all her conduct been influenced by a similar spirit of Justice, History would have enrolled her name with Honour, instead of Ignominy in its temple. For, to "defend the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and to see that such as are in need and necessity have Right," are certainly among the noblest acts of human nature.

By the second of three wives, this favoured subject had two sons; the eldest of whom, bearing his own name, Edward, succeeded him, July 4th, 1586. His only son, Ferdinando, was made knight of the Bath, 1610; and afterwards married Honor, daughter of Edward, lord Beauchamp, eldest son of Edward, earl of Hertford. Concern

ing this Lady the following entry appears in the Parish Register: "Honor, Ladie Duddeley, Wife to the Honorable Sr. Ferdinando Duddeley, knt. was burried in the Parish Church of St. Edmund's in Duddeley, within the Chancell, upon fryday night, the 23rd of March, 1620, about eleven of the clocke, in the presence of diverse Gentlemen and other inhabitinge neighbours within the Towneshipp of Duddeley." Her husband did not long survive her, dying November 22, 1621,leaving a father and an only child (a daughter) to lament his death. That daughter her grandfather Edward de Sutton, Lord Dudley, bestowed in marriage on a man, not more distinguished for Wealth, than for Worth and Loyalty,-continuing faithfully attached to his sovereign Charles I. This highly respectable individual was Humble Ward, Esq. son and heir of William Ward, Esq.

goldsmith and jeweller to the queen. Upon the death of lord Edward, June 23, 1643, his granddaughter Frances became Baroness of Dudley, in her own right; and her husband was, in March following, created a Peer, by the title of Lord Ward, Baron of Birmingham. A task of no small difficulty must have fallen to his lot, during the remainder of the troubled reign of the unfortunate Monarch, and throughout the iron sway of Cromwell. His prudence, however, secured to him his Castle and possessions; which he retained with honour, till death, the depriver of all earthly things, removed him from them October 4, 1670; leaving, besides daughters, two sons, Edward and John; the former of whom, at the decease of his mother, in 1697, became Lord of the Castle, uniting the title he had previously borne, on the demise of his father, Lord Ward, with that which he then inherited in right from his mother; the latter, on account of its high antiquity having precedency Lord Dudley and Ward. He married Frances, daughter of Sir William Brereton, by whom he had four sons, and two daughters. All the Sons died before their father. But the third (William) having married Frances, daughter of William Dilke, Esq. of Maxstoke Castle, left issue, three sons and one daughter, John, Edward, William, and Frances. John, the eldest, died in his minority. Edward, the second son, married Diana, the only daughter of Thomas Howard, of Ashted, in Surrey, Esq. and died March 1703-4, leaving his lady preg

nant, who was delivered of a son, June 17, 1704. He was named Edward, and retained the honours and estates of his family till September 6th, 1731, when, dying unmarried, those honours and their rich appendages went to his uncle William; who also died unmarried, May 20, 1740.

The issue male thus failing, he was succeeded by Frances, his sister, married to William Lea, of the Grange, Esq. by whom she had two sons and several daughters. The youngest of the sons dying, the eldest, Ferdinando, was the last of that branch; who also dying unmarried October 21, 1757, the title became in abeyance between his five surviving sisters. But the Barony of Ward, being a distinct title, devolved on the male heir of the first Lord Ward, in the following manner: William, youngest son of the beforementioned Humble, Lord Ward, by Frances, Lady Dudley, married Anne, sister and heir of John Parkes of Willingsworth, Esq. by whom he had three sons and three daughters ;-namely, Humble, William, and Dudley; Frances, Rebecca, and Jane.-Humble died in his infancy; and Dudley, unmarried: William married Mary, the daughter of the Hon. John Grey, by Mary, the daughter of Sir Francis Woolrich, Baronet; by whom he had three sons-Humble, John, and William; and four daughters, Frances, Honor, Mary, and Anne. The eldest son having died in his minority, John, the second son, born March 6, 1704, succeeded to the title of Lord Ward, Baron of Birmingham, and afterwards (by patent,

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April 23, 1763) was created Viscount Dudley and Ward. He married, first, Anna Maria, daughter of Charles Bourchier, by whom he had one son, John, born 1724. By his second Lady, Mary, daughter of John Carver, Esq. he had two sons, Humble, who died in his infancy; and William, born January 21, 1750.

The first Viscount, John, Lord Dudley and Ward, dying May 6, 1774, was succeeded by his eldest son, of the same christian name, who married Mrs. Baker; and, dying without male issue, was succeeded by the said William, his half brother, October 8, 1788.

Few great ones of the earth lived more beloved: and respected, or died more lamented, than this second Viscount. Gifted with a fine understanding, which was highly and elegantly cultivated, and graced by a suavity of manners, in which no person ever excelled him, he was at once the delight and the ornament of every social circle which he honoured with his presence. Like the noble Brother who succeeded him, passionately fond of Music, his Hall frequently was the festive scene, where "the concord of sweet sounds" charmed every ear. Nor, in the humbler walks of life, did there ever exist a man who better understood the value of Christian Philosophy in "condescending to men of low estate." His own menials and dependents revered him as a Master and loved him as a Friend: while his ear and his purse were alike open to the supplications of the poor.-But Compassion is an inherent Virtue of the Family.

This tribute of Respect is here gratefully paid to the Memory of a Nobleman by an humble individual whom he was pleased to honour with his unsolicited notice; and who was afterwards, by his Lordship's desire, placed in the Curacy of St. Edmund's, at Dudley. So speedy was his Lordship's Dissolution after a fulfilment of his desire, that it deprived the author of the gratification of having it in his power personally to thank him for a Kindness that laid the basis of his present Com-. forts. The Brother, who succeeded this Viscount in his Titles and Estates, inherited also his Nobleness of Heart: and, among many other condescensions, spontaneously first honoured the author by a series of Kindnesses throughout more than twenty years; and then crowned his Friendship by presenting him, in the same kind and spontaneous manner, with the Living of Dudley. Thus, surviving two such high and honourable Characters, the author, indebted to both, feels a melancholy satisfaction in having it in his power to record their Virtues. Man, far more competent as a Clergyman might have been placed by them here, and much better qualified, as an Historian, to. commemorate their ancient Family; but no man could they have selected with a deeper Sense of his sacred Duties, or of his moral Obligations for conferred Favours.

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The Subjects of this deserved eulogy, like the dust in their sepulchre, are not, it is presumed, improperly blended in this article. By those who knew them well, will the author be commended: and those who knew them not will forbear to censure.