Dudley North, 4th Baron North
1602–1677
Cambridgeshire peer; minor poet and essayist; father of Sir Dudley North the economist.
Biography
Of St John's Cambridge and the Middle Temple, North succeeded his father (Dudley North the third Baron, courtier of James I) in 1666 — so during the Westminster years he sat as the younger Dudley North while his father held the title. He was a literary and antiquarian peer whose A Forest of Varieties (1645) collected occasional poems, essays, and translations, and Light in the Way to Paradise (1682) developed a moderate Reformed devotional theology. Father of Sir Dudley North, the merchant whose Discourses upon Trade (1691) is an early classic of laissez-faire economics. A quiet moderate lay assessor at the Assembly. Died in 1677.
Principal works
- A Forest of Varieties (1645)
- Light in the Way to Paradise (1682)
Lay Assessor — House of Lords
Parliament seated lay assessors from both Houses to sit with the divines and represent its interest. Ten peers were named from the House of Lords as lay assessors; like the Commons assessors they had voice in the Assembly but were not voting members, and they attended as their other duties allowed.