uphonious name of Bubb. Then a
benevolent uncle with a large estate died, and left him, with his lands,
the more exalted surname of Dodington. He sprang, however, from an
obscure family, who had settled in Dorchester; but that disadvantage,
which, according to Lord Brougham's famous pamphlet, acts so fatally on
a young man's advancement in English public life, was obviated, as most
things are, by a great fortune.

Mr. Bubb had been educated at Oxford: at the age of twenty-four he was
elected M.P. for Winchelsea; he was soon afterwards named Envoy at the
Court of Spain, but returned home after his accession of wealth to
provincial honours, and became Lord-Lieutenant of Somerset. Nay, poets
began to worship him, and even pronounced him to be well born:--

'Descended from old British sires;
Great Dodington to kings allied;
My patron then, my laurels' pride.

It would be consolatory to find that it is only Welsted who thus
profaned the Muse by this abject flattery, were it not recorded that
Thomson dedicated to him his 'Summer.' The dedication was prompted by
Lord Binning; and 'Summer' was published in 1727 when Dodington was one
of the Lords of the Treasury, as well as Clerk of the Pells in Ireland,
It seemed, therefore, worth while for Thomson to pen such a passage as
this:--'Your example sir, has recommended poetry with the greatest grace
to the example of those who are engag'd in the most active scenes of
life; and this, though confessedly the least considerable of those
qualities that dignify your character, must be particularly pleasing to
_one_ whose only hope of being introduced to your regard is thro' the
recommendation of an art in which you are a master.' Warton adding this
tribute:--

'To praise a Dodington rash bard! forbear.
What can thy weak and ill-tun'd voice avail,
When on that theme both Young and Thomson fail?'

Yet even when midway in his career, Dodington, in the famous political
caricature called 'The Motion,' is depicted as 'the Spaniel,' sitting
between the Duke of Argyle's legs, whilst his grace is driving a coach
at full speed to the Treasury, with a sword instead of a whip in his
hand, with Lord Chesterfield as postilion, and Lord Cobham as a footman,
holding on by the straps: even then the servile though pompous character
of this true man of the world was comprehended completely; and Bubb
Dodington's characteristics never changed.

In his political life, Dodington was so self