More Puzzles About Dunckerley.

MORE PUZZLES ABOUT DUNCKERLEY .

By BRO . JACOB NORTON .

IN the editor's sketch of Dunckerley , in the freemason ' s Magazine , 1793 ( p 379 ) , it is stated that Danckerley had many letters from the first meu of the age , that the said letters wonld fill an octavo volume j that the editor was anxious to enrioh his magazine with many of those letters , but the modesty of Bro . Dunckorley precluded the editor from obtaining moro than two ; ono of these letters was

from a noble Viscount , now a Marqnis , and the other from the late General Adolphus Oughton , K . B ., and these two letters were printed in the said magazine . Tho said Viscount ' s letter was incorporated by Bro . " Q . " in his article in this paper , 28 th December last . The letter contains neither location , name , nor dato . We have only the editor ' s word that a

Viscount sent that letter to Bro . Dnnckerley . The said letter referred to Dunckerley's good fortune in setting a pension from the King . The writer was , bowover , punzled ; as tho following will show : — Ho said , " I cannot divine to what channel yon owe that piece ot good fortune ; if in any degree to one person , to whom I mentioned your affair ( whose benevolenco of heart and public virtues I know

are only obscured by publio prejudices ) , " & o . Iu a footnote , the mysterious person referred to between the parentheses is said to have beenMe Earl of Bute . When Bro . Dnnckerley furnished tho said letter for publication , he must have informed the editor that " a Viscount , now a Marquis , " wrote it ; and also , that tho Earl of Bute was referred to by the

Viscount . That the writer of the said letter meant to convey the idea that Lord Bute was the party he hinted it , I believe . But I really cannot believe that a Viscount , and a particular friend and admirer of the Earl of Bute , conld possibly havo imputed Bro . Dunckerley ' s success to the Earl of Bute ' s agency or intercession with the King in his ( Dunckerley's ) behalf .

To mako this clear to the general reader , I must inform him that King George III . imbibed very arbitrary notions from his earl y associates . His family owed tho English crown to a revolution ; the descendants of the legitimate dynasty wore living when George III . became King ; he had no objection to wear a crown of which others were deprived by revolntiou , but he nevertheless hated the

party who made his family Kings of England ; tho revolution of 1 G 88 was associated with liberty , but King George learned from his mother , and books she pat into his possession , to hats all kind of liberty except his own liberty . Accordingly , soon aftor his accession to the throne , he dismissed the Whig ministry of his « randfnther , and appointed a Tory ministry ; his great favourite and

adviser was the Earl of Bute ; who was not only tho favourito of King , but also of the King ' s mother . In 17 G 2 Bute took the tho Premiership into his own hands , but ho snddenly resigned in 17 G 3 . The ex-minister , however , exerted himself in drumming up a new ministry , but from that time , Adolphus , the historian of the reign of George III ., dates the loss of Bute ' s influence with the Kin"

though Lord Brougham dates it about two years later . The new , or what is known as the Granville Ministry , soon got into loggerheads with its royal master ; the king wanted to govern , as well as reign , but the ministry wanted the King to leavo the governing part to them ; they wero even bold enough to remonstrate against the King ' s appointments to important offices without their assent .

So in 1765 the Granville ministry was ignominously dismissed , and the King ordered his uncle , tho Dnke of Cumberland , to get him another ministry . The Duke called upon Pitt , but Pitt wonld have nothing to do with ministries . The Duke next tried other personages , who also declined the | hononr . In that dilemma tho Kinw was willing to restore tho Granville ministry , but tho Granvillites demanded promises from tbe King that ho shonld never consult the Earl of

Bute ; that he should dismiss Bute ' s brother from an office he held iu Scotland ; and two or three other promises . The Kin" - tried to compromise , but tho ministry would not bud ge au inch . Early in July , the royal uncle was again commissioned to hunt np a ministry , and for the want of a more agreeable ono the King was obliged to accept the Buckingham Ministry . We see then that in 1765 the Earl of Bute was evidently •xclnded from open interference , at least , with state affairs .

Pitt , who was all powerful with the people ,, though he said he would support the Rockingham Ministry , was nevertheless opposed to them , and in the first Parliament held under the new ministry , in January 1766 , Pitt denounced in the Honso of Commons " tho overruling influence" with the King , meaning Lord Bute . But Conway , one of the ministers , warmly denied any kind ot overruling influence . The King

himself declared in a solemn manner , that at the moment when Pitt was talking of an overruling influence , he had no communication whatevor , either on business , on state affairs ; or private matters with his ex-minister ; that he had reason to bo dissatisfied with Lord Bute ; that he hnd pledged his word not to permit his interference , and from tbat moment upon his word and honour as a gentleman , he bad

never spoken with him in private , and scarcely ever iu public . Again , Lord Bute himself was accustomed "to complain to his intimate friends , both in his travels and at home , that he was neglected by his sovereign . " " This avowal , " says Adolphns , "from a man so cautious as Lord Bute , outweighs all the vague assertions of those who maintain tho existence of his mysterious agency fwith

the king ] and proves tbat the loss of his influence had sunk deep in his mind . " ( History of England , by Adolphns , 1822 ; Vol . i . pp 12 G-7 ) . Lord Brougham , as already intimated , placed the downfall of the favourite ' s influence to the period noon after tho appointment of the Rockingham administration , and ho attributed it to tho King ' s

discovery of Bute ' s too close intimacy with the Dowager Princess of Wales , nnd be relates the following curious anecdote : — Princess Amelia , the King ' s aunt , formed a plan of bringing once more the King and the Earl of Bute' together , and on a day when the King was to pay her a visit at her villa in Gnnnersbury , near

More Puzzles About Dunckerley.

Brentford , she invited Lord Bute , probably without informing him of her foolish intention , and while Bute was walking in tho garden , she took her nophow downstairs , saying , there was no one there but an old friend whom he had not seen for years , and before tho King could ask any question , he saw Lord Bute in the garden ; the King instantly turned round to avoid him , and reproved the silly old

woman sharply , & c . To which the editor of tho " Pictorial History of England" ( Vol . v . p 44 ) adds : — "We know ourselves , from a living and indisputable authority , that George III . himself related this anecdote to a confidential friend and servant , omitting , however , tho name of tho lady . " On tho samo page ( 44 ) I found a letter addressed to a newspaper

by Lord Monstard , son of Lord Bute , as follows : — " He ( Lord Bute ) does authorise mo to say , that he declares upon his solemn word of honour that he has not had the honour of waiting upon His Majesty but at his levee or drawing-room ; nor has ho presumed to offer any advice or opinion concerning the disposition of offices , or the conduct of any measure , either directly or indirectly ,

by himself or by any other , from the timo when the lato Duke of Cumberland was consulted in the arrangement of a ministry in 1765 , to tho present hour" ( viz . 1778 ) . So wo see that all parties agree that the disseverance of friendship between tho King and Lord Bute took place not later than 17 G 5 . Now , Dunckerley's posthumous MS . in the JVeemcwon ' s Magazine ,

1796 , mitten by himself , states that Dnnckerley did not arrive in England before 7 th November 1765 , that an effort was made in 17 G 6 to interest tho Princess Amelia and the King ' s mother in his behalf , without success . Bnt in April 1767 his misfortune , as he calls it , was laid before tho King , and the King granted him £ 100 a year on the 7 th of May following ( 1767 ) . And now , I cannot help being vory

much puzzled ; after reading the accumulated evidunce of Bute ' s fall from favouritism in 1765 , how any one can bolievo that a Viscount , and a friend of Bute , could have hinted in a letter to Dnnckerley after 7 th May 1767 , that tho Earl of Bute interceded with the King in behalf of Dunokerloy in tho month of April or May 1767 ?

The second letter to Dunckerley in the Fveeniason s Magazine was dated Edinburgh , 18 th November 1767 , and signed by James Adolphns Oughtou . After condoling Bro . Dunckerley on the state of ill health of Mrs . Dunckerly , the writer added , " Mrs . Oughton joins me in wishing yon all possible happiness , " & c . The allusion by an English General and a K . B . too , to his wife as Mrs . Oughton , and not Lady

Oughton , naturally puzzled mo , and made me anxious to learn something about such an unheard of specimen of English aristocratio humility . After searching throngh a great many volumes for Gon . Oughton without suceess , I at last found a clue iu tho Gentleman ' s Magazine , 1793 , Vol . 63 , p 1216 . The following is an obituary notico of the General ' s wife : —

" 20 th ( probably of November ) , in Norton Street , Lady Oughton , widow of the late Lieutenant Genoral Dickinson Oughton , K . B ., who died about twclvo years ago . He was the immediate descendant of Sir Adolphus Oughton , Bart ., of Pletchbrook , in Warwickshire , M . P . for Coventry , who was created as we have recorded in our Volume VI ., p 55 , " ( viz . in 1736 ) .

This is certainly a curious puzzle . The Gentleman s Magazine has it , Diclinson Onghton ; the Freemason ' s Magazine calls him Gon . Adolptms Oughton , and tho letter to Dnnckerley is signed by James Adolphus Oughton . The puzzlo is , were thero at that timo three Generals Onghton ? a Sir Dickinson Oughton ? a Sir Adolphus Oaghton ? and a Sir James Adolphus Oughton ? Which is which ?

The next puzzle is still more curious . I read tho Dunckerley sketch in the JTrconfisoii ' s Magazine , 1793 , in 1870 . I had to consult tho said Magazine sinco then , but never re-pornsed tho sketch about Dnnckerley . My subsequent reading about Dunckerley in Oliver ' s works and in several Masonic Cyclopaedias , served to give mo an impression that tho increaso of Dunckerley's pension from £ 100 to

£ S 0 O was mentioned in tho JYcemasoivs Magaame in 1793 . Tho Viscount ' s letter to Dunckerley ( which Bro . " Q . " reprinted ) raised in my mind the Lord Bute Puzzle , which induced me to re . peruse tho Dnnckerley sketch in the magazine of 1793 ; and to my surprise I only found there that a " Great personage was graciously pleased to make a provision for him . " In a subsequent part of this Dnnckerley

narrative tho writer says , " by the munificence of his sovereign , the Prince of Wales , and Duke of York , " Mr . Dunckerley was made com . Portable , * but there is no evidence that tho King increased Dunckerley's pension , nor is thero £ 800 or any other anuunt specified in the said narrative . It is a puzzlo that while , according to Dunckerley ' s biographer in 1793 , the Dnko of Clarence did then figure as " Most Eminent and

Supremo Grand Master of the Knights of Rose Crucius , Templars , and Kadosh , " according to Bro . Kenning ' s Cyclopaedia , the Dnko of Clarence woo not initiated into Masonry before 9 th March 179 ( 5 . " The autobiography of Dnnckerley , printed after his death ( already referred to ) , makes no allusion whatever to any subsequent addition to the £ 100 granted to him in 1767 . The first mention of a subsequent increase to £ 800 in Dunckerley ' s income was by an anonymous

* Tho Prince of Wales and Duke of York were respectively born iv 1762 and 1763 . The former was initiated into Masonry February 1787 , and the latter 21 st November tho same year . It isprobable { for even that is a puzzle ) that Dunckerley may havo then introduce 1 ! the R . A ., Templarism , & c . among tho Moderns , which of course Jed the ignorant to believe that ho was au extraordinary Masonic Aiminary ; and he may then havo been pointed out to ono or both of the royal brothers , as their left handed great grand uncle , whoi » tho King had granted a pension of £ 100 a-year ; and taking the grand uncles hip for granted thoy mu , y have made some addition to ni 3 income , or per . haps procured for him somo rooms at Hampton Court . It is of course impossible to say as to how much tho royal brothers may have contributed to Dunckerley ' s income ; but as to their having increased it to £ 800 a-year , wo must have a better authority for it than tbat of an anonymous JIasonic writer in 1842 .