CONSTANTINE JOHN PHIPPS, LORD MULGRAVE, [AN eminent circumnavigator, and a captain in the royal navy, was born in 1744, succeeded his father as an Irish peer in 1775, and was created an English baron in 1790; but dying without male issue, Oct. 10, 1792, the English barony became extinct. It has been revived however in his successor. His lordship published "A Voyage towards the North Pole, undertaken by his Majesty's Command, 1773." Printed in 4to. 1774. This is chiefly a journal of maritime occurrences in northern latitudes, from April to September 1773: but it is followed by a valuable Appendix. From the information of Mr. Reed I learn that lord Mulgrave penned the character of captain Cook, printed at the end of his last voyage; and the following tract: "A Letter from a Member of Parliament to one of his Constituents, on the late Proceedings of the House of Commons in the Middlesex Elections; with a Postscript, containing some Observations on a Pamphlet 3 entitled, The Case of the late Election for the County of Middlesex considered." Lond. 1769, 8vo. Lord Orford, in his Appendix 4, hints that lord Mulgrave "wrote many verses, none of which have appeared in print, though much applauded by those who have seen them." In the Asylum for Fugitive Pieces will be found a probationary ode for his lordship; and in the New Foundling Hospital for Wit 5 the following persuasive lines are ascribed to him"; "TO THE LATE THOMAS, LORD LYTTELTON, IN HIS FATHER'S LIFETIME. Sprung Lyttelton from noble British blood, To seek experience from the battle's rage: See his Works, vol. i. p. 550. Vol. vi. p. 151. Tickell, in his Wreath of Fashion, seems to speak of his lordship as a rhyming trifler: but possibly for having offered up some incense of adulation at the Bath-Easton shrine. "MULGRAVE! whose muse nor winds nor waves control, Here bravely pens acrostics-on the pole; Warms with poetic fire the northern air, And soothes with tuneful raptures-the great bear: So when the rebel winds on Neptune fell, They sunk to rest at sound of Triton's shell." |