[74] _His History of James II._, which was published, after his death, in 1808, with a preface by Lord Holland. Lord Brougham, in his _Statesmen of the time of George III._, says of his writings, ‘The practice of composition seems never to have been familiar to Mr. Fox.... His _History_ shows the same want of expertness in composition. The style is pure and correct, but cold and lifeless; it is even somewhat abrupt and discontinuous, so little does it flow naturally or with ease.’ [75] Rev. Francis North (1772–1861), afterwards sixth Earl of Guilford. He was eldest son of the Hon. Brownlow North and Henrietta Maria, daughter of John Bannister. His father held successively the sees of Lichfield (1771), Worcester (1774), and Winchester (1781), and died in 1820. Mr. North married, in 1798, Esther, daughter of Rev. John Harrison, who died childless in 1823. He married, secondly, in 1826, Harriet, daughter of Lieut.-General Sir Henry Warde, G.C.B. On the death of his cousin Frederick, fifth Earl of Guilford, in 1827, who never married, he succeeded to the earldom. [76] John Courtenay (1741–1816), son of William Courtenay. He was private secretary to Lord Townshend in Ireland, and was returned by him in 1780 for Tamworth, for which place he sat until 1796. From that year until 1807 he was member for Appleby. [77] The Royal Institution. [78] Joseph Stock (1740–1813), appointed Bishop of Killala in 1798, and transferred to Waterford and Lismore in 1810. Lord Holland, in his _Memoirs of the Whig Party_, states that this pamphlet was supposed to have interfered with his chances of promotion. [79] Holland House. [80] Henry Rich (1590–1649), second son of Robert, Earl of Warwick, and his wife Penelope Rich (the ‘Stella’ of Sir Philip Sidney). A favourite with James I., he was, in 1623, created Baron Kensington, having married Isabel, daughter and heiress of Sir Walter Cope, who had built what was then called Cope Castle in 1607. There was probably a house near, if not on the same site, but this was removed in order to make way for Sir Walter’s mansion, erected from designs of John Thorpe. Rich was raised to an earldom in 1624. Lady Holland has somewhat exaggerated his intimacy with the Queen, but he certainly owed his rapid advancement at Court greatly to her favour after James’ death. [81] Sir James Mackintosh, in a fragment of a _History of Holland House_, preserved among the MSS., says that Van Dyke lived there for about two years. He produces no authority, however, for this statement, nor is the fact referred to in any recent biography of the great painter.