seasonable and necessary, and which he treated with great strength of reason, and depth of law. Uncommon honours were paid to him on this occasion, the reading and entertainment lasting from the 4th to the 17th of August. At the first day's entertainment were several of the nobility of the kingdom, and privy counsellors, with divers others of his friends; at the second, were the lord mayor, aldermen, and principal citizens of London; at the third, which was two days after the former, was the whole college of physicians, who all came in their caps and gowns; at the fourth, all the judges, advocates, doctors of the civil law, and all the society of Doctors' Commons; at the fifth, the archbishops, bishops, and chief of the clergy; and at the last, which was on August 15, his majesty king Charles II. did him the honour (never before granted by any of his royal progenitors) to accept of an invitation to dine with him in the great hall of the Inner Temple.

As solicitor-general, he took an active part in the trials of the regicides, and in April 1661, by the strong recommendation of lord Clarendon, he was chosen a member of parliament for the university of Oxford; but, says Wood, "he did us no good, when we wanted his assistance for taking off the tribute belonging to hearths." In 1665, after the parliament then sitting at Oxford had been prorogued, he was in full convocation created doctor of civil law; and, the creation being over, the vice-chancellor, in the presence of several parliament-men, stood up and spoke to the public orator to do his office, who said, among other things, "That the university wished they had more colleges to entertain the parliament men, and more chambers, but by no means more chimnies;" at which sir Heneage was observed to change countenance, and draw a little back. When the disgrace of lord Clarendon drew on, in 1667, and he was impeached in parliament for some supposed high crimes, sir Heneage, not forgetting his old friend, appeared vigorously in his defence. In 1670, the king appointed him attorney general; and, about three years after, lord keeper. Soon after he was advanced to the degree of a baron, by the title of Lord Finch of Daventry, in the county of Northampton, and upon the surrender of the great seal to his majesty, Dec. 19, 1675, he received it immediately back again, with the title of Lord High Chancellor of England.

The conduct of lord chancellor Finch in the disposal of VOL, XIV.

X

church livings merits particular approbation. Attached to the interests of the church of England, he had considered the necessity of inquiring into the characters of those who might be candidates for benefices in the disposal of the seal. But the many avocations of his high office prevented his personal attention to this point; he therefore addressed his chaplain (Dr. Sharp, afterwards archbishop of York) to this effect: "The greatest difficulty, I apprehend, in the execution of my office, is the patronage of ecclesiastical preferments. God is my witness that I would not knowingly prefer an unworthy person; but as my course of life and studies has lain another way, I cannot think myself so good a judge of the merits of such suitors as you are; I therefore charge it upon your conscience, as you will answer it to Almighty God, that upon every such occasion, you make the best inquiry, and give me the best advice you can, that I may never bestow any favour upon an undeserving man; which if you neglect to do, the guilt will be entirely yours, and I shall deliver my own soul." This trust, so solemnly committed to his care, Dr. Sharp (says his recent biographer Mr. Todd) faithfully discharged; and his advice was no less faithfully followed by his patron, as long as he continued in office. By so conscientious a disposal of church-preferment in the dissolute reign of Charles II. the cause of religion must have been eminently advanced.

He performed the office of high steward at the trial of lord Stafford, who was found guilty of high treason by his peers, for being concerned in the popish plot. On May 12, 1681, he was created earl of Nottingham, and died, quite worn out, at his house in Queen-street, Lincoln'sinn-fields, Dec. 18, 1682, and was buried in the church of Raunston near Olney in Buckinghamshire, where his son erected a superb monument to his memory. Though he lived in very troublesome and difficult times, yet he conducted himself with such even steadiness, that he retained the good opinion of both prince and people. He was distinguished by his wisdom and eloquence; and was such an excellent orator, that some of his contemporaries have styled him the English Roscius, the English Cicero, &c. Burnet, in the preface to his "History of the Reforma tion," tells us, that his great parts and greater virtues were so conspicuous, that it would be a high presumption in him to say any thing in his commendation; being in nothing

mere eminent, than in his zeal for, and care of, the church of England. His character is described by Dryden, or rather Tate, in the second part of "Absalom and Achitophel," under the name of Amri; but more reliance may be placed on the opinion of judge Blackstone. "He was a

person," says this learned commentator, "of the greatest abilities, and most incorrupted integrity; a thorough master and zealous defender of the laws and constitution of his country; and endued with a pervading genius that enabled him to discover and to pursue the true spirit of justice, notwithstanding the embarrassments raised by the narrow and technical notions which then prevailed in the courts of law, and the imperfect ideas of redress which had possessed the courts of equity. The reason and necessities of mankind, arising from the great change in property, by the extension of trade, and the abolition of military tenures, co-operated in establishing his plan, and enabled him, in the course of nine years, to build a system of jurisprudence and jurisdiction upon wide and rational foundations, which have also been extended and improved by many great men, who have since presided in chancery; and from that time to this, the power and business of the court have increased to an amazing degree."

Under his name are published, 1. Several speeches and discourses in the trial of the judges of Charles I. in the book entitled "An exact and most impartial account of the Indictment, Arraignment, Trial, and Judgment (according to law) of twenty-nine regicides, &c. 1660," 4to, 1679, 8vo. 2. "Speeches to both Houses of Parliament, 7th Jan. 1673; 13th of April and 13th of Oct. 1675; 15th of Feb. 1676; 6th of March, 1678; and 30th of April, 1679.". These were spoken while he was lord keeper and chancellor. 3. "Speech at the Sentence of William Viscount Stafford, 7th Dec. 1680," printed in one sheet, folio; and in the Trial of the said Viscount, p. 212. 4. "Answers by his Majesty's command, upon several Addresses presented to his majesty at Hampton Court, the 19th of May, 1681," in one sheet, in folio. 5. "His Arguments; upon which he made the Decree in the cause between the honourable Charles Howard, esq. plaintiff, Henry late duke of Norfolk, Henry lord Mowbray his son, Henry marquis of Dorchester, and Richard Marriott, esq. defendants; wherein the several ways and methods of limiting a trust of term for years are fully debated, 1615," folio. 6. “An

Argument on the claim of the Crown to pardon on Im peachment," folio. He also left behind him, written with his own hand, "Chancery Reports," MS. in folio, and notes on Coke's Institute.'

FINCH (DANIEL.), second earl of Nottingham, son of the preceding, by his lady Elizabeth, daughter of Mr. Daniel Hervey, merchant in London, was born about 1647, and educated at Christ church, Oxford; but entered early into public life, and served in several parliaments in, the reign of Charles II. for the city of Lichfield, and for the borough of Newton in the county of Southampton. In 1679 he was constituted first commissioner of the Admiralty, and sworn of the privy-council; and in the latter end of the year following, spoke with much vigour in the house of commons against the bill for the exclusion of the duke of York, declaring "that the kings of England do not rule by virtue of any statute-law," as had been suggested by some persons on the other side of the question, since their right was by so ancient a prescription, that it might justly be said to be from God alone; and such as no power on earth ought to dispute."

On the decease of his father in 1682, he succeeded him in his titles and estate; and on the death of Charles II. was one of the privy-council who signed the order, dated at Whitehall, Feb. 6, 1684-5, for proclaiming the duke of York king of England. In that reign he was one of the chief opposers of the abrogation of the test act, which he considered as the strongest fence of the protestant religion. Upon the trial of the seven bishops, he was present in court with several other noblemen; and his brother Heneage, afterwards earl of Aylesford, was of the counsel for those prelates. He was likewise one of the patriots, who, from a true zeal for their religion and their country, often met to concert such advices and advertisements as might be fit for the prince of Orange to know, that he might goveru himself by them. When, however, it was secretly proposed to him to invite that prince into England, he felt a conscientious hesitation on the subject, and informed the friends of that measure that he could not personally adopt it, yet would preserve the secret with which they had intrusted him. Upon the prince's landing in the West, he

1 Collins's Peerage.Biog. Brit.-Todd's Deans of Canterbury,-Walpole's Royal and Noble Authors by Park.—Ath, Ox, vol. II.

was one of those lords who made a last attempt on the obstinacy of the king, by presenting a petition to his majesty, advising him to call a parliament regular and free in all respects, to which he was even for adding, "that the peers who had joined the prince might sit in that free parliament;" but this by the other lords was thought unneces sary. He was afterwards one of the commissioners sent by his majesty to treat with the prince. When afterwards the convention was opened, he was the principal manager of the debates in favour of a regent, against those who were for setting up another king; supporting his opinion by many arguments drawn from the English history, and adding a recent instance in Portugal, where Don Pedro had only the title of regent conferred upon him, while his deposed brother lived. However, he owned it to be a principle grounded on the law and history of England, that obedience and allegiance were due to the king for the time being, even in opposition to one, with whom the right was thought still to remain. He likewise told bishop Burnet, that though he could not argue nor vote, but according to the notions which he had formed concerning our laws and constitution, he should not be sorry to see his own side out-voted; and that though he could not agree to the making of a king, as things stood, yet if he found one made, he would be more faithful to him than those who made him could be, according to their principles.

When king William and queen Mary therefore were advanced to the throne, he was offered the post of lord high chancellor of England, which he excused himself from accepting, alledging his unfitness for an employment that required a constant application; but was appointed one of the principal secretaries of state. In 1690, he attended his majesty to the famous congress at the Hague; and king James II. took such umbrage at his services, that in his declaration upon his intended descent in 1692, his lordship was excepted out of his general pardon. In March 1693-4, he resigned his place of principal secretary of state; and the year following had a public testimony given to the integrity of his conduct in a very remarkable instance; for, upon an examination in parliament into the bribery and corruption of some of their own members, in order to obtain a new charter for the East-India Company, it appeared by the deposition of sir Basil Firebrace, that his lordship had absolutely refused to take five thousand