into French. A 'Memoir of a Map of the Countries comprehended between the Black Sea and the Caspian,' published anonymously in 1788, has also been ascribed to Ellis. In 1790 he published a volume of selections from our early poetical literature, entitled 'Specimens of the Early English Poets,' which obtained a well-merited reputation as one of the most judicious of such compilations. It was issued in an enlarged form, with an historical sketch of the progress of English poetry prefixed, in 1801, and again in 1803, 3 vols. 8vo; a fourth edition appeared in 1811, a fifth in 1845, a sixth in 1851. In 1791 Ellis made a tour in Germany and Italy with Lord and Lady Malmesbury. He entered parliament in 1796 as junior member for Seaford, one of the Cinque ports, his cousin, Charles Rose Ellis [q. v.], afterwards Baron Seaford, being the senior member. He never spoke in the house, and did not stand for re-election. He accompanied Lord Malmesbury to the conference at Lille in 1797, and wrote a long letter to Canning defending the English plenipotentiary's conduct of the negotiations. Shortly after his return to England he was introduced to Pitt, and in concert with Canning founded the 'Anti-Jacobin.' His connection with the 'Rolliad,' however, though condoned, was not forgotten, and once in Pitt's presence he was pressed to give some account of it. He hesitated and showed some embarrassment, which Pitt promptly dispelled by the urbane and gracious manner in which he turned to him with the words of Dido to Æneas: 'Immo age, et a prima dic, hospes, origine nobis' (Æn. i. 753). Ellis appears to have been a constant contributor to the 'Anti-Jacobin.' He also edited in 1796, with a preface, notes, and appendix, Gregory Lewis Way's translations of select 'Fabliaux' of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, taken from the collection of Legrand d'Aussy; a second edition appeared in 1800, and a third in, 1815, 3 vols. 8vo. In 1801 he made the acquaintance of Scott, an acquaintance which soon ripened into an intimacy only terminated by death. A portion of the voluminous correspondence which passed between them will be found in Lockhart's 'Life of Scott,' from which also we learn that on his visits to London Scott was accustomed to stay with Ellis at his house at Sunninghill, near Ascot. 'Mr. Ellis,' says Scott, 'was the first converser I ever knew; his patience and good breeding made me often ashamed of myself going off at score upon some favourite topic' (Diary, 29 Aug. 1826). In 1806 Ellis published 'Specimens of Early English Romances in Metre,' 3 vols. 8vo, a second edition of which appeared in 1811, 8 vols. cr. 8vo. The work was also edited by J. G. Halliwell, F.R.S., in 1848. Ellis wrote the review of the 'Lady of the Lake' in the 'Quarterly Review,' May 1811. He began, but did not live to finish, an edition of the diary of his friend William Windham. The introductory sketch of Windham was, however, complete, and will be found in Mrs. Henry Baring's edition of the diary, published in 1866. Ellis was a fellow of the Royal Society and of the Society of Antiquaries. His labours on the early poetical dramatic literature of England obtained for him the designation of the Tressan and the St. Palaye of England. He married on 10 Sept. 1800 Anne, daughter of Sir Peter Parker, first baronet of Basingbourn, admiral of the fleet, and died without issue on 10 April 1815.
[Burke's Peerage (Howard de Walden — family of Ellis); Life and Letters of Sir Gilbert Elliot, first Earl of Minto, i. 189–90, 388–402; Lists of Members of Parliament (Official Return of); Diaries and Corresp. of the first Earl of Malmesbury, iii. 429 et seq.; Gent. Mag. 1815, pt. i. p. 371; Brit. Mus. Cat.; Lond. Libr. Cat.]
ELLIS, GEORGE JAMES WELBORE AGAR-, first Baron Dover (1797–1833), was the only son of Henry Welbore Agar-Ellis, second Viscount Clifden, by his wife, Lady Caroline Spencer, eldest daughter of George, third duke of Marlborough. He was born in Upper Brook Street, London, on 14 Jan. 1797, and was sent as a town boy to Westminster School in 1811, but did not remain there long. He afterwards went to Christ Church, Oxford, where he graduated B.A. on 27 June 1816, and M.A. on 21 April 1819. At the general election in June 1818, shortly after he had completed his twenty-first year, Agar-Ellis was elected to parliament as one of the members for the borough of Heytesbury. In March 1820 he was returned for Seaford, and on 30 April 1822 he seconded Canning's motion for leave to bring in a bill to relieve the Roman catholic peers from the disabilities then imposed upon them with regard to the right of sitting and voting in the House of Lords (Parl. Debates, new ser. vii. 214). In a discussion on the estimates for the grant to the British Museum in July 1823 Agar-Ellis stated his intention of moving for a grant in the next session to be applied to the purchase of the Angerstein collection of pictures, and towards the formation of a national gallery (ib. ix. 1359). The government, however, adopted his suggestion, and in the following year the collection was purchased for 60,000l. (ib. xi. 101 ). These pictures, which were thirty-eight in number, were selected chiefly by Sir Thomas
