[317] President of the Board of Control. He had enjoyed the friendship of Byron, travelled with him, and was one of his executors. He was created Lord Broughton in 1851. His Recollections of a Long Life, edited by his daughter, Lady Dorchester, throw much light on the political events of his time. He was so strong a partisan that his judgments of statesmen and political events have to be treated with reservations; but he was a type of politician, cultivated, independent, conscientious, and high-minded, that is becoming rarer as constituencies become less fastidious.
[318] The Queen invariably saw her Ministers in an “audience” room and never in her private sitting-room. An exception was made in the case of Lord Melbourne, the Prime Minister.
[319] See ante, p. 53.
[320] George William, sixth Duke of Argyll, son of John fifth Duke, and his wife, one of the beautiful Gunning sisters, Elizabeth, widow of the sixth Duke of Hamilton. This lady was created Baroness Hamilton in her own right, and her husband was also accorded a barony of Great Britain, thus entitling him to a seat in Parliament.
[321] Fourth son of the fourth Duke of Marlborough; a Captain, R.N. Died at Macao in 1840.
[322] Sigismund Thalberg (1812–71) was now in the full flood of success. He wrote many fantasias on operatic themes, e.g. on Robert le Diable, Zampa, etc. In 1845 he married a widow, the daughter of Lablache. As a composer he never succeeded in emulating his success as a pianist. Later in life he abandoned music, and became a professional vine-grower.
[323] Edward Pery Buckley, afterwards General and M.P. See p. 327.
[324] Alexis, Count Orloff, famous both as general and diplomatist. He had fought in the war of 1829 against Turkey, and signed the Treaty of Adrianople in 1829. He had been sent to enlist English sympathies for Holland as against Belgium in 1832. He also was a signatory of the important treaty of Unkiar Skelessi, and represented Russia in the Congress of Paris in 1856.
[325] Lady Salisbury was Frances Mary, daughter and heir of Bamber Gascoyne, grandson of Sir Crisp Gascoyne, Lord Mayor of London 1752. He was the first Lord Mayor who occupied the Mansion House.
[326] Afterwards an intimate counsellor of the Emperor of Austria, Hereditary Great Chamberlain, and President of the Council.