Third Lord Lansdowne

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Without taking up a large portion in the annals of his country, the third Lord Lansdowne was a remarkable man and held many high offices of state, and indeed in his later years became a sort of Nestor to the Liberal Party.

Lucky in himself and his possessions, he was luckier still in his friends, and the pages of Moore's Diary and similar records of the period attest the amiability of his character and the discrimination of his judgment.

One reference in Moore's journal may incidentally be given here. He was told by Jekyll that the proprietor of Lansdowne House before the old Lord Lansdowne (presumably Lord Bute) had a project of placing twenty-seven fiddlers in an underground apartment, hermetically sealed, from which pipes introduced into any other chamber where required would conduct the music.

Lord Lansdowne himself confirmed this, but stated that an organ, and not men, was intended to be placed there, and that the pipes were actually discovered when some repairs were subsequently being made to the mansion.

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