North

North, a family famous in the history of England, the most illustrious members of which were three of the sons of Dudley, fourth Baron North of Kirtling in Cambridgeshire, all of whose lives fortunately were written by their youngest brother Roger, who has also bequeathed to posterity an interesting and characteristic, but unfinished, autobiography. These have all been collected by Dr Jessopp (3 vols. 1890).—SIR EDWARD NORTH (1496-1564) was famous as a lawyer, and was created Baron North of Kirtling in Cambridgeshire in 1554. His second son was SIR THOMAS NORTH, of whose life we know but little save that he was still living in 1603 when the third edition of his translation of Plutarch (first 1579) was published. This work, a translation from the French of Amyot, remains a noble monument of English, and was beyond doubt one of the fountains from which Shakespeare drew his knowledge of ancient history. There is an admirable edition of the portions relating to Shakespeare by Professor Skeat (1875). Other translations by North were The Diall of Princcs, from a French version of Guevara (see EUPHUISM), and The Morall Philosophie of Doni, from the Italian (1570; new ed. by Joseph Jacobs, 1888).—CHARLES, the eldest son of the fourth Baron North, was created Lord Grey of Rolleston, but on the death s.p. of his son, William, sixth Baron North (1734), the barony of Grey ceased, and that of North devolved upon his cousin, Francis, third Baron Guilford. He was created Earl of Guilford in 1752, and his son, the second Earl of Guilford and eighth Lord North, was the famous statesman under George III. The third earl had only three daughters, between whom the barony of North of Kirtling fell into abeyance on his lordship's death in 1802, until in 1841 it vested in Susan, Baroness North (1797-1884), whose son, William-Henry John, succeeded as eleventh Baron North in 1884. The other honours of the third earl devolved upon his brother, Francis, fourth earl; and next on another brother, Frederick, fifth earl; on whose death in 1827 the earldom reverted to his cousin, Francis, sixth earl; who was succeeded by his grandson, Dudley-Francis, seventh earl; and he in his turn, in 1885, by his son, Frederick-George, eighth Earl of Guilford.—FRANCIS NORTH, second son of Dudley, fourth Baron North, was born 22d October 1637. He had his education at Bury and St John's College, Cambridge, studied law at the Middle Temple, and was called to the bar in 1655. He worked hard, was judicious in his drinking, and more than prudent in his marriage, and was knighted and made Solicitor-general in 1671, and Attorney-general in succession to Sir Heneage Finch but two years later. In 1674 he became Lord Chief-justice of the Court of Common Pleas. As far from being the despicable creature of Macaulay's picture as the saint and sage of his brother's eulogium, he knew how to make interest for himself, and quickly became a privy-councillor, and in 1682 Lord-keeper of the Great Seal, and Baron Guilford (September 1683). We know of his love for music, his kindness to his brothers and sisters, his dislike of witchcraft trials, and his distrust of all the many plots of the time. After the king's death he was much vexed by the intrigues and insolence of Sunderland and Jeffreys, but soon after died, 5th September 1685.—SIR DUDLEY NORTH, the third son, was born 16th May 1641, and, like his brothers, educated at Bury. Even at school he was a trader, and at an early age he was bound to a Turkey merchant in London. Ever the industrious apprentice, he yet solaced himself with cock-fighting and swimming. He made a voyage to Archangel, next to Smyrna, where he settled for some years in trade. Afterwards he settled in Constantinople, returning to England some years after with a considerable fortune, which he continued to increase by keeping an interest in the Levant trade. He became one of the sheriffs of London, and was pliant enough in the interest of the crown. He was knighted, married the widow Lady Gunning, and was appointed a Commissioner of Customs, next of the Treasury, then of the Customs again. Under James II. he sat in parliament for Banbury, and after the Revolution made but a sorry defence of his actions as sheriff. He was a keen-eyed observer of men and manners, had great mechanical genius, a passion for architecture, and quite extraordinary ability as a financier. Indeed, his Discourses upon Trade (1691) anticipate in a striking manner some of the ideas of Adam Smith. He died 31st December 1691.—DR JOHN NORTH, the fifth son, was born in London, 4th September 1645, was educated at Bury, and entered Jesus College, Cambridge, in 1661, becoming fellow there in 1666. He was strangely timid, yet a severe student, solacing himself by book-buying and by keeping great spiders in wide glass bottles. He succeeded Barrow as Master of Trinity College in 1677, became clerk of the closet to Charles II., and died, after a long and grievous sickness, in April 1683.—ROGER NORTH, the sixth and youngest brother, was born at Tostock in Suffolk, 3d September 1653, educated at Bury and Jesus College, Cambridge, entered the Middle Temple, and under the influence of his brother the lord-keeper, soon rose to a lucrative practice at the bar. At the Revolution his hopes of advancement were closed, and he cast in his lot with the nonjuring party, and retired to his estate of Rougham in Norfolk, where he indulged the family passion for building, and acted as trustee for his great brother's estate at Wroxton. In 1696 he married, and lived henceforth the life of a country gentleman and virtuoso, his only unusual tastes being a passion for acquiring books, and for planting trees. He died 1st March 1734. His three hyper-eulogistic biographies, his autobiography (edited by Dr Jessopp, 1887), with all its amusing prejudices, and his Examen (1740) of Dr White Kennet's History of England give him a place in English literature not quite commensurate with his own merits.—FREDERICK NORTH, eighth Lord North and second Earl of Guilford, a famous English minister, was born April 13, 1732, and educated at Eton and Trinity College, Oxford. When only twenty-two he entered the House of Commons, and was made a Lord of the Treasury in 1759, having inherited the Tory politics of his ancestors. On the death of Charles Townshend in 1767 he was made Chancellor of the Exchequer and leader of the House of Commons, a post for which he was well qualified by his eloquence, good-humour, wit, and readiness of resource, even against such antagonists as Fox and Burke. In 1770 he succeeded the Duke of Grafton as prime-minister. North was largely responsible for the measures that brought about the loss of America; as a minister he was too ready to surrender his own judgment to that of the narrow-minded and obstinate king. Indeed, North was called by Horace Walpole the ostensible minister; the real minister was George III. In 1778 he renounced the right of taxing the colonies, already seeing that the war was hopeless, and in 1782 he resigned. With North's retirement came to an end the king's scheme of governing the country by his own will, and ruling the House of Commons by thinly-disguised corruption. North was succeeded by the Marquis of Rockingham, on whose death Lord Shelburne became premier. Fox's dislike of the terms of peace with America led him to enter into a coalition with North, whom he had for so many years inveighed against as a minister without foresight, treacherous, vacillating, and incapable. North and Fox took office under the Duke of Portland in 1783, but the coalition destroyed Fox's popularity, and the Portland administration only lasted a few months. North was afflicted by blindness during the last five years of his life. He succeeded to the earldom of Guilford in 1790, on the death of his father, and died 5th August 1792.—BROWLOW NORTH, evangelist, was grandson of that Brownlow North (1741-1820), Bishop of Lichfield, Worcester, and Winchester, whose son succeeded in 1827 as sixth Earl of Guilford. Born at Chelsea, January 6, 1810, he spent six years at Eton, travelled abroad, gambled, and lived much in the north of Scotland, but underwent conversion in 1854, and thereafter devoted himself entirely to evangelical labours under the Free Church of Scotland, as well as in Ireland and England. He died at Tullichewan in Dumfirltonshire, November 9, 1875. See his Life by K. Moody-Stuart (1878).