SHELBTJRNE, WILL7km PETTY, Earl of, son of the first earl, and descendant of sir W. Petty, founder of the science of political arithmetic, was b. May, 1737, and com menced his political career in 1761 by entering the house of commons as member fot Wycombe, but only sat for a few weeks, the death of his father having called him to the house of lords. When Mr. G. Grenville succeeded Bute in 1763, Shelburne, whose talents had made him remarked, although only 26, was placed at the head of the board of trade. When Chatham formed his second administration iu 1766, he made Shelburne one of the secretaries of state, although not yet thirty. Upon the fall of lord North's ministry in 1782, George III. sent for Shelburne, and proposed to him to form a gov ernment. He declined, not being the head of a party, and was sent by the king to the marquis of Rockingham with an offer of the treasury, himself to be one of the secre taries of state. According to earl Russell, in his Life of C. J. Foz, it soon appeared that Shelburne was not so much the colleague as the rival of lord Rockingham, the chosen minister of the court, and the head of a separate party in the cabinet. Upon the death of Rockingham in 1782, the king sent at once for Shelburne, and offered him the treasury, which he accepted without consulting his colleagues. Fox thereupon resigned, and Shel burne introduced William Pitt, then only 23, into office as his chancellor of the exchequer. Shelburne's ministry, on the occasion of the king's announcement of his determination to coueelle the independence of the American colonies, found itself outvoted by the coalition between Fox and lord North. He resigned, and the coalition ministry took
his place, but soon broke up. The nation expected that the king on this event would have sent for Shelburne, but William Pitt received the splendid prize, and Shelburne was consoled by the coronet of a marquis (of Lansdowne). During the later years of his life his health was delicate, and he withdrew from public life; but he came forward as. a strong supporter of the union with Ireland. He indulged his tastes in the adornment of Lansdowne house. Here he collected a splendid gallery of ancient and modern pictures, together with a library of 10,000 volumes, comprising the largest collection of pamphlets and memoirs on English history and politics possessed by any man of his time, as well as a series of MSS., which were sold to the British museum for .E5,000.' He was a discerning patron of genius. It was while lie resided in Lans downe house as the librarian and friend of Shelburne that Priestley made the discovery of oxygen. Jeremy Bentham was one of his most intimate friends, Shelburne was the patron and friend of sir S. Romilly, and twice offered.him a seat in parliament. He was also on terms of Intimacy with Mirabeau, Dumont, and'other foreigners of literary and political distinction. He died in May, 1805. See Dye of Shelburne, by lord Edmond Fitzmauriec (London, 1875-76).