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See also:- OXFORD
- OXFORD, EARLS OF
- OXFORD, EDWARD DE VERE, 17TH EARL
- OXFORD, JOHN DE VERE, 13TH EARL OF (1443-1513)
- OXFORD, PROVISIONS OF
- OXFORD, ROBERT DE VERE, 9TH EARL OF (1362-1392)
- OXFORD, ROBERT HARLEY, 1ST
OXFORD, See also:ROBERT HARLEY, 1ST See also:EARL' OF (1661-1724), See also:English statesman, commonly known by his surname of HARLEY, eldest son of See also:Sir See also:Edward Harley (1624-1700), a prominent See also:land-owner in See also:Herefordshire, and See also:grandson of the celebrated See also:letter-writer See also:Lady Brilliana Harley (c. 160o-1643), was See also:born in See also:Bow See also:Street, Covent See also:Garden, See also:London, on the 5th of See also:December 1661. His school days were passed at Shilton, near See also:Burford, in Oxford-See also:shire, in a small school which produced at the same See also:- TIME (0. Eng. Lima, cf. Icel. timi, Swed. timme, hour, Dan. time; from the root also seen in " tide," properly the time of between the flow and ebb of the sea, cf. O. Eng. getidan, to happen, " even-tide," &c.; it is not directly related to Lat. tempus)
- TIME, MEASUREMENT OF
- TIME, STANDARD
time a See also:lord high treasurer (Harley), a lord high See also:chancellor (See also:Simon See also:Harcourt) and a lord See also:chief See also:justice of the See also:common pleas (See also:- THOMAS
- THOMAS (c. 1654-1720)
- THOMAS (d. 110o)
- THOMAS, ARTHUR GORING (1850-1892)
- THOMAS, CHARLES LOUIS AMBROISE (1811-1896)
- THOMAS, GEORGE (c. 1756-1802)
- THOMAS, GEORGE HENRY (1816-187o)
- THOMAS, ISAIAH (1749-1831)
- THOMAS, PIERRE (1634-1698)
- THOMAS, SIDNEY GILCHRIST (1850-1885)
- THOMAS, ST
- THOMAS, THEODORE (1835-1905)
- THOMAS, WILLIAM (d. 1554)
Thomas Trevor). The principles of Whiggism and See also:Nonconformity were instilled into his mind at an See also:early See also:age, and if he changed the politics of his ancestors he never formally abandoned their religious opinions. At the Revolution of 1688 Sir Edward and his son raised a See also:troop of See also:horse in support of the cause of See also:- WILLIAM
- WILLIAM (1143-1214)
- WILLIAM (1227-1256)
- WILLIAM (1J33-1584)
- WILLIAM (A.S. Wilhelm, O. Norse Vilhidlmr; O. H. Ger. Willahelm, Willahalm, M. H. Ger. Willehelm, Willehalm, Mod.Ger. Wilhelm; Du. Willem; O. Fr. Villalme, Mod. Fr. Guillaume; from " will," Goth. vilja, and " helm," Goth. hilms, Old Norse hidlmr, meaning
- WILLIAM (c. 1130-C. 1190)
- WILLIAM, 13TH
William III., and took See also:possession of the See also:city of See also:Worcester in his See also:interest. This recommended Robert Harley to the See also:notice of the See also:Boscawen See also:family, and led to his See also:election, in See also:April 1688, as the See also:parliamentary representative of Tregony, a See also:- BOROUGH (A.S. nominative burh, dative byrig, which produces some of the place-names ending in bury, a sheltered or fortified place, the camp of refuge of a tribe, the stronghold of a chieftain; cf. Ger. Burg, Fr. bor, bore, bourg)
- BOROUGH [BURROUGH, BURROWE, BORROWS], STEVEN (1525–1584)
borough under their See also:control. He remained its member for one See also:parliament, when he was elected by the See also:constituency of New See also:Radnor, and he continued to represent it until his See also:elevation to the See also:peerage in 1711.
From the first Harley gave See also:great See also:attention to the conduct of public business, bestowing especial care upon the study of the forms and ceremonies of the See also:House. His reputation marked him out as a fitting See also:person to preside over the debates of the House, and from the See also:general election of See also:February 1701 until the See also:dissolution of 1705 he held with general approbation the See also:- OFFICE (from Lat. officium, " duty," " service," a shortened form of opifacium, from facere, " to do," and either the stem of opes, " wealth," " aid," or opus, " work ")
office
' I.e. in the Harley See also:line.
of See also:speaker. For a See also:part of this See also:period, from the 18th of May 1704, he combined with the speakership the duties of a See also:principal secretary of See also:state for the See also:northern See also:department, displacing in that office the Tory earl of See also:Nottingham. In 1703 Harley first made use of See also:Defoe's talents as a See also:political writer, and this See also:alliance with the See also:press proved so successful that he afterwards called the See also:genius of See also:Swift to his aid in many See also:pamphlets against his opponents in politics. While he was secretary of state the See also:union with See also:Scotland was effected. At the time of his See also:appointment as secretary of state Harley had given no outward sign of dissatisfaction with the Whigs, and it was mainly through See also:Marlborough's See also:good See also:opinion of his abilities that he was admitted to the See also:ministry. For some time, so See also:long indeed as the victories of the great English general See also:cast a glamour over the policy of his See also:friends, Harley continued to See also:act loyally with his colleagues. But in the summer of 1707 it became evident to See also:Godolphin that some See also:secret See also:influence behind the See also:throne was shaking the confidence of the See also:queen in her ministers. The See also:sovereign had resented the intrusion into the See also:administration of the impetuous earl of See also:Sunderland, and had persuaded herself that the safety of the See also:- CHURCH
- CHURCH (according to most authorities derived from the Gr. Kvpcaxov [&wµa], " the Lord's [house]," and common to many Teutonic, Slavonic and other languages under various forms—Scottish kirk, Ger. Kirche, Swed. kirka, Dan. kirke, Russ. tserkov, Buig. cerk
- CHURCH, FREDERICK EDWIN (1826-1900)
- CHURCH, GEORGE EARL (1835–1910)
- CHURCH, RICHARD WILLIAM (1815–189o)
- CHURCH, SIR RICHARD (1784–1873)
church depended on the fortunes of the Tories. These convictions were strengthened in her mind by the new favourite See also:Abigail See also:- HILL
- HILL (0. Eng. hyll; cf. Low Ger. hull, Mid. Dutch hul, allied to Lat. celsus, high, collis, hill, &c.)
- HILL, A
- HILL, AARON (1685-175o)
- HILL, AMBROSE POWELL
- HILL, DANIEL HARVEY (1821-1889)
- HILL, DAVID BENNETT (1843–1910)
- HILL, GEORGE BIRKBECK NORMAN (1835-1903)
- HILL, JAMES J
- HILL, JOHN (c. 1716-1775)
- HILL, MATTHEW DAVENPORT (1792-1872)
- HILL, OCTAVIA (1838– )
- HILL, ROWLAND (1744–1833)
- HILL, SIR ROWLAND (1795-1879)
Hill (a See also:cousin of the duchess of Marlborough through her See also:mother, and of Harley on her See also:father's See also:side), whose soft and silky ways contrasted only. too favourably in the eyes of the queen with the haughty See also:manners of her old friend, the duchess of Marlborough. Both the duchess and Godolphin were convinced that this See also:change in the disposition of the queen was due to the sinister conduct of Harley and his relatives; but he was for the See also:present permitted to remain in his office. Subsequent experience showed See also:tale See also:necessity for his dismissal and an occurrence supplied an opportunity for carrying out their wishes. An See also:ill-paid and poverty-stricken clerk, William Gregg, in Harley's office, was detected in furnishing the enemy with copies of many documents which should have been kept from the knowledge of all but the most trusted advisers of the See also:court, and it was found that through the carelessness of the See also:head of the department the contents of such papers became the common See also:property of all in his service. The queen was thereupon informed that Godolphin and Marlborough could no longer serve in See also:concert with him. They did not attend her next See also:council, on the 8th of February 1708, and when Harley proposed to proceed with the business of the See also:day the See also:duke of See also:Somerset See also:drew attention to their See also:absence, when the queen found herself forced (February 11,) to accept the resignations of both Harley and St See also:John.
Harley went out of office, but his cousin, who had now become Mrs See also:Masham, remained by the side of the queen, and contrived to convey to her See also:mistress the views of the ejected See also:minister. Every See also:device which the defeated ambition of a See also:man whose strength See also:lay in his aptitude for intrigue could suggest for hastening the downfall of his adversaries was employed without See also:scruple, and not employed in vain. The cost of the protracted See also:war with See also:France, and the danger to the See also:national church, the chief See also:- PROOF (in M. Eng. preove, proeve, preve, &°c., from O. Fr . prueve, proeve, &c., mod. preuve, Late. Lat. proba, probate, to prove, to test the goodness of anything, probus, good)
proof of which lay in the See also:prosecution of See also:Sacheverell, were the weapons which he used to influence the masses of the See also:people. Marlborough himself could not be dispensed with, but his relations were dismissed from their posts in turn. When the greatest of these, Lord Godolphin, was ejected from office, five commissioners to the See also:treasury were appointed (See also:August ro, 1710), and among them figured Harley as chancellor of the See also:exchequer. It was the aim of the new chancellor to See also:frame an administration from the moderate members of both parties, and to adopt with but slight changes the policy of his predecessors; but his efforts were doomed to disappointment. The Whigs refused to join in an alliance with the man whose See also:rule began with the retirement from the treasury of the See also:finance minister idolized by the city merchants, and the Tories, who were successful beyond their wildest hopes at the polling booths, could not understand why their leaders did not adopt a policy more favourable to the interests of their party. The clamours of the wilder See also:spirits, the See also:country members who met at the " See also:October See also:Club," began to be re-echoed even by those who were attached to the person of Harley, when, through anunexpected event, his popularity was restored at a See also:bound. A See also:French refugee, the ex-See also:abbe de la Bourlie (better known by the name of the See also:marquis de Guiscard), was being examined before the privy council on a See also:charge of treachery to the nation which had befriended him, when he stabbed Harley in the See also:breast with a penknife (See also:March 8, 1711). To a man in good See also:health the wounds would not have been serious, but the minister had been for some time indisposed—a few days before the occurrence Swift had penned the See also:prayer " Pray See also:God preserve his health, every-thing depends upon it "—and the joy of the nation on his recovery knew no See also:bounds. Both Houses presented an address to the See also:crown, suitable response came from the queen, and on Harley's reappearance in the See also:Lower House the speaker made an oration which was spread broadcast through the country. On the 23rd of May 1711 the minister became See also:Baron Harley of Wigmore and earl of Oxford and See also:Mortimer; on the 29th of May he was created lord treasurer, and on the z5th of October 1712 became a See also:Knight of the Garter. Well might his friends exclaim that he had " grown by persecutions, turnings out, and stabbings."
With the sympathy which this attempted assassination had evoked, and with the skill which the lord treasurer possessed for conciliating the calmer members of either political party, he passed through several months of office without any loss of reputation. He rearranged the nation's finances, and continued to support her generals in the See also:- FIELD (a word common to many West German languages, cf. Ger. Feld, Dutch veld, possibly cognate with O.E. f olde, the earth, and ultimately with root of the Gr. irAaror, broad)
- FIELD, CYRUS WEST (1819-1892)
- FIELD, DAVID DUDLEY (18o5-1894)
- FIELD, EUGENE (1850-1895)
- FIELD, FREDERICK (18o1—1885)
- FIELD, HENRY MARTYN (1822-1907)
- FIELD, JOHN (1782—1837)
- FIELD, MARSHALL (183 1906)
- FIELD, NATHAN (1587—1633)
- FIELD, STEPHEN JOHNSON (1816-1899)
- FIELD, WILLIAM VENTRIS FIELD, BARON (1813-1907)
field with ample resources for carrying on the See also:campaign, though his emissaries were in communication with the French See also:- KING
- KING (O. Eng. cyning, abbreviated into cyng, cing; cf. O. H. G. chun- kuning, chun- kunig, M.H.G. kiinic, kiinec, kiinc, Mod. Ger. Konig, O. Norse konungr, kongr, Swed. konung, kung)
- KING [OF OCKHAM], PETER KING, 1ST BARON (1669-1734)
- KING, CHARLES WILLIAM (1818-1888)
- KING, CLARENCE (1842–1901)
- KING, EDWARD (1612–1637)
- KING, EDWARD (1829–1910)
- KING, HENRY (1591-1669)
- KING, RUFUS (1755–1827)
- KING, THOMAS (1730–1805)
- KING, WILLIAM (1650-1729)
- KING, WILLIAM (1663–1712)
king, and were settling the terms of a See also:peace independently of See also:England's See also:allies. After many See also:weeks of vacillation and intrigue, when the negotiations were frequently on the point of being interrupted, the preliminary peace was signed, and in spite of the opposition of the Whig See also:majority in the Upper House, which was met by the creation of twelve new peers, the much-vexed treaty of See also:Utrecht was brought to a conclusion on the 31st of March 1713. While these negotiations were under discussion the friendship between Oxford and St John, who had become secretary of state in See also:September 1710, was fast changing into hatred. The latter had resented the rise in See also:fortune which the stabs of Guiscard had secured for his colleague, and when he was raised to the peerage with the See also:title of Baron St John and See also:Viscount See also:Bolingbroke, instead of with an earldom, his resentment knew no bounds. The royal favourite, whose See also:husband had been called to the Upper House as Baron Masham, deserted her old friend and relation for his more vivacious See also:rival. The See also:Jacobites found that, although the lord treasurer was profuse in his expressions of good will for their cause, no steps were taken to ensure its See also:triumph, and they no longer placed reliance in promises which were repeatedly made and repeatedly broken. Even Oxford's friends began to complain of his habitual dilatoriness, and to find some excuse for his apathy in ill-health, aggravated by excess in the pleasures of the table and by the loss of his favourite See also:child. By slow degrees the confidence of Queen See also:Anne was transferred from Oxford to Bolingbroke; on the 27th of See also:July 1714 the former surrendered his See also:staff as lord treasurer, and on the 1st August the queen died.
On the See also:accession of See also:George I. the defeated minister retired' to Herefordshire, but a few months later his See also:impeachment was decided upon and he was committed to the See also:Tower on the 16th of July 1715. After an imprisonment of nearly two years the See also:prison doors were opened in July 1717 and he was allowed to resume his See also:place among the peers, but he took little part in public affairs, and died almost unnoticed in London on the 21st of May 1724• He married, in May 1685, Edith, daughter of Thomas See also:Foley, of Witley Court, Worcester. She died in See also:November 1691. His second wife was Sarah, daughter of Simon See also:Middleton, of See also:Edmonton. His son Edward (1689--1741), who succeeded to the title, married Henrietta (d. 1755), daughter and heiress of John Holies, duke of See also:Newcastle; and his only child, a daughter See also:Margaret (1715-1785), married William See also:Bentinck, 2nd duke of See also:Portland, to whom she brought Welbeck See also:Abbey and the London property which she inherited from her mother. The earldom
then passed to a cousin, Edward, 3rd earl (c. 1699-1755), and eventually became See also:extinct with See also:Alfred, the 6th earl (1809-1853).
Harley's statesmanship may seem but intrigue and finesse, but his See also:character is set forth in the brightest See also:colours in the poems of See also:Pope and the See also:prose of Swift. The Irish See also:dean was his discriminating friend in the See also:hours of prosperity, his unswerving See also:advocate in adversity. The books and See also:manuscripts which the 1st earl of Oxford and his son collected were among the glories of their age. The manuscripts became the property of the nation in 1753 and are now in the See also:British Museum; the books were sold to a bookseller called Thomas See also:Osborne in 1742 and described in a printed See also:catalogue of five volumes (1743-1745), Dr See also:- JOHNSON, ANDREW
- JOHNSON, ANDREW (1808–1875)
- JOHNSON, BENJAMIN (c. 1665-1742)
- JOHNSON, EASTMAN (1824–1906)
- JOHNSON, REVERDY (1796–1876)
- JOHNSON, RICHARD (1573–1659 ?)
- JOHNSON, RICHARD MENTOR (1781–1850)
- JOHNSON, SAMUEL (1709-1784)
- JOHNSON, SIR THOMAS (1664-1729)
- JOHNSON, SIR WILLIAM (1715–1774)
- JOHNSON, THOMAS
Johnson See also:writing an See also:account of the library. A selection of the rarer pamphlets and tracts, which was made by William See also:Oldys, was printed in eight volumes (1744-1746), with a See also:preface by Johnson. The best edition is that of Thomas See also:Park, ten volumes (1808-1813). In the recollection of the Harleian manuscripts, the Harleian library and the Harleian See also:Miscellany, the family name will never See also:die.
End of Article: OXFORD, ROBERT HARLEY, 1ST
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