Page:The Complete Peerage Ed 2 Vol 4.djvu/107

DARTMOUTH 89 [George Legge, styled from 171 1, Viscount Lewisham, s. and h. ap. Matric. at Oxford (Magd. Coll.) 22 Jan. 1719/20, then aged 15. He was M.P. (Tory) for Great Bedwyn 1727-29. He /«., about 27 Mar. 1722, Elizabeth, da. and h. of Sir Arthur Kaye, 3rd Bart., of Woodsome, co. York, by Anne, da. and coh. of Sir Samuel Marowe, Bart. He d. v.p., of the smallpox, 29 Aug. 1732, in Holies Str., Marylebone, and was bur. at Trinity Minories. His widow ;«., 24 Jan. 1735/6, as his 2nd wife, Francis (North), 3rd Baron, and afterwards (1752) ist Earl of Guilford, who d. 4 Aug. 1790, aged 86. She d. in London, 21 Apr., and was bur. i May 1745, at Wroxton, aged 38. Admon. 21 May 1745 to her husband.! EARLDOM IL BARONY IV. 2 and 3. William (Legge), Earl of Dart- mouth, yc, grandson and h., being 2nd(^) but 1st surv. s. and h. of George Legge, styled '^ ' Viscount Lewisham, and Elizabeth, his wife, abovenamed. He was b. 20 June 1731, and bap. at St. Marylebone; matric. at Oxford (Trin. Coll.) 14 Jan. 1748/9; cr. M.A. 1751, and D.C.L. 28 Apr. 1756; F.R.S. and F.S.A., both 7 Nov. 1754; Recorder of Lichfield 1757; P.C. 26 July 1765; First Lord of Trade 1765-66, and 1 772-75 ;() Sec. for the Colonies, Aug. 1772 to Nov. I775;() Privy Seal Nov. 1775 to Mar. 1782; Steward of the Household, Apr. to Dec. 1783; High Steward of the Univ. of Oxford 1786 till his death; Gov.of the Charter- house, &c. He m., 1 1 Jan. 1 755, at St. Geo. the Martyr, Queen Sq., Frances Catherine Gunter,() only da. and h. of Sir Charles Gunter Nicoll, K.B., (^) His elder br., Arthur, d. 6 Oct. 1729, aged 2. V.G. {) He began his political life as a " Rockingham " Whig, then became a member of Lord North's Cabinet, joined the Coalition in 1783, and after voting with the Whigs for several years, finally came over to Pitt. " He took a conspicuous but very unfortunate part during the American War." [Lecky). V.G. (■=) The Secretaryship for the Colonies was held in conjunction with the office of First Lord of Trade from 1768 till Nov. 1779. Horace Walpole writes of him, in 1772, as "extremely conscientious and delicate in his honour." As to his taste for "field preachers," see some satirical verse (1773) in vol. i, Appendix H. "His deep sentiments of religion " obtained for him " the nick-name of the Psa/m-iinger." (Wraxail's Memoirs, vol. iii, p. 268). As to his predilection for " the Taheryiacle" see vol. i, Appendix H afsd. The couplet of the poet Cowper in Truth with reference to him is well known : — " We boast some rich ones whom the Gospel sways, And one who wears a coronet and prays." G.E.C. and V.G. i^) Lord Dartmouth "is to be married to Miss Nicoll, with above ^^'100,000. She is pretty, and they say has been well brought up, and is good-humoured . . . I hope she will prove worthy of him, if she does, she must be very good." (Mrs. Delany, July 1754). On 31 Jan. i 756, the same writer says of her and her husband, " a happier pair I never saw. She is as good as he is." Sir Herbert Croft, in The Abbey of Kilkhampton, 1780, p. 94, pays a warm, if stilted, tribute to their virtue, amiability, and mutual affection. V.G. 12