BRYDGES, Sir Samuel Egerton (1762-1837), a miscellaneous writer, was born 30th November 1762. He studied at Queen’s College, Cambridge, and adopted the profession of law. In 1790 he persuaded his elder brother that their family were the heirs to the barony of Chandos, being descended from a younger branch of the Brydges who first held the title The case was tried and lost, but Brydges never gave up his claim, and used to sign himself Per legem terrae B. C. of S. (i.e. Baron Chandos of Sudeley). It has been said that he underwent the labour of re-editing Collins’s Peerage, for the sole purpose of inserting a statement about his supposed right. In 1814 he was made a baronet, and in 1818 he left England. He died at Geneva in 1837. Sir Egerton was a most prolific author; he is said to have written 2000 sonnets in one year. His first volume of poems was published in 1785; of his other numerous works, including novels, political pamphlets, and bibliographies, perhaps the most important are Censura Literaria, 10 vols., 1805-9, and Autobiography, Times, Opinions, and Contemporaries of Sir S. E. Brydges, 1834.