Was descended from an illustrious family, which traced their ancestry
from Rollo, the first duke of Normandy. He was second son of Bernard
Granville, and grandson of the famous Sir Bevil Granville, killed
at the battle of Lansdowne 1643. This nobleman received the first
tincture of his education in France, under the tuition of Sir
William Ellis, a gentleman, who was eminent afterwards in many public
employments.
When our author was but eleven years of age, he was sent to Trinity
College in Cambridge, where he remained five years, but at the age of
thirteen was admitted to the degree of master of arts, having, before
he was twelve years old, spoken a copy of English verses, of his own
composition, to the Duchess of York, when her Royal Highness paid a
visit to that university.
At the time when the nation was embroiled by the public distractions,
occasioned by the efforts of King James II. to introduce Popery,
lord Lansdowne did not remain an unconcerned spectator. He had early
imbibed principles of loyalty, and as some of his forefathers had
fallen in the cause of Charles I. he thought it was his duty to
sacrifice his life also, for the interest of his Sovereign. However
mistaken he might be in this furious zeal for a Prince, the chief
scope of whose reign was to overthrow the law, and introduce absolute
dominion, yet he appears to be perfectly sincere. In a letter he wrote
to his father upon the expected approach of the Prince of Orange's
fleet, he expresses the most ardent desire to serve the King in
person[A]. This letter we shall insert, but beg our readers patience
to make a digression, which will justify what we have said concerning
James II.
The genuine mark of a tyrant is cruelty, and it is with concern we
can produce an instance of the most inhuman barbarity in that Prince,
which ever stained the Annals of any reign. Cruelty should be the
badge of no party; it ought to be equally the abhorrence of all; and
whoever is tainted with it, should be set up to view, as a terror
to the world, as a monster, whom it is the interest of mankind to
destroy.
After the suppression of Monmouth's rebellion, many of the unfortunate
persons engaged In it fled to London, and took shelter there, 'till
the Act of Indemnity should be published. They who afforded them
shelter, were either of the Monmouth faction, or induced from
principles of humanity, to administer to their safety: what would
become of the world, if our friends were always to forsake us in
distress? There lived then in London an amiable lady, attached to no
party, who enjoyed a large fortune, which she spent in the exercise of
the most extensive beneficence. She made it her business to visit the
Jails, and the prisoners who were most necessitous and deserving,
she relieved. Her house was an asylum for the poor; she lived but for
charity, and she had every hour the prayers of the widow and orphan
poured out to her. It happened that one of the rebels found shelter in
her house; she suffered him to be screened there; she fed and cloathed
him. The King had often declared that he would rather pardon those
who were found in arms against him, than the people who harboured, or
secretly encouraged them. This miscreant, who sometimes ventured out
at night to a public house, was informed, that the King had made
such a declaration, and it entered into his base heart to betray his
benefactress. He accordingly went before a magistrate, and lodged an
information, upon which the lady was secured, brought to a trial, and
upon the evidence of this ungrateful villain, cast for her life. She
suffered at a stake with the most resigned chearfulness, for when
a woman is convicted of treason, it seems, she is sentenced to be
burnt[B]. The reader will easily judge what sort of bowels that King
must have, who could permit such a punishment to take place upon
a woman so compleatly amiable, upon the evidence of a villain so
consummately infamous, and he will, we are persuaded, be of opinion
that had his Majesty possessed a thousand kingdoms, he deserved to
lose them all for this one act of genuine barbarity.
Lord Lansdowne. who did not consider, or was not then capable of
discovering, the dangers to which this prince exposed his people,
wrote the following letter to his father, earnestly pressing him to
permit his entering voluntarily into king James's service.
'SIR,
'Your having no prospect of obtaining a commission for me, can no way
alter, or cool my desire at this important juncture, to venture my
life, in some manner or other, for my King and country. I cannot bear
to live under the reproach of lying obscure and idle in a country
retirement, when every man, who has the least sense of honour,
should be preparing for the field. You may remember, sir, with what
reluctance I submitted to your commands upon Monmouth's rebellion,
when no importunity could prevail with you to permit me to leave the
academy; I was too young to be hazarded; but give me leave to say, it
is glorious, at any age, to die for one's country; and the sooner, the
nobler sacrifice; I am now older by three years. My uncle Bath was not
so old, when he was left among the slain at the battle of Newberry,
nor you yourself, sir, when you made your escape from your Tutors, to
join your brother in the defence of Scilly. The same cause is now come
round about again. The King has been misled, let those who misled
him be answerable for it. Nobody can deny but he is sacred in his
own person, and it is every honest man's duty to defend it. You are
pleased to say it is yet doubtful, if the Hollanders are rash enough
to make such an attempt. But be that as it will, I beg leave to be
presented to his Majesty, as one, whose utmost ambition is to devote
his life to his service, and my country's, after the example of all my
ancestors. The gentry assembled at York, to agree upon the choice of
representatives for the county, have prepared an Address to assure his
Majesty they are ready to sacrifice their lives and fortunes for him
upon this, and all other occasions, but at the some time they humbly
beseech him to give them such magistrates as may be agreeable to the
laws of the land, for at present there is no authority to which they
can legally submit. By what I can hear, every body wishes well to the
King, but would be glad his ministers were hanged. The winds continue
so contrary, that no landing can be so soon as was apprehended,
therefore I may hope, with your leave and assistance, to be in
readiness before any action can begin; I beseech you, sir, most
humbly, and most earnestly, to add this one act of indulgence more,
to so many testimonies I have so constantly received of your
goodness, and be pleased to believe me always with the utmost duty and
submission,
'Yours, &c.'
We are not told whether his father yielded to his importunity, or
whether he was presented to his Majesty; but if he really joined the
army, it was without danger to his person, for the revolution was
effected in England without one drop of blood. In the year 1690 Lord
Lansdowne wrote a copy of verses addressed to Mrs. Elizabeth
Higgins, in answer to a poetical Address sent him by that lady in
his retirement. The verses of the lady are very elegant, and are only
exceeded by the polite compliments his lordship wrote in answer to
them. They both deserve a place here,