{ 2538 J Roe Le 
MEMOIRS AND REMAINS OF EMINENT PERSONS, 
a . 
Some accounr of the LIFE, CHARACTER, 
and ovrntons, of ‘the tate auGuUSTUS- 
HENRY FITZROY, DUKE Of GRAFTON, 
Rancer of Whittiebury-forest, his 
MAJESTY’S GAME-KEEPER ut Newmar- 
Het, wron-srrwann of Dartmouth, 
a covernon of the Charter-house, 
@ MEMBER of the PRIVY COUNCIL, 
© xnicut of the GARTER, CHANCELLOR 
of the UNIVERSITY of Cambridge, 
necorpER of Thetford and Coventry, 
governor of the-rorts in Cornwall 
and Devonshire, RECEIVER-GENERAL 
of the Profits of the seats of the 
KING’S BENCH dnd COMMON PLEAS, 
also of the prisace of wines, &c. 
© Uni quippe vacat, studiis odiisque carenti, 
« Humanum lJugere genus.” Lucan. 
HE duke’ of Grafton, like those of 
Richmond and St. Alhans, are-des- 
eended:from the royal family of Stuart ; 
and like these have attained the highest: 
honours ‘in the state. The female 
ancestor of the Fitzroys was Barbara, 
aughter.and heir .of William Viiliers, 
"et Grandison. This lady had 
deen married a little before the Restora- 
tion, to Mr. Roger Palmer, then a stu- 
‘dent in the Temple, who, desisting from 
his legal pursuits, and being of a very 
eompliant disposition, was raised to the 
honours of the Irish peerage, having 
peen created earl ‘of Castlemaine, in 
the 48th -of Charles II. Having put 
herself under the protection of this gay, 
@issipated, and luxurious, monarch, the 
countess of Castlemaine, in 1670, was 
ereated Baroness of Nonsuch, in Sur- 
yey, countess of Southampton, in the 
gounty of Hants, and duchess of Cleve- 
jand, during her own natural life.* — By 
this lady he had a son, Charles, born 
September 23, 1663, ‘to whom His Ma- 
jesty very aptly gavethe name of Fitzroy. 
~ Respecting the precise date’ of the 
gulject_of this memoir, there is some 
difference in the Modern Peerages; ac- 
_.. eoidiny to Collins; he was born in October, 
and,.if we -are to.credit Edmonson, en 
feptéember 28, 1786. While Mr. Fitz- 
roy, he was placed at Hackuey, under 
* Soon after the demise of the earl of 
Castlemaine, in 1705, the duchess of Cleve- 
Jand married the ‘handsome Fielding,” 
ggainst whom she was obliged to demand 
the protection of the laws. See;the English 
edit. of the Memoiss-of the fount de Gram- 
gmoents 
the tuition of the late Dr. Newcombe, 
who had attained considerable eminence 
for his skill and attention in the edu- 
cation of youth. After remaining some 
time there, he was entered of St. Peter’s 
College, Cambridge, where he did nog 
however take a degree; having gone into 
the world very early in life, and engaged 
earnestly, and perhaps prematurely, in 
public affairs. In 1756, when just of 
age, Mr. Fitzroy was appointed a lord 
“of the bedchamber to his present ma- 
jesty while prince of Wales; and, iv 
the course of the same year, he was 
elected a member of , parliament, first 
for Boroughbridge, Yorkshire, in the 
room of the earl of Harrington, and 
then for St. Edmundsbury,.in Suffolk, » 
in the place of the first earl ‘of Mans- 
field, which latter ‘he retained while a 
commoner. This ‘was hot Jong be. 
fore’ Iris grandfathers’ death, in May 
1757, when he succeeded to all the 
fainily honours and estates. “His Grace, 
after a short trip to the continent, wag 
now destined to run through the career 
of public employments.. On July 10, 
1765, he was appointed one of his'‘mar 
jesty’s principal secretaries of state,which 
office he resigned in May, 1766, and, 
in August following, he was nominated 
first Jord of the treasury, which post he 
abdicated Jinuary 28, 1770. On June 
12, 1771, he was chosen Jord privy 
seal, in which depastnicnt We continued 
until November, 4775; and-in 1762, be 
was restored to the same office, 
Notwithstanding their near alliance to 
the house of Stuart, it is not a little sins 
gular that the Fitzroys have uniformly 
_ been connected with, and attached .to, 
that.party denominated Whigs, the basig 
of whose conduet either has been, or pres 
tended to be, the establishment and’ con 
tinuance ‘of the house of Hanover, on 
one hand, on the throne of these realms, 
and the ascertaining, preserving, and exe 
tending, the liberties of the people, on 
the other. Accordingly, when Mr, Fitz- 
roy was of age to sit as a member of the 
legislature, he acted with what was then 
termed “the country party” in one house; 
and after his Majesty’s. accession, joined 
that great, popular, and dignified, body 
in the other, called at that day the 
Minority, which then consisted of some 
of the frst and most opulent families m 
England? One of the chief objeotsof their 
association was to ‘diminish the supposed 
influenee 
