FITZWILLIAM FLESH-FLY. 



481 



August 10th, 1756, when hi3 large estates were 

 confided to the care of Sir Matthew Lamb, grand- 

 father of the present viscount Melbourne. At an 

 early age he was sent to Eton, where he had for 

 class-fellows Charles Fox and the late Earl of Car- 

 lisle; with both of whom he formed that close in- 

 tercourse, which, with little interruption, lasted 

 through life. From Eton his lordship removed to 

 King's college, Cambridge ; and he afterwards tra- 

 velled abroad. The degree of D.C.L. was con- 

 ferred upon him at Oxford, July 3d, 1793. In 

 1769, he took his seat in the house of peers. Few 

 young noblemen ever entered life under more fa- 

 vourable auspices. Inheriting a good fortune from 

 his father, he was also the presumptive heir to the 

 large estates of the marquis of Rockingham ; and 

 was honoured with the friendship of the dukes of 

 Devonshire and Portland, and all the leading char- 

 acters of the Whig party. These connections he 

 still further extended, by an early marriage, on the 

 llth of July, 1770, with lady Charlotte Ponsonby, 

 youngest da'ughter of William Earl of Besborough. 

 Enrolling himself among the opponents of lord 

 North's administration, he persevered, throughout 

 the American war, in resisting the progress of that 

 contest, as equally disgraceful and ruinous. When 

 the change of ministry, however, took place at the 

 beginning of 1782, and his uncle the marquis of 

 Rockingham was placed at the head of the new 

 cabinet, Earl Fitzwilliam did not take part in the 

 distribution of office. The death of the marquis, 

 which happened in June of the same year, brought 

 Earl Fitzwilliam a vast accession of fortune, includ- 

 ing the fine domain of Wentworth, near Rother- 

 ham, in Yorkshire, which had descended to the 

 family of Watson from the sister and heiress of the 

 great Earl of Strafford. After succeeding to 

 Wentworth, the Earl made that noble mansion, 

 which had been built by his maternal grandfather, 

 his most usual summer residence, and in 1807, pre- 

 fixed the name of Wentworth to the surname of 

 his ancient house. On the llth of July, 1794, 

 when the duke of Portland became the nominal 

 head of the cabinet, while Mr Pitt guided the 

 helm, earl Fitzwilliam accepted the office of presi- 

 dent of the council, which he held until the 17th 

 of December following. He was afterwards ap- 

 pointed lord lieutenant of Ireland. His inclina- 

 tion to healing measures rendered this appointment 

 peculiarly acceptable to the people of that king- 

 dom, and he was received with universal satisfac- 

 tion. The Irish parliament met on the 22d of 

 January, 1795, and unanimously voted him the 

 most favourable addresses; and, on the 9th of 

 February, agreed to the amplest supplies that had 

 ever been granted in that kingdom. In order to 

 place himself in a favourable light with the Catho- 

 lic party, he employed, in the transactions with its 

 leading members, a person in whom the Catholics 

 universally confided : this was the celebrated Mr 

 Grattan, whom they had selected as the most pro- 

 per and active member of the Irish legislature for 

 the effecting of their purposes. Mr Grattan moved, 

 accordingly, on the 12th of February, for leave to 

 bring in a bill for the relief of persons professing 

 the Roman Catholic religion; and leave was given. 

 The joy and exultation expressed by the Roman 

 Catholics on this occasion, had never been equalled 

 in Ireland. But the universal satisfaction arising 

 from the hopes conceived of an approaching eman- 

 cipation from all restrictions was quickly damped 

 by the intelligence that arrived two days only alter 

 vn. 



the passing of the motion, that the British minis- 

 try were averse to the measure. Earl Fitzwilliam 

 informed them of the great danger that would in- 

 fallibly result from retracting the assent so formally 

 given to a motion of such importance ; and expli- 

 citly refused, by taking upon him that office, to be 

 the person to raise a flame which nothing but the 

 force of arms could keep down. Such were his 

 own words. In consequence of this answer, he 

 was dismissed from his post, which was conferred 

 upon earl Camden. The resentment of the peo- 

 ple of Ireland was particularly marked on the 25th 

 of March, when earl Fitzwilliam took his depar- 

 ture. It was a day of general gloom : the shops 

 were shut, no business of any kind was transacted, 

 and the whole city put on mourning. The noble 

 earl's coach was drawn to the waterside by some of 

 the most respectable citizens; and the people seemed 

 intent on every demonstration of grief. When 

 the death of Mr Pitt occasioned a new ministerial 

 change, in 1806, earl Fitzwilliam returned to the 

 seat of president of the counsel, which he retained 

 until the fall of the Grenville administration in the 

 following year. He afterwards gradually retired 

 from public life : and, in 1819, he resigned the lieu- 

 tenancy of the west riding of Yorkshire, which he 

 had held from 1798. At a visit which he paid to 

 Ireland a few years previous to his death, he was 

 welcomed with the utmost enthusiasm. Indeed, 

 independently of the popular measures with which 

 he had connected his reputation, his liberal and 

 beneficent management of his large Irish estates 

 fully deserved every mark of the public approba- 

 tion and respect. His private charities were very 

 extensive. His manners were engaging, persuasive, 

 and attractive. His pleasures were chiefly those of 

 the chase, in which, in the midst of a splendid circle, 

 he combined the keenness of the sportsman with 

 the magnificence of a prince. Upwards of a hun- 

 dred horses belonged to his hunting establishment. 

 The cortege with which he was accustomed to at- 

 tend the races at Doncaster might be regarded as 

 an imposing relic of ancient manners. His lord- 

 ship died at Milton house, near Peterborough, on 

 the 8th of February, 1833, in the 85th year of his 

 age, leaving an only son, lord Milton, now earl 

 Fitzwilliam. 



FLESH-FLY. The history of the Flesh-fly (mus- 

 ca carnaria') is better known than that of the com- 

 mon one. It deposits its eggs on flesh, and then 

 the latter is said to be fly-blown. It is a law of 

 nature, that the particles which form an organized 

 body, shall, on its dissolution, serve for the susten- 

 tation of others ; and hence, when an animal dies, 

 it is taken possession of, in one way or another, by 

 those which are living. In hot weather a dead 

 body runs rapidly into putrefaction, and in that 

 state attracts, by its odour, those flies which lay 

 their eggs in flesh, and the carcass is very soon 

 occupied by myriads of maggots, which are hatched 

 from those eggs, and are flies in the larva state. 

 When we think of the horrible odour which a 

 putrefying animal emits, we cannot but admire the 

 wise arrangement by which its very odour is made 

 agreeable to multitudes of living creatures ; for, as 

 Paley remarks, maggots revel in putrefaction. We 

 observe, also, that the odour is most powerful at 

 those times when flies are most numerous and ac- 

 tive, that is, in hot weather. In the egg itself 

 there is the very wise provision, that it is hatched 

 in a few hours, and the maggot arrives at its full 

 jrowth in a week ; and thus we see how divine 



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