fgad J 
[April 1, 
MEMOIRS OF EMINENT PERSONS. 
The mof noble MARQUIS aud EARL 
CORNWALLIS, VISCOUNT BROME, 
and’ BARON CORNWALLIS, Of EYE, 
KNIGHT of the GARTER, and°a Ba- 
RONET, CONSTABLE of the TOWER 
of LONDON, LORD LIEUTENANT and 
CUSTOS ROTULORUM of the TOWER 
DIVISION, azd a GENERAL in the aR- 
MY, GOVERNOR GENERAL of, and 
COMMANDER i” CHIEF im BENGAL, 
Se. Ge. 
é¢ Virtus vincit invidiam.”” 
ITHIN the courfe of a few months 
feveral of our moft eminent men 
have ceafed to exift. Two in particular, 
to whom their country has voted ftatues, 
and decreed funereal honours, have been 
fmitten by the hand of Death in the midit 
of their career, and we are now called on 
to entwine with cyprefs the tomb of a — 
third, and offer up a well merited eulo- 
gium to his manes. . 
The family of Cornwallis, or Corn- 
walleys, has been fettled during many 
centuries, in the county of Suffolk, and 
appears, like many other of our neble 
houfes, to have originally derived its 
wealth from commerce. “Thomas Corn- 
walleys, to whom we trace it, was a mer- 
chant, and Sheriff of London, during the 
fourteenth century. He is fuppofed to 
have been a dealer in wool, and to have 
acquired his opulence by trading in the 
ftaple commodity of England, at a period 
when our fleeces were improvidently ex- 
ported to Flanders, on purpofe to be 
brought back again in the fhape of broad- 
cloth. 
He was affuredly rich, for we find his 
fon fJohaferving, and foon after acting, 
in the capacity of Knight of the Shire 
for the county of Suff.Jk, which he re- 
prefented in two iucceflive Parliaments. 
His defcendants allo were obliged, on ac- 
count of their landed eflates, to pay -the 
fees ufually extorted under pretence of 
Konighthoed, an honour which at that pe- 
ricd, on account of certain ffcal reguia- 
tions, was moft reluctantly fubmitted to 
by every man whofe property was of a 
ccrtain amount. - 
The martial {pivit, which has fince dif- 
tinguifhed this family, appears to have 
been elicited during the wars with France; 
and John, who accompanied the Lord 
High Admiral, Surrey, to the Continent, 
and diftinguifhed himéelf greatly before 
Morlaix, was dubbed a Keaight Banneret 
in the field of battle, in the prefence of 
the whole Englith army. It is _ this 
promifing officer, we believe, who is 
prailed by Sir Richard Baker in his Chro- 
nicle of the Kings of England, for his 
exiraordinary gallantry and good con- 
du. 
During thé latter part of the reign of 
Henry VIII. we have fome reafon to fup- 
pofe that the Cornwallifes chofe to remain 
in obf{curity, for, not deeming it proper to 
agree to the novelties introduced by that 
Prince in religion, they continued faithful 
to their ancient tenets. On the acceffion 
of Mary, however, they were, of courle, 
brought again into favour at Court. Sir 
Thomas, indeed, was admitted into her 
Majefty’s Privy Council, and afterwards 
became comptroller of the houfehold. 
Notwithftanding he evinced no fymp- 
toms of bigotry or perfecution, yet when 
Elizabeth afcended the throne, and perfe- 
vered in the work of reformation fo refo- 
lutely entered upon by her father, he be- 
came difqualified by his religious tenets,’ 
and perhaps alfo by his confcience, from 
exercifing any important office about the 
perfon of the new Queen. This Prince{s- 
would, of courfe, be jealous of one who 
had poftefled the confidence of her fifter, 
and we accordingly find Sir Thomas Corn- 
wallis prudently retiring to his paternal 
eftate in Suffolk, where he died. 
Soonafter his demife, his fon, or at 
leaft his fucceflor, was knighted op ac- 
count of his gallantry during that expe- 
dition into Ireland which was conduéted 
by the Earl of Effex, her Majefty’s fa- 
vourite: this leads us to fuppofe that he 
had conformed to the eftablifhed church. 
Sir Charles, a younger brother, during 
the next reign, appears to have attedina 
diplomatic capacity, which, at that time, 
was not, as now, diftiné& from the pro- 
feffion of arms ; for he was difpatched by 
James I. to the Court of Spain in the bo- 
nourable fituation of his ambaflador*. 
‘This was no unimportant miffion at the 
period we allude to, for that power was 
then one of the moft formidable and re- 
fpectable fates in Europe. Nor was the 
occafion of his journey unimportant, as it 
* He was created a Baronet by letters pa- 
tent, dated May 4, 1627. He was alfa 
Member for the borough of Eye, in Suffolk, 
which has fince, with exception to the 
period of the civil wars, been almoft yni- 
formiy reprefeated by his defcendants. 
was 
