EDWARD SACKVILLE

edward sackville, 4th earl of dorset (1591-1652), son of the 2nd earl, succeeded his brother richard, the 3rd earl (1590-1624), in march 1624. he had attained much notoriety by killing edward bruce, 2nd lord kinloss, in a duel, in august 1613, the place in the netherlands where this encounter took place being called bruceland in quite recent times, and in 1620 he was one of the leaders of the english contingent which fought for james i.'s son-in-law, frederick v., elector palatine of the rhine, at the battle of the white hill, near prague. in the house of commons, where he represented sussex, sackville was active in defending bacon and in advocating an aggressive policy with regard to the recovery of the rhenish palatinate; twice he was ambassador to france, and he was interested in virginia and the bermuda islands. under charles i. he was a privy councillor and lord chamberlain to queen henrietta maria. he was frequently employed by the government from the accession of charles until the outbreak of the civil war, when he joined the king at york, but he disliked the struggle and was constant in his efforts to secure peace. at oxford he was lord chamberlain to the king and lord president of his council, but charles did not altogether approve of his pacific attitude, and is said on one occasion to have remarked to him "your voice is the voice of jacob, but your hands are the hands of esau." he died on the 17th of july 1652. his wife mary (d. 1645), daughter of sir george curzon, was governess to the sons of charles i., the future kings charles ii. and james ii. his character is thus summed up by s. r. gardiner: "pre-eminent in beauty of person, and in the vigour of a cultivated intellect, he wanted nothing to fit him for the highest places in the commonwealth but that stern sense of duty without which no man can be truly great."