SUNDERLAND, ROBERT SPENCER, second Earl, was the only son of HENRY, first earl, who had been raised to the peerage in 1643, for his exertions in the royal cause. He was born in 1642, and after serving as ambassador to several courts, became iu 1679 secretary of state. He had by this time manifested remarkable talent. Bishop Burnet says of him, " He had a superior genius to all the men of business that I have yet known." At first, he united with Essex and Halifax in opposing Shaftesbury, who wished to set Monmouth on the throne, and favored the exclusion of the duke of York. He encouraged the king to persevere in the degrading French alliance, and, with the duchess of Portsmouth, to whom he attached himself, negotiated a treaty by which, in consideration of an annual pension from the French king, Charles was to agree to assem ble no parliament for three years. Before the end of the year, he had shaken off Essex and Halifax; and a new triumvirate, consisting of himself, lord Hyde, and Godolphin, succeeded to the confidence of Charles II. The treaty with France was broken off, and Sunderland, who was now afraid of the whigs, engaged the king in a more popular Mil li:tee with Spain. , After the dissolution of the last of the exclusion parliaments, he lost his office; but the duchess remained faithful to him iu disgrace; and by her influence, and that of lord Rochester, he was, in 1682, says Bishop Burnet, "upon great submis sion made to the duke [of York], again restored to the secretary." He remained in office until the accession of James II., when his influence in the ministry became greater than ever. He who had so often saved himself in the former reign by the influence of the duchess of Portsmouth, now secured himself another patroness in the king's second wife, the princess of Modena. Although there is reason to believe he gave some encourage ment to Monmouth in his rebellion, he managed, with consummate art, to obtain the entire confidence of James, and in 1685 became prime-minister. He was intrusted with a knowledge of the king's intention to establish the Roman Catholic religion as the national church, and was indeed the only minister in whom the king confided. In 1687 he privately conformed to the Roman Catholic church, and afterward openly professed his conversion. His influence was so great, that James would grant no .favor until he had asked the question, `: Have they spoken to Sunderland?" and when told that this nobleman got all the money of the court, he would reply, " He deserves it." Yet we find him about this time in correspondence with the prince of Orange, afterward Wih iam III. The princess Anne described Sunderland as " the subtillest workingest villain that is on the face of Burnet says he entered into a particular confidence with the prince of Orange, which he managed by his uncle, Mr. Sidney, who was sent envoy to Holland. With profligate but masterly dexterity, he contrived to deceive both his master and Barillon, and to keep them in ignorance of the events that were passing in Holland. When the prince arrived in England, Sunderland and his wife went to Amsterdam, whence he wrote to the new monarch, claiming his favor and protection on the ground that he had all along been in his interest. In 1691 he was allowed to return to England, and to kiss the king's hand. In 1695 William III. spent a week at Sunder land's house at Althorpe. It was imputed to him that lie had changed his religion, in
the late reign, in order the more effectually to ruin king James; and it was generally believed that he had rendered king William, when prince of Orange, some signal ser vices, which no one else could have done. This belief gained credit from the favor shown him by William. He was made lord chamberlain, and as such took his seat at the head of the council table. After directing affairs as the acknowledged head of the government, he resigned office in 1697, and retired to private life. He spent the rest of his days at Althorpe, where he died in 1702. He never shone as a public speaker. He had, however, unusual abilities for business, and a rare skill in the art of insinuation. He possessed exquisite courtly talent, extraordinary versatility, and a flexibility of prin ciple too common in his day, but carried by him to the most reprehensible lengths. By his wife, Anne, daughter of the second earl of Bristol, lie left CHARLES SPENCER, third earl, who was born in 1674. He was described by Evelyn as a youth of extraordinary hopes, very learned for his age, and ingenious. He was for some time secretary of state in the reign of queen Anne, and under George I. rose to be all-powerful; but in 1721, being accused of receiving £50,000 worth of the fictitious stock distributed by the direc tors of the South Sea scheme (q.v.), in order to bribe the government, he was acquitted only by an inconsiderable majority and that from party considerations, and the indigna tion of the public made him resign his office. He 1722, not without suspicion of having intrigued, after his fall, for the restoration of the tories, if not for the return of the pretender. Sunderland was a type of the political morality, or rather immorality, of a disgraceful age, when the greatest statesmen made no scruple of sacrificing either their own party, or the interests and dignity of the nation, to personal ambition. His title descended to CHARLES, his second son, who succeeding, 1733, to the honors of his illus trious grandfather, John Churchill, the earldom of Sunderland became absorbed in the dukedom of Marlborough. His third son, JOHN, was ancestor of the earls Spencer.
Drosera, a beautiful and interesting genus of plants of the natural order droseracece, three species of which are natives of Britain, found in bogs and moist heathy ground. The most common is the HOUND-LEAVED SUN-DEW (D. rotundzfolia), which is plentiful in almost all places suitable to the plant. The leaves all spring from the root, and spread out in a rosette, from the center of which springs the flower-stem or scape, with a raceme of flowers all on one side. The leaves of this and the other spe cies are fringed and beset in all parts with hairs, which bear at their extremity viscid lands, and the irritation of these glands causes them to contract and fold up, so that insects are imprisoned by them. Recent observation has proved that these insects are actually digested by the plant, their nutritive material being absorbed by it. Compare the dionaa (q.v.), and see Darwin's Insectivorous Plants (1875). The whole plant is acrid, curdles milk, and has a reputation for removing corns, bunions, and warts. An agreeable liqueur, called rossoli (ros sells) is made by infusing the plant in brandy, with sugar, etc.
See DIAL.