Page:A tour through the northern counties of England, and the borders of Scotland - Volume I.djvu/139

 river Tyne; which was commuted by his present Grace of Richmond, in 1800, for a perpetual annuity of 19,0001. per annum, secured by Act of Parliament on the consolidated fund.

Sir Nathaniel Curzon, father to the present Lord Scarsdale. Ob. 1758. He married

Mary, daughter of Sir Ralph Asheton.

Catherine Countess of Dorchester was daughter of Sir Charles Sedley, and mistress to James II. by whom she was raised to the rank of Countess; a situation which her father ever considered a splendid indignity offered to his family. An injury so sensible could scarcely be forgotten, or remain unresented, when opportunity offered. On the first agitation of the questions which brought about the Revolution, Sir Charles was a distinguished partizan, and at once indulged the parent's resentment and wit's spleen, when he said, "The king did me the honour to make my daughter a Countess, and I should be ungrateful indeed not to assist in making his daughter (Mary Princess of Orange) a queen." When the remonstrances of his confessors had induced James to break off the connection with the Countess of Dorchester, she married David Earl of Portmore, and died 1717.

In the dining-room are, a fine picture by Snyders, Ducks and Hawks.—Landscape, by C. Lorraine.