ously though unconstitutionally, availing himself of the unpopularity of Fox's India bill, procured the defeat of that measure in the house of lords, and immediately dismissed his detested ministers from their offices (December, 1783). The political career of Lord North may be said to have terminated at this period. He succeeded to the title of earl of Guilford and to the family estates in 1790, and died two years after in the sixtieth year of his age. Lord North is not entitled to high rank as a statesman. His public measures were often both arbitrary and impolitic, and the original injustice of the American war was greatly aggravated by the manner in which it was conducted. He was afflicted with blindness during the last five years of his life; and the picture which his daughter. Lady Charlotte Lindsay, draws of the old statesman at home with his children, who read to him by turns, wrote his letters, led him in his walks, and were his constant companions, is singularly pleasing.—J. T
NORTH, Roger, the amusing biographer of three of his brothers, and the sixth son of the fourth Lord North, was born about 1650, and studied at the Middle temple for the bar. His professional career was confined to following and aiding his brother Francis, for whom he has done what Boswell did for Dr. Johnson. Lord Macaulay refers to him as "a most intolerant tory, a most affected and pedantic writer, but a vigilant observer of all those minute circumstances which throw light on the dispositions of men." As a writer he has certainly accomplished more than he intended. Fraternal affection doubtless prompted his life of the lord-keeper, yet the result is very far from flattering to Lord Guilford. His other celebrated book, the "Examen, or an enquiry into the credit and veracity of a pretended compleat history of England" (Bishop Kennet's), was designed as a vindication of Charles II. Yet though marked by a violent jacobite spirit, the anecdotes and curious information with which it abounds have furnished invaluable materials for writers like Macaulay, whose picture of Charles and his times is hardly one that would have pleased Roger North. Neither of these books was published till after the writer's death. The only work he had printed was a "Discourse of Fish and Fish-ponds," 1713. His lives of Francis North, Lord Guilford; Sir Dudley North; and the Rev. Dr. John North—were published together in two vols. 4to, 1742-44. The "Examen"' appeared in 1740; his "Discourse on Laws" in 1824; and "Memoirs of Musick" in 1836, edited by Dr. Rimbault. He died in 1733. From him were descended the Norfolk family, the Norths of Rougham.—R. H.
NORTH, Sir Thomas, the translator of Plutarch, was the second son of Edward Lord North of Kirtling, and a collateral ancestor of the Guilfords. He is said to have been educated at Peterhouse, to have been a member of Lincoln's inn in 1557, and is thought to have held some office in the customs, there being among the MSS. in the British museum one by him entitled "Exceptions against the suit of surveyor of the gaugers of beer and ale." He was knighted in 1557, and in 1578 he was so reduced in his circumstances that the town of Cambridge made him a benevolent gift of £20. He published versions of works by Guevara and Doni, but is remembered only as the author of the English translation of Plutarch, which Shakspeare followed, often very closely, in Coriolanus, Julius Cæsar, and Antony and Cleopatra. North's version was made from the French of Amyot. Quaint and idiomatic, it is an interesting monument of Elizabethan prose and English. The first edition of North's "Plutarch" was published in 1579. There were seven or eight editions of it before that of 1676. In 1683 it was superseded by the translation known as Dryden's.—F. E.
NORTHAMPTON, Spencer Joshua Alwyne Compton, second marquis of, was born in 1790, and educated at Trinity college, Cambridge, where he graduated M.A. in 1810. In 1812 he succeeded Spencer Perceval in the representation of Northampton. His political independence displeased the tory party with which he was traditionally connected, and drew from Lord Castlereagh the remark that "he had turned his back on himself." In 1815 he married Miss Clephane, an amiable and accomplished woman, with whom he resided for several years in Rome. Returning to England in 1830, on the death of his wife, he devoted himself to the promotion of literature, science, and art, for which his name is chiefly remembered. He became president of the Royal Society in 1838, of the Geological Society, and of the British Association on two occasions, 1836 and 1848. He wrote a few short poems in a volume, which he entitled "The Tribute." He died January 17, 1851.—R. H.
NORTHCOTE, James, R.A., was born at Plymouth, October 22, 1746. The son of a watchmaker of very limited means, he was brought up to his father's business, and at the usual age duly apprenticed. But the fame of Sir Joshua Reynolds, a native of the locality, had aroused in him a strong desire to become a painter. His mornings and evenings were given to drawing, and he had made sufficient progress by the time his apprenticeship expired to maintain himself for a few years in his native town by taking portraits. In 1771 became to London, bringing with him a letter of introduction to Sir Joshua Reynolds from his friend, Dr. Mudge. Sir Joshua, pleased with his enthusiasm, kindly admitted him to his studio, where he remained as pupil and assistant for five years. On quitting Reynolds in 1776, Northcote returned for a few months to Plymouth, where his pencil was in great request for portraits. He then went to Rome, where he remained till 1780. Returning by way of Florence, Naples, and Flanders, he settled for good in London as a portrait painter, and met speedily with a large amount of success. He was elected R. A. in 1787. Besides his portraits he painted several historical and poetical subjects, some of which were at the time extremely popular. Of this kind are the "Murder" and the "Burial of the two Princes in the Tower;" and "Hubert and Arthur," so well known by the engravings. Scarcely less popular were the "Earl of Argyle Asleep before his Execution," the "Death of Wat Tyler," the "Landing of the Prince of Orange at Torbay," and others. He also painted, in a kind of rivalry or companionship with Hogarth's Industrious and Idle Apprentice, a series of ten pictures, setting forth the career of the "Modest and the Wanton Girl," but they were deficient in the intense perception of character, directness of purpose, and vigour of composition which made Hogarth's works take so firm a hold of the popular mind. Though but very imperfectly educated, Northcote published several literary works. His first independent work was a "Life of Sir Joshua Reynolds," 1 vol. 4to, 1813; 2nd edition enlarged, 2 vols. 8vo, 1819. This work is both tedious and imperfect, but as the life of a painter by a painter, and of a master by his scholar, it is of considerable value. "The Life of Titian," 2 vols. 8vo, 1820, in all respects a worthless production, though bearing Northcote's name, is known to have been for the most part the composition of Hazlitt, who during many years was in constant intercourse with the painter. Hazlitt also published during the painter's life, at first in a magazine, and afterwards (but somewhat softened in parts) as a separate work, what he called Conversations with the Painter Northcote. How much of these was genuine, and how much the invention of Hazlitt, it is now impossible to say. Northcote lived a lonely life, was independent in circumstances and rough in speech, and he was accustomed to give utterance to bitter and cynical remarks on his contemporaries to any who were admitted to familiar intercourse with him; but he always denied, though in an evasive manner, that he had been truly reported in these Conversations. As a painter, Northcote was possessed of great vigour, a good eye for colour, and a lucid manner of composition, but he was entirely devoid of refinement, and drew but indifferently. His style was formed on that of Reynolds, but he was in all respects greatly inferior to his master. He died July 13, 1831, at the age of eighty-five.—J. T—e.
NORTHINGTON, Robert Henley, Earl of, was the second son of that accomplished friend of learning, Anthony Henley, and was born in 1708. Educated at Westminster school and St. John's college, Oxford, he was entered of the Inner temple on February 1, 1728. His natural shrewdness and droll humour helped to advance him more than any profound acquaintance with the law could have done. His progress was slow. He was called in 1732, went on the western circuit, of which in time he became the leader. He fell somewhat romantically in love with an invalid young lady at Bath, Miss Husband, who fortunately recovered her strength, proved to be an heiress, and was married to him. In 1747 he was elected member of parliament for Bath, and he joined the "Leicester House" party. Notwithstanding this mark of opposition to the king (George II.), Henley in 1756 succeeded Murray as attorney-general, and to his own great astonishment and that of others who were expectants, the next change of ministry elevated him to the woolsack, 1757. He had the peculiar distinction of holding the great seal nine years, and in two reigns, those of George II. and George III., and during the whole of four administrations, Mr. Pitt's, Lord Bute's, the duke of Bedford's, and the marquis of Rockingham's. The last
