William, fourth Duke of Devonshire, who was, during his father’s lifetime, called to the Upper House by his title, hitherto of courtesy, of Marquis of Hartington. He was appointed Master of the Horse and a Privy Councillor. In 1754 he was one of the Lords of the Regency, and Governor of the County of Cork; in the following year he was Lord High Treasurer of Ireland; and in 1756 was Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, and First Commissioner of the Treasury. In 1757 he was Chamberlain of the Household to the king, and held, besides, many other offices. His Grace married Charlotte, daughter, and ultimately heiress, of Richard Boyle, Earl of Burlington and Cork, by which union—the lady being Baroness Clifford in her own right—the Barony of Clifford came into the Cavendish family. By this issue he had three sons and one daughter, viz.:—William, who succeeded him; Richard, who died unmarried; George Augustus Henry, created Earl of Burlington, from whom the present noble representative of the House of Cavendish, the seventh Duke of Devonshire, is descended; and Dorothy, married to the Duke of Portland. William, fifth Duke of Devonshire, the eldest son of the last named peer, was married twice: first, to the Lady Georgiana, daughter of Earl Spencer, one of the most accomplished and elegant women of the time, and who is perhaps better known as “The Beautiful Duchess” than by any other name; and, secondly, to Lady Elizabeth Foster, daughter of the Earl of Bristol, and widow of John Thomas Foster, Esq. By the “Beautiful Duchess” his grace had issue, one son, William Spencer Cavendish, who succeeded him, and two daughters: Georgiana, married to the Earl of Carlisle; and Harriet Elizabeth, married to Earl Granville. On his death, in 1811, the title and estates passed to his only son— William Spencer Cavendish, sixth Duke and ninth Earl of Devonshire, one of the most liberal-minded of men and one of the most genuine patrons of Art and Literature. His Grace, whose career earned for him the proud title of “The good Duke”—a title which, with all his others, has descended to his successor—was born in Paris in 1790, and besides holding office as Lord High Chamberlain, &c., went in a style of more than princely splendour on an embassy to Russia from the British Court, and so conducted that important mission as to gain exceeding distinction and general applause. His Grace, who never married, died in 1858, and was succeeded in his titles and estates—with the exception of the Barony of Clidord, which fell in abeyance between his sisters—by his second cousin, the present noble peer, who, as we have said, was grandson to the first Earl of Burlington, brother to the fifth duke. [Illustration: _The Great Hall._]