250 A TOPOGRAPHICAL 



March, 1716, he was created a Baron of England, by the title of 

 Lord Parker, Baron of Macclesfield ; and on the 5th of November, 

 1721, he was advanced to the dignity of Earl of Macclesfield. In 

 consequence of some notorious mal-practices, his Lordship was im- 

 peached by the House of Peers on charges of corruption, tried at 

 the bar of the House, and pronounced guilty, inconsequence of 

 which he was removed from his offices, and fined o30,000. 



Of this accomplished, but unfortunate Earl, Mr. Noble * writes 

 as follows : " This every way distinguished character was the 

 son of Thomas Parker, an attorney at Leek, in Staffordshire, 

 in the chancel of which church I have read the inscription on his 

 grave-stone. He left his son about .flOO. per annum. He re- 

 ceived the Great Seal, May llth,f 1709, which he held till January 

 4th, 1724-5. It was an extraordinary event, that Lord Maccles- 

 field, one of the great ornaments of the Peerage, who had so long 

 presided at the administration of justice, should himself be arraigned 

 as a criminal, be convicted of mal-practices, and sentenced to pay 

 a fine of o630,000. as a punishment for his offence ; that a second 

 Lord Chancellor of England should be impeached by the Grand In- 

 quest of the nation, for corruption of office ; and be, like his great 

 predecessor, Lord St. Albans, found guilty of the charge. The pro- 

 secution was carried on with great virulence; and though rigid jus- 

 tice, indeed, demanded a severe sentence, yet party zeal and perso- 

 nal animosity were supposed to have had their weight in that which 

 was passed upon him. The whole fine was exacted, and actually paid 

 by his Lordship and his son, notwithstanding the favourable disposi- 

 tion that was shewn in a certain quarter to relieve him in part by a 

 considerable donation. It is certain, there had been gross mis- 

 management in the offices of the Masters in Chancery, by which the 

 suitors had been great sufferers ; and it appeared that those places 

 had been sometimes conferred upon persons, who had evidently paid 

 for them a valuable consideration. The public cry against corrup- 

 tion in high stations was loud and long ; and it was not thought 

 prudent to stay proceedings against the supreme Judge in the king- 

 dom. The statute on which the Chancellor was impeached had, 

 indeed, grown into disuse, but it was still a law ; a breach of it 

 was proved, and the consequence was inevitable. Lord Maccles- 

 iield was a man of learning, and a patron of it. Bishop Pearce, of 

 Rochester, among others, owed his first introduction to preferment 



* Continuation of Granger's Biog. Hist, of England, Vol. III. p,98. 

 f It was delivered May 12th. 



