LAMB, William, Lord Melbourne, was born in London in 1779. Having received his university education, first at Trinity College, Cambridge, and afterwards at Glasgow, he entered as a student at Lincoln's Inn in 1797, and was called to the bar in 1804. In the following year he married Lady Caroline Ponsonby, who afterwards became celebrated for her literary talents. In 1805 he entered the House of Commons, and joining the opposition, then led by Fox, he supported that side, without earning any celebrity, during 20 years. On the death of his father in 1828, he succeeded to the title of Viscount Melbourne, entered the House of Lords; and in 1830 became home-secretary, under the administration of Lord Grey. This office he filled till 1834; and in the following year was raised to the Premiership, which he held with great ability till 1841. He died in 1848, in his seventieth year. Possessing no eloquence, and little practical sagacity, Lord Melbourne owed the strength of his government mainly to his personal tact, frankness, and ingenuity; and his premiership is marked by no great event in the political history of the kingdom, the main energies of his party being spent in clinging to office after the reality of its power was gone.