Page:The house of Cecil.djvu/271

 THE SALISBURY LINE 235

Born in 1748, James Cecil, the seventh Earl, was constituted Lord Lieutenant of Hertfordshire at the age of twenty- three, while still Lord Cranborne, and continued to hold that position until his death. For forty years he was colonel of the Herts Militia, and he sat in Parliament as member for Great Bedwyn from 1774 to 1780, when he was returned for Launceston. In the same year he was appointed Treasurer of the Household, and on succeeding to the title, he was sworn of the Privy Council. Three years later he was made Lord Chamberlain, and being a great favourite with George III. he retained this office for upwards of twenty years (1783 1804). In this capacity he earned the ill-will of managers of the Opera, by giving free passes wholesale to " servants, it is supposed, Hertfordshire voters eke," to the value of 400 in one season ; and even went so far as to claim a similar right of dis- tributing passes for his heirs and assigns for ever. 1

In 1773 Lord Salisbury married Lady Mary Amelia Hill, daughter of the Marquess of Down- shire, a woman of remarkable character and abilities. They were both staunch supporters of Pitt, and in the famous Westminster election of 1784, when the Duchess of Devonshire, on behalf of the Whigs, was working strenuously to secure the return of Fox, the Court party put forward the Countess of Salisbury to counteract her influence.

1 Walpole's Letters, Cunningham's edition, 1891, IX. 299, March 27th, 1791.

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