Page:Dictionary of National Biography, Second Supplement, volume 1.djvu/349

 were not marked by brilliancy, rhetoric or imaginative wit, but they were well-constructed, logical, massive, most sincere and effective. A lethargic manner gave rise to the story that he yawned during one of his early orations. But an American orator, after hearing the foremost speakers in England, said that he thought the duke was the most effective of all, and likened the way in which he laid down his arguments to the operation of ‘driving in piles.’ But the weight which he carried in the country was due to the character revealed through the speeches. Mr. Balfour, when speaking in the House of Commons on the announcement of his death, ascribed the great political influence which the duke possessed not only to his abilities but ‘to that transparent honesty and simplicity of purpose … obvious to every man with whom he came into personal contact.’ He said that of all the great statesmen he had known the duke was the most persuasive speaker, and that ‘because he never attempted to conceal the strength of the case against him’ and because he ‘brought before the public in absolutely clear, transparent and unmistakable terms the very arguments he had been going through patiently and honestly before he arrived at his conclusion.’ Mr. Asquith said of the duke that ‘in the closing years of his life he commanded in a greater degree than perhaps any other public man the respect and confidence of men of every shade of opinion in this kingdom’ by virtue of simplicity of nature, sincerity of conviction, directness of purpose, intuitive ‘insight into practical conditions, quiet and inflexible courage, and, above all, tranquil indifference to praise and blame, and by absolute disinterestedness.’

The duke left no children, and the title and estates passed to his nephew, Victor, son of the late Lord Edward Cavendish. The duchess survived him, dying suddenly at Esher Place on 15 July 1911, and being buried at Edensor. The present duke has two younger brothers, Lord Richard Cavendish and Lord John Cavendish, and two sons, the present marquis of Hartington and Lord Charles Cavendish.

There is a portrait of the eighth duke (as marquis of Hartington) by Sir John Millais at Chatsworth. His portrait was also painted by G. F. Watts, R.A. (1882), and by A. S. Cope (1889). In the National Portrait Gallery there are two portraits, one painted by Lady Abercromby in 1888, and one by Sir Hubert von Herkomer, R.A., in 1892. The last-mentioned is by far the most exact and life-like picture of the five. Statues were erected by public subscription in both London and Eastbourne. The former, which is by Mr. Herbert Hampton, is in Whitehall Avenue, beside the war office.



CAWDOR, third. [See, (1847–1911).]

CECIL, ROBERT ARTHUR TALBOT GASCOYNE-, third (1830–1903), prime minister, the lineal descendant of, first earl of Salisbury [q. v.], was born at Hatfield on 3 Feb. 1830. His father, James Brownlow William Gascoyne-Cecil, second marquis (1791–1868), held the offices of lord privy seal and lord president of the council in the conservative administrations of 1852 and 1858 respectively, and assumed by royal licence the surname of Gascoyne before that of Cecil in 1821 on his marriage to Frances Mary, only child and heiress of Bamber Gascoyne (1758–1828), M.P. for Liverpool 1780–96, whose grandfather, Sir [q. v.], was lord mayor of London in 1753. Cecil's mother was the friend and frequent correspondent of the first duke of Wellington. Of Cecil's brothers, the elder, James, Viscount Cranborne (1821–1865), who became blind at an early age, was an historical essayist of some power and a member of the Société de l'histoire de France and corresponding member of the Société de l'histoire de Belgique and of the Institut Génevois; and the younger, Lt.-col. Lord Eustace Cecil (b. 1834), was surveyor-general of the ordnance (M.P. 1865–85) in the conservative administration (1874–80). His elder sister, Lady Mildred, married [q. v.], member for Cambridge University; the younger, Lady Blanche, married James Maitland Balfour of Whittinghame and was the mother of Mr. Arthur James Balfour, Salisbury's successor in the premiership, of [q. v.], and of Mr. Gerald William Balfour. 