WHARTON, WirmtroN, Duke of, was the son of Thomas, marquis of Whar ton, an eminent member of the whig party in queen Anne's reign, and lord-lienteuaut of Ireland from 1708 until after the fall of the Godolphin administration in 1710. Macaulay says he was licentious and corrupt; but the faults of his Irish administration were largely redeemed by his appointment of Addison as chief-secretary. George I. made him lord privy seal and marquis of Wharton in 1715, but he died three months afterward. His son, Philip, born 1698, was educated at home by his father, who aimed at making him a great orator, a whig in politics, and a Presbyterian in religion. In a boyish freak, he -contracted a clandestine marriage at the Fleet with the daughter of maj.gen. Holmes. The shock is said to have killed both his parents. 'Wharton soon parted from his wife, and in 1716 went abroad with a French Huguenot tutor, to be brought up according to his father's dying instructions, in strict Presbyterian principles, at Geneva. He con tracted debts, spurned the restraints of his tutor, and ran away to Lyons. He visited the pretender at Avignon, and, it is said, accepted from him the title of duke of Northum berland. He next visited Paris, and, after various extravagances, set out for Ireland, where, although he had not yet reached his 19th year, he was allowed to take his scat in the house of peers. He soon displayed such splendid abilities in debate, and supported the government with so much zeal, that, although still under age, he was, Jan. 20, 1718, raised to the highest rank in the English peerage. He did not take his seat in the English house of peers until 1720. Here be opposed with much warmth the govern ment measure on the South sea bill, and the bill of pains and penalties against bishop Atterhury. His affairs became hopelessly involved by his extravagance, so that although he had succeeded to an estate of £16,000 a year, be was soon compelled to accept a yearly allowance of £1,200 from his creditors. He set up a political paper, called the
True Briton, in 1723; and lost no occasion of speaking, as well as writing, against the ministry and the court. In 1724 he set out for Vienna, and then visited where he was served with an order from the privy seal to return home. He treated the order with contempt, and afterWard went to Rome, and appeared openly at the court of the pretender, from whom he accepted the order of the garter. lie now the title of duko of Northumberland. In 1727 he fought with the Spaniards and against his countrymen at the siege of Gibralter. This last mad act lost him his English title and estates, and led to his conviction under a bill of indictment for high treason. He refused to make his submission to the government; and the rest of his life was passed in France and Spain, at one moment •sqandering his precarious supplies of money in drunkenness and luxury, and at another suffering the extremest poverty. He died in a miserable condition at a Bernardine convent in Catalonia, May 31, 1731. His brilliant talents and wasted life were sketched by Pope in his Moral Essays, in the lines begin ning— Wharton, the scorn and wonder of our days.
The Life and Writings of Philip, late Duke of Wharton, were published in 1732 (Loud. 2 vols. 8vo); and another two-volume• publication, entitled The Poetical Works of Philip. late Duke of Wharton, and of the Duke's Intimate Acquaintance, appears, with the excep tion of the title-page and a prefixed biography of Wharton, to have been printed in 1727. This publication, however, contains little that is even attributed to the duke.