Page:A catalogue of notable Middle Templars, with brief biographical notices.djvu/54

 of Ferdinand Lord Strange, whose Arms appear in one of the windows of the Hall, and who was probably, therefore, a member of the Inn, though his name does not appear on the Register.



Admitted 2 May, 1782.

Second son of Edward Brydges, of Wootton Court, in Kent, where he was born. He was educated at Queen's College, Cambridge, and left the University without a degree, but with a good reputation as a poet and polite scholar. Although called 23 Nov. 1787, he never practised at the Bar. In 1795 he was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries. His study of genealogy and heraldry was quickened by his attempt to assert a claim to the Barony of Chandos of Sudeley. In this he failed, and much of his writings has reference to this claim, and the supposed wrong inflicted by its rejection. He was ambitious of serving in Parliament, and at length obtained a seat for Maidstone in 1812. He was made a Baronet in 1814. In 1818, having lost his seat in Parliament, he retired abroad, and died near Geneva in 1837. As a writer. Sir Egerton has conferred substantial benefits on the literature of his county, especially in his researches in Early English Poetry.

His publications are almost too numerous to mention, but the following is a tolerably complete list: Sonnets and Poems (1785—95); The Topographer, a Monthly Miscellany (1789—91); Topographical Miscellanies (1792); Mary de Clifford, a Novel (1792); Verses relative to the Constitution, and other Poems (1794); Arthur Fitz-Albini, a Novel (1798—99); Reflections on the Augmentations of the British Peerage (1798); Tests of the National Wealth and Finances (1798); Le Forester, a Novel (1802); Memoirs of Peers in the Reign of James I. (1802); Censura Literaria, containing Titles, Abstracts, and Opinions of Old English Books (1805—9); British Bibliographer (1810—14); Restituta, or Titles, Extracts and Characters of Old Books revived (1814—16); The Ruminator, Moral, Critical and Sentimental Essays. 2 vols (1816); The Sylvan Wanderer. 2 parts (1813—15); Letters on the Poor Laws (1813); Occasional Poems (1814); Bertram, a Poem (1815); Excerpta Tudoriana, or Extracts from Elizabethan Literature (1814—18); The Copyright Act of Queen Anne (1817); Population and Riches (1819); Coningsby (1819); Ataviæ Regia (1820); Res Literariæ (1820—21); The Hall of Hellingsey (1821); Libellus Gebensis (1822); Letters from the Continent (1821); What are Riches (1821); The Anti-Critic (1822); Polyanthea Librorum Vetustiorum (1822); Cimelia (1823); Letters on Lord Byron (1824); Gnomica: Detached Thoughts (1824); Odo, Count of Lingen, a Poem (1824); Theatrum Poetarum (1824); A Note on the Suppression of some Memoirs (1825); Recollections of Foreign Travel (1825); Stemmata Illustria (1825); Lex Terræ (1831); The Anglo-Genevan Critical Journal for 1831; On the Parliamentary Reform Bill (1831); Lake of Geneva (1831); Imaginary Biography (1834); Desultoria (1832); Autobiography (1834).

In addition to these literary labours. Sir Egerton edited a number of works (amongst others, the Theatrum Poetarum of Phillips (1800), and Collins' Peerage, in 9 vols., 1806—12), and contributed largely to the Gentleman's Magazine and other Periodicals. Many of the above works were printed at his own Press, at Lee Priory, Canterbury, the residence of his son.



Admitted 16 April, 1585.

Son and heir of Robert Buc, of Chichester, admitted from New Inn. He is commended by Camden as "a very polite scholar, and one who had made many curious historical observations, and candidly communicated them