NORTH, Francis, Lord Guildford, lord-keeper of the great seal in the reigns of Charles II. and James II. was a third son of the second Dudley Lord North, baron of Kettling, and studied at St. John's College, Cambridge, whence he removed to the Middle Temple. He acquired French, Italian, Spanish, and Dutch, and became not only a good lawyer, but thoroughly conversant with history, mathematics, philosophy, and music. He was afterwards made the king's solicitor-general, and chosen to represent the borough of Lynn in parliament. He succeeded Sir Henneage Finch in the office of attorney-general; and Lord Chief Justice Vaughan, in that of lord chief justice of the Common Pleas. He was afterwards made keeper of the great seal, and in 1683 was created a baron by the title of Lord Guildford. He died at his house at Wroxton in the year 1685. Lord Guildford wrote a philosophical essay on music: a paper on the gravitation of fluids in the bladders of fishes, printed in Lowthorp's Abridgement of the Philosophical Transactions; and some other pieces.