INTRODUCTION xxi 



some of his sons inherited the same propensity 

 in no common degree. He was blessed with five 

 sons and five daughters. The oldest son, William, 

 obtained a place in the Treasurj^ but died young. 

 George was the second son. Then followed John, 

 Edmund and Charles. 



John, the third son, was born at Marnham on 

 September 28, 1740. At the age of five years he 

 was sent to a grammar school at Newark, and later 

 to Heath Academy in Yorkshire. A great part 

 of his vacations from school were spent at the 

 house of his uncle by marriage, John, Viscount 

 Tyrconnel. Lord Tyrconnel, although eccentric, 

 was a man of learning and integrity. He was a 

 Whig of the old school, and it is related of him, 

 '' that when divine service was performing in the 

 Chapel at Belton, the old lord was observed to be 

 greatly agitated during the reading of the prayer 

 for the Parliament, stirring the fire violently, and 

 muttering impatiently to himself, * Nothing but a 

 miracle can mend them. ' " ^ 



At the age of eighteen, in 1758, John entered the 

 naval ser^'ice of his country, and was present at 

 the capture of Cherbourg, and the destruction of 

 its naval basin. At this siege he showed his cour- 

 age and generosity, by leaping from the deck of 

 a 90-gun ship under sail to save the life of a man 

 who had fallen overboard. 



In 1750 he joined the '* ^Fagnarn'me," com- 

 manded ))y Lord Howe, whom he ever afterwards 



' Thfi liifo and Corrfsponflcnrn of Major Cartwright. Edited by his 

 niece, F. D. Cartwright, London, 1826. 



