maintained their own franchises and those of the people, by curbing the despotism of our former Kings, are naturally led to become the corrupt sycophants of a court, and to cringe, bend, and bow the knee, to the ministerial pageant that is to support and even to feed them.

It is with no common pleasure, then, that the imagination can contemplate, and the eye repose, on such a character as that before us. We behold an opulent nobleman giving up his hours of relaxation to literary pursuits, and occupying the rest of his time in public business. Standing aloof from the vices of the day, he presents an amiable instance of domestic felicity, and the husband, the father, the master, and the landlord, in short, all the relations of social life, shine forth conspicuous, and reflect on, rather than receive a lustre from, nobility!

George-John Spencer, Earl Spencer, Viscount Althorpe, &c. was born September 1, 1758. His family is ancient, and fome of our genealogists, eager to pay homage to his lineage, have wished to derive it from that Hugh Spenser, Le Spenser, or Le Despenser (for he was known by all these names), who succeeded Piers Gaveston, as the favourite of Edward II. and, with his father, experienced an untimely end, in consequence of the vengeance of the exasperated barons*. But it would be a poor compliment

"Hugh Despenser, a young man distinguished by his birth, and the exterior accomplishments of person and address, had engaged

pliment to insist on the descent of a worthy and ins dependent nobleman from the minion of one of our most contemptible princes; and we shall leave a matter so trivial in its nature to the grave decision of the College of Arms, contenting ourselves with mentioning the anecdote, and leaving its admission or rejection to the labours of future commentators.

Proceeding therefore from conjecture to certainty, it will not be worth our while to go further back than the beginning of the last century, when John Spencer, grandson of John Duke of Marlborough, married a daughter of Earl Granville, by whom he

gaged the affections of Edward, and excited against him the hatred of the barons, whom he affected to despise. As rapacious as he was insolent, he had prevailed on this weak monarch to confer on him a barony, which it was pretended had reverted to the crown; and this transaction, which was a proper subject for a law-suit, created an insurrection in the kingdom. Lancaster, and several other barons, had recourse to arms, and sent a message to Edward, demanding him to banish his favourite, and even the elder Despenser, his father, a man respectable by his wisdom, and worthy of the confidence of the King. Upon the King's re fusal, they marched to London, and presented to the Parliament, which was then sitting, an accusation against both the Despensers, &c.

"London revolted from Edward; the provinces followed the example of the capital; and the King, disappointed with regard to the loyalty of his subjects, took to flight. The elder Despenser was delivered up to the enemy by the garrison of Bristol, which he commanded, and was hanged as a malefactor. No respect was paid to the merit of this venerable noble, who had nearly reached the ninetieth year of his age. The younger Despenser, and the Earl of Arundel, perished by a similar fate," &c.

The Abbé Millot's Hist. of Eng. vol. i. p. 201 and 203.

had

had John, created Viscount Spencer and Baron Spencer by George II. in 1761, and Earl Spencer and Viscount Althorpe by his present Majesty, Nov. 1, 1765. This nobleman's daughter, Georgiana, was married June 6, 1774, to the Duke of Devonshire; and thus, on Lord Spencer's demise in 1783, his only son found himself descended from one, and related to another, of the first Whig families of the kingdom; considerations apparently trivial in themselves, but which, by their silent operation, are productive of the most interesting consequences, both to the individual and the public.

The present Lord Spencer, known until his father's death by the appellation of Lord Althorpe, received the early part of his education from a private tutor within the paternal mansion. It was determined at length, however, that he should derive all the advantages which arise from the rivalry of boys of a similar age. He was accordingly conveyed to Harrow, where he has since sent his own son, the present Lord Althorpe. The old lord, who is represented to have been one of the loftiest noblemen ever seen in this country, determined on what he considered a suitable establishment, and a house, servants, and, what was until then unknown at Harrow-a carriage*, were procured for the young nobleman his son. But Lord S.'s conduct, in a matter of far greater consc

* It may be necessary to observe, that this carriage was used with back horses; notwithstanding this, it was considered at that day as a novel matter, and an innovation on the ancient discipline,

1901-2.

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quence,

quence, is entitled to more praise. This was the choice of a private tutor; and, when it is mentioned that the late Sir William Jones was that tutor, no one will be disposed to doubt his lordship's discrimination, and his son's good fortune, in being educated under a man so able in point of learning, so amiable in regard to his manners, and so correct in respect to morals. Unfortunately, however, the avocations of this gentleman would not permit him to remain long at Harrow; and, on his retiring, Lord Althorpe removed to the house of Dr. Heath, the head master, where he resided as a boarder, and was also left under the Doctor's immediate tuition as a private pupil.

When his education was finished at Harrow, Lord A. was removed to Trinity College, Cambridge, of which Dr. Hinchliffe, the late bishop of Peterborough, was then master. Here we believe his lordship took a degree; and it may not be amiss to mention in this place, that, although it was once remarked by a great mathematician, "that there was no royal road to geometry," yet it is well known to all those who are acquainted with the lax discipline of our universities, that "there is a noble road to a degree," and that this is a far shorter cut than what is taken by a commoner. This circumstance is only mentioned here by the bye, in order to be reprobated as a manifest partiality and abuse, highly derogatory to the cradle of literature, and greatly disadvantageous to the precocious youths, who are at once the objects and the victims of so obnoxious a practice.

practice. These remarks, however just they may be in other respects, do not apply to his lordship, who left Cambridge with the reputation of being a modest young man and a good scholar. Soon after this he made the grand tour, and on his return from his travels was returned a member for an English county*; but neither in the House of Commons, nor in the House of Peers, has he accustomed himself to indulge in long speeches.

Happily for Lord Althorpe, he did not give in to the dissipation of the times, and it was this circumstance, perhaps, that induced him to make an early marriage. It was also peculiarly fortunate for his lordship that his choice was irrevocably fixed on one of the most amiable young women of the age, and he accordingly became united, in 1781, to Lavinia, the daughter of the Earl of Lucan, of the kingdom of Ireland, by whom he has had three sons and one daughter.

Two years after he fucceeded his father in title and estates, and on this occasion not only obtained a seat on the Earl's bench, but acceded to a noble and extensive patrimony.

From what has been hinted at before, the principles evinced by Lord Spencer may be readily surmised. Descended from a Whig family, and educated

Lord Althorpe joined the noble band of Whig patriots, who put an end to the administration of Lord North and the American war, and on this occasion was nominated a lord of the Treasury.