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 288 M ELCOMBE — M ELDRTJM. MELCOMEE. Barony 1. George Eunn, afterwards (1717) Btbd-Dodington, I 17G1 was °' Jeremiah BtTBB,(") by ( — ). sister of fienrge Dodisoton, of ' Eaatbury, Dorset, only do. of John Dodisoios, of Lexton(<<. 1003), by (according to some) Hester, da. of Sir Peter Tempi.k, 2d Bart, of Stowe, or (according to others) " Ann, relict of ( — ) Hohe.max, da. of 17G2. (— ) Hnl'Kiss."( b ) He was b. about 1691 ; matrie. at Oxford (Kx. Coll.), 10 July 1707, aged 16; Student of Lincolo's Inn, 1711 ; M.P. for VYmchelaea, 1?1S : for Bridgewater, 1722-54 ; for SVeytaoifthj I7S5-6J. He was Envoy to Spain, 1715-17. In compliance with the wish of his maternal uncle abovenamed, he. by act of Pari., 1717, took the name of Dodington, ami on his uncle's death, shortly afterwards, sue. to his estates in Dorset and elsewhere and to considerable Parliamentary influence ;( 1 ') Lord Lieut of Somersetshire, 1721 : a Lord of the Treasury, 1724-10 ; Treasurer of the Chamber to the Prinee of Wales. 1 7 -1 P - 1 : P.C.. 1745 : Treasurer of the Navy, 171 1-10, Dee. 1755, to Nov. 17".ii, ami from April to .lone 1 7 7. In 1701 lie ''reached the summit of his ambition,")' 1 ) and obtained a peerage from the Bate Mini-try, being «•„ 0 April 1761, LORD MELCOJIBE, BARON OF MEL- COMBE-HEOIS, co. Dorset. He m. in 17-" (such marriage being acknowledged in 1742) Katharine •' Mrs BKHAX, who had been regarded as his mistress.")") She was bur. 28 Dec. 1756, at St. James' Westm.(') He •. LSI 5 ; see " Huxti.v " MarQESSATK [S.], <•>: 1599, tub the 9th Marquess, who, when EaM. ok Aboyne [S.], obtained, in 1815, this Barony. ( il ) In his son's matriculation this Jeremiah is called "of London, Esq.," but he is "variously described as an Irish fortune-hunter and all Apothecary at Weymouth or Carlisle." [Xut. Ilingr.] ( b ) Pedigree subscribed 1 >y " George Dodington " entered in " 5 D xiv " in the Coll. of Arms. (o) He could command the representation of Winchelsca, Weymouth. Mclcombe Regis (which returned four members) and (generally) of Bridgewater; hence he mainly derived his political importance. ('1) " Nut. Biogr." where his character is ably depicted, and see also Jesse's " Court of England, 1 088 to 1762," His unblushing self-seeking, shewn by his frequent alternations between the King's party (the Ministry of Walpole, Ike.), and that of the opposition (the Prince of Wales, .1c), occasioned much ridicule even in that venal age. These changes since 1710 (when his well known " Diary " begins) are set forth without any sense of shame by himself, lie also affected to be the " Miecenas " of the period and was the last of the " Patrons " of the Poets (Young, Thomson, Ac.) He himself was well versed in ancient and in modern literature. He was also one of the 12 members of the notorious " Hell fire Club." See vol. hi., p. 95,note " f," siii " Despencer." (0) There eas be little doubt that the entry " Mrs. Katharine Dodington, w " [i.e., "woman "] refers to her. Horace Walpole says she died late in 1750, anil Dodiug- toii's house was in Pall Mall in St. James parish. (1) The family estate of Eastbury (on which he had spent £140,000) went to Richard ((irenville), Earl Temple, whose mother (Hester, sun jure Countess Temple), was da. of Sir Richard Temple, 3d Bart., brother (apparently) of Lord Melcombe's maternal grandmother abovenamed ; but the personalty, including the famous diary, was left to another cousin, Thomas Wyudham.