LONG (afterwards NORTH), Dudley (1748-1829), of Hurts Hall, Saxmundham, Suff.

Long was a friend of Lord Richard Cavendish, and in 1780 was recommended by Rockingham to Edward Eliot who brought him into Parliament.Rockingham to Portland, 1 Sept. 1780, Portland mss. In 1784 he was returned for Grimsby on the interest of Charles Anderson Pelham, his future father-in-law. He voted with Fox and formed one of the nucleus of his party. He was a manager for the impeachments of Hastings and Impey.

Dr. Johnson’s comment is well known:Boswell, Johnson, iv. 81. ‘Long’s character is very short. It is nothing. He fills a chair. He is a man of genteel appearance and that is all.’ But Boswell adds: ‘Little did he know that, owing to Mr. Long’s reserve in his presence, he was talking thus of a gentleman distinguished among his acquaintance, for acuteness of wit.’ George Crabbe, the poet, whom Long befriended when poor and unknown, wrote of him:Life and Works (1854), pp. 13, 43.‘Though a silent Member of the House (for he had a strong impediment in his utterance), “yet”, said Mr. Fox, “we owe to Dudley’s suggestions some of the best hits we have made”.’

Long died 21 Feb. 1829.