mong the
Wiltshire downs between Savernake Forest and Andover. It is called
Ludgershall, and has a quiet out-of-the-world look. In the
eighteenth century it was a pocket borough, returning two Members to
Parliament, and was the property of the Selwyn family. The
representation was as much in their hands as the trees in the
adjoining fields. In 1747 George Selwyn had found it convenient to
enter the House of Commons. In Ludgershall there were no
constituents to take him to task; to be able to go to Westminster
when he wished added to the variety of life. It kept him in touch
with the politicians and statesmen of St. James's Street, and it
made him a marketable quantity--his price was another sinecure, the
place of Paymaster of the Works. But this he did not receive until
he had inherited the family property, which gave him a hold on the
city of Gloucester. For this city he was a Member from 1754 to 1780,
when, losing his seat at the general election, he gladly returned to
his former constituency. The seat at Ludgershall was never in the
nature of a true political representation, and even when Member for
Gloucester Selwyn seems to have attended but little to the House of
Commons. He was one of a legion of sinecures--a true specimen of the
place-man of the age. Possessed of some political influence, he was
able to find in politics a means of increasing his income. It would
be absurd to censure him because he was a sinecurist; he was acting
according to the customs of the time. The man who in the reign of
George III. had the opportunity of obtaining posts which carried
with them salaries and no duties would have been regarded as
Quixotic if he had thrown such opportunities away. In this Selwyn is
thoroughly representative of his time, and his frequent anxiety lest
he should be deprived of his offices is indicative of an
apprehension which was felt by many others.

Yet, sinecurist as he was, Selwyn often regarded his position as a
hard necessity, especially when he was driven into the country to
look after his constituents. He would then heartily wish himself out
of Parliament: the sorrows of a sinecurist might well be the title
of some of the letters written from Matson.

Selwyn's was a life devoid of stirring incidents, and from the date
at which his correspondence with Lord Carlisle begins the course of
his days is indicated in his letters. It is sufficient, therefore,
to state that he died at his house in Cleveland Ro