tome ftupified by the opiates of luxury, indolence, and foftness, the State falls then into a confumption. The apparent calm it enjoys is in the eyes of the intelligent, a ftate of languor, the forerunner of its diffolution. The Compendious Peerage of England, continued from Page 317 of our Magazine for December laft, with the Arms finely engraved, and a genealogical Account of the Noble Family of COMPTON, Earl of Northampton. TH HAT this family is denominated from the Lordship of Compton, in com. Warw. appears from feveral authorities, being defcended from ancestors, who were Lords of the place before the conqueft. Sir William Dugdale, in treating of the owners of the Lordship of Compton, has given no account of their original defcent; but from the following evidences it plainly appears, that Turchil, the fon of Alwyne, (cotemporary with King Edward the Confeffor, and William the Conqueror) was the ancestor of this family. The faid Turchil relided at Warwick, and had great poffeffions in the county, when William Duke of Normandy invaded this realm; but giving no affiftance to King Harold, though he was then a perfon of efpecial note and power, being reputed Earl of the county; he found fuch favour with the Conqueror, that he continued poffeffed of his lands, and among them the Lordship of Compton, and fortyfeven other manors, as is evident from Domefday-book. He was one of the firft in England, who, in imitation of the Normans, affumed a furname; for it appears that, in the reign of King William Rufus, he wrote hunfelf Turchillus de Eardene, from his refidence in Arden (as it is now wrote) in the faid county, the faid King having difpoffefled him of his caftle of Warwick. Which Turchil had feveral fons, as appears from Sir William Dugdale's difcourfe on Curdworth, part of his poffeffions. By his firft wife he had iffue Siward de Arden, ancestor to the family of Arden; and by Leverunia, his fecond wife, he had iffue Ofbert, his fon and heir, who wrote himself of Compton in 16 H. II, and is without doubt the anceffor of this family. Which Olbert had iffue three fons, Ofbert, Philip, and Peter; the eldest whereof left only two daughters his coheirs. But Philip, fecond fon, writing hunfelf Philip de Compton, was a witness, about 5 King John, with William Poer (Sheriff of Warwickshire in 4, 5, and 6 King John) to a grant of lands lying in Tifhoe, made by Richard de Bereford, and Cecilia his wife, to the canons of Kenil worth. In 20 H. III. he was certified to hold half a Knight's fee in Compton; and to him fucceeded Thomas de Compton his fon and heir, who in 36 H. III. was certified to hold half a Knight's fee in Compton, of Thomas de Arden, lineal heir to Turchil before mentioned; and he of the Earl of Warwick, whofe ancestors had the greatest part of Turchil's lands made over to them by King William Rufus. This Thomas de Compton had iffue three fons, Philip, Henry, and William. Whereof Philip de Compton, the eldeft, was certified in 7 Edw. I. to be Lord of the manor of Compton, and that he held it of Thomas de Arden, by the fervice of half a Knight's fee. He was fucceeded by Robert de Compton his fon and heir, who left iffue a fon Robert de Compton, and this Robert had iffue, by Margaret his wife, Thomas de Compton, and John de Compton, who was one of the Knights for Warwickshire in the Parliament held in 6 Ed. III, Thomas de Compton fucceeded his father at Compton, and left iffue by Chriftian his wife, Edmund his fon and heir. Which Edmund de Compton by Agnes, his wife, had fix fons, William, Thomas, John, Robert, Edmund, and Richard; whereof William de Compton, eldeft fon, fucceeded at Compton. He married Joan, daughter to John Hobby, Efq; and departing this life about 10 Henry VI. was fucceeded by Robert his fon and heir, who deceased in 21 E. IV. (1480) and, by Agnes his wife, left iffue Edmund, his fon and heir. Which Edmund Compton, Efq; deceafing in the 8th year of Henry the Seventh, was buried at Compton, and by Joan his wife, daughter and heir of Walter Aylworth, Efq; left iffue a fon named William, and a daughter Elifabeth, wife of Sir Walter Rodney, Knt. The faid William Compton, being but eleven years of age at his father's death, was in ward to King Henry VII, who appointed him to wait on his fon Henry, Duke of York, whereby he fo demeaned himself, that he grew into his efpecial favour, infomuch that, when he afcended the throne by the name of King Henry VIII, he constituted him Groom of his Bed-chamber: And on the 12th of January the fame year, the King being informed that divers Gentlemen had prepared themselves to juft, he elected Mr. Compton for his companion, and being fe cretly cretly armed in the little park of Richmond, came to the jufis unknown to all perfons, and unlooked for, and performed fo gallantly, that the two frangers had great praife, but at length, in a courfe by misfortune, Sir Edward Nevile, brother to the Lord Abergavenny, running against Mr. Compton, hurt him fore, and he was likely to die. This endeared him more to the King, who foon after advanced him, viz. in the fecond year of his reign, to be chief Gentleman of his Bedchamber, (i. e. Groom of the Stole) as alfo Conftable of Sudeley-caftle, in com Glouc and on all occafions fhewed the great value he had for him. His Majefty caufed proclamation to be made on the 2d of November the fame year (2 H. VIII.) at his Court of Richmond, That he, with his two aids, Charles Brandon and Mr. Comptor, would answer all comers with the spear at the Tilt, one day; and at Terney with fwords, the other; and accordingly, on the 13th of November, they entered the field richly appareled, their bafes and trappers being cloth of gold fit with red rofes, ingreiled and embroidered with gold; and having valiantly performed before divers ftrangers of the Emperor Maximilian's Court, the Ambal fadors of Spain, &c. had the prize adjudged to them. In the year following, he was conftituted Conftable of the caftle of Gloucefter; and in 4 Hen. VIII, in confideration of his good and faithful fervices, had a special grant to himself and his heirs, of an honourable augmentation to his arms, out of the faid King's own royal enfigns and devices, viz. A lion patfant gardant, or; and for his crest, A demi-dragon erafed, gules, with a coronet of gold upon a torfe, argent and vert. In 5 Henry VII, he led the rear-guard of the King's army at Therovenne, compofed for the most part of the retinue belonging to Richard Fox, Bishop of Winchester, and Wolfey, then the King's Almoner, being 800 in number; and having valiantly behaved himself both in the fiege, and the battle that enfued, called by our hiftorians the Battle of Spurs, from the swiftness of the French in running away, he had the honour of knighthood conferred on him by the King, who is faid never to have laid his ford on any that had not diftinguifhed themselves. Be was alfo further rewarded with the office of Chancellor of Ireland for life, which he officiated by deputies till the time of his death; befdes feveral other marks of the King's favour conferred on him for his fervi-. ces, and valour difplayed on fundry occa fons. His death happened on the 31ft of May, in 20 H. VIII. (1528) being feized with the fweating-fickness, which then raged in the Court, whereby the King was alfo in great danger. All our hiftorians make ho nourable mention of him, and by what is recited it is evident he was in the highest favour with his Sovereign, who very much regretted the lofs of fuch an able and faithful fervant; and it is highly probable would have promoted him to the dignity of Peerage, had he lived a few years longer, for he died in the 47th year of his age, and was poffeffed of a very great estate in feveral counties, as appears by feveral inquifitions taken after his death. He was alfo in nomination to be elected a Knight of the Garter, in a chapter held at Richmond, April 23, in 14 Henry VII. as alfo in all other chapters, to the time of his death; and from the number of votes given for him had, it is probable, been chofen on the next vacancy; the King in that age permitting the Knights to elect, and they were inftructed to nominate fuch who were famed for their valour, and all manly virtues, and were without the leaft reproach. He married Werburge, daughter and heir of Sir John Brereton, Knight, and had issue by her two fons and a daughter. Peter Compton, eldest fon, being under fix years of age, at the death of his father, and being thereupon in ward to the King, Cardinal Wolfey, then the greateft in power, got a grant of the cuftody of him and his marriage; but on that Prelate's difgrace, and dying foon after, he was in ward to George Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury, Lordfteward of the Houthold to King Henry VIII, who had him married before he was 19 years of age, to his daughter the Lady Anne, who was heir to her mother Elifabeth, daughter and heir of Sir Richard Walden, of Erif (now called Earith) in Kent, Knt. and dying before he accomplished his full age, viz. January 30, in 35 Henry VIII, was buried in Weftminster-abbey, leaving iffue Henry his only fon and heir, of the age of 49 weeks and five days. Which Henry Compton, born February 16, 1537-8, was knighted by the Earl of Leicefter at Arundel-houfe, February 10, 1566, and being called by writ to the House of Peers, 8 Maii, in 14 Eliz. as Baron Compton, of Compton, was accordingly admitted and took his place in the House. His Lordship departed this life at his feat at Compton, in the year 1589. He was twice married. His firft wife was the Lady Franees, daughter to Francis Haftings, Earl of Huntingdon, by whom he had iffue a daughter, Margaret, married to Henry Lord Mordaunt, William his fon and heir, and Tho mas Compton, Second fon, knighted at White Whitehall, March 4, 1606-7. His Lordfhip married, fecondly, Anne, daughter of Sir John Spencer, of Althorp, in com, Northampt. (widow of William Stanley Lord Monteagle) who furvived him, and was the ad wife of Robert Sackville Earl of Dorfet. By the Lord Compton fhe had iflue Sir Henry Compton, of Bramble Teigh, in the parish of Eaft Grinfted, in com. Suffex, Knight of the Bath at the coronation of King James the First. William Lord Compton, eldest fon and heir of Henry Lord Compton, was on the 2d of Auguft, in the 16th year of the reign of King James I, invefted with the dignity of Earl of Northampton, in a folemn manner, in the Bishop's palace at Salisbury. In the reign of King Charles I, he was inftalled one of the Knights Companions of the moft Noble Order of the Garter, April 21, 1629, as appears by a plate in the 13th ftall on the Sovereign's fide in the chapel of St. George at Windfor. He rode to his inftallation from Salisbury-house in the Strand, with fuch fplendor and gallantry, and exhibited fuch a glorious fhew, that Mr. Afhmole, in his hiftory of the most noble order of the Garter, has taken particular notice of the grandeur of it, and the retinue that accompanied him. His Lordship was a Nobleaian of great honour, generofity, and integrity. His. death happened on a fudden act, of which S. Meddus, in a letter dated July 2, 1630, has given the following account of his Lordfhip's decease: Yesterday fe'nnight the Earl of Northampton, Lord Prefident of Wales (after he had waited on the King at fupper, and had alfo fupped) went in a boat with others to wash himself in the Thames, and, fo foon as his legs were in the water but to the knees, he had the cholic, and cried out, "Have me into the boat again, for I am a dead man ;" and died a few days after at his lodg ings in the Savoy, within the fuburbs of London, on June 24, 1630, (6 Car. I.) and was buried at Compton with his ancestors. He took to wife Elifabeth, daughter and heir of Sir John Spencer, Lord-Mayor of the city of London, in 36 Q. Elif. with whom he had a large fortune; her father, from his great wealth, being ufually called the rich Spencer.' He left illue by her an only fon Spencer Compton, and two daughters, Elifabeth, married to Robert Maxwell, Earl of Nidefdale in Scotland; and Anne, married to Ulick, fon and heir of Richard Burgh, Earl of Clanrickard in the kingdom of Ireland, and Earl of St. Alban's in England. The beforementioned Spencer Compton, Earl of Northampton, was born at Compton, in May 1631, and in his youth difco vered fo great a genius, that it was as much as four feveral tutors, at home, at Cambridge, in France, and in Italy, each taking his refpective hour for the art and science he profeffed, could do to keep pace with his great proficiency. Being mafter of languages, he received and conducted several Ambafadors to their public audiences, both in the reigns of King James and King Charles the First. On Nov. 3, 1616, he was made one of the Knights of the Bath at the creation of Charles Prince of Wales, and was afterwards a great favourite with that Prince, whom he accompanied into Spain in the year 1622, waiting on him in the quality of Mafter of his Robes and Wardrobe, and had the honour to deliver all his prefents, amounting (as was computed) to 64000 l. He affitted at the coronation of King Charles I. as Mafter of the Robes to his Majefty, and, having been many years a witness of the King's gracious difpofition, he was the more firmly fettled in his opinion of the benefit of his Majesty's government, and, in defence' thereof, hazarded his fortune, and loft his life in his fervice. This brave Nobleman took to wife Mary, daughter of Sir Francis Beaumont, by whom he had iffue fix fons, who were all highly efteemed for their eminent abilities, and were all heirs of his courage, loyalty, and virtue; five of them receiving the honour of knighthood, and the youngest was no less confpicuous. Alfo, two daughters. James Compton, the eldest fon, Earl of Northampton, taking arms with his father for King Charles the Firft, was diftinguished for his bravery and conduct, and performed many gallant acts in thofe times of con fu on. During his Majefty's confinement, his Lordship, with all his family, readily engaged to ferve under the Earl of Holland, who had received a commiffion from the Prince to be General of an army to be raifed for the redemption of the King from prifon, and to restore the Parliament to its freedom; but this project ended in the deftrusion of that Earl, who thought himself too fecure in the affections of the city to join with him. After this his Lordship lived retired till the restoration of King Charles the Second, and was at the head of the King's friends, who fubfcribed the declaration to appease the minds of fuch as were ill-difpofd to the King's reftoration, which he took all op; or tunities to effect, and at laft had the comfort of feeing thofe diftractions at an end, that had fo long rent the nation. On the 5th of July, 1647, he was married, at Clerkenwell, church, London, to the Lady fabell, daughter and coheir of Richard Sackville, Earl Earl of Dorfet, (which Lady deceafed at his houfe in Lincoln's-Inn-Fields, on the 14th of October, 1661) by whom he had divers children that died young, and one daughter, Alathea, married to Edward Hungerford, Efq; fon and heir of Sir Edward Hungerford, Knight of the Bath. His Lordship, on the magnificent entry of King Charles the Second, through his city of London, May 29, 1660, led a troop of 200 Gentlemen clothed in grey and blue. He died full of honour, at his feat at Caftle-Afhby in Northamptonshire, on the 15th of December, 1681. His fecond Lady was Mary, daughter and heir of the Right Hon. Baptift Noel Viscount Camben, (by his fecond wife Hefther, fecond daughter and coheir of Thomas Lord Wotton) by whom he had iffue three fons and two daughters. His Lordfhip's three fons were George, James who died young, and the Right Hon. Sir Spencer Compton. The Right Hon. George Compton, Earl of Northampton, was conftituted Lord Lieutenant of Warwickshire, &c. by King James the Second, on the 29th of March, 1686; but refufing to come into the measures for repealing the penal laws, &c. his commiffion was fuperfeded, and the Earl of Sunderland, on the 5th of December, 1687, was again made Lord Lieutenant and Cuftos Rotulorum of the faid county. In the next reign, on the 16th of March, 1688, he was again conftituted Lord Lieutenant of Warwickshire; and, at the coronation of King William and Queen Mary, bore the King's fcepter with the cross. On the acceffion of her Majesty Queen Anne, his Lordship was fworn one of the Privycouncil on the 21st of May, 1702; and, on June 24, 1702, again conftituted Lord Lieuterant and Cuftos Rotulorum of the county of Warwick; likewife fworn of the Privy-council, according to the act of union Dec. 13, 1711; and, in 1712, was conftituted Conftable of the Tower of London, and Lord Lieu tenant of the hamlets of the faid Tower. On the acceffion of King George I. he was continued in the fame pofts; but, in 1717, refigned his place of Constable of the Tower and Lord-lieutenant of the Hamlets. In the year 1686, his Lordship married Jane, youngest daughter of Sir Stephen Fox, Knt; and by this Lady (who deceased on the 10th of July, 1721) he had iffue four fons and fix daughters. The fons were James, George, Stephen, who died young, and Charles. His Lordfhip departed this life on the 15th of April, 1727; to whom fucceeded his eldeft fon, James, who dying without iffue, in November, 1754, his honours came to his brother George, who alfo dying without iffue, the earldom devolved fucceffively on the two fons of Charles the fourth brother, and the younger of thefe fons, Spencer Compton, is now Earl of Northampton. He fucceeded his brother Charles, who died without male issue, in October, 1763. TITLES.] Spencer Compton, Earl of Northampton, and Baron Compton of Compton; Recorder of the town of Northampton. CREATIONS.] Baron Compton of Compton in com. Warwick, by writ of fummons to Parliament, May 8 (1572) 14 Eliz. and Earl of Northampton, Aug. 2 (1618) 16 Jac. I. ARMS.] Sable, a lion paffant-guardant or, between three helinets argent. CREST.] On a wreath a mount vert, and thereon a beacon, or, inflamed on the top proper; about the fame a label, infcribed, Nili Dominus.' SUPPORTERS.] Two dragons with wings expanded ermin, collared with ducal collars and chains of gold. MOTTO.] JE NE CHERCHE QUE UNG. CHIEF SEATS.] At Castle-Ashby, near Towcefter, in Northamptonshire; and at Compton-Vinyates in the county of War wick. The BRITISH Mufe, containing original Poems, Songs, &c. An EPISTLE from a YOUNG LADY; complaining of the Izjury done her by a faithlefs Lover. T 10 Heaven and you repentant I confefs At once my fhame, contrition, and difgrace; And, Oh if pity may await a crime That fullies honour to remoteft time, Judge from this faithful picture of my flate, Whether that pity fhould my crime await; Cover'd with crimson blufhes, while I tell From white-rob'd truth and virtue how J fell; From spotless innocence, from meek-ey'dpeace, Whofe kneeling vows in fend profufion given, Appear'd to me the registers of Heav'n'; With |