HISTORY OF STAFFORDSHIRE. [181 



Charles of Mecklenburgh, to Portsmouth, to shew him the arsenal, 

 and the fleet which was ready to sail under the command of Sir 

 George Pocock, for the Havannah. On this occasion his Lordship 

 caught a cold, which was accompanied with a fit of the gout, under 

 which he languished two or three months, and died at his seat at 

 Moor-park, in Hertfordshire, on the 6th of June, 1762, in the 65th 

 year of his age, and was buried in the family-vault at Colwich. 

 He bequeathed his fortune to his brother, Thomas Anson, Esq. who 

 was then Member of Parliament for Lichfield. On the decease of 

 this gentleman, the united fortunes of the family devolved to his 

 nephew, George Adams, Esq. who, in consequence, assumed the 

 name of Anson. This gentleman was father to the present pro- 

 prietor of Shugborough, who was raised to the dignity of the peer- 

 age on the 17th of February 1806, by the titles of Baron of Sober- 

 ton, in the county of Hants, and Viscount Anson, of Shugborough 

 and Orgrave, in the county of Stafford. 



The public character of the first Lord Anson is illustrated in the 

 naval annals of his country, where his enterprize, skill, perse- 

 verance, and intrepidity, are recorded, to excite the emulation of 

 other heroes. By the discoveries made during his perilous and 

 celebrated voyage, he enlarged the boundaries of nautical science, 

 and was consequently a benefactor to all the maritime states of the 

 world ; and by his firmness in sustaining toils, his skill and bravery 

 in action, and the strictness of his discipline, he greatly contributed 

 to that superiority which the British navy has since so gloriously 

 obtained over all others. As a man of business, in his official 

 character, he was attentive and indefatigable, and as a member of 

 the Senate, an honest and incorruptible patriot, equally devoted to 

 his King and Country. Of his private character, little has been 

 recorded : a habit of gaming has been mentioned among his foibles, 

 but it appears from the best authority, that he merely had recourse 

 to cards as an amusement. Though a prudent man, he was not 

 avaricious, and the gamester is generally under the influence of that 

 ignoble passion. But whatever may have been his errors or de- 

 fects, they are lost in the contemplation of his merit, and his fame 

 as a circumnavigator will be transmitted through the successive 

 generations of posterity to the latest period of time. 



A A 



