The Sun.
London, England, 1841-12-18 00:00:00

HER 18, 189,1,

MEMOIR OF THE LATE
EARL OF WESTMORELAND.

What cloth he get, who e'er, prefers
The scutcheons of his ancestors ?
• This chimney-piece of gold' of brass ?
That coat of arms blazoned in glass ?
When these with time and age have end
Thy prowess must thyself commend.
The sooty shadows of some one
Or other trophies carved in stone,
Defaced, are things to whet, not try
Thine own heroicism by.
True nobleness doth those alone engage
Who can add virtue to their parentage.
(Poems by Mildmay, Second Earl of Westmoreland, 1648.)

The above words do honour to the Westmore-
lands. Throwing aside to emptyvaunts which one-
halfot our worn-out aristocracy superciliously and
vainly adopt, the manly author taught that man
should stand upon the alone grounds of his own
worth and virtue, and cast aside with praise.
worthy disdain, all the adventitious blazonings
and hollow boasts derivable from pedigree and
ancestors.

The motto of the late Earls who has just been
gathered to his fathers, was equally remarkable
for the just and honest sentiment it contained.
" Ne vile fano"—" Bring nothing base to the
temple," or with the
,feu de 7nots " to Fane,"
which is the ancestral name of the Westmore-
land family, stands conspicuous for the stately
idea which it embodies; and when it is consi-
dered that the Barons of this house date their
origin from the simple and frank-hearted abori-
gines of Wales, it may, without prejudice, be
said, that they lay claim to higher estimation in
the minds of Englishmen than many of the upper
houses.

Long. antecedent to the Conquest, the old pro-
genitor, of the late Earl was Howell ap Vane, of
1119nmouthshire. Henry, the son of the eighth
Earl, married,Charlotte, the only daughter of
Nicholas Rowe, the celebrated poet. 111ildmay,
whom we have noted above, was himself no in-
different poet; and in the list of Parkes's royal
and .noble authors, stands as the author of a
very scarce volume, printed only for private
circulation, in 1648, and bearing the title of
" Otia Sacra," from which we have given an ex-
tract. Thomas, the eighth Earl, who was also
M.P. for Lyme Regis, married the daughter of
William Swyminer, a merchant of Bristol; and
indeed, it is pleasing to observe that the amalga-
mations of this family, in a variety of instances,
with the middle classes of the country, entirely
takes from it that imperious and exclusive air
which so often disgraces the intermarriages of,
the aristocracy.
The most noticeable occurrence in his Lord-
ship's life was his acceptance of the administra- •
tion of the Irish Government, committed to him
by Mr. Pitt, and which office his Lordship un-
dertook in January, 1790, continuing to fill it for
five years. _ _ _

As successor to the Marquis of Buckingham,
who had been twice sent out to govern Ireland,
but who as a moderate, hard-working Viceroy,
with a Popish wife, did so little to conciliate the
Irish, it was difficult to find a sterling and effi-
cient ruler. Mr. Pitt, however, pursued his
object with indefatigable industry and persever-
ance. A Nobleman of high rank, undistinguished
and inoffensive—neither proud nor humble—
talented or otherwise—extravagant nor parsimo-
nious—was sought for a Viceroy, and was found
in the late Earl.

According to Mr. Pitt's expectation, the Earl
of Wpstmoreland was by no means ill-adapted to
the Irish people. He was sufficiently reserved
to command respect, and splendid enough to up-
hold his station. His moderate conviviality pro-
cured him rational partisans, and his hospitality
engendered, at least, temporary friendships. He
' was honourable and good-natured whilst among
the higher orders and his intimate associates ; he
was a popular Viceroy.
The period of Lord Westmoreland's Govern-
ment was certainly the summit of Irish prospe-
rity. Though he met with a strong opposition
in Parliament, it was an honest opposition—the
guardian of public liberty, and not a faction.
Only two subjects of importance were intro-
duced during his administration, most of the
others being plausible demands, calculated rather
to gratify the people than to produce any radical
change in the system of the Government. A
Place Bill, a Pension Bill, and a Responsibility
Bill, an inquiry into the sale of Peerages,
and into the Police of Dublin, were amongst
the most material measures of his Vice-royalty
.The Place Bill, however, eventually became the
most important that had ever been passed by the
Irish Parliament. The three other Bills, were
proposed by Grattan, acceded to by the Viceroy,
and passed into laws.
During the administration of Lord Westmore-
land, the first question, which so deeply affected
the subsequent events of Ireland, was the partial
emancipation of the Irish Catholics. All
that they then required the Catholics obtained.
The concessions were most important, and
greater than could have been credible before
Lord Westmoreland's Administration. The elec-
tive franchise was the act more of his Govern-
ment than of himself. The 40s. franchise was
then granted to the poorest, most illiterate, and
most dependent peasantry of Europe, who
might one day be influenced by one motive, and
the next by its reverse. Strong doubts, how-
ever, were then, and still are, entertained as to
the wisdom of this extraordinary measure. Mr.
O'Connell, the most earnest and able advocate
for the general emancipation of the Catholics,
and many of his friends, seem to have been of
this opinion. Though Lord Westmoreland was
powerfully opposed in Parliament during the
whole of his government, he was zealously sup-
ported by the friends of the Administration.
Had he not been recalled, for reasons which have
never been stated, it is but fair to suppose that
his place could not have been much better filled.
The Westmoreland patrimonial estates were
delightfully situate, the one at Brimpton, in
Somerset, the other at Apthorpe, or Apel-
thorpe, in the county of Northampton.
The latter was the Earl's most favourite
and noble seat. It is a fine quadrangu-
lar edifice of free-stone. On the south side of it,
a statue of King James the First commemorates
a visit paid to the family by that Monarch in his
journey from Scotland in the year 1603, and he
is said to have contributed the timber towards
the completion of the building. It was here, too,
that the King first noticed Villiers, afterwards
Duke of Buckingham. The various apartments
are richly ornamented with numerous paintings,
among which are two full-length portraits of
Philip and Mary, said to be painted by the cele-
brated Holbein. In the adjoining church of Ap-
thorpe there exists a truly gorgeous monument
of a member of the Westmoreland family.