by Robert Anderson

“ His title of nobility is now enjoyed by that distinguished statesman, and illustrious ornament and patron of science and literature, the Marquis of Lansdowne, who married Sophia, daughter of the late Earl of Granville, the representative of the family of Bath and Lansdowne. ”

“ George Granville, afterwards Lord Lansdowne of Biddiford, in the county of Devon, was born in 1667. He was descended from the illustrious family of that name, seated for many ages in Devonshire and Cornwall, the founder of which was Richard de Granville, second son of Rollo, first Duke of Normandy, who accompanied William the Conqueror, in his expedition to England, and was rewarded for his services with the castle and lordship of Biddiford. ”

“ But by a critic of a later generation, who takes up his book without any favourable prejudices, the praise already received will be thought sufficient; for his works do not show him to have had much comprehension from nature, or illumination from learning. ”

“ Of the former, his historical performances afford some pleasing proofs; of the latter, there are extant two letters, one to his cousin the last Earl of Bath, and the other to his cousin Mr. Bevil Granville, on his entering into holy orders, written with a tenderness, a freedom, and an honesty, which render them invaluable.
The general character of his poetry, is elegance, sprightliness, and dignity. He is seldom tender, and very rarely sublime. In his smaller pieces he endeavours to be gay ”

“ Without considering, or being then incapable of discovering the dangers to which the constitution was exposed by the violence of his proceedings, he wrote a letter to his father from Yorkshire, about a month before the Prince of Orange landed, expressing the most ardent desire to serve the King in person. [2]
“I cannot bear” says he, “living under the restraint of lying obscure and idle in a country retirement, when every man who has the least sense of honour should be preparing for the field. ”

“ He is for ever amusing himself with the puerilities of mythology; his King is Jupiter, who, if the Queen brings no children, has a barren Juno. The Queen is compounded of Juno, Monus, and Minerva. His Poem on the Duchess of Grafton’s law-suit, after having rattled a while with Juno and Pallas, Mars and Alcides, Cassiope, Niobe, and the Propétides, Hercules, Minos, and Rhadamanthus, at last concludes its folly with profaneness.
“His verses to Myra, which are most frequently mentioned, have little in them of either art or nature, of the sentiments of a lover, or the language of a poet ”

“ He was slain near the Azores Islands; having in one ship alone sustained a fight for fifteen hours, against the whole naval power of Spain. Sir Bevil Granville, grandson to Sir Richard, raised considerable forces at his own expence for Charles I., and died in the King’s cause, at the battle of Lansdowne in 1643. John Granville, the eldest son of Sir Bevil, was intrusted by Monk with the most private transactions of the Restoration; and created Earl of Bath and Viscount Lansdowne, in 1661. ”

“ The character of Shylock, as Rowe remarks, is made comic, and we are prompted to laughter instead of detestation. In the second act is introduced a musical masque, called Peleus and Thetis. The profits were designed for Dryden, but upon that great poet’s death were given to his son.
At the accession of Queen Anne, having received a considerable addition to his fortune by the death of his father, and his uncle the Earl of Bath, he was chosen into Parliament, for Fowey in Cornwall. ”

“ The gentry assembled at York, to agree upon the choice of representatives for the county, have prepared an address, to assure his Majesty they are ready to sacrifice their lives and fortunes for him, upon this and all other occasions ”