SAC 
■moreland, in the fourth and fifth years of Queen Mary; and 
-about that time, in. 1557* he formed the plan of a poem 
intended to comprehend a view of all the illustrious but un¬ 
fortunate characters of English history from the conquest, by 
way of moral example, under the title of the “ Mirrour of 
Magistrates.” Of this work he finished a poetical preface, 
termed an “ Induction,” and one legend, on the life of 
Henry Stafford, Duke of Buckingham : the rest of the 
design was committed to other hands. In 1-561, his tragedy 
of “ Gorboduc” was exhibited in the Inner Temple hall, and 
afterwards before Queen Elizabeth, at Whitehall, with great 
applause. This piece, the poetical merits of which will be 
hereafter considered, was well calculated to ingratiate the 
writer with his sovereign, on account of the maxims of high 
loyalty which he put into the mouth of the good counsellor 
Eubulus, who condemns resistance to kings upon any ac¬ 
count whatsoever. 
Mr. Sackville married, about 1557, a lady who was his 
kinswoman, with whom he passed the whole of his after-life. 
He was a member in the two first parliaments of Elizabeth, 
for Sussex and for Bucks, after which he travelled abroad. 
The cause of his absence was probably an embarrassment in 
his circumstances; for he appears to have been much inclined 
to profusion in his youth. At the time of his father’s death, 
in 1566, he was a prisoner in Rome, but on what account, 
we are not informed. He soon obtained his liberation, and 
on his return entered into the possession of a large 
inheritance. In the following year he was knighted, and 
raised to the peerage by the title of Baron Buckhurst. Being 
one of the most splendid of that order in character and ac¬ 
complishments, lie was selected by the Queen, in 1570, as 
the head of a complimentary embassy to Charles IX. of 
France, on account of his marriage, on which occasion he 
indulged his taste for magnificence to the injury of his for¬ 
tune. He was afterwards joined in several important com¬ 
missions ; and in 1587 he was sent ambassador to the States 
of the United Provinces for the purpose of inquiring into 
their complaints against the Earl of Leicester. His report of 
the matter was so displeasing to that potent favourite, that he 
influenced the Queen, on Lord Burkhurst’s return, to confine 
him above nine months to his house; and it was not till 
Leicester’s death that he was restored to his liberty. “ So obi 
sequious (says his chaplain Abbot) was he to this command, 
that in all the time he never would endure, openly or 
secretly, by day or night, to see either wife or childbut this 
was an age in which the greatest and proudest of the English 
nobility vied with each other in a romantic submission to a 
female sovereign. The Queen, now freed from an over¬ 
ruling influence, testified her returning favour to Lord Buck- 
hurst by conferring upon him, in 1589, the Order of the 
Garter, and by interfering openly to procure for him, in 1591, 
the chancellorship of the University of Oxford, in opposition 
to the Earl of Essex, whom, though a new favourite, she oc¬ 
casionally wished to humiliate. When residing for a time at 
Oxford in his capacity of chancellor, the Queen honoured 
him with a visit of several days, and was splendidly enter¬ 
tained. 
In 1598, Lord Buckhurst was joined with the treasurer 
Burleigh in negotiations for a peace with Spain ; and when 
the States-General, taking the alarm, sent over deputies to 
renew their own treaty with England, he was appointed to 
confer with them, and signed a new treaty on terms very 
advantageous to his mistress. Elizabeth now thought it time 
to bestow upon him some substantial reward for his services; 
and upon the death of Burleigh, she nominated him to the 
vacant post of Lord High-treasurer, in 1599. In this situa¬ 
tion he was instrumental in discovering and defeating the 
dangerous projects of the Earl of Essex ; and at the trial of 
that unfortunate nobleman, he sat as high-steward, in which 
office he conducted himself With prudence and humanity, 
It appears that he did not attach himself to any of the factions 
by which the court was divided in that reign, but stood 
solely upon the good graces of his sovereign, who continued 
as long as she lived to display her confidence in him by em¬ 
ploying him in the management of various important affairs, 
,' V 01 .. XXIL So. 1520, 
SAC 525 
On the accession of King James his post of treasurer was 
•confirmed to him for life; and in 1604 he was created Earl 
of Dorset. He attended to the business of his office and 
other state-affairs till his death, which happened suddenly at 
the council-table in April, 1608, at the age, according to Dr. 
Abbot, of 72, but probably nearer that of 80. 
Although theEarl of Dorset scarcely ranks among the more 
eminent statesmen of Elizabeth’s reign, yet he appears to have 
filled the offices entrusted to him with great credit, and for 
public and private worth and integrity to have been surpassed 
by none of his time. He was a good speaker, and a better 
writer, composing most of his official papers himself; for his 
refined taste inspired him with, disgust at the barbarism of 
secretaries. As a poet he deserves great praise for having 
brought English heroic verse almost to a state of perfection, 
and for having given the first specimen of regular tragedy in 
blank verse. The “ Induction” to the “ Mirrour of Magis¬ 
trates” contains an imaginary descent to the infernal regions, 
under the guidance of Sorrow, introductory to the stories after¬ 
wards told by the persons themselves whose misfortunes are 
the subject of the Mirrour. It is written in stanzas, of lines 
in heroic measure, the versification of which is for the most 
part as pure and regular as that of any modern, while the 
strength of description, and the force of imagination dis¬ 
played in inventing allegorical characters, are scarcely sur¬ 
passed by Spenser. His tragedy of “ Gorboduc,” or, as it 
was entitled when printed in 1571, “ The Tragedie of Ferrex 
and Poiyex,” is a bloody tale from English history, compos¬ 
ed without attention to dramatic rules, and with little interest 
or pathos, but with considerable force of poetical conception 
and moral sentiment, and in pure and perspicuous language, 
free from the turgidity that afterwards so much infected the 
English theatre. Sackville is supposed to have been assisted 
in this play by Thomas Norton, to whom the three first acts 
were ascribed; but Mr. Warton, from internal evidence, is 
led to doubt the fact; Norton’s avowed poetry being of an 
inferior quality to that of Gorboduc, which is throughout 
uniform in style. Perhaps the planning of the acts only was 
his part. This tragedy has been several times printed, the. 
last edition being undertaken by Spence, in 1736, at the 
suggestion of Pope, who was desirous of again bringing it 
into notice; but the attempt was attended with little suc¬ 
cess. This nobleman also prefixed a Latin epistle to Clarke’s 
Latin translation of Castiglione’s “ Courtier," printed in 
1571. Biogr. Brit. Collins's Peerage. Warton's Hist, 
of Poetry. 
SACKVILLE (George Viscount), Baron Bolebrook, a 
remarkable character, whom we have introduced into our 
work, on account of his claim to the authorship of Junius. 
He was bom June 26, 1716, in the Haymarket; and re¬ 
ceived the early part of his education at Westminster-school. 
At this place, English history was his delight; and he passed 
all his examinations with credit to himself and his instruc¬ 
tors. On entering his fourteenth year, lie left the school to 
accompany his father, the Duke of Dorset, to Ireland, where 
the Duke determined on finishing the education of Lord 
George, at Trinity College, Dublin; where he was accord¬ 
ingly placed. On the 11th July, 1737, he obtained a com¬ 
mission ; and the following year he accompanied his father 
to Paris, where he acquired a thorough knowledge of the 
French language. On the 19th July, 1740, he was ap¬ 
pointed Lieutenant-Colonel of General Philip Bragge’s regi¬ 
ment. In 1742, he accompanied his sovereign, George the 
Second, to Hanover; and on June 27th, 1743, he distin¬ 
guished himself at the battle of Dettingen, where the king 
commanded in person; the 9th of July following, he was 
declared one of his majesty’s aids-de-camp. 
He served in the campaign of 1744, and at the battle of 
Fontenoy, which took place that year, was wounded in the 
breast by a musket-ball, and thrown upon a waggon with 
many others. He preserved the uniform which he wore that 
day, bearing on it the mark of the ball, and other holes in 
the skirt of the coat, perforated by bullets. 
At the time of the rebellion in Scotland, in favour of the 
Pretender, Lord George served under the Duke of Cumber- 
6 S land. 
