A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/North, Francis

NORTH. Francis, Lord Guilford, born at Rougham, Norfolk, about 1640, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, and afterwards Lord Chancellor, one of the best amateur musicians of his time, published anonymously in 1677 'A Philosophical Essay on Musick,' containing some curious observations on the phenomena of sounds. He died Sept. 7, 1685.

The Hon. Roger North, his brother, born at Rougham in 1650, was also bred to the bar, and became Attorney-General to James II. He wrote several family biographies and other works, but his claim to mention here is as author of 'Memoirs of Musick,' a well-written sketch of the progress of the art from the time of the ancient Greeks to about 1730. The MS. remained in the family's possession, unpublished, until 1842, when it came into the hands of George Townshend Smith, then organist of Lynn, Norfolk, through whose exertions it was published in 1846 under the editorship of Dr. Rimbault. North, who was a skilled musical amateur, died at Rougham in 1733.

[ W. H. H. ]