OR, MEMOIRS OF THE RIGHT HON. JAMES RADCLIFFE, EARL OF DERWENTWATER, A MARTYR IN THE REBELLION OF 1715. TO WHICH IS ADDED, A Visit to Bamburgh Castle; WITH AN ACCOUNT OF LORD CREWE'S CHARITIES, AND A MEMOIR OF THE NOBLE FOUNDER. FORMING THE SECOND SERIES OF DESCRIPTIVE AND HISTORICAL NOTICES OF NORTHUMBRIAN BY WILLIAM SIDNEY GIBSON, ESQ. F.S.A. F.G.S. LOND. BARRISTER-AT-LAW, AND A REGISTRAR OF THE COURT OF BANKRUPTCY; MEMBER OF THE ARCHEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE; AND AUTHOR OF "THE HISTORY OF TYNEMOUTH," "REMARKS ON MEDIEVAL HISTORIANS," ETC. ETC. EMBELLISHED WITH A PORTRAIT OF LORD DERWENTWATER, AND SEVERAL LONDON: LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN & LONGMANS, PATERNOSTER ROW. ROBERT ROBINSON, PILGRIM STREET. M. DCCC. L. PREFACE. In presenting before the public a second series of Northumbrian Visits, it is the author's pleasant duty to express his thanks for the indulgent and flattering reception accorded to his former publications. Since he came into Northumberland, his chief pleasure has been found in visiting antient historic localities, in tracing their history, in collecting memorials of departed worthies, and in writing upon those subjects. The author has consulted only his own pleasure in the occupation of his leisure hours; his own predilections have guided the choice of his subjects; and he has written for his own amusement and as an amateur, yet he trusts, sometimes with a devout purpose and a higher aim. As he has not sought pecuniary gain, so he has not written to conciliate popular applause; and the favourable opinions which have been accorded to his publications, therefore, constitute a reward which he values the more highly. The subjects of the following pages belong to the range of personal history and biography, rather than that of topographical or antiquarian research. The name of JAMES A RADCLIFFE, EARL OF DERWENTWATER, lives in popular affection; and perhaps in English history there is hardly an episode which has even now a firmer hold on popular sympathies (especially in the North of England,) than his melancholy fate; yet there is not any work in which the scattered materials for a life of the beloved and noble Radcliffe have been collected. It is no insignificant mark of the power of virtue, that his character should have remained the traditionary subject of interest after the lapse of so long a period of time. The pale flowers of history, collected in the following pages, have been gathered by the author with a loving ardour; and he not only wishes that his labours may be as acceptable to the public as they have been productive of pleasure to himself, but that they may be thought to render some justice to the memory of a generous and devoted young nobleman, who can no longer vindicate himself. The author has traced, with a kind of affectionate sympathy, the memorials of the generous and gallant Derwentwater, and the touching story of his devotion and his fate. Of the degree in which the writer may have succeeded, others must judge; he can claim credit only for diligence and fidelity; but having undertaken a memoir on this subject from an admiration of the Earl's character, and a feeling of interest in all that relates to him, the author has been gratified by finding, that all the unpublished materials to which he has had access, every piece of evidence that has been discovered, only aids in placing the character of Lord Derwentwater in a bright and estimable point of view, and in justifying the sentiments with which |