, who appears to be the first of this family entitled to notice in
, who appears to be
the first of this family entitled to notice in a work of this
description, was born in 1581, and succeeded his grandfather Roger, second lord North, in 1600. From the
biographer of the family, we learn that “he was a per on
full of spirit and flame, yet after he had consumed the
greatest part of his estate in the gallantries of king James’s
court, or rather his son, prince Henry’s, retired, and lived
more honourably in the country, upon what was left, than
ever he had done before.
” He is said, however, in another authority, to have carried into the country with him
the dregs of an old courtier, and was capricious, violent,
vindictive, tyrannical, and unprincipled. In 1645 he
pears to have acted with the parliament, and was nominated by them to the administration of the admiralty, in
conjunction with the great earls of Northumberland, Essex,
Warwick, and others. He died Jan. 16, 1666, being then
eighty-five years of age, and was buried at Kertling, or
Cartlage. He lived to see his grandchildren almost all
grown up, and Francis, the second of them, beginning to
rise at the bar. He was the author of a miscellany in prose
and verse, entitled “A Forest of Varieties, first part,
”
Exonerations
” and
a third part included “Privadoes, or Extravagants.
”
The whole were reprinted in Memoirs of the English Peerage,
has given considerable extracts from this publication,
” as
it is by no means common, and as it lays open many traits
of the noble author’s life and character, with much energy,
feeling, ability, and eloquence." He appears likewise
from these essays and letters to have been perfectly conscious of the errors of his early life, although he might not
be able to conquer his temper in old age.