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  with Jared Sparks, Palfrey, and other American writers (cf. his Letter to Jared Sparks, 1852, and replies to it in Brit. Mus. Library). Perhaps his most important work was 'The Life of the Right Hon. William Pitt, with Extracts from his unpublished Correspondence and Manuscript Papers' (4 vols. 1861-2 ; 2nd edit. 1862-3; 4th edit. 1867; new edit. 3 vols. 1879; translated into French 1862-3, and Italian, 1863). This still remains the standard life of Pitt, and an indispensable authority on the history of the period. Stanhope's last considerable work was 'The History of England, comprising the Reign of Queen Anne until the Peace of Utrecht' (1870; 2nd edit, same year; 4th edit. 1872). This was intended to cover the period between the close of Macaulay's 'History' and the commencement of Stanhope's own 'History of England, 1713-83.' It is careful, but its style compares unfavourably with Macaulay's.

Stanhope's other works are: 1. 'The Life of Belisarius,' 1829, 8vo, 2nd edit. 1848: one of the most noticeable contributions made by Englishmen to the history of the Byzantine Empire. 2. 'Lord John Russell and Mr. Macaulay on the French Revolution,' 1833, 8vo. 3. 'Spain under Charles II; or Extracts from the Correspondence of the Hon. Alexander Stanhope, British Minister at Madrid, 1690-1700; selected from Originals at Chevening,' 1840, 8vo; 2nd edit. 1845. 4. 'Essai sur la vie du grand Condé,' London, 1842, 8vo, written in French, and only one hundred copies printed for private circulation (cf. J. W. Croker in Quarterly Rev. lxxi. 106-69); an English edition was published in 1845, and reprinted in 1847 and 1848. 5. 'Historical Essays contributed to the "Quarterly Review,'" 1849. 6. 'The Forty-five; being a Narrative of the Rebellion in Scotland of 1745,' 1851, 8vo. 7. 'Essay on Joan of Arc,' 1853, 12mo. 8. 'Lord Chatham at Chevening, 1769,' 1855, 8vo. 9. 'Memoirs of Sir Robert Peel, bart., M.P., published by the Trustees of his Papers,' in 2 vols. and 3 parts, 1856-7, 8vo [cf. art. , 1788-1850]. 10. 'Addresses delivered at Manchester, Leeds, and Birmingham,' 1856, 8vo. 11 'Miscellanies,' 1863, 2nd ed. same year. 12. 'Miscellanies, 2nd ser.,' 1872. 13. 'The French Retreat from Moscow and other Historical Essays, collected from the "Quarterly Review" and "Fraser's Magazine,"' 1876, 8vo. 14. 'Notes of Conversations with Wellington,' 1888, 8vo. Stanhope also edited 'Letters to General Stanhope in Spain,' 1834; 'Correspondence between William Pitt and Charles, Duke of Rutland,' 1842; 'Extracts from Despatches of the British Envoy at Florence, relative to the Motions and Behaviour of Charles Edward' (1843, Roxburghe Club); 'Letters of Philip Dormer, Earl of Chesterfield' (4 vols. 1845, vol. v. 1853); and 'Secret Correspondence connected with Mr. Pitt's return to office in 1804' (1852).

[Works in British Mus. Library; Hansard's Parl. Debates; Official Return of Members of Parl.; Journals of the House of Lords and Commons; Times, 25 Dec. 1875; Athenseum, 1875, i. 24; Academy, 1875, i. 9-10; Spectator, 1875, i. 3; Annual Register, 1875, pp. 156-7; Greville's Journals; Trevelyan's Life of Macaulay; Doyle, Burke, and Gr. E. C[okayne]'s Peerages; Allibone's Dict, of English Lit., s.vv. 'Mahon' and 'Stanhope.'] 

STANHOPE, WILLIAM, first (1690?–1756), diplomatist and statesman, born about 1690, was the fourth son of John Stanhope of Elvaston, Derbyshire, by Dorothy, daughter and coheiress of Charles Agard of Foston in the same county. His great-grandfather, Sir John Stanhope (d. 1638), was half-brother of Philip Stanhope, first earl of Chesterfield [q. v.]

Of his three elder brothers, the third, (1673-1760), succeeded to the family estates on the second brother's death in 1730. He represented Milborne Port from 1717 to 1722, Aldborough (Yorkshire) from 1722 to 1734, and Harwich from 1734 to 1741. He was under-secretary for the southern department from 1714 to 1717, and in 1720-1 was secretary to the treasury. He was charged with making use of his position to gain a profit of 250,000l. by dealings in South Sea stock, and, though the accusation rested on insufficient evidence, the support of the Walpoles only gained his acquittal in the House of Commons (28 Feb. 1721) by three votes. George I in 1722 made him treasurer of the chamber, but George II refused him office on account of a memorial found among his father's papers relating to himself when Prince of Wales, which was in Stanhope's writing, though its real author was Sunderland. Charles Stanhope's name is frequently mentioned in Horace Walpole's 'Correspondence.' An ode to him 'drinking tar water' is among Sir C. Hanbury-Williams's works, and he is also introduced as a character in that writer's 'Isabella, or the Morning.' He died unmarried on 17 March 1760, aged 87.

According to 'Harlequin Horace,' an anonymous satirical epistle in verse, addressed to him in 1738, William Stanhope was educated at Eton and 'half a colledge education got.' He obtained a captaincy in the 3rd footguards in 1710, and served under his kinsman,