THE EIGHTH DUKE OF BEAUFORT 



hands of our great families had not yet begun to 

 pass from them. Such men as the Duke of Beau- 

 fort, however, with their unbending Tory principles, 

 were excluded by the great Whig oligarchy from 

 place and power. Two careers then only remained 

 to them. The military service of their country, 

 and local leadership in country sports and agricul- 

 tural matters. Both these lines were adopted suc- 

 cessively by the heads of the Somerset family. 



The eighth Duke was to be a keen soldier, whose 

 regret was deep that no opportunity of active ser- 

 vice was open to him. He was to watch, rather 

 as a spectator than an actor, the political and social 

 changes that followed the first Reform Bill and the 

 introduction of railways. 



As far as external incidents were concerned, the life 

 of this Duke followed on the whole an even tenour. 

 The various opportunities that his position opened 

 out to him unfolded themselves one by one, and he 

 was in turn soldier, statesman, and a leading figure 

 in country life. It is not the duty of the bio- 

 grapher unduly to exalt and magnify his subject, 

 but he cannot fail to note that Charles Henry Fitz- 

 roy Somerset, eighth Duke of Beaufort, was success- 

 ful in all he undertook. Nor was this due entirely 

 to his position. We need not consider here whether 

 his gifts might or might not have been more pro- 

 fitably employed ; it is sufficient to note that in every 

 line of business or pleasure, in society or in politics, 

 so far as he entered into the last, the Duke was a 



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