and several volumes of sermons. Some of his opinions were criticised by Lady Masham in a Discourse on the Love of God, published in 1696, to which Norris replied two years afterwards in the fourth volume of his "Practical Discourses." He also entered the lists with Toland and Dodwell. His "Account of Reason and Faith in relation to the mysteries of Christianity," 1697, is a reply to part of the argument in Toland's Christianity not Mysterious; and in 1708 he vindicated, on grounds of reason, the natural immortality of the human soul against Dodwell, whose paradox on that subject engaged more than one controversialist.—A. C. F.
NORRIS, Robert, author of a historical and descriptive account of Dahomey, appears to have been a Liverpool trader, long resident on the coast of Guinea. He published at London, in 1789, a work written chiefly in 1773, "Memoirs of the Reign of Bossa Ahadee, King of Dahomey; to which are added the author's journey to Abomey, the capital, and a short account of the African slave-trade." The journey was made in 1772; and his unvarnished description of a region then little known is one of considerable interest. Norris did not take an unfavourable view of the slave-trade, and was a delegate from Liverpool to London "upon the African business," on which "he was much attended to by the privy council." He died after his return from London to Liverpool in 1791. There is a brief obituary notice of him in the Gentleman's Magazine for that year.—F. E.
NORTH, Francis, first Lord Guilford, and Lord-keeper of the great seal in the reign of Charles II. and James II., was born the 22d of October, 1637, the second son of Dudley, fourth Baron North. Trained first by a presbyterian, then by a cavalier schoolmaster, no fixed principle was implanted in his mind, save the desire for worldly success. Diminutive in person, of a timid character, and very much straitened in his circumstances, he early practised compliancy and obsequiousness as a means of advancement. He might have escaped the shame of having practised the sordid arts not uncommon in the world, but for the excessive candour of his affectionate brother Roger, who, in writing the lord-keeper's life, has given minute details that are more amusing and instructive to the reader than honourable to the subject of the story. Lord Campbell, in his Lives of the Chancellors (vol. iii.), is very severe upon Guilford. Yet had he a clear intellect, great industry, was a proficient in letters and science, and had extensive legal learning. His first preferment was obtained through Sir Jeffery Palmer, attorney-general, whose favour he courted, and on whose death he became solicitor-general in 1671. Three years later he became attorney-general, and in January, 1675, chief justice of the common pleas. This court had been deprived of almost all its business by an extension of the powers of the queen's bench. North, with a keen appreciation of the fees, restored activity to the common pleas by a dexterous use of the ancient writ of "capias," and thus by competition the jurisdiction of the civil law courts was enlarged. His conduct in the trials for the popish plot was little to his honour, for he consented to the death of the victims of popular clamour, while he disbelieved the whole story of Titus Gates. The fidelity with which he upheld the prerogative at the expense of the liberty of the subject, procured him the seat on the woolsack, to which he was promoted in 1682. The few remaining years of his life were rendered miserable by the insolent opposition of the brutal Jeffreys, a man greatly preferred by James II. to the faint-hearted Guilford, who still retained a respect for law and justice. He died at the early age of forty-eight, on the 5th September, 1685.—R. H.
NORTH, Frederick, second earl of Guilford, better known as Lord North, the favourite minister of George III., was the eldest son of Francis, first earl of Guilford, and was born on the 13th of April, 1733. After completing his education at Eton and at Trinity college, Oxford, he spent three years on the continent, where he made himself master of the French, German, and Italian languages. On coming of age he returned to England, and in 1754 was elected member for the family borough of Banbury. In 1759, during the administration of the elder Pitt, he was appointed a lord of the treasury, through the influence of his kinsman the duke of Newcastle. On the formation of the first Rockingham ministry he was offered the chancellorship of the exchequer and the vice-treasurership of Ireland, both of which he declined; but in 1766, when Chatham returned to office, he nominated Lord North joint-paymaster of the forces; and in the year following his lordship succeeded Charles Townshend as chancellor of the exchequer, and became leader of the house of commons under the ministry of the duke of Grafton. Though not without ambition, these honours were rather thrust upon Lord North than sought by him, and he certainly did not seek to attain power by giving his support to popular measures. On the contrary, he took a prominent part in all the arbitrary and unconstitutional proceedings against John Wilkes, and as he afterwards boasted, was the first to move, in 1764, for the expulsion of that notorious demagogue from the house of commons. He speedily acquired a high reputation for his skill in parliamentary debate and strategy, and on the resignation of the duke of Grafton in 1770, he consented, though with great reluctance, in compliance with the earnest desire of the king, to assume the post of first lord of the treasury—an obligation which his majesty never afterwards forgot. Lord North was as great a favourite with the house of commons as with his sovereign; but the spirit of faction raged with the utmost fury at this period, and the calamities which speedily overtook the country involved the government in great difficulties. The strife between Great Britain and her North American colonies had already commenced, and the premier was called upon at once to deal with the difficult question of colonial taxation. He expressed his willingness to repeal all the duties laid on in 1767 except only the duty on tea, which produced no more than eleven or twelve thousand pounds a year; but this apparently trifling reservation was the seed from which sprung those fatal disturbances which ultimately led to a fratricidal war, and the loss of the colonies. The impolitic and violent contest in which the house of commons engaged with the lord mayor and the city of London in 1771, arising out of the publication of the parliamentary debates, led to numerous tumults and riots, in which Lord North was severely wounded; and brought much odium on him and his colleagues. They weathered the storm, however, though not without loss of reputation, and soon after strengthened their forces by reinforcements from the old whig army, and especially by their new legal appointments. "The minister," says Gibbon, "might indulge in a short slumber whilst he was upholden on either hand by the majestic sense of Thurlow and the skilful eloquence of Wedderburn." Meanwhile, the excitement in America continued to increase; towards the close of 1773 the celebrated tea riots broke out in Boston, which two years later issued in open rebellion. As the disastrous contest proceeded, the attacks of the opposition against Lord North became more and more virulent. A powerful phalanx of inveterate enemies, headed by Fox and Burke, made the most violent assaults not only on the measures of the government but on the capacity and private character of the premier, and even loudly clamoured for his head. But Lord North, though often left to fight almost single-handed against a host of assailants, firmly kept his ground, and by his strong common sense, consummate tact, pungent wit, and imperturbable good humour, foiled their assaults, and disconcerted their tactics. Though Lord North still retained his original opinion respecting the justice of the war, he became at length anxious to resign, believing that his retirement from office would facilitate the conclusion of a peace. But he was induced very reluctantly to remain, by the passionate entreaties of the king. As the American contest, however, grew more desperate, the attacks upon the administration became more violent, the ministerial majority decreased both in number and in quality, and at length in 1782 Lord North resigned, after having held the reins for twelve years, and was succeeded by Lord Rockingham. On the death of that nobleman a few months after his accession to office. Lord Shelburne was appointed by the king first lord of the treasury. Fox immediately resigned and took his place on the opposition bench by the side of his former adversary. In no long time the notorious and ill-omened coalition was formed, principally through the agency of Lord North's eldest son and Mr. Eden, afterwards Lord Auckland. The ultimate consequences of this junction between statesmen who had differed so widely respecting measures of paramount importance, were the annihilation of the North party, the decimation and discredit of the whigs, and irreparable injury to the character of all who took a prominent part in it. Its immediate results, however, were the expulsion of Lord Shelburne from office, and the formation in April, 1783, of a ministry under the duke of Portland, of which Lord North and Mr. Fox were appointed secretaries of state. But their lease of power was very brief. The coalition was odious both to consistent tories and to zealous whigs, and was, indeed, hateful to the whole country; and the king dexter-
