alleged as a reward for assisting the king with the loan of £15,000. He did not long enjoy his new honours, for on the 19th of September, 1643, he was killed by a cannon ball at the battle of Newbury, the same fatal fight in which Lord Falkland and the earl of Carnarvon lost their lives. His only son—
Robert Spencer, second earl of Sunderland, was born about 1641. He spent a considerable portion of time on the continent with his tutor, Dr. Pierce, during the protectorate of Cromwell; but he was not employed by Charles until 1671, when he was nominated ambassador extraordinary to the Spanish court. In the following year he was sent to Paris in the same capacity. He was one of three plenipotentiaries who were despatched to Cologne in 1673, to open negotiations for a general peace. On the failure of this attempt he returned to England, and was soon after admitted a member of the privy council. In 1678 through the influence of the duchess of Portsmouth, to whom he had attached himself, the earl, who had already acquired a high reputation for "clear and ready apprehension," and great aptitude for business, was again sent ambassador to France; but in the following year he was recalled and appointed secretary of state. He took a prominent part in the contest between the crown and the parliament, respecting the exclusion of the duke of York from the throne. Halifax, Essex, and he, who were popularly styled the triumvirate, had at this time the chief management of public affairs, and united in resisting the attempt of Shaftesbury and the whigs to set aside the claims of the duke. In the course of a few months, however, Sunderland, always unprincipled and selfish, believing the liberal party to be irresistible, declared openly for exclusion, and voted against the court. Charles, displeased with his conduct, turned him out of office. He was recalled, however, in 1682, having made his peace with the duke of York through the intervention of Lord Rochester. He remained in power during the remainder of Charles' reign; and though James was well aware that towards its close the fickle minister had again been intriguing against his rights with the duchess of Portsmouth, Godolphin, and the French ambassador, Barillon, yet such was his art and address that the new king, on his ascension to the throne, not only continued Sunderland in office, but gave more of his confidence to him than to any other of his ministers. When Halifax was dismissed from the presidency of the council in 1685, for refusing to vote for the repeal of the test act, Sunderland succeeded him in that high dignity, and soon after became premier, without being required to resign the more lucrative post of secretary. His desire for money, however, was so rapacious, that though he had a very large official salary and an ample hereditary fortune, he stooped to become the pensioner of the French court, and received from Louis the sum of £5600 a year, on condition that he should exert all his influence in the English cabinet to promote the schemes of the French monarch. He joined himself to the jesuitical cabal, which met privately in his house every Friday, and settled all the affairs of the government without the knowledge of the other ministers. In order to subvert the treasurer Rochester's power, he encouraged James in all his errors, abetted his attacks on the established church and the constitution of the country, and helped him on to his ruin. As he was utterly without principle of any kind, and all religions were alike to him; knowing that so long as he belonged to the established church his influence with the king could not be permanent or secure—he at last, in June, 1688, made a public renunciation of protestantism, and a profession of the Roman catholic faith. Unscrupulous as he was, he at length became uneasy at the effect which the king's unconstitutional policy was producing on the country, and endeavoured to dissuade him from the prosecution of the seven bishops, and other insane measures. But finding that James was obstinately bent on a course that was certain to issue in ruin, and having received a hint of the projected expedition of the prince of Orange, Sunderland became alarmed for his own safety, and resolved to betray that master who had implicitly trusted him, and loaded him with wealth and honours. A communication with Holland was opened in August, 1688, by means of his countess and her favourite lover, Henry Sidney. In this way the plans of James were all made known at the Hague, while at the same time his treacherous minister encouraged the delusion of his master, and induced him to reject the assistance which was proffered by the French court against the projected expedition. James, however, at last came to suspect that Sunderland was in communication with his enemies, and dismissed him from office on the 28th of October, 1688—"a change which pleased all men," says a contemporary writer; "but it came too late." On the landing of the prince of Orange, Sunderland, knowing well how odious he was to the nation, fled to Holland, and there once more changed his religion, and made himself conspicuous by his regular attendance on the ministrations of the Huguenot preachers. In March, 1689, he published an apology for his conduct, in which he declared that he had all along done his utmost, though unsuccessfully, to restrain the exiled king in his illegal course. He remained abroad nearly two years, and then, though excluded by name from the act of grace passed by the parliament, he returned to England. After spending a few months in seclusion, he appeared at court in April, 1691, and to the great astonishment of the public was graciously received by the king. In the following year he began to attend regularly the sittings of parliament, and soon became William's principal adviser. "His tact," says Lord Macaulay, "his quick eye for the foibles of individuals, his caressing manners, his power of insinuation, and above all his apparent frankness, made him irresistible in private conversation. In truth scarcely any mind was strong enough to resist the witchery of his talk and of his manners." There can be no doubt that he proved a faithful and valuable servant to his new master. It was by his advice that William, in 1693, intrusted the government to the whigs, and made Somers keeper of the great seal; and it was he who, after the death of the queen, effected a reconciliation between the king and the Princess Anne. For some years Sunderland "had the wisdom to be content with the reality of power, and to leave the show to others;" but at length in 1695 he was appointed lord-chamberlain, and was at the same time nominated one of the lords-justices to whom the administration of affairs was committed during the absence of William on the continent. For about two years he was virtually the head of the government, and the internal administration of the kingdom was specially under his control. But his appointment had from the first excited great dissatisfaction, both among the whigs and tories. To the former he was an object of distrust; to the latter of unmingled detestation. At length, about the close of 1697, a violent clamour was raised against him by the opposition, who talked of moving an address requesting the king to banish him for ever from the court and the council. Sunderland, who was nervously apprehensive of danger, discovered that the whig chiefs were not disposed to run any risk in his defence; and terrified at the violence of the attacks made upon him, he suddenly resigned his office, against the earnest entreaty of the king, and retired into private life. "During the time of his credit," says Burnet, "things had been carried on with more spirit and better success than before; he had gained such an ascendant over the king, that he brought him to agree to some things few expected he would have yielded to; he managed the public affairs in both houses with so much steadiness and so good a conduct, that he had procured to himself a greater measure of esteem than he had in any of the former parts of his life." He spent the remainder of his life at his magnificent seat Althorpe, where he died on the 28th of September, 1702.
Charles Spencer, third earl of Sunderland, second son of the preceding, was born in 1674. He was educated by the learned Dr. Trimnel, successively bishop of Norwich, and of Winchester, whom Evelyn in 1688 terms "a governor of great worth," and describes his pupil as "a youth of extraordinary hopes, very learned for his age, and ingenious." On the death of his elder brother, Robert, in 1690, Charles became Lord Spencer. He was elected member for Tiverton in 1695, and continued to represent this borough in the three succeeding parliaments. On the death of his father in 1702, he became earl of Sunderland. In 1705 he was appointed envoy extraordinary and plenipotentiary to the court of Vienna, on the accession of the Emperor Joseph. Two years later the whigs compelled Queen Anne reluctantly to appoint the earl one of the secretaries of state. He discharged the duties of that post with great ability and success till June, 1710, when he was dismissed from office without any reason being assigned—the first step taken by Queen Anne towards an entire change of ministry. The queen offered to compensate him for the loss of power by a pension of £3000 a year for life, which he at once declined, declaring that "if he could not have the honour of serving his country, he would not plunder it." On the accession of George I. in 1714 it was expected that Sunderland would have been placed at the
