Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 25.djvu/424

H the successive administrations of Bute, Grenville, and Rockingham. Northington was undoubtedly the cause of Rockingham's dismissal. He had already differed with his colleagues on the commercial treaty with Russia, which had been negotiated by Sir George Macartney, when at the cabinet meeting held at his house in Lincoln's Inn Fields on 4 July 1766 he expressed in the strongest terms his disapprobation of the report which had been drawn up for the civil government of Canada. He subsequently declared that he would not attend any more cabinet meetings, and in an audience with the king advised him to send for Pitt. After some negotiations between Pitt and Temple, in which he took part, Northington was appointed lord president of the council on 30 July 1766 (Camden becoming lord chancellor), in the administration of Grafton and Chatham. A pension and the reversion of the hanaper for two lives upon the death of the second Duke of Chandos were granted to him (see letters between Northington and Pitt in the Chatham Correspondence, 1838, vol. ii.) Owing to increasing infirmities Northington was prevented from taking any important part in the new administration. In May or June 1767 he expressed his wish to retire, but consented to remain in office for some months longer at the king's desire. He resigned on 23 Dec. 1767, and was succeeded as lord president by Granville Leveson, earl Gower. In the course of the following year Northington was offered the post of lord privy seal; but though his health had much improved he declined the offer. He died at the Grange (‘that sweet house of my lord keeper's’) (, Letters, iii. 162) on 14 Jan. 1772, aged 64, and was buried in Northington Church, where a monument was erected to his memory by his daughters.

In Lord Eldon's judgment Northington was ‘a great lawyer, and very firm in delivering his opinion.’ It has, however, been truly remarked that his boldness in delivering his opinions was not quite equalled by his care and caution in forming them. He was a thoroughly upright judge. When Fox consulted him whether the king could not revoke the patents granted in former reigns, and whether the case might not be laid before the twelve judges for their opinion, Northington is said to have replied, ‘Yes, they might lay the idea before the judges, and then refer Magna Charta to them afterwards to decide on that too’ (, Memoirs of the Reign of George III, i. 240). His judgments were clear and simple in style, and, according to his biographer, during the nine years in which Northington held the seals, ‘six only of his decrees were ever reversed or materially varied upon appeal’ (Memoir, p. 56). He left behind him a large number of manuscript notes, taken by himself while presiding over the court of chancery. These were subsequently collected and arranged by his grandson, the Hon. Robert Henley Eden, afterwards second Baron Henley, and published in 1818 under the title of ‘Reports of Cases argued and determined in the High Court of Chancery from 1757 to 1766, from the original Manuscripts of Lord Chancellor Northington,’ &c., London, 8vo, 2 vols. A second edition of these reports, ‘with considerable additions,’ was published in 1827, London, 8vo, 2 vols. Several of Northington's judgments dealing with subjects of general interest are appended to his memoir. He was a consistent supporter first of the Leicester House party, and afterwards of ‘the king's friends.’ Although a reckless debater, he did not often speak. He was a great favourite with George III, who declared in a letter to Pitt, dated 7 July 1766, that ‘there is no man in my service on whom I so thoroughly rely’ (Chatham Correspondence, ii. 436). Northington asked the king permission to discontinue the evening sittings in the court of chancery on Wednesdays and Fridays, in order that he might finish his bottle of port comfortably after dinner, a reason which his majesty's solicitude for the happiness of his subjects would, he hoped, make sufficient. Many anecdotes are told of his habit of hard swearing. He was familiarly known by the nicknames of ‘Tom Tilbury’ and ‘Surly Bob.’

By his wife, who survived him many years, and died in Grosvenor Square on 12 Sept. 1787, Northington had eight children, three sons, viz. Robert [q. v.], who succeeded him as the second earl, and Robert and Henry, both of whom died in infancy; and five daughters, viz. (1) Bridget, who married, firstly, on 29 June 1761, the Hon. Robert Lane, only son of George, lord Bingley; and secondly, in 1773, the Hon. John Tollemache, fourth son of Lionel, third earl of Dysart, who was killed in a duel at New York on 25 Sept. 1777. She inherited much of her father's wit and love of jocularity, and was a great favourite at court. Frequent references to her occur in the literature of the day. She died without leaving issue on 13 March 1796. (2) Jane, who married on 26 Dec. 1772 Sir Willoughby Aston, bart., and died without issue. (3) Mary, who married, firstly, on 14 Dec. 1773, Edward, earl Ligonier; and secondly, on 4 Feb. 1778, Thomas, second viscount Wentworth. She died without issue on 29 June 1814. (4) Catherine, who married on 18 March 1777 George, viscount Deer-