THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



483 



THE DUKE OF RICHMOND AS A FARMER. 



Although the object of this notice will be treated more as 

 an agriculturist than a soliiier or a senator, we do not think 

 we can pass over his birth, parentage, and education without 

 devoting a few lines to them. Charles Gordon Lennox, fifth 

 Duke of Richmond, was born on the 3rd of August, 1791. 



His Grace is descended from a son of Madame de 

 Querouelle, by Charles II. The merry monarch not 

 only created the Lady Louisa Querouelle Duchess of Ports- 

 month, Countess of Farnhara, and Baroness of Peters- 

 field, but gave the titles of Duke of Richmond and Lennox, 

 Earl of March and Darnley, and Baron Settrington to her 

 8011. At nine years of age this little scion of royalty M'as in- 

 stalled as a Knight Companion of the Garter, and made Mas- 

 ter of the Horse; it ought to have been a rocking-horse. 

 Nor was Louis XIV. less liberal, for he granted the ter- 

 ritory of Aubigny, in France, to the Duchess of Portsmouth 

 for life, aud after her decease, the name, title, dignity, and 

 land to descend to her son, the Duke of Richmond, and the 

 heirs male to his body, as Duke of Aubigny. This fortunate 

 youth served in Flanders during the reign of William III., as 

 his aide-de-camp, and was also a Lord of the Bedchamber to 

 George I. The second Duke shared some of his father's good 

 fortune ; he was elected M.P. for the city of Chichester, and for 

 the borough of Newport, and strange to say, between the two 

 seats he did not fall to the ground, for he lived to be a Knight of 

 the Batb.and of the Garter, a Lord of the Bedchamber, and aide- 

 de- camp to George I., which post he held under George II., and at 

 the coronation of the latter monarch acted as High Constable of 

 England for the day. On the death of the Duchess of Ports- 

 mouth, the dukedom of Aubigny devolved upon his Grace, 

 who was shortly afterwards appointed Master of the Horse to 

 the King, and one of the most honourable Privy Council. Not 

 satisfied with these civil dignities, the Duke was speedily pro- 

 moted from the rank of Briijadier-General to that of Lieiit.- 

 General. During this period the Duke was present at the 

 battle of Dettiugen, and shortly afterwards under the orders 

 of the Duke of Cumberland, assisted at the reduction of Car- 

 lisle. His Grace was subsequently made High Steward of Chi- 

 chester, and admitted to the degree of Doctor of Physic at 

 Cambridge; nor did his goodfortuue end here, for he received 

 the Colonelcy of the Royal Horse Guards (Blues) the very year 

 of his death. The third Duke, who succeeded to hia father's 

 titles and estates at the early age of fifteen, also chose the 

 military profession, and before he had attained his twenty- 

 seventh year had risen to the rank of Major-Gencral in the 

 Army; and at the accession of George III received, what in 

 those days seemed to be the hereditary right of the family, 

 the situation of Lord of the Bedchamber. His Grace was 

 afterwards appointed Lord Lieutenant of the County of Sus- 

 sex, and eventually held the situations of Secretary of State, 

 and Master-General of the Ordnance. So extensive and ex- 

 travagant were his Grace's plans in the latter department, 

 respecting the fortifications of our sea-girt isle, that the econo- 

 mists of the House of Commons took the alarm, and with the 

 casting vote of the Speaker carried their poiut. The fourth 

 Duke following the steps of his ancestors, selected the Army 

 for his profession, and finally attained the rank of Lieutenant- 

 General, with the Colonelcy of the 35th Regiment of the Line. 

 His duel, when Colonel Lennox, with the Duke of York, is 

 too well known to require further notice, except to say, that 



nothing could exceed the coolness evinced on both sides. Pre- 

 vious to his elevation to the peerage, his Grace represented the 

 county of Sussex for seven successive parliaments, and two 

 years after it, was appointed Lord Lieutenaut of Ireland, a 

 situation he held for six years. In 1818 he was made 

 Governor-General of the British Settlements in North Ame- 

 rica, where he died August 1819, from hydrophobii. The 

 question has so often been mooted, as to the cause of his 

 death, and so many erroneous opinions have been given that 

 we, who were in Canada at the time, can enlighten the reader 

 as to the real state of the case. His Grace had left Quebec, to 

 proceed to the Upper Provinces on a tour of inspection, and 

 had stopped for a few days at a small government fort between 

 the former place and Montreal. It was here that in attempt- 

 ing to separate his own spaniel and a tame chained-up fox, who 

 were fighting, that he received the fatal bite. It was a mere 

 scratch, and treated as such, but an acute observer remarked 

 at the time, that the fox was in such a state of passion, that 

 the saliva dropped from his mouth, and it is generally believed 

 that the wound was inflicted by this animal, for the dog, who 

 was afterwards brought to England, never showed any symp- 

 toms of madness. We will not dwell upon the sufferings, this 

 noble — in every sense of the word nobleman — underwent, 

 when attempting to struggle against the dreadful calamity ; 

 suffice it to say, he bore them with patient resignation, and 

 died as he had lived, respected by all who had the happiness 

 to know him. Upon his decease, the subject of our memoir, 

 Charles, the fifth of that name, succeeded to the title and 

 estates, and assumed the additional surname of Gordon. On 

 the death of his maternal uncle George, fifth and last Duke of 

 Gordon, the property in Scotland descended by the will of his 

 grandfather, the fourth Duke of Gordon, to the present pro- 

 prietor of it. 



At an early age the youthful Lennox went to West- 

 minster, previous to which he was at Mrs. Horn's school, at 

 Chiswick, for a few months, and became a boarder at 

 " Glover's," in Great Dean's Yard. As a boy, he was quick 

 and intelligent, attentive to his studies, and very popular with 

 his tutor, the late respected Dr. Dodd. With youths of his 

 own age he was equally liked, being kind, open-hearted, good 

 tempered, aud geuerons; but perhaps his greatest triumph 

 was the devotion with which the younger boys looked up to 

 him. " Old Lennox," as he was called in school phraseology, 

 having two brothers, middle and " young " under him. la 

 him the oppressed ever found a ready champion, and whenever 

 a bully was reported to him as having tyrannised over some 

 youngster, a sound thrashing was the inevitable result. At 

 all manly games, cricket, fives, rowing, foot-bali, quoits, run- 

 ning and leaping, " Old Lennox " was second to none. His 

 easy and affable manner kept him free from quarrels with his 

 school-fellows, but whenever any attempt was made to take 

 advantage of his good-nature, no one wss more ready to de- 

 fend himself. He was in fine, a noble, generous, high-spirited 

 boy, and one that it was impossible to know without feeling 

 the deepest interest in. The future heir to the Dukedom took 

 all his removes with credit to himself, and was often held out 

 as a pattern of attention by the heud and under masters Cary 

 afterwards Bishop of St. Asaph, and Dr. Page. Among his 

 cotemporaries were two with whom in after-life he was politi- 

 cally connected, Lord John Russell and Sir James Giaham. 



