CHARLOTTE DERWENTWATER.
St. Germains,
February, ye 10th, 1747.
Of the Countess's two younger sons, one, James Clement Radcliffe, an
officer in the French service, survived till 1788, the other, who bore
his father's name, Charles, died in 1749. Three of her daughters died
unmarried, but Lady Mary, the fourth, married Francis Eyre, Esq., of
Walworth Castle, Northamptonshire. On the failure of the issue of three
sons, in 1814 the title of Newburgh passed into the family of Eyre
through the marriage of the above Mary, and devolved upon Francis Eyre,
the grandson of Charlotte Countess of Newburgh, and of Charles
Radcliffe, father of the present Earl of Newburgh.
By the marriage of Lady Anne Radcliffe, the only daughter of James, Earl
of Derwentwater, in 1732, to Robert James, eighth Baron Petre, the
present Lord Petre is the rightful representative of that attainted
nobleman, being the third in direct descent from Lady Anne Radcliffe,
whose only brother, John,[421] was killed accidentally abroad, having
never been married.[422]
In concluding this account of the unfortunate Charles Radcliffe, a
reflection naturally arises in the mind, how different would have been
the spirit of administration in the present day to that which the
government of that period displayed:--how great would have been the
horror of shedding the blood of honourable and valiant men; how
universal the sentiment of mournful commiseration; and how strong the
conviction, that men, so true to an ill fated cause, would have been
faithful to any engagements which required them to abandon their efforts
in that cause; had clemency, but too imperfectly understood in those
turbulent and merciless times, excited their gratitude, and for ever
ensured their fidelity.