CHAPTER XII
THE THIRD MARQUESS OF SALISBURY
ROBERT ARTHUR TALBOT GASCOYNE - CECIL, second son of the second Marquess of Salisbury and his first wife, was born at Hatfield on February 3rd, 1830. He was educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford, and took his B.A. degree in 1850, obtaining an " Honorary Fourth " in mathe- matics. After a visit to Australia, which kept him out of England for two years, he was elected a Fellow of All Souls' in 1853, and the same year he was returned for Parliament as member for Stamford in the Conservative interest. Having acted as Secretary and Treasurer of the Oxford Union, he had already had some practice in public speaking, and on April 7th, 1854, ne made his maiden speech on the second reading of the Oxford University Bill, receiving a well- deserved compliment from Gladstone, who spoke of the young member whose " first efforts, rich with future promise, indicate that there still issue forth from the maternal bosom of the University men who, in the first days of their career, give earnest of what they may afterwards accomplish for their country." He made his mark by further speeches on educational matters and on foreign politics, and in July, 1855, when
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