NORTH, FaAscis, Peron Gluilfo•d (1637-85). A celebrated English jurist. Ile was horn No• vember 2, 1637, the third son Of the fourth Lord Prejudieed against Presbyterians by the sh.111111“,S of his early teachers. North was eon firmed in this feeling by Dr. Stevens, a sturdy Royalist. head of the school at Bury Saint Ed mund, where he finished his preparation for col lege. rienlated at Saint John's College. Cam bridge, he withdrew in two years to become a student of law in the Middle Temple. He was admitted to its practice in 1661, and as he had always been a student of great application, he soon gained a high rank at the bar. Indeed, his rise in favor at the Court was so rapid that he has been accused of using unworthy means to gain his c-nd. He became Solicitor-General in 1671, Attorney-General in 1673, and Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas in 1675. In 1682 lie was made Lord Keeper of the Great Seal.
With other members of the Court party lie was hostile to Titus Oates, and as judge ruled in such a manner against Stephen College that it aided in securing a death sentence. This act constitutes the most serious blot on his fame as a judge, for in most eases his decisions were marked by their ability and justice. Ile was a Royalist, true to Charles TI. at all times. In 1683 he entered the Douse of Lords as Baron Guilford, but took little part in its proceed ings. He was a man of vast knowledge and wide culture, an excellent musician, a patron of artists, and a friend of natural 'sciences, yet withal too complaisant to the corruptions of his day. As a lawyer his ability and learning were undoubted, and his decisions did much to in crease the jurisdiction of the Court of Common Pleas. Consult Roger North, The Livcs of the Norths (London, 1890).