An attempt toward the Character of a Nobleman lately deceased. The Great Man, Whose character these lines presume but to sketch, His attachment to the Protestant succession, And his readiness to co-operate with his Ministers But if we regard His constant adherence to the interests of his country, 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. From the excellence of his private disposition, 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. EPITAP H. Could every virtue of the human breast, open hands, Whose tender heart at Pity's call expands ; 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. |