Having lost his first lady, March 20. 1819, Sir Richard married, secondly, May 16. 1822, Susanna Maria, second daughter of Admiral Sir Charles Cotton, Bart., and had issue two sons and two daughters: 6. Maria Philadelphia; 7. Charles Cotton; 8. Fanny Rowley; and, 9. John Hynde.

Principally from "The United Service Journal."

298

No. XXIV.

THE RIGHT HON.

GEORGE JOHN SPENCER, EARL SPENCER,

KNIGHT OF THE

GARTER; VISCOUNT ALTHORP, VISCOUNT

SPENCER AND BARON SPENCER OF ALTHORP, IN THE COUNTY OF NORTHAMPTON ; FELLOW OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY, AND OF THE SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES; LORD STEWARD OF ST. ALBANS; GOVERNOR OF THE CHARTERHOUSE, AND AN ELDER BROTHER OF THE TRINITY.

SUCH was the note once sounded by the lyre of Sotheby to the honour of the noble and venerable subject of the following memoir. Poet and patron are now, alas, no more!

"Deaf the praised ear, and mute the tuneful tongue!"

The Spencer family is descended in a direct line from the third Earl of Sunderland, whose youngest son married Ann Churchill, the daughter and co-heiress of the celebrated Duke of Marlborough. John, the issue of this marriage, and first Earl Spencer, married Margaret Georgiana, the eldest daughter of Stephen Poyntz of Midgham, Berks, Esq. George John Spencer, the late Earl, was the issue of this marriage, and was born on the 1st of September, 1758.

His Lordship early displayed the germ of those refined tastes that afterwards distinguished him; and even during the period of his scholastic career he exhibited superior judgment, and an elevated passion for literature, in the wise choice of his companions and his pursuits. The care of his education was confided, in the first instance, to a private tutor, Mr. (afterwards Sir William) Jones, at that time one of the four scholars on the foundation of Sir Simon Bennett, at Oxford, who was recommended to that situation by Dr. Shipley, the Dean of Winchester. Mr. Jones, who was then in his nineteenth year, hastened to join his pupil, just seven years old, in London; and was so delighted with his manners, and his eagerness to acquire knowledge, which was the most remarkable trait in his own character, that he abandoned the intentions he had previously formed of entering one of the professions, and resolved to dedicate himself exclusively to his young charge. Shortly after this time his Lordship was sent to Harrow School, Mr. Jones being still retained to attend him at Wimbledon. The character of the studies to which Mr. Jones was chiefly devoted was not without influence upon the mind of his pupil; and in a youth devoted to literary research the constant opportunities of access to the philological stores of so accomplished a master of languages could not fail to generate a desire to extend the ordinary sphere of routine education. To this circumstance, and the continued intercourse between the tutor and his pupil in subsequent years, may possibly be traced that ardour as a bibliomaniac which afterwards led to the accumulation of one of the most rare and valuable libraries in Europe. Dr. Dibdin's catalogue of the late Earl Spencer's library will long remain as a curious evidence of the versatility and depth of his Lordship's critical taste.

His Lordship passed through Harrow School with distinguished success. The celebrated Dr. Parr, Dr. Bennett, afterwards Bishop of Cloyne, and Sir William Jones, had not been many years antecedent to him; and they were known rarely to partake in the common amusements of the students,

but rather to indulge in some learned fancies upon which to relax their minds in the intervals of study. On one of these occasions they divided the fields in the neighbourhood of Harrow into states and kingdoms, each appropriating to himself his own dominion; and, adopting classical titles, they enacted, with the subordinate help of some of their playmates, the wars, negotiations, and conquests of antiquity. In such pleasures as these the young Lord Althorp employed his disengaged hours, and devoted to mental recreation, in a form of mental exercise, the time which was ordinarily wasted by others in idleness.

In 1767 his Lordship's family retired to Spa for the summer, on account of Earl Spencer's health, attended by Mr. Jones, who continued during the subsequent winter with his pupil at Althorp. Sometime afterwards, Mr. Jones's prospects having enlarged in life, the care of his Lordship's education was intrusted to Dr. Heath. After prosecuting his preliminary studies with great assiduity, his Lordship was entered at Trinity College, Cambridge; and in 1778 he took the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Throughout the term of his intercourse at the University he attracted around him many friends, whose esteem he acquired not less by the dignified tone of his mind than by the generosity of his disposition.

The time was now approaching for his Lordship to take that part in public affairs for which his rank and his acquirements so fully adapted him. He had passed with considerable credit through his studies, and had already made a tour upon the Continent, so that he had availed himself of all the opportunities of observation which his age could command. Shortly after he left college, he took his seat in Parliament for the borough of Northampton, and being connected by association as well as principle with the Whigs, his Lordship attached himself at once to that party. The moment was auspicious for the display of firmness and ability. The Whigs were engaged in a struggle with Lord North, and Lord Althorp was one of the majority that drove the minister from the power he abused.

On the overthrow of that administration his Lordship was appointed in 1782 one of the Lords of the Treasury, and was re-elected for Northampton, though he was afterwards elected for the county of Surrey, which he continued to represent until he succeeded to the peerage, by the death of his father, in 1783.

The state of the public mind upon the progress of events in France a few years after called his Lordship into a more important position. The principles that were rapidly growing up amongst the French people were regarded in this country with the utmost anxiety. A change had taken place in the government, and the Whigs were again at the opposition side of the House. The whole of the year 1792 presented an unbroken series of alarms. The Whigs had become divided upon the wisdom of the measures adopted by the administration; and a section of them, swayed by a spirit of integrity to which even their opponents cordially bore testimony, considered it to be their duty to support the existing government. When the King issued his proclamation in that momentous year, Lord Spencer, and those who were united with him in opinion, declared their intention of voting with the administration. The horrors of the French revolution, depicted in the forcible and glowing language of Burke, had spread dismay throughout the country; and the schism which had taken place amongst the Whigs, while it occasioned some immediate fears of further dissensions, had the effect of checking their outbreak by the increased efficiency it gave to the ministry. So important a movement was followed by still greater political changes, and Lord Spencer, with the Duke of Portland, Lord Grenville, and Mr. Windham, joined the Pitt administration in 1794.

He was appointed, on the 20th of December, 1794, to succeed Lord Chatham in the high and important office of First Lord of the Admiralty, and immediately directed the whole energies of his mind to carry on with vigour the naval operations of the country. The brilliant victories which followed would afford the best evidence of the great ability and dis