from her acquaintance with his Majesty's temper, she knew how to introduce memorials, petitions, letters, and recommendations at the proper season; and thus not only relieved the king from personal importunities, but the ministers from the necessity of frequently irritating their royal master, by making applications which they knew would be disagreeable, but which the affairs of state rendered necessary." Lady Yarmouth is stated to have derived considerable sums from the sale of peerages, the only political offence which has been laid to her charge. From Sir Jacob Bouverie she is said to have received the magnificent bribe of £12,000, the price of a coronet which she obtained for him.'

Lady Yarmouth closely attended her royal lover during the campaign of 1743, and while he was personally engaged in the battle of Dettingen was anxiously expecting the result in the immediate neighbourhood. It would seem, by the following verses, written by Sir Charles Hanbury Williams, that the old king gratified his mistress by exhibiting some particular proof of his affection for her during the course of the engagement; probably by giving orders for ensuring her safety in the event of defeat.

'Sir Jacob Bouverie, Bart., was created Viscount Folkestone by letters patent, dated 29th June, 1747. He died on the 17th of February, 1761, and was succeeded in the title by his eldest son, William, who, on the 29th of October, 1765, was advanced to the Earldom of Radnor.

ON THE COUNTESS OF YARMOUTH

MAKING THE CAMPAIGN.

"With George what hero can compare,
Or who like him the sword can wield?
That dares protect his favourite fair
Amidst the thunder of the field?

"The god of war outdone we see !
In action Venus he dismiss'd;
Till he had made his foe to flee,
Then slyly after battle kiss'd.

"But George, to Love and War allied,
Both deities at once admires;

And swelling big with martial pride,
By love allays his glowing fires."

After the death of her royal lover but little is known of the history of Lady Yarmouth. The king, by his will, bequeathed her a certain strong box, with particular injunctions that it should be opened by no other hand but that of his mistress; it contained, according to rumour, about £12,000. The new sovereign, George the Third, paid her the compliment of consulting her personal wishes; but the only favour which she asked was an appointment for her favourite, Edward Finch,'

'The Hon. Edward Finch, fifth son of Daniel, second Earl of Nottingham, and sixth Earl of Winchelsea. He was, on different occasions, employed as an envoy to the courts of Sweden, Poland, Muscovy, and to the States General. In 1742, probably by the favour of Lady Yarmouth, he was appointed a groom of

who was immediately provided for as surveyor of the king's roads, Sir Henry Erskine, who held the appointment, receiving the command of a regiment.

Lady Yarmouth died in 1765, when her honours became extinct. By the king she had one son, who was not owned, and who was usually known at court as Master Louis.

the bedchamber, and in June, 1757, master of the robes. In November, 1760, he was made surveyor of the king's private roads. He died on the 16th of May, 1771.

CHAPTER XIX.

GEORGE BUBB DODDINGTON, LORD MELCOMBE.

Son of an Apothecary at Carlisle, Named Bubb- His Mother, the Sister of a Wealthy Commoner, George Doddington, of Dorset His Birth in 1691 - Elected M. P. for Winchelsea in 1715-Acts as Envoy Extraordinary at the Court of Madrid Changes His Name from Bubb to Doddington— Attaches Himself to Sir Robert Walpole - Is Refused a Peerage, and Joins the Party of the Prince of Wales - Anecdotes of Doddington - He Renews His Connection with Sir Robert Walpole, and Is Appointed a Lord of the Treasury and Clerk of the Pells in Ireland - Deserts Walpole on His Decline - Lampoon by Sir C. H. Williams—Doddington's Frequent Tergiversations - Commences His Diary in 1749— Extract from It-He Is Appointed Treasurer of the Chambers to the Prince of Wales in 1749- His Disappointments on the Prince's Death - Character of His Diary - His Private Worth - His Wit and Accomplishments - His Oratory and Conversational Powers - Anecdote - His Vanity and Ostentation-Extract from Cumberland's Memoirs - Doddington's Mansions at Eastbury and Hammersmith - Characteristic Anecdotes - Doddington Created Baron Melcombe in 1761-Extracts from Cumberland's Memoirs - Doddington's Secret Marriage - His Death in 1762.

THIS singular man, whose social wit, imperturbable good-humour, and harmless vanity present so curious a contrast to his gross political profligacy,

was the son of an apothecary at Carlisle, of the name of Bubb, by a sister of one of the wealthiest commoners in England, George Doddington, Esq., of Eastbury in Dorsetshire. The future statesman was born in 1691, and is said to have been educated at Oxford. In 1715 he was elected member of Parliament for Winchelsea, and on his admission to the House of Commons gave such early proof of his capacity as a man of business that he was selected to accompany Sir Paul Methuen to the court of Spain, where he subsequently acted as envoy extraordinary, and in that capacity signed the Treaty of Madrid.

In 1720, on the death of his uncle, George Doddington, of Eastbury, he came into possession of a large estate, and at the same time exchanged the name of Bubb for the somewhat more euphonious one of Doddington. In the House of Commons, he attached himself to Sir Robert Walpole and the ministerial party, but being refused a peerage, which was the principal object of his ambition, he seceded from his colleagues, and joined his fortunes with those of Frederick, Prince of Wales, then in violent opposition to his father.

Doddington, as well from his talents as a man of business as from his social qualities and cheerful wit, was a valuable acquisition to the prince's His purse and his advice were alike at the

court.