On the accession of George I. Mr. Barrington was among those who were immediately presented to the new sovereign; but he declined the offers of preferment that were made to him, so long as the Schism and Occasional Conformity Acts, which had been passed during the late administration, and by which the principles of the toleration previously enjoyed, imperfect and unsatisfactory as it was, were obviously violated, remained unrepealed. From this time they remained, it is true, nearly a dead letter; but they were not formally erased from the statute book till the year 1717: after which (in 1720), Mr. B. was raised to the Irish peerage by the titles of Baron Barrington, of Newcastle, and Viscount Barrington, of Ardglass; he received at the same time a reversionary grant of the office of Master of the Rolls in Ireland, which he resigned in 1731.
In the first parliament of George I. Mr. B. was returned to the House of Commons, as member for Berwick-upon-Tweed; and was again elected for the same place in 1722. He does not appear to have been a frequent or eloquent speaker in parliament; but from his reputation and connexions, was, doubtless, a man of considerable influence, and took an active part in supporting
