Roger North, KC (3 September 16531 March 1734) was an English lawyer,

biographer Biographers are authors who write an account of another person's life, while autobiographers are authors who write their own biography. Biographers Countries of working life: Ab=Arabia, AG=Ancient Greece, Al=Australia, Am=Armenian, AR=Ancient Rome ...

, and amateur musician.

Life

St Mary's church in Rougham - memorial - geograph

North was the sixth son of

Dudley North, 4th Baron North Dudley North, 4th Baron North, KB (160224 June 1677) of Kirtling Tower, Cambridgeshire was an English politician, who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1628 and 1660. Life North was the elder son of Dudley North, 3rd Baron ...

and his wife Anne Montagu and was the brother of Francis North and Dudley North. He was born in

Tostock Tostock is a small village around eight miles east of Bury St. Edmunds in the county of Suffolk. It is a very traditional Suffolk village, with a good example of a fourteenth-century church. As of 2011, the village is host to 198 houses with ...

, Suffolk. He attended Bury St Edmunds Grammar School and then

Thetford Grammar School Thetford Grammar School is an independent co-educational school in Thetford, Norfolk, England. The school might date back to the 7th century, which would make it one of the oldest schools in the United Kingdom. History The school website conject ...

from 1663, followed by

Jesus College, Cambridge Jesus College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college's full name is The College of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint John the Evangelist and the glorious Virgin Saint Radegund, near Cambridge. Its common name comes fr ...

and the

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn ...

. He was called to the bar in 1674, and was Steward of the

Diocese of Canterbury The Diocese of Canterbury is a Church of England diocese covering East Kent, eastern Kent which was founded by St. Augustine of Canterbury in 597. The diocese is centred on Canterbury Cathedral and is the oldest episcopal see, see of the Church o ...

in 1678. He became King's Counsel and a Bencher of Middle Temple in 1682. North developed a good practice at the bar, helped by his elder brother Francis who became

Lord Chancellor The lord chancellor, formally the lord high chancellor of Great Britain, is the highest-ranking traditional minister among the Great Officers of State in Scotland and England in the United Kingdom, nominally outranking the prime minister. Th ...

Henry Hyde, 2nd Earl of Clarendon Henry Hyde, 2nd Earl of Clarendon, PC (2 June 163831 October 1709) was an English aristocrat and politician. He held high office at the beginning of the reign of his brother-in-law, King James II. Early life He was the eldest son of Edward Hyd ...

called him "one of only two honest lawyers I ever knew". During the Popish Plot, while Francis succumbed to the prevailing anti-Catholic hysteria, Roger remained detached and sceptical. Although he was always loyal to his brother's memory, Roger admitted that during the Plot "wise men behaved like stark fools". In 1684 he became Solicitor-General to the Duke of York.''Burke's Peerage'' p.1691 After this his career suffered something of a check: Francis' unexpected early death in September 1685 was both a personal loss and a blow to Roger's career, since Francis was replaced as Lord Chancellor by the formidable

Lord Jeffreys George Jeffreys, 1st Baron Jeffreys, PC (15 May 1645 – 18 April 1689), also known as "the Hanging Judge", was a Welsh judge. He became notable during the reign of King James II, rising to the position of Lord Chancellor (and serving a ...

. Roger, who left a scarifying picture of Jeffreys in his memoirs, was a rather shy and diffident man, and frankly admitted to being terrified of Jeffreys; as a result, in his own words, his practice "declined so as to be scarce worth attending Court". The check was only temporary: in 1685, he was chosen as a

Tory A Tory () is a person who holds a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalism and conservatism, which upholds the supremacy of social order as it has evolved in the English culture throughout history. The ...

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

for

Dunwich Dunwich is a village and civil parish in Suffolk, England. It is in the Suffolk Coast and Heaths AONB around north-east of London, south of Southwold and north of Leiston, on the North Sea coast. In the Anglo-Saxon period, Dunwich was ...

, and became

Recorder Recorder or The Recorder may refer to: Newspapers * ''Indianapolis Recorder'', a weekly newspaper * ''The Recorder'' (Massachusetts newspaper), a daily newspaper published in Greenfield, Massachusetts, US * ''The Recorder'' (Port Pirie), a news ...

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

. He was further advanced in 1686 to the office of Attorney General to Queen Mary of Modena. The Glorious Revolution stopped his advancement, and he retired to his estate of Rougham in Norfolk and increased his fortune by marrying the daughter of Sir Robert Gayer.''Burke's Peerage'' p.1961 North died at Rougham on 1 March 1734, leaving a family from whom the Norths of Rougham were descended.

Works

North collected books, and was constantly occupied in writing, but he is best known for his ''Lives of the Norths'', published after his death, together with his own autobiography (edition in Bohn's Standard Library, 1890, by Augustus Jessopp), an authority for the period. His comments on musical performance practice, in particular, have proven helpful for

musicologist Musicology (from Greek μουσική ''mousikē'' 'music' and -λογια ''-logia'', 'domain of study') is the scholarly analysis and research-based study of music. Musicology departments traditionally belong to the humanities, although some m ...

s researching the Baroque style in England. In addition to his writing on performance practice, he wrote on musical

aesthetics Aesthetics, or esthetics, is a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of beauty and taste, as well as the philosophy of art (its own area of philosophy that comes out of aesthetics). It examines aesthetic values, often expressed t ...

, pedagogy, and

tuning Tuning can refer to: Common uses * Tuning, the process of tuning a tuned amplifier or other electronic component * Musical tuning, musical systems of tuning, and the act of tuning an instrument or voice ** Guitar tunings ** Piano tuning, adjusti ...

and temperament; one of his most important achievements in this regard was devising a practical and detailed system for mean-tone tuning in the age before equal temperament. Another well-known work is ''Examen'', a defence of Charles II's record as a ruler. He was also a learned connoisseur of architecture and designed a new gateway for the

in London and a Palladian extension to his house at Rougham.

Family

North married Mary, the daughter of Sir Robert Gayer of

Stoke Poges Stoke Poges () is a village and civil parish in south-east Buckinghamshire, England. It is centred north-north-east of Slough, its post town, and southeast of Farnham Common. Etymology In the name Stoke Poges, ''stoke'' means " stockaded (pl ...

, Buckinghamshire and his first wife Mary Rich, daughter of

Sir Thomas Rich, 1st Baronet Sir Thomas Rich, 1st Baronet (c. 1601 – 15 October 1667) was an English merchant and politician who sat in House of Commons in 1660. He established Sir Thomas Rich's School, a grammar school. Notable descendants include Marianne North, the botanical illustrator, and Frederick North, a Liberal politician.

Quotations

To say truth, although it is not necessary for counsel to know what the history of a point is, but to know how it stands now resolved, yet it is a wonderful accomplishment, and, without it, a lawyer cannot be accounted learned in the law.

On the Popish Plot:

Wise men behaved like stark fools, and good and honest men like the veriest fourbs (fraudsters) that ever came out of Newgate.

and-

People's passions would not allow them to attend to any reason or deliberation in the matter.. one might have denied Christ with more content than this Plot.

On Sir

William Scroggs Sir William Scroggs (c. 162325 October 1683) was Lord Chief Justice of England from 1678 to 1681. He is best remembered for presiding over the Popish Plot trials, where he was accused of showing bias against the accused. Youth and early career S ...

Lord Chief Justice Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of the peerage in the United Kingdom, or are ...

1678–1681:

His course of life was scandalous and his discourse violent and intemperate. His talent was wit...he had a fluent expression and many good terms of thought and language, but he could not avoid extremities. If he did ill, it was extremely so, and if he did well, in extreme also.

On Lord Jeffreys, Lord Chancellor 1685–1688:

His friendship and conversation lay much among the good fellows and humourists, and his delights were accordingly drinking, laughing, singing, kissing and all the extravagances of the bottle...no friendship....could be so great in private which he would not use ill ....in public. No one that had any expectation from him was safe from his public contempt and derision."

On power:

The rising sun hath a charming effect, but not upon courtiers as upon larks: for it makes these (larks) sing and the others (courtiers) silent".Milne-Tyte p.85

Notes

References

* * ''Roger North's The Musicall Grammarian and Theory of Sounds: digests of the manuscripts'', edited by M. Chan and J. C. Kassler, University of New South Wales, Kensington, 1988. * ''Roger North’s the Musicall Grammarian: 1728'', edited with introductions and notes by Mary Chan and Jamie C. Kassler, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1990. * J. C. Kassler, ''The Honourable Roger North, 1651–1734: On life, morality, law and tradition'', Ashgate, Burlington, Vermont, 2009. *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:North, Roger 1653 births 1734 deaths English barristers English King's Counsel English MPs 1685–1687 Tory MPs (pre-1834) Younger sons of barons 17th-century King's Counsel English biographers People educated at Thetford Grammar School

Roger Roger is a given name, usually masculine, and a surname. The given name is derived from the Old French personal names ' and '. These names are of Germanic origin, derived from the elements ', ''χrōþi'' ("fame", "renown", "honour") and ', ' ( ...

17th-century English musicians 17th-century English lawyers 18th-century English musicians 18th-century English lawyers 17th-century biographers 18th-century biographers People from Breckland District 17th-century English writers 18th-century English writers