SAVILE, GEORGE, Marquis of Halifax, one of the greatest statesmen of his time, was born in 1620. Some time after his return from his travels he was created a peer, in consideration of his own and his father's merits. He was a strenuous opposer of the bill of exclusion, but proposed such limitations of the Duke of York's authority as should disable him from doing any harm either to church or state; as the taking out of his hands all power in ecclesiastical matters, the disposal of the public money, and the power of making peace and war, and lodging these in the two houses of parliament. After that bill was rejected in the House of Lords, he pressed them, though without success, to proceed to the limitation of the duke's power, and began with moving that, during the king's life, he might be obliged to live 500 miles out of England. In August 1682 he was created a marquis, and soon after made privy-seal. Upon King James's accession he was made president of the council; but on his refusal to consent to the repeal of the test act, he was dismissed from all public employments. In that assembly of the Lords which met after King James's withdrawing himself the first time from Whitehall, the marquis was chosen their president; and upon the king's return from Faversham he was sent, together with the Earl of Shrewsbury and Lord Delamere, from the Prince of Orange to order his majesty to quit the palace. In the convention of parliament he was chosen speaker of the House of Lords, and strenuously supported the motion for the vacancy of the throne, and the conjunctive sovereignty of the prince and princess, upon whose accession he was again made privy-seal. Yet, in 1689, he quitted the court, and became a zealous opponent of the measures of government till his death, which happened in April 1695. Grainger observes that "he was a person of unsettled principles and of a lively imagination, which sometimes got the better of his judgment. He would never lose his jest, though it spoiled his argument, or brought his sincerity or even his religion in question. He was deservedly celebrated for his parliamentary talents; and in the famous contest relating to the bill of exclusion, was thought to be a match for his uncle Shaftesbury. The pieces he has left us show him to have been an ingenious, if not a masterly writer; and his Advice to a Daughter contains more good sense in few words than is perhaps to be found in any of his contemporary authors." His lordship also wrote the Character of a Trimmer; Anatomy of an Equivalent; A Letter to a Dissenter; A Rough Draught of a New Model at Sea; and Maxims of State; all which were printed together in 1 vol. 8vo. Since these there were also published under his name, The Character of King Charles II., 8vo.; The Character of Bishop Burnet; and Historical Observations upon the Reigns of Edward I., Edward II., Edward III., and Richard II., with Remarks upon their Faithful Counsellors and False Favourites.