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404 CAULFIELD. entry on his patent of peerage, stating, "that it was wholly unsolicited, and the spontaneous grant of his ma- jesty," as informal; bis lordship had afterwards added to his patent, an engrossed testimonial, specifying the manner in which it was granted, lest the honour of his earldom should ever be stained with the imputation of motives similar to those which afterwards led to the pro- fuse creations of new nobility. In 1764, Lord Charlemont revisited London, and was nominated by the Dilletanti Society for the promotion of literature and the arts, to the honour of their chair, for which he was eminently qualified by his taste, knowledge, and zeal for their success ; and he was chiefly instrumen- tal to the subsequent mission of Dr. Chandler, the cele- brated Athenian Stewart, Mr. Revett the architect, and Mr. Pars the draftsman, to Greece, and some parts of the East, to collect information on the ancient state of those countries, and the remaining monuments of antiquity. The society, in the first instance, devoted a fund of 2000/ and for this undertaking the world is indebted for those subsequent publications at the expense of the society, which have thrown so much light on the subject of classic antiquity The next period in which we find his lordship assume a prominent public part in Ireland, was in the viceroyalty of Lord Tlownshend; a nobleman selected for the convi- viality of his disposition, and frankness of his manner, as well adapted to conciliate supporters to his government in Ireland. But his parliamentary measures met strenuous opposition. In those contests, it was Lord Charlemont's fortune to act with the minority. But the government of Lord Townshend will be remembered as the epoch which first unlocked the energies of that country, by the passing of the octennial bill for limiting the duration of parlia- ments, which, heretofore, was co-extensive with the lives of the members, and only limited otherwise by the chance of dissolution, or the demise of the crown. This measure had been long earnestly called for by the voice of the