, sixth earl of Dorset and Middlesex, a celebrated wit and poet, was
, sixth earl of Dorset and Middlesex, a celebrated wit and poet, was descended in a
direct line from Thomas lord Buckhurst, and born Jan. 24,
1637. He had his education under a private tutor; after
which, making the tour of Italy, he returned to England a
little before the Restoration. He was chosen in the first
parliament that was called after that event for East Grinstead in Sussex, made a great figure as a speaker, and was
caressed by Charles II.; but, having as yet no turn to
business, declined all public employment. He was, in
truth, like Villiers, Rochester, Sedley, &c. one of the wits
or libertines of Charles’s court; and thought of nothing so
much as feats of gallantry, which sometimes carried him to
inexcusable excesses . He went a volunteer in the first
Dutch war in 1665; and, the night before the engagement, composed the celebrated song “To all you Ladies
now at land,
” which is generally esteemed the happiest
of his productions; but there is reason to think it was not
originally composed, but only revised on this occasion. Soon
after he was made a gentleman of the bed-chamber; and,
on account of his distinguished politeness, sent by the
king upon several short embassies of compliment into
France. Upon the death of his uncle James Cranfield, earl
of Middlesex, in 1674, that estate devolved on him; and
he succeeded likewise to the title by creation in 1675.
His father dying two years after, he succeeded him in his
estate and honours. He utterly disliked, and openly discountenanced, the violent measures of James II's reign;
and early engaged for the prince of Orange, by whom he
was made lord chamberlain of the household, and taken
into the privy-council. In 1692, he attended king William to the congress at the Hague, and was near losing his
life in the passage. They went on board Jan. 10, in a very
severe season; and, when they were a few leagues off
Goree, having by bad weather been four days at sea, the
king was so impatient to go on shore, that he took a boat;
when, a thick fog arising soon after, they were so closely
surrounded with ice, as not to be able either to make the
shore, or get back to the ship. In this condition they remained twenty-two hours, almost despairing of life; and
the cold was so bitter, that they could hardly speak or
stand at their landing; and lord Dorset contracted a lameness, which continued for some time. In 1698, his health
insensibly declining, he retired from public affairs; only
now and then appearing at the council-board. He died at
Bun Jan. 19, 1705-6, after having married two wives; by
the latter of whom be had a daughter, and an only son,
Lionel CranfieKl Sackvilie, who was created a duke in
1720, and died Oct. 9, 1765.