Page:The Complete Peerage Ed 2 Vol 3.djvu/204

i84 CHESTERFIELD His widow d. s.p., 1 6 Sep. 1778, when her Peerage, being for life, became extinct. Will pr. Sep. 1778. V. 1773- 5- Philip (Stanhope), Earl of Chesterfield, i^c, cousin and h. male, being 2nd but only surv. s. and h. of Arthur Charles S., of Mansfield Woodhouse, Notts, by his 2nd wife, Margaret {d. Jan. 1764), da. and coh. of Charles Headlam, of Kerby Hall, CO. York, which Arthur Charles was s. and h. of Michael S., D.D., Canon of Windsor, 2nd s. of Charles S., who was 3rd s. of Arthur S., both of Mansfield Woodhouse afsd., the said Arthur S. being i ith s. of Philip, the I St Earl, i.e. yst. s. by ist wife, Catharine abovenamed. He was b. 10, and bap. 28 Nov. 1755, at Mansfield, and sue. his father in that estate 9 Mar. 1770. Was a student at the Univ. of Leipzig, when in 1773, he sue. his cousin in the Peerage and in the family estates at Bretby, co. Derby, Shelford, Notts, tfc. F.S.A. 5 Dec. 1776 ; F.R.S. 19 Dec. 1776 ; Capt. 85th Foot, 1779 ; Lord Lieut, of Bucks, 1781-82. Ambassador TO Spain, 1784-87 ;(") P.C. 7 Jan. 1784; Master of the Mint (Tory), Sep. 1789-90; Joint Postmaster Gen., 1790-98; Master of the Horse, 1 798-1 804. Norn. K.G. 17 Jan. and inst. 23 Apr. 1805. He m., istly, 20 Aug. 1777 (spec, lie), in Lambeth Chapel, Anne, da. of the Rev. Thomas Thistlethwaite, D.D., of Norman Court, Hants, by Selina, da. of Peter Bathurst, of Clarendon Park, Wilts. She, who was b. i'JS9-> d. 20 Oct., and was bur. 2 Nov. 1798, at Shelford. He w., 2ndly, 2 May 1799, in Grosvenor Str., Henrietta, 3rd da. of Thomas (Thynne), ist Marquess of Bath, by Elizabeth, da. of William (Cavendish-Bentinck), Duke of Portland. She, who was b. y'] Nov. 1762, was a Lady of the dubbed him "a little gossipping tea table scoundrel," and indeed his wit, his vanity, and his vices are better known to posterity than his scholarly tastes, his literary capacity, and his prescient statesmanship. He said of himself that he wanted the two great springs of human action — ambition and avarice. Perhaps his greatest work was the reformation of the Calendar in 175 i, but by his firmness, vigilance, kindness, and toleration, he has left his mark as probably the best Lord Lieut, that Ireland has ever seen. Cowper, in the Progress of Error has a fling at him. "Petronius ! all the Muses weep for thee. But every tear shall scald thy memory. Thou polished and high finished foe to truth, Grey-beard corrupter of our listening youth." " He left a will that did him no credit, imposing impracticable restraints on his heir, and sporting ludicrously on the Church by giving penalties for which his heir was made liable to the Dean and Chapter of Westminster, to whose want of lenity he said he could trust." (H. Walpole, Mar. 1773). His Life, by W. H. Craig, was pub. in 1907- "Equal to most of his competitors in elegance and perspicacity, and beyond all in choice of imagery, taste, urbanity, and graceful irony, and in nice touches of raillery and humour; his wit however poignant was always under the control of decency and good sense." V.G. (^) This was only a nominal appointment, as he never went to Madrid. V.G.