44 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1800. 



the primate's patent. He is suc- 

 ceeded in titles, and part of his 

 large estates in Kent, Yorkshire, 

 and Cambridgeshire, by his nephew 

 Morris Robinson, late M. P. for 

 Boroughbridge, and now third lord 

 Rokeby, His sister, Mrs. Mon- 

 tagu, died 25th of August last, aged 

 80. Lord Rokeby was a man of 

 very vigorous understanding, and 

 who thought upon all occasions 

 for himself, and acted with unex- 

 ampled consistency up to his own 

 principles, which gave him the ap- 

 pearance, and perhaps the reality, 

 of some eccentricities, of which the 

 relation has been so exaggerated, 

 as to amount to a tissue of the most 

 gross andridiculous falsehoods. His 

 solitude, though not inteiTupted by 

 the intercourse of formal visiting, 

 was constantly enlivened by a suc- 

 cession of casual society ; and his 

 house, at which nothing was sacri- 

 ficed to cold and insipid ceremony 

 and ostentation, constantly afforded 

 all the liberal pleasures of ancient 

 hospitality. His address was happy, 

 his manners were easy and attrac- 

 tive ; his sentiments were enlarged, 

 candid, and full of philanthropy ; 

 and his conversation was original, 

 energetic, and often highly elo- 

 quent. He never failed to set the 

 subjects he discussed in a new light; 

 and if he did not always convince, 

 he always interested and entertain- 

 ed. Though single himself, he never 

 lost the most lively anxiety for the 

 welfare of every member of his fa- 

 mily. And though the idea of his 

 wealth, added to the hatred of 

 ostentation with which he lived, 

 impressed many with an opinion of 

 his fondness for money, j'et the 

 numberless poor neighbours as well 

 as others, whom it now appears 

 that he assisted with loans, through 



pure benevolence, and on very 

 slight securities, prove how much ■ 

 that part of his character was mis- ' 

 taken. He had early conceived an 

 indignation of the corruptions of 

 power and rank ; and of the little 

 mean passions and distinctions, 

 which too often disgrace them. 

 This gave a colour to all his politi- 

 cal opinions, in which no man ever 

 displayed more constancy. Inde- 

 pendence was his peculiar charac- 

 teristic; and no motives of personal 

 interest, ambition, or disappoint- 

 ment, ever intruded themselves in 

 the formation of his opinions. Sim- 

 plicity and nature were his idols ; 

 and he let the grass every where 

 supersede the plough, and his fences 

 and divisions fall, through his ex- 

 tensive domains, that his immense 

 and increasing herds of cattle might 

 have a wider range. By these 

 means, and an uniform and unosten- 

 tatious life, he died possessed of a 

 large property in addition to his he- 

 reditary estates. He was author of 

 several political pamphlets at va- 

 rious periods of his life ; and was 

 much looked up to by the party in 

 his county whose cause he espoused. 



DECEMBER. 



2d. R. Tighe, esq. of the county 

 of Westmeath, obtained a verdict, 

 and 10,000/. damages, in the court 

 of King's Bench, Dulalin, against 

 a Mr. Jones, for crim. con. 



3d. His majesty in council, in 

 compliance with the request of the 

 two houses of parliament, issued his 

 royal proclamation, exhorting all 

 persons who have the means of pro- 

 curing other food than corn, to use 

 the strictest economy in the use of 

 every kind of grain, abstaining from 



