GOD DEFEND THE RIGHT.

Otago Witness, Issue 1875, 28 October 1887, Page 32

GOD DEFEND THE RIGHT.

Lord Spencer, whose name has never been mentioned save with respect and esteem, and whose courage and ability during his tenure of the difficult and unthankful office of Lord-lieutenant of Ireland were conspicuously distinguished, dates his ancestry back to John Spencer, who, in the days of Henry VII, was a shecpl'armcr and grazier, of Warwickshire. A predecessor of the present noble possessor of the title, so far back as the year 1621, was once taunted in the House of Lords by a peer, who remarked, with regard to some retrospective circumstance, " Whon such things were doing, my lord, your ancestors were keeping sheep

— to which the rejoinder was made: "When my ancestors were keeping hheep, yours were plotting ♦reason." The pl^in John SpfnrVr was made " .Sir John," and wa> succeeded by two other "Sir Johns:" then succeeded a " Sir Robert," who, in 1621, was made a peer by James I. The present John Poyntz, Earl Spencer, is a son (and the only one) of the fourth earl of that name. He was born in

1835, at Spencer House, and was educated at Harrow School and Trinity, College, Cambridge, where, in 1857, he graduated, and was, the same year, returned to the House of Commons for the Southern Division of Northamptonshire. But later in the year he succeeded to the title and estates of his father, and. entered the House of Lords. From 1859 to 1861 he was Groom of the Stole to the late Prince Consort, holding the same office under the Prince of Wales from 1862 to 1867. Ho became Lord-lieutenant of Ireland under Mr Gladstone, in 1868, holding the post till Mr Gladstone's retirement in 1874. In May 1880, when Mr Glsdstone again returned to power, he was appointed Lord President of the Council, and again, in 1882, became Irish Viceroy. It was on the very day of his arrival at Dublin Castle, May 6, 1882, that the atrocious murders of Lord Frederick Cavendish and Mr Burke were committed in the Phoenix Park. Lord Spencer resigned his onerous office— the duties of which he had discharged with singular ability, courage, and success — in March 1883; but he remained in the Government, retiring with his party in 1885, but returning in January last as Lord President of the Council, when, on Lord Salisbury's resignation, Mr Gladstone once more essayed to form an Administration. One of the biographers of Lord Spencer writes: — " The family motto of the noble earl is Bieu defend le drolt (God defend the right), and it is not too much to say that the motto is a living principle of action in the life of its present owner. The estates, which lie principally in Northamptonshire, reach a total of over 21,000 acres, and produce the handsome rental of uver £-12,000. The present earl, like his ancestors, has made Althorpe his principal seat. The house occupies three sides of a quadrangle, and was built by the Earl of Sunderland in the famous year 1688. Perhaps the most remarkable characteristic of Althorpe is its magnificent library of rare and choice fco#'«|; for, from an architectural point of view, this mansion has little to boast of but age. The books fill four large apartments in addition to which the present earl has even a larger collection in his London house. Althorpe is also famous for its great number of very line pictures. Although the house does not present any claims to architectural beauty or grandeur, it is admirably proportioned, both without and within ; the old moat, which formerly encompassed it on three sides, and added to its picturesque appearance, is now filled up, and the squared gardens, with their walks and flower plants, have been superseded by level lawns. The park remains, and is beautifully diversified with fine forest trees, of which there are dense clumps at intervals, and the grassy ground is very undulating " — Illustrations.