chamberlain of the household, an office of honour rather than of profit; and he retained it but a few months, having gone out, or, in plain English, been turned out, in conjunction with his colleagues.

On the 8th of November, 1766, his grace married Lady Dorothy Cavendish, daughter of William, the late duke of Devonshire, by whom he had four sons and two daughters. By this union he became connected with another whig family, which, like his own, had been zealous for the Revolution, and still cherished the principles, under a new dynasty, that led to that great and fortunate event. From this period too, Burlington-house, in Piccadilly, became his town-residence; and it was there where all the plans for abating the alarming influence of the crown, curbing the avowed arrogance of successive ministers,— and giving strength, zeal, and efficiency, to popular sentiment,-were hatched, reared, and brought to maturity, up to the period of the French revolution.

As parliamentary influence must always be a great object with every one who aspires to become a leader of a party, the subject of this memoir having property in Cumberland, thought a fair opportunity presented itself of assisting two of his friends in their pretensions to be returned its knights of the shire, and he accordingly supported Henry Curwen, Esq., a gentleman of fortune, and Henry Fletcher, Esq., an East India director, and afterwards a baronet. This of course gave great umbrage to the late Sir James Lowther, afterwards earl of Lonsdale, who to great opulence united a daring spirit, and, in addition to Doth, was son-in-law of the earl of Bute. A long, violent, and expensive contest accordingly took place; and, although the baronet found means to be returned, yet he was declared unduly elected by a committee of the house, and the two other candidates were left for that parliament, at least, in the quiet possession of their seats. In the month of December, 1767, a grant was made by the lords of the treasury to Sir James Lowther, of an extensive and valuable estate known by the name of Inglewood forest, being appurtenant to the manor of Penrith, in the county already mentioned. To this was added the peerage of Carlisle, granted by King William III. to his favourite, the first earl of Portland, by way of remuneration for his services, and which, whether worthily bestowed or not, had hitherto been considered as an inheri tance descending regularly from father to son, through several genera. tions. Every thing on this occasion was conducted with all the due forms of office. Sir James Lowther, by memorial, prayed a lease of the lands in question, and on a reference to the surveyor-general, that gentleman, although no lawyer, was about to decide, "that the premises were not comprised within the grant from King William to the earl of Portland, but remained still vested in the crown." He concluded a most elaborate report, by recommending to the lords of the treasury to grant the lease demanded, at a very inconsiderable reserved rent. These proceedings were at length disclosed, and the tenant in possession adopted the necessary steps to counteract such a conspiracy against his fortune. His agents, however, were refused permission to examine the rolls on which the report was supposed to have been founded, and he himself was referred from Whitehall to the surveyor's office, and from the surveyor's office to Whitehall; in fine, the whole was involved in secrecy and equivocation. At length, notwithstanding a positive

promise that nothing should be decided without a due hearing, the duke received an official letter, dated December 22d. 1767, intimating that the grants were passed and leases signed. On Lord North, who had just become chancellor of the exchequer, being remonstrated with on this occasion, he replied, "That he had received directions to affix the seal instanter, and that he was compelled, in virtue of his office, to obey all orders from the treasury board." The duke appealed to the law, and on the 20th of November, 1771, this great cause, which had aroused the indignation of the whole county of Cumberland, was tried before the barons of the exchequer in Westminster-hall; but it was greatly narrowed, so as to assume the form and substance of the following question: "Whether the late grant of the forest of Inglewood to Sir James Lowther, Bart. was legal or not?" The earl of Rosslyn, then Mi Wedderburne, was counsel for the crown, and Mr Thurlow, afterwards Baron Thurlow and chancellor, led for the duke of Portland. After a long trial the new leases were adjudged to be invalid, as being in direct opposition to the statute of the 1st Anne, declaring "that upon every grant from the crown there shall be a reserved rent, not less than the third part of the clear yearly value of such manor, estate, &c. as shall be contained in such grant."

During the whole of the American contest the duke was eminently consistent, exhibiting on all occasions a degree of firmness, zeal, and resolution that obtained for him the confidence of the opposition of that day. Under the brief administration of the marquess of Rockingham he was appointed, in 1782, to the office of lord-lieutenant of Ireland, which he resigned on the 15th of September in the same year, in consequence of the death of the premier. He is perhaps the only lordlieutenant with whom the Irish people were so completely pleased as to be eager to drag him to the parliament-house, which they were, indeed, only prevented from accomplishing by the intervention of the horse guards.

On the 5th of April, 1783, he became first lord of the treasury, in the memorable coalition-ministry of which Fox was virtually the head, and succeeded to the government of an exasperated people while the cabinet was so divided, by the Lords North, Carlisle, and Stormout being placed in opposition to Lord Keppel, Lord John Cavendish, and Mr Fox, on all great constitutional questions, that nothing could be effected, either honourable to themselves or advantageous to the country. Accordingly this ill-fated ship and ill-assorted crew ran aground on the East India bill. This event brought Mr Pitt on the stage, as a principal actor, for he had hitherto only exhibited in a subordinate capacity. Although young in point of years it was soon seen that he was calculated "to teach the hoary Numidian guile," and accordingly, in a nego tiation for power, during which he declined to descend from his new appointment, he first outwitted the duke of Portland, and then the house of commons, the latter of which was dissolved. In revenge, the duke, whose candour and whose veracity had remained unimpeached, is asserted to have declared, in the most unequivocal manner, that he "would never sit in the same cabinet with this youthful statesman!" The duke of Portland appears not to have taken any active part on Mr Hastings' trial. He doubtless at first agreed with his friends in the propriety of that measure, but did not vote on any of the charges. By the time it

was finally concluded he was estranged from the party with which he had hitherto acted, although doubtless united closer than ever with Mr Burke, the original author and prime-mover of that measure. In respect to the proceedings of parliament in the great question of the regency, his grace was more intimately connected with the result; but even then he does not appear to have spoken once. On Wednesday, December 3d, 1788, he was one of the privy-councillors summoned to hear and take into consideration the report of the physicians relative to the state of his majesty's health; he was also one of the twenty-one peers selected by the house of lords to form a committee for the same purpose; and one of the sixty-six, two of whom were of the blood-royal. that divided in favour of Lord Moira's amendment. He, however, did not subscribe the protest to which two princes of the blood had affixed their names, together with forty-seven other peers; yet, on the 23d of January, 1789, we find the duke's name in the list of those who were 'dissentient' to the report of the committee.

When the French revolution broke out the duke seceded, with Burke and others, from his party, and did all in his power to strengthen the government. It has been said, that during a debate, when one of his grace's near relatives sent a note to Burlington-house for instructions, in consequence of the sudden hostility of Fox and Burke, which was first publicly declared that evening, the reply was, "Follow Fox." Yet some circumstances had occurred that raised suspicion anterior to this. The duke of Portland, on the 5th of August, 1792, succeeded the earl of Guilford as chancellor of the university of Oxford without so much as a struggle, although the influence of the minister was supposed to be very great among the members of that learned body. In the course of a short time, however, what was only suspicion became certainty, for Lord Loughborough having accepted of the seals in 1793, the duke of Portland, on the 11th of July, 1794, was gazetted secretary of state for the home-department.

No sooner was his political alliance with Mr Pitt made known than the duke's popularity evaporated in consequence of the outcry of his quondam associates, and the man in whose praise the tongues of half a nation had but recently vibrated, no longer received any homage but from his own immediate friends and dependents.

In 1801, finding his health decline, he resigned the office of secretary and acted as president of the council until 1805,-a situation in which less labour and application were required. On the formation of the Fox and Grenville administration his grace thought fit to withdraw, as he had not for some time been on terms of intimacy with Mr Fox. After the death of that gentleman, and the sudden dismission of his colleagues, in consequence of a supposed attempt to restore their civil and ecclesiastical privileges to the Irish nation, his grace once more appeared on the scene, and that too in an official character, notwithstanding his declining years and infirmities. In 1807, under the name of first lord of the treasury, he became ostensible minister;' but as he was for the most part unable to attend, the parliamentary part of the business was conducted by Mr Percival in one house and Lord Liver

This appointment excited great ridicule and discontent; the premier was caricatured as a block of Portland stone, against which the opposition members were breaking their shins.

pool in another. At length, after a severe struggle with disease, his grace determined to retire wholly from the political world; this was accordingly effected in the autumn of 1809, and but a few weeks anterior to his demise, which took place in the 72d year of his age.

William Windham.

BORN A. D. 1750.-died a. D. 1810.

WILLIAM WINDHAM, son of Colonel Windham of Felbrigge, was born in the year 1750. From the age of seven to sixteen he was at Eton school; thence he went to the university of Glasgow for one year, and from thence to Oxford as a gentleman-commoner of university college. He left Oxford in 1771, but did not receive his degrees of M. A. and LL. D. till 1783 and 1793. He next visited the continent, and would afterwards have gone on a voyage of discovery to the north pole with Commodore Phipps, had not the severity of his sea-sickness been such as to compel him to land on the coast of Norway.

His first essay in public affairs occurred on the 28th of January, 1778, at a meeting of gentlemen held at Norwich to consider of a subscription in aid of government, in prosecuting the war then existing with the colonies. The speech he pronounced on this occasion has been preserved; and "though," his biographer observes, "it must not be compared with later specimens of his eloquence, it may be admitted to exhibit some proofs of acuteness, dexterity, and vigour."

We next find Mr Windham in the character of an officer in the

western battalion of Norfolk militia. His military career was abruptly and most singularly terminated. It happened on a march, that imprudently, and in a sort of frolic, he joined two brother-officers in riding through a deep rivulet, after which they were obliged to keep on their wet clothes for several hours. The consequences of this adventure were fatal to one of the party; while Mr Windham was thrown into a fever of a most alarming kind, from the effects of which his constitution never thoroughly recovered. He lived from this time much in town, and connected himself with some of the most eminent political and literary men of the day. Before making a second tour to the continent, he had become a member of the celebrated literary club. On his return, he cemented his friendship with the leading members of that society, and more particularly with its two most distinguished ornaments, Dr Johnson and Mr Burke. The former appears to have felt the same sentiments of friendship and esteem for Windham, that Windham felt for him; and this is illustrated by one of his letters printed by Boswell, addressed to Dr Brocklesby, in which Johnson says, "Mr Windham has been here to see me; he came I think forty miles out of his way, and staid about a day and a half; perhaps I may make the time shorter than it was. Such conversation I shall not have again till I come back to the regions of literature, and there Windham is inter stellas luna minores.' Mr Windham's other connections about this time, of a political nature, were the leaders of the opposition. In 1783 he became chief secretary to the earl of Northampton, lord-lieutenant of

Ireland; being fearful he should fail in his new situation, from the doubts he entertained whether he could descend to practise the arts supposed to be necessary in such cases, Dr Johnson encouraged him by saying, Don't be afraid, Sir, you will soon make a very pretty rascal." This humorous assurance was ill-founded; and it is generally admitted, that Mr Windham's resignation, within four months, originated from the most honourable motives. In 1793 he attached himself to Burke's party. Soon after he went on a mission to the duke of York, then commanding our forces in Flanders. The following extract is from a pleasing letter to his sister-in-law Mrs Lukin, dated near Bois-le-Duc, September 12th, 1794.

"We are, as you will have learned from one of my former letters, near Bois-le-Duc, which is rather a large town, and a strong fortress belonging to the Dutch. About three miles from this place are the duke's head-quarters, and at four or five miles further is the camp. The immediate place of my residence is the village where head-quarters are, and I am lodged in the house of a Dutch attorney. The country about is light and sandy, affording very pleasant rides, which are not the less so from your occasionally meeting bodies of troops of different dresses, establishments, and countries. The variety in this respect is not so great as it was last year, nor, from a number of circumstances, is the scene so interesting, after allowing even for the difference of its not being seen, as that was, for the first time. The relief which all this gives, after confinement during the summer in London, and to such business as that of the war-office, is more than you can conceive. It has given me a new stock of health; and the beauty of the autumn mornings, joined to the general idleness in which one lives by necessity, and therefore without self-reproach, has given me a feeling of youthful enjoyment, such as I now but rarely know. You cannot conceive how you would like a ride here, with the idea that if you wandered too far, and went beyond the outposts, you might be carried off by a French patrole. It is the enjoyment that George Falknor was supposed to describe of a scene near Dublin, where the delighted spectator expects every moment to be crushed by the impending rocks.' Were public business out of the question, I should stay here probably for a week or two longer; but, as it is, my stay must be regulated by other considerations, and it is probable that the messenger whom we are waiting for impatiently, may occasion my departure immediately. The general state of things is as bad as need be. The shooters in your part of the world must not suppose that they have all the sport to themselves. So strong is the love of mischief among men, that all the shooting of one another that is going on here, does not prevent their filling up their intervals by a little murder of partridges"

During this trip to the continent, a whimsical mistake occurred between Mr Windham and a Dutch clergyman. The old gentleman was eager in his inquiries as to the doctrines and discipline of the church of England, to which he received satisfactory answers: those, however, were succeeded by others of a more difficult nature, particularly as to the manner in which some English preachers manufacture their ser Upon Mr Windham's confessing his ignorance of this subject, the Dutchman in a tone of disappointment exclaimed, "Why then, I find, Sir, after all the conversation we have had, that I have been de

mons.