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CHARACTERS 



BIOGRAPHICAL ACCOUNT OF THE 

 lATE LORD STANHOPE. 



CHARLES Stanhope, third 

 Earl Stanhope, was born m 

 the year 1753. His grandfather, 

 and his father, were both of them 

 warmly attached to the Whig 

 party, and on all occasions con- 

 stantly supported the liberal side 

 of all public questions. The 

 subject of this memoir was sent 

 very young to Eton College, 

 from which he was removed at 

 the age of ten, for the purpose of 

 accompanying his father's family 

 to Geneva, in which place the 

 elder son soon died. Charles was 

 now left to assume the title of 

 Viscount Mahon ; and in this 

 state he passed ten years in that 

 city, where his education ivas 

 chiefly conducted under the in- 

 spection of M. le Sage, well 

 known as the author of a theory 

 of gravity, and of various tracts 

 connected with mineralogy, che- 

 mistry, and other departments of 

 natural philosophy. During the 

 young nobleman's residence in 

 Switzerland, he made a consi- 

 derable progress in scientific pur- 

 suits; and while still resident in 

 Geneva, he obtained a prize from 

 Vol. LX, 



the society of Arts and Sciences 

 at Stockholm, for the best essay 

 on the structure of the pendu- 

 lum. 



On his return to England, he 

 appeared to inherit from his 

 parents a set of political opinions, 

 which would doubtless be fos- 

 tered by his long abode at Ge- 

 neva ; and in after life, he was 

 not unfrequently regarded as 

 carrjang his notions of liberty to 

 an extravagant length. His ho- 

 nesty and integrity, however, 

 were unquestionable ; and it can- 

 not be doubted, that although 

 mistaken in his judgment, he 

 acted from conviction. His first 

 appearance in the political world 

 was as a candidate for Westmin- 

 ster, in which, however, he did 

 not succeed : he was afterwards 

 returned for the borough of Wy- 

 combe, and continued a member 

 of the lower House, till the death 

 of his father in 1786, gave him a 

 seat as a Peer of the realm. 



Although Lord Stanhope was 

 chiefly known by his contempo- 

 raries as a politician, it is rather 

 as a philosopher, that he has 

 made himself generally known to 

 the world. Of his works which 

 relate to a strictly scientific ob- 



2 F ject 



