DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.70302#0429
ACCOUNT OF LORD ROKEBY.
385
At the general election in 1796, he crossed the country
to Lenham, and stopping at the Chequers Inn, he was
there surrounded by the country people from all the ad-
jacent parts, who took him for a Turk. From that place
he proceeded to the poll-booth, and gave his vote for his
old friend Filmer Honey wood.
Prince William of Gloucester soon afterwards passing
through Canterbury, conceived a great inclination to pay
his lordship a visit, which being mentioned at Mount-
morris, Lord Rokeby very politely sent the prince an
invitation to dinner. On this occasion he presided at a
plentiful board, and evinced all the hospitality of an old
English baron. Three courses were served up in a splen-
did style to his royal highness and his suite, and the re-
past concluded with a variety of excellent wines, and in
particular Tokay, which had been in the cellar half a cen-
tury.
At an age when most men think only of themselves,
Lord Rokeby proved that he was not inattentive to what
he considered the dearest interests of his country. In
1797 he published an excellent pamphlet, entitled, “ An
Address to the county of Kent, on their petition for re-
moving from the councils of his Majesty his present minis-
ters, and for adopting proper means to procure a speedy
and a happy peace; together with a postscript concern-
ing the treaty between the Emperor of Germany, and
France, and concerning our domestic situation in time to
come.” His reply to a letter addressed to him by Lord
Castlereagh, was likewise a production that would have
done honour to a man who had not passed his grand cli-
macteric.
The family of Lord Rokeby has, indeed, been distin-
guished for a literary turn. It was a relative of his who
wrote the celebrated treatise on gavel-kind. His eldest
sister, the late Mrs. Montague, successfully defended the
memory and genius of Shakspeare against Voltaire; the
Eccentric, No. IX. 3 d younger
385
At the general election in 1796, he crossed the country
to Lenham, and stopping at the Chequers Inn, he was
there surrounded by the country people from all the ad-
jacent parts, who took him for a Turk. From that place
he proceeded to the poll-booth, and gave his vote for his
old friend Filmer Honey wood.
Prince William of Gloucester soon afterwards passing
through Canterbury, conceived a great inclination to pay
his lordship a visit, which being mentioned at Mount-
morris, Lord Rokeby very politely sent the prince an
invitation to dinner. On this occasion he presided at a
plentiful board, and evinced all the hospitality of an old
English baron. Three courses were served up in a splen-
did style to his royal highness and his suite, and the re-
past concluded with a variety of excellent wines, and in
particular Tokay, which had been in the cellar half a cen-
tury.
At an age when most men think only of themselves,
Lord Rokeby proved that he was not inattentive to what
he considered the dearest interests of his country. In
1797 he published an excellent pamphlet, entitled, “ An
Address to the county of Kent, on their petition for re-
moving from the councils of his Majesty his present minis-
ters, and for adopting proper means to procure a speedy
and a happy peace; together with a postscript concern-
ing the treaty between the Emperor of Germany, and
France, and concerning our domestic situation in time to
come.” His reply to a letter addressed to him by Lord
Castlereagh, was likewise a production that would have
done honour to a man who had not passed his grand cli-
macteric.
The family of Lord Rokeby has, indeed, been distin-
guished for a literary turn. It was a relative of his who
wrote the celebrated treatise on gavel-kind. His eldest
sister, the late Mrs. Montague, successfully defended the
memory and genius of Shakspeare against Voltaire; the
Eccentric, No. IX. 3 d younger