d of the royal household from 1725 to
1730, and lord-lieutenant of Ireland from 1730 to 1737; he was again
lord steward from 1737 to 1745, and was lord president of the council
from 1745 to 1751. In 1750 he was appointed lord-lieutenant of Ireland
for the second time, and after a stormy viceroyalty he was dismissed
from office in 1755. The duke, who was several times one of the lords
justices of Great Britain and held many other positions of trust, died
on the 10th of October 1765. He left three sons: Charles, the 2nd duke;
John Philip (d. 1765); and George, who took the additional name of
Germain in 1770, and in 1782 was created Viscount Sackville (q.v.).

CHARLES SACKVILLE, 2ND DUKE OF DORSET (1711-1769), an associate of
Frederick, prince of Wales, was a member of parliament for many years
and a lord of the treasury under Henry Pelham; he died on the 5th of
January 1769, when his nephew, John Frederick (1745-1799), became the
3rd duke. This nobleman was ambassador in Paris from 1783 to 1789, and
lord steward of the household from 1789 to 1799; he died on the 19th of
July 1799, and was succeeded by his only son, George John Frederick
(1793-1815). When the 4th duke died unmarried in February 1815, the
titles passed to his kinsman, Charles Sackville Germain (1767-1843), son
and heir of the 1st Viscount Sackville, who thus became 5th duke of
Dorset. When he died on the 29th of July 1843 the titles became extinct.

FOOTNOTE:

[1] J. L. Motley, _Hist. of the United Netherlands_ (vol. ii. p. 216,
ed. 1867).

DORSETSHIRE (DORSET), a south-western county of England, bounded N.E. by
Wiltshire, E. by Hampshire, S. by the English Channel, W. by Devonshire
and N.W. by Somersetshire. The area is 987.9 sq. m. The surface is for
the most part broken. A line of hills or downs, forming part of the
system to which the general name of the Western Downs is applied, enters
the county in the north-east near Shaftesbury, and strikes across it in
a direction generally W. by S., leaving it towards Axminster and
Crewkerne in Devonshire. East of Beaminster in the south-west another
line, the Purbeck Downs, branches S.E. to the coast, which it follows as
far as the district called the Isle of Purbeck in the south-east of the
county. Both these ranges occasionally exceed a height of 900 ft. Of the
principal rivers and streams, the Stour rises just outside the county in
Wiltshire, and flows with a general south-easterly course to