[228] John James, ninth Earl and first Marquess of Abercorn (1756–1818), who succeeded his uncle in 1789, was raised to a Marquisate the following year. He married, first, in 1779, Catherine, daughter of Sir Joseph Copley, Bart. She died in 1791, leaving two sons and three daughters, and he married, secondly, in 1792, his first cousin, Cecil, daughter of Hon. and Rev. George Hamilton. This lady, here alluded to, ran away with (and subsequently married after the divorce) Joseph Copley (who succeeded his brother in the Baronetcy in 1806), brother of Lord Abercorn’s first wife. He married, thirdly, in 1800, Lady Ann Hatton. He received the nickname of ‘Blue Beard.’ [229] Wraxall states she had four sisters older than herself. [230] In _Les Muses Rivales_, or _L’Apothéose de Voltaire_, published in 1779. [231] Lloyd, first Baron Kenyon (1732–1802), appointed Master of the Rolls, 1784, and Lord Chief Justice in 1788. [232] Thomas Pelham was first appointed Chief Secretary by Lord Camden when he became Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland in 1795. Owing to ill-health he was often absent, and early in 1798 Lord Castlereagh temporarily took his place. Pelham finally resigned the post on November 2. [233] See _ante_, p. 12. [234] Mrs ‘Bobus’ Smith. Lady Warwick was her sister (see _ante_, p. 163). [235] In February 1797, when owing to the scarcity of specie the Ministers issued an Order in Council prohibiting cash payments until measures had been taken by Parliament to restore the credit of the country. [236] On December 11, in favour of concluding peace with the French Republic, whenever a suitable opportunity should occur. Pitt called the speech ‘one of the best ever heard on any occasion.’ [237] Lord Lauderdale in a letter, written in 1809, to Lord Holland, strongly upholds this view, and gives an amusing story of Sheridan’s groom’s opinion of Canning. ‘Sheridan’s groom being told by his butler many years ago that he had laid a plate too few at table, enumerated the company he supposed was to dine, and on being informed that he had forgot Mr. Canning, said, “D--n that fellow. He has impudence for anything! What! Come here and dine with my master after deserting all the principles that you and I have heard him so often hold forth upon”’ (Holland House MSS.). [238] Charles Rose Ellis (1771–1845), son of John Ellis, of Jamaica, and Elizabeth, daughter of John Pallmer, also of that island. He entered Parliament in 1793 and sat continuously for various seats until his elevation to the peerage, by Canning’s influence, in 1826, as Baron Seaford. He married, first, in 1798, Elizabeth Catherine, only daughter of John Augustus, Lord Hervey, and grand-daughter of Frederick, Earl of Bristol and Bishop of Derry. Their son succeeded his great-grandfather in the title of Lord Howard de Walden.