An attempt toward the Character of a Nobleman

lately deceased.

The

Great Man,
Whose character these lines presume but to sketch,

If considered in
His attachment to the Protestant succession,

His love to the King,
And his readiness to co-operate with his Ministers
Whenever he thought them in the right,

Was a true Courtier.

But if we regard
His constant adherence to the interests of his country,
His contempt of honours and advantages to himself,

And his steady opposition to every measure
Which he thought detrimental to the public,

He was indeed a Patriot.

Beloved by his friends,

Respected even by his enemies, He was honoured in the Senate with attention from both.

Courted by all parties,

Enlisting with none,
He preserved throughout his life a remarkable independency.

These public virtues arose
From the excellence of his private disposition,
From the universal benevolence of his heart,

From the uprightness of his intentions,
From his great parts and uncommon penetration.

O Reader!
Can it be necessary to inform thee,
Whose character this is ?

Alas!
To how few can it be applied, but
To HENRY Lord Viscount LONSDALE!

Lord Clare, in 1774, wrote the following Epitaph on this amiable Nobleman, as “a tribute of affection and reverence to his dearest friend, and the most perfect man he ever had the happiness and honour of being acquainted with.” It is addressed to Sir James Lowther.

EPIT A P H.

Could every virtue of the human breast,
Taught by the wisest, practised by the best;
Could kind Beneficence with open hands,
Whose tender heart at Pity's call expands;
Could patriot Zeal, refined in Freedom's flame,
Pure as from heaven the bright effusion came;
Could patient Fortitude, whose powers restrain
The rising sigh, and blunt the edge of pain;
From Fate's relentless doom persuasive save
The wise, the good, the generous, and the brave;
Not yet would Britain her loved son resign,
Nor grateful LOWTHER mix his tears with mine.

He died at Byram, in the county of York, on the seventh day of March, 1750-1, and by his will (dated the twenty-seventh of May, 1747) left his real estate to his heir at law, James the son of Robert Lowther, Esquire, of Meaburn in Westmoreland; who on May 24, 1784, was by patent created a Peer of Great Britain, by the title of Earl of Lonsdale, Viscount Lonsdale, Viscount Lowther, Baron Lowther, Baron of Kendal, and Baron of Burgh.

3. Antony, the youngest son, one of the Commissioners of the Revenue in Ireland, was representative in parliament for Cockermouth from 1714 to 1722, and afterward knight of the shire for Westmoreland. He died November 24, 1741, unmarried.

MEMOIR

OF

THE LIFE

OF

JOHN SUDBURY, D. D.

DEAN OF DURHAM.