Page:The Complete Peerage Ed 2 Vol 4.djvu/507

DUDLEY 489 IV. 1823 4. John William (Ward), Viscount Dudley and to Ward of Dudley [1763] and Baron Ward of Birming- 1833. HAM [1644], only s. and h., b. 9 Aug. and bap. 11 Oct. 178 I, at St. Marylebone; ed. privately, till he matric. at Oxford (Oriel Coll.), 17 Oct. 1799, B.A. (as of Corpus Coll.) 1802, M.A. 1 8 13. He was M.P. (Tory) for Downton, 1 802-03 ;(^) ^or co. Worcester, 1803-06; for Petersfield, 1806-07; for Wareham, 1807-12; for Ilchester 1812-18; and for Bossiney, i 8 19-23; P. C. 30 Apr. 1827, and Sec. for Foreign Affairs (in Canning's administration) Apr. 1827 to May 1828, when he resigned.^") He was cr., 5 Oct. 1827, VISCOUNT EDNAM(=) of Ednam, co. Roxburgh, and EARL OF DUDLEY OF DUDLEY CASTLE, CO. Stafford; F.R.S. 16 Nov. 1815. He d'. unm., 6 Mar. 1833, at Norwood, Surrey, in his 52nd year, when the Earldom and Viscountcy strong waters." In 1794 the author of The Female Jockey Club describes her as "simple, unaffected, modest, charitable, the patroness of merit, the liberal friend." When there was a talk in 1815 of his receiving an Earldom, his son, on whom it was conferred in 1827, wrote " My father is, according to the usual ' tarif a perfectly earlabk man, and as he has most conscientiously supported the firm of Pitt and Co. and their successors in business for upwards of 30 years, he might take another coronet without the possibility of just reproach." V.G. (') He entered Pari, as a supporter of Pitt, but acted with Grenville and the Whigs from 1804 till about 1817, after which he became a Canningite Tory, and (unlike the other leading Canningites) opposed the Reform Bill. V.G. C*) He is said, in a fit of absence of mind, to have, shortly before the battle of Navarino, directed a letter intended for the French ambassador to Prince Lieven, the ambassador from Russia. This, however, instead of working any mischief, was positively beneficial, being, fortunately, considered by the latter as a " trap laid for him " and " one of the cleverest rmei ever attempted to be played off." Though a " man of powerful talents, varied accomplishments," his eccentricities had always been so great that his aberration of mind during the last year of his life was not surprising. See Ann. Reg. for 1833. A brilliant speaker and conversationalist, and a good classical scholar, he possessed a singularly clear and powerful mind until it became clouded by insanity. The Quarterly Review writes of " His serious, gentle, King Charles like, expression, and the peculiar sloping lid of his mild thoughtful eye." It was against him that Samuel Rogers composed the epigram — " Ward has no heart, they say, but I deny it, He has a heart, and gets his speeches by it." Caroline Princess of Wales complained of his eating like a hog; and Lady Charlotte Bury writes "an unpleasant companion at table. Then his person looks so dirty; and he has such a sneer in his laugh, and is so impious, as well as grossly indecent in his conversation, that I cannot like this clever man." He is the " Lord Dallas " of Lady Caroline Lamb's roman a clef^ Glenarvon. He was " diminutive and conceited, had a brilliant wit; spoke seldom, and studied deeply every sentence he uttered. He affected to be absent, but in fact no one ever forgot himself so seldom. His voice was untuned and harsh." His letters to Mrs, Dugald Stewart ["Ivy"] were published in 1905. V.G. (■=) This was an estate he had recently purchased. It was the birthplace of Thomson, the author of The Seasons and other poems. 62