Page:Dictionary of National Biography, Second Supplement, volume 3.djvu/382

 in an aside 'Bedlam ought to be enlarged at once.'

But Gladstone's high opinion of Spencer was not affected by such differences. On 2 March 1894, after Gladstone had forwarded his resignation to Queen Victoria, he remarked that should the queen consult him as to the selection of his successor he should advise her to send for Spencer. But his advice was not asked, and the queen chose Lord Rosebery, under whom Spencer agreed to continue at the admiralty. He steadily pursued his previous policy until Lord Rosebery's government fell in 1895.

Spencer did not return to office. But until his health failed he took a leading part in the counsels of the liberal party. In the House of Lords he acted as the lieutenant of the liberal leader, Lord Kimberley [q. v. Suppl. II], when the latter fell ill in 1901, and he succeeded him in the leadership on his death in 1902. Amid the anxieties caused to the party by the successive withdrawals of Lord Rosebery and Sir William Harcourt from its leadership and by the accession of Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman to the leadership in the House of Commons, Spencer loyally did what was possible to preserve unity. Public opinion early in the twentieth century pointed to him as the probable prime minister when the liberals should return to power. But his withdrawal from public life was at hand. The death of his wife on 31 Oct. 1903, which greatly shook him, was followed in 1904 by a severe cardiac illness. Although he recovered and continued to lead his party in the House of Lords until the close of the session of 1905, a cerebral seizure in the autumn, while he was shooting on his estate in Norfolk, led to a gradual failure of his powers. In the new liberal government which was formed in December 1905 he could take no place. He resigned the lord-lieutenancy of Northamptonshire in 1908. He died at Althorp on 14 Aug. 1910, and was buried there beside his wife.

On 8 July 1858 Spencer married Charlotte Frances Frederica, fourth daughter of Frederick Charles William Seymour, a grandson of Francis, first marquis of Hertford. Lady Spencer was a woman of rare beauty and charm, and was known while she presided at Dublin Castle by the affectionate sobriquet of 'Spencer's Faery Queen.' She had no issue. Spencer was succeeded in the title by his half-brother, Charles Robert Spencer, who was created Viscount Althorp in 1905.

Spencer, whose family estates comprised some 26,000 acres in the Midlands, was a considerate landlord and was interested in the progress of agriculture. In 1860 he joined the Royal Agricultural Society, of which his uncle was a founder and first president, and was himself president in 1898, when the annual show was held at Four Oaks Park, Sutton Coldfield. Spencer's income suffered much from the agricultural depression of 1879 and the following years. In 1892 he sold for 250,000l., to Mrs. John Rylands, the great library of Althorp, which now forms a main part of the John Rylands library at Manchester. He afterwards disposed of his Oriental MSS. to the earl of Crawford. Spencer was chancellor of the Victoria University, Manchester, from 1892 till his death. He was from 1889 chairman of the Northamptonshire county council. In 1901 he became keeper of the privy seal of the duchy of Cornwall.

Spencer's lofty character, grace and dignity of manner, transparent sincerity, wide experience of affairs, and imperturbable fortitude in the midst of perils, lent weight to his utterances and opinions, but he was a hesitating and awkward speaker, and it is doubtful if his capacities were quite equal to the post of prime minister, for which at one time he seemed destined.

Besides the portraits already mentioned there are at Althorp portraits of Earl Spencer by Henry Tanworth Wells, R.A. (1867), and by Frank HoU (1888); the latter is admirable in every way. A third painting by Weigall is at Spencer House in London. A small statuette was done by Melilli in 1905. There is a good sketch, executed by Wells for Grillion's Club in 1881. Two cartoons appeared in 'Vanity Fair,' respectively by 'Ape' in 1 870 and by 'Spy' in 1892.

 SPRENGEL, HERMANN JOHANN PHILIPP (1834–1906), chemist, born at Schillerslage, near Hanover, on 29 Aug. 1834, was the second son of Greorg Sprengel, a landed proprietor, of Schillerslage.

After early education at home and at a school in Hanover, he attended the universities of Göttingen and of Heidelberg, where he graduated Ph.D. in 1858. Next year he came to England and acted as an assistant in the chemical laboratory of Oxford University. Three years later he removed to London to engage in research 