458 DOWNSHIRE m., 2ndly, ii Oct. 1768, at Lambeth Palace, Mary, suo jure Baroness Stawell of Somerton (see that dignity, cr. 21 May 1760), widow of the Rt. Hon. Henry Bilson-Legge. She, who was b. 27 Jan., and bap. 12 Feb. 1726, d. in Hanover Sq., Midx., 29 July, and was bur. 6 Aug. 1780, at Hinton Ampney. Will (as Countess of Hillsborough), pr. Aug. 1780. He d. 7 Oct. 1793, in his 75th year, at Hillsborough. (^) Will pr. 1793, Prerog. Ct. [!.].(") [Marcus Hill, styled Viscount Kilwarlin, ist s. and h. ap. by ist wife, b. 21 Feb. 1752, in London; d. 18, and was bur. 20 Apr. 1756, at Hackney, Midx., aged 4.] II. 1793. 2. Arthur (Hill), Marquess of Downshire, tfc. [I.], also Earl of Hillsborough, fife, 2nd but only surv. s. and h. by ist wife, b. 23 Feb. 1753, at 15 Hanover Sq., Midx., styled Viscount Kilwarlin, 1756-72, Viscount Fairford, 1772-89, and Earl of Hillsborough, 1789-93; matric. at Oxford (Magd. Coll.) 18 May 1 77 1 (as "Arthur Hill"), and was cr. M.A. 9 July 1773; some- time an officer in the army; M.P. (Tory) for Lostwithiel, 1774-80, for Malmesbury, 1780-84, being M.P. [I.] for co. Downj^) 1776-93; Sheriff, co. Down, 1785; Grand Master of Freemasons [I.], 1785-87; Joint (') The following character of this highly favoured person, who obtained for himself one Barony, two Viscountcies, two Earldoms, and one Marquessate (the same number of peerages as were conferred on Wellington, and twice as many as on Nelson), is given by Wraxall in his Memoirs, vol. i, p. 381: "The Earl of Hills- borough, who held the Southern department, was a man of elegant manners and wanted neither ability nor attention to public business, but his natural endowments, however solid, did not rise above mediocrity. He had owed his political, as well as personal elevation in life, more to his good sense, penetration, suavity, and address, than to any intellectual superiority. At St. James' he was more at home than at Westminster, and might rather be esteemed an accomplished courtier than a superior minister." Horace Walpole says of him (as early as 1751) that "a solemnity in his voice and manner made much impression on his hearers." And again in Aug. 1772 he writes: "He was, indeed a man of more pomp than solidity, very ambitious, changeable, and false to his friends, clear in none of his ideas but in the determination of pursuing his interest, but always losing esteem faster than he raised his fortune." Sir John Blaquiere's note on him, in 177S, is "supported Lord Townshend very ably. He is never without some object or other; he has hitherto only asked Lord Harcourt for the Collection of Donaghadee, but he certainly has some job in reserve, which he will push at the proper moment by surprise." He and a Mrs. Winter appear in 1777, as " The Earl of H . . . h and Mrs. W . . t . r," in the notorious tete-a-tete portraits in Town and Country Mag., vol. ix, p. 457, for an account of which see Appendix B in the last volume of this work. As to his partiality for "a nap" see vol. i. Appendix H, and as to his disposition " to strut " see some satirical verses (1773) in the same Appendix. G.E.C. and V.G. C") "Very rich both in property which he could and in that which he could not alienate." [Annual Register {or 1793). (') This election is said, in Gent. Mag., to have cost him ,^40,000. V.G.
