Thomas Osborne, 1st Duke of Leeds

“ He opposed the prosecution of Sir John Fenwick, but supported the action taken by members of both Houses in defence of William’s rights in the same year. On the 23rd of April 1698 he entertained the tsar, Peter the Great, at Wimbledon. He had for some time lost the real direction of affairs, and in May 1699 he was compelled to retire from office and from the lord-lieutenancy of Yorkshire.
In Queen Anne’s reign, in his old age, he is described as “a gentleman of admirable natural parts, great knowledge and experience in the affairs of his own country, but of no reputation with any party. ”

“ In March 1679 a new parliament hostile to Danby was returned, and he was forced to resign the treasurership; but he received a pardon from the king under the Great Seal, and a warrant for a marquessate. [10] His proposed advancement in rank was severely reflected upon in the Lords, Halifax declaring it in the king’s presence the recompense of treason, “not to be borne”; and in the Commons his retirement from office by no means appeased his antagonists. ”

“ Every circumstance now conspired to effect his fall. Although both abroad and at home his policy had generally embodied the wishes of the ascendant party in the state, Danby had never obtained the confidence of the nation. His character inspired no respect, and he could not reckon during the whole of his long career on the support of a single individual. Charles is said to have told him when he made him treasurer that he had only two friends in the world, himself and his own merit. ”

“ Illustrious Persons, by J. le Neve (1714) . Further material for his biography exists in Add. MSS., 26040-95 (56 vols., containing his papers) ; in the Duke of Leeds MSS. at Hornby Castle, calendered in Hist. MSS. Comm. 11th Rep. pt. vii. pp. 1-43; MSS. of Earl of Lindsay and J. Eliot Hodgkin; and Calendars of State Papers Dom. See also Add. MSS. 1894–1899, Index and Calendar; Hist. MSS. Comm. 11th Rep. pt. ii., House of Lords MSS.; Gen. Cat. British Museum for various pamphlets. (P. C. Y.) ”

“ On the 15th of August, 1675, Sir Thomas Osborne, the great-grandson of Sir Edward, was raised to the Peerage by the titles of Viscount Latimer, and Baron Kiveton, in the County of York, by Patent from King Charles the Second; on the 27th of June, in the year following, he was created Earl of Danby; on April the 20th 1680, he was advanced to the dignity of Marquess of Caermarthen; and he became First Duke of Leeds on May the 4th, 1694. So much then, Mr. Postern, for an historical and genealogical illustration of the anecdote of the gallant apprentice of London Bridge. ”

“ Danby had rendered extremely important services to William’s cause. On the 20th of April 1689 he was created marquess of Carmarthen and was made lord-lieutenant of the three ridings of Yorkshire. He was, however, still greatly disliked by the Whigs, and William, instead of reinstating him in the lord treasurership, only appointed him president of the council in February 1689. He did not conceal his vexation and disappointment, which were increased by the appointment of Halifax to the office of lord privy seal. ”

“ He was superseded in the treasury on the 11th of March by Buckingham’s favourite, Sir Thomas Osborne, afterwards earl of Danby and duke of Leeds, and was at last released from the Tower on the 21st in disgrace. ”

“ A thing must be built of something. Yes, of course, there are the poor—what of them! They line the happiness of the wealthy. Devil take it! our lords are our glory! The pack of hounds belonging to Charles, Baron Mohun, costs him as much as the hospital for lepers in Moorgate, and for Christ's Hospital, founded for children, in 1553, by Edward VI. Thomas Osborne, Duke of Leeds, spends yearly on his liveries five thousand golden guineas. The Spanish grandees have a guardian appointed by law to prevent their ruining themselves. That is cowardly. Our lords are extravagant and magnificent. ”

“ He married on 19 Sept. 1678 at Wimbledon, Surrey, Lady Bridget Osborne, third daughter of Thomas, first duke of Leeds, but died without issue at Tangier on 17 Oct. 1680, aged 23, and was buried on 18 Jan. ”

“ On the prorogation of 1689 he was commissioned by 150 tory members, who held a grand dinner at the ‘Apollo Tavern’ in Fleet Street, to convey their thanks and felicitations to the king, and when, at the beginning of 1690, Halifax laid down the privy seal, and the Marquis of Caermarthen [see Osborne, Thomas, Duke of Leeds] became chief minister, Lowther was appointed first lord of the treasury in the new administration, in which the tories slightly predominated, and was entrusted with the management of the House of Commons. ”

“ This descended to his only daughter Amelia (1754-1784) , the wife of Francis Osborne, afterwards 5th duke of Leeds, and when the 7th duke of Leeds died in 1859 it passed to his nephew, Sackville George Lane-Fox (1827-1888) , falling into abeyance on his death. Hornby castle in Yorkshire, now the principal seat of the dukes of Leeds, came to them through marriage of the 5th duke with the heiress of the families of Conyers and of Darcy. ”

“ Charles shut up the exchequer, and thereby ruined a large number of persons whose money was in the hands of the government. He issued a declaration of indulgence to Catholics and Protestant Nonconformists, but it was withdrawn the next year, at the request of parliament. England and France declared war against Holland, and the Dutch were defeated off Southwold Bay (May 28) .
1673. Test Act passed. The duke of York, being a Catholic, resigned his office of lord high admiral. Sir Thomas Osborne, better known as the earl of Danby, became chief minister. ”

“ Francis Godolphin Osborne, fifth Duke of Leeds. In 1776, he was appointed a lord of the bedchamber, and in 1783, secretary of state for foreign affairs. He was succeeded in the office by Lord Grenville.-E.
(780) The numbers on the division were, for the abolition 88, against it 163.-E.
(781) In a letter written on this day, Miss More says,—"My time has been literally passed with thief takers, officers of justice, and such pretty kind of people." The young lady, who was an heiress and only fourteen years of age, had been trepanned away from school. ”

“ He then resigned the benefice and retired to Lewes, where he died on 9 May 1889. He married in 1834 Emily, daughter of Pascoe Grenfell of Taplow Court, Buckinghamshire, and was thus brother-in-law of Charles Kingsley and James Anthony Froude. His wife died on 19 Dec. 1875, leaving two sons and two daughters.
Osborne is chiefly known in connection with the series of 'lay sermons' delivered from the pulpit of the 'Times' newspaper under the signature 'S. G. O.' A philanthropist of a militant and almost ferocious type, he was always lashing abuses and provoking controversy. ”

“ Never was there a more flagitious instance of corruption. Never was there an offender who had less claim to indulgence. The obligations which the Duke of Leeds has to his country are of no common kind. One great debt we generously cancelled; but the manner in which our generosity has been requited forces us to remember that he was long ago impeached for receiving money from France. How can we be safe while a man proved to be venal has access to the royal ear? Our best laid enterprises have been defeated. Our inmost counsels have been betrayed. ”

“ The descendants of the illustrious houses of Cavendish, Osborne, Boothe, and Darcy (for the venerable Duke of Leeds, whose age would not allow him to attend, had sent his two grandsons, in whom the blood of Osborne and D'Arcy is united) ; a numerous and powerful gentry; a wealthy and respectable yeomanry; a hardy, yet decent and attentive peasantry ”

“ Pitt, who, as George the Second said, had never opened Vattel, and which was very near making a Chancellor of the Exchequer of Mr. Sheridan, who could not work a sum in long division. This was the sort of talent which raised Clifford from obscurity to the head of affairs. To this talent Osborne, by birth a simple country gentleman, owed his white staff, his garter, and his dukedom. The encroachment of the power of the Parliament on the power of the Crown resembled a fatality, or the operation of some great law of nature. ”

“ Can we doubt that he who sells us to one another will, for a good price, sell us all to the common enemy?" Wharton concluded by moving that Leeds should be impeached of high crimes and misdemeanours. [582]
Leeds had many friends and dependents in the House of Commons; but they could say little. Wharton's motion was carried without a division; and he was ordered to go to the bar of the Lords, and there, in the name of the Commons of England, to impeach the Duke. But, before this order could be obeyed, it was announced that His Grace was at the door and requested an audience. ”

“ I’m the only one that ain’t goin’ straight. But when I get out of here I mean to go straight. Say, Tom, do you think I can get a job, here in Auburn? My bit is up in December, and I should like to stay here and get straight before I go back home.”
“When you get out,” is my answer, “it will be up to me to stand treat for a dinner of beefsteak and fried potatoes, at any rate. And I’ll do the best I can to help you get a job, Joe, if you really do mean to go straight. But in that neither I nor any one else can help you; you know you’ll have to do that yourself.” ”

“ Dorothy Osborne was twenty-one. She is said to have been handsome; and there remains abundant proof that she possessed an ample share of the dexterity, the vivacity, and the tenderness of her sex. Temple soon became, in the phrase of that time, her servant, and she returned his regard. But difficulties, as great as ever expanded a novel to the fifth volume, opposed their wishes. When the courtship commenced, the father of the hero was sitting in the Long Parliament; the father of the heroine was commanding in Guernsey for King Charles. ”

“ By that I do not mean the Warden, as he has proven himself to be a just man in every respect. I mean those who are in immediate charge of us. Some of them are not in accord with your project, and showed their disapproval by reprimanding us for greeting you as we did last Sunday. But they are not to blame in one sense, for they have been here so long their feelings have become stagnated and any new movement appears to them an intruder. They may be in a position to prevent us from showing our feelings physically, but, thank God, they cannot control us mentally. ”

“ The portrait of the duke of Abercom, a full length in a duke's parliamentary robes, was left unfinished at the painter's death. It is in the Masonic Hall, Dublin. In 1900 Osborne was offered knighthood in recognition of his distinction as a painter. He was elected an associate of the Royal Hibernian Academy in 1883, and a full member in 1886. He was delightful in every relation of life and enjoyed great popularity with all his friends. ”

“ Osborne was in every way the most hospitable of men, and he would have felt it as a personal disgrace if (as never happened) any guest of his had not all the wine he wanted, even as he would have felt it a personal disgrace if any guest was not met at the station, or did not have sufficient breakfast. But wine to his mind was something of quite a different class to all other hospitalities, and was under his personal control, so that if Sir Thomas liked his drop of sherry in the middle of the morning, Mr. ”

“ And so all you young people will be together, and a merry time you’ll have, I’ll be bound. Ah, there is Sir Thomas; I must explain to him.”
Sir Thomas cared little for precedence, but much for his dinner and more for his wine. He was considered quite a courtier in manner at Sheffield, and bowed to Mrs. Osborne on the conclusion of her explanation.
“When Mr. Osborne has the ordering of the wines, and Mrs. Osborne the commanding of the victuals,” he said handsomely, “he would be a man what’s hard to please if he wasn’t very well content. ”

“ Osborne, beaming delightedly.
“That we are. Then there’s Alderman Price and lady, just run down from Sheffield, and Sir Thomas Ewart and lady——”
“Remind me to get out the ’40 port,” said Mr. Osborne. “Sir Thomas likes a glass of that.”
“He likes a dozen glasses of that,” remarked Mrs. Osborne, “but pray-a-don’t sit for ever over your wine at table, Mr. O., for there’s the—the—I never can{64} remember the name of that quartette, but they’re going to give us a bit of music after——”
“Lashing out, lashing out,” said her husband, “you’ll make a pauper of me yet, Mrs. ”

“ At midnight her brother-in-law, Duke Ernest, reached Osborne, and, dissolved in tears, she at once met him on the staircase. On 23 Dec., in all the panoply of state, the prince's remains were temporarily laid to rest in St. George's Chapel, Windsor. The prince of Wales represented her as chief mourner. Early in January her uncle Leopold came to Osborne to console and counsel her.
No heavier blow than the prince's removal could have fallen on the queen. Rarely The queen's position. was a wife more dependent on a husband. ”

“ You’ve committed a serious offense.”
“That’s all right; but I wish my hands weren’t so sticky. I can’t get them clean with that cold water.”
“I’ll get you some hot water.”
Jack goes off to fulfill his errand; and I see that Grant has come into the shop and is talking to Captain Kane. Wondering if this is the first the latter has heard of my plan of action, I take my coat and cap down from the hook and put them on. The men begin to feel that [Pg 201] something is up; and a number of them cease work and stare as an officer steps up to our table. ”