he  was  legally  de- 
barred as  a  catholic  from  sitting  in  parliament. 
He  himself  believed  that  in  the  absence  of 
any  direct  prohibition  in  the  Act  of  Union 
no  legal  obstacle  could  prevent  a  duly  elected 
catholic  from  taking  his  seat.  After  some 
hesitation  he  consented  to  stand,  and  on 
24  June  he  published  his  address  to  the 
electors  of  Clare.  The  announcement  of  his 
resolve  created  an  extraordinary  sensation; 
and  money  for  electoral  purposes  flowed  in 
from  all  quarters.  The  election  took  place 
at  the  beginning  of  July.  On  the  fifth  day 
of  the  poll  Fitzgerald  withdrew,  and  O'Con- 
nell was  returned  by  the  sheriff  as  M.P. 
for  Clare.  In  apprehension  of  a  riot,  the 
lord-lieutenant  had  massed  a  considerable 
military  force  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Ennis; 
but  the  election  passed  oft'  without  any  dis- 
order. The  result  was  hailed  with  a  great 
outburst  of  enthusiasm.  The  week  after  the 
election  the  rent  rose  to  2,704/.  Liberal 
clubs  sprang  up  in  every  locality;  and  it 
was  evident  that  the  country  was  under- 
going a  great  political  revolution.  Anglesey 
was  not  blind  to  these  signs  of  the  times; 
and  though,  as  he  declared,  he  hated  the 
idea  of '  truckling  to  the  overbearing  catholic 
demagogues,'  he  insisted  that  the  only  way 
to  pacify  the  country  was  to  concede  eman- 
cipation, and  transfer  the  agitation  to  the 
House  of  Commons.  Parliament  rose  on 
28  July,  and  relieved  government  from  the 
necessity  of  an  immediate  decision. 

On  his  return  to  Dublin  O'Connell,  allud- 
ing to  Peel's  amendment  of  the  criminal 
law,  announced  his  intention  of  taking  an 
early  opportunity  to  bring  the  question  of  a 
general  reform  of  the  law  before  parliament, 
adding  that  in  this  respect  he  was  but  a 
humble  disciple  of  the  immortal  Bentham. 
His  remark  drew  from  Bentham  a  cordial 
letter  of  recognition,  which  was  the  begin- 
ning of  an  interesting  and  intimate  corre- 
spondence. Meanwhile  Wellington  and  Peel 
were  anxiously  seeking  a  solution  of  the 
catholic  question.  Neither  of  them  was 
satisfied  with  Anglesey's  administration. 
Matters,  however,  took  a  more  serious  turn  in 
August,  in  consequence  of  a  speech  by  George 
Dawson,  Peel's  brother-in-law  and  M.P.  for 


O'Connell 


38o 


O'Connell 


Derry,  tending  in  the  direction  of  a  conces- 
sion of  the  catholic  claims.  Coming  from  so 
staunch  a  supporter  of  protestant  ascendency, 
and  a  man  so  intimately  connected  with  go- 
vernment, his  speech — which  was  generally 
but  wrongly  supposed  to  be  '  inspired  '- 
created  a  sensation.  The  Orangemen  were 
frantic  at  what  they  regarded  as  their  betrayal 
by  government ;  and  Brunswick  clubs  started 
everywhere  into  existence.  Early  in  October 
Wellington  waited  on  the  king,  and  found 
him  anxious  to  encourage  the  formation  of 
these  clubs,  and  to  take  advantage  of  the 
feeling  of  hostility  to  the  catholics  they 
aroused  to  dissolve  parliament.  Neither 
Wellington  nor  Peel  was  prepared  for  so 
hazardous  an  experiment,  though  at  one  time 
both  seriously  thought  of  suppressing  O'Con- 
nell's  association.  On  16  Nov.  Welling- 
ton proposed  to  concede  to  the  catholics  the 
right  to  sit  in  parliament.  But  the  king  was 
strongly  averse  to  the  concession,  and  the 
matter  was  still  under  consideration  when 
the  Marquis  of  Anglesey  indiscreetly  tried 
to  force  the  hands  of  his  colleagues.  His 
conduct  gave  great  offence,  and  he  was  re- 
called in  January  1829. 

Before  parliament  reassembled  on  5  Feb. 
it  had  been  determined  to  suppress  the  as- 
sociation, to  disfranchise  the  forty-shilling 
freeholders,  to  repeal  the  law  against  tran- 
substantiation,  and  to  admit  the  catholics  to 
parliament.  The  intention  of  the  ministry 
was  kept  a  profound  secret ;  and  in  Ire- 
land, where  the  removal  of  Anglesey  was 
interpreted  as  an  unequivocal  sign  of  their 
determination  to  stick  to  their  guns,  active 
preparations  were  made  for  a  renewal  of  the 
struggle.  At  a  meeting  of  the  association 
on  5  Feb.  O'Connell,  previous  to  his  depar- 
ture to  London,  announced  his  intention  of 
keeping  the  agitation  alive  until  religious 
liberty  was  conceded.  The  moment  the  laws- 
that  oppressed  the  catholics  were  repealed 
the  association  would  cease  to  exist.  But 
the  long-continued  struggle  for  religious 
liberty  had,  he  declared,  generated  an  atten- 
tion to  national  interests  that  would  survive 
emancipation.  When  that  day  dawned  catho- 
lics and  protestants,  forgetting  their  ancient 
feud,  would  unite  to  procure  the  repeal  of  that 
odious  and  abominable  measure,  the  union. 

O'Connell  arrived  in  London  on  10  Feb. 
He  had  been  delayed  by  an  accident  to  his 
carriage  near  Shrewsbury,  and  all  along  the 
road,  particularly  at  Coventry,  he  had  been 
greeted  with  cries  of '  No  popery ! '  and '  Down 
with  O'Connell ! '  In  consequence  of  the  speech 
from  the  throne  advising  a  revision  of  the 
laws  '  which  impose  civil  disabilities  on  his 
majesty's  catholic  subjects,' he  wrote  the  same 


day  advising  the  dissolution  of  the  association, 
which  accordingly  met  for  the  last  time  on 
12  Feb.  For  some  time,  however,  he  made 
no  attempt  to  take  his  seat,  owing  partly  to 
the  fact  that  a  petition  had  been  lodged 
against  his  return,  which  was  not  decided 
in  his  favour  until  6  March ;  partly  also  from 
a  desire  not  to  obstruct  the  progress  of  the 
long-expected  measure  of  relief,  which  had 
by  that  time  entered  on  its  first  stage. 
Writing  to  Sugrue  on  6  March,  he  pro- 
nounced Peel's  bill  for  emancipation  to  be 
'  good — very  good ;  frank,  direct,  complete.' 
The  only  really  objectionable  feature  about 
it  lay  in  the  supplementary  measure  dis- 
franchising the  forty-shilling  freeholders,  and 
to  this  he  offered  an  immediate  and  strenuous 
resistance.  But  he  failed  to  enlist  the  sym- 
pathy of  the  whigs,  and  on  13  April  the  bill 
received  the  royal  assent.  Meanwhile  in 
Ireland  the  prospect  of  relief  had  been  hailed 
with  feelings  of  intense  joy,  and  in  gratitude 
to  O'Connell  a  national  testimonial  was 
started,  which  reached  very  respectable 
dimensions.  The  original  intention  was  to 
purchase  him  an  estate ;  but  when  he  an- 
nounced his  intention  to  abandon  his  profes- 
sion in  order  to  devote  himself  entirely  to  his 
parliamentary  duties,  the  scheme  developed 
into  an  annual  tribute,  which  in  some  years 
rose  to  more  than  16,000/.  On  15  May  he 
presented  himself  at  the  bar  of  the  House  of 
Commons,  and,  declining  to  take  the  oath 
of  supremacy  tendered  him,  he  was  ordered 
by  the  speaker  to  withdraw.  On  the  motion, 
of  Brougham  that  he  should  be  heard  in 
explanation  of  his  refusal,  he  three  days 
later  addressed  the  house  from  the  bar.  His 
speech  made  a  great  impression,  not  so  much 
from  the  arguments  he  employed  as  by  the 
readiness  with  which  he  adapted  himself  to 
the  tone  and  temper  of  his  audience.  His 
claim  to  sit  was,  however,  rejected  by  190 
to  116,  and  a  new  writ  was  ordered  to  issue 
for  Clare.  Though  greatly  disappointed,  he 
was  sanguine  of  re-election.  Before  leaving 
London  he  published  an  address  to  the  elec- 
tors of  Clare,  which  from  the  frequency  of 
the  phrase  '  Send  me  to  parliament,  and  I 
will,'  &c.,  was  ironically  styled  the  '  address 
of  the  hundred  promises.' 

He  returned  to  Ireland  on  2  June,  and 
on  the  following  day  he  addressed  a  large 
and  enthusiastic  meeting  in  Clarendon  Street 
Chapel.  Five  thousand  pounds  were  imme- 
diately voted  to  defray  his  election  expenses, 
and  a  week  later  he  set  out  for  Ennis.  His 
journey  through  Naas,  Kildare,  Maryborough, 
Nenagh,  and  Limerick  resembled  a  triumphal 
progress.  Owing  to  the  necessity  of  recon- 
structing a  fresh  registry  on  the  new  10/. 


O'Connell 


381 


O'Connell 


franchise,  several  weeks  elapsed  before  the 
election  took  place,  and  in  the  meantime  he 
was  busily  engaged  in  canvassing  the  con- 
stituency. On  30  July  he  was  returned 
unopposed.  Soon  afterwards  he  applied  for 
silk,  and  was  refused. 

If  O'Connell  had  ever  deluded  himself 
with  the  expectation  that  emancipation  would 
put  an  end  to  religious  dissension  in  Ireland, 
he  was  speedily  disabused  of  the  idea.  The 
act  had  hardly  become  law  when  the  old 
feuds  between  the  Orangemen  and  ribbonmen 
broke  out  afresh.  '  You  are  aware,'  O'Connell 
wrote  to  the  Knight  of  Kerry  in  September, 
'  that  the  decided  countenance  given  to  the 
Orange  faction  prevents  emancipation  from 
coming  into  play.  There  is  more  of  unjust 
and  unnatural  virulence  towards  the  catholics 
in  the  present  administration  than  existed 
before  the  passing  of  the  Emancipation  Bill ' 
(FiTZPATRiCK,  Corresp.  i.  194).  To  sectarian 
jealousy  was  added  a  revival  of  agrarian  out- 
rage in  Tipperary  and  the  borders  of  Cork  and^ 
Limerick.  In  co.  Cork  it  was  insisted  that 
there  was  a  regular  conspiracy,  known  as  the 
*  Doneraile  Conspiracy,'  on  foot  to  murder  the 
landlords  of  the  district.  A  number  of  per- 
sons were  indicted,  and  in  October  a  special 
commission,  presided  over  by  Baron  Penne- 
father,  sat  at  Cork  to  try  them.  The  trial  had 
begun,  and  one  unfortunate  prisoner  had 
already  been  found  guilty  and  sentenced  to 
death,  when  O'Connell,  who  had  been  sum- 
moned post-haste  from  Darrynane,  entered 
the  court.  Under  his  cross-examination  the 
principal  witnesses  for  the  crown  broke  down, 
and  the  remaining  prisoners  were  discharged. 
O'Connell's  victory  over  the  solicitor-gene- 
ral, Dogherty,  was  one  of  his  greatest 
forensic  triumphs,  and  added  greatly  to  his 
fame. 

He  was  now  at  the  height  of  his  popu- 
larity. He  had  long  been  the  dominant 
factor  in  Irish  political  life.  In  England 
his  utterances  attracted  as  much  attention 
as  those  of  the  prime  minister  himself,  while 
his  agitation  of  the  catholic  question  had 
made  his  name  familiar  in  countries  which 
usually  paid  no  attention  to  English  politics. 
But  his  enemies  were  not  sparing  in  their 
denunciations  of  him.  Writing  at  this 
period  with  special  reference  to  the  'Times,' 
to  whom  his  epithet  '  the  venal  lady  of  the 
Strand '  had  given  mortal  offence,  and  which 
subsequently  published  three  hundred  lead- 
ing articles  against  him,  he  said:  '  I  do  not 
remember  any  period  of  my  life  in  which  so 
much  and  such  varied  pains  were  taken  to 
calumniate  me ;  and  I  really  think  there  never 
was  any  period  of  that  life  in  which  the  pre- 
text for  abusing  me  was  so  trivial.' 


His  activity,  however,  was  ceaseless.  The 
new  year  (1830)  opened  with  a  series  of 
public  letters,  in  which  he  gave  expression 
to  his  views  on  such  current  political  topics 
as  the  repeal  of  the  union,  parliamentary 
reform,  the  abolition  of  slavery,  the  amend- 
ment of  the  law  of  libel,  and  the  repeal  of  the 
sub-letting  act,  most  of  which  have  since 
received  the  sanction  of  the  legislature. 
Shortly  before  leaving  Dublin  for  London 
he  established  a  '  parliamentary  intelligence 
office '  at  26  Stephen  Street,  which  served  the 
additional  purpose  of  a  centre  of  agitation. 
He  took  his  seat  on  the  first  day  of  the  session 
without  remark  (4  Feb.),  and  on  the  same  day 
spoke  in  support  of  an  amendment  to  the 
address.  '  I  am,'  he  wrote  to  Sugrue  on 
9  Feb., '  fast  learning  the  tone  and  temper  of 
the  House,  and  in  a  week  or  so  you  will 
find  me  a  constant  speaker.  I  will  soon  be 
struggling  to  bring  forward  Irish  business ' 
(ib.  i.  198).  He  kept  his  promise  in  both  re- 
spects ;  and  though  his  speeches  were,  with 
the  exception  of  one  on  the  state  of  Ireland  on 
23  March  and  another  on  the  Doneraile  con- 
spiracy on  12  May,  of  no  great  length,  they 
were  numerous  and  varied,  tie  spoke  with- 
out premeditation,  naturally,  and  without 
any  affectation  of  oratorical  display.  He 
never  entirely  overcame  the  prejudices  of  his 
audience,  but  the  tendency  to  snub  him  gave 
way  gradually  under  the  impression  of  the  ster- 
ling good  sense  of  his  arguments,  and  he  soon 
established  a  reputation  as  one  of  the  most 
useful  members  of  the  house.  His  exertions 
were  not  confined  to  the  House  of  Commons, 
and  Hunt  and  the  radical  reformers  found  in 
him  an  ardent  and  valuable  ally.  He  re- 
turned to  Ireland  for  the  Easter  recess,  and 
on  6  April  he  established  a  '  Society  of  the 
Friends  of  Ireland,'  the  object  of  which  was 
to  obliterate  ancient  animosities  and  prepare 
the  way  for  the  repeal  of  the  union.  After  a 
short-lived  existence  the  society  was  sup- 
pressed by  proclamation.  Owing  to  an  at- 
tempt to  increase  the  revenue  by  assimi- 
lating the  stamp  duties  of  Ireland  to  those  of 
England,  which  was  resented  as  unfair  to  the 
poorer  country,  O'Connell  in  June  sanctioned 
a  proposal  for  a  run  on  the  Bank  of  Ireland 
for  gold.  His  action  was  brought  under  the 
notice  of  parliament.  In  replying,  he  dis- 
claimed any  intention  of  defending  his  con- 
duct to  the  house.  '  I  have,'  he  said,  '  given 
my  advice  to  my  countrymen,  and  whenever 
I  feel  it  necessary  I  shall  continue  to  do  so, 
careless  whether  it  pleases  or  displeases  this 
house  or  any  mad  person  out  of  it '  (24  June). 
The  stamp  duties  were  abandoned,  and  with 
them  the  retaliatory  proposal. 

George  IV  died  on  26  June  1830,  and  on 


O'Connell 


382 


O'Connell 


24  July  parliament  was  dissolved.  At  the 
general  election  O'Connell  was  returned  for 
"Waterford.  He  subsequently  retired  to  Darry- 
nane,  whence  he  issued  in  rapid  succession 
letter  after  letter  to  the  people  of  Ireland  on 
parliamentary  reform,  the  French  revolution, 
the  political  crisis  in  Belgium,  and  the  repeal 
of  the  union.  Returning  in  October  to  Dub- 
lin by  way  of  Cork,  Kanturk,  Youghal,  and 
Waterford,  where  he  was  received  with  cus- 
tomary enthusiasm,  he  started  an  '  Anti- 
Union  Association,  or  Society  for  Legislative 
Relief.'  The  society  was  at  once  proclaimed 
by  the  chief  secretary,  Sir  Henry  (afterwards 
Lord)  Hardinge,  whom  O'Connell  forthwith 
assailed  in  language  so  insulting  as  to  provoke 
a  challenge.  O'Connell  explained  that  his 
words  were  addressed  to  Hardinge  in  his  offi- 
cial capacity,  and  declined  to  give  further  satis- 
faction. He  was  subsequently  taunted  in  par- 
liament for  his  cowardice,  but  he  refused  to 
vindicate  himself,  and  his  conduct  did  much 
to  discourage  the  practice  of  duelling  among 
public  men.  Two  days  after  the  suppression 
of  the  'Anti-Union  Association'  he  founded 
a  society  called  the  '  Irish  Volunteers  for  the 
Repeal  of  the  Union.'  When  this  in  turn  was 
suppressed  he  started  a  series  of  '  public 
breakfasts,'  at  which  he  and  his  friends  drank 
coffee  and  talked  politics  once  a  week,  and 
which  served  as  a  rallying  centre  for  the 
advocates  of  repeal  during  his  attendance  on 
parliament.  In  November  the  whigs  came 
into  office  under  Earl  Grey.  On  18  Dec. 
O'Connell  returned  to  Ireland,  and  received 
an  ovation,  which  contrasted  strangely  with 
the  chilling  reception  awarded  to  the  once 
popular  lord-lieutenant,  the  Marquis  of  An- 
glesey. 

Like  most  politicians,  Anglesey  had  de- 
luded himself  with  the  idea  that  the  con- 
cession of  emancipation  would  put  an  end  to 
agitation  in  Ireland.  After  making  a  futile 
effort  to  induce  O'Connell  to  support  his  ad- 
ministration, offering,  it  is  said,  to  make  him 
a  judge,  or  '  anything,  in  fact,  if  he  would 
give  up  agitation,'  he  determined  to  try  con- 
clusions with  the  arch-agitator  himself.  His 
first  step  was  to  suppress  the  '  public  break- 
fasts.' O'Connell  thereupon  established  '  a 
general  association  for  Ireland  to  prevent 
illegal  meetings  and  protect  the  sacred  right 
of  petitioning.'  When  this  likewise  was  pro- 
claimed, he  constituted  himself  an  association, 
and  invited  his  friends  to  meet  him  at  dinner 
at  Hayes's  tavern.  The  farce  came  to  an  end 
at  last.  On  19  Jan.  1831  he  was  arrested 
on  a  police  warrant,  charging  him  with  con- 
spiring to  violate  and  evade  the  proclama- 
tions, and  was  compelled  to  enter  into  re- 
cognisances to  appear  when  called  upon  for 


trial.  When  the  news  of  his  arrest  became 
known,  Dublin  was  thrown  into  a  state  of 
wild  excitement.  '  I  never,'  wrote  an  on- 
looker, 'witnessed  anything  so  turbulent  and 
angry  as  the  populace  was  in  Dublin  this  day, 
not  even  in  the  height  of  '98 '  (ib.  i.  245). 
O'Connell,  however,  acted  with  admirable 
discretion,  and  averted  what  might  have 
proved  a  serious  riot.  The  indictment  against 
him  contained  thirty-one  counts.  To  the  first 
fourteen,  charging  him  with  violating  the  pro- 
visions of  the  Act  10  Geo.  IV — 'the  worse 
than  Algerine  Act' — he  at  first  demurred; 
to  the  remaining  seventeen,  charging  him 
with  fraud  and  duplicity  against  the  govern- 
ment, he  pleaded  not  guilty.  Subsequently 
he  was  allowed  to  withdraw  his  demurrers 
and  substitute  pleas  of  not  guilty  to  all  the 
counts,  on  condition  that  in  case  of  con- 
viction no  arrest  of  judgment  should  be 
moved.  So  far  as  the  Irish  government  was 
concerned,  there  was  no  intention  to  com- 
promise the  prosecution ;  but  the  influence 
of  the  English  reformers,  who  were  anxious 
to  secure  his  support  at  the  general  election, 
prevailed,  and  the  prosecution  was  quietly 
dropped. 

To  O'Connell  parliamentary  reform  was 
the  first  and  necessary  step  to  repeal.  '  Let  ' 
no  one,'  he  wrote  at  this  time  in  a  letter 
j  to  the  people  of  Ireland,  '  deceive  you  and 
say  that  I  am  abandoning  my  principles  of 
anti-unionism.  It  is  false.  I  am  decidedly 
of  opinion  that  the  repeal  of  the  union  is  the 
only  means  by  which  Irish  prosperity  and 
Irish  freedom  can  be  secured.  .  .  .  But  it 
is  only  in  a  reformed  parliament  that  the 
question  can  be  properly,  coolly,  and  dispas- 
sionately discussed.  At  the  same  time  he 
never  neglected  an  opportunity  of  remedying 
those  practical  abuses  connected  with  the 
government  of  Ireland  of  which  he  had  long 
complained.  When  the  administration  of 
the  Marquis  of  Anglesey  had  become  pecu- 
liarly objectionable  to  him,  he  accepted  the 
assurances  of  Lords  Ebrington  and  Duncan- 
non  of  a  change  of  system,  and  agreed  for  a 
time  to  suspend  his  agitation  of  repeal.  He 
was  granted  a  patent  of  precedence  at  the  bar, 
and,  had  he  cared  to  compromise  his  inde- 
pendence, he  might  have  become  attorney- 
general  for  Ireland. 

The  promise  of  a  change  of  system  proved 
delusive,  and  Anglesey  remained  at  his 
post.  The  state  of  the  country  was  at 
this  time  deplorable.  The  signs  of  poverty 
were  everywhere  visible.  In  Cork,  in  three 
parishes  alone,  there  were  twenty-seven 
thousand  paupers.  To  add  to  the  general 
misery,  Ireland  was  for  the  first  time  visited 
in  the  spring  by  the  cholera.  Under  the  cir- 


O'Connell 


383 


O'Connell 


cumstances  it  was  not  surprising  that  resist- 
ance to  tithes,  often  attended  with  bloodshed, 
spread  with  alarming  rapidity.  At  the  Cork 
spring  assizes  O'Connell  was  specially  retained 
in  an  important  case  of  Kearney  v.  Sarsfield, 
and  during  his  absence  a  bill  was  introduced 
by  Stanley,  afterwards  Earl  of  Derby,  to  en- 
force the  recovery  of  tithe  arrears.  The  mea- 
sure, as  O'Connell  predicted,  proved  worse 
than  useless,  and  towards  the  end  of  the  ses- 
sion the  composition  of  tithes  was  made  uni- 
versal and  compulsory.  When  in  London 
in  May,  he  spoke  at  considerable  length  on 
the  Reform  Bill ;  and  in  committee  he  was 
indefatigable,  though  he  was  unsuccessful  in 
his  efforts  to  obtain  the  restoration  of  the 
elective  franchise  to  the  forty-shilling  free- 
holders. 

Returning  in  August  to  Darrynane,  he 
renewed  his  agitation  by  means  of  public 
letters  addressed  for  the  most  part  to  the 
National  Political  Union,  a  society  he  had 
recently  established  in  opposition  to  the 
Trades  Political  Union,  of  which  Marcus 
Costello  was  the  president.  He  had  now,  he 
declared,  three  objects  in  view — to  relieve 
Ireland  of  the  Anglesey  government,  to  ob- 
tain the  extinction  of  tithes,and  to  obtain  the 
tranquil  and  peaceable  repeal  of  the  union. 
In  regard  to  tithes  and  vestry  rates,  he  ex- 
pressed his  intention  never  again  voluntarily 
to  pay  either.  On  3  Dec.  the  old  unreformed 
parliament  was  dissolved,  and  at  the  elections 
a  repeal  pledge  was,  by  his  advice,  exacted 
from  all  the  popular  candidates  in  Ireland, 
of  whom  it  is  said  that  not  less  than  half 
were  nominated  by  him.  His  own  unsolicited 
return  for  Dublin  city  he  regarded  as  '  per- 
haps the  greatest  triumph  my  countrymen 
have  ever  given  me.'  Meanwhile  famine 
and  pestilence,  attended  by  agrarian  out- 
rage, stalked  the  land.  So  alarming,  indeed, 
was  the  general  outlook  that  on  14  Jan. 
1833  O'Connell  addressed  a  strongly  worded 
letter  to  Lord  Duncannon,  advising  special 
means  to  be  taken  for  the  preservation  of  the 
public  peace,  and,  above  all,  the  removal  of 
Anglesey  and  Stanley,  to  whose  misgovern- 
ment  he  mainly  attributed  the  distress.  The 
speech  from  the  throne  alluded  to  the  social 
condition  of  Ireland  and  foreshadowed  a 
strong  measure  of  coercion.  O'Connell  stig- 
matised the  speech  as  '  bloody  and  brutal ; ' 
but  even  he  never  anticipated  so  drastic  a 
measure  as  that  which  Earl  Grey  forthwith 
introduced  into  the  House  of  Lords.  He  at 
once  offered  it  the  most  strenuous  resistance 
in  his  power.  There  was,  he  declared,  no 
necessity  for  so  despotic  a  policy.  O'Connell 
actually  offered  to  submit  to  banishment  for 
a  year  and  a  half  if  it  was  withdrawn.  In 


his  extremity  he  reverted  to  his  favourite 
notion — '  the  O'Connell  cholera,'  as  Conway 
of  the  '  Evening  Post '  called  it— of  advising 
a  run  on  the  banks,  but  was  fortunately  dis- 
suaded by  his  friends  from  so  disastrous  a 
step.  All  resistance  proved  unavailing,  and 
the  bill  passed  both  houses  by  large  majorities. 

Meanwhile  his  reticence  in  regard  to  re- 
peal was  severely  commented  upon  in  Dublin. 
St.  Audoen's  parish,  as  usual,  led  the  agita- 
tion, and  was  powerfully  supported  by  the 
'Freeman's  Journal'  and  Feargus  O'Connor 
fq.  v.]  Though  firmly  convinced  of  the  use- 
lessness  and  even  impolicy  of  a  premature 
discussion,  he  consented  to  bring  the  subject 
before  parliament  in  the  following  session. 
He  had  long  complained  of  the  conduct  of 
the  London  press,  particularly  the  '  Times ' 
and  '  Morning  Chronicle,'  in  wilfully  misre- 
porting  and  suppressing  his  speeches  in  par- 
liament. His  public  denunciation  of  the 
newspapers  elicited  a  strong  protest  from  the 
staff  of  the '  Times,'  and  a  determination  no 
longer  to  report  him  ;  but  by  freely  exercis- 
ing his  right  to  clear  the  house  of  strangers 
he  reduced  them  to  submission.  In  July  1833 
his  uncle,  Count  Daniel  O'Connell  [q.v/j,  died, 
leaving  him  considerable  personal  property. 
On  his  return  to  Ireland  he  endeavoured, 
but  without  success,  to  enlist  the  sympathy 
and  support  of  the  protestants  of  Ulster  in 
favour  of  the  establishment  of  a  domestic 
legislature. 

When  parliament  reassembled  in  1834,  the 
king's  speech  condemned  '  the  continuance  of 
attempts  to  excite  the  people  of  Ireland  to  de- 
mand a  repeal  of  the  legislative  union.'  O'Con- 
nell moved  the  omission  of  the  obnoxious 
paragraph,  but  he  was  defeated  by  189  to 
23.  Disheartened  at  the  result,  he  would 
gladly  have  postponed  the  question  of  repeal 
to  a  more  propitious  season.  But  he  had  pro- 
mised to  agitate  the  subject,  and  on  22  April 
1834  he  moved  for  the  appointment  of  a 
select  committee  '  to  inquire  into  and  report 
on  the  means  by  which  the  dissolution  of 
the  parliament  of  Ireland  was  effected ;  on 
the  effects  of  that  measure  upon  Ireland,  and 
on  the  probable  consequences  of  continuing 
the  legislative  union  between  both  countries.' 
He  spoke  for  more  than  five  hours,  but  he 
was  encumbered  with  material,  and  his  ex- 
cursion into  history  was  neither  interesting 
nor  correct.  He  was  ably  answered  by 
Spring  Rice.  The  debate  continued  for  nine 
days,  and  when  the  decision  of  the  house 
was  taken  O'Connell  was  defeated  by  ">:.':;  to 
38,  only  one  English  member  voting  in  the 
minority.  Still,  he  regarded  the  debate  as 
on  the  whole  satisfactory.  'I  repeat,'  he 
wrote  to  Fitzpatrick, '  that  we  repealers  have 


O'Connell 


384 


O'Connell 


made  great  moral  way  in  the  opinion  of  the 
house.'  Certainly  the  debate  seems  to  have 
created  a  more  conciliatory  disposition  to- 
wards Ireland.  Littleton  on  behalf  of  the 
Irish  government  went  so  far  as  to  promise 
O'Connell  that  when  the  Coercion  Act  came 
up  for  renewal  the  political  clauses  in  it 
should  be  abandoned,  if  he  in  turn  would 
promise  a  cessation  of  agitation.  O'Connell 
readily  consented.  Unfortunately  Earl  Grey, 
who  had  not  been  consulted  in  the  matter, 
insisted  on  the  re-enactment  of  the  measure 
in  its  entirety,  and  his  colleagues  eventually 
yielded  to  his  wish.  Believing  himself  to 
have  been  purposely  misled,  O'Connell  made 
the  whole  transaction  public.  Dissensions  in 
the  cabinet  were  the  outcome  of  this  incident. 
Grey  resigned  office,  and  the  ministry  of  Lord 
Melbourne  came  into  power  (17  July  1834). 
The  change  of  administration  and  the  ulti- 
mate omission  of  the  obnoxious  clauses  from 
the  Coercion  Act  inspired  O'Connell  with  the 
hope  that  something  at  last  would  be  done 
to  place  the  government  of  Ireland  on  a  more 
impartial  basis.  On  his  return  to  Ireland  he 
announced  himself  a  ministerialist  and  a  re- 
pealer. But  something  more  than  good  in- 
tentions was  necessary  to  cleanse  the  Augean 
stable  of  Castle  corruption.  '  You  are  now,' 
O'Connell  wrote  to  Lord  Duncannon  on 
11  Oct.  1834,  'three  months  in  office,  and  you 
have  done  nothing  for  Ireland  ;  you  have  not 
in  any,  even  in  the  slightest,  degree  altered 
the  old  system.  The  people  are  as  ground 
down  by  Orange  functionaries  as  ever  they 
were  in  the  most  palmy  days  of  toryism.' 
Still,  in  any  case,  the  whigs  were  infinitely  to 
be  preferred  to  the  tories,  and  though  he 
affected  unconcern  at  the  announcement  of 
the  dismissal  of  Melbourne  (15  Nov.  1834) 
and  the  formation  of  an  administration  under 
Peel  in  December,  he  endeavoured  by  the 
establishment  of  an  '  antitory  association'  to 
promote  the  success  of  the  whigs  at  the 
general  elections.  Of  this  association,  which 
met  almost  every  other  day,  O'Connell  was, 
of  course,  the  moving  spirit. 

In  the  new  parliament  whigs  and  tories 
were  almost  equal ;  the  balance  of  power 
lay  in  O'Connell's  hands.  It  was  this  state 
of  affairs  that  in  March  1835  led  to  the 
famous  '  Lichfield  House  compact,'  which, 
whether  compact  or  simple  understanding 
between  the  whigs  and  O'Connell,  was  pro- 
ductive of  the  greatest  blessing  for  Ireland — 
the  impartial  government  of  Thomas  Drum- 
mond  [q.  v.]  From  the  first  O'Connell,  though 
always  hankering  after  office,  refrained  from 
embarrassing  the  ministry  in  its  relations  to 
the  king  by  urging  any  recognition  of  his 
services.  But  his  friendly  relations  with  the 


ministry  excited  in  many  quarters  suspicions 
which  O'Connell  hotly  resented.  When  Lord 
Alvanley  asked  Lord  Melbourne  what  was 
the  price  paid  for  O'Connell's  support,  O'Con- 
nell at  a  public  meeting  referred  to  Al- 
vanley as  a  '  bloated  buffoon.'  O'Connell's 
son,  Morgan,  took  up  the  cudgels  in  his 
father's  defence,  and  shots  were  exchanged 
on  Wimbledon  Common.  Later  in  the  year 
O'Connell  fell  foul  of  Benjamin  Disraeli,  who 
had  some  time  previously  solicited  his  as- 
sistance as  radical  candidate  for  Wickham, 
but  who  afterwards,  as  conservative  candi- 
date for  Taunton,  spoke  of  him  as  an  '  in- 
cendiary.' O'Connell  retorted  by  calling 
Disraeli '  a  disgrace  to  his  species,'  and  '  heir- 
at-law  of  the  blasphemous  thief  who  died 
upon  the  cross.'  Failing  to  obtain  satisfac- 
tion from  O'Connell,  Disraeli  sent  a  chal- 
lenge to  Morgan,  which  the  latter  repudiated. 
Meanwhile,  owing  to  the  valuable  assistance 
which  he  in  this  session  rendered  to  the  Eng- 
lish Municipal  Corporations  Bill,  O'Connell 
became  very  popular  with  a  large  section  of 
the  English  public.  Taking  advantage  of  his 
popularity,  he  in  the  autumn  visited  Manches- 
ter, Newcastle,  Edinburgh,  and  Glasgow,  in 
order  to  stimulate  agitation  against  the  House 
of  Lords  owing  to  their  refusal  to  concede  a 
similar  reform  of  municipal  corporations  to 
Ireland,  and  their  rejection  of  the  principle 
of  appropriation  contained  in  the  church 
bill. 

After  his  return  to  Ireland  he  became 
involved  in  a  more  disagreeable  contro- 
versy with  a  Mr.  Raphael,  who,  on  his  re- 
commendation, had  been  elected  M.P.  for 
Carlow,  but  was  subsequently  unseated  on 
petition.  Raphael  had  consented  to  pay 
O'Connell  1,000/.  on  nomination,  and  another 
1,000/.  on  being  returned.  This  he  did,  but  he 
subsequently  charged  O'Connell  not  merely 
with  a  breach  of  promise  in  exacting  the 
payment  of  the  second  1,OOOZ.,  but  with  mis- 
appropriating a  portion  of  the  money  for  his 
own  benefit.  O'Connell  indignantly  denied 
the  charge ;  but  the  papers  learned  of  tLe 
affair,  and  censured  him  for  having  corruptly 
sold  a  seat  in  parliament.  Eventually  the 
matter  was  brought  before  parliament.  A 
special  committee  was  appointed  to  investi- 
gate the  charge,  which,  however,  fully  exone- 
rated him  from  anything  like  corruption. 
Speaking  in  his  defence,  O'Connell  admitted 
that  his  influence  in  Ireland  was  too  great 
for  any  man  to  possess,  but  urged  that  it  was 
the  natural  result  of  the  misgovernment  of 
his  country.  The  Raphael  calumny  was  only 
one  of  several  charges  of  corruption  with 
which  he  was  assailed  at  the  time. 

In  January  1836  he  addressed  large  audi- 


O'Connell 


385 


O'Connell 


ences  at  Liverpool  and  Birmingham,  and  on 
8  March  he  delivered  a  powerful  speech  in  sup- 
port of  the  Municipal  Corporations  (Ireland) 
Bill,  though  it  may  be  noted  in  passing  that  he 
was  not  at  first  hostile  to  Peel's  plan  for  their 
extinction.  The  bill  was  fiercely  opposed  by 
the  lords ;  and  in  May,  during  the  height  of 
the  controversy,  he  was  unseated  on  petition 
for  Dublin,  but  immediately  returned  for  Kil- 
kenny. The  defence  of  his  seat  cost  him  at 
least  8,000/.,  and  was  calculated  to  have  cost 
the  petitioners  four  times  that  amount.  Duri  ng 
the  recess  he  founded  a  '  General  Association 
of  Ireland '  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  corpo- 
rate reform  and  a  satisfactory  adjustment  of 
tithes.  The  association  was  supported  by  an 
'  Irish  rent,'  which  in  November  reached  690/. 
a  week. 

.  ^Parliament  reassembled  on  31  Jan.  1837. 
The  speech  from  the  throne  recommended 
municipal  reform,  church  reform,  and  poor 
laws  for  Ireland.  Believing  that  the  poverty 
of  Ireland  was  mainly  due  to  political  causes, 
O'Connell  dissented  from  the  general  opinion 
of  his  countrymen  as  to  the  utility  of  poor 
laws.  But  he  had  not,  he  admitted,  sufficient 
moral  courage  to  resist  the  demand  for  them 
altogether,  and  reluctantly  consented  to  a 
trial  of  them  being  made. 

The  subject  was  still  under  consideration 
when  the  death  of  William  IV  caused  par- 
liament to  be  dissolved.  O'Connell  was  full 
of  enthusiasm  for  the  young  queen,  and 
played  a  conspicuous  part  at  her  proclama- 
tion, acting  as  a  sort  of  fugleman  to  the 
multitude,  and  regulating  their  acclama- 
tions. In  supporting  Poulett  Thomson's 
Factories  Bill  he  had  expressed  his  strong 
dislike  of  any  attempt  on  the  part  of  the 
state  to  interfere  between  employer  and  em- 
ployed. For  the  same  reason  he  was  strongly 
opposed  to  trades-unionism,  and  his  denun- 
ciation of  the  tyranny  of  the  trades  unions 
of  Dublin  now  almost  destroyed  his  popu- 
larity in  that  city.  For  days  he  was  hooted 
and  mobbed  in  the  streets,  and  his  meetings 
broken  up  by  indignant  trades-unionists.  In 
the  new  parliament  government  had,  with 
his  support,  a  bare  majority  of  twenty-five.  ! 
Immediately  after  its  opening,  O'Connell 
came  into  collision  with  the  house.  He  had 
long  inveighed  against  the  partisan  decisions 
of  committees  of  the  House  of  Commons. 
The  fact  was  admitted ;  but  a  somewhat 
unguarded  statement  of  his,  attributing  gross 
perjury  to  the  tory  committees,  brought 
upon  him  the  public  reprimand  of  the 
speaker.  Thereupon  he  repeated  the  charge, 
and  was  astonished  to  find  that  the  house 
did  not  commit  him. 

The  government  proved  powerless  to  carry 

VOL.   XLI. 


its  measures  of  remedial  legislation  in  face  of 
the  determined  opposition  of  the  tories  and 
the  House  of  Lords.  Consequently  O'Connell 
in  the  autumn  of  1838  started  for  Irish  ob- 
jects a  «  Precursor  Society.'    The  objects  of 
the  society  were  complete  corporate  reform 
in  Ireland,  extension  of  the  Irish  suffrage, 
total  extinction  of  compulsory  church  sup^ 
port,   and   adequate   representation   of  the 
country  in  parliament.  In  explanation  of  the 
name  he  said, '  The  Precursors  may  precede 
justice  to  Ireland  from  the  united  parlia- 
.ment  and  the  consequent   dispensing  with 
Repeal  agitation,  and  will,  shall,  and  must 
precede  Repeal  agitation   if  justice  be  re- 
fused.'   The  movement  was  not  very  suc- 
cessful, and,  in  anticipation  of  the  speedy 
dissolution  of  the  Melbourne  administration, 
he  on  15  April  1840  founded  the  Repeal 
Association.     The  association  was  modelled 
on  the  lines  of  the  old  Catholic  Associa- 
tion, and  was  composed  of  associates  paying 
one  shilling  a  year,  and  members  paying  11. 
At  first  the  new  organisation  attracted  lit  tie 
attention.    But  it  soon  appeared  that  O'Con- 
nell was  this  time  in  earnest.    '  My  struggle 
has  begun,'  he  wrote  on  2o  Mayl840, '  and  I 
will  terminated  only  in  deathor  Repeal.1  The 
circle  of  agitation  gradually  widened.     In 
October  he  addressed  a  large  meet  ing  on  the 
subject  at  Cork.   He  was  enthusiastically  re- 
ceived, and  on  entering  the  city  the  people,  in 
their  desire  to  do  him  honour,  attempted  to 
take  the  horses  from  his  carriage.    '  No  !  No ! 
No  ! '  he  exclaimed, '  I  never  will  let  men  do 
the  business  of  horses  if  I  can  help  it.    Don't 
touch  that  harness,  you  vagabonds  !     I  am 
trying  to  elevate  your  position,  and  I  will 
not  permit  you  to  degrade  yourselves.'  Other 
meetings  followed  at  Limerick,  at  Ennis,  and 
at  Kilkenny.     '  The  Repeal  cause,'  he  wrote 
on  18  Nov., '  is  progressing.   Quiet  and  timid 
men  are  joining  us  daily.     We  had  before 
the  bone  and  sinew.'    In  January  1841  he 
accepted  an  invitation  to  speak  at  Belfast, 
and,   notwithstanding  threats    of  personal 
violence,  he  kept  his  appointment.     From 
Belfast  he  went  to  Leeds,  and  from  Leeds 
to  Leicester.     He  was  heartily  welcomed  at 
both  places.    Meanwhile,  in  consequence  of 
the  defeat  of  their  budget  proposals,  and  of 
a  direct  vote  of  want  of  confidence,  minis- 
ters dissolved  parliament  in  June.     Despite 
the  exertions  of  O'Connell,  the  repealers  sus- 
tained a  severe  reverse  at  the  general  elec- 
tions.    O'Connell  himself  lost  his  seat  for 
Dublin,  and  had  to  seek  refuge  at  Cork.    On 
the  address  to  the  speech  from  the  throne 
he  spoke  in  support  of  the  total  abolition  of 
the  corn  laws.    Parliament  rose  in  October. 
On  1  Nov.  O'Connell  was  elected  lord- 

c  c 


O'Connell 


386 


O'Connell 


mayor  of  Dublin  under  the  new  act,  being 
the  first  catholic  that  had  occupied  the 
position  since  the  reign  of  James  II.  Being 
asked  how  he  would  act  in  his  capacity  of 
lord-mayor  upon  the  repeal  question,  he  re- 
plied, '  I  pledge  myself  that  in  my  capacity 
of  lord-mayor  no  one  shall  be  able  to  discover 
from  my  conduct  what  are  my  politics,  or  of 
what  shade  are  the  religious  tenets  I  hold.' 
He  kept  his  promise  faithfully,  and  was  the 
means  of  negotiating  an  arrangement  by 
which  catholics  and  protestantswere  to  hold 
the  chair  alternately.  In  his  desire  to  act 
impartially  he  refrained  almost  entirely  from 
agitating  the  question  of  repeal  during  his 
year  of  office.  He  was,  however,  assiduous 
in  attending  to  his  parliamentary  duties,  and 
on  13  April  he  spoke  at  length  in  opposition 
to  the  imposition  of  an  income  tax,  urging 
that  it  was  essentially  a  war  tax,  and  ad- 
vising the  substitution  of  legacy  duties  on 
landed  property. 

Meanwhile  the  cause  of  repeal  received 
considerable  accession  of  strength  by  the  esta- 
blishment in  October  1842  of  the  '  Nation ' 
newspaper.  At  the  beginning  of  the  new 
year  (1843)  O'Connell,  now  no  longer  lord- 
mayor,  determined  to  devote  himself  en- 
tirely to  the  agitation  of  repeal.  During 
the  debate  on  the  Municipal  Bill  he  had  de- 
clared that  the  corporate  bodies  would  be- 
come '  normal  schools  of  agitation.'  As 
if  to  make  his  statement  good,  he  in  February 
inaugurated  a  repeal  debate  in  the  Dublin 
Corporation.  He  was  answered  by  Isaac 
Butt  [q.  v.]  The  debate  lasted  three  days, 
and  O'Connell  carried  his  motion  by  forty- 
one  to  fifteen.  The  effect  was  enormous. 
The  agitation,  which  hitherto  had  hung  fire, 
woke  into  full  activity.  The  rent,  which  in 
February  only  amounted  to  about  300£,  rose 
in  May  to  over  2,000/.  a  week,  and  by  the  end 
of  the  year  reached  a  grand  total  of  48,000/. 
The  old  rooms  in  the  Corn  Exchange  were 
soon  found  too  small  for  the  transaction  of 
the  business  of  the  association,  and  a  new 
hall,  called  Conciliation  Hall,  was  built  and 
opened  in  October.  On  16  March  1843  the 
first  of  the  famous  monster  meetings  was 
held  at  Trim.  From  the  meeting  at  Trim  to 
the  ever  memorable  one  on  the  Hill  of  Tara 
on  15  Aug.,  when  it  was  estimated  that  close 
on  a  million  persons  were  present,  thirty- 
one  monster  meetings  were  held  in  different 
parts  of  the  country.  In  May  government 
became  alarmed  at  the  progress  of  the  agi- 
tation, and  removed  O'Connell  and  other 
repealers  from  the  magistracy.  The  conduct 
of  the  administration  was  approved  by  par- 
liament, and  in  August  powers  were  granted 
for  the  suppression  of  the  agitation.  The 


series  of  meetings  was  to  have  terminated 
with  one  at  Clontarf  on  Sunday,  8  Oct.  1843, 
which  was  to  have  exceeded  all  the  rest  in 
magnitude.  Late  in  the  afternoon  of  the 
preceding  day  the  meeting  was  proclaimed, 
and  all  the  approaches  to  Clontarf  occupied 
by  the  military.  The  people  were  already 
assembling,  and  the  action  of  the  govern- 
ment in  postponing  the  proclamation  to  the 
eleventh  hour  might  have  proved  disastrous 
had  it  not  been  for  O'Connell's  promptitude 
in  countermanding  the  meeting.  No  event 
in  his  life  reflects  greater  credit  on  him  than 
his  action  at  this  critical  moment. 

A  week  later  warrants  were  issued  for  his 
arrest  and  that  of  his  chief  colleagues  on  a 
charge  of  creating  discontent  and  disaffection 
among  the  liege  subjects  of  the  queen,  and 
with  contriving,  '  by  means  of  intimida- 
tion and  the  demonstration  of  great  physical 
force,  to  procure  and  effect  changes  to  be  made 
in  the  government,  laws,  and  constitution  of 
this  realm.'  Bail  was  accepted,  and  O'Connell 
immediately  issued  a  manifesto  calling  on 
the  people  not  '  to  be  tempted  to  break  the 
peace,  but  to  act  peaceably,  quietly,  and 
legally.'  The  indictment,  consisting  of  eleven 
counts  and  forty-three  overt  acts,  and  based 
chiefly  on  utterances  at  public  meetings,varied 
against  each  traverser.  On  8  Nov.  1843  true 
bills  were  found  by  the  grand  j  ury,  but  the  trial 
did  not  begin  till  15  Jan.  1844.  On  that  day 
business  was  suspended  in  Dublin.  Accom- 
panied by  the  lord-mayor  and  city  marshal,' 
O'Connell  proceeded  through  streets  thronged 
with  onlookers  and  sympathisers  to  the  Four 
Courts.  There  was  a  formidable  array  of 
counsel  on  both  sides,  but  from  the  first  he 
insisted  on  being  his  own  advocate.  The 
judges  were  Chief-justice  Pennefather  and  the 
judges  Burton,  Crampton,  and  Perrin.  There 
was  not  a  single  Roman  catholic  on  the  jury. 
After  a  trial  which  lasted  twenty-five  days, 
O'Connell  and  his  fellow-conspirators  were 
pronounced  guilty  in  February,  but  sentence 
was  deferred.  O'Connell  proceeded  at  once  to 
London.  On  his  way  he  was  hospitably  enter- 
tained at  Liverpool,  Manchester,  Coventry, 
and  Birmingham,  and  a  great  banquet  was 
given  in  his  honour  at  Covent  Garden  Theatre. 
'  I  am  glad,'  he  wrote  to  Fitzpatrick,  '  I  came 
over,  not  so  much  on  account  of  the  parlia- 
ment as  of  the  English  people.  I  have  cer- 
tainly met  with  a  kindness  and  a  sympathy 
which  I  did  not  expect,  but  which  I  will 
cheerfully  cultivate '  (FITZPATRICK,  Corresp. 
ii.  318).  On  entering  the  House  of  Com- 
mons he  was  received  with  enthusiastic  cheers. 
He  spoke  on  23  Feb.  on  the  state  of  Ireland, 
and  on  11  March  moved  for  leave  to  bring 
in  a  bill  relating  to  Roman  catholic  charities. 


O'Connell 


387 


O'Connell 


Judgment  was  delivered  on  30  May.  He 
was  sentenced  to  imprisonment  for  twelve 
months,  a  fine  of  2,000/.,  and  to  find  surety 
to  keep  the  peace  for  seven  years.  The 
same  afternoon  he  was  removed  to  Richmond 
Bridewell.  He  was  treated  with  every  con- 
sideration by  the  prison  authorities,  and  al- 
lowed to  receive  his  friends.  Meanwhile  an 
appeal  was  made  on  a  writ  of  error  to  the 
House  of  Lords.  On  4  Sept.  1844  the  lords 
reversed  the  judgment  delivered  in  Ireland, 
and  O'Connell  and  his  fellow-prisoners  were 
instantly  liberated.  O'Connell,  who  had  not 
expected  such  generous  treatment  from  his 
political  enemies,  was  much  touched  when 
the  news  was  communicated  to  him.  '  Fitz- 
patrick,'  he  reverently  exclaimed,  '  the  hand 
of  man  is  not  in  this.  It  is  the  response 
given  by  Providence  to  the  prayers  of  the 
faithful,  steadfast  people  of  Ireland.'  Seated 
on  a  car  of  imposing  structure,  he  was  borne 
through  Dublin,  amid  the  plaudits  of  the 
populace,  to  his  house  in  Merrion  Square. 

But  the  hand  of  death  was  even  now  upon 
him.  '  A  great  change,'  says  the  editor  of 
his  correspondence, '  was  observed  in  O'Con- 
nell not  long  after  he  left  prison.  The  hand- 
writing is  tremulous;  a  difficulty  is  often 
expressed  in  connecting  the  letters  of  simple 
words.  Petty  vexations  worried  him,  and 
the  death  of  a  grandchild  all  but  crushed 
him.'  His  wife  had  died  on  31  Oct.  1836, 
and  pecuniary  embarrassment  had  long,  he 
wrote,  been  literally  killing  him  (ib.  ii.  331). 
During  his  imprisonment  a  movement  had 
originated  in  the  north  of  Ireland  in  favour 
of  federalism  as  opposed  to  simple  repeal. 
The  movement  attracted  a  number  of  wealthy 
and  influential  persons  in  the  kingdom,  and 
O'Connell,  who  eagerly  welcomed  the  pro- 
spect of  uniting  Inshmen  of  all  classes  and 
creeds  in  a  demand  for  a  domestic  legisla- 
ture, however  restricted  its  powers,  wrote 
strongly  in  its  favour.  His  letter  was  re- 
garded as  precipitate  by  the  extreme  section 
of  the  repealers,  who  interpreted  it  as  a  prac- 
tical abandonment  of  repeal.  In  consequence 
of  their  opposition  he  withdrew  his  offer  of 
co-operation  with  the  federalists,  and  again 
declared  in  favour  of  repeal  pure  and  simple. 
Meanwhile  Peel  was  endeavouring  to  grapple 
with  the  Irish  difficulty  in  a  bold  and  states- 
manlike fashion.  At  the  beginning  of  the 
session  he  submitted  to  parliament  proposals 
to  increase  and  make  permanent  the  grant  to 
Maynooth  College,  and  to  found  a  system  of 
middle-class  education  by  the  establishment 
of  secular  colleges  at  Cork,  Belfast,  and  Gal- 
way.  O'Connell  strongly  favoured  the  pro- 
gramme of  government  so  far  as  it  related 
to  Maynooth ;  but  believing,  as  he  said,  that 


'  religion  ought  to  be  the  basis  of  education/ 
he  went  over  to  England  expressly  to  oppose 
the  establishment  of  the  provincial  colleges. 
His  conduct  in  this  respect  brought  him  into 
collision  with  Thomas  Osborne  Davis  [q.  v.] 
and  the  extreme  wing  of  the  association.  At 
this  time  the  report  of  the  Devon  commission 
was  attracting  much  attention  in  England 
and  Ireland.  O'Connell,  who  had  no  confi- 
dence in  the  suggestions  of  the  commissioners 
for  alleviating  the  perennial  distress  of  the 
peasantry  by  wholesale  clearances,  insisted 
that  nothing  would  give  satisfaction  but 
'  fixity  of  tenure '  and '  an  absolute  right  of  re- 
compense for  all  substantial  improvements.' 
His  criticism  of  the  commission  drew  down 
npon  him  the  vengeance  of  the  '  Times,'  and 
a  special  commissioner  was  sent  over  by  the 
newspaper  in  the  autumn  of  1845  to  inves- 
tigate the  condition  of  the  people  of  Ireland. 
The  commissioner  did  not  spare  O'Connell 
in  his  private  position  as  a  landlord.  Cahir- 
civeen  was  described  as  a  '  congregation  of 
wretchedness,'  and  his  property  generally  as 
being  in  a  most  deplorable  condition  (  Times, 
21  ^ov.)  O'Connell  had  little  difficulty  in 
meeting  the  accusation ;  but  the  charge  irri- 
tated him,  and,  added  to  his  other  troubles, 
told  seriously  on  his  health. 

Owing  to  the  failure  this  year  of  the 
potato  crop,  the  shadow  of  the  great  famine 
loomed  ominously  over  the  land.  On  17  Feb. 
1846  O'Connell  called  the  attention  of  the 
House  of  Commons  to  the  prevalence  of 
famine  and  disease  in  Ireland,  and  moved  for 
a  committee  to  devise  means  to  relieve  the 
distress.  Government  promised  relief,  but  at 
the  same  time  introduced  a  coercion  bill  for 
the  repression  of  disorder  in  certain  counties. 
O'Connell,  while  not  denying  the  existence 
of  outrages  on  life  and  property,  attributed 
them  to  t  he  clearance  system,  and  insisted  that 
the  only  coercion  act  that  was  required  was 
an  act  to  coerce  the  landlord  who  would  not 
do  his  duty.  The  bill  was  rejected,  owing  to 
the  opposition  of  Disraeli,  and  in  July  Lord 
John  Russell  came  into  power.  Lord  Dun- 
cannon,  now  Earl  of  Bessborough,  was 
appointed  lord-lieutenant,  and  O'Connell, 
believing  that  justice  would  at  last  be  done 
to  Ireland,  entered  into  a  cordial  alliance 
with  the  whigs.  His  conduct  was  censured 
by  the  Young  Ireland  party,  who  shortly 
afterwards  seceded  from  the  association. 
Worn  out  with  the  struggle,  he  retired  to 
Darrynane.  But  the  recurrence  of  the  potato 
famine,  with  all  its  attendant  horrors,  recalled 
him  to  activity,  and  led  to  the  suggestion  of 
the  formation  of  a  central  board  of  Irish 
landlords,  '  in  which  religious  differences 
would  never  be  heard  of,'  to  consider  the 

cc2 


O'Connell 


388 


O'Connell 


situation.  On  16  Nov.  he  addressed  a  large 
meeting  in  Conciliation  Hall.  But  the  sun 
of  his  authority  was  already  setting.  An 
attempt  at  reconciliation  with  the  Young 
Ireland  party  ended  in  failure,  and  he  sadly 
saw  the  country  drifting  into  rebellion.  He 
appeared  in  the  House  of  Commons  for  the 
last  time  on  8  Feb.  1847 ;  but  his  voice,  once 
so  resonant,  had  sunk  almost  to  a  whisper. 
He  appealed  to  the  house  to  save  his  country : 
'  She  is  in  your  hands — in  your  power.  If 

S»u  do  not  save  her,  she  cannot  save  herself.' 
is  physicians  recommended  change  of  air, 
and  held  out  hopes  of  speedy  recovery. 
But  he  felt  he  was  dying.  '  They  deceive 
themselves,'  he  wrote  to  Fitzpatrick  on 
1  March,  '  and  deceive  you  who  tell  you  I 
am  recovering.'  Accompanied  by  his  son 
Daniel,  Dr.  Miley,  and  his  faithful  valet 
Duggan,  he  left  Folkestone  on  22  March  for 
Rome.  Travelling  by  easy  stages  through 
France,  where  the  profoundest  reverence  was 
paid  him,  he  reached  Genoa  on  6  May.  After 
lingering  a  few  days,  he  died  of  congestion 
of  the  brain  on  Saturday,  15th.  In  com- 
pliance with  his  wish  his  heart  was  embalmed 
and  taken  to  Rome,  where  it  was  laid,  with 
imposing  solemnities,  in  the  church  of  St. 
Agatha.  His  body  was  brought  back  to  Ire- 
land, where  it  was  received  on  5  Aug.  1847 
with  almost  royal  honours,  and  interred  in 
Glasnevin  cemetery.  In  1869  a  round-tower, 
165  feet  high,  was  erected  to  his  memory, 
and  his  body  was  removed  to  a  crypt  at  its 
base. 

O'Connell  had  four  sons  and  three  daugh- 
ters. Morgan  the  second  and  John  the  third 
son  are  separately  noticed.  The  eldest  son, 
Maurice,  M.P.  for  Tralee  (1833-1853),  died 
on  18  June  1853;  the  youngest,  Daniel,  M.P. 
for  Tralee  (1853-1863).  still  survives  (1895). 
Of  the  daughters,  Ellen  (d.  1883)  married 
Christopher  Fitz-Simon  of  Grantcullen,  M.P. 
for  co.  Dublin ;  Catherine  was  wife  of  Charles 
O'Connell,  M.P.  for  co.  Kerry:  and  Elizabeth 
was  wife  of  Nicholas  Joseph  Ffrench. 

Notwithstanding  his  dislike  to  sit  for  his 
portrait,  there  are  several  portraits  of  O'Con- 
nell in  existence — by  Sir  David  Wilkie  at 
the  National  Bank,  Dublin ;  by  Haverty  in 
the  London  Reform  Club,  of  which  O'Con- 
nell was  an  original  member,  and  in  the  city 
hall,  Limerick ;  by  Catterson  Smith  in  the 
city  hall,  Dublin  ;  and  by  Mulvany  in  the 
National  Gallery  of  Ireland.  Portraits  by 
Carrick  and  Maclise  are  familiar  from  fre- 
quent reproduction.  He  sat  to  Duval  and 
also  to  Haydon.  But  he  was  best  known  to 
his  contemporaries  by  the  political  sketches 
of  H.  B.  (John  Doyle).  There  are  statues  of 
him  by  Hogan  in  the  Dublin  Royal  Ex- 


change and  at  Limerick ;  by  Foley  in  Dublin, 
and  by  Cahill  in  Ennis.  The  personal  ap- 
pearance of  O'Connell  was  remarkably  pre- 
possessing. Slightly  under  six  feet,  he  was 
broad  in  proportion.  His  complexion  was 
good,  and  his  features,  with  the  exception  of 
his  nose,  which  was  short,  were  regular ;  but 
it  was  his  mouth,  which  was  finely  chiselled, 
that  gave  to  his  face  its  chief  charm.  Always 
addicted  to  outdoor  sports,  he  was  passion- 
ately fond  of  hunting  on  foot.  Habitually 
careless  in  the  matter  of  dress,  he  was  accus- 
tomed from  the  commencement  of  his  poli- 
tical career  to  wear  nothing  but  of  Irish 
manufacture.  Almost  childishly  fond  of 
display,  he  was  prodigal  in  the  exercise  of 
his  hospitality;  and,  though  his  income  was 
what  most  men  would  call  large,  he  was  con- 
stantly harassed  by  debt.  At  his  death  his- 
personal  property  amounted  to  barely  1,000/. 
He  was  an  indefatigable  worker,  rising  gene- 
rally before  seven,  and  seldom  seeking  rest 
before  the  small  hours  of  the  morning.  He 
denied  that  he  was  originally  intended  for 
the  church,  but,  owing  to  his  education,  there 
was  undoubtedly  not  a  little  of  the  cleric  in 
his  composition.  He  was  fond  of  theology, 
and  more  than  once  posed  as  the  public 
champion  of  his  faith.  But  religion  was  to 
him  always  more  than  theology,  and  he  car- 
ried with  him  in  all  his  relations  of  life  a 
consciousness  of  the  divine  presence.  A 
sincere  Roman  catholic  from  choice  and  con- 
viction, he  was  tolerant  of  every  form  of 
religious  belief.  In  general  literature  he 
was  not  particularly  well  read.  His  know- 
ledge of  history,  even  of  his  own  country, 
was  extremely  defective.  Of  a  naturally 
gay  and  boisterous  disposition,  he  possessed 
an  inexhaustible  fund  of  good  humour  and 
mother-wit.  He  spoke  his  mind  freely  on  all 
subjects,  and  loved  and  hated  with  equal  cor- 
diality. His  intemperate  use  of  strong  and 
often  coarse  epithets  he  defended  on  the 
ground  that  it  was  right  to  speak  in  the 
strongest  terms  consistent  with  truth  of 
one's  friends  and  one's  enemies.  But  outside 
politics  he  was  remarkably  lenient  in  his 
j  udgments ;  and,  though  intolerant  of  opposi- 
tion, he  was  absolutely  free  from  jealousy, 
and  quickly  recognised  merit  wherever  he 
saw  it.  In  his  married  life  he  was  very 
happy,  and  his  letters  to  his  wife  reveal  a 
tenderness  and  love  that  are  at  times  ex- 
tremely touching. 

O'Connell  was  an  able  and  conscientious 
lawyer.  His  knowledge  of  the  Irish  lan- 
guage and  Irish  nature  gave  him  a  unique 
position  in  criminal  causes,  and  in  cross- 
examination  he  was  without  a  rival.  But 
the  intricacies  and  delays  of  the  law  were 


O'Connell 


389 


O'Connell 


abhorrent  to  him,  and  he  warmly  supported 
Jeremy  Bentham's  scheme  of  codification. 
At  Darrynane  he  administered  justice  in  rough 
and  ready  fashion.  Denied  the  privileges  and 
responsibilities  of  constructive  statesmanship, 
he  nevertheless  possessed  all  the  elements 
that  go  to  make  a  statesman,  and  his  ap- 
preciation of  the  relative  importance  of  the 
means  to  the  end  rendered  him  impatient 
alike  of  coercion  and  of  the  doctrinaire  schemes 
-of  the  Young  Ireland  party.  The  bent  of  his 
mind  was  essentially  practical.  As  an  orator 
he  held  a  high,  though  not  the  highest,  place 
in  parliament.  Gifted  by  nature  with  a  fine 
ear  and  a  sweet  sonorous  voice,  he  spoke 
easily,  unaffectedly,  and  fluently.  He  was  a 
ready  debater,  and  was  at  his  best  when  least 
prepared.  But,  unless  strongly  moved  by 
indignation,  he  seldom  indulged  in  flights 
of  rhetoric  such  as  his  friend  Sheil  de- 
lighted in.  Outside  parliament,  when  ad- 
dressing an  open-air  meeting  of  his  own 
countrymen,  he  reigned  supreme,  and  by  the 
simple  magic  of  his  eloquence  played  at  will 
upon  the  passions  of  his  audience,  stirring 
them  as  he  pleased  to  indignation  or  to  pity, 
to  laughter  or  to  tears.  He  was  capable  of 
much  exaggeration,  and  loved  to  produce 
the  effects  '  which  the  statement  of  a  start- 
ling fact  in  an  unqualified  form  often  causes ' 
(LECKT).  In  his  hands  the  system  of  agi- 
tation by  mass  meetings  reached  a  perfection 
it  never  attained  before  or  since.  Knowing 
the  value  of  order  and  sobriety,  he  gave 
every  support  to  the  temperance  movement  of 
Father  Mathew,  and  he  boasted,  not  without 
reason,  that  not  a  single  act  of  disorder 
marred  the  splendour  of  the  magnificent  de- 
monstration at  Tara. 

His  position  in  history  is  unique.  Few 
•other  men  have  possessed  his  personal  in- 
fluence, and  no  other  man  has  used  such  in- 
fluence with  greater  moderation  or  self-ab- 
negation. The  statute-book  contains  little 
evidence  of  his  influence  in  his  lifetime,  but 
he  re-created  national  feeling  in  Ireland;  and 
as  long  as  his  physical  vigour  was  maintained, 
kept  alive  among  his  countrymen  faith  in 
the  efficacy  of  constitutional  agitation. 

[There  is  no  adequate  life  of  O'Connell.  Useful 
biographies  have  been  published  by  W.  Fagan  in 
1847,byM.F.Cusackinl872.byJ.O'Rourkeand 
O'Keeffe  in  1875,  and  by  J.  A.  Hamilton  in  1888. 
In  addition  to  the  Irish  and  English  newspapers, 
the  principal  accessible  sources  of  information 
are  John  O'Connell's  Life  and  Speeches  of  his 
father,  1846;  and  his  Recollections  and  Experi- 
ences during  a  Parliamentary  Career  from  1833 
to  1848;  Irish  Monthly  Mag.,  vols.  x.-xv. ; 
Fitzpatrick's  Correspondence  of  Daniel  O'Con- 
nell ;  O'Neill  Daunt's  Personal  Recollections ;  and 


the  Parliamentary  Debates.  To  these  may  bo 
added  for  special  information  Wyse's  Sketch 
of  the  Catholic  Association ;  Diary  and  Corre- 
spondence of  Lord  Colchester;  Howell's  State 
Trials,  vol.  xxxi. ;  Hamilton's  State  of  the 
Catholic  Cause  from  the  issuing  of  Mr.  Pole's 
Circular  Letter,  Dublin,  1812  ;  Memoirs  of  Sir 
R.  Peel ;  Parker's  Sir  Robert  Peel,  from  his 
private  correspondence  ;  Letters  and  Despatches 
of  the  Duke  of  Wellington  ;  Bowring's  Life  and 
Works  of  Jeremy  Bentham  ;  Torrens's  Memoirs 
of  Viscount  Melbourne ;  Fitzpatrick's  Life  of 
Lord  Cloncurry,  and  Life  and  Times  of  Dr.  Doyle ; 
Special  Report  of  the  Proceedings  in  the  case 
of  the  Queen  v.  Daniel  O'Connell ;  Duffy's  Life 
of  Thomas  Davis,  «nd  Four  Years  of  Irish  His- 
tory. Mr.  W.  E.  H.  Lecky  has  given  a  fairly 
impartial  estimate  of  his  position  in  history  in 
his  Leaders  of  Public  Opinion  in  Ireland,  and 
interesting  articles  of  more  or  less  value  will  be 
found  in  the  Dublin  Review  for  1844,  Tail's 
Edinburgh  Magazine,  1846,  Macmillan's  Maga- 
zine, 1873,  Catholic  World,  1875,  Nineteenth 
Century,  January,  1889,  by  Mr.  Gladstone.] 

R.  D. 

O'CONNELL,  JOHN  (1810-1858),  Irish 
politician,  third  son  of  Daniel  O'Connell  the 
'  Liberator'  [q.v.],by  his  wife  Mary,  daughter 
of  Dr.  O'Connell  of  Tralee,  was  born  in  Dublin 
on  24  Dec.  1810,  and  was  destined  by  his 
father,  whose  favourite  son  he  was,  for  law 
and  politics.  He  was  called  to  the  Irish 
bar  at  the  King's  Inns,  Dublin,  and  was  re- 
turned to  parliament  for  Youghall,on  15  Dec. 
1832,  as  a  member  of  his  father's  'house- 
hold brigade.'  In  1835  an  unsuccessful 
petition  was  presented  against  his  return 
by  his  opponent,  T.  B.  Smyth  (afterwards 
Irish  master  of  the  rolls).  Till  1887  he 
sat  for  the  same  constituency;  he  was  then 
returned  unopposed  for  Athlone  on  4  Aug. ; 
on  3  July  1841  he  succeeded  Joseph  Hume 
in  the  representation  of  Kilkenny  with- 
out a  contest,  and  in  August  1847  was  re- 
turned both  for  Kilkenny  and  for  Limerick, 
and  elected  to  sit  for  the  latter  place.  Dur- 
ing this  period  he  had  taken  a  very  active  part 
as  his  father's  lieutenant  in  the  repeal  agi- 
tation. He  prepared  various  reports  for  the 
repeal  association  on  'Poor-law  Remedies' 
in  1843,  on 'Commercial  Injustices  to  Ire- 
land,' and  on  the  '  Fiscal  Relations  of  the 
United  Kingdom  and  Ireland'  in  1844,  and 
also  in  the  same  year  his  '  Argument  for  Ire- 
land,' which  was  separately  published  and 
reached  a  second  edition  in  1847.  He  also 
wrote  for  the  '  Nation '  his  '  Repeal  Dic- 
tionary,'separately  published  in  1845.  IK- 
shared  his  father's  tnal  in  1844,  and  his  im- 
prisonment in  Richmond  gaol,  where  he  or- 
ganised private  theatricals,  and  conducted  a 
weekly  paper  for  his  fellow-prisoners;  rode  in 


O'Connell 


39° 


O'Connell 


his  father's  triumphal  car  when  the  prisoners 
were  released  on  the  success  of  their  appeal  to 
the  House  of  Lords,  and  became,  during  his 
father's  frequent  absences,  the  practical  head 
of  the  repeal  association  in  Ireland.  In  this 
capacity  he  strenuously  opposed  the  '  Young 
Ireland '  party,  and  incurred  its  bitter  en- 
mity. Allied  as  he  always  was  with  the 
Roman  catholic  priesthood,  and  trained  too 
in  his  father's  school  of  constitutional  agita- 
tion, he  was  prone  to  detect  and  vehement  in 
denouncing  irreligious  or  lawless  tendencies 
in  the  new  party.  To  the  succession  to  his 
father's  '  uncrowned  kingship '  he  asserted 
almost  dynastic  claims.  The  '  Young  Ire- 
land '  party,  willing  to  defer  to  the  age  and 
genius  of  the  father,  revolted  against  such 
pretensions  on  the  part  of  his  youthful  and 
mediocre  son.  A  bitter  struggle  ensued,  but 
on  his  father's  final  departure  from  Ireland, 
he  succeeded  to  the  control,  and,  on  his  death, 
to  the  titular  leadership,  of  the  association, 
which,  in  his  hands,  declined  so  rapidly  that 
for  want  of  funds  it  was  dissolved  on  6  June 
1848.  He  then  appears  to  have  made  over- 
tures to  the  '  Confederates '  through  William 
Smith  O'Brien  [q.  v.],  but  speedily  withdrew 
from  them.  '  He  was  charged  at  the  moment,' 
says  Duffy,  whose  antagonism  to  him  seems 
to  have  been  extreme,  '  with  being  a  tool  of 
Lord  Clarendon's  to  keep  separate  the  priests 
and  the  "Confederates;"  but  it  is  possible 
that  he  was  merely  influenced  by  doubt  and 
trepidation,  for  his  mind  was  as  unsteady 
as  a  quagmire.'  At  any  rate,  when  the '  Con- 
federates '  attempted  a  rebellion,  he  thought 
it  well  to  retire  for  a  time  to  France. 

When  he  returned,  he  openly  took  the 
side  of  the  whig  party.  He  became  a  cap- 
tain of  militia,  reopened  Conciliation  Hall, 
and,  until  he  sold  it,  held  meetings  in  the 
whig  interest.  His  name  was  still  influen- 
tial with  the  masses,  though  over  the  re- 
peal members  of  parliament  he  had  ceased  to 
exercise  any  control,  in  spite  of  their  elec- 
tion pledges  of  fidelity  to  him ;  and,  aided 
by  the  support  of  several  Roman  catholic 
bishops,  he  carried  on  for  some  time  a  minia- 
ture agitation  under  the  popular  nickname  of 
the  '  Young  Liberator.'  When  the  tenant 
league  was  projected  in  1850  to  start  a  new 
land  agitation,  he  used  his  influence  against 
it;  and  he  gave  great  offence  during  the 
excitement  produced  by  the  Ecclesiastical 
Titles  Bill  by  voting  against  the  motion  with 
regard  to  colonial  policy,  which  led  to  the  fall 
of  Russell's  ministry  in  February  1851.  The 
corporation  of  Limerick  passed  a  resolution  of 
censure  on  their  member,  and  in  August  1851 
he  accepted  the  Chiltern  Hundreds  to  create 
a  vacancy  for  the  Earl  of  Arundel,  who,  in 


consequence  of  the  secession  of  his  father,  the 
Duke  of  Norfolk,  from  the  Roman  faith,  had 
resigned  the  family  borough  of  Arundel  on 
16  July.  On  21  Dec.  1853  he  re-entered  parlia- 
ment as  member  for  Clonmel ;  but  his  position 
in  the  House  of  Commons,  always  insignifi- 
cant, was  now  one  of  obscurity.  In  February 
1867  he  quitted  public  life,  on  receiving  from 
Lord  Carlisle  the  clerkship  of  the  Hanaper 
Office,  Ireland ;  and  on  24  May  1858  he  died 
suddenly  at  his  house,  Gowran  Hill,  Kings- 
town, near  Dublin,where  he  had  lived  for  some 
years,  and  was  buried  in  Glasnevin  cemetery. 
He  published  a  wordy  and  extravagant  'Life 
and  Speeches '  of  his  father  in  1846,  which 
was  republished  in  1854;  and  '  Recollections ' 
of  his  own  parliamentary  career,  a  chatty 
but  unsatisfactory  book,  in  1846,  which  was 
fiercely  attacked  in  the  'Quarterly  Review' 
(Ixxxvi.  128). 

He  married,  on  28  March  1838,  Elizabeth, 
daughter  of  Dr.  Ryan  of  co.  Dublin,  and  by 
her  had  eight  children. 

[John  O'Connell's  Works ;  Fitzpatrick's  Corre- 
spondence by  O'Connell;  Webb's  Compendium 
of  Irish  Biography ;  State  Trials,  new  ser.  vol.  v. ; 
Duffy's  Four  Years  of  Irish  History  and  League 
of  North  and  South.]  J.  A.  H. 

O'CONNELL,  SIR  MAURICE 
CHARLES  (1812-1879),soldier  and  colonial 
statesman,  the  eldest  son  of  General  Sir 
Maurice  Charles  Philip  O'Connell  [q.  v.],  was 
born  in  January  1812  in  Sydney,  New  South 
Wales.  As  an  infant  he  was  taken  from  Syd- 
ney to  Ceylon,  whence,  in  1819,  he  was  sent 
home  to  be  educated,  first  at  Dr.  Pinkney's 
school  at  East  Sheen,  afterwards  at  the  High 
School,  Edinburgh.  Thence  he  went  to 
Dublin  and  Paris,  where  he  was  for  a  time  a 
military  student  at  the  college  of  Charle- 
magne. In  1828  he  entered  the  army  as  an 
ensign  in  the  73rd  regiment  of  foot.  For 
three  years  he  served  in  Gibraltar  and  Malta, 
and  in  1831  went  with  his  regiment  to 
Jersey,  where  he  acted  as  its  adjutant  till 
1835,  being  promoted  lieutenant  on  24  Jan. 
1834.  In  1835  he  obtained  leave  to  raise  in 
Ireland  a  regiment  of  the  British  legion  for 
Spain,  was  placed  on  half-pay  on  24  July, 
and  in  September,  within  seven  weeks  after 
his  marriage,  embarked  with  the  regiment, 
the  10th  Munster  light  infantry,  of  which 
he  had  been  gazetted  lieutenant-colonel,  to 
take  service  under  Queen  Isabella  against 
Don  Carlos.  During  nearly  two  years  he  led 
this  regiment,  fought  several  engagements 
with  the  Carlists,  and  earned  much  distinc- 
tion, becoming  in  turn  colonel  and  deputy 
adjutant-general  of  the  British  legion  and 
general  of  brigade.  On  one  occasion  he  nar- 


O'Connell 


391 


O'Connell 


rowly  escaped  being  entrapped  by  a  guerilla 
party.  In  1837  the  legion  was  disbanded  at 
San  Sebastian,  and  O'Connell  returned  to 
England,  much  disgusted  with  his  treatment 
by  the  Spaniards,  but  decorated  with  the 
orders  of  knight-commander  of  Isabella  the 
Catholic,  knight  of  San  Fernando,  and  knight 
extraordinary  of  Charles  III. 

On  his  return  to  England,  O'Connell  was 
attached  to  the  51st  regiment,  and  on  22  June 
1838  was  appointed  to  be  captain  in  the  28th 
regiment,  which  he  accompanied  to  New 
South  Wales  under  the  command  of  hisfather, 
to  whom  he  now  became  military  secretary. 
When  the  regiment  was  recalled,  he  sold  out 
and  settled  in  New  South  Wales,  his  native 
country,  devoting  himself  to  pastoral  pur- 
suits, and  particularly  to  the  breeding  of 
horses,  upon  which  he  became  one  of  the 
leading  authorities  in  Australia. 

O'Connell  stood  without  success  as  a  can- 
didate for  Sydney  in  the  first  legislative  coun- 
cil in  1843,  but  in  August  1845  was  returned 
for  Port  Phillip.  On  7  Nov.  1848  he  retired 
from  the  legislature  on  being  appointed  a 
commissioner  for  crown  lands  beyond  the 
settled  districts  of  the  colony  in  the  Burnett 
district,  and  in  1853  he  was  requested  to 
undertake  the  settlement  of  Port  Curtis,  of 
which,  in  January  1854,  he  was  appointed 
government  resident,  as  well  as  commissioner 
of  crown  lands  and  police  magistrate.  His 
efforts  were  highly  successful,  but  at  much 
personal  cost  to  himself,  and  in  the  face  of 
considerable  discouragements.  He  was  de- 
prived of  his  post  of  resident  on  the  erection 
of  the  Moreton  Bay  district  into  the  separate 
colony  of  Queensland,  and  his  name  now  be- 
came identified  with  the  political  life  of  the 
new  colony. 

In  1859  he  was  nominated  by  Sir  George 
Bowen  to  be  a  member  of  the  first  legislative 
council  of  Queensland,  and  from  21  May  to 
28  Aug.  was  a  member  of  the  Herbert 
ministry  without  portfolio.  In  1861  he 
became  president  of  the  council,  and  he  con- 
tinued to  hold  that  office  till  his  death.  He 
fulfilled  his  duties  with  invariable  courtesy, 
dignity,  and  impartiality.  He  is  credited 
with  a  prominent  share  in  the  promotion  of 
primary  and  secondary  (grammar  school) 
education,  and  he  urged  the  necessity  of  a 
religious  element  in  the  school  curriculum. 
His  general  tone  of  mind  was  very  conserva- 
tive. 

Four  times  it  fell  to  his  lot,  as  president 
of  the  council,  to  administer  the  government 
of  the  colony  in  the  interregnum  between 
two  governors  :  first,  from  4  Jan.  to  14  Aug. 
1868,  on  the  departure  of  Sir  George  Bowen, 
when  he  entertained  the  Duke  of  Edinburgh ; 


secondly,  from  2  Jan.  to  12  Aug.  1871,  after 
the  death  of  Colonel  Blackall ;  thirdly,  from 
12  Nov.  1874  to  23  Jan.  1875,  after  the  de- 
parture of  the  Marquis  of  Normanby  to  New 
Zealand,  and  again  for  less  than  a  month  in 
1877.  In  1868  he  was  knighted.  On  two 
occasions  O'Connell  felt  called  upon  to  defend 
himself  in  his  place  in  council.  In  1871  he 
was  blamed  outside  for  his  action  in  dis- 
solving parliament  when  acting  as  governor,, 
the  opposition  alleging  that  he  had  been  in- 
duced by  private  reasons  to  play  into  the 
hands  of  the  ministry.  Again,  in  1875,  stric- 
tures were  passed  on  his  presence  at  a  dinner 
to  celebrate  the  centenary  of  the  '  Liberator's' 
birth,  where  the  toast  of  the  pope  was  per- 
mitted to  take  precedence  of  that  of  the 
queen,  but  he  explained  that  he  had  no  pre- 
vious knowledge  that  this  would  happen, 
and  expressed  his  opinion  that  Roman  catho- 
lics were  ill-advised  to  adopt  the  course  in 
question.  He  was  himself  a  member  of  the 
church  of  England. 

O'Connell  died  on  23  March  1879,  and  was 
awarded  a  public  funeral.  He  had  for  some 
years  depended  only  on  his  official  income, 
having  been  obliged  to  part  with  the  last 
portion  of  his  estates  in  1867.  His  widow 
was  left  penniless,  and  the  Queensland  par- 
liament voted  her  an  annual  pension.  In 
1878  the  legislative  council  had  presented 
him  with  his  bust,  which  now  stands  in  the 
council  chamber.  He  was  provincial  grand 
master  of  the  freemasons  of  the  Irish  con- 
stitution, and  was  also  colonel-commandant 
of  the  Queensland  volunteers. 

O'Connell  married,  in  Jersey,  on  23  July 
1835,  Eliza  Emmeline,  daughter  of  Colonel 
Philip  le  Geyt  of  the  63rd  regiment.  He  died 
childless. 

[Queensland  Courier  of  24  March,  in  an  article 
largely  derived  'from  SirMaurice  and  his  family;' 
Army  Lists;  Queensland  Parliamentary  De- 
bates.] C.  A.  H. 

O'CONNELL,  SIB  MAURICE 
CHARLES  PHILIP  (d.  1848),  lieutenant- 
general,  was  son  of  Charles  Philip  O'Connell, 
a  younger  son  of  John  O'Connell  of  Ballina- 
bloun.  A  tall,  strapping,  penniless  lad,  the 
son  of  a  younger  son,  he  appears,  like  others 
of  his  relatives,  to  have  been  dependent  on 
the  bounty  of  his  kinsman,  Count  Daniel 
O'Connell  [q.  v.],  of  the  Irish  brigade.  I  It- 
was  at  first  intended  for  the  Roman  catholic 
priesthood.  '  He  has  been  here  two  or  three 
years  on  one  of  Dr.  Council's  bursaries,  and 
now  declines  the  church,'  the  count  writes  of 
him  from  Paris  in  1784  (MRS.  O'CoxM:u.. 
Last  Colonel  of  thf  Irish  Brigade,  ii.  34). 
The  lad  wished  to  study  physic.  In  1785 


O'Connell 


392 


O'Connell 


the  count  writes  quite  jubilantly  :  '  Charles 
Philip's  son  is  provided  for.  I  have  sent  him 
down  to  his  colledge.  I  have  properly  rigged 
him  out,  and  given  him  ten  guineas  to  de- 
fray his  journey  and  first  expenses,  and  have 
mentioned  him  to  his  superiors,  who  are  all 
my  friends '  ($.)  Presumably  this  was  a 
military  college.  In  1792  he  was  serving  as 
a  captain  in  the  French  emigrants  with  the 
Duke  of  Brunswick  on  the  French  frontier. 
When  the  Irish  brigade  was  taken  into  Bri- 
tish pay  he  was  appointed  captain  in  Count 
Daniel  O'Connell's  regiment,  the  4th  regi- 
ment of  the  Irish  brigade,  from  1  Oct.  1794, 
and  served  with  it  in  the  West  Indies  until 
it  was  broken  up  and  he  was  put  on  half-pay. 
He  obtained  a  company  in  the  1st  West 
India  regiment  on  12  May  1800,  and  served 
with  it  at  St.  Lucia,  and  was  afterwards 
brigade-major  at  Surinam  until  the  colony 
was  given  up  at  the  peace  of  Amiens.  In  May 
1803  he  was  detached  with  five  companies  to 
Grenada,  and  went  thence  with  the  whole  of 
his  regiment  to  Dominica.  He  commanded  the 
light  company  and  a  party  of  the  46th  when 
a  much  superior  French  force  attacked  Le 
Roseau,  but  were  defeated,  on  22  Feb.  1805. 
He  was  made  brevet  major  on  1  June  1805, 
and  appointed  brigade-major  in  Dominica, 
and  afterwards  major  in  the  old  5th  West 
India  regiment.  He  received  the  thanks  of 
the  House  of  Assembly,  and  was  presented 
by  it  with  a  sword  of  the  value  of  one 
hundred  guineas.  He  also  was  presented 
with  a  valuable  sword  by  the  Patriotic  So- 
ciety at  Lloyd's.  On  15  Oct.  1806  he  was 
appointed  major  in  the  73rd  foot,  of  which 
he  became  lieutenant-colonel  on  4  May  1809. 
He  landed  in  Sydney  that  year  with  the  1st 
battalion  73rd,  bringing  with  him  a  com- 
mission to  act  as  lieutenant-governor  of  New 
South  Wales  and  its  dependencies.  He  re- 
mained there  until  1814,  when  the  battalion 
was  ordered  to  Ceylon.  He  commanded  it 
during  the  war  in  Kandy  in  1815.  He  re- 
tired on  half-pay  on  the  return  home  of  the 
regiment.  He  became  a  major-general  on 
22  July  1830,  was  knighted  and  made  K.C.H. 
in  1834,  became  a  lieutenant-general  9  Nov. 
1841,  and  was  appointed  colonel  80th  foot 
in  1844.  He  returned  to  New  South  Wales 
in  1838  as  major-general  commanding  the 
forces,  which  post  he  held  until  relieved  by 
Major-general  AVynyard.  He  administered 
the  government  from  12  July  to  2  Aug. 
1846.  Thenceforth,  although  he  remained 
in  the  colony  and  was  very  popular,  he  took 
no  active  part  in  public  affairs.  He  died  at 
Sydney  on  25  May  1848. 

Soon  after  his    first   arrival   in   Sydney 
O'Connell  married  MaryPutland,the  widowed 


daughter  of  the  deposed  governor  Bligh  [see 
BLIGH,  WILLIAM],  by  whom  he  had  two 
sons  and  one  daughter.  The  elder  son  was 
the  well-known  Australian  statesman,  Sir 
Maurice  Charles  O'Connell  [q.  v.]  Lady 
O'ConneU  died  in  1864. 

[Mrs.  O'Connell's  Last  Colonel  of  the  Irish 
Brigade,  vol.  ii. ;  Army  Lists ;  Ellis's  Hist. 
1st  West  Indian  Regiment  ;  Cannon's  Hist. 
Records  of  Brit.  Army,  46th  and  73rd  Regiments; 
Gent.  Mag.  1848,  pt.  ii.  p.  543;  Heaton's  Diet. 
Australian  Biography.]  H.  M.  C. 

O'CONNELL,  MORGAN  (1804-1885), 
politician,  second  son  of  Daniel  O'Connell 
(1775-1847)  [q.  v.],  was  born  at  30  Merrion 
Square,  Dublin,  31  Oct.  1804.  In  1819 
General  Devereux  came  to  Dublin  to  enlist 
military  aid  for  Bolivia.  He  succeeded  in 
embodying  the  Irish  South  American  legion, 
and  O'Connell  was  one  of  the  officers  who 
purchased  a  commission  in  it.  The  enter- 
prise was  mismanaged ;  there  was  no  com- 
missariat organisation  on  board  the  ships, 
and  a  part  of  the  force  died  on  the  voyage. 
The  remainder  were  disembarked  on  the 
Spanish  main  at  Santa  Margarita,  where 
many  deaths  took  place  from  starvation.  A 
portion  of  the  expedition,  under  Feargus 
O'Connor,  effected  a  junction  with  Bolivar, 
and  to  the  energy  of  these  allies  the  repub- 
lican successes  were  chiefly  due.  O'Connell 
returned  to  Ireland  after  a  few  years,  but 
only  again  to  seek  foreign  service  in  the 
Austrian  army. 

On  19  Dec.  1832  he  entered  parliament  in 
the  liberal  interest,  as  one  of  the  members 
for  Meath,  and  continued  to  represent  that 
constituency  till  January  1840,  when  he 
was  appointed  first  assistant-registrar  of 
deeds  for  Ireland,  at  a  salary  of  1,200/.  a 
year,  a  place  which  he  held  till  1868.  In  poli- 
tics he  was  never  in  perfect  accord  with  his 
father,  and  his  retirement  from  parliament 
was  probably  caused  by  his  inability  to 
accept  the  repeal  movement.  During  his 
parliamentary  career  he  fought  a  duel  with 
William,  second  baron  Alvanley,  a  lieu- 
tenant-colonel in  the  army,  at  Chalk  Farm, 
on  4  May  1835.  A  challenge  had  been  sent 
by  Alvanley  to  O'Connell's  father,  who,  in 
accordance  with  a  vow  he  had  made  after 
shooting  D'Esterre,  declined  the  meeting. 
Morgan  thereupon  took  up  the  challenge. 
Two  shots  each  were  exchanged,  but  no  one 
was  hurt.  He  afterwards,  in  December 
1835,  received  a  challenge  from  Benjamin 
Disraeli,  in  consequence  of  an  attack  made 
on  Disraeli  by  Morgan's  father.  Morgan 
declined  to  meet  Disraeli.  Morgan  O'Connell 
died  at  12  St.  Stephen's  Green,  Dublin,  20  Jan. 
1885,  and  was  buried  in  Glasnevin  cemetery 


O'Connell 


393 


O'Connor 


on  23  Jan.  He  married,  on  23  July  1840, 
Kate  Mary,  youngest  daughter  of  Michael 
Balfe  of  South  Park,  co.  Koscommon. 

[Hitchman's  Public  Life  of  the  Earl  of  Beacons- 
field,  1881,  pp.  47-55  ;  Greville's  Memoirs,  1874, 
iii.  256-7;  Times,  5  May  1835  p.  4.  31  Dec. 
1835  p.  5,  and  22,  23,  24  Jan.  1885;  Freeman's 
Journal,  21  Jan.  1885  p.  5,  24  Jan.  p.  6 ;  Burke's 
Landed  Gentry,  1894,  i.  79;  cf.  art.  C-'COXNELL, 
DANIEL,  the  '  Liberator.']  G.  C.  B. 

O'CONNELL,  MORITZ,  BARON  O'CON- 
NELL (1740  P-1830),  Austrian  officer,  son  of 
O'Connell  of  Tarmon,  co.  Kerry,  and  his 
wife,  the  sister  of  Murty  Oge  O'Sullivan 
Beare  ('  Murty  Oge '  of  Froude),  was  born 
about  1 740,  and  christened  Murty  (ratfeMuir- 
cheartach),  which  he  subsequently  changed 
to  Moritz,  as  better  suited  to  German  or- 
thography. He  was  cousin  and  the  life- 
long friend  of  Daniel,  count  O'Connell  [q.  v.] 
The  young  kinsmen  went  to  the  continent 
together  in  1762,  and  served  the  last  two 
campaigns  of  the  seven  years'  war  on  oppo- 
site sides,  Murty  as  an  Austrian  officer  in 
Marshal  Daun's  regiment  of  horse.  He  at- 
tracted the  notice  of  the  Empress  Maria 
Theresa,  who  soon  transferred  him  from  his 
military  duties  to  the  imperial  chamberlain's 
department.  He  held  the  office  of  imperial 
chamberlain  for  fifty-nine  years,  under  the 
Emperors  Joseph,  Leopold,  and  Francis. 
O'Connell's  letters  in  the  second  decade  of  the 
present  century  show  that  by  that  time  he  had 
been  created  a  baron,  and  attained  the  rank 
of  general  in  the  Austrian  army.  He  had 
married  and  had  a  daughter,  as  much  trouble 
appears  to  have  been  taken  to  establish  the 
'  sixteen  quarterings '  required  to  qualify  her 
for  an  appointment  about  the  imperial  court. 
O'Connell  died  in  Vienna,  early  in  1830,  in 
his  ninety-second  year,  leaving  his  property 
to  a  kinsman,  Geoffrey  O'Connell  of  Cork. 

[Information  and  letters  to  Count  Daniel 
O'Connell  in  Mrs.  O'Connell's  Last  Colonel  of 
the  Irish  Brigade,  London,  1892  ;  Ann.  Reg. 
1831,  Appendix  to  Chronicle,  pp.  254-5.] 

H.  M.  C. 

O'CONNELL,  PETER  (1746-1826),  Irish 
lexicographer,  was  born  in  1746  at  Carne,  co. 
Clare.  He  became  a  schoolmaster,  and  gave 
his  spare  time  to  the  study  of  Irish  manu- 
scripts and  to  the  preparation  of  an  Irish  dic- 
tionary. He  was,  of  course,  thoroughly  versed 
in  the  spoken  language,  and  became  deeply 
learned  in  the  older  literary  forms.  He  tra- 
velled about  Ireland,  and  paid  a  long  visit  to 
Charles  O'Conor(1710-1791)[q.  v.l  at  Belana- 
gare.  In  1812  a  Dr.  O'Reardon  of  Limerick, 
who  cared  for  Irish  studies,  gave  him  a  home 
in  his  house  and  helped  him  in  every  way. 
O'Connell's '  Dictionary,'  which  he  had  begun 


in  1785,  was  complete  in  1819 ;  but,  unfortu- 
nately, he  had  a  difference  with  Dr.  O'Rear- 
don as  to  the  method  of  publication,  left  his 
house,  and  carried  the  manuscript,  and  many 
others  which  he  had  collected,  to  the  house 
of  his  brother  Patrick  at  Carne.  This  brother 
died  in  1824,  and  as  the  lexicographer  had 
been  able  to  find  no  means  of  publication, 
he  sent  his  nephew,  Anthony  O'Connell,  to 
Daniel  O'Connell,  the  '  Liberator '  [q.  v.]  of 
Tralee,  at  the  time  of  the  assizes,  hoping  that 
the  great  politician,  who  was  an  orator  in 
Irish  as  well  as  in  English,  would  aid  the 
publication  of  the  work.  O'Connell  declined, 
whereupon  Anthony  O'Connell  pledged  the 
manuscript  in  Tralee.  Eugene  O'Curry 
[q.  v.]  made  efforts  to  recover  it,  but  it  be- 
came the  property  of  James  Hardiman  [q.  v.], 
who  sold  it  and  other  Irish  manuscripts  to 
the  British  Museum.  O'Connell's  manuscript 
lexicon,  which  is  of  much  philological  value, 
is  numbered  Egerton  83,  and  is  much  con- 
sulted by  editors  of  Irish  texts.  It  consists 
of  330  leaves,  and  is  written  in  English  charac- 
ters. Standish  H.  O'Grady  has  pointed  out 
that  the  infixed  pronoun  in  Irish,  of  which  the 
discovery  has  sometimes  been  attributed  to 
J.C.Zeuss  (Grammatica  Celtica,  bk.  ii.  c.  iv.), 
is  clearly  noticed  and  explained  under  the  ar- 
ticles '  rom,' '  ron,' '  ros,' '  rot,'  by  Peter  O'Con- 
nell. Three  later  manuscript  copies  of  this 
dictionary  exist :  one  in  the  British  Museum 
(Egerton  84  and  85),  made  by  John  O'Dono- 
van  [q.  v.] ;  one  in  Trinity  College,  Dublin 
(H.  6.  25.  26),  copied  from  O'Donovan's 
copy ;  and  one  in  the  Royal  Irish  Academy, 
copied  from  the  Trinity  College  copy.  Eugene 
O'Curry  and  his  brother  Malachi  both  re- 
ceived instruction  from  O'Connell,  and  he 
was  often  a  guest  at  their  father's  house  at 
Dunaha,  co.  Clare,  which  is  about  ten  miles 
from  Carne. 

[O'Curry's  manuscript  Catalogue  of  Irish 
Manuscripts  in  British  Museum ;  Hardiman'8 
manuscript  note  in  Egerton  83  in  Brit.  Mus. ; 
S.  H.  O'Grady's  Catalogue  of  Irish  Manuscripts 
in  the  British  Museum;  Egerton  83.]  N.  M. 

O'CONNOR.     [See  also  O'CoNOK.] 

O'CONNOR,  AEDH  (d.  1067),  king  of 
Connaught,  called  by  Irish  historians '  an  gha 
bhearnaigh '('  of  the  clipped  spear '),  was  son  of 
Tadhg  an  eich  ghill  [see  O'CONNOR,  CATHAL], 
and  first  appears  in  the  chronicles  in  1036, 
when  he  slew  Maeleachlainn,lord  of  Creamh- 
thaine,  in  revenge  for  the  death  of  his  father 
and  brother  by  the  hand  of  that  chief.  The 
O'Rourkes  contended  with  him  for  the  king- 
ship of  Connaught,  and  in  1039  he  defeated 
them  and  slew  their  chief,  Donnchadh 
the  red;  but  in  1044  they  inflicted  a  still 


O'Connor 


394 


O'Connor 


more  severe  defeat  on  him,  and  he  was 
again  defeated  by  a  lesser  chief,  O'Mael- 
doraigh,  in  1051.  He  had  before  held  as  a 
prisoner  Amhalghaidh  O'Flaherty,  king  of 
West  Connaught,  whom  he  blinded  in  this 
year,  and  secured  himself  from  his  foes  of 
East  Connaught  at  Inis  Creamha,  on  the 
east  side  of  Loch  Orbsen.  He  thence  made 
an  expedition  against  the  Conmaicne,  a  tribe 
situated  near  Slieve  Formaeile,  co.  Roscom- 
mon,  and  an  expedition  into  Clare,  when  he 
cut  down  the  tree  of  assembly  of  the  O'Briens 
at  Moyre,  then  called  Aenach  Maighe  Adhair. 
He  again  plundered  the  Conmaicne  in  1052, 
and  Clare  in  1054  and  1059,  when  he  re- 
ceived the  submission  of  the  chief  of  the 
O'Briens.  In  1061  he  is  first  mentioned  by 
his  cognomen,  no  explanation  of  which  is 
given  in  the  best  known  chronicles.  He 
sacked  Cenncoradh,  O'Brien's  fortress  on  the 
Shannon,  and  burnt  the  neighbouring  town 
of  Killaloe.  Solitary  trout  in  wells  or 
isolated  pools  are  still  regarded  with  vene- 
ration by  the  Irish  in  remote  parts,  and  in 
1061  O'Brien  had  two  salmon  in  the  well 
of  Cenncoradh,  which,  by  way  of  insult, 
O'Connor  caught  and  ate.  "While  he  was 
on  the  Shannon,  O'Flaherty  attacked  and 
destroyed  his  stronghold  on  Loch  Orbsen; 
but  when  O'Connor  returned  he  routed  the 
O'Flahertys,  slew  their  chief,  and  carried  his 
head  to  Rathcroghan  in  Roscomrnon.  In 
the  next  year  he  defeated  the  Clan  Coscraigh, 
a  tribe  settled  to  the  east  of  Galway  Bay. 
In  1063  Ardgar  MacLochlainn,  king  of 
Ailech,unvaded  Connaught,  and  both  O'Con- 
nor and  his  rival  O'Rourke  were  obliged  to 
give  him  hostages  and  admit  his  supremacy. 
O'Connor  had  hidden  his  treasure  and  jewels 
in  the  cave  of  Aille  in  the  parish  of  Agha- 
gower,  co.  Mayo ;  but  his  old  enemies,  the 
Conmaicne,  slew  the  guard  and  sacked  the 
cave ;  but  in  1065  he  defeated  them  and  their 
allies,  the  Ui  Maine,  under  Tadhg  O'Kelly, 
at  Clonfert,  and  killed  O'Kelly's  sons  and 
grandson  some  time  after  the  battle.  He  soon 
after  defeated  and  slew  Duarcan  O'Heolusa, 
chief  of  Muinter  Eoluis,  co.  Leitrim.  In 
1066  he  was  concerned  in  the  murder  of  the 
heir^of  O'Muiregain,  chief  of  Teffia,  co.  West- 
meath,  a  connection  by  marriage  of  his  own, 
and  it  was  perhaps  in  consequence  of  this 
outrage  that  he  was  attacked  in  1067  by 
Dermot,  son  of  Maelnambo,  king  of  Leinster, 
and  by  the  O'Briens.  He  had  some  success 
at  first,  and  slew  O'Connor  Kerry ;  but  in  a 
battle  near  Oranmore,  co.  Galway,  in  which 
he  was  attacked  by  O'Rourke,  he  and  many 
of  his  followers  were  slain.  In  a  verse 
which  preserves  the  date  he  is  called  '  ri 
Connacht,'  king  of  Connaught,  and  he  was 


undoubtedly  the  heir  to  that  kingship,  but 
exercised  its  rights  without  dispute  for  a 
very  short  part  of  his  life,  and  never  seems 
to  have  received  the  formal  submission  of 
all  Connaught.  He  had  five  sons — Murehadh, 
slain  in  1070 ;  Roderic  or  Ruaidhri  [q.  v.] 
'  na  soighe  buidh,'  or  '  of  the  yellow  hound,' 
who  became  king  of  Connaught,  and  died  in 
1118;  Cathal ;  Tadhg,  slain  in  1062  by  Aedh 
O'Flaherty  ;  Aedh,  who  had  two  sons,  Cathal 
and  Tadhg — and  one  daughter,  Aoibhean, 
who  married  O'Muiregain,  and  died  in  1066. 
[Annala  Kioghachta  Eireann,  ed.  O'Donovan, 
vol.  ii. ;  Genealogies,  Tribes,  and  Customs  of 
Hy  Fiachrach,  ed.  O'Donovan,  Dublin,  1844; 
Tribes  and  Customs  of  Hy-Many,  ed.  O'Do- 
novan, Dublin,  1843 ;  A  Chorographical  De- 
scription of  West  or  H-Iar  Connaught,  by 
Koderic  O'Flaherty,  ed.  Hardiman,  Dublin, 
1846.]  N.  M. 

O'CONNOR,    ARTHUR    (1763-1852), 

Irish  rebel,  was  born  on  4  July  1763  at 
Mitchelstown,  co.  Cork,  of  a  well-to-do  pro- 
testant  family.  His  father,  Roger  Connor, 
was  a  large  landed  proprietor.  His  mother 
was  Anne,  daughter  of  Robert  Longfield, 
M.P.  (1688-1765),  and  sister  of  Richard 
Longfield,  created  Viscount  Longueville  in 
1800.  Roger  O'Connor  [q.  v.]  was  his  brother. 
Arthur,  after  attending  schools  nearLismore 
and  at  Castlelyons,  entered  Trinity  College, 
Dublin,  in  1779,  as  a  fellow-commoner,  under 
the  name  of  Connor,  and  graduated  B.A.  in 
1782.  In  Michaelmas  term  1788  he  was 
called  to  the  Irish  bar,  but  never  attempted 
to  practise.  In  1791  his  uncle,  Richard 
Longfield,  afterwards  Lord  Longueville, 
whose  heir  he  was,  procured  him  a  seat  in 
the  Irish  parliament  as  member  for  Philips- 
town.  The  French  revolution  had  turned 
O'Connor  into  a  republican.  In  parliament 
he  manifested  very  liberal  sentiments,  and 
strongly  supported  the  catholics.  He  de- 
clared that  his  views  were  well  known  to  his 
uncle,  and  were  not  resented  by  him.  After 
an  eloquent  speech  in  the  house  on  4  May 
1795,  in  which  he  strongly  supported  the 
catholic  claims,  he  resigned  his  seat.  It  is 
improbably  said  that  Pitt  was  so  impressed 
by  O'Connor's  oration  that  he  offered  him 
an  important  government  post  (MADDEN, 
United  Irishmen,  ii.  233). 

In  1796  O'Connor  joined  the  'United  Irish- 
men,' but  took  no  oath,  and,  with  Lord  Ed- 
ward Fitzgerald,  formed  the  first  '  Leinster 
Directory.  In  February  1797  he  was  ar- 
rested on  a  charge  of  seditious  libel,  and  was 
imprisoned  for  six  months  in  Dublin  Castle. 
On  his  release  he  became  chief  editor  of  the 
newly  started  '  Press,'  the  organ  of  the 
United  Irishmen,  and  he  was  appointed  one 


O'Connor 


395 


O'Connor 


of  the  executive  of  the  United  Irishmen,  but 
resigned  in  1798.  Going  to  England,  he  was 
arrested  at  Margate  with  the  Rev.  James 
O'Coigly,  John  Binns  [q.  v.],  and  others.  In 
May  he  was  brought  to  trial  at  Maidstone  for 
high  treason,  and  many  notable  leaders  of  the 
English  opposition,  including  Fox,  Sheridan, 
Erskine,  Moira,  and  the  Duke  of  Norfolk, 
appeared  as  witnesses  in  his  favour.  He 
was  acquitted,  but  was  at  once  rearrested  on 
another  charge.  An  abortive  attempt  was 
made  to  rescue  him,  and  the  Earl  of  Thanet 
and  an  abettor  were  imprisoned  for  the  ex- 
ploit. His  well-known  connection  with  the 
'  Press '  rendered  him  very  obnoxious  to  the 
English  government,  and  it  was  established 
that  he  had  negotiated  with  Hoche  on  the 
French  frontier,.  He  was  consequently  kept 
in  prison  with  other  state  prisoners.  He 
consented  during  1799  to  give  the  govern- 
ment information  of  the  nature  and  extent 
of  the  Irish  conspiracy,  without  implicating 
persons ;  and  he  gave  important  evidence  in 
his  examination  before  the  House  of  Lords. 
O'Connor  and  his  fellow-prisoners,  how- 
ever, strongly  protested  against  the  published 
report  of  this  examination,  and  denied  its 
accuracy.  They  were  therefore  not  released, 
but  were  despatched  to  Fort  George  in  Scot- 
land in  April  1799.  On  his  way  thither 
he  distributed  among  his  fellow-prisoners  a 
curious  poem,  which  has  been  often  re- 
printed. It  bears  two  senses,  and  may  be 
read  by  taking  the  lines  alternately  either 
as  a  loyal  or  disloyal  effusion.  In  June  1803 
he  was  liberated  and  sent  to  France. 

O'Connor  on  his  arrival  in  France  had 
interviews  with  Bonaparte,  and  was  treated 
as  an  accredited  agent  of  the  Irish  revolu- 
tionists during  Emmet's  rebellion.  Though 
Napoleon  disliked  O'Connor's  blunt  manner 
and  straightforwardness,  he  appointed  him 
on  29  Feb.  1804  a  general  of  division,  chiefly, 
it  appears,  because  O'Connor  had  lost  his 
property  in  Ireland.  He  was  never  em- 
ployed in  active  service,  and  '  was  the  only 
superior  officer  in  France  who  had  not  been 
decorated  with  the  cross  of  the  Legion  of 
Honour'  (Reminiscences  of  an  Emigrant 
Milesian,  by  Andrew  O'Reilly,  i.  219).  He 
married  in  1807  Eliza  de  Condorcet,the  only 
daughter  of  the  philosopher,  and  in  1808 
bought  some  property  at  Bignon  which  had 
belonged  to  Mirabeau.  For  the  rest  of  his 
life  he  took  little  part  in  public  affairs  be- 
yond editing  a  paper  of  advanced  religious 
opinions—'  Journal  de  la  LibertS  Religieuse ' 
—and  publishing  a  few  books.  He  became 
a  naturalised  Frenchman  in  1818,  and  died 
at  Bignon  on  25  April  1852. 

O'Connor,  unlike  the  Emmets  and  Lord 


Edward  Fitzgerald,  was  little  of  an  enthu- 
siast. He  was  ill-tempered,  cynical,  and 
harshly  critical  of  others.  He  frequently  quar- 
relled with  his  associates,  and  on  one  occa- 
sion was  challenged  by  Thomas  Addis  Em- 
met [q.  v.l,  whose  memory  he  slandered  in  his 
work  on  'Monopoly.'  He  disliked  McNevin 
and  William  Lawless,  who  reciprocated  his 
enmity ;  and  in  his  later  years  was  furiously 
opposed  to  O'Connell  and  the  priests.  His 
early  sympathies  with  the  catholics  were 
inspired  by  his  political  views.  Though  of 
a  very  suspicious  and  churlish  disposition, 
his  ability  was  notable,  as  his  writings  and 
speeches  testify. 

His  published  works  are  :  1 .  '  The  Mea- 
sures of  a  Ministry  to  prevent  a  Revolution 
are  the  certain  Means  of  bringing  it  on,'  by 
'  A  Stoic,'  Cork,  1794.  2.  '  Speech  on  the 
Catholic  Question,  May  4th,'  8vo,  1795. 

3.  ' Letter  to  the  Earl  of  Carlisle,'  8vo,  1795. 

4.  'Address  to  the  Free   Electors  of  the 
County  of  Antrim,'  8vo,  1796.     5.  Another 
address  to  the  same,  8vo,  1797.     6.  '  State 
of  Ireland,'  8vo,  1798.     7.  '  Letter  to  Lord 
Castlereaghfrom  Prison,' 8vo,  1798.  8.  'Let- 
ter to  Lord  Camden,'  8vo,  1798.     9.  '  Etat 
actuel  de  la  Grande  Bretagne,'  8vo,  1804  (an 
English  version  appearing  also).  10.  '  Letter 
to  General  Lafayette,'  8vo,  1831.  11.  'Mono- 
poly the  Cause  of  all  Evil,'  8vo,  1848  ;  trans- 
lated as '  Le  Monopole  cause  de  tous  les  Maux,' 
3  vols.  8vo,  1849-60.  With  Arago,  he  edited 
'The  Works  of  Condorcet,' 12  vols.  1847-9. 

[BiographieGenerale,  xxxviii.  451-4 ;  Webb's 
Compendium  of  Irish  Biography,  pp.  383-4 ; 
Madden's  United  Irishmen,  2nd  sen.  ii.  289- 
324  ;  Byrne's  Memoirs,  iii.  11-12  ;  Biographical 
Anecdotes  of  the  Founders  of  the  late  Irish 
Rebellion,  by  a  Candid  Observer,  1799,  pp.  38- 
43;  Lecky's  Hist,  of  Ireland  in  the  Eighteenth 
Century,  vols.  iii.  iv. ;  Public  Characters  of  all 
Nations,  1823,  iii.  41-42;  Ann.  Beg.  1795; 
Moore's  Life  of  Lord  Edward  Fitzgerald ;  Biogr. 
Diet,  of  Living  Authors,  1816  ;  Fitzpatrick's  Se- 
cret Service  under  Pitt;  Brit.  Mus.  Cat.;  au- 
thoritres  cited  in  text.]  D.  J-  O'D. 

O'CONNOR,  BERNARD  (1666P-1698), 
physician  and  historian.  [See  CONNOR.] 

O'CONNOR,  BRIAN    or   BERNARD 

(1490  P-1560  ?),  more  properly  known  as 
BRIAN  O'CoNOR  FALY,  captain  of  Offaly ,  eldest 
son  of  Cahir  O'Conor  Faly,  succeeded  to  the 
lordship  of  Offaly  on  the  death  of  his  father 
in  1511.  The  importance  of  the  clan,  of  which 
he  was  chief,  dates  from  the  decline  of  the 
English  authority  in  Ireland  at  the  beginning 
of  the  fifteenth  century.  Bv  the  beginning  of 
the  sixteenth  century  the  O'Conors  had  suc- 
ceeded in  extending  their  dominion  over  the 


O'Connor 


396 


O'Connor 


Irish  westward  as  far  as  the  Shannon,  while 
the  extent  of  their  power  in  the  direction  of 
the  English  Pale  may  be  estimated  from 
the  fact  that  the  inhabitants  of  Meath  con- 
sented to  pay  them  a  yearly  tribute  or  black- 
rent  of  300/.,  and  those  of  Kildare  2QL,  in 
order  to  secure  immunity  from  their  attacks. 
In  1520,  when  the  Earl  of  Surrey  was  ap- 
pointed lord  lieutenant,  Brian  O'Conor  was 
at  the  height  of  his  power.  Being  allied  to 
the  house  of  Kildare  he  was  naturally  op- 
posed to  Henry's  project  of  governing  Ireland 
independently  of  that  noble  family,  and  in 
June  1521  he  joined  with  O'More  and  O'Carrol 
in  an  attack  on  the  Pale.  Surrey  at  once  re- 
taliated by  ravaging  his  territory  and  captur- 
ing his  stronghold,  Monasteroris.  O'Conor 
for  some  time  refused  to  listen  to  peace  on 
any  terms,  but  he  eventually  submitted,  and 
his  castle  of  Monasteroris  was  restored  to  him. 
On  the  departure  of  Surrey  things  reverted 
to  their  old  condition.  During  the  detention 
of  Gerald  Fitzgerald,  ninth  earl  of  Kildare 
[q.  v.],  in  England  in  1528,  the  vice-deputy, 
Richard  Nugent,  seventh  baron  Delviu  [q.  v.], 
made  an  unwise  attempt  to  withhold  from 
him  his  customary  black-rents  out  of  Meath. 
O'Conor  resented  the  attempt,  and  having  in- 
veigled the  vice-deputy  to  the  borders  of 
Offaly,  on  pretence  of  parleying  with  him, 
he  took  him  prisoner  on  12  May,  and  flatly 
refused  to  surrender  him  until  his  demands 
were  conceded.  The  Earl  of  Ossory  made 
an  unsuccessful  effort  to  procure  his  release  by 
intriguing  with  O'Conor's  brother  Cahir,  and 
Delvin  remained  a  prisoner  till  early  in  the 
following  year.  In  consequence  of  secret  in- 
structions from  the  Earl  of  Kildare,  who  re- 
pined at  his  detention  in  England,  O'Conor 
in  the  autumn  invaded  the  Pale,  but  shortly 
after  the  earl's  restoration  he  was  pardoned. 
When  Kildare's  son,  '  Silken  Thomas '  [see 
FITZGERALD,  THOMAS,  LORD  OFFALY,  tenth 
EARL  OF  KILDARE],  took  up  arms  in  1534  to 
avenge  his  father's  supposed  death,  O'Conor 
•was  one  of  his  staunchest  allies ;  and  it  was 
from  O'Conor's  castle  that  he  addressed  his 
fatal  offer  of  submission  to  Lord  Leonard 
Grey.  Through  the  treachery  of  his  brother 
Cahir,  O'Conor  was  compelled  to  submit  to 
Skeffington  in  August  1535,  and  he  gave 
pledges  for  the  payment  of  a  fine  of  eight 
hundred  head  of  cattle.  He  revenged  himself 
by  expelling  Cahir  from  Offaly,  but  more  than 
a  year  elapsed  without  any  attempt  on  his 

S.rt  to  redeem  his  pledges.  Accordingly  in 
ay  1537  Grey  invaded  his  country,  and, 
having  forced  him  to  fly,  appointed  Cahir 
lord  of  Offaly  in  his  stead.  For  a  time 
O'Conor  found  shelter  with  his  kinsman 
O'Carrol ;  but  when  O'Carrol  was  in  turn 


compelled  to  submit,  he  came  to  Grey  on  a 
safe-conduct,  and  promised,  if  he  was  re- 
stored, not  merely  to  forbear  his  black-rents, 
but  also  '  to  yelde  out  of  his  countrie  a 
certen  sum  yerely  to  His  Grace.'  Grey 
was  unable  to  grant  his  request,  but  he 
allowed  him  to  redeem  his  son,  who  was  one 
of  his  pledges,  for  three  hundred  marks. 
Though  '  more  lyker  a  begger  then  he  that 
ever  was  a  captayn  or  ruler  of  a  contre,' 
'  goyng  from  on  to  another  of  hys  olde  fryndes 
to  have  mete  and  drynke,'  O'Conor  was  not 
subdued.  With  the  assistance  of  his  secret 
friends  he  invaded  Offaly  at  the  beginning 
of  October '  with  a  great  number  of  horsemen, 
gallowglasses,  and  kerns,'  and  forcibly  ex- 
pelled his  brother.  Grey  at  once  marched 
against  him,  but,  in  consequence  of  recent 
floods,  was  for  some  time  unable  to  enter 
Offaly.  In  November  the  rain  subsided ;  but 
O'Conor  had  already  escaped  into  O'Doyne's 
country,  and  thence  into  Ely  O'Carrol.  After 
destroying  an  immense  quantity  of  corn  and 
robbing  the  abbey  of  Killeigh,  Grey  returned 
to  Dublin.  O'Conor  offered  to  submit,  and  a 
safe-conduct  was  sent  him :  but  he  had  by 
that  time  come  to  terms  with  his  brother 
Cahir,  and,  at  his  suggestion,  retracted  his 
submission.  Once  more  Grey  invaded  Offaly, 
but  he  yielded  to  O'Conor's  solicitation  for 
a  parley ;  and  on  2  March  1538  O'Conor  made 
full  and  complete  submission,  promising  for 
the  future  to  behave  as  a  loyal  subject,  to  pay 
a  yearly  rent  of  three  shillings  and  fourpence 
per  plowland  to  the  crown,  to  renounce  the 
pope,  and  to  abstain  from  levying  black-rents 
in  the  Pale.  Four  days  later  he  renewed  his 
submission  before  the  council  in  Dublin,  and 
preferred  a  request  that  he  might  be  created 
baron  of  Offaly,  that  such  lands  as  he  pos- 
sessed '  per  partitionem,  more  patrie,'  might 
be  confirmed  to  him  and  his  heirs,  and  that 
his  brother  and  other  landowners  in  Offaly 
might  be  placed  on  the  same  footing.  He 
was  pardoned,  but  his  requests  were  appa- 
rently ignored. 

For  some  time  he  remained  quiet,  but  in 
1540  he  was  implicated  in  a  plot  for  the  re- 
storation by  force  of  Gerald  Fitzgerald,  the 
young  heir  to  the  earldom  of  Kildare,  and  in 
April  and  May  frequently  invaded  the  Pale. 
Lord  Justice  Brereton  retaliated  by  plunder- 
ing Offaly,  but  owing  to  the  menacing  atti- 
tude of  O'Donnell  and  O'Neill,  he  accepted 
O'Conor's  offer  to  abide  by  his  indentures, 
and  concluded  peace  with  him.  O'Conor's 
conduct  had  greatly  exasperated  Henry,  and 
order  was  sent  for  his  extirpation,  but  peace 
had  been  concluded  before  the  order  arrived ; 
and  when  St.  Leger  shortly  afterwards  as- 
sumed the  reins  of  government,  O'Conor  re- 


O'Connor 


397 


O'Connor 


newed  liis  submission  so  humbly  that  the 
deputy  suggested  the  advisability  of  conced- 
ing his  requests  and  making  him  baron  of 
Offaly.   Henry  yielded  to  St.  Leger's  sugges- 
tion, but  nothing  further  apparently  came  of 
the  proposal;  though  O'Conor  and  his  brother 
Cahir  had  meanwhile,  on  16  Aug.  1541,  con- 
sented to  submit  their  differences  to  arbitra- 
tion.   So  long  as  St.  Leger  remained  in  Ire- 
land O'Conor  kept  the  peace,  paying  his  rent 
regularly ;  but  during  his  absence  some  slight 
disturbances  occurred  on  the  borders  of  the 
Pale,  which  the  council  sarcastically  ascribed 
to  'your  lordshipes  olde  frende  Occhonor.' 
St.  Leger  attributed  the  insinuation  to  the 
malice  of  the  chancellor,  Sir  John  Alen,  and  in 
May  1545  mooted  the  propriety  of  rewarding 
O'Conor's  loyalty  by  creating  him  a  viscount. 
The  proposal  was  sanctioned  by  the  privy 
council,  but  it  was  not  carried  into  effect, 
though,  at  St.   Leger's  recommendation,  a 
grant  of   land    was   made   to   him   in   the 
vicinity  of  Dublin,  together  with  the  use  of 
a  house   in    St.   Patrick's  Close  whenever 
he  visited  the  city.     But  whether  it  was 
that    he  was  discontented  at  the  indiffer- 
ence of  the  government,  or  thought  that 
the  accession  of  Edward  VI  presented  a 
favourable   opportunity  to  recover  his  old 
authority,  he,  in  the  summer  of  1547,  joined 
with  O'More  in  an  attack  on  the  Pale,  nomi- 
nally in  behalf  of  the  exiled  house  of  Kildare. 
St.  Leger  at  once  invaded  Offaly,  which  he 
burnt  and  plundered  as  far  as  the  hill  ol 
Croghan,    but    '  without    receiving    either 
battle  or  submission'  from   O'Conor.     No 
sooner,  however,  had  he  retired  than  O'More 
and  O'Conor's  son  Rory  emerged  from  their 
hiding-places,  burnt  the  town  and  monas- 
tery of  Athy,  ravaged  the  borders   of  the 
Pale,  and  slew  many  persons,  both  Englisl: 
and  Irish.      St.   I>eger  thereupon  invadec 
Offaly  a  second  time,  and,  remaining  there 
for  fifteen  days,  burnt  and  destroyed  what- 
ever had  escaped  in  former  raids.  ^  Desertec 
by  their  followers,  O'Conor  and  O'More  flee 
across  the  Shannon  into  Cpnnaught.    They 
returned  about  the  beginning  of  1548  with 
a  considerable  body  of  wild  kerns,  but  so 
cowed  were  their  urraghts  and   tribesmen 
that  none  dared  even  afford  them  food  o 
protection.     Nevertheless,  O'Conor  managed 
to  keep  up  a  determined  guerilla  warfare 
and  it  was  not  till  winter  brought  him  faw 
to  face  with  starvation  that  he  was  induce 
to  submit,  his  life  being  promised  him  n 
order  to  induce  O'More  to  follow  his  ex 
ample.     He  was  sent  to  England  and  incar 
cerated  in  the    Tower.      He   managed 
escape  early  in  1552,  but  was  recaptured 
the  borders  of  Scotland.   He  was  afterward 


released  by  Queen  Mary,  at  the  intercession 
f  his  daughter  Margaret.  He  returned  to 
reland  in  1554  with  the  Earl  of  Kildare, 
ut  was  shortly  afterwards  rearrested  and 
mprisoned  in  Dublin  Castle,  where  he  appa- 
wntly  died  about  1560. 

By   his  wife  Mary,  daughter  of  Gerald 
"itzgerald,  ninth  earl  of  Kildare,  O'Conor 
tad  apparently  nine  sons  and  two  daughters, 
everal  of  whom  played  considerable  parts  in 
he   history  of   the    times,   viz.  :   Cormac, 
who,  after  an  adventurous  career  in 
scaped  to  Scotland  in  1550,  and  tli«-nr 
^rance  in  1551,  where  he  remained  till  If 
returning  in  that  year  to  Scotland.     He  re- 
urned  to  Ireland  in  1564,  under  the  assumed 
name  of  Killeduff,  and  was  for  some  time 
irotected   by  the   Earl  of  Desmond ;   but, 
>eing  proclaimed  a  traitor,  he  again  fled  to 
Scotland.     At  the  intercession  of  the  Earl 
f  Argyll  he  was   pardoned   in  1565.    He 
returned    to   Ireland,  and  disappears  from 
listory  in  1 573.     Donough,  the  second  son, 
was  delivered  to  Grey  m  1538  as  hostage 
'or  his  father's  loyalty  ;  but,  being  released, 
ie  took  part  in  the  rebellion  of  1.">J7.     In 
1548  he  was  pressed  for  foreign  service.    He 
returned  to  Ireland,  but  being  involved  in 
an  insurrection  of  the  O'Conors  in  1557,  he 
was  proclaimed  a  traitor  and  was  killed  in 
the  following  year,  not  without  suspicion  of 
treachery,  by  Owny  MacIIugh  O'Dempsey. 
Calvach,  the  third  son,  after  a  long  career  as 
a  rebel,  was  killed  in  action  in  October  1564. 
CATHAL  or  CHARLES  O'CONNOR  or  O'CosoB 
FALY,  otherwise  known  as    DON    CARLOS 
(1540-1596),  a  younger  son,  born  about  1540, 
wastaken  when  quite  a  child  to  Scotland.  He 
accompanied  D'Oyselto  France  in  15W),  and 
appealed  toThrockmorton  to  intercede  for  hi» 
pardon  and  restoration.    By  Throckmorton's 
advice  he  attached  himself  as  a  spy  to  the 
train  of  Mary  Queen  of  Scots.     In  1563  he 
obtained  a  grant  of  Castle  Brackland  and 
other  lands  in  Offaly.   He  was  implicated  in 
the  rebellion  of  James  Fitrmauricw  and  the 
Earl  of  Desmond,  and  placed  himself  outside 
the  pale  of  mercy  by  his  barbarous  nmnl.-r 
of  Captain  Henry  Mackworth  in  \'<-'J.     !!•• 
avoided  capture,  and  subsequently  escaped 
in  a  pinnace  to  Scotland,  and  thence,  dis- 
guised as  a  sailor,  on  a  Scottish  vessel  to 
Spain.      He  joined   the  army  of  invasion 
under  Parma  in  the  Netherlands,  and  nft«-r 
the  defeat  of  the  Armada  returned  to  Spin, 
where  he  was  dubbed  Don  Carlos  (a  fact 
which  has  led  to  his  being  mistaken  for  th.- 
unfortunate  prince  of  Spain  of  that  nnin--  V 
and  granted  a  pension  of  thirty  crowns  a 
month.     He  corresponded  at  intervals  with 
Hugh  O'Neill,  earl  of  Tyrone,  and  endea- 


O'Connor 


398 


O'Connor 


voured  to  remove  the  bad  effects  of  Tyrone's 
conduct  in  surrendering  Philip's  letter.  He 
embarked  at  Lisbon  with  his  mother,  wife, 
and  children  in  November  1596,  on  board  the 
Spanish  armada  destined  for  the  invasion  of 
Ireland,  but  the  vessel — the  Sonday —  in 
which  he  sailed  was  wrecked,  and  he  himself 
drowned. 

[State  Papers,  Hen.  VIII  (printed) ;  Ware's 
Annales  Kerum  Hibern. ;  Cal.  State  Papers, 
Eliz.  (Ireland  and  Foreign);  Cal.  Carew  MSS. ; 
Annals  of  the  Four  Masters ;  Cal.  Fiants, 
Hen.  VIII,  Ed.  VI,  Mary,  Eliz. ;  Irish  Genea- 
logies in  Harl.  MS.  1425.]  K.  D. 

O'CONNOR,  CALVACH  (1584-1655), 
Irish  commander,  eldest  son  of  Sir  Hugh 
O'Conor  Don  and  his  wife  Dorothy,  daugh- 
ter of  Tadhg  Buidh  O'Conor  Roe,  was  born 
in  1584.  He  lived  in  the  castle  of  Knocka- 
laghta,  co.  Roscommon,  and  in  1616  married 
Mary,  daughter  of  Sir  Theobald  Burke,  and 
granddaughter  of  the  famous  sea-roving 
chieftainess  of  North-west  Connaught,  Graine 
Mhaol  [see  O'MALLEY,  GRACE].  On  his 
father's  death  in  1632  he  went  to  live  in  the 
castle  of  Ballintober,  co.  Mayo.  He  was  a 
candidate  for  the  representation  of  Ros- 
common in  the  parliament  of  1613,  but  was 
defeated  by  Sir  John  King.  In  1641  it  was 
rumoured  (Deposition  of  E.  Hollywell)  that 
he  was  to  be  made  king  of  Connaught,  and 
his  castle  of  Ballintober  was  the  centre  of 
the  confederate  party.  In  June  1642  Lord 
Ranelagh  attacked  him  outside  Ballintober 
and  routed  his  army,  but  did  not  capture 
the  castle.  He  was  specially  excepted  from 
pardon  in  the  act  of  parliament  as  to  Ireland 
in  1652,  and  died  in  1655,  leaving  two  sons, 
Hugh  and  Charles.  His  widow,  as  a  trans- 
planted person,  obtained,  at  Athlone  on 
8  June  1656,  a  decree  granting  her  seven 
hundred  acres  out  of  about  six  thousand. 

The  son,  HUGH  O'CoraoR  (1617-1669), 
succeeded  his  father  as  chief  in  1655.  In 

1641  he  was  appointed  colonel  in  the  Irish 
army,  and  at  the  siege  of  Castlecoote  in 

1642  was  captured  by  Sir  Charles   Coote. 
He  was  examined  in  Dublin  before  Sir  Robert 
Meredith,  and   described  the  origin  of  the 
rising  in  Connaught  in  1641,  and  stated  that 
he  and  Sir  Lucas  Dillon  had  been  appointed 
to  ask  Lord  Clanricarde  to  take  the  command 
of  the  army  in  Connaught.     He  was  falsely 
accused    of   having    murdered    one    Hugh 
Cumoghan,  servant  of  Major  Ormsby,  but 
was  not  tried,  and,  after  detention  for  a  year, 
obtained  his  liberty,  and  in  July  1652  was 
one  of  the  Irish  officers  who  entered  into 
articles  of  surrender  with  the  president  of 
Connaught.     In  1653  he  was  acquitted  of 
the  charge  of  murder,  and  went  abroad  and 


served  as  a  captain  in  the  Duke  of  Glouces- 
ter's regiment.  After  the  Restoration  he 
applied  to  be  reinstated  in  his  castle  of  Bal- 
lintober, co.  Mayo,  and  an  estate  of  ten 
thousand  acres.  He  died  in  1669,  before  his 
claim  had  been  decided.  He  married  Isabella 
Burke,  and  left  a  son  Hugh,  to  whom,  on 
4  Aug.  1677,  the  commissioners  of  claims 
adjudged  eleven  hundred  acres  out  of  ten 
thousand  which  his  father  possessed  before 
he  took  up  arms  for  the  king. 

[Borlase's  Hist,  of  Irish  Rebellion  ;  Calendar 
of  Carew  Papers,  Ireland,  1603-24;  O'Conor 
Don's  O'Conors  of  Connaught,  Dublin,  1891.] 

N.  M. 

O'CONNOR,  CATHAL  (d.  1010),  king 
of  Connaught,  was  son  of  Conchobhar,  from 
whom  the  Ui  Conchobhair  or  O'Connors  of 
Connaught  take  their  name,  and  was  grand- 
son of  Tadhg,  tenth  in  descent  from  Muir- 
eadhach  Muileathan.  From  Muireadhach 
the  O'Connors  take  their  tribe-name  of  Sil 
or  race  of  Muireadhaigh,  and  through  him 
they  are  descended  from  Eochaidh  Muigh- 
mheadhoin,  king  of  Ireland  in  the  fourth  cen- 
tury. Several  of  the  clan  claimed  to  be  kings 
of  Ireland,  but  no  one  later  than  this  remote 
ancestor  had  any  genuine  title  to  the  chief 
kingship  of  Ireland.  The  O'Rourkes  shared 
with  the  O'Connors  the  alternate  sovereignty 
of  Connaught  till  about  the  middle  of  the 
eleventh  century.  Cathal  became  king  of  Con- 
naught  in  930.  He  built  a  bridge  over  the 
Shannon  at  Athlone  in  1000,  and  a  beauti- 
ful doorway  at  Clonmacnois  is  attributed  to 
him  by  Petrie,  on  the  authority  of  an  entry 
in  the  registry  of  Clonmacnois.  He  entered 
the  monastery  of  Clonmacnois  in  1003,  and 
died  in  1010.  Five  sons  survived  him : 
Tadhg  an  eich  ghill,  who  was  king  of  Con- 
naught  from  1015  to  1030,  the  interval  being 
filled  by  an  O'Rourke  ;  Brian,  Conchobhair, 
Domhnall  Dubhshuilech,  and  Tadhg  Direch. 
His  sister  was  wife  of  Brian  [q.  v.],  king  of 
Ireland. 

[Annala  Rioghachta  Eireann,  ed.  O'Donovan, 
vol.  ii. ;  Petrie's  Essay  on  Ecclesiastical  Archi- 
tecture in  Ireland  ;  Annals  of  Ulster,  vol.  i.  ed. 
Henessey ;  Chronicon  Scotorum,  ed.  Henessey.] 

N.  M. 

O'CONNOR,  CATHAL  (1150P-1224), 
king  of  Connaught,  called  in  Irish  writings 
Cathal  Croibhdheirg  (red-handed)  Ua  Con- 
chobhair, or  Cathal  Crobhdhearg  (redhand), 
was  son  of  Turlough  O'Connor,  king  of  Con- 
naught  [q.  v.],  by  his  second  wife,  Dearbhfor- 
gaill,  daughter  of  Domhnall  O'Lochlainn, 
king  of  Ailech  [q.  v.J,  and  head  of  the  Cinel 
Eoghain  (d.  1121).  Cathal  was  born  at 
Ballincalla,  on  Lough  Mask,  co.  Mayo,  before 


O'Connor 


399 


O'Connor 


1150.  He  was  fostered  or  brought  up  by 
Tadhg  O'Concheanainn  of  the  Ui  Diarmada, 
co.  Galway. 

According  to  a  story  once  well  known  in 
Connaught,  Cathal  was  the  natural  son  of 
King  Turlough  by  Gearrog  Ni  Morain,  a  native 
of  the  Owles,  co.  Mayo.  Turlough's  queen 
sought  by  witchcraft  to  prevent  Gearrog  from 
giving  birth  to  a  child,  but  the  requisite 
incantation  was  not  complete  till  after  a 
right-hand  presentation  had  taken  place. 
None  the  less,  Gearrog's  labour  was  retarded 
by  the  queen's  spell  for  several  days.  In  the 
meantime  the  rumour  reached  the  queen 
that  Gearrog  had  given  a  son  to  the  king  of 
Connaught.  She  thereupon  dissolved  the 
spell,  and  Cathal's  birth  was  completed  ;  but 
his  right  hand  remained  ever  after  red, 
whence  his  cognomen,  Croibhdheirg,  i.e.  red- 
handed.  The  local  story  goes  on  to  tell  that 
Cathal  was  brought  up  far  away,  and  had  to 
earn  his  living  by  field  work  among  the  farm 
labourers  of  Leinster,  until  a  herald  arrived 
with  the  news  that  the  king  of  Connaught 
was  dead,  and,  according  to  information  pre- 
viously supplied  him  by  the  chief  clansmen, 
recognised  Cathal  as  the  dead  king's  son  by 
his  red  hand.  Cathal  accordingly  flung  down 
his  sickle,  saying,  'Slan  leat  a  chorrain,  anois 
do'n  chloidheamh'  ('Farewell  to  thee,  oh 
sickle;  now  for  the  sword'),  went  home, 
and  was  inaugurated  king  of  Connaught.  A 
well-known  Irish  saying  applied  to  a  last 
farewell,  'Slan  Chathail  faoi  an  tseagal' 
('  Cathal's  farewell  to  the  rye '),  alludes  to 
this  story. 

There  is  no  passage  in  the  'Annals'  which 
supports  the  view  of  Cathal's  illegitimacy, 
nor  did  he  become  king  of  Connaught  till 
1201,  when  his  elder  brother,  king  Roderic, 
and  Roderic's  eldest  son,  king  Cathal  Car- 
rach,  were  both  dead.  But  the  annalists  who 
were  nearly  connected  with  his  descendants 
might  possibly  have  ignored  the  circumstance. 
Irish  clansmen,  on  the  other  hand,  when  elect- 
ing a  fighting  chief,  did  not  probably  attach 
much  value  to  the  legitimacy  of  his  birth. 
But  the  exact  account  of  his  fosterage  by 
the  Ui  Diarmada,  one  of  the  branches  of  the 
Sil  Muireadhaigh,  is  a  point  strongly  in  favour 
of  his  legitimacy.  A  large  superficial  nsevus 
may  probably  have  given  origin  to  his  cog- 
nomen. Another  chief,  of  different  race 
and  district,  also  called  Crobhdhearg,  occurs 
in  the  Irish  '  Annals.' 

Cathal  opposed  his  half-brother,  king 
Roderic  O'Connor  [q.  v.],  in  1185,  and  made 
peace  after  some  fighting,  but  went  to  war 
with  Cathal  Carrach,  Roderic's  grandson,  in 
1190.  Tomaltach  O'Connor,  archbishop  of 
Armagh,  endeavoured  to  make  peace  between 


them  when  visiting  Connaught,  but  without 
success.  Cathal  Crobhdhearg  sailed  up  the 
Shannon  after  this  conference,  and  was 
caught  in  a  storm  on  Lough  Ree,  in  which 
his  son  Conchobhar  and  his  friend  Aireach- 
tach  O'Roduibh,  with  many  others,  were 
drowned.  In  1195  he  invaded  Munster  and 
reached  Cashel ;  but  while  there  Cathal 
MacDermot  seized  his  boats  on  Lough  Mask, 
co.  Mayo,  and  ravaged  his  territory.  Cathal 
returned  and  made  peace,  and  in  1198  also 
made  peace  with  Cathal  Carrach,  who,  how- 
ever, drove  him  out  of  Connaught  in  1199. 
He  fled  to  Ulster,  and  Aedh  O'Neill  marched 
into  Roscommon  on  his  behalf,  but  had  to 
retreat,  and  was  overtaken  and  defeated  by 
Cathal  Carrach,  aided  by  William  De  Burgo, 
at  Ballysadere,  co.  Sligo.  John  De  Courcy 
was  his  next  ally,  but  they  were  routed  at 
Kilmacduagh,  co.  Galway.  He  then  tried 
Munster,  and  in  1201  marched  from  Limerick 
withWilliam  De  Burgo  toTuam,co.  Galway, 
thence  to  Oran,  Elphin,  and  Boyle,  co.  Ros- 
common. His  rival  Cathal  Carrach  was  slain 
in  a  battle  near  the  abbey  of  Boyle,  and 
Cathal  Crobhdhearg  became  king  of  Con- 
naught.  He  was  inaugurated  by  being  placed 
on  the  stone  of  Carnfree,  near  Tulsk,  in  the 
presence  of  the  chiefs  of  the  clans  subject  to 
his  rule.  The  ceremony  was  completed  by 
Donnchadh  O'Maelconaire,his  senachie,  plac- 
ing a  wand  in  his  hand  (Kilkenny  Arcfusoloffi- 
cal  Society's  Proceedings,  1853,  p.  338).  He 
I  seems  to  have  acknowledged  the  supremacy 
of  John,  king  of  England  (RrMER),  and  in 
1215  received  a  formal  grant  of  all  Con- 
naught,  except  the  castle  of  Athlone.  In 
1210  he  twice  attended  John,  first  at  Tiaprait 
Ulltain,  co.  Meath,  and  then  at  Rathwire, 
co.  Westmeath,  gave  him  four  hostages,  the 
form  of  submission  best  understood  by  the 
Irish.  In  1220  he  defeated  Walter  de  Lacy, 
!  and  took  the  castle  of  Caladh  in  Ixnigford. 
j  Two  Latin  letters  of  Cathal,  in  which  he 
j  terms  himself  Kathaldus  Rex  Conacie,  are 
I  preserved  in  the  state  paper  office.  Both 
I  were  written  in  1224,  and  complain  of  De 
Lacy.  In  the  second  he  asks  Henry  III  to 
grant  him  a  charter  for  the  possession  of 
Connaught,  confirming  that  which  he  had 
had  from  King  John.  He  died  at  Bringheol, 
co.  Roscommon,  on  28  May  1224,  and  was 
buried  in  the  abbey  of  Knockmoy,  co.  Gal- 
way, which  he  had  founded.  His  tomb  is 
not  preserved,  and  the  monument  stated  to 
be  his  by  Dr.  Ledwich  (Antiquities  of  Ireland, 
2nd  ed.  p.  520)  bears  the  inscription,  '  Orate 
pro  anima  Malachise,' and  is  that  ofO'Kelly, 
who  died  in  1401,  whose  wife  was  Finola 
O'Connor,  and  who  rebuilt  the  abbey.  Some 
authorities  (Annals  of  Ulster  and  Annals  of 


O'Connor 


400 


O'Connor 


the  Four  Masters)  state  that  Cathal  actually 
died  in  the  abbey,  '  i  naibid  manaigh  leth,' 
in  the  habit  of  a  grey  monk.  This  must  be 
taken  to  mean  an  assumption  of  a  monastic 
habit  on  a  death-bed,  as  an  indication  of  the 
abandonment  of  worldly  things.  Standish 
Hayes  O'Grady  has  translated  a  curious 
poem  in  which  Cathal  is  described  as  con- 
versing with  a  fellow  monk  on  the  tonsure 
and  other  features  of  a  religious  life  (printed 
with  text  in  a  note  to  the  '  Book  of  the  Dean 
of  Lismore'). 

Besides  Knockmoy,  Cathal  founded  the 
Franciscan  abbey  at  Athlone  and  the  abbey 
of  Ballintober,  co.  Mayo,  in  which,  according 
to  the  O'Conor  Don,  mass  has  been  celebrated 
without  inteiTuption  since  the  foundation. 
His  wife  was  Mor,  daughter  of  Domhnall 
O'Brien.  She  died  in  1217;  and  they  had 
one  daughter,  Sadhb,  who  died  in  1266,  and 
three  sons:  Conchobhar,  drowned  in  1190; 
Aedh,  who  succeeded  him  as  king  of  Con- 
naught,  and  was  murdered  in  the  house  of 
Geoffrey  March  by  an  Englishman  whose 
wife  he  had  ceremoniously  kissed,  and  who  was 
hanged  for  the  crime  ;  Feidhlimidh,  who  was 
set  up  as  king  of  Connaught  by  Mac  William 
Burke  in  1230,  and  died  in  1265  in  the 
Dominican  monastery  of  Roscommon,  where 
his  monument  is  still  to  be  seen.  Feidlimidh's 
silver  seal,  inscribed  '  S.  Fedelmid  regis 
conactie,'  was  dug  up  in  Connaught  and  given 
to  Charles  I  by  Sir  Beverly  Newcomen  in  1634 
(WARE,  Antiquities,  ed.  Harris,  ii.  68).  A 
letter  from  Feidlimidh  to  Henry  III,  written 
in  1261,  is  printed  in  Rymer's  '  Foedera '  (i. 
240;,  and  in  facsimile  in  the  'National  MSS. 
of  Ireland '  (pt.  ii. ) ;  in  it  he  promises  fidelity  to 
Henry  III  and  to  Edward,  his  son.  Feidlimidh 
was  succeeded  by  his  son  Aedh,  who  defeated 
the  English  under  the  Earl  of  Ulster  in  a 
great  battle  near  Carrick-on-Shannon,  co. 
Leitrim,  and  burnt  five  English  castles ;  he 
died  on  3  May  1274,  and  was  buried  in  the 
abbey  of  Boyle.  The  chiefship  of  the  Sil 
Muireadhaigh  passed  to  the  descendants  of 
Aedh,  elder  brother  of  Feidlimidh,  son  of 
Cathal  Crobhdhearg,  through  his  grandson 
Eoghan,  who  died  in  1274  ;  but  after  the 
death  of  Turlough  O'Connor  in  1466  the  clan 
lost  most  of  its  power,  owing  to  its  complete 
division  into  the  two  septs,  of  which  the  chiefs 
were  called  in  Irish  Ua  Conchobhair  donn  and 
Ua  Conchobhair  ruadh,  or  brown  O'Connor 
and  ruddy  O'Connor.  The  love  of  titles  has 
led  the  descendants  of  O'Connor  donn,  since 
Irish  literature  has  become  obsolete,  to  speak 
of  donn  as  equivalent  to  Dominus,  and  as  a 
mark  of  supremacy.  There  are  no  grounds 
in  Irish  etymology  or  history  for  this  view, 
and  the  method  of  distinguishing  septs  of  the 


same  clan  by  epithets  describing  the  com- 
plexion or  other  physical  characteristic  of 
an  eminent  chief  is  common  in  all  parts  of 
Ireland. 

[Annala  Rioghacta  Eireann,  ed.  O'Donovau, 
vols.  ii.  iii.  iv.  Dublin,  1851;  O'Donovan's 
Tribes  and  Customs  of  Hy  Many,  Dublin,  1843; 
the  Topographical  Poems  of  O'Dubhagain,  ed. 
O'Donovan,  Dublin,  1862  ;  Ware's  Antiquities 
of  Ireland,  ed.  Harris  ;  Facsimiles  of  National 
MSS.  of  Ireland,  ed.  Gilbert,  pt.  ii.,  London, 
1878  ;  Rymer's  Fcedera,  vol.  i.  ed.  1816  ; 
O'Conor  Don's  O'Conors  of  Connaught,  pp.  151-2, 
Dublin,  1891.  In  1851  O'Donovan  proposed  to 
write  a  treatise  on  Cathal's  birth  and  claims.] 

N.  M. 

O'CONNOR,  FEARGUS  (1794-1855), 
chartist  leader,  son  of  Roger  O'Connor  [q.  v.j 
of  Connorville,  co.  Cork,  and  nephew  of 
Arthur  O'Connor  [q.  v.],  was  born  on  18  July 
1794  (WHEELER,  Memoir,  printed  with  fune- 
ral oration  on  Feargus  O'Connor  by  William 
Jones).  Feargus,  after  attending  Portarling- 
ton  grammar  school,  entered  Trinity  College, 
Dublin,  but  took  no  degree,  and  was  called 
to  the  Irish  bar.  He  and  several  of  his  bro- 
thers lived  on  their  father's  Dangan  Castle 
estate,  and  Feargus  speaks  of  himself  ( The 
Labourer,  1847,  i.  146)  as  having  '  been  on 
the  turf  in  a  small  way.'  In  1822  he  pub- 
lished a  pamphlet  entitled  '  A  State  of  Ire- 
land,' an  almost  meaningless  composition  or- 
namented with  six  Latin  quotations,  five  of 
which  contain  serious  blunders.  He  was 
probably  a  Whiteboy,  and  in  after  years  de- 
scribed himself  as  having  been  wounded  in  a 
skirmish  with  the  troops  (FROST,  Forty  Years1 
Recollections,  p.  174).  In  1831  he  took  part 
in  the  reform  agitation  in  co.  Cork,  and  in 
1832,  after  the  passing  of  the  Reform  Bill, 
travelled  through  the  country  organising  the 
registration  of  the  new  electorate.  In  the 
general  election  of  1832  he  was  returned  as 
a  repealer  at  the  head  of  the  poll  for  co. 
Cork,  being  described  as  'of  Fort  Robert.' 
In  the  parliaments  of  1833-4  he  spoke  fre- 
quently and  almost  exclusively  on  Irish  ques- 
tions. From  the  beginning  of  his  life  in  Eng- 
land he  associated  with  the  extreme  English 
radicals.  In  March  1833  he  spoke  against 
the  whig  government  at  a  meeting  of  the 
socialistic  '  National  Union  of  the  Working 
Classes '  (Poor  Man's  Guardian,  1833,  p.  91). 
He  soon  quarrelled  with  Daniel  O'Connell  the 
'  Liberator '  [q.  v.],  but  was  nevertheless  re- 
elected  for  co.  Cork  in  1835.  In  June  1835 
he  was  unseated  owing  to  his  want  of  the  ne- 
cessary property  qualification.  According  to- 
the  reports  of  evidence  before  the  committee, 
he  seems  at  that  time  to  have  owned  property 
worth  about  3001.  a  year  (Cork  Southern 


O'Connor 


401 


O'Connor 


Reporter,  4  June  1835).  Thereupon  he  an- 
nounced his  intention  of  raising  an  Irish 
brigade  for  the  queens  of  Spain,  but  offered 
himself  instead  as  a  candidate  for  the  seat 
at  Oldham  vacated  by  Cobbett's  death.  He 
received  only  thirty  votes,  but  they  enabled 
the  tory  candidate  to  beat  Cobbett's  son  by 
thirteen.  After  the  election  he  drove  from 
Oldham  to  Manchester  in  a  carriage-and- 
four,with  a  flag  representing  Roderick  O'Con- 
nor, monarch  of  Ireland,  from  whom  he 
claimed  descent  (ib.  11  July  1835). 

Henceforward  O'Connor  spent  a  large  part 
of  his  time  in  travelling  through  the  northern 
and  midland  districts,  addressing  huge  meet- 
ings, denouncing  the  new  poor  law  and  the 
factory  system,  and  advocating  the  '  five 
cardinal  points  of  radicalism,'  which  after- 
•  wards  were  expanded  into  the  '  six  points 
of  the  charter.'  He  founded  the  central 
committee  of  radical  unions  in  1 836  {Place 
MS.  27819,  f.  34),  and  the  London  Demo- 
cratic Association  in  1837  (ib.  f.  217).  On 
18  Nov.  1837  he  established  the  '  Northern 
Star,'  a  weekly  radical  paper,  published  at 
Leeds,  price  4£«?.,  which  achieved  a  great 
and  immediate  success.  In  1838  the  various 
radical  movements  were  consolidated.  The 
members  adopted  the  '  People's  Charter '  of 
the  Working  Men's  Association  (cf.  art. 
LOVETT),  and  took  the  name  of  '  Chartists.' 

O'Connor  was  from  the  first  the  'constant 
travelling  dominant  leader  of  the  movement '  '• 
(Place  MS.  27820,  f.  135),  and  his  paper 
was  practically  the  official  organ  of  chartism. 
The  number  and  length  of  the  speeches  , 
which  he  delivered  during  the  next  ten  | 
years  and  his  power  of  attracting  huge 
audiences  were  alike  extraordinary.  He 
was  tall  and  handsome,  though  somewhat 
unintelligent  in  appearance,  and  a  rambling 
and  egotistical  but  most  effective  orator. 
Gammage  (p.  51)  speaks  of  his  '  aristocratic 
bearing,'  and  says  ;  the  sight  of  his  person 
was  calculated  to  inspire  the  masses  with  a 
solemn  awe.'  He  was  attacked  from  the 
first  by  Lovett  and  the  other  leaders  of  the 
Working  Men's  Association  (e.g.  Northern 
Star,  24  Feb.  1838),  but  retorted  that  they 
as  skilled  mechanics  were  not  real  working 
men,  and  appealed  to  the  '  unshaved  chins, 
blistered  hands,  and  fustian  jackets '  (I.e.) 
At  the  chartist  convention  which  assembled 
in  London  on  4  Feb.  1839,  and  which,  after 
a  visit  to  Birmingham,  dissolved  on  14  Sept. 
1839,  he  was  from  the  beginning  the  chief 
figure.  In  the  split  which  developed  itself 
between  the  '  moral  force  '  and  the  '  physical 
force '  chartists,  O'Connor,  owing  to  the 
violence  of  his  language,  was  generally 
identified  with  the  '  physical  force  party, 

VOL.   XLI. 


and  justified  this  view  by  announcing  in  1838 
that,  after  Michaelmas  day  1839,  all  political 
action  for  securing  the  charter  should  come 
to  an  end  (Place  MS.  27820,  f.  282).  But 
he  always  called  himself  a  '  moral  force ' 
man,  and  seems  to  have  been  distrusted  by  the 
inner  circle  of  the  insurrectionary  chartists 
(Engl.  Hist.  Rev.  1889,  p.  642).  O'Connor 
knew  of  the  preparations  for  the  Newport 
rising  on  4  ftov.  1839,  but  was  absent  in 
Ireland  until  a  few  days  before  the  rising 
actually  took  place  (Northern  Star,  22  May 
1842).  For  this  he  was  afterwards  accused 
of  cowardice  by  some  of  his  opponents. 

On  17  March  1840  O'Connor  was  tried  at 
York  for  seditious  libels  published  in  the 
'  Northern  Star '  in  July  1839.  He  was  found 
guilty,  and  sentenced  oiv  11  May  1840  to 
eighteen  months'  imprisonment  in  York 
Castle.  He  was  exceptionally  well  treated 
in  prison  (State  Trials,  New  Ser.  iv.  1366), 
and  succeeded  in  smuggling  many  letters  to 
the  '  Northern  Star.'  He  declared  that  he 
had  written  a  novel  called  'The  Devil  on 
Three  Sticks  '  in  prison,  which  he  '  would 
fearlessly  place  in  competition  with  the 
works  of  any  living  author'  (Northern  Star, 
16  Jan.  1841).  Nothing  more  seems  to  have 
been  heard  of  this  work.  From  the  moment 
of  his  release  in  September  1841,  O'Connor 
was  engaged  in  a  series  of  bitter  quarrels 
with  almost  every  important  man  in  the 
chartist  movement,  but  with  the  rank  and 
file  he  retained  his  popularity ;  and  the 
'  Northern  Star '  contained  weekly  lists  of 
the  infant  '  patriots '  who  had  been  named 
after  the  '  Lion  of  Freedom.'  In  December 
1842  he  helped  to  break  up  the  complete 
suffrage  conference  called  at  Birmingham  by 
Joseph  Sturge  with  the  hope  of  uniting  the 
chartists  and  the  middle-class  radicals. 

On  1  March  1843  he  was  tried  at  Lancas- 
ter, with  fifty-eight  others,  for  seditious  con- 
spiracy in  connection  with  the  '  Plug  Riots ' 
of  August  1842.  He  was  convicted;  but  a 
technical  objection  was  taken  to  the  indict- 
ment, and  he  was  never  called  up  for  judg- 
ment. From  the  foundation  of  the  anti-corn- 
law  league  O'Connor  furiously  opposed  it, 
though  on  varying  and  often  inconsistent 
grounds.  On  5  Aug.  1844  he  and  McGrath 
held  a  public  debate  with  Bright  and  Cobden, 
in  which  the  chartists,  by  the  admission  of 
their  followers,  were  badly  defeated.  In  . 
prison  he  had  written  a  series  of '  Letters  to 
Irish  Landlords,'  in  which  he  had  advocated 
a  large  scheme  of  peasant  proprietors.  From 
that  time  forward  he  continually  recurred  t  > 
the  subject,  and  in  September  1843  induced 
the  chartist  convention  at  Birmingham  t> 
adopt  his  ideas.  He  was  joined  by  Ernest 


D  D 


O'Connor 


402 


O'Connor 


Jones  [q.  v.]  in  the  summer  of  1846,  and 
on  24  Oct.  1846  formally  inaugurated  the 
'  Chartist  Co-operative  Land  Company,'  after- 
wards altered  to  the  '  National  Land  Com- 
pany.' His  scheme  was  to  buy  agricultural 
estates,  divide  them  into  small  holdings,  and 
let  the  holdings  to  the  subscribers  by  ballot. 
The  company  was  never  registered,  but 
112,000£.  was  received  in  subscriptions,  and 
five  estates  were  bought  in  1846  and  1847. 
The  most  extravagant  hopes  of  an  idyllic 
country  life  were  held  out  to  the  factory  hands 
and  others  who  subscribed.  In  1847  a  maga- 
zine called  '  The  Labourer  '  was  started  by 
O'Connor  and  Jones  with  the  same  object,  of 
which  vol.  ii.  contains  as  frontispiece  a  por- 
trait of  O'Connor.  Jones  afterwards  declared 
that  from  the  moment  that  O'Connor  under- 
took the  land  scheme,  he  could  talk  of 
nothing  else  (Times,  13  April  1853).  At  the 
general  election  of  1847  O'Connor  was  elected 
for  Nottingham  bv  1257  votes  against  893 
given  to  Sir  John  Cam  Hobhouse.  On  7  Dec. 
1847  he  moved  for  a  committee  on  the  union 
with  Ireland,  and  was  defeated  by  255  to  23. 

From  1842  to  1847  the  chartist  movement 
had  been  one  of  comparatively  small  import- 
ance ;  but  the  news  of  the  Paris  revolution  of 
February  1848  produced  something  like  the 
excitement  of  1839  in  England,  and  O'Connor 
again  became  a  prominent  figure.  He  pre- 
sided at  the  great  Kennington  Common 
meeting  on  10  April  1848,  and  strongly 
urged  the  people  not  to  attempt  the  proposed 
procession  to  the  House  of  Commons,  which 
had  been  forbidden  by  the  authorities.  O'Con- 
nor's advice  was  followed  in  a  most  peace- 
able fashion,  and  the  disturbances  which  the 
government  regarded  as  a  possible  outcome 
of  the  meeting  were  averted.  The  same  even- 
ing O'Connor  presented  the  chartist  petition, 
declaring  that  it  contained  5,706,000  signa- 
tures. The  signatures  were  counted  by  a  staff 
of  clerks,  and  the  total  was  1,975,496.  But 
many  of  them  were  obviously  fictitious. 
After  the  fiasco  of  10  April  1848  the  chartist 
movement  soon  disappeared. 

A  committee  of  the  House  of  Commons 
examined  the  affairs  of  the  National  Land 
Company  on  6  June  1848.  It  was  found  that 
the  scheme  was  practically  bankrupt,  and  that 
no  proper  accounts  had  been  kept,  though 
O'Connor  had  apparently  lost  rather  than 
gained  by  it.  In  1850  O'Connor  sent  bailiffs 
with  fifty-two  writs  to  the  estate  at  Snigg's 
End,  Gloucestershire.  The  colonists,  how- 
ever, declared  themselves  'prepared  to 
manure  the  land  with  blood  before  it  was 
taken  from  them,'  and  no  levy  was  made 
(Times,  5  Sept,  1850). 

It  was  already  becoming  obvious,  in  1848, 


that  O'Connor's  mind  was  giving  way,  and 
after  the  events  of  10  April  his  history  is 
that  of  gradually  increasing  lunacy.  His 
intemperance  during  these  years  was  pro- 
bably only  a  symptom  of  his  disease  (FROST, 
Recollections,  p.  183).  In  the  spring  of  1852 
he  paid  a  sudden  visit  to  the  United  States, 
and  on  his  return  grossly  insulted  Beckett 
Denison,  member  for  the  West  Riding, 
Eastern  division,  in  the  House  of  Commons 
(9  June  1852).  He  was  committed  to  the 
custody  of  the  sergeant-at-arms.  Next  day 
he  was  examined  by  two  medical  men,  and 
pronounced  insane.  He  was  placed  in  Dr. 
Tuke's  asylum  at  Chiswick,  and  remained 
there  till  1854,  when,  against  the  wishes  of 
the  physicians  and  of  his  nephew,  he  was 
removed  to  his  sister's  house,  No.  18  Notting 
Hill.  Here,  on  30  Aug.  1855,  he  died.  He 
was  publicly  buried  at  Kensal  Green  on 
10  Sept.  1855,  and  fifty  thousand  persons  are 
said  to  have  been  present  at  his  funeral. 

There  can  be  little  doubt  that,  O'Connor's 
mind  was  more  or  less  affected  from  the 
beginning,  and  that  he  inherited  tendencies 
to  insanity.  He  was  insanely  jealous  and 
egotistical,  and  no  one  succeeded  in  working 
with  him  for  long.  In  all  his  multitudinous 
speeches  and  writings  it  is  impossible  to 
detect  a  single  consistent  political  idea.  The 
absolute  failure  of  chartism  may  indeed 
be  traced  very  largely  to  his  position  in  the 
movement. 

[Place  MSS. ;  Northern  Star,  1837-48 ;  Gam- 
mage's  Hist,  of  Chartism,  1854  ;  Cork  Mercantile 
Chronicle,  1833;  Cork  Evening  Herald,  1835; 
Cork  Southern  Reporter,  1835;  The  Labourer, 
1847-8;  Report  of  Select  Committee  on  Na- 
tional Land  Company,  1848 ;  Frost's  Forty 
Years'  Recollections,  1880;  Gonner's  Early  Hist, 
of  Chartism  ;  Engl.  Hist.  Rev.  iv.  625 ;  Reports 
of  State  Trials  (New  Ser.),  vols.  iii.  and  iv. ; 
Lovett's  Life  and  Struggles,  1876.]  G.  W. 

O'CONNOR,  JAMES  ARTHUR  (1791- 
1841),  painter,  was  born  in  Dublin  in  1791. 
His  father  was  an  engraver,  who  brought 
him  up  to  his  own  profession.  O'Connor's 
mind,  however,  was  too  original  and  creative 
to  be  content  with  mere  reproduction,  and  he 
soon  forsook  engraving  for  landscape  paint- 
ing. By  1812  he  was  able  to  instruct  in  that  art 
his  pupil,  Francis  Danby  [q.  v.],  whose  first 
picture  was  exhibited  in  that  year.  He  was 
also  the  intimate  friend  of  George  Petrie 
[q.  v.],  by  whose  instructions  he  probably 
profited.  In  1813  the  three  friends  made  the 
expedition  to  London  which  has  been  de- 
scribed under  DAITBY,  FEANCIS.  O'Connor, 
unlike  Danby,  returned  to  Ireland,  but  in 
1822  quitted  Dublin  for  London,  'after  years 
of  hard  labour,  disappointment,  and  neg- 


O'Connor 


403 


O'Connor 


lect.'  He  had  married  during  the  interval. 
His  name  first  appears  in  the  catalogue  of 
the  Royal  Academy  in  1822,  and  he  contri- 
buted to  seventeen  exhibitions  in  all  up  to 
1840.  He  also  exhibited  with  the  Society  of 
British  Artists,  of  which  he  was  elected  a 
member.  His  contributions  were  always 
landscapes.  In  May  1826  he  proceeded  to 
Brussels,  where  he  remained  until  the  fol- 
lowing year.  "While  there  he  painted  seve- 
ral successful  pictures,  but  the  expedition 
proved  unfortunate  from  his  being  swindled 
out  of  a  sum  of  money,  under  what  circum- 
stances is  not  stated.  In  September  1832 
he  went  to  Paris,  and  continued  there  paint- 
ing and  studying  until  the  following  May. 
He  had  intended  to  visit  Italy,  but  was 
diverted  from  his  purpose  by  the  apparent 
friendliness  of  a  person  who  proved  to  be 
a  swindler,  but  who,  without  assignable 
motive,  offered  him  introductions  to  influ- 
ential residents  near  the  Saar  and  Moselle. 
Having  gone  thither  accordingly,  he  was  so 
delighted  with  the  district  as  to  abandon  his 
Italian  tour  and  remain  in  Belgium  and 
Rhenish  Prussia  until  November,  painting 
some  of  his  best  pictures.  In  1839  his  health 
began  to  decline,  and  his  inability  to  work 
involved  him  in  pecuniary  embarrassment, 
from  which  he  was  partly  extricated  by  the 
generosity  of  Sir  Charles  Coote  in  commis- 
sioning a  picture  and  paying  for  it  in  ad- 
vance. He  died  at  Brompton  on  7  Jan.  1841. 
'  A  spirit,'  says  his  biographer  in  the  '  Dub- 
lin Monthly  Magazine,  '  of  exceeding  mild- 
ness ;  manly,  ardent,  unobtrusive,  and  sin- 
cere ;  generous  in  proclaiming  contemporary 
merit,  and  unskilled  and  reluctant  to  put 
forth  his  own.'  His  landscapes  were  usually 
small  and  unpretending,  but,  to  judge  by  the 
specimens  now  accessible,  of  extraordinary 
merit.  Like  his  friend  Danby,  he  was  a  poet 
with  the  brush,  and  exquisitely  reproduced 
the  impressions  inspired  by  the  more  roman- 
tic and  solemn  aspects  of  nature.  Several 
of  his  works  are  at  South  Kensington,  and 
there  is  a  charming  example  in  the  Fitz- 
william  Museum  at  Cambridge.  There  are 
also  two  fine  works  by  him  in  the  National 
Gallery  of  Ireland :  one  a  view  on  the 
Dargle  ;  the  other  '  The  Poachers,'  a  moon- 
light landscape  with  figures,  a  composition 
steeped  in  Irish  sentiment. 

['M'  (said  to  bs  G.  F.  Mulvany,  the  first 
director  of  the  Irish  National  Gallery)  in  the 
Dublin  Monthly  Magazine  for  April  1842; 
Bryan's  Diet,  of  Painters;  Gent.  Mag.  1841  ; 
Stokes's  Life  of  George  Petrie.]  R.  G. 

O'CONNOR,  JOHN  (1824-1887),  Cana- 
dian statesman,  was  born  in  January  1824 
at  Boston,  Massachusetts,  whither  his  parents 


had  emigrated  from  co.  Kerry  in  1823. 
In  1828  the  O'Connor  family  removed  to 
Canada,  and  settled  in  Essex  County,  On- 
tario, Canada.  They  were  agriculturists,  and 
John  O'Connor  worked  as  a  farm  labourer  on 
their  land  till  1823.  In  the  winter  of  that 
year  he  lost  his  left  leg  owing  to  an  accident 
while  cutting  down  trees.  He  now  became 
a  student  of  law,  and  was  called  to  the 
Canadian  bar  in  1854.  He  settled  down  to 
practice  at  Windsor.  A  conservative  and 
Roman  catholic,  he  took  a  strong  part  in  local 
politics,  and  obtained  the  offices  of  reeve  of 
Windsor,  warden  of  Essex  County,  and  chair- 
man of  the  Windsor  school  board.  In  1867 
he  was  elected  to  the  Canadian  Legislature 
for  Essex.  In  Sir  John  Macdonald's  ministry 
of  1872-3  O'Connor  successively  held  the 
posts  of  president  of  the  council,  minister 
of  inland  revenue,  and  postmaster-general. 
At  the  general  election  of  1874  he  lost  his 
seat  for  Essex,  and  remained  out  of  the 
legislature  till  1878,  when  he  was  chosen 
for  Russell  County.  He  entered  the  conser- 
vative government,  again  formed  by  Sir  John 
Macdonald  [q.  v.],  arid  held  the  posts  of  presi- 
dent of  the  council,  postmaster-general,  and 
secretary  of  state.  In  1 884  he  was  appointed 
puisne  judge  of  the  divisional  court  of  queen's 
bench  at  Ontario.  He  died  at  Coburg  on 
3  Nov.  1887. 

[Withrow's  History  of  Canada;  Rose's  Cyclo- 
paedia of  Canadian  Biography;  Canadian  Par- 
liamentary Debates.]  G.  P.  M-T. 

O'CONNOR,  JOHN  (1830-1889),  scene- 
painter  and  architectural  painter,  born  in  co. 
Londonderry,  on  12  Aug.  1830,  was  third 
son  of  Francis  O'Connor  by  his  wife  Rose 
Cunningham  of  Bath.  O'Connor  was  edur 
cated  at  the  Church  Educational  Society's 
school  in  Dublin,but, being  left  an  orphan  at 
the  age  of  twelve,  began  to  earn  a  livelihood 
for  himself  and  his  aged  grandfather,  Francis 
O'Connor.  His  father  and  family  were  con- 
nected with  the  stage,  and  his  mother's 
brother  was  lessee  of  the  Belfast  and  Liver- 
pool theatres.  O'Connor  began  by  assisting  in 
scene-painting  and  acting  as  call-boy  in  the 
Dublin  theatre.  At  the  age  of  fourteen  he 
painted  scenery  for  Sir  E.  Tierney,  and  at 
seventeen  for  the  Earl  of  Bective.  After  his 
grandfather's  death  in  1845  he  became  at- 
tached to  a  travelling  company  of  actors  as 
scene-painter,  but  the  tour  was  unprofitable, 
and  in  order  to  secure  his  return  to  Dublin 
he  was  reduced  to  making  silhouettes  with 
the  pantograph.  On  2  April  1848  he  arrived 
in  London  with  introductions  to  scene- 
painters,  and  first  obtained  work  at  Drury 
Lane  Theatre.  In  October  of  that  year  he 

D  D  2 


O'Connor 


404 


O'Connor 


was  employed  for  the  first  time  as  one  of  the 
scene-painters  to  the  Haymarket  Theatre. 
In  the  summer  of  1849  he  visited  Ireland  at 
the  time  of  the  queen's  visit,  and  on  his 
return  to  London  he  was  engaged  by  Mr. 
Philip  to  paint  a  diorama  of  '  The  Queen's 
Visit  to  Ireland.'  This  was  exhibited  in 
the  Chinese  gallery,  in  which  O'Connor  lived 
for  more  than  a  year,  until  the  close  of  the 
exhibition.  At  the  same  time,  O'Connor 
attained  some  repute  as  a  painter  of  archi- 
tectural subjects  in  oil  and  water-colour,  and 
was  soon  a  prolific  contributor  to  the  leading 
exhibitions.  He  made  his  first  appearance 
as  an  exhibitor  at  the  Suffolk  Street  exhi- 
bition in  1854,  and  exhibited  his  first  picture 
at  the  Royal  Academy  in  1857.  In  1855  he 
paid  the  first  of  many  visits  to  the  con- 
tinent, whence  he  always  returned  with  a 
great  number  of  sketches,  to  form  the  sub- 
jects of  future  paintings.  In  1855  he  was 
appointed  drawing-master  to  the  London  and 
South- Western  Literary  and  Scientific  Insti- 
tution, a  post  which  he  held  for  three  years. 
In  addition  to  his  theatrical  duties,  O'Connor 
supplied  much  scenery  for  private  theatrical 
performances,  whereby  he  was  brought  into 
contact  and  obtained  great  popularity  with 
the  higher  ranks  of  society. 

In  1863  he  became  principal  scene-painter 
to  the  Haymarket  Theatre,  and  in  1864 
painted  the  scenery  for  the  Shakespeare  ter- 
centenary performances  at  Stratford-on- 
Avon.  In  1870,  during  the  Franco-German 
war,  O'Connor's  love  of  adventure  led  him  to 
visit  Sedan  (see  '  The  Dark  Blue '  for  an 
article  by  him  entitled  'Three  Days  in  Sedan'), 
and  in  1871  he  paid  several  visits  to  Paris 
during  the  Prussian  occupation.  In  1872  he 
took  a  studio,  in  company  with  Lord  Ronald 
Gower,  who  had  been  one  of  his  companions 
in  Paris,  at  47  Leicester  Square,  the  former 
residence  of  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds,  and  their 
studio  became  the  meeting-place  of  men  of 
artistic  or  dramatic  distinction.  In  1878  he 
resigned  his  appointment  at  the  Haymarket 
Theatre  in  order  to  devote  himself  to  the 
more  legitimate  branches  of  art,  but  still 
painted  occasionally  for  the  stage,  his  latest 
work  in  that  line  including  new  act-drops 
for  the  new  Sadler's  Wells  Theatre,  the  St. 
James's  Theatre  (this  being  a  copy  of  Turner's 
'Crossing  the  Brook'),  and  the  well-known 
'  Minuet '  act-drop  at  the  Haymarket  Theatre 
(with  figures  by  his  pupil,  D.  T.  White).  He 
built  himself  a  house  and  studio  at  28  Aber- 
corn  Place,  St.  John's  Wood,  where  he  re- 
sided until  his  health  began  to  fail  in  1888. 
He  then  removed  to  Heathcroft,  at  Yateley 
in  Hampshire  ;  but,  as  his  health  did  not  im- 
prove, he  made  a  voyage  to  India  to  visit 


his  two  youngest  sons.  Shortly  after  his 
return  he  died  of  paralysis  at  Heathcroft  on 
23  May  1889.  He  was  buried  in  Finchley 
cemetery.  O'Connor  was  twice  married,  and 
left  two  sons  by  each  wife. 

As  a  scene-painter,  O'Connor  combined 
genuine  artistic  taste  with  a  complete  know- 
ledge of  theatrical  requirements.  As  a  painter 
in  oil  and  water-colour,  he  was  a  master  of 
architectural  detail ;  and  in  his  later  days, 
when  he  had  greater  leisure,  he  showed  an 
insight  into  the  more  picturesque  side  of  his 
art,  and  had  he  lived  would  have  been  a 
candidate  for  academical  honours  He  was 
extremely  prolific,  and  had  many  patrons. 
His  smaller  architectural  subjects  were  espe- 
cially popular,  and  he  decorated  a  whole 
room  for  the  Duke  of  Westminster  at  Eaton 
Hall  with  large  pictures  in  oil,  and  a  second 
room  with  sets  of  drawings,  many  being  views 
of  the  early  homes  of  the  duke's  first  wife. 
He  was  a  favourite  painter  with  the  royal 
family,  and  obtained  special  facilities  for 
making  drawings  of  several  court  ceremonies, 
such  as  the  marriage  of  Princess  Louise  and 
the  Marquis  of  Lome  in  1871,  the  thanks- 
giving service  in  St.  Paul's  in  1872,  the 
arrival  of  the  Duke  and  Duchess  of  Edinburgh 
at  Buckingham  Palace  in  1874,  and  the 
jubilee  service  in  Westminster  Abbey  in 
1887.  He  designed  and  directed  many  of 
the  tableaux  vivants  held  at  Cromwell  House 
and  elsewhere,  including '  the  Shakespearian 
scenes,'  1874,  and  '  The  Tale  of  Troy,'  1883 ; 
'The  Dream  of  Fair  Women,'  1884;  the 
'Masque  of  Painters,'  1886  (in  which  he 
figured  himself  as  Michelangelo) ;  and  the 
'  Masque  of  Flowers,'  1887.  He  had  numerous 
friends  at  Cambridge  University ;  he  was  a 
member  of  the  Cambridge  amateur  dramatic 
club,  painting  scenes  for  the  club  for  many 
years,  and  on  the  revival  of  the  Greek  drama 
there  contributed  by  his  beautiful  scenery  to 
the  success  of  the 'Ajax,' 1882;  'The  Birds,' 
1883 ;  '  The  Eumenid'es,'  1886 ;  and  '  CEdipus 
Tyrannus,'  1887.  O'Connor  was  one  of  the 
most  genial  and  hospitable  of  friends,  and  one 
of  the  most  popular  men  in  his  profession. 

[Private  information  and  personal  knowledge.] 

O'CONNOR,  LUKE  SMYTHE  (1806- 
1873),  major-general,  born  in  Dublin  on 
15  April  1806,  was  appointed  ensign  in  the 
1st  West  India  regiment  27  April  1827,  be- 
came lieutenant  22  March  1831,  captain 
17  Jan.  1834,  brevet  major  9  Nov.  1846, 
major  1  Jan.  1847,  brevet  lieutenant-colonel 
3  Feb.  1853,  brevet  colonel  28  Nov.  1854, 
regimental  lieu  tenant- colonel  21  Sept.  1855, 
and  major-general  24  April  1866.  All  his 
regimental  commissions  were  in  the  1st 


O'Connor 


405 


O'Connor 


West  India,  of  which  he  was  adjutant  in 
1833-4.  When  it  was  decided,  in  1843, 
that  the  garrisons  on  the  African  West 
Coast  should  be  supplied  by  the  West  India 
regiments  in  turn,  instead  of  by  the  3rd  West 
India  (late  royal  African  colonial  corps)  alone 
as  previously,  O'Connor  was  detached  from 
Barbados  to  Sierra  Leone  with  two  com- 
panies of  his  regiment.  In  1848,  as  major, 
he  was  detached  from  his  regiment  in  Ja- 
maica to  British  Honduras,  where  there  were 
disturbances  with  the  Yucatan  Indians.  In 
September  1852  he  was  appointed  governor 
of  the  Gambia,  and  was  invested  with  the 
command  of  the  troops  in  West  Africa,  the 
headquarters  of  which  were  removed  from 
Sierra  Leone  to  Cape  Coast  Castle  (Horse 
Guards  Letter,  20  Sept.  1852).  He  com- 
manded detachments  of  the  three  West 
India  regiments,  black  pensioners,  Gambia 
militia,  and  seamen  and  marines  against  the 
Mohammedan  rebels  of  Combos,  stormed 
their  stronghold  of  Sabajee  on  1  June  1853, 
and  acquired  by  treaty  a  considerable  tract  of 
territory.  The  sense  of  the  government  re- 
specting the  manner  in  which  this  service 
was  performed  was  communicated  to  O'Con- 
nor in  a  despatch  from  the  Duke  of  New- 
castle. On  16  July  1853  he  attacked  and 
repulsed  a  numerous  force  of  Mohammedans 
under  Omar  Hadjee,  the  'Black  Prophet,' 
on  which  occasion,  out  of  240  British, 
twenty-nine  were  killed  and  fifty -three 
wounded.  O'Connor  received  two  shots 
through  the  right  arm  and  one  in  the  left 
shoulder,  but  remained  on  the  field.  He 
commanded  the  combined  British  and  French 
forces  against  the  Mohammedan  rebels  of 
Upper  and  Lower  Combos.  After  four 
hours'  fighting  in  the  pass  of  Boccow  Kooka 
on  4  Aug.  1855,  he  stormed  the  stockade  and 
routed  the  enemy,  with  the  loss  of  five  hun- 
dred men  (C.B.  and  reward  for  distinguished 
service).  He  was  brigadier-general  com- 
manding the  troops  in  Jamaica  during  the 
rebellion  of  1865,  when  several  Europeans 
were  murdered  at  Morant  Bay,  and  was 
thanked  for  his  prompt  and  efficient  measures 
for  the  safety  of  the  public  by  Governor 
Eyre,  the  legislative  council  and  House  of 
Assembly,  and  by  the  magistrate  and  inhabi- 
tants of  Kingston.  He  was  president  of  the 
legislative  council  and  senior  member  of  the 
privy  council  of  Jamaica  in  February  1868, 
and  administered  the  government  during  the 
absence  of  Sir  John  Peter  Grant  [q.  v.l 

O'Connor,  who  married  in  1856,  died  of 
dropsy  and  atrophy  at  7  Racknitzstrasse, 
Dresden,  Saxony,  on  24  March  1873. 

[War  Office  Records;  Colonial  Office  List; 
Ellis'sHist.lst  West  India  Regiment.]  H.  M.  C. 


O'CONNOR,  RODERIC,  or  in  Irish 
RUAIDHRI  (d.  1118),  king  of  Connaugbt, 
always  mentioned  by  Irish  historians  as  '  na 
Soighe  Buidhe,'  of  the  yellow  brach,  was 
son  of  Aedh  O'Connor  [q.  v.],  king  of  Con- 
naught, but  does  not  appear  in  the  annals  as 
king  till  1076,  nine  years  after  his  father's 
death,  when  he  made  formal  submission  to 
Turlough  O'Brien  (1009-1086)  [q.  v.],  who 
had  invaded  Connaught.  In  1079  he  was 
driven  out  of  Connaught  by  O'Brien,  but  had 
returned  in  1082.  In  1087  he  established  his 
power  by  a  great  victory  over  the  invading 
Conmaicne  at  Cunghill  in  Corran,  co.  Sligo, 
a  battle  long  after  employed  in  dates  as  the 
starting-point  of  an  era,  just  as  the  battle  of 
Antrim  was  in  later  times.  In  1088  he  took 
the  island  in  the  Shannon  called  Incherky, 
and  afterwards  plundered  Corcomroe,  co. 
Clare.  He  had  to  give  hostages  in  token  of 
submission  to  Domhnall  O'Lochlainn,  king 
of  Ireland,  and  then  joined  him  in  burning 
Limerick  and  plundering  the  plain  of  Mun- 
ster  as  far  as  Emly.  They  demolished  Cenn- 
coradh,  the  chief  fort  of  the  Dal  Cais,  and 
carried  oft'  Madadhan  O'Ceinnedigh,  and  one 
hundred  and  sixty  hostages,  for  whom  a  large 
ransom  in  cows,  horses,  gold,  silver,  and  meat 
was  afterwards  obtained.  He  again  invaded 
Munster  in  1089.  In  1090  he  had  once  more 
to  give  hostages  and  declare  allegiance  to 
Domhnall  O'Lochlainn.  In  1092  he  was  trea- 
cherously seized  by  Flaibheartach  O'Flaibh- 
eartaigh,  his  gossip,  and  his  eyes  put  out, 
an  outrage  avenged  in  1098  by  Madadhan 
O'Cuanna,  who  slew  Flaibheartach.  O'Con- 
nor ceased  to  be  king,  and  retired  to  the 
monastery  of  Clonmacnoise,  where  he  died  in 
1118.  He  married  Mdr,  daughter  of  Tur- 
lough O'Brien.  His  son  Turlough  O'Connor 
[q.  v.l  became  king  of  Connaught.  Another 
son,  Niall,  surnamed  Aithclerech,  was  killed 
in  1093.  His  daughter  had  some  skill  in 
metal-work. 

[Annala  Rioghachta  Eireann,  vol.  ii.  ed. 
O'Donovan;  Aunals  of  Ulster,  vol.  ii.  ed. 
McCarthy.]  N.  M. 

O'CONNOR,  RODERIC  (1116-1198), 
king  of  Ireland,  called  in  Irish  Ruaidhn 
Ua  Conchobhair,  was  son  of  Turlough 
O'Connor  [q.  v.]  At  the  age  of  twenty-seven 
his  father  seems  to  have  suspected  him  in 
some  way,  and  made  him  a  prisoner,  in  spite 
of  pledges  to  the  contrary.  The  bishops  and 
clergy  of  Connaught,  in  accordance  with  the 
brehon  law,  fasted  against  the  king  at  Rath- 
brennaiu,  but  failed  to  obtain  his  son's  release. 
On  the  death  of  Turlough  in  1156  Roderic 
assumed  the  kingship  of  Connaught,  and  the 
Sil  Muireadhaigh,  his  tribe,  gave  him  the. 


O'Connor 


406 


O'Connor 


custody  of  his  brothers  Brian  Breifnach,  Brian 
Luighneach,  and  Muircheartach  Muimh- 
neach.  He  put  out  the  eyes  of  the  first,  as  a 
sure  means  of  preventing  him  from  becoming 
a  rival.  Turlogh  O'Brien  and  the  Dal  Cais 
gave  him  twelve  hostages.  He  then  ravaged 
the  plain  of  Teffia  in  Westmeath,  and  the 
district  then  called  Machaire  Cuircne,  and 
BOW  known  as  the  barony  of  Kilkenny  West, 
co.  Westmeath.  So  severe  was  the  winter 
that  he  marched  on  the  frozen  Shannon  from 
Galey  to  Randown,  co.  Roscommon.  In  1 157, 
while  the  king  of  Ailech  was  invading  the 
south,  he  entered  Tyrone,  and  burnt  Inis- 
eanaigh,  cut  down  its  orchard,  and  plun- 
dered the  country  as  far  as  Keenaght,  co. 
Derry.  He  then  sailed  down  the  Shannon 
into  Minister,  and  made  a  partition  of  it 
between  O'Brien  and  MacCarthy.  Next  year 
he  plundered  Ossory  and  Leix,  but  lost  many 
men  on  a  second  expedition  into  Teffia.  In 
1159  he  tried  to  make  a  bridge  at  Athlone, 
but  was  attacked  by  Donnchadh  O'Mael- 
sechlainn,  and  lost  his  son  Aedh  in  the  battle, 
though  he  forced  his  way  into  Meath,  in 
alliance  with  Tighearnan  O'Ruairc,  and 
inarched  as  far  as  Ardee,  co.  Louth.  The 
Conmaicne  or  O'Farrells  and  their  kin,  and 
the  Ui  Briuin  or  O'Ruaircs  and  O'Reillys 
and  their  kin,  were  on  his  side,  arranged  in 
six  divisions,  and  he  was  opposed  by  Muir- 
cheartach O'Lochlainn  [q.v.],  at  the  head  of  the 
Cinel  Eoghain,  Cinel  Conaill,  and  the  Oirgh- 
ialla.  He  was  utterly  defeated  and  followed 
into  Connaught  by  O'Lochlainn,  who  inflicted 
so  much  injury  that  O'Connor  was  unable  to 
take  the  field  again  till  1160,  when  he  took 
hostages  from  Teffia,  sailed  down  the  Shan- 
non, and  received  hostages  from  the  Dal  Cais. 
He  met  O'Lochlainn  at  Assaroe,  co.  Donegal, 
with  a  view  to  peace,  but  no  treaty  was 
made;  and  in  1161,  after  war  with  Turlogh 
(J'Brien,  he  invaded  Meath  with  Tighernan 
O'Ruairc,  and  took  hostages  from  the  Ui 
Faelain  and  the  Ui  Failghe,  but  was  obliged 
to  give  hostages,  in  token  of  submission,  to 
O'Lochlainn.  Next  year  he  received  one  hun- 
dred ounces  of  gold  from  Dermot  O'Mael- 
sechlainn  as  tribute  for  Westmeath.  In  1165 
he  invaded  Desmond,  and  took  hostages  from 
MacCarthy,  and  in  1166  he  took  advantage 
of  the  weakness  of  the  north,  after  the  death 
in  battle  of  Muircheartach  O'Lochlainn,  to 
march  to  Assaroe,  and  obtain  hostages  from 
the  Cinel  Conaill.  In  the  same  year  he  had 
the  shrine  of  St.  Manchan  of  Mohill,  co. 
Leitrim,  covered  with  goldwork.  He  went 
to  Dublin,  gave  the  Danes  four  thousand 
cows,  and  was  there  inaugurated  king  of  all 
Ireland,  a  ceremony  which  was  the  first  Irish 
regal  pageant  of  which  thatcity  was  thescene. 


He  then  took  hostages  of  the  Oirghialla  at 
Drogheda,  and  afterwards  of  Diarmaid  Mac 
Murchada  [q.v.],  and  of  Munster.  After  the 
flight  of  Diarmaid  to  England,  he  received 
seventeen  hostages  from  his  grandson,  who 
was  set  up  as  king  of  Leinster.  He  had  no 
hereditary  claim  to  be  king  of  Ireland,  and 
his  attainment  of  that  dignity  in  1166  was 
entirely  due  to  force.  He  assembled  a  great 
concourse  of  clergy  and  laity  at  Athboy,  co. 
Meath,  1167.  The  Archbishop  of  Armagh, 
Cadhla  O'Dubhthaigh,  chief  bishop  of  Con- 
naught  ;  Lorcan  OToole,  bishop  of  Glenda- 
loch  ;  Tighernan  O'Ruairc,  lord  of  Breifne ; 
Donnchadh  O'Cearbhaill,  chief  of  the  Oir- 
ghialla ;  MacDuinnsleibhe  O'Heochadha, 
king  of  Ulidia,  or  Lesser  Ulster:  Dermot 
O'Maeleachlainn,  king  of  Meath  ;  and 
Raghnall,  king  of  the  Danes  of  Dublin,  all 
attended,  with  thirteen  thousand  horsemen. 
Various  laws  were  adopted  by  the  meeting, 
which  broke  up  without  any  fighting.  Soon 
after,  Diarmaid  MacMurchada  returned,  and 
O'Connor  fought  him  and  his  clan,  the  Ui 
Ceinnsealaigh,  at  Kellistown,  co.  Wexford, 
in  two  battles.  Diarmaid  gave  him  hostages. 
He  celebrated  the  Aonach  Taillten,  or  as- 
sembly of  Telltown,  in  1168,  which  was  the 
last  occasion  upon  which  it  was  held.  The 
horses  of  those  who  came  extended  from 
Mullach  Aiti,  now  the  Hill  of  Lloyd,  to  the 
Hill  of  Telltown,  on  the  Blackwater,  co. 
Meath,  a  distance  of  about  six  and  a  half 
miles.  Cases  were  decided  publicly  by  the 
king,  and  the  Oirghialla  demanded  an  eric  (i.e. 
compensation)  from  the  men  of  Meath  for 
the  slaying  of  a  chief  called  O'Finnallain. 
O'Connor  awarded  eight  hundred  cows. 
The  people  of  Meath  were  so  irritated  with 
their  king,  Dermot  O'Maelechlainn,  for  haA'- 
ingmade  them  liable  to  such  a  tax  that  they 
deposed  him  after  paying  it.  Roderic  O'Connor 
himself  received  an  eric  of  240  cows  from 
the  Munstermen  later  in  the  year.  He 
granted,  in  1169,  ten  cows  a  year  to  the 
lector  (ferleiginn)  of  Armagh  for  ever  for 
teaching  the  scholars  of  Ireland  and  Scot- 
land at  Armagh,  which  was  perhaps  the 
first  regular  academical  endowment  in 
Ireland.  He  invaded  Leinster  in  the  same 
year,  and  in  1170  marched  against  Diarmaid 
MacMurchada  and  his  Norman  allies,  but 
retired  without  fighting,  and  put  Diarmaid's 
hostages  to  death  at  Athlone.  In  1171  he 
led  an  army  to  Dublin,  and  for  some  time 
closely  besieged  it.  Strongbow,  probably  to 
gain  time,  proposed  to  be  Roderic's  vassal 
for  Leinster  if  he  would  raise  the  siege  ;  but 
the  proposal,  which  was  brought  by  Bishop 
O'Toole,  was  rejected.  The  Normans  held 
a  council  of  war,  and  decided  on  a  sally 


O'Connor 


407 


O'Connor 


in  the  afternoon.  They  found  the  Irish 
unprepared ;  Roderic  fled,  and  his  army  was 
routed.  When  Henry  II  visited  Ireland 
in  1171,  Roderic  did  not  make  submission 
to  him,  and  in  1174  he  defeated  Strong- 
bow  at  Thurles,  and  afterwards  invaded 
Meath,  whence  he  retired  into  Connaught, 
and  in  1175  ravaged  Munster.  He  sent, 
in  the  same  year,  Cadhla  O'Dubhthaigh, 
his  archbishop,  with  two  other  ecclesiastics, 
as  envoys  to  Henry  II.  A  treaty  was  con- 
cluded at  Windsor.  Roderic  was  to  rule 
Connaught  as  before  the  English  invasion, 
and  was  to  be  head,  under  Henry,  of  the 
kings  and  chiefs  of  Ireland.  He  was  to  ac- 
knowledge Henry  as  his  liege  lord,  and  to 
pay  an  annual  tribute  of  hides.  In  1177  his 
son  Murchadh  brought  Milo  de  Cogan  to 
attack  Roscommon,  but  the  English  were 
defeated,  and  Murchadh  captured  by  his 
father,  who  had  his  eyes  put  out.  Another 
son,  Conchobhar,  allied  with  the  English,  in- 
vaded Connaught  in  1186,  and  Roderic  was 
driven  into  Munster ;  and,  though  afterwards 
recalled,  and  given  a  triochaced  or  barony 
of  land,  he  was  deposed  from  the  kingship  of 
Connaught.  When  Conchobhar  was  slain 
in  1189.  the  Sil  Muireadhaigh  sent  for 
Roderic,  who  came  to  Roscommon  and  re- 
ceived hostages,  but  was  soon  deposed  by 
Cathal  O'Connor  [q.  v.],  called  Crobhdhearg ; 
and,  after  vainly  asking  help  of  Flaithbhear- 
tach  O'Maoldoraidh,  of  the  Cinel  Conaill, 
of  the  Cinel  Eoghain  in  Tyrone,  and  of  the 
English  in  Meath,  he  went  into  Munster, 
and  soon  after  entered  the  abbey  of  Cong, 
co.  Galway,  and  died  there  in  1198.  He  was 
buried  at  Cong,  and  his  bones  were  re- 
moved in  1207  to  the  north  side  of  the  high 
altar  at  Clonmacnoise.  He  is  commonly 
spoken  of  in  histories  as  the  last  native  king 
of  all  Ireland,  but  Maelsechlainn  II  [q.  v.] 
was  the  last  legitimate  Ard  ri  na  hEireann, 
or  chief  king  of  Ireland,  and  Roderic's  title 
to  rule  the  whole  island  was  no  better  than 
that  of  Henry  II ;  both  rested  on  force  alone. 
If  Ireland  was  the  pope's  to  give  away,  it  was 
justly  Henry's ;  and  if,  as  Roderic  O'Connor 
had  maintained,  the  sword  alone  could 
determine  its  sovereignty,  then,  also,  Henry 
had  the  advantage  over  Roderic. 

Roderic  first  married  Taillten,  daughter  of 
Muircheartach  O'Maeleachlain,  and  after- 
wards Dubhchobhlach,  daughter  of  Mael- 
sechlan  mac  Tadhg  O'Maelruanaidh.  His 
second  wife  died  in  1108.  He  had  two 
daughters  and  six  sons :  Conchobbar,  Dermot, 
Turlough,  Aedh,  Murchadh,  and  Ruaidri. 
One  daughter  was  married  to  Sir  Hugh  de 
Lacy,  the  other  to  Flaithbheartach  O'Mael- 
doraigh. 


Connor  O'Connor,  called  by  Irish  writers 
Conchobhar  Moinmaighe,  succeeded  his  father 
as  king  of  Connaught  on  his  retirement  to 
Cong.  He  defeated  the  English  in  the  Curlew 
mountains  in  1187,  but  was  murdered  in 
1189  by  Maghnus  O'Fiannachta. 

Connor  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Cathal 
Carrach  O'Connor,  whose  title  was  at  once 
disputed  by  his  cousin  Cathal  O'Connor, 
called  Crobhdhearg.  He  defeated  his  rival's 
allies,  William  Fitzaldhelm  De  Burgo  and 
O'Neill,  at  Ballisadare,  co.  Roscommon,  in 
1198,  but  was  slain  in  another  battle  of  the 
same  contest  in  1201,  at  Guirtincuilluachra, 
co.  Roscommon.  He  left  one  son,  Mael- 
seachlan.  Aedh,  Roderic's  fourth  son,  in 
1228  defeated  his  elder  brother,  Turlough, 
and  became  king  of  Conuaught  in  1228, 
but  was  slain  in  a  battle  with  his  cousin 
Feidhlimidh  O'Connor,  near  Elphin,  in  1233. 
Turlough  had  a  son  Brian,  who  died  in  Abbey 
Knockmoy  in  1267,  and  after  him  no  de- 
scendant of  Roderic  is  mentioned  in  the 
chronicles.  The  '  Annals  of  Loch  C6 '  con- 
tain (i.  314)  under  the  year  1233  an  obviously 
ex  post  facto  story  to  account  for  the  ex- 
tinction of  his  line,  that  he  was  so  profligate 
as  to  have  declined  an  offer  from  the  highest 
ecclesiastical  authority  to  permit  him  to  nave 
six  lawful  wives  but  no  more. 

[Annala  Riogh'ichta  Eireann,  ed.  O'Donovan, 
vols.  ii.  and  iii.;  Annala  of  Ulster  (Rolls  Ser.), 
ed.  MacCarthy,  vol.  ii.;  Lynch's  Cambrensis 
Eversus  (Celtic  Society  Publications);  Giruldus 
Cambrensis  (Rolls  Ser.) ;  O'Flaherty's  Ogygia.ed. 
1685;  O'Donovan's  Tribes  and  Customs  of  Hy 
Fiachrach,  Dublin,  1844;  Graves's  Church  and 
Shrine  of  St.  Manchan,  Dublin,  1875  ;  Annals  of 
Loch  Ce.  ed.  Hennessy  (Rolls  Ser.),  vol.  i. ;  tho 
O'Conor  Don's  O'Conors  of  Conuaught,  Dublin, 
1891,  p.  72,  as  to  Henry  Il's  treaty.]  N.  M. 

O'CONNOR,  ROGER  (1762-1834),  Irish 
nationalist,  born  at  Connorville,  co.  Cork,  in 
1762,  was  son  of  Roger  Connor  of  Connor- 
ville by  Anne,  daughter  of  Robert  Longtield, 
M.P.  (1688-1765),  and  sister  of  Richard 
Longfield,  created  Viscount  Longueville  in 
1800.  The  Connor  family  was  descended  from 
a  rich  London  merchant,  and  its  claims  to 
ancient  Irish  descent  are  very  doubtful. 
Arthur  O'Connor  [q.  v.]  was  Roger's  brother. 
Roger  entered  the  university  of  Dublin  in 
1777,  and  joined  the  English  bar  in  1784. 
His  early  bias  was  in  favour  of  the  old  tory 
r6gime ;  as  a  young  man  he  entered  the  Mus- 
kerry  yeomanry,  and  helped  to  hunt  down 
'  Whiteboys.'  He  soon,  however,  changed  his 
views,  and  joined  the  United  Irishmen.  In 
1797  a  warrant  left  Dublin  Castle  for  his 
arrest,  at  the  instance  of  his  own  brother 
Robert .  He  was  imprisoned  at  Cork,  waa  tried 


O'Connor 


408 


O'Connor 


and  acquitted.  On  his  liberation  in  April 
1798  he  went  to  London,  with  the  intention, 
as  he  says,  of  '  residing  there  and  avoiding 
any  interference  in  politics ; '  but  his  brother 
Arthur  had  just  been  arrested  at  Margate, 
and  the  home  office  decided  on  again  secur- 
ing Roger.  He  was  sent  from  place  to  place 
in  the  custody  of  king's  messengers,  and  on 
2  June  1798  was  finally  committed  to  New- 
gate in  Dublin. 

In  April  1799,  with  his  fellow-prisoners, 
T.  A.  Emmet,  Chambers,  his  brother  Arthur, 
and  others,  he  was  removed  to  Fort  George 
in  Scotland.  In  the  same  year  he  managed 
to  publish  '  Letters  to  the  People  of  Great 
Britain.'  After  some  years'  imprisonment  he 
obtained  his  release.  His  affairs  had  been 
ruined  meanwhile,  but  he  had  fortune  enough 
to  rent  Dangan  Castle,  Trim,  co.  Meath. 
The  house  was  burnt  down  shortly  after  he 
had  effected  an  insurance  on  it  for  5,000/. 
He  then  eloped  with  a  married  lady,  and 
in  1817  was  arrested  at  Trim  for  having 
headed  a  band  of  his  retainers  in  robbing  the 
Gal  way  coach.  The  son  of  O'Connor's  agent 
asserted  that  this  raid  was  made  by  O'Connor 
not  for  money,  but  in  quest  of  a  packet  of 
love-letters,  written  by  his  friend  Sir  Francis 
Burdett,  and  which  were  likely  to  be  used  in 
evidence  against  Burdett  at  the  suit  of  a  peer 
who  suspected  him  of  criminal  intimacy  with 
his  wife.  Sir  Francis  Burdett  hurried  to  Ire- 
land as  a  witness  on  O'Connor's  behalf  at  his 
trial  at  Trim,  and  Roger  was  acquitted. 

In  1822  O'Connor  published  '  The  Chroni- 
cles of  Eri,  being  the  History  of  the  Gael, 
Sciot  Iber,  or  Irish  People  :  translated  from 
the  Original  Manuscripts  in  the  Phoenician 
dialect  of  the  Scythian  Language.'  The  book 
is  mainly,  if  not  entirely,  the  fruit  of  O'Con- 
nor's imagination.  Roger's  portrait  is  pre- 
fixed, described  as '  O'Connor  Cier-rige,  head 
of  his  race,  and  O'Connor,  chief  of  the  pro- 
strated people  of  this  Nation.  Soumis,  pas 
vaincus.'1  O'Connor  is  described  as  a  man  of 
fascinating  manners  and  conversation,  but  Dr. 
Madden  considers  that  his  wits  were  always 
more  or  less  disordered.  Through  life  he 
professed  to  be  a  sceptic  in  religion,  and  de- 
clared that  Voltaire  was  his  God.  He  died 
at  Kilcrea,  co.  Cork,  on  27  Jan.  1834. 

His  will,  a  strange  document,  beginning  : 
'  I,  O'Connor  and  O'Connor  Cier-rige,  called 
by  the  English  Roger  O'Connor,  late  of  Con- 
norville  and  Dangan  Castle/  is  dated  1  July 
1831 .  Feargus  O'Connor  [q.  v.],  the  chartist, 
was  his  son. 

[O'Connor's  Letters  to  the   People  of  Great 
Britain,  etc.,  Dublin,  1799;  Pelham  MSS.,  Brit. 
Mus. ;  Fitzpatrick's  Secret  Service  under  Pitt,  j 
1892;  Dublin  and  London  Mag.  1828,  p.  30;  in-  j 


formation  from  Professor  Barry,  Queen's  College, 
Cork  (son  of  Roger's  agent)  ;  Madden's  United 
Irishmen  ;  Ireland  before  the  Union.] 

W.  J.  F. 

O'CONNOR,  TURLOUGH  (1088-1156), 
king  of  Ireland,  called  by  Irish  writers 
Toirdhealbhach  mor  Ua  Conchobhair,  son 
of  Roderic  or  Ruaidhri  O'Connor  (d.  1118) 
[q.  v.],  king  of  Connaught,  was  born  in  1088 
in  Connaught.  His  brother  Domhnall  was 
deposed  in  1106  by  Murtough  (Muirchear- 
tach)  O'Brien  (d.  1119)  [q.  v.]  O'Connor 
was  inaugurated  king  of  the  Sil  Muireadh- 
aigh,  as  the  O'Connors  and  their  allied 
septs  were  called,  at  Athantearmoinn,  co. 
Roscommon.  His  first  war  was  in  1110 
with  the  Conmhaicne,  the  group  of  tribes 
allied  to  O'Farrell,  who  had  invaded  his 
country,  and  whom  he  defeated  at  Ros,  co. 
Roscommon,  but  was  soon  after  routed  at 
Magh  Breanghair,  with  the  loss  of  Meanman 
and  Ruaidhri  O'Muireadhaigh,  two  of  his 
most  important  feudatory  chiefs.  In  1111  he 
made  two  successful  forays  into  the  south  of 
Ulster,  invading  it  from  the  mountains  south 
of  Lough  Erne,  plundering  Termonmagrath 
and  the  country  north  of  Swanlinbar,  and 
near  Binaghlon,  co.  Fermanagh.  Heacknow- 
ledged  Domhnall  O'Lochlainn  [q.v.]  as  king 
of  Ireland  in  1114  at  Dunlo,  co.  Galway,  and 
marched  with  him  to  Tullagh  O'Dea,  co. 
Clare,  where  a  truce  of  a  year  was  made  with 
the  Munstermen.  When  the  year  was  up 
the  Munstermen  invaded  Meath,  and  O'Con- 
nor took  advantage  of  the  occasion  to  march 
into  Thomond,  which  he  plundered  as  far  as 
Limerick ;  but  on  his  way  home  he  was  at- 
tacked in  force  and  himself  severely  wounded. 
He  was  able  later  in  the  year  to  make  a  suc- 
cessful attack  on  theConmaicne  by  taking  his 
army  in  boats  across  Lough  Rea.  After  a 
year  of  such  successful  plunder  he  made  a  pre- 
sent of  three  pieces  of  plate  to  the  monastery 
of  Clonmacnoise,  a  drinking-horn  mounted 
in  gold,  a  gilt  cup,  and  a  patena  (mullog)  of 
gilt  bronze. 

He  continued  his  wars  with  Munster  in 
1116,  demolishing  Cenncoradh,  the  chief 
fortress  of  the  Dal  Cais,  and  making  a  great 
spoil  of  cows  and  prisoners.  A  spirited  attack 
on  his  communications  by  Dermot  O'Brien 
compelled  him  to  abandon  his  prisoners.  The 
war  was  continued  throughout  1117,  and  in 
1118  the  death  of  the  king  of  Munster  gave 
Murchadh  O'Maeleachlainn,  king  of  all  Ire- 
land, an  opportunity  for  interference,  and  he 
marched  as  far  as  Glanmire,  co.  Cork,  ac- 
companied by  O'Connor.  They  made  a  par- 
tition of  Munster,  and  took  hostages.  O'Con- 
nor then  fought  the  Danes  of  Dublin,  and 
carried  off  a  son  of  the  king  of  Ireland  who. 


O'Connor 


409 


O'Connor 


had  been  captive  among  the  Danes.  He  then 
again  marched  into  Munster  and  sacked  the 
rebuilt  Cenncoradh,  near  Killaloe.  In  1119 
he  again  invaded  Munster,  and  lived  upon 
the  district  round  Killaloe.  He  had  made 
alliances  with  the  king  of  Leinster,  with  the 
Danes  of  Dublin,  and  with  the  king  of  Ossory, 
and  in  1120  was  strong  enough  to  invade 
Meath,  drive  Murchadh  O'Maeleachlainninto 
the  north,  obtain  the  sanction  of  the  arch- 
bishop of  Armagh,  assume  the  style  of  Ri 
Eireann,  king  of  Ireland,  and  celebrate  the 
Aonach,  or  open-air  assembly  and  games  of 
Taillten.  He  built  bridges,  probably  of 
wattles,  across  the  Shannon  at  Shannon  har- 
bour and  Athlone,  and  across  the  Suck  at 
Dunlo.  In  1121  he  marched  into  Munster 
as  far  as  Tralee,  co.  Kerry,  and  on  his  way 
back,  taking  many  cattle,  visited  Lismore,  co. 
"Waterford.  At  Dunboyne,  co.  Meath,  in 
1122  he  took  hostages  from  the  king  of 
Leinster  in  acknowledgment  of  his  king- 
ship over  Ireland.  A  fresh  foray  into  South 
Munster  towards  Youghal  occupied  him  in 
1123.  He  put  a  fleet  of  boats  on  the  Shan- 
non in  1124,  plundered  its  shores  as  far  as 
Foynes,  co.  Limerick,  and  kept  an  armed 
camp  for  six  months  at  Woodford,  co.  Gal- 
way,  close  to  the  Munster  boundary,  thus 
preventing  any  raid  into  Connaught. 

He  also  attacked  his  old  enemies  the  Con- 
mhaicne  in  Longford.  They  had  some  success 
against  him  in  the  Cam  mountains,  but  he 
made  a  fresh  attack,  and  defeated  them  with 
great  slaughter.  In  this  year,  probably  for 
some  breach  of  treaty,  he  put  to  death  the  hos- 
tages he  had  received  from  Desmond  or  South 
Munster.  Meantime  Murchadh  O'Maeleach- 
lainn  had  returned  from  the  north  into  Meath, 
and  in  1125  O'Connor  drove  him  out  again, 
and  divided  the  kingdom  into  three  parts, 
under  three  separate  chiefs.  In  1126  he 
made  his  own  son  Conchobhar  king  of  Dub- 
lin and  of  Leinster,  defeated  Cormac  Mac- 
Carthy  in  Munster,  and  plundered  as  far  as 
Glanmire,  co.  Cork.  Next  year  he  marched 
as  far  as  Cork,  divided  Munster  into  three 
parts,  and  carried  off  thirty  hostages.  He 
had  190  vessels  on  Lough  Derg,  and  ravaged 
the  contiguous  parts  of  Munster.  In  1128 
he  sailed  round  the  coast  of  Leinster  to 
Dublin.  Ceallach,  the  archbishop  of  Ar- 
magh, then  made  peace  for  a  year  between 
him  and  Munster.  He  made  a  foray  into 
Fermanagh,  but  lost  many  men.  The  sum- 
mer of  1129  was  very  dry,  and  he  took  ad- 
vantage of  the  extreme  low  water  of  the 
Shannon  to  build  a  castle  and  bridge  at 
Athlone.  In  1130  he  sailed  to  Tory  Island, 
and  carried  off  what  booty  there  was  from 
the  desolate  promontory  of  Kosguill,  on  the 


east  side  of  Sheep  Haven.  He  then  sailed 
south  and  plundered  Valentia  and  Inis-mor, 
near  Cork.  After  an  attack  on  Ui  Conaill 
Gabhra,  co.  Limerick,  he  was  himself  at- 
tacked by  the  northerns  under  Domhnall 
O'Lochlainn  [see  O'LocuLAiNN,  DOMHNALL\ 
and  fought  a  drawn  battle  with  great  loss  in 
the  Curlew  mountains.  Peace  was  made 
the  next  day  at  Loch  C6,  co.  Koscommon,  for 
a  year.  Several  of  his  feudatory  chiefs  were 
routed  during  1131  and  1132  by  the  men  of 
Meath  and  others  of  his  enemies.  There 
were  also  several  invasions  of  Connaught  in 
1133,  and  O'Connor  had  to  make  peace  for  a 
year  with  Munster.  A  cattle  plague  dimi- 
nished his  resources  in  this  year,  and  he  made 
no  expedition  in  1134. 

In  1135  he  had  many  misfortunes;  the 
Conmaicne  burnt  Roscoinmon  and  ravaged  all 
the  country  round.  He  had  to  give  hostages 
to  Murchadh  O'Maeleachlainn,  and  thus 
ceased  to  be  chief  king  of  Ireland.  He  had  to 
deal  with  revolts  at  home  in  1136,  and  had 
the  eyes  of  his  son  Aedh  put  out.  He  blinded 
Uada  O'Conceanainn  in  1137,  and  was  de- 
feated in  the  same  year  on  Lough  Rea,  where 
Murchadh  O'Maeleachlainn  destroyed  his 
fleet,  and  then  wasted  all  Connaught  from 
Slieveaughty,  on  the  borders  of  Munster, 
to  the  river  Drowse,  which  separates  Con- 
naught  from  Ulster.  He  tried  in  1138,  with 
the  aid  of  the  men  of  Breifne  and  of  the  Oir- 
ghialla,  to  defeat  Murchadh  O'Mealeachlainn 
in  Meath,  but  had  to  retreat  without  fight- 
ing a  battle,  and  stayed  in  his  own  country 
throughout  1139.  St.  Gelasius  visited  Con- 
naught  in  1140,  received  tribute  as  primate 
of  all  Ireland,  and  blessed  the  king  and 
his  chiefs.  O'Connor  made  a  wicker  bridge 
across  the  Shannon  at  Lanesborough,  and 
established  a  camp  on  the  east  bank,  which 
was  burnt  by  Murchadh  O'Mealeachlainn, 
after  which  peace  was  made.  O'Connor  made 
short  raids  into  Tefiia,  the  country  east  of 
Athlone,  but  was  driven  back  by  its  clans 
with  much  loss. 

In  1141  O'Connor  had  again  got  together 
a  large  force,  and  made  Murchadh  give  him 
hostages,  so  that  he  again  became  king  of  all 
Ireland.  He  plundered  the  country  near 
the  hill  of  Croghan  in  the  King's  County, 
and  next  year  invaded  Munster,  but  was 
driven  back.  He  captured  by  a  ruse  his  old 
enemy  Murchadh  O'Maeleachlainn  in  1143, 
but  had  to  release  him,  though  he  gave  his 
territory  to  O'Connor's  son,  Conchobhar, 
who  was  killed  by  O'Dubhlaich,  a  Meath 
chieftain,  in  1144,  whereupon  O'Connor 
divided  Meath  into  two  parts,  and  gave  each 
a  chief.  He  received  four  hundred  cows  from 
the  men  of  Meath  as  eric  for  his  son.  I1-- 


O'Connor 


410 


O'Conor 


carried  off  a  great  spoil  of  cows  from  Leinster, 
and,  in  1145,  another  from  Breifne.  In  1148 
he  plundered  Teffia.  but  did  not  get  away 
without  fighting  a  battle  before  Athlone. 
Next  year  he  could  not  prevent  O'Brien  from 
plundering  Connaught,  and  had  to  give  hos- 
tages to  Muircheartach  O'Lochlainn,  king  of 
Ailech,  and  thus  again  ceased  to  be  Ardrigh. 
He  consoled  himself  later  in  the  year  by  a 
successful  foray  into  Munster.  Gillamacliag, 
primate  of  all  Ireland,  visited  Connaught  in 
1151,  and  O'Connor  gave  him  a  gold  ring 
weighing  twenty  ounces.  Tadhg  O'Brien  fled 
to  O'Connor,  who  invaded  Munster  in  his 
interest,  and  subdued  all  but  West  Munster. 
He  won  a  great  victory  over  the  Dal  Cais 
at  Moinmor,  in  which  seven  thousand  Mun- 
stermen  were  slain,  with  sixty-nine  chiefs, 
including  the  most  important  men  of 
Clare,  Muircheartach  O'Brien  and  Standish 
O'Grady.  O'Connor's  loss  was  heavy,  and 
Muircheartach  O'Lochlainn  crossed  Assaroe 
and  took  hostages  from  him  on  his  return 
home. 

Next  year  O'Connor  again  invaded  Munster 
with  success,  and  it  was  on  the  march  back, 
in  alliance  with  the  king  of  Leinster,  that 
Dermot  carried  off  Dearbhforgaill,  wife  of 
Tighearnan  O'Ruairc,  and  sister-in-law  of 
O'Connor,  who  carried  her  back  in  1153.  That 
year  was  occupied  with  a  war  with  O'Loch- 
lainn, in  which  the  balance  of  success  was 
against  O'Connor.  Maeleachlainn  had  died  ; 
but  O'Lochlainn,  who  had  a  better  title, 
prevented  O'Connor  by  force  of  arms  from 
becoming  king  of  Ireland.  In  1154  O'Connor 
sailed  north,  and  attacked  the  coasts  of 
Donegal,  as  far  as  Inishowen ;  but  the 
northerns  got  ships  from  the  western  isles 
and  from  Man,  and  fought  a  battle  off  Inish- 
owen, defeating  the  Connaughtmen  and 
slaying  O'Connor's  admiral,  Cosnamhaigh 
O'Dowd.  O'Lochlainn  then  attacked  Con- 
naught,  and  marched  safely  home  to  Ailech, 
through  Breifne.  O'Connor  attacked  Meath, 
but  lost  his  son  Maelseachlainn,  and  carried 
off  twenty  cattle.  He  made  a  few  small  in- 
cursions in  the  following  year  into  Meath. 
In  1156  he  sailed  to  Lough  Derg,  and  took 
hostages  from  O'Brien.  This  was  the  last  of 
his  many  invasions  of  Munster,  for  he  died 
soon  after,  and  was  buried  by  the  altar  of  St. 
Ciaran  at  Clonmacnoise. 

He  left  many  cows  and  horses,  as  well  as 
gold  and  silver,  to  the  clergy,  and  is  described 
in  a  chronicle  as  '  King  of  Connaught, 
Meath,  Breifne,  and  Munster,  and  of  all 
Ireland,  flood  of  the  glory  and  splendour  of 
Ireland,  the  Augustus  of  Western  Europe, 
a  man  full  of  charity  and  mercy,  hospitality 
and  chivalry.'  He  was  twice  married  :  first, 


to  Tailltin,  daughter  of  Murchadh  O'Mae- 
leachlainn,  king  of  Ireland,  who  died  in  1 128 ; 
and,  secondly,  to  Dearbhforgaill,  daughter  of 
Domhnall  O'Lochlainn  [q.  v.],  king  of  Ire- 
land, who  died  in  1151.  She  was  the  mother 
of  Aedh,  Cathal  (killed  in  1152),  Domhnall 
Midheach,  and  assumably  of  a  second  Cathal 
O'Connor  [q.  v.],  called  Crobhdhearg ;  and 
by  his  first  wife  he  had  Tadhg  (who  died 
in  an  epidemic  in  1144),  Conchobhar  (slain 
in  Meath),  Roderic  (who  succeeded  him  and 
is  noticed  separately),  Brian  Breifnach,  Brian 
Luighneach,  and  Muircheartach  Muimh- 
neach.  He  had  a  daughter,  who  married 
Murchadh  O'Hara,  and  who,  with  her  hus- 
band, was  murdered  in  1134  by  Taichleach 
O'Hara.  His  chief  poet  was  Ferdana  O'Car- 
thaigh,  who  was  killed  in  a  fight  with  Munster 
horsemen  in  1131;  and  his  chief  judge  was 
Gillananaemh  O'Birn,  who  died  in  1133. 

[Annala  Rioghachta  Eireann,  ed.  O'Donovan, 
vol.  ii. ;  Annals  of  Ulster,  ed.  MacCarthy,  vol.  ii. ; 
O'Donovan's  Tribes  and  Customs  of  Hy  Many, 
Dublin,  1843.]  N.  M. 

O'CONOR.     [See  also  O'CONNOR.] 

O'CONOR,  CHARLES  (1710-1791), 
Irish  antiquary,  eldest  son  of  Denis  O'Conor, 
was  born  on  1  Jan.  1710  at  Kilmactranny, 
co.  Sligo.  His  mother  was  Mary,  daughter 
of  Tiernan  O'Rourke,  a  colonel  in  the  French 
service  who  was  killed  at  the  battle  of  Luzara 
in  1702.  The  confiscation  of  his  paternal 
estate  had  reduced  his  father  to  such  poverty 
that  he  had  to  plough  with  his  own  hands, 
and  used  to  say  in  Irish  to  his  sons,  '  Boys, 
you  must  not  be  impudent  to  the  poor  ;  I  am 
the  son  of  a  gentleman,  but  ye  are  the  chil- 
dren of  a  ploughman.'  The  trustees  of  for- 
feited estates  in  1703  restored  part  of  his 
estate  to  Denis  O'Conor,  but  he  did  not  re- 
gain possession  of  this  till  1720.  Charles 
was  taught  to  read  and  write  Irish  by  a 
Franciscan  of  the  convent  of  Crieveliagh,  co. 
Sligo,  who  knew  no  English,  and  who  began 
to  teach  him  Latin  on  30  Sept.  1718,  and 
continued  his  education  till  1724.  His 
father  moved  to  the  restored  family  seat  of 
Belanagare,  co.  Roscommon,  and  his  brother- 
in-law,  Bishop  O'Rourke  of  Killala,  formerly 
chaplain  to  Prince  Eugene,  thenceforward 
directed  his  education,  instructed  him  in  Eng- 
lish and  Latin  literature,  and  urged  him  to 
cultivate  Irish.  He  translated  as  an  exer- 
cise the  Miserere  into  Irish.  The  bishop  was 
delighted  with  the  version,  and  read  it  aloud. 
Torlogh  O'Carolan  [q.  v.]  the  harper,  a  fre- 
quent guest  at  Belanagare,  wept  on  hearing 
it,  and,  taking  his  harp,  at  once  began  to 
compose  and  sing  his  lay, '  Donnchadh  Mac- 
Cathail  oig,'  in  which  the  fall  of  the  Milesian 


O'Conor 


411 


O'Conor 


families  is  lamented,  and  the  goodness  of 
O'Conor  of  Belanagare  celebrated.  Charles 
preserved  throughout  life  the  harp  upon 
which  O'Carolan  sang,  and  himself  became  a 
skilful  harper.  Cathaoir  MacCabe  [q.  v.], 
the  poet,  and  Major  MacDermot,  the '  broken 
soldier '  of  Goldsmith's '  Traveller,'  were  other 
friends  of  his  youth,  and  the  Rev.  Thomas 
Contariiie,  Goldsmith's  relative,  was  his  first 
literary  correspondent.  After  some  further 
education  from  a  priest  named  Dynan,  he 
went  to  Dublin  in  1727,  and  resided  with 
another  priest,  Walter  Skelton,  who  inge- 
niously demonstrated  the  refraction  of  rays 
of  light  by  the  aid  of  a  partly  filled  punch- 
bowl, and  led  him  to  take  an  interest  in 
natural  philosophy. 

He  married  in  1731  Catherine,  daughter 
of  John  O'Fagan,  who  had  sufficient  fortune 
to  enable  them  to  settle  on  a  farm  in  Ros- 
common,  till,  on  his  father's  death  in  1749, 
he  went  to  live  at  Belanagare.  Such  wao 
the  rigour  of  the  laws  against  priests  that, 
in  the  year  after  his  marriage,  he  was  obliged 
to  attend  mass  in  a  sort  of  cave,  thence 
called  Pol  an  aift'rin.  His  devotion  to  his 
religion,  his  musical  and  Irish  literary  at- 
tainments, made  him  popular  with  the  pea- 
santry, and  he  used  to  delight  them  with 
stories  of  the  adventures  of  the  survivors  of  • 
the  battle  of  Aughrim.  He  began  to  write  a 
book  on  Irish  history  called  '  Ogygian  Tales,' 
which  was  lent  to  Henry  Brooke  (1703  ?- 
1783)  [q.  v.],  who  seems  to  have  thought  of  ' 
publishing  it  as  part  of  a  contemplated  Irish 
history  of  his  own ;  but  the  author  recovered 
it,  and  it  was  the  basis  of  his  '  Dissertations 
on  the  Ancient  History  of  Ireland,'  which 
was  published  in  1753,  and  in  an  enlarged 
edition,  with  added  remarks  on  Macpherson's 
'  Ossian,'  in  1766.  It  shows  considerable 
reading  in  Irish  literature,  and  is  based  upon 
the  '  Ogygia '  of  Roderic  O'Flaherty  [q.  v.] ;  ; 
but  its  style  is  not  interesting,  nor  does  it 
exhibit  much  critical  judgment.  In  1753 
he  also  published  anonymously  a  preface  to 
the  '  Earl  of  Castlehaven's  Memoirs.'  The 
British  Museum  copy,  which  has  his  own 
book-plate  on  the  back  of  the  title,  has  the 
inscription  '  by  Charles  O'Conor  of  Belana- 
gare '  over  the  preface  in  his  own  hand  (see 
Henry  Bradshaw's  copy  of  Ware's  '  Ireland  ' 
in  the  Cambridge  University  Library).  He  , 
also  wrote  a  biographical  preface  to  the  '  His-  < 
tory  of  the  Civil  Wars  of  Ireland,'  by  Dr.  J.  ! 
Curry,  who  was  his  intimate  friend.  His 
preface  and  terminal  essay  to  '  The  Ogygia 
Vindicated  'of  Roderic  O'Flaherty  are  perhaps 
his  best  works,  and  contain  interesting  state-  , 
ments  about  O'Flaherty  and  Duald  Mac-  < 
Firbis  [q.  v.]  He  published  in  Vallancey'a 


'  Collectanea '  between  1770  and  1786  three 
letters  'On  the  History  of  Ireland  during 
the  Times  of  Heathenism.'  All  these  were 
published  in  Dublin.  In  1773  he  wrote  '  A 
Statistical  Account  of  the  Parish  of  Kil- 
ronan,'  which  was  printed  in  Edinburgh  in 
1798.  The  parish  is  in  co.  Roscommon,  and 
is  famous  as  containing  the  grave  of  O'Caro- 
lan ;  but  the  account  only  deals  with  its  agri- 
cultural condition,  and  almost  the  only  facts 
of  general  interest  related  are  that  only  two 
families  had  ever  emigrated  thence  to  Ame- 
rica, and  that  the  favourite  occupation  of 
the  inhabitants  was  distilling  whisky.  He 
collected  an  Irish  library,  and  in  1756  had 
already  nine  ancient  vellum  folios,  six  quarto 
manuscripts  on  vellum,  and  twelve  folio 
manuscripts  on  paper,  besides  two  large 
!  quarto  volumes  of  Irish  extracts  in  his  own 
hand.  He  borrowed  and  read  the  manu- 
script annals  of  Tighernach  and  of  Inisfallen. 
He  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Roman 
catholic  committee  formed  in  1757  to  work 
for  the  abolition  of  the  political  disabilities 
of  Roman  catholics,  and  published  many 
letters  and  pamphlets  on  the  subject.  In 
1749  there  appeared  his 'Two  public  Letters 
in  reply  to  Brooke's  Farmer '  and '  A  Counter 
Appeal,'  in  reply  to  Sir  Richard  Cox,  both 
signed '  Rusticus.'  His '  Seasonable  Thoughts 
relating  to  our  Civil  and  Ecclesiastical  Con- 
stitution,' published  in  1753,  was  so  mode- 
rate in  tone  that  some  readers  thought  it  the 
work  of  a  large-minded  protest  ant;  and  '  The 
Case  of  the  Roman  Catholics,'  which  appeared 
in  1755,  was  even  commended  by  Primate 
Hugh  Boulter  [q.  v.]  ( Memoir*  of  O'Conor,  p. 
238).  In  17o6  he  published  'The  Principles 
of  the  Roman  Catholics ';  in  1771  'Obser- 
vations on  the  Popery  Laws,'  and  in  1774 
'  A  Preface  to  a  Speech  by  R.  Jephson.'  He 
was  a  great  letter-writer,  and  corresponded 
with  his  brother  Daniel,  an  officer  in  the 
French  service,  with  Dr.  J.  Curry  the  his- 
torian, with  Charles  Vallancey  [q.  v.],  with 
Bryan  O'Conor  Kerry  the  historian  (An- 
thologica  Hibemica,  1790,  p.  124),  and  with 
other  learned  men  of  his  time.  Dr.  Johnson 
(BoswELL,  Life,  edit.  1811,  i.  291)  wrote  to 
him,  on  9  April  1757,  a  kindly  and  discerning 
letter,  after  reading  his  '  Dissertations '  of 
1753, encouraging  him  to'  continue  to  culti- 
vate this  kind  of  learning ; '  and  again  wrote 
on  19  May  1777  (ib.  iii.  310)  to  urge  him  '  to 
give  a  history  of  the  Irish  nation  from  its 
conversion  to  Christianity  to  the  invasion 
from  England.'  His  wife  died  in  1750, 
leaving  him  two  sons  and  two  daughters ; 
and  when  his  eldest  son  married  in  1760,  he 
gave  him  the  house  of  Belanagare,  and  went 
to  live  in  a  cottage  in  the  demesne  where 


O'Conor 


412 


O'Conor 


he  kept  his  books,  and  continued  his  studies 
till  his  death  on  1  July  1791.  His  means 
had  been  much  reduced  by  a  form  of  extor- 
tion not  rare  in  Ireland  in  the  middle  of  the 
eighteenth  century.  His  youngest  brother 
became  a  protestant,  and  filed  a  bill  in  chan- 
cery '  for  obtaining  possession  of  the  lands  of 
Belanagare  as  its  h'rst  protestant  discoverer.' 
The  law  would  have  dispossessed  him,  and 
he  had,  after  long  litigation,  to  compromise 
the  action  by  a  large  money  payment.  His 
portrait,  at  the  age  of  79,  forms  the  frontis- 
piece of  his  biography  by  his  grandson, 
Charles  O'Conor  (1760-1828)  [q.  v.],  and 
shows  him  to  have  had  fine  features  and  a 
gracious  and  dignified  expression.  The  de- 
fects of  his  education  alone  prevented  him 
from  being  a  great  Irish  scholar,  and  it  must 
be  remembered  that  he  lived  at  a  period  when 
the  difficulties  of  study  in  mediaeval  Irish 
literature  were  very  great.  That  he  speaks 
with  enthusiasm  of  the  vain  and  shallow 
writings  of  Vallancey  is  a  sign,  not  of  his  own 
ignorance,  but  of  his  warm  satisfaction  in  the 
study  of  the  then  despised  history  and  lite- 
rature of  Ireland  by  a  person  whose  general 
learning  he  believed  to  be  profound,  and 
whose  external  position  seemed  to  give  his 
remarks  the  authority  of  an  impartial  judge 
awarding  commendation  where  praise  was  al- 
most unknown  and  contempt  usual.  O'Conor's 
devotion  to  his  subject  deserves  more  praise 
than  his  additions  to  knowledge. 

[O'Conor's  Memoirs  of  the  Life  and  Writings 
of  the  late  Charles  O'Conor  of  Belanagare,  Esq. 
1796;  O'Conor  Don's  O'Conors  of  Connaught, 
Dublin,  1891 ;  Gent.  Mag.  Aug.  1791 ;  Works.] 

N.M. 

O'CONOR,  CHARLES  (1764-1828),Irish 
antiquary  and  librarian  at  Stowe,  second  son 
of  Denis  O'Conor  (d.  1804),  by  Catherine, 
daughter  of  Martin  Browne  of  Cloonfad, 
was  born  at  Belanagare  on  15  March  1764. 
Charles  O'Conor  [q.  v.]  of  Belanagare  was 
his  grandfather.  Charles  the  younger  early 
developed  studious  instincts,  and  was  sent  by 
his  father  in  1779  to  the  Ludovisi  College  in 
Rome,  where  he  remained  until  1791,  and  ob- 
tained the  degree  of  D.D.  He  was  in  1792 
appointed  parish  priest  of  Kilkeevin,  co.  Ros- 
common,  and  remained  there  until,  in  1798, 
he  was  appointed  chaplain  to  the  Marchioness 
of  Buckingham,  with  which  office  he  com- 
bined that  of  librarian  to  Richard  Grenville, 
afterwards  Duke  of  Buckingham  andChandos 
[q.  v.],  at  Stowe.  O'Conor  had  previously 
attracted  the  attention  of  a  select  few  by  his 
'  Memoirs  of  the  Life  and  Writings  of  the 
late  Charles  O'Conor  of  Belanagare,  Esq., 
M.R.I.  A.,  by  the  Rev.  Charles  O'Conor,  D.D., 
Member  of  the  Academy  of  Cortona:  Dublin, 


printed  by  J.  Mehain'  [1796],  8vo.  This  work 
is  valuable  for  the  information  it  affords  of 
the  first  steps  taken  by  the  Roman  catholics 
in  Ireland  for  the  repeal  of  the  penal  laws. 
It  is  now  very  rare.  The  first  volume  alone 
was  printed,  and  afterwards  suppressed,  as  it 
was  feared  that  the  circulation  of  so  outspoken 
a  work  might  be  detrimental  to  the  family. 
A  copy  was  sold  to  Heber  at  Sir  Mark  Sykes's 
sale  for  147.  Other  copies  are  at  Trinity 
College,  Dublin,  and  at  the  British  Museum. 
The  manuscript  of  the  second  volume  was 
committed  to  the  flames  by  the  author's 
express  orders. 

Between  1810  and  1813  O'Conor  wrote 
'  Columbanus  ad  Hibernos,  or  Seven  Letters 
on  the  Present  Mode  of  Appointing  Catholic 
Bishops  in  Ireland ;  with  an  Historical  Ad- 
dress on  the  Calamities  occasioned  by  Foreign 
Influence  in  the  Nomination  of  Bishops  to 
Irish  Sees,'  Buckingham,  2  vols.  8vo.  In 
this  work,  although  a  zealous  catholic,  he 
vigorously  opposed  the  ultramontane  party 
and  supported  the  veto,  in  consequence  of 
which  he  was  declared  unorthodox,  and 
formally  suspended  by  Archbishop  Troy  in 
1812.  The  letters  were  answered  by  Francis 
Plowden  [q.  v.]  O'Conor  issued  in  1812  a 
!  non-controversial  work  entitled  '  Narrative 
|  of  the  most  Interesting  Events  in  Irish  His- 
I  tory,'l8l2,8vo.  Two  years  later  commenced 
'  the  monumental  work  which  connects  his 
name  with  the  study  of  Irish  antiquities, 
'  Rerum  Hibernicarum  Scriptores  Veteres  ' 
(vol.  i.  1814,  vol.  ii.  1825,  vols.  iii.  and  iv. 
I  1826),'Buckingham,4to.  Only  two  hundred 
copies  were  printed,  the  cost,  some  3,000/., 
being  defrayed  by  the  Duke  of  Buckingham. 
Nearly  the  whole  impression  of  the  work  was 
distributed  as  presents  to  public  and  private 
libraries.  The  originals  —  the  'Annals  of 
Tighearnach,'  the  'Annals  of  Ulster,'  the 
'  Annals  of  the  Four  Masters,'  and  other 
valuable  chronicles — were  almost  all  in  the 
library  at  Stowe.  Of  these  manuscript  trea- 
sures an  account  was  published  by  the 
librarian  under  the  title  '  Bibliotheca  MS. 
Stowensis.  A  Descriptive  Catalogue  of  the 
Manuscripts  in  the  Stowe  Library,'  2  vols., 
Buckingham,  1818, 4to.  Two  hundred  copies 
were  issued  at  the  expense  of  the  duke,  to 
whom  an  elaborate  preface  was  addressed. 
The  manuscripts  were  purchased,  in  one  lot, 
by  the  Earl  of  Ashburnham  in  1849  for  8,000/. 
(see  Sotheby's  Sale  Catalogue,  1849).  The 
majority  of  the  documents  were  acquired 
by  the  British  Museum  in  1883,  and  a  cata- 
logue is  in  course  of  preparation  ;  the  Irish 
manuscripts,  however,  are  now  in  the  pos- 
session of  the  Royal  Irish  Academy  at 
Dublin. 


O'Conor 


413 


O'Conor 


The  text  of  the  'Annals'  published  by 
O'Conor,  together  with  explanatory  notes 
and  a  Latin  translation,  was  for  the  time  a 
useful  addition  to  the  materials  for  the  study 
of  Irish  history.  Sir  Francis  Palgrave,  in  his 
'Rise  of  the  English  Commonwealth,'  de- 
scribed the  work  as  without  a  parallel  in 
modern  literature,  'whether  we  consider  the 
learning  of  O'Conor,  the  value  of  the  mate- 
rials, or  the  princely  munificence  of  the  Duke 
of  Buckingham.'  But,  by  the  unanimous 
opinion  of  experts  since  the  date  of  publica- 
tion, O'Conor  has  been  pronounced  incom- 
petent for  the  task  he  undertook.  The  third 
volume  of  the '  Scriptores'  contains  a  portion 
of  the  '  Annals  of  the  Four  Masters ; '  but, 
according  to  John  O'Donovan,  the  subsequent 
editor,  O'Conor's  text  is  full  of  errors.  It  is 
printed  in  the  italic  character,  and  the  con- 
tractions of  the  manuscript,  which  in  many 
places  O'Conor  evidently  misunderstood,  are 
allowed  to  remain.  The  other  texts  are 
equally  defective,  and,  indeed,  the  errors  are 
so  grave  that  it  is  impossible  for  an  historian 
to  refer  to  any  passage  in  '  Tighearnach ' 
without  examining  the  original  manuscript. 
O'Conor's  ignorance  of  Irish  grammar,  lite- 
rature, and  topography  also  led  him  into  many 
serious  blunders  in  the  Latin  translation. 

O'Conor  contributed  '  Critical  Remarks ' 
prefixed  to  the  Rev.  J.Bosworth's  '  Elements 
of  Anglo-Saxon,'  and  edited  'Ortelius  Im- 
proved, or  a  New  Map  of  Ireland,'  of  which, 
after  a  few  copies  were  struck  oft',  the  plate 
was  destroyed.  The  writer  in  Allibone's 
'  Dictionary  of  English  Literature '  is,  how- 
ever, in  error  in  attributing  to  him  '  The 
Chronicles  of  Eri,'  a  forgery  which  owed  its 
origin  to  Roger  O'Connor  fq.  v.]  O'Conor's 
mind  began  to  fail  before  the  last  volume  of 
his '  Scriptores '  was  published,  and  he  suffered 
from  the  hallucination  that  he  was  being 
deliberately  starved.  He  had  to  leave  Stowe 
on  4  July  1827,  and  he  was  temporarily  con- 
fined in  Dr.Harty's  asylum  at  Finglas,  where  j 
Dr.  Lanigan  [q.  v.]  was  also  an  inmate.  He 
ultimately  died  in  his  ancestral  home  at 
Belanagare,  on  29  July  1828,  and  was  buried 
in  the  family  burial-place  at  Ballintober. 

O'Conor  was  a  man  of  mild  and  timid  dis- 
position, liked  by  every  one  who  knew 
him,  and  possessing  extensive  historical 
and  '  bookish  '  information.  In  appearance 
he  was  short  and  slight, of  sallow  complexion, 
with  prominent  but  distinguished  -  looking 
features,  giving  him  as  age  advanced  a  most 
venerable  appearance.  His  manners  were  a 
curious  compound  of  Irish  and  Italian.  He 
was  locally  Known  as  '  the  Abbe,'  and  was 
for  many  years  daily  to  be  seen  between 
Stowe  and  Buckingham,  with  his  book  and 


gold-headed  cane,  reading  as  he  walked.  Dr. 
Johnson  and  Dr.  Dibdin  testify,  among  others, 
to  his  amiability  and  erudition ;  but  the  latter 
quality  has  been  much  discredited  by  the 
glaring  defects  of  his  edition  of  the  « Irish 
Chronicles.' 

[The  notices  of  O'Conor  in  the  Gentleman's 
Magazine  (1828,  ii.  4fi6-7),  in  Webb's  Com- 
pendium of  Irish  Biography,  and  in  Allibone's 
Dictionary  of  English  Literature  are  supple- 
mented by  the  O'Conor  Don's  O'Conors  of 
Connatight,  1891,  p.  319.  See  also  Irish 
Magazine,  March  181 1  ;  O'Hart's  Irish  Pedigrees, 
1887,  i.  637;  Quarterly  Review,  July  1856; 
Dibdin's  Bibl.  Decameron,  in.  401,  and  Library 
Companion,  pp.  254,  259  ;  Fitzpatrick's  Irish 
Wits  and  Worthies,  pp.  292-4 ;  Lowndes's  Bibl. 
Man.  1717  ;  Notes  and  Queries,  3rd  ser.  xi.  50.1 

T.  S. 

O'CONOR,  MATTHEW  (1773-1844), 
Irish  historical  writer,  the  sixth  son  of  Denis 
O'Conor  of  Belanagare,  by  Catherine,  daugh- 
ter of  Martin  Browne  of  Clonfad,  was  born 
in  co.  Roscommon  on  18  Sept.  1773.  Like 
his  brother,  Charles  O'Conor  (1764-1828) 
[q.  v.],  he  was  intended  for  the  priesthood, 
and  studied  in  the  English  College  at  Rome ; 
but  he  eventually  adopted  the  legal  profes- 
sion, supplementing  his  practice  at  the  bar  by 
studying  and  writing  upon  subjects  in  con- 
nection witli  Irish  history.  He  died  at 
Mount  Druid,  co.  Roscommon,  on  8  May 
1844.  By  his  wife  Priscilla  Forbes,  whom 
he  married  in  1804,  he  left  issue  Denis 
(1808-1872),  of  Mount  Druid,  who  was 
sheriff  of  his  county  in  1836;  Arthur  (d. 
1870),  of  the  Palace,  Elphin;  Matthew,  of 
Mount  Allen  ;  and  two  daughters. 

O'Conor  was  author  of:  1.  'The  History 
of  the  Irish  Catholics  from  the  Settlement  in 
1691,  with  a  View  of  the  State  of  Ireland 
from  the  Invasion  of  Henry  II  to  the  Revo- 
lution,' Dublin,  1813,  8vo.  This  work, 
which  is  ill-digested  and  uncompromising  in 
tone,  was  based  upon  some  valuable  docu- 
ments in  the  possession  of  the  writer's  grand- 
father, Charles  O'Conor  (1710-1791)  [q.  v.] 
2.  '  Picturesque  and  Historical  Recollections 
during  a  Tour  through  Belgium,  Germany, 
France,  and  Switzerland  during  the  summer 
vacation  of  1835,'  Dublin,  1837, 8vo.  3.  '  Mi- 
litary History  of  the  Irish  Nation;  com- 
prising Memoirs  of  the  Irish  Brigade  in  the 
Service  of  France,  with  an  Appendix  of 
Official  Papers  relative  to  the  Brigade  from 
the  Archives  at  Paris,'  Dublin,  1845,  8vo. 
A  posthumous  publication,  this  was  part  only 
of  a  larger  work  contemplated  by  the  author. 
It  only  goes  down  to  1738,  and  had  not  the 
advantage  of  the  author's  revision.  The  re- 
ferences are,  in  consequence,  frequently  mis- 


O'Conor 


414 


Octa 


leading.  But  the  work  is  based  upon  genuine 
research,  and  was  a  valuable  contribution  to 
military  history,  though  now  almost  com- 
pletely superseded  by  the  '  Irish  Brigades  in 
the  Service  of  France '  (1851)  of  John  Cor- 
nelius O'Callaghan  [q.  v.] 

[The  O'Conor  Don's  History  of  the  O'Conors, 
and  other  authorities  cited  under  O'CONOR, 
CHARLES  (1764-1828) ;  Burke's  Landed  Gentry, 
ii.  1513;  Dublin  Univ.  Mag.  xxv.  593-608; 
Gent.  Mag.  1845,  ii.  271  ;  Webb's  Compendium 
of  Irish  Biogr.  p.  387  ;  O'Conor's  Works.] 

T.  S. 

O'CONOR,     WILLIAM    ANDERSON 

(1820-1887),  author,  was  born  at  Cork  in 
1820.  His  family  came  from  Roscommon, 
and  spelt  their  name  O'Connor.  After  being 
at  school  in  Cork  for  a  short  period  his  health 
failed,  and  he  remained  at  home  for  several 
years,  eventually,  when  nearly  thirty  years 
of  age,  going  to  Trinity  College,  Dublin, 
with  a  view  to  entering  the  ministry.  His 
course  there  was,  however,  interrupted  by  his 
father's  financial  difficulties,  and  he  after- 
wards entered  St.  Aidan's  theological  college 
at  Birkenhead,  Cheshire,  where  he  was  soon 
appointed  Latin  lecturer.  On  his  ordination 
in  1853  he  became  curate  of  St.  Nicholas's 
Church,  Liverpool,  and  subsequently  at  St. 
Thomas's  in  the  same  town.  From  1855  to 
1858  he  had  sole  charge  of  the  church  of  St. 
Olave's  with  St.  Michael's,  Chester,  and  in  the 
latter  year  was  appointed  rector  of  St.  Simon 
and  St.  Jude's,  Granby  Row,  Manchester,  a 
very  poor  city  parish,  in  which  he  laboured 
for  the  rest  of  his  life.  He  did  not  graduate 
until  1864.  It  was  several  years  after  settling 
in  Manchester  before  his  eloquence  and  ori- 
ginality as  a  preacher  attracted  much  notice. 
He  devoted  himself  with  great  assiduity  to  his 
parochial  duties,  but,  on  the  whole,  his  sur- 
roundings were  uncongenial  and  discouraging. 
He  found  much  relief  in  literary  pursuits  and 
in  the  society  of  men  of  literary  tastes,  among 
whom  he  shone  as  a  witty  and  versatile  con- 
versationalist and  writer.  To  the  '  Proceed- 
ings '  of  the  Manchester  Statistical  Society 
and  the  Manchester  Literary  Club  he  was 
a  frequent  contributor.  His  numerous 
papers  read  before  the  latter  body  were 
marked  by  originality,  subtlety,  and  humour. 
Projects  of  social  reform  found  in  him  an  ac- 
tive friend,  and  such  organisations  as  the 
Dramatic  Reform  Association  and  the  Man- 
chester Art  Museum  Committee  were  aided 
by  his  co-operation.  For  a  time  he  acted  as 
a  poor-law  guardian. 

In  1885  he  went  to  Italy  with  the  object 
of  recruiting  his  health,  and  took  the  chap- 
laincy of  an  Anglican  church  at  Rome.  On 
his  return  he  speedily  became  absorbed  in 


work,  but  before  long  had  to  seek  rest  again. 
He  then  went  to  Torquay,  where  he  died  on 
22  March  1887,  the  immediate  cause  of  death 
being  a  second  paralytic  stroke.  He  was 
buried  at  Torquay.  He  married  in  1859  Miss 
Temple  of  Chester,  but  had  no  children. 

His  figure  was  tall  and  spare,  and  his  fea- 
tures pale  and  ascetic-looking.  The  best  pub- 
lished portrait  is  one  prefixed  to  Mr.  Okell's 
admirable  critical  paper  referred  to  below. 

Besides  several  occasional  sermons  and  ad- 
dresses, he  published  the  following :  1 .  '  Mi- 
racles not  Antecedently  Incredible,'  1861. 
2. '  Faith  and  Works,'  1868.  3.  '  The  Truth 
and  the  Church,'  1869.  4.  '  A  Commentary 
on  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans,'  1871.  5.  '  The 
Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  with  an  Analytical 
Introduction  and  Notes,'  1872.  6.  'A  Com- 
mentary on  the  Gospel  of  St.  John,'  1874.  To 
this  he  appended  the  tenth  chapter  of  W.  R. 
Greg's  '  Creed  of  Christendom,'  in  order  that 
the  reader  might  compare  the  sceptical  view 
of  the  fourth  gospel  with  his  own  interpreta- 
tion. 7.  'A  Commentary  on  Galatians,  with 
a  Revised  Text,'  1876.  8.  'History  of  the 
Irish  People,'  bk.  i.,  1876.  This  pamphlet 
was  afterwards  expanded  and  continued,  and 
published  in  two  volumes  in  1882 ;  a  further 
revised  edition  appearing  in  1886-7.  The 
work  is  not  so  much  a  history  as  an  in- 
dictment against  English  rule  in  Ireland. 
9.  'The  Irish  Massacre  of  1641,'  1885  (a 
pamphlet).  In  1889  a  volume  of  '  Essays  in 
Literature  and  Ethics,  edited,  with  a  Biogra- 
phical Introduction,  by  William  E.  A.  Axon/ 
was  published.  It  comprised  a  selection  of  his 
papers  read  before  the  Manchester  Literary 
Club,  nearly  all  of  which  were  originally 
printed  in  the  '  Transactions '  of  the  club. 

[Paper  by  Peter  Okell  in  the  Manches- 
ter Quarterly,  January  1891  ;  Axon's  Memoir 
cited  above;  Manchester  Gtiardian,  25  March 
and  5  April  1887;  Manchester  City  Ne-ws, 
26  March  1887;  Momus,  4  March  1880;  Notes 
and  Queries,  7th  ser.  vii.  68,  174;  personal 
knowledge.]  C.  W.  S. 

OCTA,    OCGA,    OHT,   or   OIRIC    (d. 

532  f),  king  of  Kent,  son  of  ^Esc  or  Oisc 
[q.  v.],  the  son  of  Hengest  [q.  v.],  suc- 
ceeded his  father  in  or  about  512,  and  is 
supposed  to  have  reigned  over  the  Jutish 
invaders  and  conquerors  of  Kent  about 
twenty  years  (HEN.  HUNT.)  ;  he  may  there- 
fore have  died  about  532.  He  left  a  son 
named  Eormenric,  who  succeeded  him.  Wil- 
liam of  Malmesbury  notes  that  Octa  and 
Eormenric  reigned  between  them  for  fifty- 
three  years,  that  is  until  565,  Avhen  Eor- 
menric was  succeeded  by  his  son  Ethelbert, 
or  yEthelberht  (552  P-616)  [q.  v.],  but  says 


O'Cullane 


415 


O'Curry 


that  it  is  uncertain  whether  Octa  or  Eormenric 
did  not  for  a  time  share  the  kingship.  Octa's 
reign  is  described  as  obscure.  Having  con- 
quered Kent,  the  Jutes  found  themselves 
blocked  from  an  advance  westward  by  the 
Andredsweald,  and  from  the  Thames  water- 
way by  the  bridge  and  defences  of  London, 
and  seem  to  have  remained  quiet  for  a  cen- 
tury after  their  victory  of  473  (GREEN). 

[Bede's  Hist.  Eccl.  ii.  c.  5  (Engl.  Hist.  Soc.) ; 
Hen.  of  Huntingdon,  i.  c.  40,  Will,  of  Malmes- 
Ijury's  Gesta  Regum,  i.  c.  8,  De  primo  Sax. 
adventu  ap.  Symeon  of  Durham,  ii.  367,  all  in 
the  Rolls  Ser. ;  Green's  Making  of  England, 
p.  40.]  W.  H. 

O'CULLANE,  JOHX  (1754-1816),  Irish 
poet,  called  in  Irish  O'Cuilein,  and  in  Eng- 
lish often  Collins,  was  born  in  co.  Cork 
in.  1754.  He  belonged  to  a  family  whose 
original  territory  was  Ui  Conaill  Gabra 
(O'DoxovAN,  O'Huidhrin),  now  the  baronies 
of  Upper  and  Lower  Connello,  co.  Limerick. 
Many  of  them  still  inhabit  the  district,  but 
the  chief  family  of  the  clan  was  driven  from 
his  original  estate  and  settled  near  Timo- 
league,  co.  Cork,  where  the  family  was  finally 
dispossessed  by  the  Boyles,  earls  of  Cork. 
Several  of  the  O'Cullanes  are  buried  in  the 
Franciscan  abbey  of  Timoleague.  His 
parents  had  a  small  farm,  gave  him  a  good 
education,  and  wished  to  make  him  a  priest. 
He,  however,  preferred  to  be  a  schoolmaster, 
married,  and  had  several  children.  His  school 
was  at  Myross  in  Carbery. 

Many  of  his  poems  are  extant  in  Munster, 
and  Mr.  Standish  Hayes  O'Grady  has  some 
manuscripts  written  by  him,  including  part 
of  a  history  of  Ireland  and  part  of  an  Eng- 
lish-Irish dictionary.  Two  of  his  poems  have 
been  printed  and  translated — '  An  buachaill 
ban  '('The  Fair-haired  Boy'),  written  in  1782, 
published  in  1860  by  John  O'Daly;  and 
'  Machtnadh  an  duinedhoilghiosaidh'('  Medi- 
tation of  the  Sorrowful  Person')  which  is 
printed  in  Irish  (HARDIMAN,  Irish  Minstrelsy, 
ii.  234),  and  paraphrased  in  verse  by  Thomas 
Furlong  and  by  Sir  Samuel  Ferguson.  He 
also  translated  into  Irish  Campbell's  '  Exile 
of  Erin.'  He  died  at  Skibbereen,  co.  Cork,  in 
1816. 

[Hardiman's  Irish  Minstrelsy,ii.  234-5, 401-11, 
London,  1831  ;  the  Poets  and  Poetry  of  Munster, 
2nd  ser.,  Dublin,  1860;  O'Donovan's  Topo- 
graphical Poem  of  O'Huidhrin,  Dublin,  1862 ; 
Lewis's  Topographical  Dictionary  of  Ireland,  ed. 
ii.,  London,  1850  ;  Webb's  Compendium  of  Irish 
Biography,  Dublin,  1878.]  N.  M. 

O'CURRY,  EUGENE  (1796-1862),  Irish 
scholar,  who  is  often  mentioned  early  in  his 
career  as  Eugene  Curry  (title-page  of  his 
edition  of  Cath  Mhuighe  Leana,  1855),  but 


was  always  known  in  Irish  as  Eoghan 
O'Comhraidhe,  was  born  at  Dunaha,  near 
Carrigaholt,  co.  Clare,  in  1796,  where  his 
father,  Eoghan  O'Curry,  was  a  farmer,  with 
a  good  knowledge  of  some  Irish  literature 
and  a  taste  for  Irish  music.  He  traced 
his  descent  from  Aengus,  a  chief  of  .the 
fifth  century,  ninth  in  descent  from  Cormac 
Cas,  the  son  of  Oilill  Oluim,  and  was  proud 
of  belonging  to  the  Dal  Cais.  Eugene  was 
slightly  lame,  but,  worked  a  little  on  his 
father's  farm,  and  gave  much  time  to  Irish 
studies.  In  the  agricultural  distress  of  1815 
the  farm  was  ruined,  and  he  got  some  work 
in  Limerick  ;  and  his  father,  who  encouraged 
his  literary  tastes,  went  to  live  with  him. 
In  1834  he  obtained  employment  in  the  topo- 
graphical and  historical  section  of  the  ord- 
nance survey  in  Ireland.  The  scheme  of  the 
survey  was  admirable,  but  after  the  volume 
relating  to  Templemore  was  published  in 
1837,  the  government  discharged  the  staff, 
and  no  use  was  made  of  the  materials.  The 
work  had,  however,  acted  as  a  university 
education  for  O'Curry,  by  bringing  him  in 
contact  with  learned  men  and  with  Irish 
manuscripts  in  Dublin,  Oxford,  and  London. 
He  next  earned  his  living  by  copving,  arrang- 
ing, and  examining  Irish  manuscripts  in  the 
Royal  Irish  Academy,  Trinity  College,  Dub- 
lin, and  elsewhere.  In  1851  he  made  a  trans- 
lation, with  text,  of  the  Irish  poems  in  the 
beautiful  manuscript  known  as  the  '  Codex 
Maelbrighte,'  which  was  printed  in  a  memoir 
on  the  book  by  Dr.  W.  Reeves  in  1851  in 
Dublin.  He  became  a  member  of  the  council 
of  the  Celtic  Society,  founded  in  1853,  and 
in  1855  the  society  published  a  text  and 
translation  by  him  of  two  mediaeval  Irish 
tales : '  Cath  Mhuighe  Leana '  (The '  Battle  of 
the  Plain  of  Leana')  and'Tochmarc  Membra' 
(The  courtship  of  Momera '),  the  daughter  of 
the  king  of  Spain  and  mother  of  Oilill  Oluim, 
the  ancestor,  according  to  all  Irish  writers, 
of  the  two  ruling  families  of  Munster  and 
their  allied  tribes.  These  compositions  had 
never  been  printed  before.  A  critical  spirit 
was  not  to  be  expected  in  a  man  of  O'Curry's 
education,  but  the  translation  is  a  faithful 
reproduction  of  the  original,  and  the  text  a 
good  one.  In  1849,  and  again  in  1855,  he 
examined  the  Irish  manuscripts  in  the  British 
Museum,  and  wrote  the  useful  manuscript 
catalogue  now  in  that  library.  lie  visited  the 
Bodleian  Library  with  Dr.  J.  H.  Todd  in 
1849,  and  examined  its  rich  collection  of 
Irish  manuscripts.  When  the  Catholic  I  ni- 
versity  of  Ireland  was  founded,  O'Curry 
became  professor  of  Irish  history  and  archreo- 
logy,  and  delivered  his  first  course  of  lec- 
tures in  1855-6.  He  did  not  over-estimate 


O'Curry 


416 


O'Daly 


Lis  own  qualifications  as  a  professor.  He 
always  felt,  he  declared,  the  want  of  early 
mental  training,  and  had  always  expected  to 
transcribe  and  translate  manuscripts,  not  to 
publicly  discuss  them.  John  Henry  (after- 
wards Cardinal)  Newman  attended  every 
lecture,  and  constantly  encouraged  the  lec- 
turer. The  lectures  were  published  in  1860, 
at  the  expense  of  the  university,  and  fill  a 
volume  of  more  than  seven  hundred  pages. 
The  twenty-one  lectures  give  a  full  account 
of  the  chief  Irish  mediaeval  manuscripts  and 
their  contents,  drawn  from  a  personal  perusal, 
and  often  transcription,  of  them  by  the  lec- 
turer. The  chronicles,  historical  romances, 
imaginative  tales  and  poems,  and  lives  of 
saints  are  all  described.  The  appendix  con- 
tains more  than  150  extracts  from  manu- 
scripts, with  translations,  all  made  from  the 
originals  by  the  author.  Any  one  who  reads 
the  book  will  obtain  a  better  knowledge  of 
Irish  mediaeval  literature  than  he  can  by  the 
perusal  of  any  other  single  work.  Three  further 
volumes  of  lectures,  delivered  between  May 
1857  and  July  1862,  '  On  the  Manners  and 
Customs  of  the  Ancient  Irish,'  were  published 
in  1873,  after  O'Curry's  death,  edited  by  Dr. 
W.  K.  Sullivan,  and  contain  a  vast  collec- 
tion of  information  bearing  on  social  and 
public  life  in  Ireland  in  past  times,  and  three 
texts,  with  translations,  besides  many  smaller 
extracts  from  manuscripts.  In  1860  was 
printed,  in  Dr.  Reeves's  '  Ancient  Churches 
of  Armagh,'  O'Curry's  text  and  translation  of 
that  part  of  the  'Dinnsenchus,'  or  history  of 
the  famous  places  of  Ireland,  which  refers  to 
Armagh,  taken  from  the  manuscript  known 
as  the  '  Book  of  Lecan,'  in  the  library  of  the 
Royal  Irish  Academy.  His  transcripts  were 
numerous  and  exact.  In  1836  he  made  a 
facsimile  copy,  for  the  Royal  Irish  Academy, 
of  a  genealogical  manuscript  of  Duald  Mac 
Firbis,  belonging  to  Lord  Roden.  The  exe- 
cution of  the  copy  is  perfect,  and  its  extent 
is  shown  by  the  fact  that  if  printed  it  would 
cover  thirteen  hundred  quarto  pages.  In 
1839  he  made  for  the  Royal  Irish  Academy 
a  facsimile  copy,  of  marvellous  beauty,  of 
the  '  Book  of  Lismore,'  a  fifteenth-century 
manuscript  of  262  large  pages.  He  made 
facsimile  copies  for  the  library  of  Trinity 
College,  Dublin,  of  the  '  Book  of  Lecan,'  of 
the  '  Leabhar  Breac,'  and  of  several  other 
manuscripts.  He  transcribed,  in  a  distinct 
and  beautiful  handwriting  in  the  Irish 
character,  eight  large  volumes  of  2,906  pages 
in  all  of  the  ancient  Irish  law  tracts.  The 
brehons  were  fond  of  commentary,  and 
mediaeval  Irish  legal  writings  are  marvels  of 
complicated  interlinear  and  marginal  anno- 
tation. He  also  wrote  out  thirteen  volumes 


of  a  rough  preliminary  translation.  Some 
of  this  has  unjustifiably  been  published;  it 
was  in  reality  only  the  author's  first  step  to  a 
translation.  A  precise  translation  was  perhaps 
beyond  his  powers,  and  can  only  be  accom- 
plished by  a  special  study  of  the  intricate  and 
often  enigmatical  writings  of  the  hereditary 
lawyers  of  mediaeval  Ireland,  who  never 
aimed  at  being  understanded  of  the  people. 
His  health  was  injured  by  close  application 
to  work,  and  he  died  in  Dublin  in  July  1862, 
a  fortnight  after  the  delivery  of  his  last 
lecture,  the  subject  of  which  was  '  Ancient 
Irish  Music  and  Dancing.'  The  difficulties 
which  O'Curry  overcame  were  extraordinary, 
and  his  industry  enormous.  He  was  devoted 
to  his  subject,  and  added  much  to  the  know- 
ledge of  it.  His  greatest  friend  was  John 
O'Donovan  [q.  v.],  who  married  his  sister. 

His  brother,  called  in  English  Malacht 
Curry,  and  in  Irish  Maolsheachlainn  O'Comh- 
raidhe,  was  a  good  Irish  scholar  and  poet. 
The  British  Museum  collection  contains 
two  of  his  poems  in  Irish:  (1)  an  epistle  in 
verse  from  him  to  Thomas  O'Shaughnessy, 
a  Limerick  schoolmaster,  beginning  '  Taisdil 
o  mheraibh  mo  chaolchroibhe  a  sgribhinn' 
('  From  the  fingers  of  my  slender  hand,  oh 
writing,  travel !').  It  was  written  on  return- 
ing a  copy  of  an  Irish  prose  composition  ; 
(2)  a  reply  to  some  verses  of  O'Shaughnessy 
on  the  loss  of  one  of  his  poems  by  a  drunken 
messenger.  He  died  in  1849. 

[Webb's  Compendium  of  Irish  Biography, 
Dublin,  1878 ;  Memoir  inlrish  MonthlyMagazine, 
April  1874 ;  S.  H.  O'Grady's  Catalogue  of  Irish 
Manuscripts  in  the  British  Museum.]  N.  M. 

O'DALY,  AEXGUS  (<2. 1350),  Irish  poet, 
called  in  Irish  Aenghus  Ruadh  O'Dalaigh, 
belonged  to  the  sept  of  O'Daly  of  Meath,  and 
was  related  to  Cuchonacht  O'Daly,  who  died 
at  Clonard  in  1139,  and  was  the  first  famous 
poet  of  the  O'Daly  family.  Aengus  was  poet 
to  Ruaidhri  O'Maelmhuaidh,  chief  of  Fear- 
call,  King's  County,  and  when  drunk  offended 
that  chief.  He  wrote  a  poem  of  192  verses 
to  appease  O'Maelmhuaidh's  wrath, '  Ceangal 
do  shioth  riom  a  Ruadhri '  ('  Confirm  thy 
peace  with  me,  O  Ruaidhri ! '),  in  which  he 
urges  him  to  attack  the  English  and  make 
friends  with  his  own  poet.  He  was  already 
in  practice  as  a  poet  in  1309,  when  he  wrote 
a  poem  of  192  verses  on  the  erection  by  Aedh 
O'Connor  in  that  year  of  a  castle  on  the  hill 
of  Carn  Free, '  An  tu  aris  a  raith  Theamhrach' 
('  Dost  thou  appear  again,  oh  earthwork  of 
Tara '). 

[Transactions  of  Iberno-Celtic  Society,  vol.  i., 
Dublin,  1820;  O'Daly's  Tribes  of  Ireland,  Dub- 
lin, 1852.]  N.  M. 


O'Daly 


417 


O'Daly 


O'DALY,  AENGUS  (d.  1617),  Irish  poet, 
called  in  Irish  Aenghus  Ruadh,  or  the  ruddy, 
owned  an  estate  at  Ballyorroone,  co.  Cork, 
but  belonged  to  the  O'Dalys  of  Meath.  He 
is  often  called  in  Irish  writings  Aenghus  na 
naor,  or  of  the  satires,  because  he  wrote,  in 
Queen  Elizabeth's  reign,  an  abusive  poem  on 
the  Irish  tribes.  It  has  been  edited  by  John 
O'Daly,  a  Dublin  publisher,  born  in  1800, 
who  was  eighteenth  in  descent  from  Dalach, 
the  ancestor  from  whom  the  O'Dalys  are 
named,  with  notes  by  J.  O'Donovan.  The 
poem  contains  some  information  of  interest 
about  localities  at  its  period.  The  poet  says 
he  will  not  abuse  the  '  Clann  Dalaigh,'  or 
Daly  family — a  term  by  which  he  means  not 
his  own  poetical  race,  but  the  O'Donnells  of 
Donegal,  who  were  called  Clann  Dalaigh, 
from  an  ancestor  of  theirs  named  Dalach,  and 
who  were  not  kin  to  the  O'Dalys.  Many 
copies  of  the  poem  are  extant.  He  also 
wrote  '  Tainic  ten  do  leath  Mogha '  ('  Mis- 
fortune has  come  to  the  southern  half  of  Ire- 
land '),  a  poem  of  168  verses  on  the  death 
of  Donnchadh  fionn  MacCarthy.  O'Daly  was 
stabbed  by  a  man  named  O'Meagher  near 
Roscrea,  co.  Tipperary,  on  16  Dec.  1617. 

[Q'Dal/s  Tribes  of  Ireland,  ed.  O'Donovan, 
Dublin,  1852  ;  Transactions  of  the  Iberno-Celtic 
Society,  Dublin,  1820.]  N.  N. 

ODALY,  DANIEL  or  DOMINIC  (1595- 
166:?),  Irish  ecclesiastic  and  author.  [See 
DALY.] 

O'DALY,  DONNCHADH  (d.  1244), 
Irish  poet,  called  in  Irish  Donnchadh  Mor 
Ua  Dalaigh,  was  the  most  famous  member 
of  the  greatest  family  of  hereditary  poets  in 
Ireland.  They  traced  their  descent  from 
Maine,  son  of  Niall  (Naighiallac1*)  (d.  405) 
[q.  v.]  He  lived  at  Finnyvarra,  co.  Clare, 
and  was  head  of  the  O'Dalys  of  Corcomroe, 
co.  Clare.  He  died  at  Boyle,  co.  Roscommon, 
in  1 244,  and  was  buried  in  the  Norman  abbey 
there,  the  ruins  of  which  are  still  to  be  seen. 
More  than  thirty  poems,  some  of  great  length, 
are  attributed  to  him.  Most  of  them  are  on 
devotional  subjects,  such  as  '  Creidim  dhuit 
a  Dhe  nimhe  (*  I  believe  in  Thee,  O  God 
of  Heaven ! ')  and  '  A  Cholann  chugad  an 
bas '  ('  O  body !  to  thee  belongs  death  ').  A 
short  poem  of  his,  of  which  there  is  a  copy 
in  the  '  Leabhar  Breac '  (p.  108,  col.  2,  line 
66),  a  fourteenth-century  manuscript,  be- 
ginning '  Dreen  enaig  inmhain  each '  ('  Wrens 
of  the  marsh,  all  dear  to  me '),  shows  some 
love  for  animated  nature.  Many  of  the  copies 
of  O'Daly's  poems  have  been  modified  from  the 
idiom  of  his  time  to  that  of  some  later  date ; 
and  till  a  collation  of  the  several  texts  of 
the  poems  attributed  to  him  has  been  made, 

VOL.    XLI. 


it  is  impossible  to  ascertain  which  are  really 
his. 

Other  remarkable  members  of  hia  family 
were: 

Goffraidh  fionn  O'Daly  (d.  1387),  chief 
poet  of  Minister,  who  wrote  a  poem  of  224 
verses  on  Dermot  MacCarthy  of  Muskerry, 
'  Fa  ngniomhradh  meastar  mac  riogh  '  ('  By 
deeds  is  the  son  of  a  king  valued ') ;  a 
poem  of  forty-eight  verses,  '  A.  f  hir  theid  i 
ttir  Chonaill '  ('  Oh  man  !  who  goes  to  Tir- 
connell '),  to  Conchobhar  O'Donnell ;  and  a 
poem  of  140  verses  to  Domhnall  MacCarthy, 
'  Maith  an  locht  airdrigh  oige '  ('  Forgive  tin- 
fault,  O  young  archking !'),  urging  him  in 
his  youth  to  drive  out  the  English,  as 
Conn  Cedcathach  had  driven  out  Cathaoir 
Mor,  king  of  Leinster,  from  Tara. 

Cearbhall  O'Daly  (d.  1404),  chief  poet  of 
Corcomroe. 

Domhnall  O'Daly  (d.  1404),  ollav  of  Cor- 
comroe, was  son  of  Donnchadh.  He  is  often 
quoted  in  Irish  literature  as  '  Bolg  an  dana ' 
('  the  wallet  of  poetry '). 

Domhnall  O'Daly  (Jl.  1420),  poet.  He 
was  son  of  Eoghan  O'Daly,  and  wrote  a 
poem  on  Domhnall  O'Sullivan,  chief  of 
Dunboy,  who  died  in  Spain,  '  San  Sbain  do 
toirneamh  Teamhuir'  ('It  is  in  Spain  Tara 
was  interred '). 

Aengus  O'Daly  fionn  (f.  1430),  poet.  He 
wrote  several  devotional  poems  still  extant, 
and  '  Soraidh  led  cheill  a  Chaisil '  ('  Blessing 
be  with  thy  companion,  O  Cashel !'),  of  208 
verses,  on  the  death  of  Domhnall  MacCarthy, 
who  died  in  1409. 

Lochlann  O'Daly  (Jl.  1550),  poet.  He 
lived  in  Clare,  and  wrote  (1)  '  Uaigneach  a 
taoi  a  theagh  na  mbrathair' (' Solitary  art 
thou,  O  house  of  the  friars ! '),  on  the  expul- 
sion of  the  Franciscans  at  the  Reformation  ; 
(2)  '  Mealltar  inde  an  taos  dana '  ('  We  are 
deceived,  the  poetic  tribe ')  ;  (3)  '  Cait  nar 
gabhadar  Gaoidhil '  ('  Where  did  the  Irish 
find  shelter  ? '),  on  the  dispossession  of  the 
natives  in  Ireland. 

Aengus  O'Daly  fionn  (Jl.  1570),  poet. 
He  is  called  the  Divine,  and  wrote  many 
theological  poems.  Edward  O'Reilly's  col- 
lection of  Irish  manuscripts  contained  fifteen 
poems  by  him,  extending  to  more  than  650 
lines,  of  which  all  are  theological,  and  eight 
in  praise  of  the  Virgin. 

Eoghan  O'Daly  (Jl.  1602),  poet.  He 
wrote  a  poem  of  180  verses  on  Dermot 
O'Sullivan's  going  to  Spain  after  the  defeat 
of  the  Spaniards  at  Kinsale,  '  Do  thuit  a 
cloch  cut  d'Eirinn '  ('  The  back  rock  of  Ire- 
land has  fallen '). 

Tadhg  O'Daly  (Jl.  1618),  poet.  He  wrote 
a  lament  of  148  verses  on  Eoghan  O'Sullivan 

i:  i; 


O'Daly 


418 


Odell 


of  Dunboy,  '  Cia  so  caoineas  crioch  Banba ' 
('  Who  is  this  that  Banba's  land  laments  ? ') 
[Leabhar  Breac,  facsimile,  Dublin,  1872  ; 
O'Reilly  in  Transactions  of  Iberno-Celtic  So- 
ciety, Dublin,  1820;  O'Daly's  Tribes  of  Ireland, 
Dublin,  1852  ;  Annala  Rioghachta  Eireann,  ed. 
O'Donovan.]  N.  M. 

O'DALY,  MUIREDHACH  (fl.  1213), 
Irish  poet,  was  of  the  family  of  Maelisa 
O'Daly  (in  Irish  Ua  Dalaigh),  '  ollamh 
Ereann  agus  Alban '  (literary  professor  of 
Ireland  and  Scotland),  who  died  in  1185. 
His  home  was  on  the  shore  of  Lough  Derry- 
varra,  co.  Westmeath,  and  he  calls  himself 
O'Daly  of  Meath,  to  distinguish  him  from 
O'Daly  of  Finny  varra,  co.  Clare,  also  a  poet 
in  the  thirteenth  century.  He  was  living  at 
Drumcliff,  co.  Sligo,  in  1213,  when  Fionn 
O'Brolchain,  steward  or  maor  of  O'Donnell, 
came  to  Connaught  to  collect  tribute.  The 
steward  visited  his  house,  and  began  to 
talk  discourteously  to  the  poet,  who  took  up 
an  axe  and  killed  him  on  the  spot.  Domh- 
nall  O'Donnell  pursued  him.  He  fled  to 
Clanricarde,  co.  Galway,  and  Burke  at  first 
protected  him,  and  afterwards  enabled 
O'Daly  to  flee  into  Thomond.  Thither 
O'Donnell  pursued  him  and  ravaged  the 
country.  Donough  Cairbreach  O'Brien  [q.  v.~j 
sent  the  poet  on  to  Limerick,  and  O'Donnell 
laid  siege  to  the  city,  and  O'Daly  had  to  fly 
from  place  to  place  till  he  reached  Dublin, 
being  everywhere  protected  as  a  man  of  learn- 
ing. O'Donnell  later  in  the  year  marched  on 
Dublin,  and  the  citizens  banished  O'Daly, 
who  fled  to  Scotland.  When  in  Clanricarde 
he  composed  an  explanation  of  his  misfor- 
tune in  verse,  and  mentioned  that  he  loved 
the  English  and  drank  wine  writh  them.  In 
Scotland,  however,  he  wrote  three  poems  in 
praise  of  O'Donnell,  which  led  that  chief  to 
forgive  him,  and  in  the  end  to  grant  him 
lands  and  cattle. 

Heistobe  distinguished  from  Muirhedhach 
O'Daly,  who  was  also  a  poet,  who  lived  in 
1600,  and  wrote  the  poem  of  396  verses, 
'  Cainfuighear  Horn  lorg  na  bhfear '  ('  The 
race  of  men  shall  be  sung  by  me '),  which 
tells  of  all  the  branches  of  the  house  of  Fitz- 
Gerald. 

[Annala  Rioghachta  Eireann,  ed.  O'Donovan, 
vol.  iii. ;  Trans,  of  the  Iberno-Celtic  Society, 
Dublin,  1820;  O'Grady's  Cat.  of  Irish  Manu- 
scripts in  the  Brit.  Mus.]  N.  M. 

ODDA.     [See  ODD.] 

pDELL,  THOMAS  (1691-1749),  play- 
wright, born  in  1691,  the  son  of  a  Bucking- 
hamshire squire,  came  up  to  London  about 
1714  with  good  introductions  to  some  of  the 


whig  leaders,  and  a  strong  desire  to  try  his- 
hand  at  lampooning.     He  obtained  a  pen- 
sion of  200/.  through  the  influence  of  Lord 
Wharton  and  the  Earl  of  Sunderland,  and 
put  his  pen  at  Walpole's  disposal.    It  is  not 
possible  to  trace  any  of  his  political  writings, 
but  he  is  stated  by  Oldys  to  have  written  a 
number  of  satires  upon  Pope,  and  to  have 
been  deterred  from  printing  them  only  by 
Walpole's  fear  lest  such  a  step  might  estrange 
Lord  Chesterfield  and  others  of  Pope's  ad- 
mirers among  his  adherents.  In  1721  Odell's 
first  comedy, '  The  Chimera,'  a  satirical  piece 
aimed  at  the  speculators  in  Change  Alley, 
was  produced  at  the  theatre  in  Lincoln's 
Inn  Fields,  but  met  with  small  success  on 
the  boards,  though  when  printed  it  ran  to  a 
second  edition  before  the  close  of  the  year. 
In  October  1729  Odell  himself  erected   a 
theatre  in  Leman  Street,  Goodman's  Fields, 
and  engaged  a  company,  with  Henry  Gilfard 
as  its  leading  actor.     He  produced  there  in 
the  course  of  his  first  season  '  The  Recruiting 
Officer,'    'The   Orphan,'   and   two   success- 
ful original    comedies,   Fielding's   'Temple- 
Beau  '  and  Mottley's  '  Widow  Bewitched.' 
In  1730,  however,  the  lord  mayor  and  alder- 
men petitioned  the   king  to    suppress    the 
superfluous  playhouse  in  Goodman's  Fields. 
Odell  tried   to   avert  hostile   criticism   by 
shutting  up  the  house  for  a  time,  but  this  so 
impaired  its  prospects  that  he  had  to  dispose 
of  it  early  in  1731  to  his  friend  Giffard.     In 
1737  the  London  playhouses  were  restricted, 
by  statute  to  Covent  Garden  and   Drury 
Lane,  but  this  did  not  prevent  the  occa- 
sional   presentation    of   plays  at   the  un- 
licensed houses,  and   it  was  at   the   '  late 
theatre  in  Goodman's  Fields,'  in  a '  gratuitous r 
performance  of  '  Richard  III '  between  two 
parts  of  a  concert,  that  David  Garrick  made 
his  first  appearance  in  London  in  1741 .   This 
historic  performance,  however,  was  probably 
not  given  at  Odell's  theatre,  but  at  another 
small  playhouse  built  by  Giffard    in   the 
adjoining  Ayliffe  Street.    Odell's  old  theatre 
was  nevertheless  utilised  as  late  as  1745, 
when  Ford's '  Perkin  Warbeck' was  produced 
a  propos  of  the  '45  rebellion. 

Chetwood  attributes  Odell's  failure  to  hi- 
ignorance  of  the  way  to  manage  a  company. 
He  had  lost  his  pension  upon  the  death  of 
the  fourth  Earl  of  Sunderland,  his  plays  met 
with  no  success,  and  he  seems  to  have  been 
for  some  years  reduced  to  great  straits  for  a 
living.  In  February  1738,  however,  when 
William  Chetwynd  was  sworn  in  as  first 
licenser  of  the  stage,  with  a  salary  of  400/., 
Odell  retained  enough  influence  to  obtain 
the  office  of  deputy  licenser,  with  a  salary  of 
2007.  He  retained  this  post  until  his  death, 


O'Dempsey 


419 


O'Devany 


which  took  place  at  his  house  in  Chapel  Street, 
Westminster,  on  24  May  1749.  He  left  a 
widow,  who  was  well  known  and  esteemed 
by  William  Oldys  the  antiquary.  The  latter 
wrote  of  Odell :  '  He  was  a  great  observator 
of  everything  curious  in  the  conversation  of 
his  acquaintance ;  and  his  own  conversation 
was  a  living  chronicle  of  the  remarkable  in- 
trigues, adventures,  sayings,  stories,  writings, 
&c.  of  many  of  the  Quality,  Poets  and  other 
Authors,  Players,  Booksellers  who  flourished 
especially  in  the  present  century.  .  .  .  He 
was  a  popular  man  at  elections,  but  latterly 
was  forced  to  live  reserved  and  retired  by 
reason  of  his  debts.' 

In  addition  to '  The  Chimera,'  Odell  wrote : 
1.  'The  Smugglers,  a  Farce,'  1729,  performed 
with  some  success  at  the  little  theatre  in  the 
Haymarket,  and  reissued  in  the  same  year  as 
'  The  Smugglers :  a  Comedy,'  dedicated  to 
George  Doddington,  esq.  Appended  to  the 
second  edition  is  '  The  Art  of  Dancing,'  in 
three  cantos  and  in  heroic  verse :  a  somewhat 
licentious  poem,  in  which  the  fabled  origin 
of  the  order  of  the  Garter  is  versified.  2. '  The 
Patron ;  or  the  Statesman's  Opera  of  two 
Acts  ...  to  which  is  added  the  Musick  to 
each  Song.'  Dedicated  to  Charles  Spencer, 
fifth  earl  of  Sunderland  [1722  ?].  This  was 
produced  at  the  Haymarket  in  1730.  3.  '  The 
Prodigal ;  or  Recruits  for  the  Queen  of  Hun- 
gary,' 1744,  4to ;  adapted  from  the '  Woman 
Captain  of  Shadwell,1  and  dedicated  to  Lionel 
Cranfield  Sackville,  earl  of  Middlesex.  It 
owed  a  small  temporary  success  to  the  popu- 
larity of  Maria  Teresa  in  London  at  this 
moment.  It  is  noticeable  that  none  of  these 
pieces  were  produced  at  Odell's  own  theatre. 
He  is  said  by  Oldys  to  have  been  engaged 
at  the  time  of  his  death  upon  '  an  History 
of  the  characters  he  had  observed  and  con- 
ferences with  many  eminent  persons  he  had 
known  in  his  time,'  and  the  antiquary  also 
saw  in  manuscript '  A  History  of  the  Play 
House  in  Goodman's  Fields'  by  Odell. 
Neither  of  these  is  extant. 

[Baker's  Biographia  Dramatica;  Yeowell's 
Memoir  of  William  Oldys,  together  with  his 
Diary  and  choice  notes  from  his  Adversaria, 
1862,  pp.  30,  31  :  Whincop's  Compleat  List  of 
English  Dramatic  Poets,  1747,  p.  270  ;  Thespian 
Dictionary,  1805  ;  Disraeli's  Cariosities,  vi.  385 ; 
Genest's  History  of  the  Stage,  iii.  274,  320,  398, 
522,  iv.  196  ;  Chetwood's  History  of  the  Stage  ; 
Notes  and  Queries,  2nd  ser.  xi.  161  ;  Daily  Ad- 
vertiser, 2  June,  1731 ;  Doran's  Annals  of  the 
Stage,  i.  367.]  T.  S. 

O'DEMPSEY,  DERMOT  (d.  1193), 
Irish  chief,  called  in  Irish  writings  Diarmait 
Ua  Diomusaigh,  was  son  of  Cubroghda 
O'Dempsey,  who  died  in  1162.  He  claimed 


descent  from  Ros  Failghe,  eldest  son  of 
Cathaoir  Mor,  king  of  Ireland  in  the  second 
century,  and  was  thus  of  common  descent 
with  O'Conchobhair  Failghe,  from  whom 
Offaly  takes  its  name.  He  became  chief  of 
Clan  Mailughra  on  his  father's  death.  This 
was  the  territory  of  the  O'Dempseys,  and 
lay  on  both  banks  of  the  Barrow  in  the 
King's  and  Queen's  Counties,  and  as  far  as 
the  edge  of  the  great  heath  of  Marvborough. 
He  afterwards  became  chief  of  the  whole 
territory  of  the  group  of  clans  allied  to  his, 
all  descended  from  Ros  Failghe ;  this  terri- 
tory included  not  only  the  modern  baronies 
of  East  and  West  OfFaly,  co.  Kildare,  but 
also  the  baronies  of  Portnehinch  and  Tine- 
hinch,  Queen's  County,  and  that  part  of  the 
King's  County  which  lies  in  the  diocese  of 
Kildare  and  Leighlin.  His  chief  stronghold 
was  a  stone  fort,  afterwards  replaced  by  a 
castle,  of  which  the  ruins  remain  on  the  Rock 
of  Dunamase,  a  hill  in  the  Queen's  County 
which  commands  a  wide  view  over  the  lands 
of  his  septs.  He  was  the  only  O'Dempsey 
who  became  king  of  the  whole  territory, 
though  after  his  time,  owing  to  the  dis- 
possession of  O'Connor  Faly  by  the  Fitx- 
geralds,  the  O'Dempseys  were  long  the  chief 
clan  of  the  district,  in  which  many  of  them 
still  remain,  though  they  have  prospered 
little  since  their  share  in  the  massacre  0f 
Mullachmaisten  or  Mullaghmast  in  1577. 
Dermot  founded  in  1178  a  Cistercian  abbey 
at  Rosglas,  co.  Kildare,  now  known  as  Mo- 
nastereven,  from  a  more  ancient  church  of 
St.  Eimhin,  which  stood  on  the  site  of  the 
monastery.  The  abbot  sat  in  the  Irish  parlia- 
ment. The  site  is  now  occupied  by  the  house 
of  the  late  Marquis  of  Drogheda.  O'Demp- 
sey died  in  1193.  He  left  a  son  Maelseach- 
lainn,  who  was  killed  by  O'Maelmhuaidh  of 
Fircal  in  1216. 

[Annala  Rioghachta  Eircann,  ed.  O'Donovan, 
vol.  iii.  Dublin,  1851  ;  Leabhar  na  Gceart,  ed. 
O'Donovan,  Dublin,  1847  ;  Cath  Muighi  Rath, 
ed.  O'Donovan,  Dublin,  1842  ;  local  know- 
ledge.] N.  M. 

O'DEVANY  or  O'DUANE,  CORNE- 
LIUS (1533-1612),  called  in  Irish  Con- 
chobhar  O'Duibheannaigh,  Roman  catholic 
bishop  of  Down  and  Connor,  born  in  1533, 
a  native  of  Ulster,  became  at  an  early  age  a 
member  of  the  order  of  St.  Francis  at  the 
convent  in  Donegal.  After  having  for  some 
years  officiated  zealously  as  a  priest  in  his 
native  district,  O'Devany,  on  27  April  1682, 
was  appointed  to  the  vacant  bishopric  of 
Down  and  Connor,  at  the  instance  of  the 
cardinal  of  Sens,  and  received  episcopal  con- 
secration at  Rome.  On  his  return  to  Ireland 
he  endeavoured,  notwithstanding  the  exist- 

i:  r.  •_' 


O'Devany 


420 


Odger 


ing  laws,  to  perform  his  functions  as  a  Roman 
catholic  bishop,  and  was  consequently  ar- 
rested, but  succeeded  in  effecting  his  escape. 
O'Devany  in  1587  took  part  in  an  ecclesias- 
tical meeting  in  the  diocese  of  Clogher,  at 
which  the  decrees  of  the  council  of  Trent 
were  promulgated.  Redmond  O'Gallagher, 
vice-primate  of  Ireland,  in  July  1588  en- 
trusted to  O'Devany  temporary  authority  in 
spiritual  affairs  under  permission  from  Rome. 

O'Devany,  having  been  arrested  a  second 
time,  was  committed  to  prison  in  Dublin 
Castle,  where  he  suffered  much  from  cold, 
noisomeness,  and  hunger.  In  October  1588 
the  lord-deputy,  in  a  letter  to  Burghley,  de- 
scribed O'Devany  as  a  '  most  pestilent  and 
dangerous  member,  fit  to  be  cut  off,'  '  an  ob- 
stinate enemy  to  God,'  and  '  a  rank  traitor  to 
her  majesty.' 

From  the  prison  in  Dublin  Castle  O'Devany 
in  November  1590  addressed  a  petition  to 
the  lord-deputy,  representing  that  he  had 
been  committed  '  concerning  matters  of  re- 
ligion,' that  he  was  '  ready  to  starve  for  want 
of  food,'  and  averring  that,  '  if  set  at  liberty 
to  go  and  live  among  his  poor  friends,  he 
would  not  again  transgress  her  majesty's  pro- 
ceedings in  all  causes  of  religion.'  A  warrant 
for  the  liberation  of  O'Devany  was  issued  at 
Dublin  on  16  Nov.  1590,  on  the  ground  that 
he  had  sworn  to  behave  himself  as  a  dutiful 
subject,  and  had  found  sureties  to  appear 
before  the  queen's  commissioners  for  ecclesi- 
astical causes  when  '  thereunto  admonished.' 
On  his  return  to  Ulster  O'Devany  was  be- 
friended by  Cormac  O'Neill,  brother  of  the 
Earl  of  Tyrone,  and  in  1591  he  was  one  of 
the  bishops  in  Ireland  to  whom  spiritual 
powers  of  special  nature  were  delegated  by 
Cardinal  Allen.  O'Devany,  it  was  said, 
visited  Italy  and  Spain  in  connection  with 
affairs  of  the  Earl  of  Tyrone,  and  he  compiled 
a  catalogue  of  persons  who  had  suffered  in 
Ireland  for  adherence  to  the  catholic  religion, 
entitled  'Index  Martyrialis '  (Gent.  Mag. 
1832,  i.  404). 

George  Montgomery,  protestant  bishop  of 
Deny,  in  1608  urged  the  government  at 
Dublin  to  take  measures  for  the  restraint  of 
O'Devany,  whom  he  described  as  '  obstinate 
and  dangerous,'  adding  that  he  would  do 
much  evil  if  '  permitted  to  range.'  An  in- 
quisition at  Newry  on  15  Jan.  1611-12  made 
a  return  that  O'Devany  had,  in  the  county 
of  Down  and  elsewhere,  conspired  with  and 
abetted  Hugh  O'Neill,  earl  of  Tyrone  [q.  v.],  in 
treasonable  acts  against  Queen  Elizabeth  in 
] 601 -2.  O'Devany  was  arrested  in  June  1611, 
while  in  the  act  of  administering  confirma- 
tion to  young  persons  in  a  private  house.  He 
was  again  imprisoned  in  Dublin  Castle,  and 


while  there  David  Roth  [q.  v.],  under  date  of 
17  Dec.  1611,  addressed  to  him  from  the  con- 
tinent a  Latin  discourse,  entitled  '  Epistola 
parsenetica.' 

In  January  1611-12  O'Devany  was  put  on 
his  trial  for  treason  in  the  court  of  king's 
bench,  Dublin.  He  denied  the  acts  for  which 
he  was  arraigned,  but  the  jury  returned  a 
verdict  against  him,  and,  under  the  name 
of '  Connoghor  O'Devenne/  he  was  sentenced 
to  be  hanged,  disembowelled,  decapitated,  and 
quartered.  This  sentence  was  carried  out  at 
the  place  of  public  execution  at  Dublin  on 
11  Feb.  1612,  in  presence  of  a  large  concourse 
of  people.  Several  Roman  catholics  regarded 
O'Devany  in  the  light  of  a  martyr,  and  se- 
cured relics  of  him ;  one  of  these,  a  piece  of 
linen  tinged  with  his  blood,  is  preserved  at 
Rome.  Observations  on  the  execution  and 
circumstances  connected  with  it  were  pub- 
lished at  London  in  1612  by  Barnaby  Rich, 
in  his  tractate  entitled  '  A  Catholicke  Con- 
ference,' which  may  be  contrasted  with  the 
notices  of  the  same  matters  published  at  Lis- 
bon in  1621  by  Philip  O'Sullivan-Beare,  in  his 
'  Historiae  Catholicse  Ibernise  Compendium.' 

Roth's  discourse  addressed  to  O'Devany, 
above  mentioned,  appeared  in  the  second  part 
of '  Analecta  Sacra,'  published  at  Cologne  in 
1617.  The  third  portion  of '  Analecta,'  issued 
in  1619,  contained  a  notice  of  O'Devany, 
whose  catalogue  of  martyrs  appears  to  have 
been  then  in  Roth's  possession. 

[Archives  of  Franciscans,  Ireland ;  Records 
of  King's  Bench,  Dublin  ;  Roth's  Analecta  Sacra, 
1617,  1619,  1884  ;  State  Papers,  Elizabeth  and 
James  I;  Annals  of  the  Four  Masters,  1848; 
Scriptores  Ordinis  Minorum,  1650  ;  Brady's 
Episcopal  Succession,  1876  ;  Letters  of  Cardinal 
Allen,  1882  ;  Moran's  Spicilegium  Ossoriense,  i. 
123,  &c. ;  Ussher's  Works,  ed.  Elrington,  ii.  526, 
618  ;  Lenihan's  Limerick,  p.  136  ;  Hatfield  MSS. 
iv.  565  ;  Bagwell's  Ireland  under  the  Tudors,  iii. 
466  ;  Gent.  Mag.  1832,  i.  404.]  J.  T.  G. 

ODGER,  GEORGE  (1820-1877),  trade 
unionist,  the  son  of  a  Cornish  miner,  was  born 
in  1820  at  Roborough,  between  Tavistock  and 
Plymouth.  A  shoemaker  by  trade,  he  settled 
in  London,  where  he  became  a  prominent 
member  of  the  ladies'  shoemakers'  society, 
a  union  of  highly  skilled  makers  of  ladies' 
shoes.  He  acquired  great  influence  with  the 
working  classes,  and  on  the  lock-out  in  the 
building  trades  in  1859  he  rendered  impor- 
tant service  to  their  cause.  A  leading  member 
of  the  London  trades  council  from  its  for- 
mation in  1860,  he  succeeded  George  Howell 
as  secretary  in  1862,  and  retained  the  office 
until  the  reconstruction  of  the  council  in 
1872.  As  one  of  a  small  but  powerful  group 
of  trade-union  officials,  he  exercised  remark- 


Odingsells 


421 


Odo 


able  influence  on  the  movement  during  the 
following  years.  Believing  that  the  most  ad- 
vantageous policy  for  the  working  classes  was 
the  combination  of  trade-unionism  with  poli- 
tical action,  he  endeavoured  to  induce  the 
council  to  adopt  it.  Under  his  influence  the 
council  organised  a  popular  welcome  to  Gari- 
baldi, and  a  great  meeting  in  St.  James's  Hall 
in  1862  in  support  of  the  Northern  States  of 
America  in  their  struggle  against  slavery,  at 
which  John  Bright  was  the  principal  speaker. 
He  became  a  member  of  the  National  Reform 
League;  and,  in  conjunction  with  Apple- 
garth,  Allan,  and  Coulson,  persuaded  the 
trades  council  to  take  a  leading  part  in  the 
agitation  for  the  extension  of  the  franchise 
in  1866  and  subsequent  years.  He  made  five 
unsuccessful  attempts  to  get  into  parlia- 
ment as  an  independent  labour  candidate — at 
Chelsea  in  1868,  at  Stafford  in  1869,  at  Bris- 
tol in  1870,  where  he  retired  rather  than 
divide  the  liberal  vote,  and  at  Southwark  in 
1870  and  1874.  At  the  Southwark  election 
in  1870 he  polled  4,382  votes,  while  the  liberal 
candidate,  Sir  Sydney  Waterlow,  polled  only 
2,966.  Odger  became  president  of  the  general 
council  of  the  famous  international  associa- 
tion of  working  men  in  1870.  In  1872  he 
was  made  the  subject  of  a  series  of  attacks 
in  the  London  '  Figaro,'  and  he  brought  an 
action  for  libel  against  the  publisher.  The 
case  was  tried  on  14  Feb.  1873,  and  resulted 
in  a  verdict  for  the  defendant.  Odger  died 
in  1877.  His  funeral,  which  was  attended  by 
Herbert  Spencer,  Professor  Fawcett,  and 
Sir  Charles  Dilke,  was  made  the  occasion  of 
a  great  demonstration  by  the  London  work- 
ing men,  who  regarded  him  as  their  leader. 

[Life  and  Labours  of  George  Odger ;  Odger's 
Reply  to  the  Attorney-General  [1873]  ;  McCar- 
thy's History  of  our  own  Time,  iii.  228,  iv.  95, 
179  ;  Sidney  and  Beatrice  Webb's  History  of 
Trade  Unionism,  pp.  215,  217,  218,  220,  221, 
228,  230,  231,  271,  273,  275,  282,  309,  347, 
382.]  W.  A.  S.  H. 

ODINGSELLS,  GABRIEL  (1690-1734), 
playwright,  sou  of  Gabriel  Odingsells  of 
London,  was  born  in  1690,  and  matriculated 
from  Pembroke  College,  Oxford,  on  23  April 
1706.  He  left  Oxford  without  a  degree,  and 
essayed  to  obtain  the  reputation  of  a  wit  in 
London.  In  1725  appeared  his  first  comedy, 
'The  Bath  Unmasked'  (London,  4to),  in 
which  he  attempted  with  indifferent  success 
to  describe  the  humours  of  the  city  of  Bath. 
It  was  acted  on  27  Feb.  and  on  six  subse- 
quent occasions  at  Lincoln's  Inn  Fields.  It 
was  followed,  at  the  same  theatre,  on  8  Dec. 
by  '  The  Capricious  Lovers '  (London,  1726, 
4to),  a  poor  comedy,  relieved,  however,  by 
one  humorous  character,  Mrs.  Mince-Mode, 


who  '  grows  sick  at  the  sight  of  a  man,  and 
refines  upon  the  significancy  of  phrases  till 
she  resolves  common  conversation  into  ob- 
scenity.' In  March  1730  his  third  and  last 
piece,  'Bays'  Opera'  (London,  1730,  4to), 
was  acted  three  times,  twice  more  than  it 
deserved,  at  Drury  Lane.  Odingsells  shortly 
afterwards  developed  symptoms  of  lunacy, 
and  on  10  Feb.  1734  he  hanged  himself  in 
his  house  in  Thatched  Court,  Westminster. 
In  1742  waspublished,posthumously, '  Monu- 
mental Inscriptions ;  or  a  Curious  Collection 
of  Near  Five  Hundred  of  the  most  Remark- 
able Epitaphs,  serious  and  humourous.  Col- 
lected by  the  late  ingenious  Gabriel  Odin- 
sells  [sic],'  London,  4to.  The  copy  of  this 
rare  work  in  the  British  Museum  Library  is 
imperfect,  many  of  the  coarser  epitaphs 
having  been  effaced. 

[Baker's BiographiaDramatica,  i.  547 ;  Genest's 
History  of  the  Stage,  iii.  167,  177;  Foster's 
Alumni  Oxon.  1500-1714;  Doran's  Annals  of 
the  Stage;  Rawlinson  MSS.  in  Bodleian  Library, 
vi.  35,  xxi.  50;  Odingsells's  Works  in  the  British 
Museum  Library.]  T.  S. 

ODINGTON,  WALTER,  or  WALTER  OF 
EVESHAM  (_/?.  1240),  Benedictine  writer. 

[See  WALTEB.] 

ODO,  or  ODA  (d.  959),  archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  called  '  the  Good,'  is  said  to 
have  been  the  son  of  a  Dane,  one  of  the 
army  of  Inguar,  or  Ivar,  that  conquered 
the  north  of  England  in  867,  though  this  is 
not  quite  so  certain  as  is  generally  believed 
('  dicunt  quidam,'  see  the  contemporary  Vita 
6'.  Oswaldi,  Historians  of  York,  i.  404 ).  He 
was  early  in  life  converted  to  Christianity, 
and  is  said  to  have  been  punished  severely 
by  his  father  for  persisting  in  attending 
church  (EADMER).  One  of  -'Elfred's  nobles, 
named  .'Ethelhelm,  or  Athelm,  adopted  him, 
caused  him  to  be  baptised,  and  provided  a 
teacher  for  him,  under  whose  care  he  learnt 
Latin,  and,  it  is  said,  Greek  also  (ib.)  Having 
received  the  tonsure,  he  made  such  progress 
in  divine  things  that  he  was  soon  admitted 
to  the  priesthood.  Nevertheless  he  is  said 
to  have  in  his  younger  days  served  Eadward 
the  elder  as  a  soldier,  and  to  have  been  per- 
suaded to  take  orders  by  his  adoptive  father, 
whom  he  accompanied  on  a  journey  to  Rome. 
On  the  way  yEthelhelm  fell  sick,  and  his  re- 
covery was  attributed  to  a  draught  of  wine 
which  Odo  blessed  by  making  the  sign  of  the 
cross  over  it  (Vita  ti.  Oswaldi,  u.s.)  Wil- 
liam of  Malmesbury  says  that  he  did  not  be- 
come a  clerk  until  alter  this  journey,  but 
seems  to  have  altered  the  order  of  events  so 
as  not  to  represent  Odo  as  taking  part  in  war 
after  his  ordination ;  for  it  is  clear  from  the 


Odo 


422 


Odo 


story  of  his  blessing  the  wine  that  he  was 
then  a  priest  ( Gesta  Pontificum,  p.  21;  his 
military  service,  though  probable  enough, 
comes  from  a  late  source,  but  was  the  Can- 
terbury tradition  in  Malmesbury's  time). 
~Ethelstan  highly  esteemed  him,  and  gave 
him  the  bishopric  of  Ramsbury,  to  which  he 
was  ordained  in  927  by  Archbishop  Wulf- 
helm.  When  the  king  in  936  allowed  his 
sister's  son  Lewis  to  accept  the  offer  of  the 
crown  made  by  the  Frankish  nobles,  he  sent 
Odo  to  escort  him  to  his  kingdom  (RICHER, 
ii.  c.  2).  Odo  followed  ^Ethelstan  to  the 
battle  of  Brunanburh  in  937,  and  when 
during  the  night  before  the  battle  the  king, 
while  surrounded  by  enemies,  dropped  his 
sword,  Odo  is  said  to  have  found  it  by  divine 
assistance,  and  to  have  handed  it  to  him.  On 
the  death  of  Wulf  helm  in  942  King  Eadmund 
offered  him  the  archbishopric,  but  he  declined 
it  on  the  ground  that  it  ought  not  to  be 
held  except  by  a  monk.  The  king  persisted, 
and  finally  he  either  sent  or  went  in  person 
to  Fleury  to  request  that  he  might  be  granted 
the  cowl  by  the  convent  there.  After  he  had 
received  it  he  accepted  the  archbishopric. 
Finding  his  cathedral  church  in  a  dilapidated 
state,  he  repaired  it,  strengthened  the  piers, 
raised  the  wall,  and  put  on  a  new  roof, 
which  he  covered  with  lead,  his  work  upon  it 
lasting  during  three  years.  Although  little 
is  known  for  certain  about  his  doings  as  arch- 
bishop, it  is  evident  that  he  earnestly  pro- 
moted the  reformation  of  morals,  the  main- 
tenance of  the  rights  of  the  church,  and  the 
restoration  of  monastic  discipline.  During 
the  reign  of  Eadmund  he  published  constitu- 
tions respecting  these  matters,  in  which  he 
decreed  that  the  church  should  be  free  from 
all  tribute  and  exactions,  insisted  on  the 
duties  of  the  king  and  nobles  as  regards  the 
protection  of  the  weak  and  the  administra- 
tion of  justice,  exhorted  the  bishops  to  be 
diligent  in  preaching  and  the  care  of  their 
dioceses,  the  clergy  to  set  a  good  example, 
and  the  monks  to  be  faithful  to  their  vows, 
humble,  studious,  and  constant  in  prayer. 
He  strictly  forbad  all  unlawful  marriages, 
and  especially  with  nuns  and  those  too  near 
of  kin,  and  admonished  all  men  to  observe 
the  feasts  and  festivals  of  the  church,  to  pay 
tithes,  and  to  give  alms  (WiLKiNS,  Concilia, 
i.  212).  At  another  time  he  ordered  that 
before  a  man  took  a  wife  he  should  give 
security  to  keep  her  as  his  wife  and  state  her 
dowry,  and  laid  down  that,  on  the  death  of 
the  husband,  a  wife  ought  to  have  half  his 
estate,  and  the  whole  if  there  was  a  child 
(ib.  p.  216).  His  decrees  concerning  mar- 
riage were  demanded  by  the  social  condition 
of  the  country  generally,  and  more  especially 


of  the  northern  or  Danish  part  of  it.  There 
can  be  no  doubt  that  during  the  reign  of 
Eadred  he  supported  the  administration  of 
Dunstan  [q.  v.J,  then  abbot  of  Glastonbury 
{Memorials  of  St.  Dunstan,  Introd.,  p. 
Ixxxvii).  He  accompanied  the  king  on  one 
of  his  expeditions  into  the  north,  possibly  in 
947,  when  Ripon  was  destroyed,  going  not 
as  a  warrior,  but  in  Order  to  negotiate,  and 
collected  relics  of  saints  from  the  ruins  of 
Ripon.  Chief  among  these  were  the  bones 
of  Wilfrid  the  famous  bishop  of  York,  which 
he  sent  to  Canterbury.  By  his  command 
Frithegode  composed  his  metrical  'Life  of 
Wilfrid,"  for  which  Odo  wrote  the  extant 
prose  preface  {Historians  of  York,  i.  105-7). 
In  this  he  speaks  of  his  translation  of  the 
saints'  relics.  It  has,  however,  been  asserted, 
on  the  authority  of  the  contemporary  '  Life 
of  Oswald,'  that  the  bones  which  he  trans- 
lated were  those  of  Archbishop  Wilfrid  the 
second  (ib.  pp.  225,  462 ;  Gesta  Pontificum, 
p.  245).  Oswald  (d.  972)  [q.  v.],  afterwards 
archbishop  of  York,  was  his  nephew,  and 
it  was  with  his  uncle's  approval  that  Oswald 
went,  probably  in  Eadred's  reign,  to  Fleury 
to  learn  the  Benedictine  rule.  Odo  appears 
to  have  maintained  the  doctrine  of  transub- 
stantiation,  for  it  is  said  that  on  one  occa- 
sion the  consecrated  elements  became  flesh 
and  blood  while  he  was  celebrating  the 
eucharist  (  Vita  8.  Oswaldi,  u.s.  pp.  406-407). 
He  crowned  Edwy  or  Eadwig  [q.  v.]  in  956, 
and  when  the  young  king  left  the  coronation 
banquet  for  the  society  of/Elfgifu  (f.  956) 
[q.  v.]  and  her  mother,  Odo,  remarking  that 
his  absence  was  displeasing  to  his  lords,  told 
them  and  the  bishops  that  some  of  them  ought 
to  go  and  fetch  him  back  (  Vita  S.  Dunstani, 
Memorials  of  St.  Dunstan,  p.  32).  He  had 
great  influence  over  Edwy,  and,  the  king 
having  married  vElfgifu,  the  archbishop  sepa- 
rated them  because  they  were  too  nearly  re- 
lated (A.-S.  Chron.  an.  958,  Worcester),  and 
forcibly  drove  ^Elfgifu  into  banishment  (  Vita 
S.  Oswaldi,  u.s.  p.  402) ;  but  the  story  that 
represents  him  as  inflicting  barbarities  upon 
her  is  unworthy  of  credit.  While  the 
northern  part  of  the  kingdom  chose  Eadgar 
as  king,  Odo  remained  faithful  to  Edwy 
(ROBERTSON,  Historical  Essays,  p.  194).  He 
consecrated  Dunstan,  and  it  is  said  that  in 
doing  so  he  declared  that  he  consecrated  him 
to  the  see  of  Canterbury,  for  that  it  was 
revealed  to  him  that  the  new  bishop  was 
ordained  by  God  to  that  see  (ADELARD,  Me- 
morials of  St.  Dunstan,  p.  60).  Finding  in 
959  that  his  end  was  near,  he  sent  to  Fleury 
to  summon  Oswald  to  come  to  him,  but 
died  on  2  June  before  Oswald  reached  Eng- 
land. He  was  buried  on  the  south  side  of 


Odo 


423 


Odo 


the  altar  of  his  cathedral  church.  Lanfranc 
[q.  v.]  placed  his  bones  in  the  chapel  of  the 
Holy  Trinity  behind  the  altar,  and  at  the 
rebuilding  of  the  choir  in  1180  they  were 
placed  beneath  the  feretory  of  St.  Dunstan 
(GERVASE  OF  CANTERBURY,  i.  16,  25).  The 
death  of  /Elfsige  (d.  959)  [q.  v.l,  who  was 
nominated  as  his  successor,  was  held  to  be  a 
judgment  on  him  for  having  insulted  Odo's 
memory.  The  strictness  with  which  Odo 
reproved  laxity  of  morals  accounts  for  the 
epithet '  severus '  given  to  him  in  an  epitaph  ; 
while  Dunstan,  equally  with  him  a  champion 
of  morality,  gave  him  the  title  of '  the  Good ' 
(  Gesta  Pontificum,  p.  30),  which  is  adopted  in 
the  Canterbury  version  of  the  '  Anglo-Saxon 
Chronicle'  (an.  961).  Regarded  apart  from 
late  and  untrustworthy  legends,  he  appears 
as  a  righteous  and  holy  man,  of  strong  will 
and  commanding  influence,  no  respecter  of 
persons,  and  careful  of  the  rights  of  the  weak. 
He  was  held  to  be  wise  and  eloquent 
(RICHER,  u.s.),  and  seems  to  have  encouraged 
learned  men  such  as  FKthegode  and  Abbo 
of  Fleury,  who  speaks  of  the  friendship  that 
Odo  had  for  him  {Memorials  of  St.  Dunstan, 
p.  410). 

[The  earliest  extant  Life  of  Odo,  printed  in 
Anglia  Sacra,  ii.  78-87  (also  in  Actu  SS.  O.S.B. 
ease.  v.  286-96,  and  Acta  SS.,  Bolland,  July, 
ii.  62  seq.)  is  there  attributed  to  Osbern,  but  is 
really  the  work  of  Eadmer :  see  Hardy's  Cat.  of 
Materials,  i.  566  (Rolls  Ser.)  It  is  not  of  course 
of  much  authority,  though  it  must  represent  the  j 
Canterbury  tradition.  Vita  S.  Oswaldi,  Hist, 
of  York,  i.  399  seq.  (Rolls  Ser.),  contains  notices 
that  are  virtually  contemporary ;  see  also  same 
vol.  pp.  104,  224,  Memorials  of  St.  Dunstan, 
pp.  32,  60,  294,  303,  410,  Will,  of  Malmesbury's 
Gesta  Pontiff.,  pp.  20-3,  30,  248,  Gesta  Regum, 
i.  163,  A.-S.  Chron.  ann.  958,  961,  Gervase  of 
Cant.  i.  16,  25,  ii.  49,  352,  all  in  the  Rolls  Ser. ; 
Richer,  ii  c.  2,  ed.  Pertz;  Kemble's  Codex  Dipl. 
Nos.  392,  468;  Wilkins's  Concilia,  i.  212,  216; 
Robertson's  Hist,  Essays,  pp.  192,  194,  203; 
Hook'a  Archbishops  of  Canterbury,  i.  360-81 ; 
Freeman's  Norman  Conquest,  i.  224,  iv.  125.] 

W.  H. 

ODO  or  ODDA  (d.  1056),  Earl,  was  a 
kinsman  of  Edward  the  Confessor  (WILLIAM 
OF  MALMESBURY,  Gesta  lieyum,  i.  243).  This 
is  confirmed  by  the  statement,  which  Leland 
quotes  from  the  '  Pershore  Chronicle,'  that 
Odda  was  the  heir  of  yElf  here  (d.  983)  fq.v.] ; 
Leland  in  another  place  calls  Odda  the  son 
of  ^Elf  here.  For  reasons  of  chronology  it  is 
very  unlikely  that  Odda  was  yElf  here's  son, 
but  he  may  have  been  his  grandson  and  the 
eon  of  JEliric  (fi.  950?-1016?)  [q.v.]  In  any 
case  the  conjecture  of  Lappenberg  (Anglo- 
Saxon  Kings,  p.  510)  and  of  Green  (Conquest 


of  England,  p.  492),  that  ( )dda  was  a  Norman 
kinsman  of  Edward  the  Confessor,  who  came 
to  England  in  1042,  is  untenable.   Odda  was 
1  baptised  by  the  name  of  Edwin,  and  thus,  like 
,  his  brother  /Elfric  (English  Chronicle,  ad  ann. 
1053)  and  sister  Eadgyth  or  Edith  (Domes- 
i  day,  p.  186),  bore   a  distinctively  English 
name.   He  may  perhaps  have  taken  the  name 
I  of  Odo  after  the  Danish  conquest.   An  Odda 
!  '  minister'  occurs  as  witness  to  a  royal  charter 
in  1018  (  Cod.  Dipl.  728),  and  frequently  after- 
i  wards  during  the  reign  of  Cnut,  and  once 
|  in  that  of  Harthacnut ;  this  Odda  may  be 
identical  with  Odda  the  earl,  though  there  is 
no  conclusive  evidence.    But  Odda  the  earl 
had  an  hereditary  connection  with  Mercia, 
and  he  is  therefore  probably  the  Odda  miles 
who  appears  as  witness  to  two  charters  of 
Bishop  Living  of  Worcester  in  1038  and  1042 
(ib.  760,  764) ;    in  the  latter  yElfric  mile* 
also  occurs.     Odda  and  yElfric  also  appear 
as  witnesses  to  a  charter  of  /Elfwold,  bishop 
of  Sherborne,  which  is  older  than  1046  (ib. 
1334) ;  this  connects  him  with  his  western 
earldom.     After  Edward's  accession  Odda 
'  minister'  continues  as  a  witness  to  royal 
charters,  and  in  two  he  appears  as  Odda 
'  nobilis '  (ib.  787,  791).    On  the  banishment 
of  Godwine  and  Harold  in  1051,  Odda  was 
made   earl  over  Somerset,  Devon,  Dorset, 
and  '  the  Wealas,'  which  last  no  doubt  means 
Cornwall.    Next  year  Odda  and  Earl  Ralph, 
the  king's  nephew,  were  sent  with  the  fleet 
to  Sandwich,  to  watch  for  Godwine  and  his 
sons.   Godwine  came  with  his  fleet  to  Dunge- 
ness.     The  earls  went  out  to  seek  him,  but 
Godwine  went  back,  and  the  earls,  unable  to 
discover  his  whereabouts,  retired.  Soon  after- 
wards Godwine  and  his  sons  were  restored. 
Odda  in  consequence  lost  his  western  earl- 
dom, but  he  was  perhaps  compensated  with 
an  earldom  of  the  Hwiccas,  comprising  the 
shires  of  Gloucester  and  Wonvst«-r:  for  he 
is  styled  Earl  or  'Comes'  till  his  death  (ib. 
804,"  805,  823).     On  22  Dec.  1053  Odda's 
brother  ^Elfric  died  at  Deerhurst,  and  was 
buried  at  Pershore.     Odda  built  the  minster 
at  Deerhurst,  which  still  survives,  for  his 
brother's  soul.     Eventually  he  received  the 
monastic  habit  from  Ealdred,  the  bishop  of 
Worcester,  and  on  31  Aug.  1056  he  himself 
died  at  Deerhurst,  but,  like  his  brother,  was 
buried  at  Pershore;  his  leaden  coftin  with 
a  Latin  inscription  was  discovered  at  Per- 
shore in  1259.    The  date  seems  to  make  it 
impossible  that  the  earl  and  his  brother  are 
identical  with  the  monks  Odda  and  yElfric 
who  witnessed  a  charter  of  Edward  in  1052 
or  1053  (ib.  797).     Florence  of  Worcester,  in 
recording  the  earl's  death,  speaks  of  him  as 
'Comes  Agelwinus,  id  est  Odda;'  he  praises 


Odo 


424 


Odo 


him  as  the  lover  of  churches,  the  friend  of  the 
poor  and  oppressed,  and  guardian  of  vir- 
ginity. The  'English  Chronicle'  says  'a 
good  man  he  was,  clean,  and  right  noble.' 
The  '  Pershore  Chronicle '  relates  that  Odda 
restored  the  lands  which  ^lf  here  had  taken 
from  the  monks,  and  would  not  marry  lest 
his  heir  should  in  his  turn  do  evil. 

[English  Chronicle ;  Florence  of  Worcester ; 
Leland's  Collectanea,  i.  244,  285,  and  Itinerary, 
v.  1  ;  Kemble's  Codex  Diplomaticus  Saxonici 
JEvi ;  Freeman's  Old  English  Hist,  and  Norman 
Conquest,  especially  ii.  564-6  ;  Green's  Conquest 
of  England.]  C.  L.  K. 

ODO  (d.  1097),  bishop  of  Bayeux  and 
earl  of  Kent,  was  son  of  Herluin  of  Conte- 
ville  by  Herleva  of  Falaise,  the  concubine 
of  Robert  of  Normandy,  and  mother  of  Wil- 
liam the  Conqueror.  Guibert  of  Nogent 
actually  calls  Odo  natural  son  of  Duke 
Robert,  and  own  brother  to  William  the 
Conqueror  (De  Sanctorum  Piynoribus,  i.  ch. 
3).  William  of  Malmesbury  (Gesta  Regum, 
p.  333)  expressly  states  that  Herluin  and 
Herleva  were  married  before  Duke  Robert's 
death  in  1035 ;  but  Odo,  who  was  their 
eldest  son,  was  perhaps  not  born  before  1036. 
Odo's  younger  brother  was  Robert  of  Mor- 
tain  [q.  v.],  and  he  had  also  two  sisters: 
Muriel,  who  married  Odo  cum  Capello  (WAGE, 
6026),  and  another,  who  married  the  Sire 
de  la  Fert£  (TAYLOR,  Translation  of  WTace, 

E.  237 ;  STAPLE-TON,  Rot.  Scacc.  Norm.  i.  p. 
odx).  Herluin  had  another  son,  Ralph, 
by  a  former  marriage.  Odo  received  the 
bishopric  of  Bayeux  fromhis  brother  William 
about  October  1049  (ORDEKICCS  VITALIS,  iii. 
263,  note  2),  and,  as  bishop,witnesses  a  charter 
of  St.  Evroul  on  25  Sept.  1050  (ib.  v.  180). 
He  witnesses  various  charters  during  the 
subsequent  years,  and  was  present  at  eccle- 
siastical councils  held  at  Rouen  in  1055, 
1061,  and  1063.  He  was  present  at  the 
council  held  at  Lillebonne  in  1066  to  con- 
sider the  projected  invasion  of  England,  and, 
according  to  one  account,  contributed  one 
hundred  ships  to  the  fleet  (L.YTTELTON,  Hist, 
of  Henry  II,  i.  523),  though  Wace  (6186) 
assigns  him  forty  only.  Odo  accompanied 
the  Norman  host,  and  not  only  exhorted  the 
soldiers  the  night  before  the  battle,  but, 
despite  his  ecclesiastical  character,  fought  in 
full  armour  at  Hastings,  though  armed  with  a 
mace  instead  of  a  sword.  When  the  Normans 
turned  in  flight,  Odo  was  prominent  in  rally- 
ing the  fugitives,  and  is  so  depicted  in  the 
Bayeux  tapestry  (WACE,  8131). 

After  his  coronation  William  bestowed  on 
Odo  the  castle  of  Dover  and  earldom  of 
Kent ;  and  when,  three  months  later,  the 


king  crossed  over  to  Normandy,  Odo  and 
William  FitzOsbern  [q.  v.l  were  left  as- 
viceroys  in  his  absence.  Odo's  special  care 
as  Earl  of  Kent  was  to  secure  commu- 
nication with  the  continent,  and  to  guard 
against  attack  from  that  quarter.  The  rule 
of  the  viceroys  was  harsh  in  the  extreme  ; 
'  they  wrought  castles  wide  amongst  the 
people,  and  poor  folk  oppressed '  {English 
Chronicle) ;  they  protected  their  plundering 
and  licentious  followers,  and  paid  no  heed 
to  the  complaints  of  the  English ;  while 
their  zeal  for  William's  policy  of  castle- 
building  served  to  increase  their  unpopu- 
larity (FLOR.  WIG.  ii.  1).  While  Odo  was 
absent  to  the  north  of  the  Thames,  the  men 
of  Kent  called  in  Eustace  of  Boulogne ; 
but,  though  Eustace  was  repulsed  by  the 
Norman  garrison  of  Dover,  the  discontent 
with  the  rule  of  his  viceroys  compelled  Wil- 
liam to  hurry  back  to  England  in  December 
1067.  Odo  did  not  again  hold  a  position  of 
equal  authority ;  but  for  fifteen  years  he  was 
second  in  power  only  to  William  himself. 
William  of  Malmesbury  styles  him  '  Totius 
Anglise  vicedominus  sub  rege; '  and  Orderic 
says : '  Veluti  secundus  rex  passim  j  ura  dabat/ 
There  is,  however,  no  sufficient  reason  to 
describe  him  as  justiciar,  though  from  time 
to  time  he  discharged  functions  which  were 
afterwards  exercised  by  that  officer  (see 
STTJBBS,  Constitutional  History,  §  120).  Or- 
deric also  describes  Odo  as '  palatinus  Cantiae 
consul; '  but  it  is  uncertain  whether  he  ever 
really  possessed  the  regalia  as  a  true  palatine 
earl,  or  even  bore  the  title  of  earl,  though 
he  certainly  exercised  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
ealdorman  (ib.  §  124).  Still  he  witnesses 
charters  as  '  Comes  Cantise,'  and  in  1102  his 
nephew,  William  of  Mortain,  unsuccessfully 
claimed  the  earldom  of  Kent  as  his  heir 
(WILL.  MALM.  Gesta  Regum,  p.  473).  Be- 
sides a  great  number  of  lordships  in  Kent, 
Odo  received  lands  in  twelve  other  counties 
{Domesday  Book,  esp.  pp.  6-11),  and  ac- 
quired vast  wealth,  in  part  at  least,  by  the 
spoliation  of  abbeys  and  churches.  The 
most  famous  instance  of  such  spoliation  was 
his  usurpation  of  certain  rights  and  posses- 
sions of  the  see  of  Canterbury.  Lanfranc 
claimed  restitution,  and  by  William's  order 
the  suit  was  heard  before  the  shire-moot  of 
Kent  at  Penenden  Heath,  with  the  result 
that  Odo  had  to  surrender  his  spoil  (Anglia. 
Sacra,  i.  334-5).  The  abbeys  of  Ramsey 
and  of  Evesham,  the  latter  of  which  lost  a 
large  part  of  its  lands  in  a  contention  with 
Odo,  were  less  fortunate  (Chron.  Ramsey, 

J.   154:  Hist.  Ecesham,  pp.  96-7,  both  in 
lolls  Ser.)     On  the  other  hand,  Odo  was  a 
benefactor  of  St.   Augustine's,  Canterbury 


Odo 


425 


Odo 


(Hist.  St.  Augustine  s,  pp.  350-3,  Rolls  Ser.), 
and  as  justiciar  redressed  the  wrong  that 
Picot,  the  Norman  sheriff  of  Cambridgeshire, 
had  done  to  the  see  of  Rochester  (Anglia 
Sacra,  i.  336-9). 

Odo  was  present  at  the  synod  which,  at 
Whitsuntide  1072,  decided  on  the  claims  of 
Canterbury.  In  1075  he  was  one  of  the 
leaders  of  the  host  which  suppressed  the 
rising  of  Ralph  Guader  [q.  v.J  in  Norfolk 
(FLOR.  WIG.  u.  11).  On  23  Oct.  1177  he 
was  present  at  the  consecration  of  the  church 
of  Bee  (Chron.  Beccense  ap.  MIGNE,  Patro- 
logia,  cl.  646).  In  1080  he  presided  in  a 
court  which  decided  on  the  liberties  of  Ely 
(Hist.  Eliensis,  pp.  251-2),  and  in  June  1081 
was  present  when  the  claims  of  the  abbey  of 
Bury  St.  Edmunds  were  decided  (Memorials 
of  St.  Edmuntfs  Abbey,  i.  347-9,Rolls  Ser.)  In 
1080  Odo  was  sent  by  William  to  take  ven- 
geance on  Northumberland  for  the  murder 
of  Bishop  Walcher  [q.  v.]  of  Durham.  The 
whole  county  was  harried,  the  innocent  and 
guilty  were  punished  indiscriminately,  and 
Odo  himself  carried  off  from  Durham  a  pas- 
toral staff  of  rare  workmanship  and  material 

(SYM.  DUNELM.  ii.  210-11). 

Odo  had  now  reached  the  zenith  of  his 
career ;  but  by  means  of  his  wealth  he  hoped 
to  rise  yet  higher.  A  soothsayer  had  fore- 
told that  the  successor  of  Hildebrand  should 
bear  the  name  of  Odo.  This  prophecy  the 
Bishop  of  Bayeux  thought  to  realise  in  his 
own  person.  *So  '  stuffing  the  pilgrims'  wal- 
lets with  letters  and  coin'  (WiLL.  MALM. 
Gesta  Regum,  p.  334),  he  bribed  the  leading 
Roman  citizens,  and  even  built  himself  a 
palace,  which  he  adorned  with  such  splen- 
dour that  there  was  no  house  like  it  at  Rome 
(Liber  de  Hyda,  p.  296).  Odo  further  de- 
termined to  go  to  Rome  in  person,  and,  hav- 
ing bribed  Hugh,  earl  of  Chester,  and  many 
other  Norman  knights  to  accompany  him, 
was  on  the  point  of  setting  out  from  Eng- 
land when  William  heard  of  his  designs. 
The  king  hurried  across  from  Normandy,  and 
met  Odo  in  the  Isle  of  Wight.  There,  in  an 
assembly,  William  set  forth  his  brother's 
oppressions,  exactions,  and  intended  ambi- 
tions. Despite  William's  orders,  no  one 
would  arrest  the  bishop,  and  the  king  seized 
him  with  his  own  hands,  meeting  Odo's  pro- 
test with  a  declaration  that  he  arrested,  not 
the  bishop,  but  the  earl.  Wace  (9199- 
9248)  alleges  that  Odo's  intention  was  to 
secure  the  crown  for  himself  in  case  of 
William's  death,  and  that  the  immediate 
cause  of  his  arrest  was  his  failure  to  render 
an  account  of  his  revenues.  Gregory  VII 
severely  censured  the  treatment  of  the  bishop, 
both  in  a  letter  to  William  himself,  and  in 


another  to  Hugh,  archbishop  of  Lyons  (J  AH  \  . 
Monumenta  Greyoriana,  pp.  519,  o71).  Odo 
was,  however,  kept  in  captivity  at  Rouen  for 
over  four  years.  When  William,  on  his 
deathbed,  ordered  his  prisoners  to  be  released, 
he  specially  excepted  his  brother;  but,  on 
the  urgent  entreaty  of  Robert  of  Mortain 
and  others,  at  length  gave  way.  Odo  was 
at  once  set  free,  and  was  present  at  his 
brother's  funeral  at  Caen.  He  speedily  re- 
covered all  his  ancient  honour  in  Normandy, 
and,  according  to  Orderic,  already  plotted 
to  displace  William  Rufus  by  Robert  in 
England.  In  the  autumn  of  1087  he  went 
over  to  England,  regained  his  earldom,  and 
was  present  at  William  II's  first  midwinter 
council.  But  he  could  not  recover  his  old 
importance ;  and,  being  envious  of  the  supe- 
rior authority  of  William  of  St.  Calais,  bishop 
of  Durham,  he  now  became  the  centre  of  the 
Norman  conspiracy  against  William.  When 
the  war  broke  out,  in  Lent  1088,  Odo  him- 
self plundered  Kent,  and  especially  the  lands 
of  Lanfranc,  to  whose  advice  his  four  years' 
imprisonment  was  said  to  have  been  due 
(WiLL.  MALM.  Gesta  Iteyum,  p.  361).  The 
king  marched  against  his  uncle  in  person,  and 
captured  Tunbridge  Castle.  At  the  news, 
Odo  fled  to  his  brother  Robert  at  Pevensey, 
where,  after  a  six  weeks'  siege,  he  was  com- 
pelled to  yield,  promising  to  surrender  Ro- 
chester also,  and  then  leave  England.  For 
this  purpose  Odo  was  sent  with  a  guard  to 
Rochester ;  but  the  bishop's  friends  rescued 
him,  and  refused  to  give  up  the  city.  A 
fresh  siege  soon  forced  Odo  to  seek  peace  once 
more  ;  but  it  was  only  after  a  remonstrance 
from  his  advisers  that  William  would  grant 
any  terms,  and  even  then  the  bishop's  peti- 
tion for  the  honours  of  war  was  indignantly 
rejected.  The  English  in  William's  army 
cried :  '  Halters !  halters  for  the  traitor 
bishop !  Let  not  the  doer  of  evil  go  un- 
harmed ! '  Odo  was,  however,  permitted  to 
depart,  but  with  the  loss  of  all  his  posses- 
sions in  England,  to  which  country  he  never 
returned. 

Odo  aspired  with  more  success  to  hold 
the  first  place  in  Normandy  under  the  weak 
rule   of    Robert.      It  was   by    his   advice 
that,  in  the  autumn  of  1088,  the  duke's 
brother  Henry  and  Robert  of  Belleme  [q.  v.] 
•  were  arrested  ;  and  when  the  news  brought 
I  Roger  of  Montgomery  [q.  v.]  to  Normandy, 
Odo  urged  his  nephew  to  destroy  the  power 
of  the  house  of  Talvas.     He  also  took  a  prp- 
j  minent  part  in  the  campaign  of  Mans  in 
1089,  and  in  the  opposition  to  William's  in- 
vasion of  Normandy  in  1091   (ORDEKicrs 
YITALIS,  iv.  16).     According  to  Ordericus,  it 
was  Odo  who,  in  1093,  performed  the  mar- 


Odo 


426 


Odo 


riage  ceremony  between  Philip  of  France 
and  the  infamous  Bertrada  of  Montfort,  re- 
ceiving as  his  reward  certain  churches  at 
Mantes  ;  but  it  seems  probable  that  he  did 
no  more  than  countenance  the  union  by  his 
presence  (ib.  iii.  387,  and  M.  Le  Prevost's 
note  ad  loc.)  Odo  was  present  at  the  council 
of  Clermont  in  November  1095,  when  Pope 
Urban  II  proclaimed  the  first  crusade,  and 
at  the  synod  of  the  Norman  bishops  at 
Rouen  in  the  following  February,  when  the  j 
acts  of  the  council  were  considered.  When 
Robert  of  Normandy  took  the  cross,  Odo 
elected  to  accompany  him  rather  than  remain 
at  home  under  the  rule  of  his  enemy  William ; 
so  in  September  1096  he  left  Normandy. 
With  his  nephew  Robert  he  visited  Rome, 
and  received  the  papal  blessing.  Duke  Ro- 
bert wintered  in  Apulia ;  but  Odo  crossed 
over  to  Sicily,  where  in  February  1097  he 
died  at  Palermo.  He  was  buried  in  the 
cathedral,  where  Count  Roger  of  Sicily  built 
him  a  splendid  tomb. 

In  history  Odo  figures,  not  unnaturally, 
as  a  turbulent  noble,  who  had  nothing  of  the 
ecclesiastic  but  the  name.  Ordericus  makes 
the  Conqueror  describe  him  as  fickle  and 
ambitious,  the  slave  of  fleshly  lust  and  mon- 
strous cruelty,  who  would  never  abandon 
his  vain  and  wanton  wickedness ;  the  scorner 
of  religion,  the  artful  author  of  sedition, 
the  oppressor  of  the  people,  the  plunderer  of 
churches,  whose  release  meant  certain  mis- 
chief to  many.  But  Ordericus  himself  is 
perhaps  more  just  when  he  says  that  Odo's 
character  was  a  mixture  of  vices  and  vir- 
tues, in  which  affection  for  secular  affairs 
prevailed  over  the  good  deeds  of  the  spiri- 
tual life.  AVilliam  of  Poitiers  (209  A.B.), 
writing  perhaps  before  Odo's  fall,  eulogises 
him  for  his  eloquence  and  wisdom  in  council 
and  debate,  for  his  liberality,  justice,  and 
loyalty  to  his  brother;  '  he  had  no  wish  to  use 
arms,  but  rejoiced  in  necessary  war  so  far  as 
religion  permit  ted  him.  Normans  and  Bretons 
served  under  him  gladly,  and  even  the  Eng- 
lish were  not  so  barbarous  that  they  could  not 
recognise  in  the  bishop  and  earl  a  man  who 
was  to  be  feared,  respected,  and  loved.' 
While  Odo  was  thus  devoted  to  secular 
affairs,  and  so  far  forgetful  of  his  sacred 
calling  that  he  had  a  son  (named  John),  he 
was  nevertheless  a  liberal  patron  of  religion 
and  learning.  He  endowed  his  own  church 
at  Bayeux  with  much  wealth,  and  rebuilt 
the  cathedral :  the  lower  part  of  the  western 
towers  and  the  crypt  are  relics  of  his  work. 
He  established  monks  in  the  church  of  St. 
Vigor  at  Bayeux,  but  afterwards  in  1096 
bestowed  his  foundation,  as  a  cell,  on  the 
abbey  of  Dijon  (Charter  ap.  MIGNE,  civ. 


475-6).  Guibert  describes  a  curious  instance 
of  Odo's  zeal  for  sacred  relics  (De  Sancto- 
rum Pignoribus,  i.  3).  Odo  also  had  in- 
structed, at  his  own  expense,  a  number  of 
scholars,  among  whom  were  Thomas,  arch- 
bishop of  York,  and  h  is  brot  her  Samson,  bishop 
of  Worcester ;  and  Thurstan,  abbot  of  Glas- 
tonbury.  Another  dependent  of  Odo's  was 
Arnulf,  the  first  Latin  patriarch  of  Jerusa- 
lem, who  accompanied  the  Bishop  of  Bayeux 
on  his  departure  from  Normandy  in  1096, 
and  owed  his  subsequent  promotion  to  the 
wealth  bequeathed  him  by  his  patron  (  GUI- 
BERT  OF  NOGENT,  Gesta  Dei  per  Francos, 
viii.  1).  It  is  possible  that,  among  Odo's 
benefactions  to  his  cathedral,  we  must  in- 
clude the  famous  Bayeux  tapestry,  which 
was  perhaps  executed  for  him  by  English 
artists  (FREEMAN,  Norman  Conquest,  iii. 
562-572). 

When  Ordericus  wrote,  Odo's  son  John 
was  living  at  the  court  of  Henry  I.  John 
was  perhaps  the  father  of  Robert  '  nepos 
episcopi,'  who  married  the  heiress  of  Wil- 
liam du  Hommet,  and  by  her  left  a  son, 
Richard  de  Humez,  who  became  hereditary 
constable  of  Normandy  (STAPLETON,  Hot. 
Scacc.  Norm.  ii.  pp.  clxxxii-clxxxiv). 

[Ordericus  Vitalis  (Soc.  de  1'Hist.  de  France)  ; 
Will,  of  Poitiers  and  Will,  of  Jumieges  in 
Duchesne's  Historiae  Normannorum  Scriptores ; 
English  Chronicle;  William  of  Malmesbury's 
Gesta  Regum  and  Gesta  Pontificum,  Symeon 
Dunelmensis,  Liber  de  Hyda,  Henry  of  Hunting- 
don, pp.  207,211,  214-15,  Memorials  of  St. 
Dunstan,  pp.  144,  153,  238  (these  six  in  the 
Rolls  Ser.);  Flor.  Wig.  (English  Hist.  Soc.); 
Guibert  of  Nogent's  Gesta  Dei  per  Francos,  vii. 
15,  and  viii.  1,  and  De  Sanctorum  Pignoribus,i.  3, 
ap.  Migne's  Patrologia,  p.  clvi ;  Waco's  Roman  de 
Rou, ed.  Andresen,  and  transl.  Taylor;  Wilkins's 
Concilia,  i.  323-4 ;  Wharton's  Anglia  Sacra,  i. 
334-9;  Gallia  Christiana,  xi.  353-60;  Free- 
man's Norman  Conquest,  and  William  Rufus.] 

C.  L.  K. 

ODO  OF  CANTERBURY  (d.  1200),  abbot  of 
Battle,  also  called  ODO  CANTIANTIS,  was  pro- 
bably a  native  of  Kent,  and  became  a  monk 
at  Christchurch,  Canterbury.  His  brother 
Adam  was  a  Cistercian  monk  at  Igny ;  among 
his  kinsmen  were  Ralph,  another  Cistercian 
of  Igny,  and  John,  chaplain  of  Harietsham, 
Sussex  (Mat.  Hist.  Becket,  ii.  p.  xlix;  Chron. 
de  Bello,  pp.  167, 173).  The  first  notices  of 
him  occur  in  the  '  Entheticus '  of  John  of 
Salisbury,  which  was  composed  some  time 
before  1159.  John  was  resident  at  the  court 
of  Canterbury  from  1150  to  1164,  and  so  may 
naturally  have  made  Odo's  acquaintance ;  in 
the '  Entheticus '  he  has  several  lines  referring 
to  Odo : 


Odo 


427 


Odo 


Odo  libris  totus  incumbit,  sed  tamen  illis, 
Qui  Christum  redolent,  gratia  major  inest, 
11.  1675-82, 

and  in  the '  Policraticus '  (MiGNE,  Patrologia, 
cxcix.  382),  which  was  finished  before  Sep- 
tember 1159,  John  writes : 

Si  potes,  Odoni  studeas  donare  salutem : 
Accipiatque  Brito  te  veniente  crucem. 

In  1163  Odo  was  sub-prior  of  Christchurch, 
and  was  sent  by  Archbishop  Thomas  to 
the  pope  to  represent  him  as  his  proctor 
in  the  dispute  with  the  Archbishop  of  York 
as  to  the  bearing  of  the  cross  by  the  latter 
in  the  southern  province  {Mat.  Hist.  Becket, 
v.  45).  In  1166  the  convent  was  ordered  to 
appeal  against  the  archbishop,  and  in  1167 
Odo  applied  to  Richard  of  Ilchester  for  help 
(FoLiox,  Epist.  422,  ap.  Migne).  Odo  pro- 
bably became  prior  in  the  same  year,  during 
which  John  of  Salisbury  wrote  to  him  in 
this  capacity  to  ask  his  assistance  for  the 
archbishop.  He  was  appointed  without  the 
archbishop's  assent,  and  in  May  1169  with- 
drew from  Christ  Church.  He  is  said  to 
have  vacillated  between  the  king  and  the 
archbishop  (Mat.  Hist.  Becket,  i.  542,  vi.  331, 
iii.  89).  But  for  some  unknown  reason  he 
had  incurred  the  pope's  displeasure,  and  was 
accused  of  neglecting  the  papal  prohibition  of 
the  young  king's  coronation,  and  with  being 
an  accomplice  in  Becket's  death  (Spicilegium 
Liberianum,  p.  610).  After  the  martyrdom 
of  Thomas,  Odo  naturally  took  a  more  pro- 
nounced position  on  the  ecclesiastical  side. 
On  21  Dec.  1171  he  secured  the  reconciliation 
of  Christchurch,  in  consequence  of  the  arch- 
bishop's murder  within  its  walls.  The  follow- 
ing year  Odo  and  his  monks  were  occupied 
with  the  troubles  incidental  to  the  election  of 
a  successor  to  Thomas.  The  monks  were 
anxious  to  elect  Odo,  but,  according  to  Ger- 
vase  of  Canterbury  (i.  239-40), the  king  feared 
that  Odo  would  prove  too  inflexible  to  serve 
his  purposes.  This  was  at  Windsor,  on  1  Sept. 
1172.  Odo  refused  to  act  without  fresh  in- 
structions from  his  convent,  and  the  meeting 
was  adjourned  to  London  on  6  Oct.  In  No- 
vember Odo  and  the  monks  went  to  Henry 
in  Normandy.  Odo,  in  a  long  speech,  urged 
that  the  new  archbishop  ought  to  be  a  monk ; 
but  no  result  was  arrived  at,  and  a  further 
fruitless  meeting  was  held  in  February  1173. 
Odo  went  again  to  Henry  at  St.  Barbe  in 
Normandy  on  5  April,  and  was  received  by 
him  with  much  favour,  but  returned  to  Can- 
terbury on  15  April,  the  Sunday  after  Easter, 
with  the  matter  still  unsettled.  The  king 
now  ordered  the  monks  to  meet  the  bishops 
of  the  province  in  conference.  The  meeting 
was  held  in  May ;  the  monks  named  Odo  and 


Richard  of  Dover.  Gilbert  Foliot  [q.  v.lthe 
bishop  of  London,  as  spokesman  of  the 
bishops,  praised  Odo,  but  announced  that 
their  choice  fell  on  Richard  (d.  1184)  [q.  v.], 
and  Richard  was  formally  elected  on  3  June! 
Odo  and  the  convent  addressed  two  letters 
to  the  pope  in  Richard's  behalf  (MiGNE, 
Patroloyia,  cc.  cols.  1396,  1464). 

On  5  Sept.  1173  Christchurch  was  de- 
stroyed by  fire,  and  on  1  July  1175  Odo 
attended  a  council  at  Woodstock  to  obtain 
the  renewal  of  the  charters  on  the  model 
of  those  of  Battle.  For  this  purpose  the 
monks  of  Battle  were  summoned  to  be  pre- 
sent ;  their  abbey  had  been  without  a  head 
for  four  years,  and  the  monks,  impressed  by 
Odo,  chose  him  for  their  abbot.  At  first  Odo 
refused  the  position,  but  after  much  persua- 
sion yielded,  and  was  elected  abbot  of  Battle 
on  10  July.  St.  Thomas  was  alleged  to  have 
foretold  to  a  monk  of  Christchurch  Odo's  im- 
pending removal  (Mat.  Hist.  Becket,  i.  458). 
Odo  arrived  at  Battle  on  4  Aug. ;  he  refused 
to  accept  his  benediction  from  the  Bishop  of 
Chichester,  and,  with  the  king's  consent,  ob- 
tained it  from  Archbishop  Richard  on  Sunday, 
28  Sept.,  at  Mailing  (Chron.  de  Bella,  p.  161 ; 
RALPH  DE  DICETO,  i.  402).  In  the  following 
year  Odo  was  summoned  by  the  Cardinal  Hu- 
gutio  to  Westminster  to  answer  a  complaint 
of  Geoffrey  de  Laci  as  to  the  church  of  VVye. 
He  appealed  in  vain  for  assistance  to  Gerard 
Pucelle,  afterwards  bishop  of  Lichfield ;  to 
Bartholomew,  bishop  of  Exeter ;  and  John  of 
Salisbury.  But  at  last  Waleran,  the  future 
bishop  of  Rochester,  pleaded  Odo's  cause,  and, 
Gerard  now  supporting  him,  effected  a  com- 
promise. When  Archbishop  Richard  died  in 
1 184  the  monks  of  Canterbury  once  more  chose 
Odo  for  archbishop,  but  the  king  again  refused 
to  accept  him.  Baldwin  (d.  1 190)  [q.  v.],  who 
became  archbishop,  was  speedily  involved 
in  a  quarrel  with  his  monks.  On  13  Jan. 
1187  Odo  was  one  of  the  commissioners  ap- 
pointed by  Pope  Urban  III  to  remonstrate 
with  Baldwin,  and  on  1  March  was  directed 
to  execute  the  papal  mandate,  should  the  arch- 
bishop prove  contumacious.  As  Baldwin's 
answer  was  doubtful,  the  commissioners  con- 
tented themselves  with  rescinding  a  sentence 
already  pronounced  against  the  prior.  Urban 
on  9  May  rebuked  Odo  for  his  hikewarmness, 
and  sent  a  fresh  mandate.  Ranulph  de  Glan- 
ville,  however,  forbade  Odoto  act,  and  in  July 
the  monks  complained  to  Urban  that  Odo  and 
his  colleagues  were  afraid,  though  Odo  might 
be  trusted  if  he  were  given  express  orders 
what  to  do.  Odo's  concern  in  the  dispute 
now  ceased,  though  in  January  1188  the 
monks  appealed  to  him  for  his  assistance. 
Odo  was  present  at  the  coronation  of  Richard 


Odo 


428 


Odo 


on  3  Sept.  1189  (Gesta  Ricardi,  ii.  79).  In 
January  1192,  when  the  see  of  Canterbury 
was  once  more  vacant,  the  monks  appealed 
to  him  for  his  support  in  the  assertion  of 
their  rights  (Epp.  Cant.  357).  Odo  died  on 
20  Jan.  1200  (ib.  557,  Martilogium  Cantua- 
riense ;  but  the  Winchester  Annals — Ann. 
Mon.  ii.  73 — say  in  March).  He  was  buried 
in  Battle  Abbey,  where  Leland  ( Collectanea, 
iii.  68)  saw  his  tomb,  a  slab  of  black  Lydd 
marble. 

Odo  was  a  great  theologian,  prudent,  elo- 
quent, learned,  and  devout.  The  Battle 
chronicler  says  that,  although  he  was  strict 
in  life  and  conversation,  he  consorted  freely 
with  his  monks,  but  did  not  sleep  in  the 
common  dormitory,  because  he  suffered  from 
a  disorder  of  the  stomach  which  he  had  to 
doctor  privately.  He  further  praises  Odo 
for  his  humility  and  modesty,  and  for  his 
diligence  in  expounding  the  scriptures,  re- 
lating that  he  could  preach  alike  in  French, 
Latin,  and  English. 

There  is  some  uncertainty  as  to  the  writings 
to  be  ascribed  to  Odo,  owing  to  confusion 
with  other  writers  of  the  same  name,  as  Odo 
of  Cheriton  [q.  v.]  and  Odo  of  Murimund 
(d.  1161).  To  the  latter  only  a  treatise  on  the 
number  three  '  De  Analectis  Ternarii '  (now 
in  Cott.  MS.  Vesp.  B.  xxvi.)  can  with  any 
certainty  be  ascribed  (cf.  CHEVALIER).  The 
following  works — excluding  some  which  are 
certainly  not  his — are  attributed  to  Odo 
of  Canterbury :  1.  '  Expositio  super  Psalte- 
rium'  MS.  Balliol  College,  37.  2.  '  Expositio 
in  capita  primi  libri  Regum.'  Leland  says 
that  he  found  these  two  works  in  the  library 
at  Battle.  There  was  a  copy  of  the  latter 
work  at  Christchurch,  Canterbury,  and  the 
same  library  contained  Odo's  '  Expositiones 
super  Vetus  Testamentum  '  (EDWARDS,  Me- 
moirs of  Libraries,  i.  146,  194).  3.  '  Com- 
mentariiinPentateuchum,'  MS.  C.C.C.  Cam- 
bridge, 54,  formerly  at  Coggeshall  Abbey; 
the  same  work  is  ascribed  to  Odo  of  Muri- 
mund in  Bodleian  MS.  2323.  4.  '  Sermones 
LXXIX  in  Evangelia  Dominicalia.'  5. '  Ser- 
mones XXIX  breves  Vitse  ordinem  Domini 
Nostri  exhibentes.'  6.  '  Expositio  Passionis 
Domini  Nostri  Jesu  Christi  secundum  magis- 
trum  Odonem  ad  laudem  ipsius  qui  est  a  et  &>.' 
7.  '  Sermones  xxvii  super  Evangelia  Sanc- 
torum.' The  last  four  are  contained  in  Balliol 
College  MS.  38 ;  numbers  4  and  7  are  con- 
tained in  Bodleian  MS.  2319 ;  Arundel  MSS. 
231  and  370  contain  sermons  on  the  Sunday 
gospels  by  Odo,  John  of  Abbeville,  and  Roger 
of  Salisbury,  but  arranged  without  distinction 
of  authorship.  These  sermons  are  remark- 
able for  their  frequent  introduction  of  short 
stories  or  fables,  which  helps  to  explain  the 


confusion  with  Odo  of  Cheriton ;  but  they 
are  distinct  from  the  sermons  of  the  latter 
author  published  by  Matthew  Macherel  in 
1520,  and  also  from  his  '  Parabolse,'  with 
which  they  are  sometimes  confused.  8.  'Super 
Epistolas  Pauli.'  9.  '  De  moribus  Ecclesi- 
asticis.'  10.  '  Dicta  poetarum  concordantia 
cum  virtutibus  et  vitiis  moralibus ; '  MS. 
Gonville  and  Cains  College,  No.  378.  11.  'De 
Libro  Vitse.'  12.  '  De  onere  Philisthini.' 
13.  '  De  inventione  reliquarum  Milburgse' 
(see  LELAND,  Commentarii  de  Scriptoribus, 
pp.  211-12,  and  Collectanea,  iii.  5,  and  Acta 
Sanctorum,  Feb.  iii.  394-7).  14.  '  Epistolae/ 
Letters  from  Odo  to  his  brother  Adam  are 
given  in  Mabillon's  '  Vetera  Analecta,'  pp. 
477-8,  and  in  '  Materials  for  the  History  of 
Thomas  Becket,'  ii.  p.  xlix ;  letters  from  Odo 
to  the  Popes  Alexander  III  and  Urban  III 
are  given  in  Migne's  '  Patrologia,'  cc.  1396, 
1469,  and  'Epistoloe  Cantuarienses,'  No.  280. 
Schaarschmidt  (Johannes  Saresburiensis,  p. 
273)  thinks  Odo  of  Kent  was  not  the  '  master 
Odo'  to  whom  John  of  Salisbury  wrote  in 
1168  (Epistola,  284),  regretting  the  loss  of 
his  fellowship  through  his  own  exile,  and 
asking  his  opinion  on  some  points  of  theology. 
Oudin  was  mistaken  in  attributing  to  Odo  a 
treatise  on  the  miracles  of  St.  Thomas  (cf. 
Mat.  Hist.  Becket,  vol.  i.  p.  xxviii). 

[Materials  for  the  History  of  Thomas  Becket, 
Gervase  of  Canterbury,  Giraldus  Cambrensis, 
i.  144,  Annales  Monastic!,  i.  51,  73,  Epistolae 
Cantuarienses  (all  these  in  Bolls  Ser.);  Chronicon 
de  Bello  (Anglia  Christiana  Soc.);  Dugdale's 
Monasticon  Anglicanum,  iii.  235  ;  Leland's  Col- 
lectanea, iii.  68,  and  Comment,  de  Script.  Brit, 
pp.  210-12;  Oudin's  Scriptores  Eccles.  ii.  1478, 
1513 ;  Tanner's  Bibl.  Brit.-Hib.  p.  559  ;  Hardy's 
Descriptive  Cat.  of  British  Hist.  ii.  551-2  ;  Ber- 
nard's Catalogue  MBS.  Angliae ;  Wright's  Biogr. 
Brit.  Lit.  Anglo-Norman, pp.  224-6.  The  abbot 
of  Battle  told  Leland  that  there  was  a  life  of 
Odo  in  the  library,  but  it  does  not  seem  to  have 
survived.  The  writer  has  also  to  acknowledge 
some  assistance  from  Miss  M.  Bateson.l 

C.  L.  K. 

ODO  OF  CHERITON,  or,  less  familiarly, 
SHERSTON  (d.  1247),  fabulist  and  preacher, 
completed  his  sermons  on  the  Sunday  gos- 
pels, according  to  the  colophons  of  two 
manuscripts,  in  1219  (MEYER,  Romania, 
xiv.  390).  His  surname  appears  in  a  great 
variety  of  forms,  as  Ceritona,  Ciringtonia, 
Seritona,  Syrentona,  &c.,  giving  rise  to  much 
difference  of  opinion  as  to  his  actual  birth- 
place. The  presumption  in  favour  of  his 
identity  with  Odo  of  Canterbury  [q.  v.]  can- 
not be  substantiated  (but  cf.  WRIGHT,  Biogr. 
Brit.  Lit.  ii.  225-7;  MEYER,  xiv.  389). 
Seriton  is  doubtless  identical  with  Cheriton 


Odo 


429 


O'Dogherty 


in  Kent,  near  Folkestone :  and  the  legal 
records  of  the  early  thirteenth  century  con- 
tain more  than  one  reference  to  a  Magis- 
ter  Odo  at  that  place.  It  may  be  noted 
that  in  the  manuscripts  of  his  works  Odo  is 
always  entitled  magister,  except  in  Harleian 
MS.  5235,  where  he  is  called  '  Sanctus  Odo 
de  Ceritonia.'  In  1211-12  William  de  Cyrin- 
ton  was  '  fined  in  one  good  hautein  falcon,' 
that  his  son,  '  Magister  Odo,'  might  have 
the  custody  of  the  church  of  Cheriton  (Pipe 
Roll,  quoted  by  MADOX,  History  of  the  Ex- 
chequer, 2nd  ed.  i.  508).  This  William  de 
Cyrinton  had  received  a  grant  in  1205  of 
Delce  in  Rochester,  forfeited  by  Geoffrey  de 
Bosco  (Close Rolls,  ed.  Hardy,  i.  59  ;  MADOX, 
i.  428).  On  18  April  1233  '  Magister  Odo 
de  Cyriton '  paid  a  relief  on  succeeding  to 
the  estates  of  William,  his  father  (Excerpta 
e  Rot.  Fin.,  ed.  Roberts,  i.  240).  In  the 
British  Museum  (Harley  Charter  49.  B.  45) 
is  a  quitclaim  (1235-6)  by '  Magister  Odo  de 
Cyretona,  filius  Willelmi  de  Cyretona,'  of 
the  rent  of  a  shop  '  in  foro  Lond[oniensi] '  in 
the  parish  of  St.  Mary-le-Bow.  Odo's  seal 
is  appended,  bearing  the  figure  of  a  monk 
seated  at  a  desk  with  a  star  above  him  (per- 
haps representing  St.  Odo  of  Cluny,  as  his 
patron  saint).  The '  Inquisitio  post  mortem,' 
in  which  it  is  declared  that  Odo  died  seised 
of  the  manor  of  Delce,  and  that  Walran,  his 
brother,  was  next  heir,  is  dated  15  Oct.  1247 
(Inquis.  post  mortem,  i.  4 ;  Archeeologia  Can- 
tiana,  ii.  296). 

Bale  mentions  a  tradition  that  Odo  was  a 
Cistercian  (Cataloyus,  pt.  i.  1557,  p.  221), 
and  this  has  been  generally  accepted  by  sub- 
sequent writers,  though  Henriquez  has  not 
included  him  in  his  '  Menologium  Cister- 
tiense.'  His  writings  certainly  show  some 
partiality  towards  that  order  (  VOIGT,  Denk- 
maler  der  Thiersage,  No.  25  of  Quellen  und 
Forschungen,  p.  48);  but  he  can  hardly  have 
taken  the  vows  if  he  not  only  succeeded  to 
a  private  inheritance,  but  died  in  full  posses- 
sion of  it.  Bale  also  says  that  he  studied 
at  Paris ;  and  this  seems  probable  enough, 
though  no  conclusive  evidence  is  forth- 
coming. 

Like  other  preachers  of  his  time,  he  intro- 
duced into  his  sermons  a  large  number  of 
'  exempla,'  or  tales,  drawn  from  various 
sources  to  illustrate  his  arguments,  or  per- 
haps at  times  only  to  attract  the  atten- 
tion of  his  hearers.  But  his  sermons  are  dis- 
tinctively characterised  by  the  frequent  use 
of  stories  of  Reynard  the  Fox,  and  by  quaint 
extracts  from  the  bestiaries  and  from  older 
collections  of  fables.  Some  of  these  he 
formed  into  a  separate  collection,  to  which 
additions  were  subsequently  made.  A  pro- 


logue, '  Aperiam  in  parabolis  os  raeum,'  &c., 
was  prefixed,  and  the  collection  is  usually 
known  as  the  '  Parabolse,'  or  fables  of  Odo. 
It  exists  in  a  vast  number  of  manuscripts  of 
the  thirteenth  to  fifteenth  centuries  in  the 
libraries  of  England,  France,  Germany,  and 
other  countries  (see  HERVIETJX,  Fabulistes 
Latins,  i.  667  seq.)  The  '  Speculum  Lai- 
corum,'  attributed  to  John  Hoveden  [a.  v.], 
contains  many  extracts  from  Odo's  '  Jrara- 
bolse.'  The  latter  work  was  first  noticed  in 
detail  by  Douce,  '  Illustrations  of  Shake- 
speare,' 1807,  i.  255-7,  ii.  33-4, 343-7 ;  selec- 
tions were  afterwards  published  by  Grimm 
and  others  ;  but  the  first  attempt  at  a  com- 
plete edition  was  made  by  Oesterley, '  Jahr- 
liuch  fur  romanische  und  englische  Literatur,' 
1868,  ix.  121,  1871,  xii.  129.  A  much  fuller 
edition  has  since  been  brought  out  by  Her- 
vieux  in  his  monumental '  Fabulistes  Latins,' 
1884,  i.  644,  ii.  587  (cf.  Voigt's  article  in 
Denkmaler,  pp.  36-51,  113-38).  A  French 
version,  made  in  the  thirteenth  century, 
has  been  described  by  Meyer,  'Romania,' 
xiv.  381  ;  and  an  early  Spanish  version,  the 
'  Libro  de  los  Gatos,'  was  edited  by  Gayan- 
gos  in  Aribau's  '  Biblioteca  de  Autores  Es- 
panoles,'  vol.  Ii.  Several  of  the  tales  inserted 
in  the  English  version  of  the  '  Gesta  Roma- 
norum '  are  translations  from  Odo  (see  Eng- 
lish Gesta  Rom.,  ed.  Madden,  p.  xiv,  Rox- 
burghe  Club,  and  the  later  edition  published 
by  the  Early  English  Text  Society). 

Odo's  sermons  on  the  Sunday  gospels, 
which  were  completed  in  1219,  were  printed 
at  Paris  by  Matthew  Macherel  in  1520 
(OUDIN,  Script,  ii.  1624).  The  author,  how- 
ever, is  in  this  edition  designated  'Odo 
Cancellarius  Parisiensis,'  possibly  from  a 
confusion  with  Odon  de  Cnateauroux,  who 
was  chancellor  of  Paris  in  1238  (Hist.  Lift. 
xix.  228).  This  edition  appears  to  be  ex- 
tremely rare,  but  several  manuscripts  are 
extant  (METER,  xiv.  889-90).  Another  series 
1  of  sermons  on  the  Sunday  gospels  in  Arundel 
!  MS.  231  is  described  as  the  production  of 
i  Jean  d'Abbeville, Odo'  de  Cancia,'and  Roger 
of  Salisbury.  The  second  of  these  names  U 
undoubtedly  intended  for  Odo  of  Canterbury 
and  not  for  Odo  of  Cheriton. 

[Authorities  cited  above ;  materials  collected 
by  H.  L.  D.  Ward,  esq.,  for  the  Catalogue  of 
Romances  (cf.  Chevalier's  Repertoire,  1877-86).] 

J.  A.  H.-T. 

O'DOGHERTY,  SIR  CAHIR  (1587- 
!  1608),  lord  of  Inishowen,  born  in  1587,  was 
the  eldest  son  of  Sir  John  O'Dogherty.  He 
was  seized  by  Hugh  Roe  O'Donnell  [q.  v.] 
in  May  1600  as  a  pledge  for  his  father's 
loyalty  to  the  Irish  cause.  Sir  John 
O'Dogherty  died  on  27  Jan.  1601,  'being 


O'Dogherty 


430 


O'Dogherty 


fledd  from  his  owne  countrey  with  his  goods 
and  people,  a  man  that  in  shewe  seamed 
wonderfull  desireous  to  yeald  his  obedience 
to  the  Queene,  But  soe  as  bis  actions  did 
euer  argue  he  was  otherwise  minded.'  Cahir 
at  the  time  was  a  boy  of  thirteen  or  four- 
teen, and  O'Donnell,  in  accordance  with  the 
Irish  custom  that  preferred  the  uncle  to  the 
son,  who  was  a  minor,  caused  Cahir's  uncle, 
Phelim  Oge  O'Dogherty,  to  be  inaugurated 
chief  of  Inishowen.  The  exclusion  of  Cahir 
from  the  succession  gave  great  offence  to  his 
foster-parents,  Hugh  Boy  and  Phelim  Reagh 
MacDevitt,  who,  in  their  resentment,  made 
overtures  to  Sir  Henry  Docwra  [q.  v.]  The 
latter  was  finally  induced  to  support  Cahir 
against  his  uncle  by  a  promise  that  they 
would  undertake  to  serve  the  crown  against 
O'Donnell.  The  nephew's  succession  was 
confirmed  by  the  lord-deputy  and  council, 
and  Cahir,  having  been  taken  out  of  O'Don- 
nell's  hands,  was  established  by  Docwra  as 
lord  of  Inishowen. 

Under  Docwra's  supervision  Cahir  grew  up 
a  strong  and  comely  youth,  excelling  in  mili- 
tary exercises.  For  his  bravery  on  the  field 
of  Augher  he  was  knighted  by  M'ountjoy, 
and  in  1603  he  visited  London.  He  was 
favourably  received  at  court,  and  on  4  Sept. 
warrant  was  given  to  pass  him  a  patent  of 
all  the  lands  formerly  granted  by  Elizabeth 
to  his  father.  On  his  return  to  Ireland  he 
married  a  daughter  of  Lord  Gormanston, 
was  created  a  J.P.  and  an  alderman  of  the 
new  city  of  Derry.  After  the  flight  of  the 
northern  earls  in  September  1607,  he  was 
foreman  of  the  jury  that  found  them  guilty 
of  treasonable  practices.  So  long  as  Docwra 
remained  at  Derry  everything  went  well,  but 
in  1606  Docwra  surrendered  his  post  to  Sir 
George  Paulet  [q.  v.],  a  civilian  wholly  un- 
fitted by  temper  or  training  for  the  office. 
Sir  Cahir  was  soon  charged  by  Paulet  with 
meditating  treason.  He  protested  against 
Paulet's  insinuations  as  groundless,  but  re- 
paired at  once  to  Dublin.  Chichester,  think- 
ing him  not  altogether  'free from  ill-meaning,' 
obliged  him  to  enter  into  heavy  recognisances, 
and  to  find  two  sureties  for  his  good  behaviour 
(November  1607).  Early  in  the  follow- 
ing April  he  had  occasion  to  visit  Paulet  at 
Derry  about  the  sale  of  some  land  to  Sir 
Richard  Hansard.  During  the  transaction 
of  his  business,  Paulet,  for  some  unexplained 
reason,  struck  him,  and  he  at  once  took  coun- 
sel with  his  fosterers,  the  MacDevitts,  how 
to  avenge  the  insult. 

Acting  on  their  advice,  and  probably  at 
the  instigation  of  Sir  Niall  Garv  O'Donnell 
[q.  v.],  he  determined  to  attack  Derry.  With 
the  object  of  obtaining  arms  and  ammunition 


for  his  followers,  he,  on  19  April,  invited  Cap- 
tain Harte,  constable  of  Culmore  Castle,  and 
his  wife  to  an  entertainment  at  his  house  at 
Elagh.  After  supper  he  unfolded  his  pro- 
ject to  Captain  Harte,  but,  failing  to  seduce 
him  from  his  allegiance,  he  locked  him  up, 
and  so  worked  on  Mrs.  Harte's  fears  that  she 
consented  to  connive  at  his  design.  Starting 
at  midnight,  he  managed,  with  Mrs.  Harte's 
assistance,  to  surprise  Culmore,  and,  having 
placed  in  it  a  garrison  of  his  own  and  armed 
his  followers,  he  marched  directly  on  Derry. 
Arriving  there  in  the  early  hours  of  the 
morning,  while  the  inhabitants  were  still  in 
their  beds,  he  captured  the  town  without 
much  resistance.  The  place  was  sacked  and 
burnt,  and  the  citizens  and  garrison  put  to 
the  sword,  among  the  first  to  fall  being  the 
author  of  the  calamity,  Sir  George  Paulet. 
The  burning  of  Derry,  and  also  of  Bishop 
Montgomery's  fine  library,  consisting  of  two 
thousand  volumes,  is  particularly  ascribed 
to  the  MacDevitts,  who  are  still  locally  called 
'  Burnderrys.'  After  the  sack  of  Derry, 
O'Dogherty  made  an  unsuccessful  attack  on 
Lifford,  and  then  leaving  his  wife,  who  had  all 
along  opposed  him,  with  his  infant  daughter, 
his  sister,  and  the  wife  of  Bishop  Mont- 
gomery, in  his  castle  of  Burt,  he  marched 
into  Fanad  to  rally  his  forces.  A  letter 
written  by  him  at  this  time  to  O'Galla- 
gher,  chief  of  the  foster-family  of  O'Donnell 
(Cal.  State  Papers,  Ireland,  James  I,  vol.  iii. 
p.  xlix),  calling  on  him  for  assistance,  is 
specially  interesting  as  illustrating  the  rela- 
tions that  subsisted  among  the  minor  chiefs  of 
the  same  territory,  and  the  well-known 
institution  of  fosterage. 

When  the  news  of  the  disaster  reached 
Dublin,  Chichester  determined  to  make  war 
'  thick  and  short '  against  him,  and  at  once 
despatched  a  strong  force  into  the  north 
under  Marshal  Wingfield.  For  some  time 
O'Dogherty  avoided  an  engagement,  but  on 
Tuesday,  5  July  1608,  he  was  overtaken  at 
the  Rock  of  Doon,  near  Kilmacrenan,  by  a 
party  under  Sir  Francis  Rushe.  He  was 
shot  through  the  brain  at  the  first  encounter. 
His  head  was  struck  off  and  sent  to  Dublin, 
where  it  was  stuck  '  on  a  pole  on  the  east 
gate  of  the  city,  called  Newgate.' 

His  death,  according  to  Sir  Geoffrey  Fen- 
ton,  '  opened  the  way  for  a  universal  settle- 
ment of  Ulster.'  On  22  Feb.  1610  Chiches- 
ter obtained  a  grant  of  the  whole  district  of 
Inishowen,  with  the  exception  of  thirteen 
hundred  acres  reserved  for  the  better  main- 
tenance of  the  city  of  Londonderry  and  the 
fort  of  Culmore. 

By  his  wife  Mary,  daughter  of  Christo- 
pher, fourth  viscount  Gormanston,  who,  being 


O'Doherty 


a  lady  of  birth  and  breeding,  soon  came  to 
regret  her  marriage  with  him,  and  Avas  with 
difficulty  persuaded  to  live  with  him  '  for 
want  of  good  and  civil  company,'  O'Dogherty 
had  an  only  daughter.  His  two  brothers, 
John  and  Rory,  were  both  very  young,  and 
at  the  time  of  his  rebellion  were  residing 
with  their  foster-father  O'Rourke  in  Lei- 
trim.  Rory,  it  would  appear,  became  a  sol- 
dier, and  died  in  service  in  Belgium.  John 
married  Eliza,  daughter  of  Patrick  O'Cahan 
of  Derry,  and  died  in  1638.  Phelim  Reagh 
MacDevitt,  O'Dogherty's  foster-father,  was 
tried  at  Derry,  convicted,  and  executed. 
O'Dogherty  is  traditionally  said  to  have  been 
the  tallest  man  of  his  tribe.  On  the  stone 
lintel  of  the  door  of  the  square  tower  of  Bun- 
crana,  leading  to  the  lowest  part  of  the  build- 
ing, there  are  traces  of  a  rude  representation 
of  a  Spanish  hat  and  upright  plume,  which 
are  said  to  mark  his  stature.  It  is  popu- 
larly believed  that  he  was  starved  to  death 
in  this  very  dungeon,  and  that  the  skeleton 
seated  on  a  bank  depicted  in  the  arms  of  the 
city  of  Londonderry  refers  to  his  fate. 

[Docwra's  Narration,  ed.  O'Donovan,  in  Celtic 
Society's  Miscellany,  1849;  Russell  and  Pren- 
dergast's  Cal.  of  State  Papers,  Ireland,  James  I ; 
Annals  of  the  Four  Masters,  ed.  O'Donovan  ; 
O'Sullevan  Scare's  Historic  Catholieae  Iberniae 
Compendium  ;  Gerald  Geoghegan's  Notice  of  the 
Early  Settlement  of  Londonderry,  in  Kilkenny 
Archaeol.  Society's  Journal,  new  ser.  vols.  iv.  and 
v. ;  Erck's  Repertory  of  Patent  Rolls,  James  I ; 
Hill's  Plantation  of  Ulster ;  Montgomery  MSS. 
ed.  G.  Hill ;  Mehans's  Earls  of  Tyrone  and  Tyr- 
connel ;  Colby  and  Lure-em's  Memoir  of  Temple- 
more  Parish;  Newes  from  Lough-foyle,  in  Ire- 
land. Of  the  late  treacherous  Action  and 
Rebellion  of  Sir  Carey  Adougherty,  &c.,  London, 
1608;  Overthrow  of  an  Irish  rebell  in  a  late 
battaile,  or  the  Death  of  Sir  Carry  Adoughertio, 
&c.,  Dublin.  1608;  Stearne  MSS.  Trinity  Coll. 
Dublin,  F.  3.  1/5.]  R.  D. 


43 *  O'Doirnin 

when  he  exhibited,  under  the  name  of  Dogh- 
erty,  a  model  in  plaster  of  '  Gondoline,'  a 
subject  taken  from  Kirke  White's  poems, 
and  afterwards  executed  in  marble  for  Mr. 
R.  C.  L.  Bevan  the  banker.  In  1860  he 
sent  the  model  of  the  marble  statue  of '  Erin,' 
executed  for  the  Marquis  of  Downsliirv. 
It  was  engraved  by  T.  W.  Knight  for  the 
'  Art  Journal '  of  1861.  Both  in  1800  and 
1801,  when  he  sent  to  the  British  Institu- 
tion '  One  of  the  Surrey  Volunteers,'  his 
works  appeared  under  the  name  ofDoherty; 
but  in  1802  he  appears  to  have  adopted  that 
of  O'Doherty.  His  subsequent  works  in- 
cluded '  Alethe,'  a  marble  statuette  executed 
for  Mr.  Bevan,  and  exhibited  at  the  Royal 
Academy  in  1862,  and  some  portrait  busts 
exhibited  in  1863  and  1864.  About  three  years 
before  his  death  he  went  to  Rome  to  pursue 
his  studies  and  to  execute  a  commission,  the 
subject  of  which  was  to  be  '  The  Martyr.' 
His  early  death  in  February  1868,  in  the 
hospital  of  La  Charitfi  in  Berlin,  while  on 
a  visit  to  that  city,  ended  a  brief  career  of 
much  promise. 

[Art  Journal,  1861  p.  252,  1868  p.  73;  Exhi- 
bition Catalogues  of  the  Royal  Academy  and 
British  Institution  (Living  Artists),  1857-1864.] 

R.  E.  G. 

O'DOIRNIN,  PETER  (1682-1768),  Irish 
poet,  was  born  In  the  mountainous  district 
to  the  north-west  of  Cashel,  co.  Tipperary. 
Political  troubles  caused  him  to  leave  home 
and  to  settle  in  Ulster  at  Drumcree,  co. 
Armagh.  Here  he  wrote  a  poem  on  the 
ancient  divisions  of  Ireland,  which  led  to  his 
acquaintance  with  Arthur  Brownlow  of 
Lurgan  Clun  Brasil,  then  the  possessor 
of  the  '  Book  of  Armagh '  [see  MxcMoYRB, 
FLORENCE],  who  took  him  into  his  house  as 
a  tutor  for  his  children  and  an  instructor  to 
himself  in  Irish  literature.  A  political  dif- 
ference after  many  years  led  to  a  rupture  of 
this  friendship,  and  O'Doirnin  left  the  house. 
He  then  married  Rose  Toner,  and  settled  as 
a  schoolmaster  near  Forkhill,  co.  Armagh. 
Maurice  O'Gorman  had  a  school  there,  but 
O'Doirnin  drew  away  all  his  scholars,  and 
when  O'Gorman  closed  his  school  and  walked 
off  to  Dublin,  wrote  a  satire  upon  him.  which 
is  still  extant.  He  also  wrote  SSuirghe 
Pheadair  Ui  Dhoimin '  ('The  courtship  of 
Peter  O'Doirnin  '),  of  eight  twelvi-lim; 
stanzas,  printed  in  O'Daly's  'Poets  of  Mini- 


O'DOHERTY,      WILLIAM     JAMES 

(1835-1868),  sculptor,  was  born  in  Dublin 
in  1835.  He  studied  in  the  government 
school  of  design  attached  to  the  Royal  Dub- 
lin Society,  with  the  intention  of  becoming 
a  painter,  but  afterwards,  by  the  advice  of 
Constantino  Panormo,  A.R.H.A.,  who  was 
then  one  of  the  assistant  masters  in  that  in- 
stitution, he  turned  his  attention  to  model- 
ling, and  within  a  year  gained  the  prize  for 

his  model  of  '  The  Boy  and  the  Bird.'     On     ~ ,  f  ^  * 

the  death  of  Panormo  in  1852  he  entered  the  |  ster '  (p.  106).     He  implores  hu 
studio   of  Joseph   R.   Kirke,   R.H.A.,  and    with  him 'go  talamh  shil  mBnan    (<  to  th 
worked  there  until  1854,  when,  at  the  sug- 
gestion of  John  Edward  Jones  [q.  v.]  the 
sculptor,  he  came  to  London.     His  first  ap- 
pearance at  the  Royal  Academy  was  in  1857, 


'go  

land  of  the  race  of  Brian ')— i.e.  to  his  native 
province,  Munster.  A  manuscript  in  the 
Cambridge  University  Library  contains  two 
other  poems  by  him.  Some  of  his  poems 


O'Domhnuill 


432 


O'Donnell 


in  their  extant  versions  are  in  the  dialect  of 
Louth,  \vhich  he  may  have  adopted  from 
long  residence  in  the  district,  unless,  indeed, 
some  local  scribe,  and  not  the  author,  is 
responsible.  He  died  5  April  1768  at  Friars- 
town  in  the  townland  of  Shean,  near  Fork- 
hill,  co.  Armagh.  He  was  buried  near  the 
north-east  wall  of  the  churchyard  of  Urney, 
co.  Louth,  three  miles  north  of  Dundalk. 
The  parish  priest  of  Forkhill,  Father  Healy, 
had  so  great  a  respect  for  his  learning  and 
virtues  that  \vhen  dying  he  desired  to  be 
buried  in  O'Doirnin's  tomb,  and  this  wish 
was  carried  out. 

[O'Daly's  Poets  and  Poetry  of  Munster,  Dub- 
lin, 1849;  Works;  information  from  S.  II. 
O'Grady;  Reeves  MS.  in  Cambridge  University 
Library.]  N.  M. 

O'DOMHNUILL,  WILLIAM  (d.  1628), 
archbishop  of  Tuam.  [See  DANIEL.] 

ODONE,  WILLIAM  OF  (d.  1298),  arch- 
bishop of  Dublin.  [See  HOTHUM.] 

O'DONNEL,  JAMES  LOUIS  (1738- 
1811),  'the  Apostle  of  Newfoundland,'  was 
born  at  Knocklofty,  Tipperary,  in  1738.  At 
the  age  of  eighteen  he  left  Ireland  and  entered 
the  Franciscan  convent  of  St.  Isidore  at 
Rome.  He  was  afterwards  sent  to  Bohemia, 
and  was  ordained  priest  at  Prague  in  1770. 
In  1775  he  returned  to  Ireland  and  settled 
at  Waterford.  In  1779  he  was  appointed 
prior  of  the  Franciscan  house  there,  and  sub- 
sequently became  provincial  of  the  order  in 
Ireland. 

In  1784,  at  the  request  of  the  leading 
Newfoundland  merchants  and  their  agents 
at  Waterford,  O'Donnel  was  sent  out  to 
Newfoundland  as  prefect  and  vicar-apostolic. 
He  was  the  first  fully  accredited  Roman 
catholic  priest  who  had  appeared  in  the 
island.  He  obtained  permission  to  build 
churches  and  schools,  and  did  his  utmost  to 
diminish  sectarian  animosities. 

On  21  Sept.  1796  he  was  consecrated  at 
Quebec  titular  bishop  of  Thyatira,  and  on 
his  return  to  Newfoundland  made  his  first 
episcopal  visitation.  In  1801  he  published  a 
body  of  diocesan  statutes,  and  divided  the 
diocese  into  missions,  he  himself,  owing  to 
the  paucity  of  clergy,  being  obliged  to  act  as 
a  mission-priest.  During  succeeding  years 
he  used  his  influence  among  the  Roman 
catholics  to  check  disaffection  to  the  goA'ern- 
ment.  In  1800  O'Donnel  discovered  and  re- 
ported to  the  commandant,  Major-general 
Skerret,  a  projected  mutiny  among  the 
soldiers  of  the  Newfoundland  regiment 
stationed  at  St.  John's.  The  government 
Awarded  him  a  life  pension  of  50/.  for  his 


important  service  to  the  colony,  and  his 
position  in  Newfoundland  was  thenceforth 
equal  in  everything  but  name  to  that  of  the 
governor.  O'Donnel's  missionary  exertions 
wore  out  his  health,  and  in  1807  he  was 
obliged  to  resign  his  see  and  return  to 
Ireland. 

He  spent  his  last  years  at  Waterford, 
where  he  was  known  as  a  learned  and  elo- 
quent preacher,  and  died  there  on  15  April 
1811. 

[Gent.  Mag.  1811,  i.  497,  copied  in  Ryan's 
Biographia  Hibernica  ;  Hatton  and  Harvey's 
Newfoundland,  pp.  70,  84-5 ;  Appleton's  Cyclo- 
paedia of  American  Biography  (not  strictly 
accurate  in  details).]  G.  LE  G.  IST. 

O'DONNELL,  CALVAGH  (d.  1566), 
lord  of  Tyrconnel,  was  the  eldest  son  of 
Manus  O'Donnell  [q.  v.]  by  his  first  wife, 
Joan,  daughter  of  O'Reilly.  He  took  an 
active  part  with  his  father  in  the  wars  against 
the  O'Conors,  the  O'Cahans,andMacQuillins. 
It  is  not  easy  to  explain  the  reason  of  Cal- 
vagh's  subsequent  quarrel  with  his  father. 
Probably  jealousy  of  his  half-brother  Hugh's 
influence  was  the  principal  motive.  Anyhow, 
about  1547  he  tried  to  assert  his  claim  to  the 
leadership  of  the  clan,  but  without  imme- 
diate success ;  for  in  the  following  year  he  and 
his  ally,  O'Cahan,  were  defeated  by  Manus 
O'Donnell  at  Strath- bo-Fiaich,  near  Bally- 
bofey.  In  consequence  of  the  disorders  which 
their  rivalry  created,  O'Donnell  and  his  father 
were  summoned  to  Dublin  in  July  1549  by  the 
lord-deputy,  Sir  Edward  Bellingham,  and  a 
decision  given  on  the  whole  favourable  to  Cal- 
vagh,  to  whom  the  castle  of  Lifford,  the  main 
point  in  dispute,  was  assigned  ( Cal.  Carew 
MSS.  i.  220).  But  it  was  not  long  before  dis- 
turbances broke  out  afresh,  and,  after  an  in- 
effectual effort  on  the  part  of  St.  Leger  to  ar- 
range their  differences,  Calvagh  in  1554  went 
to  Scotland  to  claim  the  proffered  assistance 
of  James  MacDonnell  of  Isla,  elder  brother 
of  Sorley  Boy  MacDonnell  [q.  v.],  who  was 
anxious  to  form  an  alliance  against  the 
O'Neills  in  order  to  obtain  a  secure  footing 
on  the  coast  of  Antrim.  Returning  early  in 
the  following  year  with  a  large  body  of  red- 
shanks, he  overran  Tyrconnel,  captured  his 
father,  whom  he  placed  in  confinement,  and 
assumed  the  government  of  the  country.  His 
conduct  brought  him  into  collision  with  his 
brother  Hugh,  who  appealed  for  assistance 
to  Shane  O'Neill  [q.  v.]  Nothing  loth  of  an 
occasion  to  interefere,  and  in  the  hope  of 
asserting  his  supremacy  over  the  whole  of 
Ulster,  Shane  in  1557  assembled  a  large  army 
at  Carriglea,  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Stra- 
bane.  Here,  however,  he  was  surprised  and 
utterly  routed  by  Calvagh. 


O'Donnell 


433 


O'Donnell 


Finding  him  firmly  established  in  Tyrcon- 
nel,  the  government  acquiesced  in  his  usurpa- 
tion, and  on  12  March  1558  Mary  addressed 
letters  to  him,  promising,  on  his  good  be- 
haviour, to  reward  him'  of  our  lyberalytie 
accordyng  to  your  good  deserts.'  Meanwhile 
Shane,  foiled  in  his  intention  of  conquering 
Tyrconnel,  was  wreaking  his  vengeance  on 
his  unhappy  wife,  Margaret  O'Donnell, 
Calvagh's  sister,  and,  in  order  apparently  to 
punish  him  for  his  cruelty,  Calvagh  towards 
the  end  of  1560  enlisted  a  number  of  red- 
shanks. His  purpose  was  applauded  by 
government,  to  whom  Shane  was  becoming 
a  formidable  enemy,  and  an  offer  was  made 
to  him  in  April  1561  to  create  him  Earl  of 
Tyrconnel.  Affairs  were  in  this  position 
when,  on  14  May,  Calvagh  and  his  wife  were 
captured  by  O'Neill  at  the  monastery  of 
Klll-donnell,  close  to  Fort  Stewart,  near  the 
upper  end  of  Lough  Swilly.  It  has  been  sug- 
gested that  Calvagh  was  betrayed  by  his  wife 
out  of  a  supposed  passion  for  Shane  O'Neill 
(BAGWELL,  ii.  21)  ;  but  the  '  Four  Masters ' 
simply  say  that  '  some  of  the  Kinel-Con- 
nell  informed  O'Neill  that  Calvagh  was 
thus  situated  without  guard  or  protection,' 
and  their  statement  is  corroborated  by  the 
account  in  the  'Book  of  Howth'  (Cal. 
Carew  MSS.  iv.  204).  Calvagh  and  his  wife 
were  carried  off  by  O'Neill  into  Tyrone, 
the  former  to  be  kept  in  close  and  secret  j 
confinement,  the  latter  to  become  the  mis-  j 
tress  of  her  captor.  When  Sussex  invaded  ; 
Tyrone  in  June,  Calvagh  was  hurried  about  \ 
from  '  one  island  and  islet  to  another,  in 
the  wilds  and  recesses  of  Tyrone,'  to  avoid 
a  rescue.  Force  and  diplomacy  proved 
equally  unavailing  to  induce  O'Neill  to  sur- 
render him. 

Meanwhile  Calvagh  was  suffering  the  most 
excruciating  tortures.  He  had  to  wear  an 
iron  collar  round  his  neck  fastened  by  a 
short  chain  to  gyves  on  his  ankles,  so  that 
he  could  neither  stand  up  nor  lie  down. 
Finally,  about  the  beginning  of  1564,  O'Neill 
released  him  on  condition  that  he  surren- 
dered Lifford,  together  with  his  claims  to 
the  overlordship  of  Inishowen  and  paid  a 
considerable  ransom.  His  wife  was  to  re- 
main in  durance  till  ransomed  by  her  rela- 
tions, the  MacDonnells.  It  is  doubtful 
whether  Calvagh  had  any  intention  of  being 
bound  by  the  conditions  thus  extorted  from 
him.  His  followers  refused  to  surrender  Lif- 
ford, and  Shane,  who  had  managed  to  lay 
hold  of  his  son  Con  and  threatened  to  put 
him  to  death  for  his  father's  breach  of  faith, 
was  obliged  to  starve  them  into  submission. 

On  regaining  his  liberty,  Calvagh  proceeded 
to  Dublin  to  solicit  aid  from  the  government, 

VOL    XLI. 


but  met  with  a  cold  reception.  He  was 
reminded  that  no  O'Donnell  ever  came  to  Dub- 
lin to  do  the  state  service,  and  so  being  denied 
the  aid  he  sought, '  he  burst  out  into  such  a 
weeping  as  when  he  should  speak  he  could 
not,  but  was  fain  by  his  interpreter  to  pray 
license  to  weep,  and  so  went  his  way  without 
saying  anything.'  Shortly  after  wards,  though 
forbidden  to  leave  the  kingdom,  he  slipped 
over  to  England,  and  laid  his  grievances  be- 
fore Elizabeth  in  person.  He  reached  Lon- 
don in  a  state  of  great  destitution,  no  man,  as 
he  said,  being  willing  to  trust  him  one  meal's 
meat.  Hearing  the  story  of  his  sufferings 
from  his  own  lips,  Elizabeth  acknowledged 
that  she  was  not  '  without  compassion  for 
him  in  this  calamity,  specially  considering 
his  first  entry  thereto  was  by  taking  part 
against  Shane  when  lie  made  war  against 
our  good  subjects  there,'  and  ordered  the 
lord-justice,  Sir  Nicholas  Arnold,  to  make 
some  provision  for  him.  But  Calvagh  had 
no  confidence  in  Arnold's  impartiality,  and 
preferred  to  remain  in  England.  The  attempt 
to  govern  Ireland  by  conciliating  O'Neill 
ended  in  failure,  and,  with  the  appointment 
of  Sir  Henry  Sidney  in  the  summer  of  1565, 
Calvagh's  hopes  of  restoration  grew  brighter. 
He  returned  to  Ireland  with  Sidney  at  the 
beginning  of  the  following  year.  To  the  de- 
mand for  his  restoration,  O'Neill  roundly  de- 
clared that  he  should  never  come  into  his 
country  if  he  could  keep  him  out.  On  15  June 
1666  Sidney  issued  orders  to  restore  Calvagh, 
and  there  was  even  some  talk  of  creating  him 
Earl  of  Tyrconnel. 

In  September  Sidney,  accompanied  by  Cal- 
vagh, Kildare,  and'Maguire,  marched  north- 
wards through  Tyrone  into  Tyrconnel.  Done- 
gal, Ballyshannon,  Beleek,  Bundrowes,  and 
Sligo,  the  last  with  a  proviso  in  favour 
of  O'Conor  Sligo,  were  formally  handed  over 
to  Calvagh.  On  20  Oct.,  at  Ballyshannon, 
he  made  public  confession  of  his  obliga- 
tions to  the  queen,  acknowledged  her 
sovereignty,  promised  to  assist  at  hostings,  to 
attend  parliament,  to  hold  his  lands  from 
the  crown,  and  '  if  the  queen  should  here- 
after be  pleased  to  change  the  usages  or 
institutions  of  this  country,  and  to  reduce  it 
to  civil  order  and  obedience  to  her  laws  like 
the  English  parts  of  this  realm,'  to  render 
her  his  assistance  and  support.  '  By  this 
journey,'  wrote  Sidney,  '  your  majesty  hath 
recovered  to  your  obedience  a  country  of 
seventy  miles  in  length  and  forty-eight 
miles  in  breadth,  and  the  serviceof  1,000  men 
now  restored  to  O'Donnell,  and  so  united 
and  confirmed  in  love  towards  him  as  they 
be  ready  to  follow  him  whithersoever  he 
shall  lead  them.'  Calvagh,  however,  did  not 

TF 


O'Donnell 


434 


O'Donnell 


live  long  to  enjoy  his  restored  honours.  A  few 
days  later,  on  26  Oct.  1566,  as  he  was  riding 
towards  Derry,  to  the  assistance  of  Colonel 
Edward  Randolph  [q.  v.],  he  fell  from  his 
horse  in  a  fit.  But  before  he  died  he  called 
his  clansmen  round  him,  and  adjured  them 
to  continue  loyal  to  the  queen.  He  was 
buried  in  Donegal  Abbey,  and  his  son  Con 
being  still  O'Neill's  prisoner,  his  half-brother 
Hugh  was  immediately  inaugurated  O'Don- 
nell in  his  place.  The  Irish  annalists 
eulogise  him  as  '  a  lord  in  understanding 
and  personal  shape,  a  hero  in  valour  and 
prowess,  stern  and  fierce  towards  his 
enemies,  kind  and  benign  towards  his  friends ; 
he  Avas  so  celebrated  for  his  goodness  that 
any  good  act  of  his,  be  it  ever  so  great,  was 
never  a  matter  of  wonder  or  suspicion.' 

Calvagh  O'Donnell  married  Catherine  Mac- 
lean, formerly  the  wife  of  Archibald  Camp- 
bell, fourth  earl  of  Argyll.  She  was  con- 
sidered a  very  sober,  wise,  and  no  less  subtle 
woman,  '  beyng  not  unlernyd  in  the  Latyn 
ton£,  speakyth  good  French,  and  as  is  sayd 
some  lytell  Italyone.'  She  was  the  mother  of 
Con  O'Donnell,  Calvagh's  eldest  son,  who  was 
the  father  of  Niall  Gary  O'Donnell  [q.  v.] 
After  her  capture  by  Shane  O'Neill  in  1581, 
she  bore  him  several  children.  She  was 
brutally  ill-treated  by  him,  being  chained  by 
day  to  a  little  boy,  and  only  released  when 
required  to  amuse  her  master's  drunken 
leisure.  After  Shane's  death  she  probably 
found  shelter  with  her  kinsmen,  the  Mac- 
Donnells. 

[Cal.  State  Papers,  Irel.  ed.  Hamilton ;  Cal. 
Carew  MSS. ;  Annals  of  the  Four  Masters,  ed. 
O'Donovan ;  Bagwell's  Ireland  under  the  Tudors  ; 
Harl.  MS.  1425.]  K.  D. 

O'DONNELL,  DANIEL  (1666-1735), 
brigadier-general  in  the  Irish  brigade  in  the 
French  service,  belonged  to  the  family  of 
O'Domhnaill  or  O'Donnell  (generally  spelt  by 
them  O'Donell) ,  chiefs  in  Tyrconnel.  O'Don- 
nell was  a  descendant  of  Hugh  the  Dark  or 
Aedh  Dubh,  called '  the  Achilles  of  the  Gaels 
of  Erin,'  an  elder  brother  of  Manus  O'Donnell 
[q.  v.],  lord  of  Tyrconnel.  His  father,  Terence 
or  Turlough  O'Donnell,  and  his  mother,  Jo- 
hanna, also  an  O'Donnell,  were  both  of  the 
county  Donegal.  He  was  born  in  1666,  and 
was  appointed  a  captain  of  foot  in  King 
James's  army  7  Dec.  1688,  and  in  1689  was 
acting  colonel.  Passing  into  the  service  of 
France  after  the  treaty  of  Limerick,  he  could 
only  obtain  the  rank  of  captain  in  the  marine 
regiment  of  the  Irish  brigade.  This  regi- 
ment had  been  raised  in  Ireland  for  King 
James  in  1689,  and  was  commanded  by  Lord 
James  FitzJames,  grand  prior  of  England,  a 


natural  son  of  the  king  and  brother  of  the 
Duke  of  Berwick.  As  Lord  James  entered 
the  French  navy,  his  regiment  was  called  the 
'  Regiment  de  la  Marina.'  O'Donnell,  whose 
commission  Avas  dated  4  Feb.  169:2,  served 
with  this  regiment  on  the  coast  of  Normandy 
during  the  projected  invasion  of  England, 
which  was  averted  by  Russell's  victory  at 
La  Hogue,  and  afterwards  in  Germany  in 
the  campaigns  of  1693-5.  His  regiment  was 
reformed  in  that  of  Albemarle  in  1698,  and 
his  commission  as  captain  redated  27  April 
1698.  He  served  in  Germany  in  1701,  and 
afterwards  in  five  campaigns  in  Italy,  where 
he  was  present  at  Luzzara,  the  reduction  of 
Borgoforte,  Nago,  Arco,  Vercelli,  Ivrea, 
Verrua,  and  Chivasso,  and  the  battle  of  Cas- 
sano,  and  was  lieutenant-colonel  of  the  regi- 
ment at  the  siege  and  battle  of  Turin.  Trans- 
ferred to  the  Low  Countries  in  1707,  he  fought 
against  Marlborough  at  Oudenarde  in  1708, 
succeeded  Nicholas  FitzGerald  as  colonel  of 
a  regiment  7  Aug.  1708,  and  commanded  the 
regiment  of  O'Donnell  of  the  brigade  in  the 
campaigns  of  1709-12,  including  the  battle 
of  Malplaquet  and  the  defence  of  the  lines  of 
Arleux,  of  Denain,  Douai,  Bouchain,  and 
Quesnoy.  He  then  served  under  Marshal 
Villars  in  Germany,  at  the  sieges  of  Landau 
and  Freiberg,  and  the  forcing  of  General 
Vaubonne's  entrenchments,  which  led  to  the 
peace  of  Rastadt  between  Germany  and 
France  in  March  1714.  In  accordance  with 
an  order  of  6  Feb.  1715,  the  regiment  of 
O'Donnell  was  reformed,  one  half  being  trans- 
ferred to  Colonel  Francis  Lee's  regiment,  the 
other  half  to  that  of  Major-general  Mur- 
rough  O'Brien,  to  which  O'Donnell  was  at- 
tached as  a  '  reformed '  or  supplementary 
colonel.  He  became  a  brigadier-general  on 
1  Feb.  1719,  and  retired  to  St.  Germain-en- 
Laye,  where  he  died  without  issue  on  7  July 
1735. 

A  jewelled  casket  containing  a  Latin 
psalter  said  to  have  been  written  by  the  hand 
of  St.  Columba  [q.  v.],  and  known  as  the 
'  cathach  of  Columb-Cille,'  belonged  to  Bri- 
gadier O'Donnell,  and  was  regarded  by  him, 
in  accordance  with  its  traditional  history,  as 
a  talisman  of  victory  if  carried  into  battle  by 
any  of  the  Cinel  Conaill.  O'Donnell  placed 
it  in  a  silver  case  and  deposited  it  for  safety  in 
a  Belgian  monastery.  He  left  instructions  by 
will  that  it  was  to  be  given  up  to  whoever 
could  prove  himself  chief  of  the  O'Donnells. 
Through  an  Irish  abbot  it  was  restored  to  Sir 
Neale  O'Donnell,  bart.,  of  Newport  House, 
co.  Mayo,  during  the  present  century.  His 
son,  Sir  Richard  Annesley  O'Donnell,  fourth 
baronet,  entrusted  the  relic  to  the  Royal  Irish 
Academy,  in  whose  custody  it  still  remains. 


O'Donnell 


435 


O'Donnell 


[Dalton'sKing  James's  Army  Lists,  2nd  edit., 
Dublin,  1861;  O'Callaghan's  Irish  Brigades  in 
the  Service  of  France.  Glasgow,  1870;  Facsimiles 
of  National  MSS.  of  Ireland,  ed.  Gilbert.] 

H.  M.  C. 

O'DONNELL,  GODFREY  (d.  1258), 
Irish  chief,  was  son  of  Domhnall  Mor 
O'Donnell,  chief  of  the  Cinel  Conaill,  who 
died  in  1241,  and  was  son  of  Egneachan 
O'Donnell,  also  chief,  who  died  in  1207. 
When  his  brother,  Maelsheachlainn  O'Don- 
nell, was  killed  by  Maurice  FitzGerald  in 
1247,  Ruaidhri  O'Cannanain  was  made  chief 
of  the  Cinel  Conaill,  to  a  branch  of  which, 
senior  to  O'Donnell,  he  belonged ;  but  in 

1248  the    tribe    banished    him,  and  made 
Godfrey  (in  Irish  Goffraidh)  chief.  Ruaidhri 
O'Cannanain,    who    had    fled    to    Tyrone, 
brought  the  Cinel  Eoghain  against  him,  but 
they  were  defeated  and  Ruaidhri  slain.     In 

1249  Godfrey  ravaged  Lower  Connaught, 
and  in  1252  made  an  expedition  into  Tyrone. 
Brian  O'Neill  [q.  v.]  followed  his  retreat,  but 
was  beaten  off,  and  the  Cinel  Conaill  got 
home  with  their  plunder.  In  1256  he  marched 
into  Fermanagh,  and  thence  into  Breifne  Ui 
Ruairc,  now  the  co.  Leitrim,  and  brought 
back   spoil  and   hostages.      Maurice  Fitz- 
Gerald attacked  him   in   1257  at  Roscede 
near  Drumcliff,  co.  Sligo.    He  and  Maurice 
FitzGerald  fought  a  single  combat,  and  both 
were  wounded  severely.     The  English  were 
defeated,   and   driven  out   of  this  part   of 
Connaught.     On  the  march  back  to  Donegal 
he  destroyed  an  English  castle  at  Caeluisce, 
on  the  river  Erne.     O'Donnell  retired  to  the 
crannog,  or  artificial  fortified  island,  in  Lough 
Beathach   in   the   barony  of  Kilmacrenan. 
The  glen  in  which  the  lake  lies  has  steep 
cliffs  or  wooded  slopes  on  two  sides,  and  the 
ends,  though  more  open,  are  only  accessible 
through  a  difficult  country.     The  crannog 
was  one  of  the  last  in  regular  use  in  Ireland, 
and  was  a  fortress  till  the  reign  of  James  I. 
Even  in  the  last  century  the    island  was 
occasionally  used  as  a  place  of  refuge.    His  j 
wounds  kept  him  in  bed  for  a  year,  and  at 
the  end  of  that   time  Brian  O'Neill   sent 
messengers  to  demand  hostages  in  token  of 
submission  from  him.    O'Donnell  summoned 
the  Cinel  Conaill,  and  ordered  himself  to  be 
carried  among  them  on  an  arach,  or  litter, 
and  set  off  to  fight  O'Neill.  The  Cinel  Conaill 
came  up  with  the  Cinel  Eoghain  on  the  river 
Swilly,  near  the  present   town  of  Letter-  I 
kenny.     The  Cinel  Eoghain  were  defeated,  : 
and  O'Neill  retreated,  and  lost  many  pri-  [ 
soners  and  horses  and  property.     After  the  ! 
victory  Godfrey  O'Donnell  was  carried  on 
his  bier  into  Conwal,  close  to  Letterkenny, 
and  died  when  the  bier  was  put  down  m 


the  ^street,  exhausted  by  his  old  wounds. 
O'Neill  heard  of  his  death,  and  again  sent 
to  demand  hostages.  The  Cinel  Conaill  were 
deliberating  when  Domhnall  6g,  younger 
brother  of  Godfrey,  who  had  been  for  some 
time  in  Scotland,  came  up,  and  was  at  once 
elected  chief.  To  the  envoys  of  Brian 
O'Neill  he  replied  '  Go  mbiadh  a  domhan  fein 
ag  gach  fer '  ('  Every  man  ought  to  have  his 
own  world').  O'Neill  went  home,  and  the 
poets  compared  Domhnall's  advent  to  that 
of  Tuathal  Teachtmhar,  who  returned  from 
Scotland  after  the  massacre  of  the  Milesian 
chiefs  by  the  Aithech  Tuatha,  and  restored 
the  monarchy. 

[Annala  Rioghachta  Eireann.  ed.  O'Donovan, 
vol.  iii.  Dublin,  18ol  ;  Annals  of  Loch  Ce  (Rolls 
Ser.),  ed.  Hennessy,  vol.  i. ;  information  from 
the  late  Rev.  Anthony  Hastings  of  Kilmacrenan ; 
and  local  observation.]  N.  M. 

O'DONNELL,  HUGH  BALLDEARG 
(d.  1704),  Irish  soldier  of  fortune,  was  the 
son  of  John  O'Donnell,  a  Spanish  officer,  and 
of  Catherine  O'Rourke,  but  was  born  in  Ire- 
land. His  grandfather  was  Hugh  O'Donnell 
of  Ramelton,  who  died  in  1649,  after  taking 
an  active  part  in  the  proceedings  of  the 
catholic  confederation.  This  Hugh,  who  was 
known  as  'The  O'Donnell,'  was  grandson  of 
Calvagh  [q.  v.],  who  died,  the  undoubted  head 
of  theO'Donnells,  in  October  1566.  Calvagh's 
daughter  Mary  married  Shane  O'Neill  [q.  v.l 
and  his  eldest  son,  Con,  was  Hugh  of  Ramel- 
ton's  father.  The  chiefry  passed  in  Elizabeth's 
time  to  a  younger  branch,  who  acquired  the 
earldom  of  Tyrconnel  [see  O'DoxxELL,  RORY, 
first  EARL  OF  TYRCONNEL]  ;  and  Burke,  who 
had  such  information  as  the  Austrian  O'Don- 
nells  could  give,  supposes  that  Hugh  Albert, 
the  last  titular  earl,  who  died  childless  in 
1642,  made  Hugh  Balldearg  his  testamentary 
heir,  thus  restoring  the  headship  of  the  clan 
to  the  elder  line.  The  name  Balldearg,  which 
means  '  red  spot,'  is  derived  from  a  personal 
peculiarity  found  in  several  members  of  the 
family.  Burke  says  that  Conal  O'Donnell, 
who  was  made  lord-lieutenant  of  Donegal 
by  James  II  (Kixo,  State  of  the  Protestant*, 
App.  p.  8),  was  Hugh  Balldearg's  brother. 
Hugh  O'Donnell  himself  had  some  property 
in  Spain,  where  he  was  known  as  Count 
O'Donnell,  and  commanded  an  Irish  regi- 
ment there,  with  the  rank  of  brigadier.  In 
1689  he  was  refused  leave  to  go  to  Ireland, 
where  he  might  be  of  some  use  to  Louis  XIV, 
and  went  secretly  to  Lisbon,  where  he  pub- 
lished a  manifesto,  and  put  himself  in  com- 
munication with  the  trench  ambassador. 
He  reached  Cork  in  July  1690,  four  days  after 
the  battle  of  the  Boyne,  and  visited  the  fugi- 
tive king  on  board  ship  at  Kinsale  harbour. 

F  F2 


O'Donnell 


436 


O'Donnell 


James  recommended  him  to  Tyrconnel,  the 
Anglo-Irish  Talbot,  who  had  taken  the  title 
of  the  Celtic  O'Donnells.  Tyrconnel  gave  him 
a  commission  to  raise  five  thousand  men,  and 
as  many  more  as  possible.  By  the  magic  of  his 
name,  and  with  the  help  of  an  old  prophecy 
that  Ireland  should  be  saved  by  an  O'Donnell 
with  a  red  spot,  he  raised  ten  thousand  men 
in  Ulster  before  the  year  was  out,  and  told 
Avaux  that  he  could  easily  have  thirty  thou- 
sand if  arms  and  ammunition  were  provided 
(AvAtrx,  Negotiations,  p.  738).  He  granted 
commissions  to  some  of  the  leading  rapparees 
(STORY,  p.  67).  According  to  Melfort  (Ma- 
cariee  Excidium,  p.  469), '  the  very  friars  and 
some  of  the  bishops  had  taken  arms  to  follow 
him.'  But  jealousies  between  the  old  Anglo- 
Irish  catholics  of  the  Pale  and  the  old  Irish 
of  Ulster  were  nearly  as  rife  as  in  Owen 
Roe  O'Neill's  time,  and  O'Donnell's  com- 
plaints against  Tyrconnel  appear  to  have 
been  very  well  founded  (ib.  pp.  126-8).  In 
March  1690-1  many  of  his  men  had  dis- 
banded for  want  of  arms,  but  he  had  always 
a  few  hundreds  about  him,  and  during  the 
battle  of  Aughrim  on  12  July  he  occupied 
this  rabble  in  burning  the  town  of  Tuam  and 
the  archiepiscopal  palace  there.  He  made 
overtures  to  General  Godert  de  Ginkel  [q.  v.] 
at  the  same  time,  but  this  did  not  prevent  him 
from  pretending  to  relieve  Galway  from  the 
western  side.  Six  regiments  of  foot  and  four 
of  horse,  under  Hugh  Mackay  [q.  v.],  passed 
the  Corrib  at  Menlough  on  pontoons,  and 
O'Donnell  withdrew  into  Mayo,  plundering 
and  destroying.  In  September,  after  some 
further  feints,  he  openly  joined  the  William- 
ites  before  Sligo  with  one  thousand  men. 
Ginkel  only  half  trusted  him,  and  warned 
John  Michelborne  [q.  v.]  to  be  on  his  guard 
(Hist.  MSS.  Comm.  4th  Rep.  p.  323).  Lord 
Granard  nevertheless  gave  him  a  small  sepa- 
rate command  (D'Ai/roN,  Annals,  i.  278), 
and  he  certainly  contributed  to  the  fall  of 
Sligo.  O'Donnell  demanded  the  earldom  of 
Tyrconnell  and  2,000/.  for  expenses,  and 
complained  that  his  negotiations  with  Ginkel 
were  published  in  the  '  London  Gazette  '  of 
13  Aug. ;  but  Story  says  (p.  183)  t  those 
who  have  seen  Balldearg  will  believe  that 
it  was  partly  his  own  fault.'  On  7  Oct. 
O'Donnell  met  Ginkel  before  Limerick,  and 
terms  were  arranged ;  but  few  of  his  men 
followed  him  (Life  of  James,  ed.  Clarke, 
p.  464).  A  pension  of  500/.  a  year  was 
settled  on  him  for  life,  and  there  was  an  in- 
tention to  employ  him  in  Ireland,  but  this 
was  abandoned  in  deference  to  the  protestant 
interest  (Jacobite  Narrative,  ed.  Gilbert,  p. 
189). 
Irish  writers  generally  have  dealt  hardly 


with  O'Donnell's  memory,  but  Burke  offers 
such  defence  as  is  possible.  According  to 
this  account,  he  only  took  enough  from  Wil- 
liam III  to  compensate  him  for  the  loss  of 
his  military  rank  in  Spain,  and  he  after- 
wards fought  for  the  house  of  Austria  as  a 
volunteer  in  the  Netherlands  and  in  Italy. 
He  returned  to  Spain  in  1697,  was  reinstated 
in  the  army,  and  died  a  major-general  in 
1704. 

[Story's  Continuation  of  his  Impartial  Hist. 
of  Wars  in  Ireland ;  O'Kelly's  Macarise  Exci- 
dium,  PC!.  O'Callaghan  ;  Negotiations  de  M.  le 
Comte  d'Av<iux  en  Irlande,  containing  Balldearg 
O'Donnell's  interesting  memoir  on  Irish  races 
and  parties  ;  Life  of  James  II,  ed.  Clarke,  vol.  ii. ; 
London  Gazette,  March-October  1691  ;  Jacobite 
Narrative  of  Wars  in  Ireland,  ed.  Gilbert 
(known  to  Macaulay  as  Light  to  the  Blind) ; 
D'Alfon's  Annals  of  Boyle;  King's  State  of  the 
Protestants  under  James  II ;  Burke's  Dormant 
and  Extinct  Peerage,  ed.  1866 ;  Hardiman's 
Hist,  of  Galway;  Macaulay's  Hist,  of  England, 
ch.  xvi.  and  xvii.]  K.  B-L. 

O'DONNELL,  HUGH  ROE  (1571?- 
1602),  lord  of  Tyrconnel,  grandson  of  Manus 
O'Donnell  [q.  v.],  and  eldest  son  of  Sir  Hugh 
MacMan us  O'Donnell  and  IneenduvMacDon- 
nell,  daughter  of  James  MacDonnell,  lord  of 
the  Isles,  was  born  about  1571.  Rory  O'Don- 
nell [q.v.]  was  his  brother.  His  father,  Sir 
Hugh,  had  succeeded  to  the  lordship  of  Tyr- 
connel on  the  death  of  his  half-brother,  Cal- 
vagh  O'Donnell  [q.  v.],  in  1566,  but  his  right 
was  disputed  by  Calvagh's  illegitimate  son 
Hugh,  called  by  some  MacDeaganach,  or  the 
son  of  the  Deacon  O'Gallagher.  For  a  long 
time  past  there  had  existed  two  parties  in 
Tyrconnel — the  one  inclining  to  an  alliance 
with  the  English,  the  other  siding  with  the 
O'Neills.  The  accession  of  Sir  Hugh  was 
more  or  less  a  triumph  for  the  anti-English 
party  :  but  Sir  Hugh  was  a  wary  politician, 
and  tried  to  avoid  giving  oftence  to  either 
side.  By  doing  so  he  forfeited  the  confidence 
of  his  own  party  without  entirely  satisfying 
the  government.  Under  the  influence  of  his 
wife,  Ineenduv,  Sir  Hugh,  while  stoutly  pro- 
testing his  loyalty,  drifted  more  and  more  into 
opposition.  Sir  John  Perrot  [q.  v.],  who  dis- 
believed his  assertions  and  was  jealous  of  his 
alliance  with  the  Hebridean  Scots,  fearing 
complications  like  those  which  had  occurred 
in  Antrim,  placed  the  country  under  military 
control,  though  subsequently,  in  1586,  he  con- 
sented to  withdraw  the  garrison  on  Sir  Hugh 
agreeing  to  pay  a  composition  of  seven  hundred 
beeves.  Meanwhile  Hugh  Roe  O'Donnell  was 
rising  to  manhood  under  the  supervision  of  his 
foster-parent,  MacSuibhne  na  dTuath,  and  his 
party  were  filled  with  joy  at  the  prospect  of 


O'Donnell 


437 


O'Donnell 


the  realisation  of  an  ancient  prophecy,  which 
declared  that,  when  one  Hugh  should  suc- 
ceed another  Hugh  immediately  and  lawfully 
as  O'Donnell,  the  land  should  be  freed  from 
the  yoke  of  the  foreigner. 

Sir  Hugh  having  neglected  to  redeem  his 
promise  or  surrender  hostages  for  his  loyalty,  ' 
Perrot  in  September  1587  sent  a  vessel  laden  i 
with  wine  round  to  Lough  Swilly,  and  the  ' 
master  having  inveigled  Hugh  Roe  and  his  ! 
companions,  Daniel  MacSwiney  and  Hugh  ! 
O'Gallagher,  on  board,  under  pretence  of  hos-  j 
pitality,  shut  the  hatches  on  them  and  sailed 
back  to  Dublin.    They  were  immediately  in- 
carcerated in  Dublin  Castle.     Their  capture 
caused   an   immense   sensation,  and   Hugh 
Roe's  father-in-law,  the   Earl    of  Tyrone,  ' 
offered  1,000/.  for  his  release.     After  linger-  j 
ing  in  prison  for  more  than  three  years,  Hugh 
Roe  and  his  companions  managed  to  escape  | 
early  in  1591.     They  succeeded  in  reaching 
the  Wicklow  mountains;   but   Hugh  Roe, 
after  seeking  shelter  with  Phelim  OToole  at 
Castlekevin,  was  recaptured  and  carried  back 
to  Dublin.   This  time  extra  precautions  were 
taken   for  his   safe  custody ;    but,   though  : 
heavily  ironed,  he  was  able,  with  the  help  of  | 
a  file  and  a  long  silken  rope  secretly  conveyed  i 
to  him,  to  effect  his  escape  and  that  of  his 
fellow-prisoners,  Henry  and  Art  O'Neill,  the 
sons  of  Shane  O'Neill  [q.  v.],  on  Christmas- 
eve  1 591.   A  fter  two  days'  wandering  among 
the  mountains  and  exposure  to  intense  cold, 
they  were  discovered  by  friends  almost  within 
sight  of  Ballinacor.     Art  O'Neill  died  from 
the  effects  of  his  privations,  but  Hugh  re- 
vived sufficiently  to  be  removed  to  a  solitary 
house  in  the  woods  of  Glenmalure,  where  he 
was  affectionately  nursed. 

The  news  of  his  escape  was  soon  noised 
abroad,  and,  a  messenger  from  the  Earl  of 
Tyrone  arriving  to  escort  him  home,  he  passed 
the  Liffey  near  Dublin,  avoiding  Drogheda, 
and,  taking  the  high  road  through  Dundalk, 
reached  Dungannon  in  safety.  After  resting 
there  for  a  few  days  he  was  escorted  by  Hugh 
Maguire  [q.  v.]  to  Ballyshannon  on  the  con- 
fines of  his  own  country.  His  old  rival, 
Hugh  MacDeaganach,  was  no  longer  alive, 
having  been  murdered  at  the  instigation  of 
Ineenduv ;  but  the  country  was  torn  with 
dissensions  and  entirely  at  the  mercy  of  Tur- 
lough  Luineach  O'Neill  [q.  v.]  and  an  Eng-  j 
lish  garrison  at  Donegal  under  Captain  I 
Willis,  who  kept  Sir  Hugh  '  as  a  thrall  or 
vassal  to  be,  as  it  were,  a  guide  for  him  in  the  I 
country.'  "With  the  help  of  a  few  faithful 
followers,  Hugh  Roe  at  once  marched  to 
Donegal  and  expelled  Willis  and  his  soldiers. 
But  the  pain  in  his  feet,  which  had  been 
badly  frost-bitten  during  his  escape,  increas- 


ing, he  returned  to  Ballyshannon,  and,  by 
the  advice  of  his  physicians,  submitted  to 
have  his  great  toes  amputated.  The  operation 
afforded  him  relief,  but  it  was  many  months 
before  he  was  completely  cured.  As  soon  as 
he  was  able  to  leave  his  bed  he  summoned 
a  meeting  of  the  clan  to  Kilmacrenan  at 
the  beginning  of  May,  and,  his  father  having 
voluntarily  surrendered  the  chieftaincy  in 
his  favour,  he  was  inaugurated  O'Donnell 
with  the  customary  ceremonies,  though  not 
without  signs  of  dissatisfaction  on  the  part 
of  his  cousin,  Niall  Garv  O'Donnell  [q.  v.] 

Taking  advantage  of  the  occasion,  he  imme- 
diately invaded  the  territory  of  Turlough 
Luineach  O'Neill ;  but  fearing  lest  his  con- 
duct might  provoke  the  lord  deputy,  Sir  Wil- 
liam Fitwilliam  [q.  v.].  to  retaliatory  mea- 
sures, he  despatched  letters  to  the  state 
explaining  his  election  as  O'Donnell  and  his 
reasons  for  invading  Turlough  Luineach, 
offering,  if  the  deputy  would  lend  him  8001. 
or  900/.,  to  repair  to  him  in  person.  Fitz- 
william,  who  recognised  the  necessity  of  con- 
ciliating him,  reprimanded  him  for  his  arro- 
gant demeanour,  but  promised,  if  he  would 
meet  him  at  Dundalk  by  6  July,  to  pardon 
his  escape  and  lend  him  '2001.  It  is  not  likely 
that  O'Donnell's  offers  were  meant  seriously, 
but,  by  the  advice  of  the  Earl  of  Tyrone, 
who  was  anxious  to  improve  his  position  with 
the  government,  he  yielded  a  reluctant  con- 
sent, and  on  1  Aug.  arrived  at  Dundalk. 
'  And  the  next  day,  in  the  afternoon,  in  the 
church  there,  before  a  great  assembly,  deli- 
vered his  humble  submission,  making  great 
show  of  sorrow  for  his  misdemeanours  com- 
mitted, protesting  hereafter  to  hold  a  more 
dutiful  course  of  life,  and  very  willingly 
yielded  himself  to  be  sworn  to  perform  the 
several  parts  of  his  submission  and  cer- 
tain other  articles.'  His  submission  greatly 
strengthened  his  position  in  Tyrconnel,  and 
he  at  once  took  advantage  of  it  to  crush  his 
opponents,  particularly  Sir  John  O'Doghertv, 
father  of  Cahir  [q.  v.],  whom  he  placed  in 
confinement.  But  there  can  be  no  question 
that  his  submission  was  merely  a  ruse  to  gain 
time  in  which  to  perfect  measures  of  hostility 
to  the  government.  In  January  1593  in- 
formation reached  Fitzwilliam  that  emissaries 
from  the  pope  and  king  of  Spain,  chief  among 
whom  was  Edmund  Magauran  [q.v.l  titular 
primate  of  all  Ireland,  were  hospitably  enter- 
tained by  him,  and  from  letters  preserved  at 
Simancas  (O'CLERY,  p.  1)  it  is  beyond  dis- 
pute that  application  was  at  this  time  made 
by  him  and  Tyrone  to  Spain  for  assistance. 
In  March  he  wrest edBelleek  from  H  ugh  Duve 
O'Donnell,  and  shortly  afterwards  secured 
Bundroes,  thus  opening  for  himself  a  pas- 


O'Donnell 


438 


O'Donnell 


sage  into  Lower  Connaught,  over  which  he 
was  determined,  when  strong  enough,  to 
exercise  the  ancient  rights  of  his  clan.  Hugh 
Maguire  was  drawn  into  the  alliance,  and, 
at  O'Donnell's  instigation,  he  in  June  at- 
tacked and  defeated  Sir  Richard  Bingham  at 
Tulsk,  co.  Roscommon.  When  preparations 
were  made  to  punish  Maguire,  O'Donnell, 
instead  of  closing  the  fords  of  the  Erne 
against  him,  allowed  his  cattle  to  find 
refuge  in  Tyrconnel :  and,  as  Bingham  was 
credibly  informed,  spent  four  days  in  his  , 
company,  arranging  a  plan  of  defence.  '  *  As 
for  O'Donnell,'  remarks  his  biographer,  'it 
was  a  great  affliction  of  mind  and  soul  to  him 
that  the  English  should  go  back  as  they  had 
done.  But  yet,  as  they  did  not  attack  him, 
he  did  not  attack  them,  on  account  of  the 
unprepared  state  in  which  he  was,  and  he 
left  a  large  body  of  his  people  at  the  afore- 
said ford,  which  he  gave  for  Maguire  s  pro- 
tection, though  he  withdrew  himself  by  com- 
mand of  O'Neill,  for  there  were  messages 
between  them  secretly,  without  the  know- 
ledge of  the  English.'  But  after  the  capture 
of  Enniskillen  early  in  1594  he  refused  to  be 
bound  any  longer  by  Tyrone's  Fabian  tactics, 
and  in  June  sat  down  before  the  castle, 
vowing  not  to  leave  the  siege  before  he  had 
eaten  the  last  cow  in  his  country.  News  of 
the  arrival  of  a  body  of  Scottish  mercenaries 
under  Donald  Gorme  MacDonnell  and 
M'Leod  of  Arran  compelled  him  to  go  to 
Derry,  but  he  left  the  main  body  of  his  army 
under  Maguire.  During  his  absence  Sir 
Henry  Duke  and  the  garrison  of  Philipstown 
made  an  attempt  to  relieve  Ennfskillen,  but 
they  were  defeated  by  Maguire  with  great 
loss  at  the  battle  of  '  the  ford  of  the  biscuits.' 
The  castle  was  subsequently  relieved  by  Sir 
William  Russell  [q.  v.],  but  in  May  1595 
was  recaptured  by  Maguire. 

On  his  return  to  Tyrconnel,  O'Donnell,  in 
order  to  throw  dust  in  the  deputy's  eyes, 
offered  to  submit;  but  the  following  year, 
1595,  opened  \vith  a  marauding  expedition 
into  Connaught,  in  which,  it  is  said  by  his 
biographer,  O'Donnell  '  spared  no  one  over 
fifteen  years  of  age  who  could  not  speak 
Irish.'  In  April  he  invaded  the  Annaly,  in 
conjunction  with  Maguire  and  Tyrone's  bro- 
ther, Cormac  MacBaron O'Neill,  and  captured 
the  castle  of  Longford,  the  constable,  Chris- 
topher Brown,  who  was  held  to  ransom  at 
1201.,  his  wife,  and  two  thousand  head  of 
cattle.  The  governor  of  Sligo,  George  Bing- 
ham the  younger,  retaliated  by  destroying 
the  Carmelite  monastery  at  Rathmullen,  and 
plundering  Tory  Island.  But  on  his  return 
he  was  murdered  by  Ulick  Burke,  a  cousin 
of  the  Earl  of  Clanricarde,  who  handed  the 


castle  over  to  O'Donnell.  The  possession  of 
Sligo  was  a  great  acquisition,  and  laid  Con- 
naught  at  his  feet.  In  August  M'Leod  of 
Arran  returned  with  a  contingent  of  Scottish 
mercenaries,  and  O'Donnell  again  invaded 
Connaught.  He  successfully  withstood  a  de- 
termined attempt  on  the  part  of  Sir  Richard 
Bingham  to  recover  Sligo  Castle,  and,  in  order 
that  it  should  not  fall  into  Bingham's  hands, 
he  destroyed  it,  together  with  thirteen  other 
fortresses.  He  was  now  practically  master 
of  Connaught,  and,  having  interfered  to  pre- 
vent the  Burkes  submitting  to  Sir  William 
Russell,  he  set  up  a  Mac  William,  a  Mac- 
Dermot,  and  an  O'Conor  Sligo  of  his  own. 
Having  some  time  previously  repudiated  his- 
wife,  the  daughter  of  the  Earl  of  Tyrone,  he 
was  anxious,  probably  for  political  reasons, 
to  contract  an  alliance  with  the  Lady  Mar- 
garet Burke,  daughter  of  the  Earl  of  Clanri- 
carde, and,  in  order  to  avoid  her  forcible  ab- 
duction, the  young  lady  was  placed  under 
the  protection  of  a  merchant  of  Gal  way. 

Towards  the  close  of  the  year  O'Donnell 
and  Tyrone  consented  to  an  armistice,  and 
in  the  beginning  of  1596  commissioners 
Wallop  and  Gardiner  were  sent  to  Dundalk 
to  treat  for  peace.  But  O'Donnell,  though 
he  agreed  to  go  to  the  Narrow  Acre,  flatly 
refused  to  enter  Dundalk,  and  the  commis- 
sioners were  fain  to  treat  in  the  open  fields  a 
mile  outside  the  town.  Liberty  of  conscience, 
pardon  for  himself  and  his  followers,  recog- 
nition of  his  claims  in  Lower  Connaught  and 
Inishowen,  and  exemption  from  the  juris- 
diction of  a  sheriff,  were  the  only  terms  on 
which  he  would  treat,  and  these  not  being 
granted  he  returned  home,  strongly  urging 
Tyrone  to  put  an  end  to  the  cessation.  He 
was  confirmed  in  his  determination  by  the 
arrival  shortly  afterwards  of  a  messenger  from 
Spain,  bearing  a  letter  to  Tyrone.  There  can 
be  no  question  as  to  the  nature  of  the  reply 
sent  by  O'Donnell,  Tyrone,  O'Rourke,  and 
the  other  chiefs,  for  their  letters  are  extant 
(O'CLERY,  p.  Ixxviii),  but  at  the  time  they 
were  successful  in  deluding  the  government 
with  their  professions  of  loyalty.  Assured 
of  the  favour  of  Philip  II,  O'Donnell's  great 
object  was  to  postpone  an  open  rupture  till 
the  autumn,  when  assistance  from  Spain  was 
expected,  and  to  establish  his  authority  in 
Connaught  on  a  firm  basis.  With  this  object, 
he  and  Tyrone  proffered  their  assistance  to 
Sir  John  Norris  [q.  v.]  for  the  purpose  of 
restoring  order  in  Connaught,  and  in  June 
O'Donnell  actually  went  thither  for  the 
avowed  purpose  of  inducing  O'Rourke  (Brian 
Oge)  and  Mac  William  (Theobald  Burke)  to 
submit.  Nothing,  of  course,  came  of  his 
intervention,  and  Norris,  whose  belief  in 


O'Donnell 


439 


O'Donnell 


Tyrone's  loyalty  reached  infatuation,  per- 
sisted in  hoping  against  hope,  attributing  his 
failure  to  Russell's  bad  faith  in  detaining 
Philip's  letter  to  Tyrone.  At  the  end  of 
August  two  '  barks  of  adviso '  were  an- 
nounced to  have  arrived  at  Killybegs,  and 
O'Donnell,  Tyrone,  and  O'Rourke  at  once 
posted  thither.  Letters  signed  by  them 
addressed  to  the  king  of  Spain,  the  Infante, 
and  Don  Juan  d'Aquila,  were  betrayed  to  the 
government  by  Tyrone's  secretary,  Nott,  after 
which  further  dissimulation  was  impossible. 
Towards  the  end  of  the  year  Donough 
O'Conor  Sligo  was  restored ;  and  O'Donnell, 
after  vainly  trying  to  win  him  over  by  bribes 
and  threats,  again  invaded  Connaught  in 
January  1597.  Accompanied  by  Mac  Wil- 
liam (Theobald  Burke),  he  plundered  O'Conor 
Sligo's  adherents,  fired  Athenry,  and  harried 
the  country  to  the  very  gates  of  Galway,  re- 
turning to  Tyrconnel  laden  with  an  immense 
quantity  of  booty.  "With  the  exception  of 
Thomond  the  whole  province  lay  at  his 
mercy,  when  Sir  Conyers  Clifford  [q.  v.] 
arrived  in  February  to  vindicate  the  autho- 
rity of  the  crown.  Owing  to  the  smallness 
of  the  force  at  his  disposal,  Clifford  was  for 
some  time  compelled  to  act  mainly  on  the 
defensive ;  but,  with  his  assistance,  O'Conor 
Sligo  succeeded  in  March  in  establishing 
himself  in  Sligo,  and  in  forcing  O'Donnell 
to  retreat  across  the  Erne.  In  May  Theo- 
bald Burke  was  expelled  from  Mayo ;  and, 
stimulated  by  his  success,  Clifford  in  July 
made  an  attempt  to  capture  Ballyshannon. 
He  succeeded  in  crossing  the  Erne,  but  was 
repulsed  with  heavy  loss  by  O'Donnell  in 
the  neighbourhood  of  Ballyshaunon.  Re- 
lieved from  all  apprehension  on  the  side  of 
Connaught,  O'Donnell  marched  to  assist 
Tyrone  in  an  attack  on  the  new  fort  on  the 
Blackwater,  but  subsequently  consented  to 
a  cessation  of  hostilities.  On  the  renewal 
of  the  war  in  the  following  summer  he  again 
went  to  Tyrone's  assistance,  and  took  part  in 
the  memorable  defeat  of  Sir  Henry  Bagnal 
at  the  Yellow  Ford  on  14  Aug.  But  hearing 
that  Clifford  had  designs  on  Ballymote,  he 
marched  thither,  and,  having  forced  Mac- 
Donough  to  surrender  it,  he  fixed  his  resi- 
dence there  and  plundered  Connaught  and 
Thomond  at  his  pleasure.  But  his  main 
object  was  to  reduce  O'Conor  Sligo,  and  ac- 
cordingly, in  the  summer  of  1599,  he  be- 
sieged him  in  Collooney  Castle.  Essex  sent 
Clifford  to  O'Conor's  assistance ;  but  O'Don- 
nell, who  was  fully  informed  of  his  move- 
ments, despatched  a  strong  force  under 
O'Rourke  against  him.  While  crossing  the 
Curlews  Clifford  was  attacked  by  O'Rourke 
and  utterly  defeated.  O'Conor  Sligo  there- 


upon submitted,  and  his  example  was  fol- 
lowed by  Theobald- na-Long  (son  of  Richard  - 
of-the-Iron  Burke)  [see  MALBI,  SIR  NI- 
CHOLAS]. 

The  death  of  Hugh  Maguire  early  in  1600, 
and  the  question  of  the  appointment  of  his 
successor,  led  to  a  serious  difference  of  opinion 
between  O'Donnell  and  Tyrone,  the  former 
supporting  the  claims  of  Maguire's  brother 
Cuconnacht,  the  latter  those  of  his  son  Conor. 
In  the  end  O'Donnell  carried  the  day,  but 
not  without  giving  great  offence  to  Tyrone. 
In  May  Sir  Henry  Docwra  [q.  v.]  arrived 
in  Lough  Foyle,  and  succeeded  in  entrenching 
himself  at  Derry.  O'Donnell,  who  was  then 
at  Ballymote,  sent  his  cousin  Niall  Garv  to 
dislodge  him,  while  he  himself  went  on  a 
marauding  expedition  into  Thomond.  The 
summer  passed  away,  and  Docwra  continuing 
to  defy  Niall  Garv,  O'Donnell  marched 
against  him  in  September;  but  failing  to  draw 
him  from  his  entrenchments,  he  returned  to 
Ballymote,  and  was  already  preparing  for  a 
fresh  campaign  into  Thomond  when  he  was 
hastily  recalled  by  the  news  that  Niall  Garv 
had  gone  over  to  Docwra  and  that  Lifford 
had  fallen  into  his  hands.  After  several  de- 
termined but  unsuccessful  attempts  to  re- 
cover the  place,  O'Donnell  retired  across  the 
Finn  into  winter  quarters.  His  spirits  were 
somewhat  revived  by  the  arrival  shortly 
afterwards  from  Spain  of  Matthew  de  Oviedo 
with  a  considerable  supply  of  money  and 
arms,  which  he  shared  equally  with  Tyrone. 
But  his  policy  of  aggression  was  beginning 
to  bear  its  natural  fruit,  and  old  Ulick  Burke, 
earl  of  Clanricarde,  having  died  in  May  1601, 
his  successor,  Richard,  prepared  to  attack 
O'Donnell  in  his  own  country.  Ever  prone 
to  strike  the  first  blow,  O'Donnell  moved 
towards  Ballymote.  His  absence  afforded 
Niall  Garv  an  opportunity,  which  he  did  not 
neglect,  to  capture  Donegal  and  to  fortify  the 
abbey.  Recalled  by  this  fresh  disaster,  O'Don- 
nell was  still  engaged  in  l)esieging  the  place 
when  the  news  of  the  arrival  of  the  Spaniards 
in  Kinsale  Harbour  reached  him. 

Immediately  raisingthe  siege  andcollecting 
all  his  followers  together  at  Ballymote,  he 
moved  rapidly  southwards,  plundering  his 
enemies  by  the  way  and  successfully  evading 
Sir  George  Carew,  who  had  been  sent  to  in- 
tercept him.  Fixing  his  camp  ntBandon,  he 
was  joined  there  at  the  end  of  November  by 
Tyrone,  when  the  two  chiefs  moved  to  Bel- 
goly,  intercepting  all  communications  be- 
tween the  English  investing  Kinsale  and  the 
surrounding  country.  Both  seem  to  have 
been  agreed  as  to  the  policy  of  starving  out  tin- 
English  ;  but  the  impatience,  or  perhaps  the 
privations,  of  the  Spanish  commander  urging 


O'Donnell 


440 


O'Donnell 


them  to  take  the  offensive,  it  was  agreed  to 
make  a  night  attack  on  the  besiegers.  The 
attack  proved  an  utter  fiasco.  O'Donnell's 
guide  lost  his  way  in  the  dark,  and  his  con- 
tingent never  came  into  action  at  all.  Re- 
treating in  disorder  to  Inishannon,  the  ques- 
tion of  renewing  the  attack  was  debated ;  but 
O'Donnell,  who  was  indignant  at  their  failure, 
and  particularly  with  the  behaviour  of  the 
Spanish  commander,  Don  Juan  d'Aquila,  so 
that '  he  did  not  sleep  or  rest  for  three  days  and 
three  nights  after,'  refused  to  listen  to  the 
proposal,  and  having  transferred  his  autho- 
thority  to  his  brother,  Rory  O'Donnell,  first 
earl  of  Tyrconnel  [q.v.],  he  sailed  from  Cas- 
tlehaven  to  Spain  on  6  Jan.  1602.  Arriving 
on  the  14th  at  Coruna,  where  he  was  hos- 
pitably entertained  by  the  Conde  deCaracena, 
he  proceeded  to  Zamora,  where  he  obtained 
an  audience  with  Philip  III.  He  was  gra- 
ciously received,  but  his  complaints  were  lis- 
tened to  coldly,  and  he  was  ordered  to  return 
to  Coruna.  The  summer  passed  away  and  no- 
thing was  done.  Sick  at  heart  with  hope  de- 
ferred, and  vexed  with  himself  for  having  gone 
on  such  a  fruitless  errand,  he  complained  bit- 
terly to  Philip  of  his  treatment.  The  disgrace 
of  D'Aquila  revived  his  credit,  and  in  August 
he  was  summoned  to  court.  But  he  was 
taken  seriously  ill  at  Simancas,  and,  after 
lingering  sixteen  days,  he  died  on  10  Sept. 
It  was  rumoured  that  he  met  his  death  by 
foul  play  ;  and  there  can  be  little  doubt  that 
he  was  poisoned  by  one  James  Blake  of 
Galway,  with  the  cognisance,  if  not  at  the 
instigation,  of  Sir  George  Carew  (cf.  Cal. 
Carew  MSS.  iv.  241,  350).  His  body  was 
removed  to  Valladolid,  and  '  buried  in  the 
chapter  of  the  monastery  of  St.  Francis  with 
great  honour  and  respect,  in  the  most  solemn 
manner  any  Gael  ever  before  had  been  in- 
terred.' 

[O'CIery's  Life  of  Hugh  Roe  O'Donnell,  trans- 
lated by  Edward  O'Reilly  and  edited  by  the 
Rev.  Denis  Murphy,  Dublin,  1893,  from  a  manu- 
script in  the  Royal  Irish  Academy,  is  the  prin- 
cipal and  best  authority.  Another  copy  of  the 
translation  is  in  the  British  Museum,  Egerton 
MS.  123.  Additional  sources  of  information  are: 
Cal.  State  Papers,  Ireland,  Eliz. ;  Cal.  Carew 
MSS. ;  Stafford's  Pacata  Hibernia  ;  Rawlinson's 
Life  of  Perrot;  Fynes  Moryson's  Itinerary; 
O'Sullivan-Beare's  Historiae  Catholicse  Hiberniae 
Compendium  ;  Annals  of  the  Four  Masters, 
chiefly  extracts  from  O'CIery's  Life ;  D ^cwra's 
Narration,  ed.  O'Donovan ;  O'Rorke's  Hist,  of 
Sligo  ;  Irish  Genealogies  in  Harl.  MS.  1425.] 

R.  D. 

O'DONNELL,  JOHN  FRANCIS  (1837- 
1874),  poet,  born  in  the  city  of  Limerick 
in  1837,  was  the  son  of  a  shopkeeper  in 


humble  position.  He  received  his  education 
in  the  primary  schools  of  the  Christian 
brothers,  and,  having  acquired  a  knowledge 
of  shorthand,  joined  as  a  reporter,  in  his  seven- 
teenth year,  the  staff  of  the  '  Munster  News,' 
a  bi-weekly  paper  published  in  Limerick.  At 
the  same  time  he  began  to  contribute  verse 
to  the  '  Nation,'  the  organ  of  the  Young 
Ireland  party,  and  continued  to  write  prose 
and  poetry  for  it  till  his  death,  twenty  years 
later.  After  spending  two  years  as  reporter 
on  the  'Munster  News,'  O'Donnell  was  ap- 
pointed sub-editor  on  the  '  Tipperary  Ex- 
aminer,' published  in  Clonmel;  and  in  1860 
he  proceeded  to  London,  where  he  obtained 
an  appointment  on  the  '  Universal  News,'  a 
weekly  organ  of  Roman  catholic  and  Irish 
nationalist  opinion.  He  also  contributed 
verse  to  '  Chambers's  Journal '  and  '  All 
the  Year  Round.'  Charles  Dickens,  who 
then  edited  the  latter  journal,  wrote  the 
young  poet  an  encouraging  letter,  and  showed 
kindly  interest  in  him. 

In  1862  O'Donnell  joined  in  Dublin  the 
editorial  staff  of  the  '  Nation,'  then  edited  by 
Mr.  A.  M.  Sullivan,  and  also  acted  as  editor 
of  '  Duffy's  Hibernian  Magazine,'  a  monthly 
publication ;  but,  with  the  restlessness  which 
characterised  him  through  life,  he  was  again 
in  London  in  1864  as  editor  of  the  '  Universal 
News,'  and  the  next  year  he  became  sub- 
editor of  the  '  Tablet,'  the  organ  of  the  Eng- 
lish Roman  catholics.  He  retained  the  post 
till  1868.  At  this  time  the  fenian  movement 
was  convulsing  the  country.  It  is  uncertain 
whether  or  no  O'Donnell  was  a  member  of 
the  revolutionary  organisation,  but  he  was 
one  of  its  ablest  propagandists  in  the  press. 
The  passionate  nationalism  of  the  numerous 
poems  which,  under  the  noms  de  guerre  of 
'  Caviare '  and  '  Monkton  West,'  he  contri- 
buted to  the  Dublin  national  journals  swelled 
the  ranks  of  the  Irish  republican  brotherhood. 
He  also  acted  as  London  correspondent  of  the 
'  Irish  People,'  the  organ  of  the  fenian  move- 
ment, which,  with  John  O'Leary  as  its  editor, 
was  founded  in  November  1863,  and  was  sup- 
pressed by  the  government  in  September 
1865. 

In  September  1873  O'Donnell  obtained 
an  appointment  in  the  London  office  of  the 
agent-general  of  New  Zealand.  He  died, 
after  a  brief  illness,  on  7  May  1874,  aged  37, 
and  was  buried  at  Kensal  Green,  London. 

Absorbed  in  journalism,  O'Donnell  found 
little  time  for  purely  literary  work.  '  The 
Emerald  Wreath,'  a  collection  of  his  prose 
and  verse,  published  in  Dublin  as  a  Christ- 
mas annual  in  1865,  and  '  Memories  of  the 
Irish  Franciscans,'  a  volume  of  verse  (1871), 
were  his  only  substantial  contributions  to 


O'Donnell 


441 


O'Donnell 


literature.  Under  the  auspices  of  the  South- 
wark  Irish  Literary  Society,  O'Donnell's 
poems  were  published  in  1891,  and  his  grave 
was  marked  by  a  Celtic  cross. 

[MacDonagh's  Irish  Graves  in  England, 
Dublin,  1888;  O'Donnell's  Poems,  with  an  In- 
troduction by  Richard  Dowling,  London,  1891.] 

AJ.  MAcD. 

O'DONNELL,  MANUS  (d.  1564),  lord 
of  Tyrconnel,  eldest  son  of  Hugh  Duv  O'Don- 
nell, had  apparently  attained  the  age  of  man- 
hood in  1510,  in  which  year  he  was  appointed 
deputy-governor  of  Tyrconnel  during  his 
father's  two  years'  absence  on  a  pilgrimage 
to  Rome.  He  established  a  reputation  for 
military  ability,  which  subsequent  events 
confirmed,  in  defending  his  country  from  the 
attacks  of  the  O'Neills.  His  father's  ill-health 
after  his  return  placed  the  government  of  the 
country  mainly  in  the  hands  of  Manus,  and 
he  took  an  active  personal  share  in  the  almost 
continuous  warfare  that  prevailed  with  his 
neighbours. 

Manus's  predominance  aroused  the  jealousy 
of  his  brothers,  who  raised  a  faction,  supported 
by  their  father  at  the  instigation  of  his  mis- 
tress, against  him.  The  quarrel  reached  a 
climax  in  1531.  At  Hugh  O'Donnell's  re- 
quest Maguire  interposed  in  the  interests  of 
peace,  and  attacked  Manus  and  his  sons,  who 
were  encamped  in  the  barony  of  Raphoe.  The 
attack  failed,  but  it  forced  Manus  into  an 
alliance  with  his  former  foe,  O'Neill,  with 
whose  assistance  he  succeeded  in  re-establish- 
ing his  authority  in  Tyrconnel.  His  alliance 
with  O'Neill  naturally  attracted  the  attention 
of  the  English  government,  and  Sir  William 
Skeffington  [q.  v.]  talked  of  the  necessity  of 
interfering,  but  nothing  was  done;  and  Hugh 
O'Donnell  having  died  on  5  July  1537,  Manus 
was  inaugurated,' ad  saxumjuxtaecclesiamde 
Kilmacrenan,' O'Donnell  in  his  place  'by  the 
successors  of  St.  Columbkille,  with  the  per- 
mission and  by  the  advice  of  the  nobles  of 
Tirconnell,  both  lay  and  ecclesiastical.' 
Shortly  after  his  inauguration  he  wrote  to 
Lord  Leonard  Grey  protesting  his  loyalty, 
explaining  his  quarrel  with  his  father,  and 
promising  to  do  '  as  good  service  as  ever  my 
fader  dud  to  the  uttermost  of  my  power.' 
But  his  marriage  early  in  the  next  year  with 
the  Lady  Eleanor  Fitzgerald,  sister  of '  Silken 
Thomas  '  and  widow  of  Mac  Carthy  Reagh, 
and  a  rumour  that  he  and  O'Neill  had  en- 
tered into  a  league  to  restore  the  young  heir 
to  the  earldom  of  Kildare,  did  not  give  much 
hope  that  he  would  redeem  his  promise. 
Grey  failed  to  induce  him  to  surrender  the 
young  Gerald,  and  in  August  1539  O'Donnell 
and  O'Neill  invaded  the  Pale  with  an  im- 
mense army.  The  two  chiefs  were  on  their 


way  homewards  laden  with  plunder,  and  had 
already  reached  Bellahoe,  the  ford  which 
separates  Meath  from  Monaghan,  when  they 
were  overtaken  and  utterly  routed  by  the 
lord-deputy.  In  the  following  year  O^Don- 
nell,  O'Neill,  and  O'Brien  combined  to  over- 
run the  Pale,  but  their  plot  was  frustrated 
by  the  vigilance  of  lord-justice  Sir  William 
Brereton;  and  O'Donnell,  who  about  this 
time  was  compelled  to  turn  his  arms  against 
his  own  brothers,  John  of  Lurg,  Egneghan, 
and  Donough,  of  whom  he  hanged  the  first, 
and  placed  the  latter  two  in  strict  confine- 
ment, found  plenty  to  occupy  his  attention 
at  home. 

In  July  1541  he  expressed  a  wish  to  'in- 
tercommon  '  with  the  lord-deputy,  Sir  An- 
thony St.  Leger,  whom  he  promised  to  meet 
at  the  beginning  of  August  in  O'Reilly's 
country  (co.  Cavan).  He  kept  his  promise, 
'  and,  after  long  communycacion  had  upon 
dyvers  articles,'  '  he  bothe  condescendid  and 
indentid  to  be  your  Majesties  true,  faythe- 
full  subjecte,'  promising  to  renounce  the  pri- 
macy and  authority  of  the  pope,  to  attend 
parliament,  to  receive  and  hold  his  lands 
from  the  king,  and  to  take  such  title  as  it 
pleased  the  king  to  confer  on  him.  He  ex- 
pressed a  wish  to  be  created  Earl  of  Sligo, 
evidently  in  the  hope  that,  if  his  wish  were 
granted,  it  would  establish  his  claim  to  the 
overlordship  of  lower  Connaught ;  for  ever 
since  his  inauguration  not  a  year  had  elapsed 
without  one,  and  sometimes  even  two  expe- 
ditions for  the  purpose  of  collecting  '  his  full 
tribute  and  hostages '  from  the  inhabitants 
(see  WOOD-MABTIX'S  Hist,  of  Sliyo,  i.  279, 
for  the  curious  conditions  on  which  he  granted 
the  '  bardachd '  or  wardenship  of  Sligo  to 
Teige,  son  of  Cathal  Oge  O'Conor.  O'Conor 
Sligo  had  acknowledged  his  suzerainty  in 
1539).  His  wish  was  not  gratified,  though 
Henry  offered  to  create  him  earl  of  Tyrcon- 
nel ;  but  his  submission  was  hailed  with 
satisfaction  by  the  government  as  the  begin- 
ning of  a  new  era  in  Ireland,  and  the  support 
which  he  rendered  St.  Leger  against  O'Neill 
in  the  autumn  of  1541  confirmed  the  good 
impression  he  had  created.  His  request  in 
May  1542  to  be  excused  from  personal  at- 
tendance on  parliament  'turn  ob  distanciam 
(haut  mediocrem)  locorum,  in  quibus  agitur 
parliamentum,  adde  iteresse  minime  tutura,' 
raised  some  doubts  as  to  his  loyalty.  Hut 
these  proved  unfounded.  He  sent  his  eldest 
son,  Calvagh  [q.  v.l,  to  excuse  his  conduct, 
and  to  promise  that  he  would  repair  as 
soon  as  possible  to  England.  Early  in  the 
following  year  rumours  were  current  of 
an  alliance  between  him  and  Argyll ;  and 
though  St.  Leger  was  inclined  to  place 


O'Donnell 


442 


O'Donnell 


some  credence  in  them,  he  thought  it  pru- 
dent, considering  the  prospect  of  a  war  with 
France  and  Scotland,  to  restrict  himself  to  a 
'  sharp  message '  requiring  '  to  knowe  his  re- 
solute mynde,  as  well  for  his  repaire  unto 
me,  as  also  for  the  delyvery  of  his  brethren, 
whiche  he  hathe  long  kepte  in  captyvite 
very  cruelly.'  But  O'Donnell  seems  to  have 
had  no  intention  of  behaving  disloyally.  He 
had  promised  to  be  in  Dublin  at  midsummer, 
and  he  kept  his  word,  somewhat  to  St. 
Leger's  astonishment.  He  brought  his 
brothers  Egneghan  and  Donough  in  chains 
with  him ;  but  his  appearance  was  very  grati- 
fying to  St.  Leger,  who  reported  him  to  be 
'  a  sober  man,  and  one  that  in  his  wordis 
moche  deasyreth  cy  vile  ordre,'who, '  yf  he  may 
be  assueredly  won  to  your  Majestie,  as  I 
think  he  is,  is  more  to  be  estemed  than  manny 
others  of  this  lande,  that  I  have  sene.'  At 
St.  Leger's  request,  he  consented  to  release 
his  brothers,  and  to  restore  them  to  their 
position  and  lands.  While  O'Donnell  was 
in  Dublin,  Tyrone  also  came  thither,  and  St. 
Leger  seized  the  opportunity  to  settle  cer- 
tain long-continued  disputes  between  them 
arising  out  of  the  lordship  of  Inishowen.  In 
order  to  strike  at  what  was  supposed  to  be  the 
real  cause  of  the  constant  quarrels  between 
'  them,  the  authority  of  each  was  confined  to 
the  strict  limits  of  their  respective  counties. 
And  at  the  same  time,  '  cum  indecorum  sit 
patre  vivente  filium  usurpare  castrum  suum,' 
Hugh  O'Donnell,  O'Donnell's  son  by  his 
wife,  Judith  O'Neill,  the  sister  of  Tyrone, 
was  ordered  to  surrender  the  castle  of  Lifford. 
This,  however,  Hugh,  at  the  instigation,  it 
was  supposed,  of  his  uncle,  refused  to  do ; 
but  in  1544  Manus,  with  the  assistance  of 
Calvagh  and  a  number  of  English  soldiers, 
wrested  the  castle  from  him. 

But  whether  it  was  that  Calvagh  was  dis- 
satisfied at  not  having  the  castle  of  Lifford 
assigned  to  him,  or  whether  he  was  jealous 
of  the  influence  of  Hugh,  he  subsequently  in 
1548  took  up  arms  against  his  father,  but, 
with  his  ally  O'Cahan,  was  defeated  by 
Manus  at  Strath-bo-Fiaich,  near  Ballybofey. 
Sir  Edward  Bellingham  in  1549,  and  St. 
Leger  in  1551,  interfered  in  the  interests  of 
peace  ;  but  in  1555  Manus  was  defeated  and 
taken  prisoner  by  Calvagh  at  Rossreagh.  He 
appears  to  have  been  placed  under  easy  re- 
straint, and  to  have  assisted  Calvagh  with 
his  advice  against  Shane  O'Neill  in  1557 ; 
but  his  confinement  offended  the  clan,  and, 
though  he  never  recovered  his  authority,  he 
was  shortly  afterwards  liberated.  He  died  at 
his  castle  of  Lifford,  at  a  very  advanced  age,  on 
9  Feb.  1563-4,  and  was  interred  in  the  monas- 
tery of  St.  Francis  at  Donegal.  According  to 


the  '  Four  Masters,'  he  was '  a  man  who  never 
suffered  the  chiefs  who  were  in  his  neighbour- 
hood or  vicinity  to  encroach  upon  any  of  his 
superabundant  possessions,  even  to  the  time 
of  his  decease  and  infirmity ;  a  fierce,  obdu- 
rate, wrathful,  and  combative  man  towards 
his  enemies  and  opponents,  until  he  had 
made  them  obedient  to  his  jurisdiction  ;  and 
a  mild,  friendly,  benign,  amicable,  bountiful, 
and  hospitable  man  towards  the  learned,  the 
destitute,  the  poets  and  ollavs,  towards  the 
orders  and  the  church,  as  is  evident  from  the 
old  people  and  historians ;  a  learned  man, 
skilled  in  many  arts,  gifted  with  a  profound 
intellect,  and  the  knowledge  of  every  science.' 

Manus  O'Donnell's  name  is  chiefly  asso- 
ciated with  the  castle  of  Portnatrynod  (Port- 
na-dtri-namhad),  situated  on  the  Tyrone  side 
of  the  river  Finn,  opposite  Lifford,  close  to 
the  present  town  of  Strabane.  The  castle, 
begun  and  completed  by  him  in  1527,  was 
intended  as  a  frontier  fortress  against  the  in1- 
roads  of  O'Neill,  who  unsuccessfully  tried 
to  prevent  its  erection.  It  was  there  that 
Manus  resided  during  the  lifetime  of  his 
father,  and  it  was  there  that,  under  his  direc- 
tion, was  completed  in  1532  the  compilation 
of  the  voluminous  'Life  of  St.  Columbkille,' 
in  Irish,  now  preserved  in  the  Bodleian 
Library  at  Oxford  (Rawlinson,  B.  514), 
of  which  a  Latin  abstract  by  Colgan  was 
published  at  Louvain  in  1647.  The  best  de- 
scription of  the  manuscript  is  in  Reeves's 
'  Adamnan's  Life  of  Columba.'  Coloured 
facsimiles  of  its  pages  are  given  in  the  '  His- 
torical Manuscripts  of  Ireland,'  vol.  ii.  The 
colophon  states  that  it  was  Manus  who  dic- 
tated it  out  of  his  own  mouth  with  great 
labour — in  love  and  friendship  for  his  illus- 
trious saint,  relative,  and  patron,  to  whom 
he  was  devotedly  attached. 

Manus  O'Donnell  married  either  four  or 
five  times.  His  first  wife  was  Joan,  daugh- 
ter of  O'Reilly,  by  whom  he  had  Calvagh, 
his  eldest  son  (noticed  separately),  and 
two  daughters — Rose,  who  was  married  to 
Niall  Conallagh  O'Neill,  and  Margaret,  mar- 
ried to  Shane  O'Neill  [q.  v.]  By  his  second 
wife,  Judith,  sister  of  Con  Bacach  O'Neill, 
earl  of  Tyrone,  he  had  three  sons:  Hugh,  the 
father  of  Hugh  Roe  and  Rory  O'Donnell 
(both  separately  noticed) ;  Cahir,  and  Manus. 
In  1538  he  married  Eleanor,  daughter  of 
Gerald,  earl  of  Kildare  and  widow  of  Mac 
Carthy  Reagh,  who  appears  to  have  left  him 
after  a  short  time.  A  fourth  wife,  Mar- 
garet, daughter  of  Angus  Mac  Donnell  of 
Isla,  is  recorded  to  have  died  on  19  Dec. 
1544.  A  fifth  wife,  but  in  what  order  is  un- 
certain, is  said  to  have  been  a  daughter  of 
Maguire  of  Fermanagh. 


O'Donnell 


443 


O'Donnell 


[State  Papers,  Ireland,  Henry  VIII,  printed  ; 
Ware's  Rerum  Hibernicarum  Annales;  Annals 
of  the  Four  Masters,  ed.  O'Donovan  ;  Cal.  Carew 
MSS.  ;  Annals  of  Loch  Ce,  ed.  Hennessy ;  Irish 
genealogies  in  Harl.  MS.  1425.]  JR.  D. 

O'DONNELL,  SiRNIALL  GARY  (1569- 
1626),  eldest  son  of  Con  O'Donnell,  who  died 
in  1583,  and  grandson  of  Calvngh  O'Donnell 
[q.  v.],  the  representative  of  the  main  branch 
of  the  Clann-Dalaigh,  was  born  in  1569. 
Calvagh  died  in  1566,  and  was  succeeded  by 
his  half-brother,  Sir  Hugh  O'Donnell,  who 
in  1592  surrendered  the  lordship  of  Tyrconnel 
in  favour  of  his  son  Hugh  Roe  O'Donnell  [q.v.], 
who  was  inaugurated  with  the  customary 
ceremonies  at  Kilmacrenan.  Niall,  who  was 
two  years  older  than  his  cousin,  took  his 
election  in  high  dudgeon,  and  though  he 
attended  the  O'Donnell's  first  hosting,  he  did 
so  '  not  through  love,  but  through  fear.'  To 
this  grievance  O'Donnell  shortly  afterwards 
added  another  by  depriving  him  of  the  castle 
of  Lifford,  which  he  had  inherited  from  his 
father.  Niall's  grievances  were  apparently 
well  known  to  government,  and  Sir  Henry 
Docwra  had  special  instructions  to  win  him 
over,  if  possible,  to  the  crown.  Accordingly, 
shortly  after  Docwra's  arrival  at  Derry  in  May 
1600,  he  opened  up  secret  communications 
with  Niall,  promising  him,  in  case  he  would 
do  service  against  O'Donnell,  to  obtain  for 
him  a  grant  of  the  whole  of  Tyrconnel. 
Niall  accepted  the  offer,  and  the  bargain  was 
ratified  by  the  lord-deputy  and  council.  So 
far  as  Niall  was  concerned  he  faithfully 
observed  the  conditions  of  the  treaty,  and,  by 
Docwra's  admission,  rendered  the  colony  at 
Derry  service  that  could  ill  have  been  spared. 
In  October  he  surprised  Lifford,  and  suc- 
ceeded in  holding  it  against  the  repeated 
efforts  of  O'Donnell  to  recapture  it.  From 
Lifford  he  and  his  brothers,  Hugh,  Donnell, 
and  Con,  made  several  raids  into  -Tyrone, 
and  captured  Newtown,  now  Newtown- 
Stewart,  from  the  O'Neills. 

But  Niall,  though  he  was  willing  to  pay 
the  price  demanded  from  him  for  the  lord- 
ship of  Tyrconnel,  was  unwilling  to  abate 
one  jot  of  the  ancient  claims  of  his  family. 
And  when  Cahir  O'Dogherty  [q.  v.]  was  in 
1601  established  by  Docwra  in  the  lordship  of 
Inishowen,  he  regarded  it  as  an  infringe- 
ment of  his  rights,  and  indignantly  resented 
Mountjoy's  decision  that  O'Dogherty  must 
and  should  be  exempted  from  his  dominion. 
Later  in  the  year  he  wrested  Donegal  Abbey 
from  Hugh  Roe  O'Donnell,  who  failed  to 
recapture  it.  Docwra  about  this  time  received 
'many  informations  against '  Niall,  but  con- 
fessed that  he  'behaued  himselfe  deserv- 
inglie,'  and  '  had  many  of  his  men  slaine  at 


the  siege  of  Kinsale,  and  amongst  the  rest  a 
brother  of  his  owne.'  After  the  defeat  of  the 
Spaniards  and  O'Donnell's  departure  into 
Spain,  Niall  began  to  insist  on  conditions 
that  were  deemed  by  the  government  incom- 
patible with  his  position  as  a  subject.  News 
of  his  insubordination  reached  Mount  joy, 
who  summoned  him  to  Dublin,  with  the  in- 
tention apparently  of  granting  him  a  patent 
of  Tyrconnel.  Instead,  however,  of  obeying 
Mountjoy's  summons,  Niall  caused  himself 
to  be  inaugurated  O'Donnell  at  Kilmacrenan 
with  the  customary  ceremonies.  By  Mount- 
joy's  orders  Docwra  arrested  him,  but  allowed 
him  to  go  to  Dublin  to  plead  his  cause  with 
the  viceroy.  Shortly  afterwards  he  was 
allowed  to  proceed  to  London  '  to  solicit 
pardon  for  his  offences,  and  to  obtain  the 
reward  for  his  service  and  aid  to  the  crown 
of  England.'  Rory  O'Donnell,  to  whom  Hugh 
Roe  O'Donnell  had  confided  the  interests  of 
his  clan  on  quitting  Ireland,  went  at  the 
same  time.  The  privy  council  decided  that 
Rory  should  be  made  Earl  of  Tyrconnel,  and 
that  Niall  should  enjoy  his  own  patrimonial 
inheritance,  viz.  that  tract  of  country  ex- 
tending from  Laght  in  the  parish  of  Donagh- 
more  to  Sheskin-loobanagh  in  the  parish  of 
Croaghonagh,  lying  on  both  sides  of  the  river 
Finn.  The  decision  was  naturally  unsatis- 
factory to  Niall,  and  he  shortly  afterwards 
complained  that  he  was  debarred  from  the 
full  enjoyment  of  the  lands  assigned  to  him. 
In  1605  Chichester  tried  without  success  to 
reconcile  their  differences.  But  in  March 
1607  Niall  served  with  Tyrconnel  against 
Cathbhar  Oge  O'Donnell,  and  was  reputed  to 
have  '  got  a  blow  in  the  service  which  he  will 
hardly  recover  of  long  time,  if  he  escape  with 
his  life.' 

The  flight  of  the  Earls  of  Tyrone  and  Tyr- 
connel in  September  1607  restored  X  tail's 
hopes.  But  his  claims  were  ignored,  and  he 
is  said  to  have  refused  the  title  of  Baron  of 
Lifford.  On  the  outbreak  of  the  rebellion  of 
Sir  Cahir  O'Dogherty  [q.v.]  in  April  1608,  he 
was  suspected  and  actually  charged  by  Ineen- 
duv  (Inghin  Dhubh),  the  "mother  of  his  rival 
O'Donnell,  with  having  instigated  it.  He 
protested  his  loyalty,  but  after  some  delay, 
on  a  protection  from  Treasurer  Ridgeway,  he 
and  his  two  brothers  surrendered  (14  June), 
and  were  committed,  on  a  charge  of  corre- 
sponding clandestinely  with  O'Dogherty, 
'  to  the  custody  of  the  captain  of  the  Tra- 
montane,' to  be  conveyed  to  Dublin.  The 
attorney-general,  Sir  John  Davies,  found 
little  d"ifficultv  in  accumulating  proof  of 
his  correspondence  with  O'Dogherty,  but 
the  question  arose  whether  his  guilt  had 
not  been  condoned  by  his  protection.  On 


O'Donnell 


444 


O'Donnell 


1  July  he  was  examined  before  the  council 
and  committed  to  the  castle.  lie  was  not 
brought  to  trial  till  June  1609,  and  in  the 
interval  he  and  his  brothers  made  several 
unsuccessful  attempts  to  escape  out  of  con- 
finement. On  Friday,  midsummer-eve,  he 
was  put  on  his  trial  in  the  king's  bench  ;  but 
it  being  understood  that  the  jurors,  after 
being  shut  up  for  three  days,  would  rather 
starve  than  find  him  guilty,  the  attorney- 
general,  'pretending  that  he  had  more  evi- 
dence to  give  for  the  king,  but  that  he  found 
the  jury  so  weak  with  long  fasting  that  they 
were  not  able  to  attend  the  service,'  dis- 
charged them  before  they  gave  their  verdict. 
Davis  suggested  trial  by  a  Middlesex  jury, 
as  in  the  case  of  Sir  Brian  O'Rourke  [q.  v.j 
Chichester  would  have  liberated  the  brothers 
on  giving  security,  and  also  Niall's  son  Nagh- 
tan,  '  a  boy  of  an  active  spirit,  and  yet  much 
inclined  to  his  book,'  who,  after  studying  at 
St.  John's  College,  Oxford,  at  the  charge  of 
the  Earl  of  Devonshire,  had  been  sent  to 
Trinity  College,  Dublin,  whence  he  was 
transferred  to  Dublin  Castle  (cf.  FOSTER, 
Alumni  Ozonienses,  where  he  is  called  Hec- 
tor, and  described  as  'gent,  ex  comitatu 
Turikonell).  However,  in  October  1609 
Isiall  and  his  son  were  sent  to  England  and 
committed  to  the  Tower,  where  the  former 
died  in  1626.  Naghtan,  too,  probably  died 
in  confinement. 

Xiall's  wife,  Nuala  O'Donnell,  sister  of 
Hugh  Roe  and  Rory  O'Donnell,  forsook  him 
when  he  joined  the  English  against  his  kins- 
men. She  accompanied  her  brother  Rory  and 
the  Earl  of  Tyrone  to  Rome  in  1607,  taking 
with  her  Grania  NiDonnell,  her  little  daugh- 
ter. A  poem  in  Irish  by  Owen  Roe  Mac  An 
Bhaird,  beginning  '  O  woman  who  seekest 
the  grave,'  written  on  seeing  her  weeping 
over  the  grave  of  her  brother  on  St.  Peter's 
Hill,  near  Rome,  is  preserved  in  Egerton  MS. 
Ill,  f.  92.  A  metrical  version  of  this  poem  by 
James  (Clarence)  Mangan  [q.  v.],  from  aliteral 
translation  furnished  him  by  Eugene  O'Curry 
[q.  v.],  was  published  in  the  '  Irish  Penny 
Journal,'  i.  123.  In  1613  she  appears  to  have 
been  residing  in  Brussels.  In  1617  Grania 
NiDonnell  came  to  England  to  petition  for 
some  provision  being  made  for  herself  out  of 
her  father's  estate.  Niall  Garv  is  described 
by  O'Clery,  the  biographer  of  Hugh  Roe 
O'Donnell,  as  '  a  violent  man,  hasty,  austere, 
since  he  was  spiteful,  vindictive,  with  the 
venom  of  a  serpent,  with  the  impetuosity  of 
a  lion.  He  was  a  hero  in  valour,  and  brave.' 
He  was  certainly  a  most  unfortunate  and 
badly  used  man. 

[Docwra's  Narration,  ed.  O'Donovan,  in  Celtic 
Society's  Miscellany,  1849;  O'Sullivan-Beare's 


Historiae  Catholicae  Hiberniae  Compendium ; 
O'Clery's  Life  of  Hugh  Eoe  O'Donnell,  ed. 
Murphy,  Dublin,  1893;  Annals  of  the  Four 
Masters,  ed.  O'Donovan  ;  Bagwell's  Ireland  under 
the  Tudors  ;  Cal.  State  Papers,  Ireland,  James  I ; 
Meehan's  Fate  and  Fortunes  of  the  Earls  of 
Tyrone  and  Tyrconnel ;  Erok's  Repertory  of 
Patent  Rolls,  James  I  ;  Hill's  MacDonnells  of 
Antrim  ;  Burke's  Landed  Gentry.]  R.  D. 

O'DONNELL,  RORY,  first  EARL  OF  TYR- 
CONNEL (1575-1608),  born  in  1575,  was  the 
second  son  of  Sir  Hugh  MacManus  O'Donnell, 
by  Ineenduv  (Inghin  Dhubh)  MacDonnell  of 
Cantire.  He  accompanied  his  elder  brother, 
Hugh  Roe  O'Donnell  [q.  v.],  to  Kinsale  in 
1601,  and  became  acting  chief  when  the  latter 
fled  to  Spain  after  the  defeat  on  24  Dec.  He 
led  the  clan  back  to  Connaught,  joined 
O'Connor  Sligo,  and  maintained  a  guerilla 
warfare,  of  which  the  '  Four  Masters '  give 
details,  until  December  1602,  when  both 
chiefs  submitted  to  Mountjoy  at  Athlone 
[see  BLOUNT,  CHARLES].  Hugh  Roe  had  just 
died  childless  in  Spain,  and  Rory  was  his 
natural  successor. 

Mountjoy  went  to  London  in  June  1603, 
accompanied  by  Hugh  O'Neill  [q.  v.],  Tyrone, 
and  O'Donnell,  and  the  party  narrowly  es- 
caped shipwreck  on  the  Skerries.  On  7  June 
the  two  Irish  chiefs  kissed  the  king's  hands 
at  Hampton  Court,  and  were  graciously  re- 
ceived. They  were  present  on  21  July  when 
Mountjoy  was  created  Earl  of  Devonshire. 
On  29  Sept.  O'Donnell  was  knighted  in  Christ- 
church,  Dublin,  by  Lord-deputy  Carey,  and 
was  at  the  same  time  created  Earl  of  Tyrcon- 
nel, with  remainder  to  his  brother  Cathbhar ; 
and  at  the  beginning  of  1604  he  had  a  grant 
of  the  greater  part  of  Donegal,  leaving  Inish- 
owen  to  O'Dogherty  and  the  fort  and  fishery 
of  Ballvshannon  to  the  crown.  SirNiall  Garv 
O'Donnell  [q.  v.],  who  had  done,  the  govern- 
ment some  service,  was  to  have  such  lands 
as  he  had  held  peaceably  in  Hugh  Roe's 
time.  All  this  was  done  by  Devonshire's  ad- 
vice ;  but  Sir  Henry  Docwra  [q.  v.]  thought 
that  Neill  Garv  had  been  badly  treated. 

The  new  earl  was  not  satisfied,  though 
shrewd  officials  thought  too  much  had  been 
done  for  him,  and  within  a  year  he  sent  a 
special  messenger  to  Cecil  to  complain  of  the 
manifold  injuries  offered  him.  The  situation 
was  strained ;  for  both  Tyrone  and  Tyrcon- 
nel aimed  at  tribal  independence,  while  the 
government  tried  to  make  them  the  means 
to  a  new  state  of  things.  In  June  1605,  by 
James's  special  order,  Tyrconnel  received  a 
commission  from  Sir  Arthur  Chichester 
[q.  v.],  who  was  now  lord  deputy,  as  the 
king's  lieutenant  in  Donegal  county ;  but 
with  the  proviso  that  martial  law  should  be 


O'Donnell 


445 


O'Donnell 


exercised  only  during  actual  war,  and  never 
over  his  majesty's  officers  and  soldiers.  Every 
effort  was  made  to  humour  Tyrconnel,  but 
he  continued  to  complain,  especially  of  Sir 
Niall  Garv,  to  whom  he  was  unwilling  to 
allow  a  foot  of  ground  (jReport  to  the  Privy 
Council,  30  Sept.  1C05).  Chichester  and  his 
council  visited  the  country,  and  granted  about 
thirteen  thousand  acres  near  Lifford  to  Sir 
Niall  Garv,  reserving  the  town  to  the  crown. 
This  reservation  then  became  a  grievance, 
though  the  earl  could  show  no  sufficient  title. 
On  30  Aug.  1606  two  Glasgow  mariners  re- 
ported that  Tyrconnell  had  been  inquiring 
as  to  whether  their  smack  could  go  to  Spain 
or  France,  but  Chichester  could  not  believe 
that  he  wanted  to  run  away. 

About   Christmas   1606  Tyrconnel,  who 
-had  married  the  late  Earl  of  Kildare's  daugh- 
ter,  was  at  Maynooth,  and  in  the  garden 
there  he  divulged  to  Richard,  lord  Delvin, 
and  afterwards  first  earl  of  Westmeath  [q.  v.], 
who  had  grievances  of  his  own,  apian  to  seize 
Dublin    Castle,   with  the  lord  deputy  and 
council  in  it.     '  Out  of  them,'  he  said,  '  I 
shall  have  my  lands  and  countries  as  I  de- 
sire it ; '  that  is,  as  they  were  held  by  Hugh  | 
Roe  O'Donnell.    Various  strong  places  were  j 
to  be  seized,  and  Tyrconnel  thought  Tyrone,  | 
Maguire,  and  many  others  would  join  him. 
So  far  as  Tyrconnel  was  concerned  there  can  i 
be  no  doubt,  that  he  had  been  in  correspon-  ! 
dence  with  Spain,  but  it  must  remain  uncertain 
whether  there  was  any  conspiracy.  Delvin's 
confession  to  Chichester  (State  Paper*,  Ire- 
land, 6  Nov.  1607)  is  quite  clear,  and  it  was 
never  shaken.   Tyrconnel  found  out  that  his 
rash  speeches  were  known,  and  perhaps  per- 
suaded Tyrone  that  he    would  be  arrested 
if  he  went  to  London  about  his  dispute  with 
Sir  Donnell  O'Cahan  [q.  v.]     On  4-14  Sept, 
they  both  sailed  from  Rathmullan,  in  Lough 
Swilly,  and  neither  ever  saw  Ireland  again. 
1  The  Flight  of  the  Earls,'  as  it  is  called,  is 
one  of  the  most  picturesque  episodes  in  Irish 
history.     The  immediate  cause  of  their  sud- 
den departure  may  be  doubtful,  but  not  the 
real  causes.      The  jurisdiction  of  an  Irish 
chief  was  incompatible  with  the  structure 
of  a  modern  state.    In  his  fatal  conversation 
with  Delvin,  Tyrconnel  said  he  had  heard 
that  the  government  meant  to  cut  off  the 
chiefs  in  detail,  under  pretence  of  executing 
the  recusancy  laws.  In  his  formal  statement 
of  grievances  sent  to  the  king  (State Papers, 
Ireland,  1607,  No.  501)  he  begins  by  say- 
ing  that   all   priests   in  his   country   were 
persecuted    by  the  royal  officers,  and   that 
Chichester  had  told  him  at  his  own  table 
that  he  had  better  go  to  church,  '  or  else  he 
should  be  forced  to  go  thereto.'     It  was  his 


evident  interest  to  put  religion  in  the  fore- 
ground, and  there  was  plenty  to  complain  of  j 
but  temporal  grievances  had  as  much,  or 
more,  to  do  with  his  flight.  Many  of  these 
were  real,  and  there  were  clearly  some  great 
rascals  in  the  service  of  government.  More- 
over, the  earl  was  over  head  and  ears  in  debt, 
and  his  country  deeply  mortgaged.  Nor  can 
we  wonder  at  this ;  for  the  Four  Masters, 
who  wrote  in  Donegal,  and  fancied  they 
were  praising  its  chief,  say  he  was  'a 
generous,  bounteous,  munificent,  and  truly 
hospitable  lord,  to  whom  the  patrimony  of 
his  ancestors  did  not  seem  anything  for  his 
spending  and  feasting  parties.'  Chichester 
thought  his  encumbrances  did  not  leave  him 
more  than  300/.  a  year.  Sir  John  Davies 
f(j.  v.]  (to  Salisbury,  12  Sept.  1607)  thought 
him  '  so  vain  a  person  that  the  Spaniard  will 
scarce  give  him  means  to  live,  if  the  Earl  of 
Tyrone  do  not  countenance  and  maintain 
him.'  Yet  many  at  Rome  thought  him  the 
more  important  man  of  the  two,  and  even 
Sir  Henry  Wotton  [q.  v.]  seemed  disposed  to 
agree  (to  Salisbury,  8  Aug.  1608). 

About  ninety  persons  sailed  with  the 
earls,  among  whom  were  Tyrconnel's  son 
Hugh,  aged  eleven  months,  his  brother 
Cathbhar,  with  his  wife  Rose  O'Dogherty  and 
their  son  Hugh,  aged  two  years  and  three 
months,  and  his  sister  Nuala,  who  had  de- 
serted her  husband,  Neill  Garv,  besides  other 
relations.  Chichester  failed  to  intercept  them 
at  sea.  They  were  unable  to  make  Corunna, 
and  put  into  the  Seine  after  three  weeks' 
tossing.  The  English  ambassador  demanded 
their  extradition,  which  Henry  IV  of  course 
refused ;  but  they  were  not  allowed  to  stay 
in  France,  nor  to  visit  Paris.  From  Amiens 
they  went  by  Arras  to  Douay,  when-  tin- 
Irish  seminarists  greeted  them  with  Latin 
and  Greek  odes,  and  thence  to  Brussels.  At 
a  dinner  given  by  Spinola,  Tyrone  was  placed 
in  the  chair,  the  papal  nuncio  on  his  right, 
and  Tyrconnel  next  (MEEHAX,  Fate  and 
Fortunes  of  Tyrone,  p.  129).  In  November 
they  went  from  Brussels  to  Louvain,  and 
in  December  drew  up  their  statements  of 
grievances  there.  Tyrconnel's  has  been 
quoted  above.  It  does  not  appear  that  these 
memorials  were  ever  communicated  to  the 
Irish  government ;  and  about  the  time  they 
were  sent  to  London,  Tyrconnel,  who  was 
a  loose  talker,  justified  all  Chichester's  ap- 

frehensions  of  his  intended  hostile  return, 
nconversation  with  John  Crosse  of  Tiverton, 
an  old  servant  of  Walsingham's,  he  detailed 
his   shadowy  plans  for  conveying  arms  to 
Ireland,  and  for  raising  a  rebellion  there 
(State  Paper*,  Ireland,  19  Feb.  1008). 
At  the  end  of  February  1008  Tyrone  and 


O'Donnell 


446 


O'Donnell 


Tyrconnel  set  out  for  Rome  with  a  large 
party.  According  to  information  received 
by  the  English  privy  council,  their  departure 
from  Belgium  was  little  regretted, '  having 
left  so  good  a  memory  of  their  barbarous 
life  and  drunkenness '  (ib.  8  March  1608). 
Avoiding  France,  they  went  by  Namur  and 
Nancy  to  Lucerne,  and  over  the  St.  Gothard 
to  Milan,  where  Fuentes  gave  them  a  grand 
reception,  though  the  Spanish  government 
had  promised  to  discountenance  them,  and 
did  find  money  to  pass  them  on.  They  travelled 
by  Bologna  and  Rimini  to  Loretto;  but 
Wotton  had  them  watched,  and  they  were 
excluded  from  Venetian  territory.  They 
reached  the  Milvian  bridge  on  29  April,  and 
had  a  great  escort  of  cardinals  and  others 
into  Rome.  The  pope  received  them  at  the 
Quirinal  next  day.  We  have  a  glimpse  of 
Tyrconnel  habitually  driving  in  the  same 
coach  with  Tyrone  and  Peter  Lombard  [q.  v.], 
the  titular  archbishop  of  Armagh.  On  the 
Thursday  before  Trinity  the  earls  occupied 
places  of  honour  at  the  canonisation  of  S. 
FrancescaRomana  in  St.  Peter's,  and  at  Cor- 
pus Christi  they  carried  the  canopy  over  the 
pope's  head.  In  June  Tyrconnel  was  attacked 
by  intermittent  fever,  received  no  benefit  from 
a  trip  to  Ostia,  and  died  in  Rome  on  28  July. 
He  was  attended  by  Lady  Tyrone,  by  his 
sister-in-law  Rose,  and  by  Florence  Conry, 
titular  archbishop  of  Tuam,  who  had  been 
with  Hugh  Roe  when  he  died.  He  was  buried 
on  the  Janiculum  in  the  Spanish  church  of  S. 
Pietro  in  Montorio,  wrapped  in  the  garb  of 
St.  Francis,  the  customary  winding-sheet  of 
his  family  since  they  had  founded  the  con- 
vent at  Donegal.  His  brother  Cathbhar  and 
Tyrone's  eldest  son  died  in  September,  and 
were  buried  in  the  same  place,  where  their 
joint  epitaphs  may  still  be  read  (MEEHAN, 
p.  477).  A  proposal  to  kill  Tyrone  or  Tyrcon- 
nel had  been  made  to  Wotton  in  April,  and 
he  had  some  suspicion  that  the  Jesuits  dis- 
trusted Tyrconnel  and  had  him  put  out  of 
the  way ;  but  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  he 
really  died  of  Roman  fever.  He  was  out- 
lawed and  attainted  after  his  flight,  and  the 
attainder  was  confirmed  by  the  Irish  parlia- 
ment in  1614.  The  settlement  of  Ulster  re- 
sulted from  the  flight  of  the  earls  and  the 
rising  of  Sir  Cahir  O'Dogherty  [q.  v.l,  and 
the  statesmen  of  that  day  were  evidently 
very  glad  to  have  the  ground  thus  cleared 
for  them. 

Tyrconnel  married  Lady  Bridget  Fitz- 
gerald, daughter  of  the  twelfth  Earl  of  Kil- 
dare.  Her  husband  did  not  take  her  with 
him  in  his  flight,  and  on  her  presentation  at 
court  James  wondered  how  he  could  leave 
so  fair  a  face  behind  him.  Tyrconnel  made 


some  ineffectual  attempts  to  communicate 
with  her  afterwards.  She  had  a  pension  of 
200/.  from  the  Irish  government,  and  was 
remarried  to  Nicholas  Barnewall,  first  vis- 
count Kingsland  [q.  v.]  By  Tyrconnel  she 
had  a  son  Hugh,  who  took  the  title  of  earl, 
or  count,  on  the  continent,  and  was  in  favour 
at  the  Spanish  court.  His  death  is  announced 
in  an  Irish  letter  written  at  Lou  vain  (facsimile 
in  GILBERT,  vol.  i.)  16  Sept.  1642  by  his  aunt 
Rose,  who  signs  with  her  maiden  name, 
although  then  married  for  the  second  time. 
Lady  Tyrone  had  a  daughter,  Mary  Stuart 
[see  below].  Another  daughter,  Elizabeth, 
is  often  given  to  her;  but  on  a  comparison 
of  dates  it  seems  doubtful  whether  the  lady 
in  question  was  not  her  sister,  who  married 
Luke,  first  earl  of  Fingal  (pedigree  in  Earls 
of  Kildare,  Addenda). 

MARY  STUART  O'DONNELL  (fl.  1632)  was 
born  in  England  after  her  father's  flight,  and 
the  royal  name  was  given  to  her  by  James  I. 
She  was  brought  up  by  her  mother  in  Ireland 
until  her  twelfth  year,  and  then  went  to  live 
in  England  with  her  grandmother,  Lady  Kil- 
dare,  who  proposed  to  leave  her  all  she  had  and 
to  provide  a  husband  for  her.  Mary  objected  to 
the  favoured  suitor  as  a  protestant ;  perhaps 
also  because  she  had  formed  a  previous 
attachment,  and  escaped  during  the  latter 
months  of  1626.  Dressed  in  male  attire,  and 
wearing  a  sword,  she  got  clear  of  London, 
and  after  many  wanderings  arrived  in  Bristol. 
She  was  accompanied  by  a  maid  similarly 
disguised,  and  by  a  young  '  gentilhomme 
son  parent,'  who  may  have  been  the  Don 
John  O'Gallagher  whom  she  afterwards 
married.  At  Bristol  her  sex  was  suspected : 
but,  if  we  believe  the  Spanish  panegyrist, 
who  likens  her  to  various  saints,  she  bribed  a 
magistrate,  offered  to  fight  a  duel,  and  made 
fierce  love  to  another  girl.  Two  attempts 
were  made  to  reach  Ireland,  but  the  ship  was 
beaten  back  into  the  Severn.  At  last  Mary 
Stuart  got  off  in  a  Dutch  vessel,  and  Avas 
carried,  with  her  two  companions,  to  Ro- 
chelle.  She  retained  her  doublet,  boots,  and 
sword,  and  at  Poitiers  made  love  to  another 
lady.  On  her  arrival  at  Brussels  Urban  VIII 
wrote  a  special  congratulatory  letter ;  but  she 
soon  estranged  her  brother  by  continuing 
to  seek  adventures  in  man's  clothes.  She 
married  an  O'Gallagher,  had  one  child  at 
Genoa,  and  in  February  1632  wrote  to  Car- 
dinal Barberini,  saying  that  another  was 
expected,  and  that  she  was  in  great  misery. 
After  that  day  nothing  further  seems  to  be 
recorded  of  her  (Earls  of  Kildare,  Addenda, 
p.  321). 

[For  the  whole  of  Tyrconnel's  life,  O'Dono- 
van's  ed.  of  the  Four  Masters,  vol.  iii. ;  for 


O'Donovan 


447 


O'Donovan 


his  career  in  Ireland,  and  after  his  flight,  Russell 
and  Preudergast's  Calendar  of  Irish  State  Papers, 
1603-8  (for  the  foreign  part  especially  Appendix 
to  vol.  ii.),  and  Meeban's  Fate  and  Fortunes  of 
Tyrone  and  Tyrconnel,  the  latter  partly  founded 
on  a  manuscript  by  Teigue  O'Keeran  written  in 
1 609,  and  preserved  at  St.  Isidore's,  Rome  ;  for 
the  few  eventsunder  Elizabeth,  Bagwell's  Ireland 
under  the  Tutors,  vol.  iii.  See  also  the  Earls  of 
Kildare,  by  Lord  Kildare,  with  the  vol.  of 
addenda ;  Contemp.  Hist,  of  Affairs  in  Ireland, 
ed.  Gilbert ;  O'Sullivan-Beare'a  Hist.  Cath. 
Hiberniae  Compendium.  The  account  of  Mary 
Stuart  O'Donnell  in  vol.  iii.  of  the  Abbe  Mac- 
Geohegan's  Histoire  d'Irlande,  Paris,  1758,  is 
drawn  from  a  Spanish  tract  by  Albert  Hen- 
riquez,  published  at  Brussels  in  1627,  of  which  a 
French  translation  by  Pierre  de  Cadenet  ap- 
peared at  Paris  in  1628.  The  Spanish  original 
is  not  in  Trinity  College,  Dublin,  nor  the  British 
Sluseum  ;  the  French  translation  only  is  in  the 
museum.]  R.  B-L. 

O'DONOVAN,  EDMUND  (1844-1883), 
newspaper  correspondent,  born  at  Dublin  on 
13  Sept.  1844,  was  son  of  Dr.  John  O'Dono- 
van [q.  v.],  and  received  his  early  education 
at  a  day  school  of  Jesuit  fathers  known  as 
St.  Francis  Xavier's  College.  Thence  he 
proceeded  to  the  Royal  College  of  Science  at 
St.  Stephen's  Green,  Dublin.  Subsequently 
he  studied  medicine  at  Trinity  College,  Dub- 
lin, where  he  gained  prizes  for  proficiency  in 
chemistry,  but  never  graduated.  During  his 
course  he  held  the  appointments  of  clerk  to 
the  registrar,  and  assistant  librarian.  Having 
also"  shown  great  taste  for  heraldry,  he  was 
appointed  aide  to  Sir  Bernard  Burke,  Ulster 
king-at-arms,  and  in  that  capacity  carried  a 
banner  at  the  installation  of  the  Duke  of 
Connaught  as  knight  of  St.  Patrick.  In 
1866  he  began  his  journalistic  career  by  occa- 
sionally contributing  to  the  '  Irish  Times ' 
and  other  Dublin  papers.  Between  that  date 
and  1870  he  made  several  journeys  to  France 
and  America,  and  in  the  latter  country  he 
continued  his  medical  studies,  attending  for 
some  time  the  courses  at  the  Bellevue  Hos- 
pital Medical  College  at  New  York.  When 
the  Franco-German  war  broke  out  in  1870, 
O'Donovan's  adventurous  temper  led  him  to 
enter  the  French  army,  joining  the  Legion 
Etrangere  after  Sedan.  He  took  part  in  the 
battles  round  Orleans,  was  wounded,  and 
made  prisoner.  Interned  at  Straubing  in 
Bavaria,  he  sent  to  several  Dublin  and  Lon- 
don papers  accounts  of  his  personal  expe- 
riences. When  the  Carlist  rising  took  place 
in  1873  he  went  to  Spain,  and  many  letters 
from  him  were  published  in  the  '  Times ' 
and  the  '  Hour.'  In  the  summer  of  1876, 
when  Bosnia  and  the  Herzegovina  rose 
against  the  Turks,  he  proceeded  to  the  seat 


of  war  as  correspondent  of  the  '  Daily  News.' 
In  the  following  year  he  went  as  the  repre- 
sentative of  the  same  paper  to  Asia  Minor, 
where  he  remained  during  the  continuance 
of  the  war  between  Russia  and  Turkey. 

In  1879,  O'Donovan,  still  in  search  "of  ad- 
venture, undertook,  as  representative  of  the 
'  Daily  News,'  his  celebrated  journey  to  Merv 
— -a  most  daring,  difficult,  and  hazardous  feat, 
with  which  his  name  will  always  be  asso- 
ciated. Spending  some  little  time  on  the 
south-eastern  shores  of  the  Caspian  Sea  with 
the  Russian  advanced  posts,  he  travelled 
through  Khorassan,  and  eventually,  with 
great  difficulty  and  risk,  accompanied  only 
by  two  native  servants,  he  penetrated  to 
Merv.  Although  attired  in  English  costume, 
he  was  at  first  suspected  by  the  Turcomans 
of  being  an  emissary  of  the  Russians,  who 
were  then  threatening  an  advance  on  Merv. 
For  several  months  he  consequently  remained 
in  Merv  in  a  sort  of  honourable  captivity,  in 
danger  of  death  any  day,  and  with  no  pro- 
spect of  release.  lie  managed,  however,  to 
send  into  Persia  a  message,  which  was 
thence  telegraphed  to  Mr.  (now  Sir)  John 
Robinson,  the  manager  of  the  '  Daily  News.' 
In  this  despatch  O'Donovan  explained  his 
position,  and  appealed  to  his  friend :  '  For 
God's  sake  get  me  out  of  this.'  Sir  John 
applied  to  the  foreign  office  and  to  the 
Russian  ambassador  in  London,  and  imme- 
diate steps  were  taken  to  effect  O'Donovan's 
release.  But  meanwhile,  by  his  own  unaided 
efforts,  which  combined  courage  with  diplo- 
macy, he  succeeded  in  extricating  himself 
from  his  perilous  position.  On  returning  to 
London  he  was  received  with  enthusiasm,  and 
read  a  paper  at  a  meeting  of  the  Royal  Geo- 
graphical Society.  In  1882  he  published  a 
book  describing  his  adventures,  entitled  'The 
Merv  Oasis :  Travels  and  Adventures  East 
of  the  Caspian  during  the  years  1879,  1880, 
and  1881 '  (2  vols.  London,  8vo ;  abridged 
edit.  1883).  The  book  is  skilfully  written, 
and  O'Donovan's  courage  and  fertility  of  re- 
source excite  the  reader's  warm  admiration. 
In  1883  he  went  to  the  Soudan  as  representa- 
tive, once  again,  of  the  '  Daily  News,'  and  he 
attached  himself  to  the  army  of  Hicks  Pasha 
which  marched  on  Obeid.  On  3  Nov.  1883 
the  army  fell  into  an  ambush,  and  on  that 
and  the  two  following  days  was  annihilated. 
No  information  was  received  of  O'Donovan's 
fate,  but  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  he 
perished  with  the  other  Europeans  of  the 
ill-fated  force.  Probate  of  his  will,  however, 
was  not  granted  for  eight  years  afterwards, 
as  there  was  among  some  a  lingering  hope 
that  he  would  yet  reappear.  A  tall,  hand- 
some man,  O'Donovan  was  kindly,  genial, 


O' Donovan 


448 


O' Donovan 


and  popular,  as  restless  and  adventurous  as 
he  was  brave.  His  acquirements  were  rather 
broad  than  deep.  He  was  a  good  linguist, 
speaking  French,  German,  Spanish,  and 
Jagatai.  Tartar.  He  knew  something  of 
medicine  and  botany,  was  a  fair  draughtsman, 
and  a  good  surveyor. 

[War  Correspondence  of  the  Daily  News, 
187 7-8  (London,  1878);  The  Merv  Oasis,  1882; 
Daily  News  Correspondence  from  Egypt ;  Alli- 
bone's  Diet,  of  English  Authors,  Suppl.ii.  1188; 
private  information.]  W.  W.  K. 

O'DONOVAN,  JOHN  (1809-1861),  Irish 
scholar,  fourth  son  of  Edmond  O'Donovan 
and  his  wife  Eleanor  Hoberlin  of  Roches- 
town,  was  born  on  9  July  1809  at  his  father's 
farm  of  Attateemore,  co.  Kilkenny,  at  the 
foot  of  Tory  Hill  (note  inMAcFiEBis,  Annals, 
p.  267).  He  was  descended  from  Edmond 
O'Donovan,  who  was  killed  in  a  battle  be- 
tween General  Preston  and  the  Duke  of 
Ormonde  at  Balinvegga,  co.  Kilkenny,  on 
18  March  1643,  and  who,  in  consequence  of 
a  local  quarrel,  had  moved  from  Bawnlahan, 
co.  Cork,  to  Gaulstown,  co.  Kilkenny. 
Through  this  ancestor  he  was  descended  from 
Eoghan,  son  of  Oilliol  Oluim,  king  of  Mun- 
ster  about  250,  and  common  ancestor  of  most 
of  the  families  of  Munster,  and  from  Mogh 
Nuadhat,  after  whom  the  south  of  Ireland 
is  always  called  in  Irish  literature  Leth 
Mogha.  His  father  died  on  29  July  1817, 
and  on  his  death-bed  repeated  several  times 
to  his  sons  who  were  present  his  descent,  and 
desired  his  eldest  son,  Michael,  always  to 
remember  it.  The  eldest  son  took  his  brother 
John  to  Dublin,  and  defrayed  the  cost  of  his 
education.  In  1821,  1822,  and  1823  he  paid 
long  visits  to  an  uncle,  Patrick  O'Donovan, 
from  whom  he  first  caught  a  love  for  ancient 
Irish  and  Anglo-Irish  history  and  traditions. 
O'Donovan  in  1826  obtained  work  in  the  Irish 
Record  Office,  and  in  1829  was  appointed  to 
a  post  in  the  historical  department  of  the 
Ordnance  Survey  of  Ireland.  His  work  was 
mainly  the  examination  of  Irish  manuscripts 
and  records,  with  a  view  to  determining  the 
nomenclature  to  be  used  on  the  maps,  but  he 
also  visited  every  part  of  Ireland,  and  re- 
corded observations  and  notes  in  letters, 
many  volumes  of  which  are  preserved  in  the 
Royal  Irish  Academy,  and  well  deserve  pub- 
lication. The  maps  contain  144,000  names, 
including  those  of  62,000  townlands,  the 
smallest  local  divisions  in  Ireland,  and  all 
these  were  discussed,  and  those  modern 
methods  of  spelling  most  representative  of 
the  literary  Irish  designation  Avere  adopted. 
The  single  volume  published  by  the  survey 
in  1837  contains  a  long  Irish  text  and  trans- 


lation from  the  'Dinnsenchus'  by  O'Donovan. 
During  1832  and  1833  O'Donovan  wrote 
many  articles,  on  Irish  topography  and  his- 
tory, in  the  '  Dublin  Penny  Journal,'  and  he 
wrote  in  the  '  Irish  Penny  Journal'  during 
1840-1.  Every  one  of  these  articles  contains 
much  valuable  original  work.  The  best  are 
perhaps  the  series  of  six  essays  on  the  origin 
and  meaning  of  Irish  family  names,  in  which 
he  shows  wide  knowledge  of  the  ancient  and 
modern  topography  and  inhabitants  of  Ire- 
land, as  well  as  an  intimate  acquaintance 
with  the  Irish  language.  The  Irish  Archaeo- 
logical Society  was  formed  in  1840,  and  the 
first  volume  of  its  publications,  which  ap- 
peared in  1841,  contained  a  text  and  trans- 
lation, with  notes,  of  '  The  Circuit  of  Ireland 
by  Muircheartach  MacNeill,  a  Poem  written 
in  942  by  Cormacan  Eigea?,'  in  which  O'Dono- 
van published  the  first  good  map  of  ancient 
Ireland.  In  1842  he  published  'The  Ban- 
quet of  Dun  na  ngedh  and  the  Battle  of  Magh 
Rath,'  two  dependent  historical  tales.  This 
quarto  of  350  pages,  besides  the  texts  and 
translations,  contains  admirable  notes,  genea- 
logies, and  an  appendix,  showing  extensive 
Irish  reading.  In  1843  he  published  '  The 
Tribes  and  Customs  of  Hy-Many,  commonly 
called  O'Kelly's  Country,'  from  the  '  Book  of 
Lecan,'  a  manuscript  of  1418.  Very  varied 
original  information  is  contained  in  the  notes 
to  this  text  and  translation;  as  well  as  texts 
and  translations  of  a  long  Irish  treatise  on  the 
boundaries  of  O'Maine  and  of  another  on  the 
descent  and  merits  of  the  O'Maddens.  In 
1844  he  published  a  quarto  of  five  hundred 
pages,  'The  Genealogies,  Tribes,  and  Cus- 
toms of  Hy  Fiachrach,  commonly  called 
O'Dowda's  Country,'  the  text  printed  from 
a  manuscript  of  Duald  MacFirbis.  This  is 
again  accompanied  by  a  beautiful  map,  and 
many  considerable  extracts  from  other  manu- 
scripts are  given  and  translated  in  the  notes. 
In  1846  O'Donovan  published  the  Irish 
charters  in  the  'Book  of  Kells,'  an  Irish 
covenant  and  ancient  poem  in  Irish  attri- 
buted to  St.  Columba,  and  Duald  Mac 
Firbis's  translation  of  Irish  annals  1443- 
1468.  The  Irish  Archaeological  and  Celtic 
Society  published  three  other  texts  and 
translations  of  his,  one  in  1860,  '  Three  Frag- 
ments of  Irish  Annals,  with  Translation  and 
Notes ; '  the  second  in  1862,  after  his  death, 
'  The  Topographical  Poems  of  O'Dubhagain 
and  O'Huidhrin.'  The  last  contains  a  reprint 
of  his  articles  on  Irish  names,  and  both  are 
full  of  original  work.  The  third  was  'The  Mar- 
tyrology  of  Donegal,'  published  in  1864,  and 
edited  by  Bishop  Reeves.  The  Celtic  So- 
ciety published  for  him  two  large  volumes — 
in  1847  '  Leabhar  na  gCeart,'  from  a  manu- 


O'Donovan 


449 


O'Duane 


script  of  Giolla  losa  mor  MacFirbis,  and  in 
1849  '  The  Genealogy  of  Corca  Laidhe,  or 
O'Driscoll's  Country,'  Gillabrighde  MacCon- 
midhe's  poem  on  the  battle  of  Down,  and 
other  poems,  all  containing  Irish  texts  with 
translations  and  notes.  Such  productions 
would  have  been  enough  to  occupy  the  whole 
time  of  most  scholars;  but,  besides  much 
work  for  others,  transcribing  and  translating, 
O'Donovan  published  in  1845  '  A  Grammar 
of  the  Irish  Language,  for  the  use  of  the 
Senior  Classes  in  the  College  of  St.  Columba,' 
Trinity  College,  Dublin ;  the  expenses  of 
printing  were  equally  divided  between  him- 
self and  the  college.  It  will  doubtless  always 
remain  the  most  interesting  treatise  on 
modern  and  mediaeval  Irish  as  a  spoken 
tongue,  and  as  it  is  found  in  the  literature 
of  the  last  six  centuries.  It  is  full  of  admi- 
rable examples,  but  it  does  not  attempt  to 
investigate  fully  the  earliest  grammatical 
forms  of  the  language,  nor  to  demonstrate 
the  relation  of  Irish  to  other  tongues.  A 
small  'Primer  of  the  Irish  Language'  was 
published  at  the  same  time.  O'Donovan  was 
called  to  the  Irish  bar  in  1847,  having  en- 
tered at  Gray's  Inn,  London,  on  15  April 
1844  (FOSTER,  Gray's  Inn  Register,  p.  466). 
The '  Annala  Bioghachta  Eireann,'  or '  An- 
nals of  the  Four  Masters,'  in  seven  volumes 
4to,  began  to  appear  in  1848,  and  the  edition 
was  completed  in  1851.  This  is  O'Donovan's 
greatest  work.  The  'Annals'  were  compiled 
in  the  reign  of  Charles  I  by  Michael  O'Clery 


[q.  v.j  and  a  company  of  Irish  Franciscans. 
Dr.  Charles  O'Conor  (1764-1828)  [q.  v.] 
had  published  an  imperfect  edition  of  these 


annals  up  to  the  year  1171,  and,  as  the 
original   manuscript  of  this  part  was  not 
accessible,    O'Donovan    corrected    and    re- 
translated this  edition.    From  1171  to  1616 
he  took  his  text  from  the  autograph  manu- 
script of  the  authors  preserved  in  the  Roya' 
Irish  Academy.       The    translation   is  ex- 
cellent, and  the  notes  astonishing  in  their 
width  of  knowledge  and  in  the  historical 
acumen  which  they  display.   The  publishers 
Messrs.  Hodges  &  Smith  of  Dublin,  whc 
undertook  the  risk  of  the  publication,  carriec 
it  out  with  genuine  public  spirit.    The  Irisl 
type  in  winch  the  text  is  printed  was  designec 
by  George  Petrie.    It  is  not  too  much  to  say 
that  nearly  all  information  on  the  historica 
topography  of  Ireland  to  be  found  in  sub- 
sequent publications  on  the  country  is  drawn 
from  the  notes  to  this  work.     O'Donovan 
was  given  the  degree  of  LL.D.  by  the  uni 
versity  of  Dublin.    He  was  employed  in  1852 
by  the  commission  for  the  publication  of  the 
ancient  laws  of  Ireland,  and  this  work  wa 
thereafter  his  chief  source  of  income.    He 
VOL.  XLI. 


made  transcripts  of  legal  manuscripts  in  Irish 
which  fill  nine  volumes  of  2,491  pages,  and 
preliminary  translation  of  these  in  twelve 
volumes.     He  did  not  live  to  edit  any  part. 
?he  four  volumes  of  the  'Senchus  Mor,  and 
other  ancient  treatises  which  have  been  pub- 
ished  since  1865,  give  no  idea  of  what  the 
work  might  have  been  had  O'Donovan  lived 
o  edit  it.     But  that  these  laws  are  before 
he  learned  world  at  all  in  a  form  capable  of 
use,  by  such  writers  as  Sir  Henry  Maine 
^'Ancient  Law'),  is  due  to  the  preliminary 
exertions  of  O'Donovan  and  O'Curry.  Frag- 
ments of  manuscripts  and  translations  by 
O'Donovan  are  to  be  found  in  the  works  of 
many  minor  editors,  for  he  was  generous  to 
every  one  who  cared  for  his  subject.     He 
>repared,  in  1843,  a  text  and  translation  of 
he  '  Sanas  Chormaic,'  a  glossary  by  Cormac 
;836-908)  [q.  v.],  bishop  of  Cashel.     This 
work  of  much  difficulty  was  not  printed  in 
the  author's  lifetime.    The  translation  was 
fterwards  published  by  Dr.  Whitley  Stokes, 
with  the  text  and  with  additional  articles 
iranscribed  from  another  manuscript,  as  well 
as  full  philological   notes  by  Dr.   Stokes. 
O'Donovan  wrote  a  supplement  to  O'Reilly's 
Irish  Dictionary,' which  was  published  after 
iis  death,  and  has  been  much  used  by  scholars. 
O'Donovan,  who  was  a  devout  Roman 
catholic  of  no  narrow  views,  was  an  inti- 
mate friend  of  Eugene  O'Curry  [q.  v.l,  and  he 
married   O'Curry's  sister.    Thenceforth  he 
lived  in  close  relations  with  George  Petrie 
[q.  v.],  Dr.  James  Henthorne  Todd,  Dr. 
William  Reeves,  and  other  leading    Irish 
scholars  of  his  time.    He  died  in  Dublin  on 
9  Dec.  1861,  and   is   buried  in  Glasnevin 
cemetery,  near  Dublin.    His  son,  Edmund 
O'Donovan,  is  separately  noticed. 

No  one  man  has  done  so  much  for  native 
Irish  history  as  O'Donovan ;  in  Irish  his- 
torical topography  no  writer,  ancient  or 
modern,  approaches  him,  and  all  students  of 
the  Irish  language  know  how  much  he  has 
done  to  elucidate  its  difficulties  and  to  set 
forth  its  peculiarities.  He  wrote  a  beauti- 
fully clear  Irish  hand,  of  which  a  facsimile 
may  be  seen  in  O'Curry's  'Lectures  on  the 
Manuscript  Materials  of  Irish  History.' 

[Works ;  Ancient  Laws  of  Ireland ;  Senchus 
Mor,  Dublin,  1865;  Lady  Ferguson's  Life  of 
Bishop  Beeves,  London,  1893 ;  Webb's  Com- 
pendium of  Irish  Biography,  Dublin,  1878; 
Memoir  by  J.  T.  Gilbert ;  Annala  Rioghachta 
Eireann,  vi.  2160,  -where  O'Donovan  relates  the 
whole  history  of  his  family.]  N.  M. 

O'DUANE,  CORNELIUS  (1583-1612), 
bishop  of  Down  and  Connor.  [See 


O'Dugan 


45° 


O'Dugan 


O'DUGAN,  JOHN  (d.  1372),  Irish  his- 
torian and  poet,  called  in  Irish  Sean  mor  Ua 
Dubhagain,  was  born  in  Connaught,  probably 
at  Ballydugan,  co.  Galway.  His  family  filled 
for  many  generations  between  1300  and  1750 
the  office  of  ollav  (in  Irish  ollamh)  to  O'Kelly, 
the  chief  of  the  district  known  as  Ui  Maine, 
on  the  banks  of  the  Shannon  and  the  Suck. 
The  duties  of  the  office  were  several  of  those 
included  in  the  modern  terms  historio- 
grapher, poet-laureate,  public  orator,  earl 
marshal,  and  lord  great  chamberlain.  The 
ollav  was  often  of  his  chief's  kin,  but  O'Dugan 
was  not  so,  being  descended  from  Fiacha 
Araidhe  of  the  Dalnaraidhe,  one  of  the  kings 
of  Ulster  of  the  ancient  line.  Another 
famous  literary  family,  that  of  Macanward 
[q.  v.],  was  descended  from  the  same  ancestor 
(Ogygia,  p.  327).  O'Dugan  once  made  a  pil- 
grimage to  the  reputed  tomb  of  St.  Columba 
at  Downpatrick,  and  seven  years  before  his 
death  retired  into  the  monastery  of  Rinnduin 
on  the  shore  of  Lough  Rea,  co.  Roscommon, 
and  there  died  in  1372.  His  best  known 
work  has  been  edited  for  the  Irish  Archaeo- 
logical Society  by  John  O'Donovan,  from  a 
copy  in  the  handwriting  of  Cucoigcriche 
O'Clery  [q.  v.]  It  is  a  poem  enumerating, 
with  brief  characteristics  of  each,  the  tribes 
of  Leth  Cuinn,  the  northern  half  of  Ireland, 
before  the  Norman  invasion.  The  poem  is 
written  in  the  complex  metre  called  Dan 
Direch,  in  which,  besides  compliance  with 
other  rules,  the  lines  are  each  of  seven  sylla- 
bles, and  are  grouped  in  sets  of  four.  The 
poet  evidently  intended  to  describe  the  whole 
of  Ireland,  for  the  first  line  is  '  Triallam 
timcheall  na  Fodhla '  ('  Let  us  journey  round 
Ireland ').  He  begins  with  Tara,  then  re- 
counts the  tribes  of  Meath,  next  goes  on  to 
Ulster,  beginning  with  Oileach,  O'Neill  and 
O'Lachlainn,  then  to  the  Oirghialla  and  the 
Craobh  Ruadh,  then  to  TirConaill  or  Done- 
gal, then  to  Connaught,  with  its  sub-king- 
doms of  Breifne  and  Ui  Maine.  He  then 
begins  Leth  Mogha,  or  the  southern  half, 
but  breaks  off  after  describing  Leinster  and 
Ossory,  the  description  of  which  is  not  con- 
cluded. The  poem  is  of  great  historical 
value.  O'Dugan's  other  poetical  works  are 
numerous.  One  beginning  '  Ata  sund  sean- 
chus  riogh  Ereand '  ('  Here  is  the  history  of 
the  kings  of  Ireland '),  of  564  verses,  deals 
with  the  kings  from  Firbolg  king  Slainge  to 
Roderic  O'Connor  [q.  vj  Another  of  224 
verses,  on  the  kings  of  Leinster  and  the  de- 
scendants of  Cathaoir  mor,  begins  '  Riogh- 
raidh  Laighean  claim  Cathaoir '  ('  Bangs  of 


Leinster,  the  children  of  Cathaoir').  A  third, 
of  296  verses,  beginning  '  Caiseal  cathair 
clan  Modha '  ('  Cashel,  city  of  the  children  of 
Modh '),  enumerates  the  kings  of  Munster  to 
j  Toirdhealbhach  O'Brien  in  1367;  of  this 
there  is  a  copy,  made  soon  after  the  writer's 
death,  in  the  '  Book  of  Ballymote '  (fol.  GO, 
col.  2,  1.  36),  and  a  more  modern  copy  in 
the  Cambridge  University  Library.  A  fourth 
poem  of  332  verses,  on  the  deeds  of  Cormac 
Mac Airt,  king  of  Ireland,  begins '  Teamhair 
na  riogh  raith  Cormaic'  ('  Tara  of  the  kings, 
Cormac's  stronghold  ')•  Besides  these  his- 
torical works  O'Dugan  composed  a  poem,  be- 
ginning '  Bliadhain  so  solus  a  dath '  ('  This  year 
bright  its  colour '),  on  the  rules  for  determin- 
ing movable  feasts,  of  which  many  copies 
or  fragments  exist,  and  another  on  obsolete 
words,  beginning '  Forus  focal  luaidtear  libh ' 
('A  knowledge  of  words  spoken  by  you '),  of 
which  Edward  O'Reilly  has  made  use  in  his 
'  Dictionary.' 

Other  members  of  this  literary  family  are : 

Richard  O'Dugan  (d.  1379). 

John  O'Dugan  (d.  1440),  son  of  Cormac 
O'Dugan,  ollav  of  Ui  Maine. 

Domhnall  O'Dugan  (d.  1487),  who  married 
the  daughter  of  Lochlann  O'Maelchonaire, 
chief  of  another  literary  family,  and  died 
when  he  was  about  to  become  ollav  of  Ui 
Maine. 

Maurice  O'Dugan  (fl.  1660),  who  is  the 
reputed  author  of  the  words  of  the  famous 
Irish  song  known  as  '  The  Coolin'  (E.  BUNT- 
ING, Ancient  Music  of  Ireland,  p.  88),  and  of 
four  other  poems : '  Gluas  do  chabhlach '  ('  Let 
loose  your  fleet'),  'Bhi  Eoghan  air  buile' 
('  Eoghan  was  enraged '), '  Faraoir  chaill  Eire 
a  celle  fircheart'  ('Alas!  Ireland  has  lost  her 
lawful  spouse'),  and  one  other  on  the  mis- 
fortunes of  Ireland.  He  lived  near  Benburb, 
co.  Tyrone. 

Tadhg  O'Dugan  (f,.  1750),  who  lived  in 
Ui  Maine,  and  was  the  last  historian  of  this 
family.  He  wrote  an  interesting  account  of 
the  family  O'Donnellan  of  Ballydonnellan, 
co.  Galway,  part  of  which  is  printed  in  John 
O'Donovan's  'Tribes  and  Customs  of  Hy 
Many.' 

[Annala  Eioghachta  Eireann,  ed.  O'Dono- 
van ;  Annals  of  Ulster ;  O'Donovan's  Tribes 
and  Customs  of  Hy  Many,  Dublin,  1843 ;  O'Dono- 
van's Topographical  Poems  of  John  O'Dubha- 
gain,  Dublin,  1862  ;  O'Keilly  in  Transactions  of 
the  Iberno-Celtic  Society,  Dublin,  1820;  O'Fla- 
herty's  Ogygia  sive  Eerum  Hibernicarum  Chro- 
nologia,  London,  1 685 ;  Book  of  Ballymote 
(photograph).]  N.  M. 


INDEX 


10 


THE    FORTY-FIRST    VOLUME. 


Xichols.    See  also  Nicolls. 

Nichols,  James  (1785-1861)                             .  1 

Nichols  or  Nicholson,  John  (</.  1538).    See 

Lambert. 

Nichols,  John  (1745-1826)       ....  2 

Nichols,  John  Bowyer  (1779-1863)         .        .  5 

Nichols,  John  Gough  (1806-1873)  ...  6 

Nichols,  Josias(  1555  V-1639)  .        ...  8 

Nichols,  Philip  (fl.  1547-1559)        ...  9 

Nichols,  Thomas  (./?.  1550)  ....  10 
Nichols,  Thomas  ( ft.  1554).  See  under 

Nichols,  Thomas  (  ft.  1550). 

Nichols,  William  (1655-1716)         ...  10 

Nichols,  William  Luke  (1802-1889)        .        .  10 
Nicholson.    See  also  Nicolson. 
Nicholson,  Alfred  (1788-1833).     See  under 

Nicholson,  Francis  (1753-1844). 
Nicholson,  Brinsley,  M.D.  (1824-1892)   .        .11 
Nicholson,  Charles  (1795-1837)       .        .        .12 

Nicholson,  Sir  Francis  (1660-1728)         .        .  12 

Nicholson,  Francis  (1650-1731)       ...  13 

Nicholson,  Francis  (1753-1844)       ...  14 

Nicholson,  George  (1760-1825)        ...  15 

Nicholson, George  (1795  P-1839?)  ...  16 
Nicholson,  George  (1787-1878).  See  under 

Nicholson,  Francis  (1753-1844). 
Nicholson,  Isaac  (1789-1848)  .        .        .        .16 
Nicholson,  John  (d.  1538).    See  Lambert. 

Nicholson,  John  (1730-1796)  ....  16 
Nicholson,  John  (1781-1822).  See  under 

Nicholson,  John  (1730-1796). 

Nicholson,  John  (1790-1843)  .        ...  17 

Nicholson,  John  (1821-1857)  ....  17 
Nicholson,  John  (1777-1866).  See  under 

Nicholson,  William  (1782  P-1849). 

Nicholson,  Joshua  (1812-1885)        ...  21 

Nicholson,  Sir  Lothian  (1827-1893)  .  .  21 
Nicholson,  Margaret  (1750  P-1828) .  .  .22 
Nicholson,  Michael  Angelo  (d.  1842).  See 

under  Nicholson,  Peter. 

Nicholson,  Peter  (1765-1844)  .        .        .        .23 

Nicholson,  Renton  (1809-1861)       ...  25 

Nicholson,  Richard  (rf.  1639)  ....  26 
Nicholson,  Samuel  (  ft.  1600)  .  .  .  .26 

Nicholson,  Thomas  Joseph  (1645-1718)  .        .  26 

Nicholson,  William  (1591-1672)       ...  27 

Nicholson,  William  (1753-1815)       ...  28 

Nicholson,  William  (1781-1844)      ...  80 

Nicholson,  William  (1782  P-1849)    ...  81 

Nicholson,  William  (1816-1865)      ...  32 

Nicholson,  William  Adams  (1803-1853)          .  88 

Nickle,  Sir  Robert  (1786-1855)        ...  84 

Nickolls,  John  (1710  ?-1745)  ....  35 


Nicol.    See  also  Xicholl,  Nichol,  and  Nicoll. 
Nicol,  Mrs.  (d.  1834?) 85 


Nicol,  Alexander  (ft.  1739-1766) 

Nicol,  Emma  (1801-1877) 

Nicol,  James  (1769-1819) 

Nicol,  James  (1810-1879) 

Nicol  or  Nicoll,  John  (ft.  1590-1667) 

Nicol,  William  (1744  P-1797)  . 

Nicolas.    See  also  Nicholas. 

Nicolas  Breakspear,  Pope  Adrian  IV  (d.  1159). 

See  Adrian. 
Nicolas,    Granville   Toup    (d.    1894).     See 

under  Nicolas,  John  Toup. 
Nicolas,  John  Toup  (1788-1851)       . 
Nicolas,  Sir  Nicholas  Harris  ( 1799-1848) 
Nicolay,  Sir  William  (1771-1842}  . 
Nicoll.    See  also  NicLol  and  Nicol. 
Nicoll,  Alexander  (1793-1828) 
Nicoll  or  Nicolls,  Anthony  (1611-1659)  . 
Nicoll,  Francis  (1770-1 835)     .... 
Nicoll,  Robert  (1814-1837)      .... 
Nicoll,  Whitlock  (1786-1838) . 
Nicolls  or  Nicholls,    Sir   Augustine   (1559- 

1616)     

Nicolls,  Benedict  (d.  1433)       .... 

Nicolls,  Ferdinando  (1598-1662)     . 

Nicolls,   Francis    (1585-1642).      See    under 

Nicolls  or  Nicholls,  Sir  Augustine. 
Nicolls,  Sir  Jasper  (1778-1849) 
Nicolls,  Mathias  (1630  P-l 687)        .       .       . 
Nicolls,  Richard  (1624-1672)  .... 
Nicolls,    William    (1657-1723).      Sec  under 

Nicolls,  Mathias. 

Nicols,  Thomas  (./?.  1659)        .       ...       • 
Nicolson.    See  also  Nicholson.' 
Nicolson,  Alexander  (1827-1893)    .        .       • 
Nicolson,  William  (1655-1727)        .       .       . 
Nield,  James  (1744-1814).    See  Neild. 
Niemann,  Edmund  John  (1813-1876)    . 
Nieto,  David  (1654-1728)        .        .       •,-r 
Nigel,  called  the  Dane  (d.  921  ?). 

Nigel  (d.  1169) 

Nigel,  called  WirekerO?.  1190)      ...    62 

Niger,  Ralph  (/.  1170)    .  .        .        .    « 

Niger  or  Le  Noir,  Roger  (d.  1241) 

Nightingale,  Joseph  (1775-1824) 

Nightingall,  Sir  Miles  (1768-1829) 

Nimmo,  Alexander  (1783-1832) 

Nimmo,  James  ( 1 654-1709)     . 

Ninian  or  Ninias,  Saint  (d.  432  ?  ) 

Nisbet,  Alexander  (1657-1725) 

Nisbet,  Charles  (1786-1804)    . 

Nisbet,  John  (1627  P-1685)     . 


54 


452 


Index  to  Volume  XLI. 


PAGE 

Nisbet,  Sir  John  (1609  P-1687)  ...  70 
Nisbet,  William,  M.D.  (fl.  1808)  ...  71 
Nisbett,  Louisa  Cranstoun  (1812  P-1858)  .  72 
Nithsdale,  Lord  of.  See  Douglas,  Sir  William 

(d.  1392?). 

Nithsdale,  fifth  Earl  of.    See  Maxwell,  Wil- 
liam (1676-1744). 
Nithsdale,  Countess  of.    See  under  Maxwell, 

William  (1676-1744). 

Nix  or  Nykke,  Richard  (1447  P-1535)  .  .  74 
Nixon,  Anthony  (fl.  1602)  ....  75 
Nixon,  Francis'Russell  (1803-1879)  .  .  76 
Nixon,  James  (1741  P-1812)  ....  76 

Nixon,  John  (d.  1818) 76 

Nixon,  Robert  (fl.  1620?)  ....  77 
Nixon,  Robert  (1759-1837).  See  under  Nixon, 

John. 

Nixon,  Samuel  (1803-1854)  .  .  .  .77 
Noad,  Henry  Minchin  (1815-1877) .  .  .  77 
Noake,  John  (1816-1894)  ....  78 
Nobbes,  Robert  (1652-1706?).  ...  79 
Nobbs,  George  Hunn  (1799-1884)  ...  79 
Noble,  George  (fl.  1795-1806)  ...  80 
Noble,  James  (1774-1851)  .  .  .  .80 

Noble,  John  (1827-1892) 81 

Noble,  Mark  (1754-1827)  ....  81 
Noble,  Matthew  (1818-1876)  ....  83 
Noble,  Richard  (1684-1713)  ....  83 
Noble,  Samuel  (1779-1853)  ....  84 
Noble,  William  Bonneau  (1780-1831)  .  .  85 
Noble,  William  Henry  (1834-1892)  .  .  85 

Nobys,  Peter  ( fl.  1520) 86 

Nodder,  Frederick  P.  (d.  1800?)     ...    86 
Noel,  Sir  Andrew  (d.  1607)      ....    87 
Noel,  Baptist,  second  Baron  Noel  of  Ridling- 
ton,  and  third  Viscount  Campden  and  Baron 
Hicks  of  Ilmington  (1611-1682)  .        .        .    88 
Noel,  Baptist  Wriothesley  (1798-1873)  .        .    89 
Noel,  Edward,  Lord  Noel  of  Ridlington  and 

second  Viscount  Campden  (1582-1643)  .  90 
Noel,  Gerard  Thomas  (1782-1851)  .  .  .  91 
Noel,  Henry  (d.  1597).  See  under  Noel,  Sir 

Andrew. 
Noel,   Roden    Berkeley    Wriothesley   (1834- 

1894) 92 

Noel,  Thomas  (1799-1861)       ....    92 
Noel,  William  (1695-1762)      ....    93 
Noel-Fearn,  Henry  (181 1-1868) .    See  Christ- 
mas. 
Noel-Hill,  William,  third  Lord  Berwick  (d. 

1842).    See  Hill. 

Noke  or  Nokes,  James  (rf.  1692?)  ...  93 
Nolan,  Frederick  (1784-1864)  .  ...  95 
Nolan,  Lewis  Edward  (1820  P-1854)  .  .  96 

Nolan,  Michael  (d.  1827) 97 

Nollekens,  Joseph  (1737-1823)  ...  97 
Nollekens,  Joseph  Francis  (1702-1748)  .  .  100 
Non  Fendigaid,  i.e.  the  Blessed  (fl.  550  ?)  .  100 
Nonant,  Hugh  de  (d.  1198)  .  .  .  .100 
Noorthouck,  John  (1746  P-1816)  .  .  .103 
Norbury,  first  Earl  of.  See  Toler,  John  (1740- 

1831). 

Norcome,  Daniel  (1576-1647?)  .  .  .103 
Norcott,  William  (1770  P-1820?)  .  .  .104 
Norden,  Frederick  Lewis  (1708-1742)  .  .  104 
Norden,  John  {fl.  1600).  See  under  Norden, 

John  (1548-1625?). 

Norden,  John  (1548-1625  ?)    .        .        .        .105 

Norfolk,  Dukes  of.    See  Howard,  John,  first 

Duke  (of  the  Howard  line)  (1430P-1485)  ; 

Howard,    Thomas,    second    Duke     (1443- 

1524) ;  Howard,  Thomas,  third  Duke  (1473- 


1554) ;  Howard,  Thomas,  fourth  Duke  (1536- 
1572)  ;  Howard,  Henry,  sixth  Duke  (1628- 
1684)  ;  Howard,  Henry,  seventhDuke  (1655- 
1701)  ;  Howard,  Charles,  tenth  Duke  (1720- 
1786)  ;  Howard,  Charles,  eleventh  Duke 
(1746-1815);  Howard  Bernard  Edward, 
twelfth  Duke  (1765-1842)  ;  Howard,  Henry 
Charles,  thirteenth  Duke  (1791-1856)  ; 
Howard,  Henry  Granville  Fitzalan-,  four- 
teenth Duke  (1815-1 860) ;  Mowbray  .Thomas, 
first  Duke  (of  the  Mowbray  line)  (1366- 
1399)  ;  Mowbray,  John,  second  Duke  (1389- 
1432)  ;  Mowbray,  John,  third  Duke  (1415- 
1461). 
Norfolk,  Elizabeth,  Duchess  of  (1494-1558). 

See  under  Howard,  Thomas,  third  Duke. 
Norfolk,  Earl  of  (fl:  1070).    See  Guader  or 

Wader,  Ralph. 

Norfolk,  Earls  of.  See  Bigod,  Hugh,  first  Earl 
(d.  1176  or  1177)  ;  Bigod,  Roger,  second 
Earl  (d.  1221)  ;  Bigod,  Roger,  fourth  Earl 
(d.  1270) ;  Bigod,  Roger,  fifth  Earl  (1245- 
1306)  ;  Thomas  of  Brotherton  (1300-1338) 
Norford,  William  (1715-1793)  .  .  108 

Norgate,  Edward  (d.  1650)      .        .        .  109 

Norgate,  Robert  (d.  1587)        .        .        .  110 

Norgate,  Thomas  Starling  (1772-1859)   .  Ill 

Norgate,  Thomas  Starling  (1807-1893).  See 
under  Norgate,  Thomas  Starling  (1772- 
1859). 

Norie,  John  William  (1772-1843)   .        .  Ill 

Norman,  George  Warde  (1793-1882)      .  112 

Norman,  John  (1491 P-1553  ?)        .        .  113 

Norman,  John  (1622-1669)      ...  113 

Norman,  Robert  (fl.  1590)       ...  114 

Normanby,  Marquises  of.  See  Sheffield,  John 
(1647-1721);  Phipps,  Constantine,  first 
Marquis  (1797-1863) ;  Phipps,  George 
Augustus  Constantine,  second  Marquis 
(1819-1890). 
Normandy,  Alphonse  Rene'  Le  Mire  de  ( 1809- 

1864)  " 114 

Normannus,  Simon  (d.  1249).    See  Cantelupe, 

Simon. 

Normanville,  Thomas  de  (1256-1295)      .        .  115 
Norreys.    See  Norris. 

Norris",  Antony  (1711-1786)     .        .        .        .115 
Norris,  Catherine  Maria  (d.  1767).  See  Fisher. 
Norris,  Charles  (1779-1858)  .  .  116 

Norris,  Sir  Edward  (d.  1603)  .  .  117 

Norris,  Edward  (1584-1659)  .  .118 

Norris,  Edward  (1663-1726)  .  .118 

Norris,  Edwin  (1795-1872)  .  .  119 

Norris,  Francis,  Earl  of  Berkshire  (1579-1623)  120 
Norris,  Sir  Francis  (1609-1669).    See  under 
Norris,  Francis,  Earl  of  Berkshire. 

Norris,  Henry  (d.  1536) 121 

Norris,  Sir  Henry,  Baron  Norris  of  Rycote 

(1525P-1600) 122 

Norris,  Henry  (1665-1730  ?),  known  as  Jubi- 
lee Dicky 124 

Norris,  Henry  Handley  (1771-1850)  126 

Norris,  Isaac  (1671-1735)        .        .  127 

Norris,  Sir  John  (1547  P-1597)         .  127 

Norris,  John  (1657-1711)         .        .  132 

Norris,  Sir  John  (1660  P-1749)         .  131 

Norris,  John  (1734-1777)          .        .  137 

Norris,  John  Pilkington  (1823-1891)  137 

Norris,  Philip  (d.  1465)    ...  138 

Norris,  Robert  (d.  1791)  .        ...  139 

Norris,  Norreys,  or  Noreis,  Roger  (d.  1223)        139 
Norris,  Sylvester,  D.D.  (1572-1630)        .          140 


Index  to  Volume  XLI. 


453 


PAOB 

.  141 


143 


143 
144 
146 

146 
147 
148 


158 


159 


Norris,  Sir  Thomas  (1556-1599) 

Norris,    Thomas    (1653-1700).      See   under 

Norris,  Sir  William  (1657-1702). 
Norris,  Thomas  (1741-1790)    .... 
Norris,  Sir  William  (1523-1591).    See  under 

Xorris,  Sir  Henry,  Baron  Norris  of  Rycote. 
Norris,  William  (1670  P-1700) 
Norris,  Sir  William  (1657-1702) 
Norris,  William  (1719-1791)  . 
North,  Brownlow  (1741-1820) 
North,  Brownlow  (1810-1875) 
North,  Charles  Napier  (1817-1869) 
North,  Christopher  (pseudonym).    See  Wil 

son,  John  (1785-1854). 

North,  Dudley,  third  Lord  North  (1581-1666)  149 
North,  Dudley,  fourth  Baron  North  (1602- 

1677) 151 

North,  Sir  Dudley  (1641-1691)  .  .  .152 
North,  Dudley  Long  (1748-1829)  .  .  .153 
North,  Edward,  first  Baron  North  (1496?- 

1564) 154 

North,  Francis,  Lord  Guilford  (1637-1685)  .  155 
North,  Francis,  first  Earl  of  Guilford  (1704- 

1790)     

North,  Francis,  fourth  Earl  of  Guilford  (1761- 

1817).    See  under  North,  Frederick,  second 

Earl  of  Guilford. 
North,    Frederick,    second  Earl  of  Guilford, 

better  known  as  Lord  North  (1732-1792)     . 
North,  Frederick,  fifth  Earl  of  Guilford  (1766- 

1827) 164 

North,  George  (fl.  1580)         .        .        .        .166 
North,  George  (1710-1772)      .        .        .        .166 
North,  Georee  Augustus,  third  Earl  of  Guil- 
ford (1757-1802).    See  under  North,  Frede- 
rick, second  Earl  of  Gnilford. 
North,  Sir  John  (1551 P-1597)         .        .        .167 
North,  John,  D.D.  (1645-1683)        .        .        .167 
North,  Marianne  (1830-1890).        .        •        .168 
North,  Roger,  second  Lord  North  (1530-1600)  169 
North,  Roger  (1585  P-1652?)   .        .        .        .  1"3 
North,  Roger  (1653-1734)        .        .        .        .176 
North,  Sir  Thomas  (1535  P-1601  ?  )  . 
North,  Thomas  (1830-1884)    .... 
North,  William,  sixth    Lord  North    (1678- 

1734)     

Northalis,  Richard  (d.  1397)    .... 
Northall,  John  (1723  P-1759)  .... 
Northall,  William  of  (d.  1190) 
Northampton,  Marquises  of.    See  Parr,  Wil- 
liam (d.  1571);  Compton,  Spencer  Joshua 

Alwyne,  second  Marquis  (1790-1851). 
Northampton,  Earls  of.    See  Senlis,  Simon  de 

(d.  1109) ;  Bohun,  William  de  (d.  1360) ; 

Howard,    Henry    (1540-1614);    Compton, 

Spencer  (1601-1643). 

Northampton,  Henry  de,  or  Fitzpeter  (fl.  1202)  184 
Northampton  or  Comberton,  John  de  (fl. 

1381)     ...,.-•'  185 
Northbrook,  Lord.    See  Baring,  Sir  Francis 

Thorahill  (1796-1866). 
Xorthbrooke,  John  (fl.  1570)  . 
Northburgh,  Michael  de  (d.  1361) 
Northburgh,  Roger  de  (d.  1359  ?) 
Northcote,  James  (1746-1831) 
Northcote,  Sir  John  (1599-1676) 
Northcote,  Stafford  Henry,  first  Earl  of  Iddes- 

leigh  (1818-1887) 
Northcote,  William  (d.  1783  ?) 
Northeak,  Earl  of.     See  Carnegie,  William 

(1758-1831). 
Northey,  Sir  Edward  (1652-1723)  . 


200 


Northington,  Earls  of.  See  Henley,  Robert, 
first  Earl  (1708  P-1772)  ;  Henley,  Robert, 
second  Earl  (1747-1786). 

Northleigh,  John,  M.D.  ( 1657-1 705)       .        .200 

Northmore,  Thomas  (1766-1851)     .        .        .201 

Northumberland,  Dukes  of.  See  Dudley,  John 
(1502P-1553)  ;  Fitzroy,  George  "(1665- 
1716). 

Northumberland,  titular  Duke  of.  See  Dud- 
ley, Sir  Robert  (1573-1649). 

Northumberland,  Dukes  and  Earls  of.  See 
Percy. 

Northumberland,  Earls  of.  See  Copsi  (</. 
1067);  Gospatric  (fl.  1067);  Comin,  Ro- 
bert de  (d.  1069);  Waltheof  (d.  1075); 
Walchere  (d.  1080) ;  Morcar  (ft.  1066)  ; 
Mowbray,  Robert  de  (d.  1125  ?) ;  Pudsey, 
Hugh  de  (1125-1195) ;  Neville,  John  (d. 
1471). 

Northumbria,  Kings  of.  See  Osbald,  Osbrith, 
Osred,  Osric,  Oswald,  Oswulf,  and  Oswy. 

Northwell  or  Nor  well,  William  de  (d.  1363)  .  202 

Northwold,  Hugh  of  (d.  1254)        .        .        .203 

Northwood,  John  de  (d.  1317).  See  under 
Northwood  or  Northwode,  John  de,  Baron 
Northwood. 

Northwood  or  Northwode,  John  de,  Baron 
Northwood  (1254-1319)  .  .  .  .205 

Northwood  or  Northwode,  Roger  de  (d.  1285)  205 

Norton,  Bonham  (1565-1635).  See  under 
Norton,  William. 

Norton,  Caroline  Elizabeth  Sarah  (1808-1877)  206 

Norton,  Chappie  (1746-1818)  ....  208 

Norton,  Christian  (fl.  1740-1760)   .        .        .209 

Norton,  Fletcher,  first  Baron  Grantley  (1716- 
1789) 209 

Norton,  Frances,  Lady  (1640-1731)        .        .  212 

Norton,  Humphrey  (fl.  1655-1660)         .        .  212 

Norton,  John  (fl.  1485) 213 

Norton,  Sir  John  (d.  1534)      .        .        .        .214 

Norton,  John  (d.  1612).  See  under  Norton, 
William. 

Norton,  John  (1606-1663) 

Norton,  John  (fl.  1674)    . 

Norton,  John  Bruce  (1815-1883)     . 

Norton,  Matthew  Thomas  (1732-1800) 

Norton,  Richard  (d.  1420) 

Norton,  Richard  (1488  P-1588) 

Norton,  Robert  (1540  P-1587)  . 

Norton,  Robert  (d.  1635)  . 

Norton,  Sir  Sampson  (d.  1517)  . 

Norton,  Samuel  (1548-1604  ?)  . 

Norton,  Thomas  (fl.  1477) 

Norton,  Thomas  (1532-1684)  . 

Norton,  William  (1527-169tt. 

Xorwell,  William  de  (d.  1363).  See  Northwcll. 

Norwich,  Earl  of.   See  Goring,  George  ( 1583  ?- 

Norwich,  John  de,  Baron  Norwich  (d.  1362)  .  226 
Norwich,  Ralph  de  (fl.  1256)  ....  25 
Norwich,  Robert  (d.  1535)       ••••*« 
Norwich,  Sir  Walter  de  (d.  1329)    ...  229 
Norwich,    William    of   (1298  P-1355).      See 

Bateman. 

Norwold,  Hugh  of  (d.  1254).    See  Isorthwold. 
Norwood,  Richard  (1590  P-1675)     . 
Norwych,  George  (d.  1469)     . 
Notary,  Julian  (fl.  1498-1520) 
Nothelm  (d.  739)     .        .        •        • 
Nott,  George  Frederick  (1/6/-1841) 
Nott,  John,  M.D.  (1751-1825} 
Nott,  Sir  Thomas  (1606-1681) 


214 
216 
216 
216 
217 
217 
218 
219 
219 
220 
220 
221 
225 


230 
08 

m 

231 
332 
233 

m 


454 


Index  to  Volume  XLI. 


PAGE 

Nott,  Sir  William  (1782-1845)  .  .  .234 
Nottingham,  Earls  of.  See  Finch,  Daniel, 

second  Earl  (1647-1730)  ;  Finch,  Heneage, 

first    Earl    (1621-1682)  ;     Finch-Hatton, 

George  William,  sixth  Earl  of  Winchilsea 

and  Nottingham  (1791-1858). 
Nottingham,  Earl  of.    See  Howard,  Charles, 

Lord  Howard  of  Effingham  (1536-1624). 
Nottingham,  William  of  (d.  1251)  .        .        .239 
Notion  or  Norton,  William  de  (fl.  1346-1363)  239 
Nourse,  Edward  (1701-1761)    .  240 

Nourse,  Timothy  (d.  1699)       .  240 

Novello,  Vincent  (1781-1861)  .  241 

Nowell,  Nowel,  or  Noel,  Alexander  (1507  ?- 

1602) 243 

Nowell,  Increase  (1590-1655)  .  250 

Nowell  or  Nowel,  Laurence  (d.  1576)  250 

Nowell,  Ralph  (d.  1144  ?).    See  Ralph. 
Nowell,    Samuel    (1634-1688).      See    under 

Nowell,  Increase. 

Nowell,  Thomas  (1730-1801)  .  .  .  .251 
Newer  or  Nowers,  Francis  (d.  1670)  .  .  252 
Noye  or  Noy,  William  (1577-1634).  .  .  253 

Nuce,  Thomas  (d.  1617) 255 

Nugent,  Baron.   See  Grenville,  George  Nugent 

(1788-1850). 

Nugent,  Sir  Charles  Edmund  (1759  P-1844)  .  256 
Nugent,  Sir  Christopher,  fourteenth  Baron 

Delvin  (1544-1602) 256 

Nugent,  Christopher  (d.  1731)  .  .  .259 
Nugent,  Christopher  (d.  1775)  .  .  .  259 
Nugent,  Sir  George  (1757-1849)  .  .  .260 
Nugent,  John,  fifth  Earl  of  Westmeath  (1672- 

1754) 261 

Nugent,  Lavall,  Count  Nugent  (1777-1862)  .  261 
Nugent,  Nicholas  (d.  1582)  .  .  .  .263 
Nugent,  Sir  Richard,  tenth  Baron  Delvin 

(d.  1460  ?) 264 

Nugent,  Richard,  twelfth  Baron  Delvin  (d. 

1538?) 265 

Nugent,    Richard     (fl.    1604).      See    under 

Nugent,  Nicholas. 
Nugent,  Sir  Richard,  fifteenth  Baron  Delvin, 

first  Earl  of  Westmeath  (1583-1642)   .        .  266 
Nugent,  Richard,  second  Earl  of  Westmeath 

(d.  1684) 268 

Nugent,  Robert,  Earl  Nugent  (1702-1788) ,  who 
-  afterwards  assumed  the  surname  of  Craggs  269 
Nugent,  Thomas,  titular  Baron  of  Riverston 

(d.  1715) 271 

Nugent,  Thomas,  fourth  Earl  of  Westmeath 

(1656-1752) 272 

Nugent,  Thomas,  LL.D.  (1700?-1772)  .  .273 
Nugent,  William  (d.  1625)  .  .  .  .273 
Nunn,  Marianne  (1778-1847)  .  .  .  .274 
Nunn,  William  (1786-1840).  See  under  Nunn, 

Marianne. 
Nunna  or  Nun  (fl.  710) 274 


Nunneley,  Thomas  (1809-1870) 
Nuthall,  Thomas  (rf.  1775) 
Nutt,  Joseph  (1700-1775) 
Nuttall,  Josiah  (1771-1849)     . 
Nuttall,  Thomas  (1786-1859)  . 
Nuttall,  Thomas  (1828-1890)  . 
Nuttall,  William  (d.  1840)      . 
Nutter,  William  (1759  P-1802) 
Nutting,  Joseph  (  fl.  1700) 
Nye,  John  (d.  1688) 
Nye,  Nathaniel  (fl.  1648) 
Nye,  Philip  (1596  P-1672) 
Nye,  Stephen  (1648  P-1719)    . 
Nyndge,  Alexander  (fl.  1573)  . 


275 
275 
276 
276 
276 
277 
278 
278 
278 
279 
279 
279 
282 
283 


Nyren,  John  (1764-1837) 
Nyren,  John   (/.  1830). 
John  (1764-1837). 


PAGE 

.  283 


See  under  Nyren, 


Oakeley,    Sir    Charles,  first    Baronet   (1751- 

1826)     

Oakeley,  Frederick  (1802-1880)      . 
Oakelev,  Sir  Herbert,  third  Baronet  (1791- 

1845)     

Oakes,   Sir  Henry   (1756-1827).    See   under 

Oakes,  Sir  Hildebrand. 
Oakes,  Sir  Hildebrand  (1754-1822) 
Oakes,  John  Wright  (1820-1887)    . 
Oakes,  Thomas  (1644-1719).  See  under  Oakes, 

Urian. 

Oakes,  Urian  (1631  P-1681) 
Oakley,  Edward  (/.  1732) 
Oakley,  John  (1834-1890) 
Oakley,  Octavius  (1800-1867) 
Oakman,  John  (1748  P-1793) 
Oasland  or  Osland,  Henry  (1625-1703) 
Oastler,  Richard  (1789-1861) 
Gates,  Francis  (1840-1875) 
Gates,  Titus  (1649-1705) 
Oatlands,   Henry  of.     See  Henry,  Duke  of 

Gloucester  (1639-1660). 
O'Beirne,  Thomas  Lewis  (1748  ?-l 823)  . 
O'Braein,  Tighearnach  (d.  1088)     .        . 
O'Brien,  Barnabas,  sixth  Earl  of  Thomond  (d. 

1657)     ..-...-. 
O'Brien,  Brian  Ruadh  (d.  1276) 
O'Brien,  Charles,  fifth  Viscount  Clare  (d.  1706) 
O'Brien,  Charles,  sixth  Viscount  Clare  (1699- 

1761).    See   under  O'Brien,  Charles,  fifth 

Viscount  Clare. 
O'Brien,  Conchobhar  (d.  1267) 

O'Brien,  Conor  (d.  1539) 

O'Brien,    Conor,    third    Earl    of    Thomond 

(1534P-1581)       ...... 

O'Brien,  Daniel,  first  Viscount  Clare  (1577  ?- 

1663)     

O'Brien,  Daniel,  third  ViscountClare(rf.l690). 

See  under  O'Brien,  Daniel,  first  Viscount 

Clare. 

O'Brien,  Domhnall  (d.  1194)   . 
O'Brien,  Donat  Henchy  (1785-1857) 
O'Brien,  Donogh  Cairbrech  (d.  1242) 
O'Brien,  Donough  (d.  1064) 


284 
286 


287 


288 
289 


289 
290 
291 
292 
292 
292 
293 
295 
296 


303 
305 

305 
306 
307 


307 
308 


309 
310 


O'Brien,  Donough,  Baron  of   Ibrickan 


and 


fourth  Earl  of  Thomond  (d.  1624) 
O'Brien,  Edward  (1808-1840) . 
O'Brien,  Henry  (1808-1835)    . 
O'Brien,  James,  third  Marquis  of  Thomond 

(1769-1855)          

O'Brien,  James  [  Bronterre]  (1805-1864) 
O'Brien,  James  Thomas  (1792-1874)       . 

O'Brien,  John  (d.  1767) 

O'Brien,  Sir  Lucius  Henrv  (d.  1795) 

O'Brien,  Matthew  (1814-1855) 

O'Brien,  Murrough,  first  Earl  of   Thomond 

(d.  1551)        ...  . 

O'Brien,  Murrougb,  first  Earl  of  Inchiquin 

(1614-1674)  

O'Brien.  Murtough  (d.  1119)*  . 

O'Brien,  Patrick  (1761  P-1806).    See  Cotter. 

O'Brien,  Paul  (1750  P-1820)     . 

O'Brien,  Terence  or  Toirdhelbhach  (d.  1460) . 

O'Brien,  Terence  Albert  (1600-1651) 

O'Brien,  Turlough  (1009-1086) 

O'Brien,  William,  second  Earl  of  Inchiquin 

(1638P-1692)        ...  .        . 

O'Brien,  William  (d.  1815)      . 


311 
311 
312 
312 

312 
314 
314 

315 
315 
316 
317 
318 
319 

S19 

320 
327 

327 

328 
828 
329 

330 
331 


Index  to  Volume  XLI. 


455 


PAGE 

O'Brien,  William  Smith  (1803-1864)  .  332 

(YBrolchain,  Flaibhertach  (d.  1175)  .  337 

O'Bruadair,  David  (  ft.  1650-1694)  .  .  338 

O'Bryan,  William  (1778-1868)        .  .339 

O'Bryen,  Dennis  (1755-1832)  .        .  .340 

O'Bryen,  Edward  (1754  P-1808)      .  .340 

O'Byrne,  Fiagh  Mac  Hugh  (1544  P-1597)  .  341 
O'Cahan  or  O'Kane,  Sir  Donnell  Ballagh,  or 

'the  freckled'  (d.  1617?)  .  .  .  .344 
O'Callaghan,  Edmund  Bailey  (1797-1880)  .  345 
O'Callaghan,  John  Cornelius  (1805-1883)  .  346 
O'Callaghan,  Sir  Robert  William  (1777-1840)  346 
O'Caran,  Gilla-an-Choimhdedh  (d.  1180)  .  347 
O'Carolan  orCarolan,  Torlogh  (1670-1738)  .  347 
O'Carroll,  Maolsuthain  (d.  1031)  .  .  .349 
O'Carroll,  Margaret  (d.  1451)  .  .  .  .350 
Occam,  Nicholas  of  (  ft.  1280)  .  .  .  .350 
Occam,  William  (d.  1349  ?  ).  See  Ockham. 
Occleve,  Thomas  (1370P-1450  ?).  See  Hoc- 

cleve. 
O'Cearbhall  (d.  888),  lord  of  Ossory.     See 

Cearbhall. 

O'Cearnaidh,  Brian  (1567-1610).    See  Kear- 
ney, Barnabas. 
Ochiltree,  second  Baron.  See  Stewart,  Andrew 

(d.  1568). 

Ochiltree,  Michael  (  ft.  1425-1445)  .  .  .350 
Ochino,  Bernardino  (1487-1564)  .  .  .  350 
Ochs,  Johann  Rudolph  (1673-1749).  See 

under  Ochs  or  Ocks,  John  Ralph. 
OchsorOcks,  John  Ralph  (1704-1788)    .        .353 
Ochterlony,  Sir  David  (1758-1825)  .        .        .353 
Ockham,  Barons  of.    See  King,  Peter,  first 

Lord    King    (1669-1734);    King,    Peter, 

seventh  Lord  King  (1776-1833). 
Ockham,  Nicholas  of  (  ft.  1280).   See  Occam. 
Ockham  or  Occam.  William  (d.  1349  ?)  .        .  357 
Ockland,  Christopher  (d.  1590?).  See  Ocland. 
Ockley,  Simon  (1678-1720)      .        .        .        .362 
Ocks,  John  Ralph  (1704-1788).    See  Ochs. 
Ocland,  Christopher  (d.  1590?)        .        .        .365 
O'Clery,  Cucoigcriche  (d.  1664).    See  under 

O'Clerv,  Lughaidh. 

O'Clery,  Lughaidh  ( /?.  1609)  .  .        .366 

O'Clery,  Michael  (1575-1643)  .  .  367 

O'Cobhthaigh,  Dermot  (ft.  1584)  .        .  369 

O'Connell,  Daniel  or  Daniel  Charles,  Count 

(1745P-1833)        ...  .  370 

O'Connell,  Daniel  (1775-1847)  .        .  371 

O'Connell,  John  (1810-1858)  .  .  389 

^'Connell,  Sir  Maurice  Charles  (1812-1879)  .  390 
O'Connell,  Sir  Maurice  Charles  Philip  (d. 

1848) 391 

O'Connell,  Morgan  (1804-1885)  .  .  .392 
O'Connell,  Moritz,  Baron  O'Connell  (1740  ?- 

1830) 393 

O'Connell,  Peter  (1746-1826)  .        .        .        .393 
<  )'Connor.    See  also  O'Conor. 
O'Connor,  Aedh  (d.  1067)        .  393 

O'Connor,  Arthur  (1763-1852)  .  .  .394 
O'Connor,  Bernard,  or  Brian  O'Conor  Faly 

(1490P-1560?) "  .  395 

O'Connor,  Bernard  (1666  ?-1698).    See  Con- 
nor. 

O'Connor,  Calvach  (1584-1655)  .  .  .398 
O'Connor,  Cathal  (d.  1010)  .  .  .  .398 
O'Connor,  Cathal  (1150  ?-1224)  .  .  .398 


0  Connor  or  O'Conor  Faly,  Cathal  or  Charles, 

otherwise  known  as  Don  Carlos  (l.ViO-1596). 

See  under  O'Connor,  Bernard  ( 1490  P-1560  ? ) . 
O'Connor,  Feargus(  1794-1 855)       .       .400 
O'Connor,    Hugh    (1617-1669).     See   under 

O'Connor,  Calvach. 

O'Connor,  James  Arthur  (1791-1841)  402 

O'Connor,  John  (1824-1887)  .  .  .  .403 
O'Connor,  John  (1830-1889)  .  .  .  .403 
O'Connor,  Luke  Smythe  (1806-1873)  .  *  404 
O'Connor,  Uoderic,  or  in  Irish  Ruuidhri 

(d.  1118)       ......        .405 

O'Connor,  Roderic  ( 1116-11 98)        .        .        .405 
O'Connor,  Koger  (1762-1834)  .        .        .        .407 

O'Connor,  Turlough  (1088-1156)     .        .        .408 

O'Conor.    See  also  O'Connor. 

O'Conor,  Charles  (1710-1791).        .        .        .410 

O'Conor,  Charles  (1764-1828)  .        .        .        .412 

O'Conor,  Matthew  (1773-1844)       .        .        .413 
O'Conor,  William  Anderson  (1820-1887)         .  414 
Octa,  Ocga,  Oht,  or  Oiric  (d.  532  ?)          .        .  414 
O'Cullane,  John  (1754-1816)   ....  415 

O'Curry,  Eugene  (1796-1862).        .        .        .415 

O'Daly,  Aengua  (d.  1350)        .        .        .        .416 

O'Daly,  Aengus  (d.  1617)        .        .        .        .417 

O'Daly,  Daniel  or  Dominic  (1595-1662).    See 

Daly. 

O'Daly,  Donnchadh  (d.  1244)  .  .  .  .417 
O'Daly,  Muiredhach  (  fl.  1213)  .  .  418 

Odda.    See  Odo. 

Odell,  Thomas  (1691-1749)  .  .  .  .418 
O'Dempsey,  Dermot  (d.  1193)  ....  419 
O'Devany"  or  O'Duane,  Cornelius  (1533- 

1612) " 419 

Odger,  George  (1820-1877)  .  .  .  .420 
Odingsells,  Gabriel  (1690-1734)  .  .  .421 
Odington,  Walter,  or  Walter  of  Evesham  (  fl. 

1240).    See  Walter. 

Odo  or  Oda  (d.  959) 421 

Odo  or  Odda  (d.  1056) 423 

Odo  (d.  1097) 424 

Odo  of  Canterbury  (d.  1200)  .  .  .  .426 
Odo  of  Cheriton,  or,  less  familiarly,  Sherston 

(d.  1247) 428 

O'Dogherty,  Sir  Cahir  (1587-1608)  .  .  .429 
O'Doherty,"  William  James  (1835-1868) .  .  431 
O'Doirnin,  Peter  (1682-1768).  .  .  .431 
O'Domhnuill,  William  (d.  1628).  See  Daniel. 
Odone,  William  of  (d.  1298).  See  Hothum. 
O'Donnel,  James  Louis  (1738-1811)  .  .  432 
O'Donne',1,  Calvagh  (d.  1566)  ....  432 
O'Donnell,  Daniel  (1666-1735)  .  .  .434 
O'Donnell,  Godfrev  (d.  1258)  .  .  .  .485 
O'Donnell,  Hugh  Balldearg  (d.  1704)  .  .  43.J 
O'Donnell,  Hugh  Roe  (1571  P-1602)  .  .  436 
O'Donnell,  John  Francis  (1837-1874)  .  .440 
O'Donnell,  Manus  (d.  1564)  .  .  .  .441 
O'Donnell,  Man-  Stuart  (  fl.  1632).  See  under 

O'Donnell,  Rory,  first  E"arl  of  Tyrconnel. 
O'Donnell,  Sir  Niall  Garv  (1569-1626)    .        .  443 
O'Donnell,    Rory,    first   Earl    of    Tyrconnel 

(1575-1608) 444 

O'Donovan,  Edmund  (1844-1883)  .  .  .447 
O'Donovan,  John  (1809-1861)  .  .  .448 
O'Duane,  Cornelius  (1533-1612).  See  O'De- 

vam'. 
O'Dugan,  John,  the  Great  (d.  1872)       .       .  460 


END  OF  THE  FOBTY-FIKST  VOLUHE. 


0 


D""  LIST    SEP  1    1945 

17-  t- 


DA       Dictionary  of  national 

v. 


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