[Robert, the only son and heir of Henry, first earl of Sunderland, was from his youth, says Collins 4, of a manly disposition. Dr. Pierce, his tutor, affirmed he had a willingness and aptness to be taught, which made his education not so much an employment as a recreation and reward 5. On returning to England from his travels, his parts and politeness made him soon distinguished, and Charles the second appointed him embassador extraordinary to the court of Spain, in 1671; he seems partly to have failed in his embassy, from the informality of not having made a public entry into Madrid. After his departure from Spain, he resided some time at Paris, in a diplomatic capacity, and continued abroad till 1674. In 1678 he was again sent on an embassy to the French court, and from thence to Holland; but in the beginning of 1679 he was appointed secretary of state along with sir William Temple 7, which office he held till February 1681, when he was displaced; but re-admitted in September 1682 8. Soon after the accession of

• Peerage, vol. i. p. 381.

› Lloyd's Memoires of the Loyalists, p. 433.

• Letters and Negotiations in Spain, vol. ii. p. 170.

7 See Memoirs, part ii. p. 385.

8

• Lord Sunderland seems to have furnished a frequent sub

ject for lampoon. A satirical essay, in Harl. MS. 6913, thus characterizes him :

"Of all the vermin that did e'er debase

The statesman's trade, or kingly rule disgrace,

James the second, he was made president of the council, and one of the commissioners for ecclesiastical affairs; in prosecuting which office, according to Burnet, he made a step to popery, without any previous instruction; so that the change looked too like a man, who having no religion, took up one rather to serve a turn, than that he was truly a convert from one

That insect SUNDERLAND is sure the worst,
With which the nation ever yet was curst;
A creeping, fawning parcel of a chit;

No whole thing, but a knave: no other wit
Than an unmanly, senceless, scornful scream,
Would make a man of sence almost blaspheme,
And swear it would mankind much less reproach,
To make a minister of Mrs. Roch."

Dryden, in his ballad-lines on young statesmen, has the following slur:

"Clarendon had law and sense,

Clifford was fierce and brave;
Bennet's grave look was a pretence,
And Danby's matchless impudence
Help'd to support the knave:
But SUNDERLAND, Godolphin, Lory,
These will appear such chits in story,
'T will turn all politics to jests;

To be repeated like John Dory,

When fidlers sing at feasts."

And he is represented, under the title of Cethego in Fac tion Display'd, as

"A Proteus, ever acting in disguise,
A finish'd statesman, intricately wise,
A second Machiavel, who soar'd above
The little tyes of gratitude and love,"

religion to another. He has been charged also with advising the king to every unpopular measure he took, and betraying him at the same time to the prince of Orange. In 1688 he was removed from office, dismissed from the king's councils, and finding his situation perilous, withdrew to Holland, where he wrote the letter which has entitled him to admission in the present work. He afterwards found much favour with king William, was made lord chamberlain of the household; and, as Burnet writes, had gained such an ascendant over the king, that he brought him to agree to some things, which few expected he would have yielded to: but falling into some discredit at court for his supposed opposition to a standing army, he resigned the chamberlainship in 1697, and retired to his seat at Althorpe during the remainder of his life, which terminated on September 28, 1702.

Several of his lordship's diplomatic letters were printed with the earl of Danby's in 1710, but, like those of his correspondent, are little calculated to supply any literary contribution.]

9 Hist. vol. ii. p. 483.

Pub May 10 1806 by J Scott. 443. Strand.