of the ameers of Scinde in a letter to the court of directors of the East India Company, denouncing the policy of annexation and conquest. In politics a decided whig, he took an active interest in the election contests of Radnorshire, where he founded a political association known as the Grey Coat Club. On 15 June 1831 he received the honorary degree of D.C.L. from the university of Oxford. In 1832 he was sworn a privy councillor, and in 1841 was appointed deputy-lieutenant of the county of Hereford. He died at his seat at Boultibrook, near Presteign, on 17 March 1847. By his marriage with Sarah, eldest daughter of Sir Henry Gott, knight, of Newland Park, Buckinghamshire, and widow of Robert Whitcomb, of the Whittern, Herefordshire, he had one son and two daughters.
[Gent. Mag. new series, xxviii. 86; Annual Register, lxxxix. 219; Morier's Journey through Persia (1812).]
BRYDGES, JAMES, first Duke of Chandos (1673–1744), eldest son of James eighth lord Chandos (of Sudeley), was born 6 Jan 1673. His father was sent as ambassador at Constantinople in 1680, and died 16 Oct. 1714. The son was elected member for the city of Hereford in 1698 and sat for the same place until the accession of George I, when (19 Oct. 1714) he was created Viscount Wilton and Earl of Carnarvon. On 30 April 1719 he was created Marquis of Carnarvon and Duke of Chandos. In 1707 he was appointed paymaster general of forces abroad, a lucrative office which he held until 1712. He employed his wealth in building a splendid house at Canons near Edgware and began another of which only two pavilions were finished in Cavendish Square. The last was discontinued upon his buying the Duke of Ormonde's house in St James's Square. Three architects were employed and the Italian painters Purgotti and Paolucci. One of the 'ablest accountants in England' was appointed to superintend the expenses which are said to have amounted to 200,000l. Alexander Blackwell [q. v.] laid out the gardens. There was a magnificent chapel in which was maintained a full choir. Handel spent two years at Canons; he composed twenty anthems for the service, and there produced his first English oratorio, 'Esther'. In December 1731 Pope published his 'Epistle to Lord Burlington' in which occurs the famous description of Timon's villa, and Timon was at once identified with the Duke of Chandos. It was added that Chandos had made a present of 500l. to Pope. In the year 1732 appeared a spurious edition of the epistle to which Hogarth prefixed a caricature representing Pope bespattering the duke's coach. Pope indignantly denied the report in a letter to Gay, signed by his friend William Cleland [q. v.] and published in the newspapers of the day. He denied it also in his private correspondence to Lord Oxford, Caryll, and Aaron Hill (see Elwin's Pope, vi 330, vii. 444, viii. 292; Aaron Hill's Works, i. 67; and Epistle to Arbuthnot, v. 375). He inserted a compliment to Chandos in the epistle on the 'Characters of Men,' first published in February 1733:—
Thus gracious Chandos is beloved at sight.
In spite of certain inapplicable details there can be no doubt that Pope took some hints from Canons, and should have anticipated the application. There is however no reason to suppose that he had received any favours from Chandos. A refusal to answer the charge would have been better than a denial which rather strengthened the general belief. The point is discussed in Mr. Courthope's introduction to the 'Epistle to Burlington' (Pope, Poetical Works, iii. 161 6). Warburton in a note to the edition of 1751 stated that some of Pope's lines were fulfilled by the speedy disappearance of Canons thus by an odd oversight confirming the application which he denied.
Defoe in his 'Tour through Great Britain' (1725) describes the splendours of Canons in terms which recall Timon's villa. He says that there were 120 persons in family (though Pope tells Hill that there were not 100 servants), and says that the choir entertained them every day at dinner. A poem called 'Chandos; or the Vision' (by Gildon) was published in 1717, and another on the same subject by S. Humphreys, in 1728. Chandos got into difficulties by speculative investments, and in 1734 Swift, in his verses on 'the duke and the dean,' says that all he got by fraud is lost by stocks. He accuses Chandos of neglecting an old friend on becoming 'beduked.' He had asked Chandos (31 Aug 1734) to present some Irish record formerly belonging to Lord Clarendon (lord lieutenant in 1685) to the university of Dublin. The failure of the request probably annoyed him Swift in his 'Characters of the Court of Queen Anne,' had called Chandos 'a very worthy gentleman but a great complier with every court.'
In April 1721 the duke was appointed governor of the Charterhouse and on 25 Aug. lord-lieutenant of Herefordshire and Radnorshire offices to which he was again appointed in 1727 on the accession of George II. He was chancellor of the university of St. Andrews He was thrice married: first on 27 Feb.
