, only son of William, first earl of Northampton, by Elizabeth, sole
, only son of William, first earl
of Northampton, by Elizabeth, sole daughter and heiress
of sir John Spencer, alderman of London, was born in 1601.
He was made knight of the bath in 1616, when Charles,
duke of York (afterwards Charles I.) was created prince of
Wales; with whom he became a great favourite. In 1622
he accompanied him into Spain, in quality of master of his
robes and wardrobe; and had the honour to deliver all his
presents, which amounted, according to computation, to
64,000l. At the coronation of that prince he attended as
master of the robes; and in 1639, waited on his majesty
in his expedition against the Scots. He was likewise one
of those noblemen, who, in May 1641, resolved to defend
the protestant religion, expressed in the doctrine of the
church of England, and his majesty’s royal person, honour,
and estate as also the power and privilege of parliaments,
and the lawful rights and liberties of the subject. In 1642
he waited upon his majesty at York, and after the king set
up his standard at Nottingham, was one of the first who
appeared in arms for him. He did him signal services,
supporting his cause with great zeal in the counties of
Warwick, Stafford, and Northamptom. He was killed,
March 19, 1643, in a battle fought on Hopton-heath, near
Stafford; in which, though the enemy was routed, and
much of their artillery taken, yet his lordship’s horse being
unfortunately shot under him, he was somehow left en“compassed by them. When he was on his feet, he killed
with his own hand the colonel of foot, who first came up to
him; notwithstanding which, after his head-piece was struck
off with the butt-end of a musquet, they offered him quarter, which he refused, saying,
” that he scorned to accept
quarter from such base rogues and rebels as they were:“on this he was killed by a blow with an halbert on the
hinder part of his head, receiving at the same time another
deep wound in his face. The enemy refused to deliver up
his body to the young earl of Northampton, unless he
would return, in exchange for it, all the ammunition, prisoners, and cannon he had taken in the late battle: but
at last it was delivered, and buried in Allhallows church in
Derby, in the same vault with his relation the old countess of Shrewsbury. His lordship married Mary, daughter
of sir Francis Beaumont, knt. by whom he had six sons
and two daughters. The sons are all said to have inherited
their father’s courage, loyalty, and virtue particularly
sir William, the third son, who had the command of a regiment, and performed considerable service at the taking of
Banbury, leading his men on to three attacks, during
which he had two horses shot under him. Upon the surrender of the town and castle, he was made lieutenantgovernor under his father; and on the 19th of July, 1644,
when the parliament’s forces came before the town, he returned answer to their summons;
” That he kept the castle
for his majesty, and as long as one man was left alive in it,
willed them not to expect to have it delivered:“also on
the 16th of September, they sending him another summons, he made answer,
” That he had formerly answered
them, and wondered they should send again." He was
so vigilant in his station, that he countermined the enemy
eleven times, and during the siege, which held thirteen
weeks, never went into bed, but by his example so animated the garrison, that though they had but two horses
left uneaten, they would never suffer a summons to be
sent to them, after the preceding answer was delivered.
At length, his brother the earl of Northampton raised the
siege on the 26th of October, the very day of the month,
on which both town and castle had been surrendered to the
king two years before. Sir William continued governor
of Banbury, and performed many signal services for the
king, till his majesty left Oxford, and the whole kingdom
was submitting to the parliament; and then, on the 8th of
May, 1646, surrendered upon honourable terms. In
1648, he was major-general of the king’s forces at Colchester, where he was so ni'ich taken notice of for his admirable behaviour, that Oliver Cromwell called him the sober
young man, and the godly cavalier. At the restoration of
king Charles II. he was made one of the privy-council,
and master-general of the ordnance; and died October 19,
16h3, in the 39th year of his age. There is an epitaph
to his memory in the church of Compton- Winyate. Henry,
the sixth and youngest, who was afterwards bishop of London, is the subject of the next article.
, a statesman of some note, was the only son of William Hamilton, esq. an advocate of the court of session
, a statesman of some
note, was the only son of William Hamilton, esq. an advocate of the court of session in Scotland, who after the union
came to London, and was admitted to the English bar.
His son was born in Lincoln’s-inn Jan. 28, 1728-9, and
was educated at Winchester school, and at Oriel college,
Oxford, where he was admitted a gentleman commoner,
March 1, 1744-5. During his residence at Oxford, it is
supposed he wrote those poems which were printed in
1750, 4to> for private distribution only, but have lately
been published by Mr. Malone. On leaving Oxford, he
became a member of Lincoln’s-inn, with a view to study
the law; but on his father’s death in 1754, he betook hifnself to a political life, and in the same year was chosen,
member of parliament for Petersfield in Hampshire. His
first effort at parliamentary eloquence was made Nov. 13,
1755, when, to use the words of Waller respecting Denham, “he broke out, like the Irish rebellion, threescore
thousand strong-, when nobody was aware, or in the least
suspected it.
” Certainly no first speech in parliament
ever produced such an effect, or acquired such eulogies,
both within and without the house of commons. Of this
speech, however, no copy remains. For many years it was
supposed to have been his only attempt, and hence the
familiar name of Single-speech was fixed upon him; but he
spoke a second time, Feb. 1756, and such was the admiration which followed this display of his talents, that Mr,
P\>jc, then one of the principal secretaries of state, procured him to be appointed, in April of the same year, one
of the lords of trade. At this board he sat five years without ever exerting his oratorical talents; and in 1761 accepted the office of principal secretary to George earl of
Halifax, then appointed lord-lieutenant of Ireland. In the
Irish parliament, as he filled an office of responsibility, it
was necessary for him to support the measures of administration; and accordingly in 1761 and 1762, he made five
speeches on various occasions, which fully gratified the
expectations of his auditors. Mr. Hamilton continued secretary to the succeeding lord lieutenant, Hugh earl of
Northumberland, in 1763, but it is believed his exertions
in that session were less splendid and less frequent; and
before it concluded, on some disgust he resigned his office.
On his return to England, and for a long time afterwards, he meditated taking an active part in the political
warfare of the house of commons, but he never again addressed the chair, though he was chosen into every new
parliament that was summoned from that time till May 1796,
a little before his death. In this period, the only office hg
filled was that of chancellor of the exchequer in Ireland,
which he held from Sept. 1763 to April 1784. During
this interval he was one of those on whom common rumour
bestowed the authorship of Junius’s letters, and perhaps
never was any rumour so completely devoid of a probable
foundation. He died at his house in Upper Brook-street,
July 16, 1796, and was buried in the chancel vault of the
church of St. Martin in the Fields. In 1803, Mr. Malona
published his works under the title of “Parliamentary
Logic; to which are subjoined two Speeches delivered in
the House of Commons in Ireland, and other pieces,
” 8vo f
with a life of the author prefixed. These speeches give
us but a faint idea of the splendid abilities which once so
enraptured his hearers, nor does his poetry entitle him to
rank above the elegant versifiers of his time. His Parliamentary Logic“is a performance of a more singular cast.
It consists of a string of maxims, or rules, for managing a
debate in parliament, in which the author appears serious,
else we should have supposed parliamentary logic
” to
imply a ridicule on the language of that house. These
maxims, however, seem admirably qualified to make a partizan; although we much doubt whether they have a tendency to make that more valuable character, an honest man.