Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 63.djvu/98

  upon the House of Commons. It met a similar fate to its predecessor, being severely reviewed in the ‘Quarterly’ (vol. lvii.), ‘Westminster’ (vol. xxvi.), ‘Gentleman's Magazine’ (1836, ii. 115), and elsewhere. Sir Egerton Brydges, in ‘Fraser’ (vol. xiv.), wrote, however, that ‘Wraxall's characters are generally correct,’ and this verdict is strongly supported by the annotations of Mrs. Piozzi and others.

In 1884 the ‘Historical and Posthumous Memoirs’ were combined in an admirable edition, with introduction and notes, by Mr. H. B. Wheatley, F.S.A. (London, 5 vols. 8vo, with portrait of Wraxall), with an appendix of ‘Reminiscences of Royal and Noble Personages,’ hitherto unpublished, and a full index. The text embodies Wraxall's latest corrections, together with annotations by Mrs. Piozzi, Dr. Doran, and Henry G. Bohn. The work, which contains numerous illustrations, has proved a favourite recipient of extra illustration.

[Introduction to Wraxall's Memoirs, ed. Wheatley, 1884; Gent. Mag. 1832 i. 268, 1836 ii. 115; Annual Biogr. and Obituary, 1833; Debrett's Baronetage, 1828, p. 667; Burke's Peerage and Baronetage; Biogr. Dict. of Living Authors, 1816; Pantheon of the Age, 1825, iii. 633; Annual Register, 1831, p. 288; Prior's Life of Malone, p. 271; Mrs. Piozzi's Letters, ii. 98; Boswell's Life of Johnson, ed. Hill, iii. 425–6, ed. Croker, 1848, p. 644; Corresp. of George III and Lord North, ed. Donne; Cumberland's Memoirs; Mme. D'Arblay's Diary, 1891, i. 551; Raikes's Journal, 1858, ii. 12–13; Jesse's Mems. of George III, 1867, ii. 22, 323, 532; Bateau's Voyageurs en France, 1889; Blackwood's Mag. 1836, xl. 63; Athenæum, 1836, pp. 373, 398; Spectator, 1884; Hayward's Autobiogr. of Mrs. Piozzi, 1863, ii. 89; Lascelles Wraxall's Life and Times of Caroline Matilda, 1864; Allibone's Dict. of Engl. Literature; Notes and Queries, 2nd ser. iii. 231, 3rd ser. v. 511, 6th ser. ix. and x.]  WRAY, CECIL (1734–1805), tenth baronet, politician, born on 3 Sept. 1734, was the eldest and only surviving son of Sir John Wray, ninth baronet (d. 1752), who married on 4 March 1727–8 Frances (d. 1770), daughter and sole heiress of Fairfax Norcliffe of Langton, Yorkshire [see under ]. On the death of his father in 1752 Cecil succeeded to the baronetcy and to large estates in Lincolnshire, Norfolk, and Yorkshire. He lived in a large house on the north-east side of Eastgate, Lincoln, but, through annoyance from ‘the clanging of anvils in a blacksmith's shop opposite, got disgusted’ with it (, Lincoln Streets, p. 21). He also procured the demolition of the four gatehouses across Eastgate (ib. p. 21). From 26 Dec. 1755 to 20 Dec. 1757 he was a cornet in the 1st dragoons, and on 17 June 1778 he was appointed captain in the South Lincolnshire militia. He was also captain of a troop of yeomanry. In 1760 Wray built a ‘Gothic castellated building,’ which he called Summer Castle, after his wife's name, but it has long been known as Fillingham Castle. It stands on a hill about ten miles from Lincoln. He contested the borough of East Retford in 1768 as ‘a neighbouring country gentleman and a member of the Bill of Rights Society’ against the interest of the Duke of Newcastle and the corporation, and sat for it in the two parliaments from 1768 to 1780 (, Parl. Hist. iv. 340). He acted as chairman of the committee for amending the poor laws, and was one of the strongest opponents of the American war. On the elevation of Rodney to the peerage Wray, mainly through the influence of Fox, was nominated by the whig association to fill the vacancy in the representation of Westminster, and he held the seat from 12 June 1782 to 1784.

Between these dates the coalition of Fox and North had been brought about, and Wray at once denounced the union in the House of Commons. He also opposed with vigour Fox's India bill. At the general election in 1784 he stood for Westminster, with the support of the tories, and in the hope of ousting Fox from the representation. The poll opened on 1 April, and closed on 17 May, when the most famous of all political contests ended, the numbers being Hood 6,694, Fox 6,233, Wray 5,998. The beaten candidate demanded a scrutiny, which the high bailiff, a tool of the tories, at once granted, and it was not abandoned until 3 March 1785, when he was ordered by parliament to make his return at once (, Parl. Hist. iv. 218–19, 234–5;, Parl. Elections, pp. 259–88).

Wray, without possessing ‘superior talents, was independent in mind as well as in fortune’ (, Memoirs, 1884, ed. iii. 80), and had agreeable manners, but he was parsimonious. During the contest of Westminster the wits made themselves merry over his frailties. His ‘small beer’ was ridiculed, the ‘unfinished state of his newly fronted house in Pall Mall’ was sneered at (Rolliad, dedication), and he provoked much raillery by his proposals to abolish Chelsea Hospital and to tax maid-servants. Some absurd lines were attributed to him in the ‘Rolliad’ (1795, pp. 99, 239), and to him was imputed an irregular ode in the contest for the poet-laureateship (ib. pp. 292–3).

Wray figured in many of Rowlandson's