3fre^cvtcft ipeter H>cline*1Ra&cUffe 2.55 



Grenadier Guards when he succeeded, on the death of 

 his father, to the family estates. Shortly afterwards, he 

 distinguished himself in another capacity, by appearing 

 on the hustings in support of Lord Grimston's candida- 

 ture for Hertfordshire. Even those who knew Delme- 

 Radcliffe best, were amazed at his fluency and his 

 readiness of retort. There was a raciness about his 

 manner and diction which captivated the mob. He was 

 a master of repartee and seldom failed to turn the tables 

 on any one who tried to ' heckle ' him. But he was not 

 only a capital mob-orator, he was one of the best after- 

 dinner speakers of his day, and could delight an 

 audience of educated people by his refined and scholarly 

 eloquence. Lord Lytton, the first and greatest of that 

 name, on one occasion, at a great agricultural banquet 

 where Delme-Radclifife had spoken with his usual 

 brilliancy, paid him this high tribute. ' I am proud,' he 

 said, 'to exhibit to Mr Dallas (the American minister, 

 who was one of the guests) so rare a specimen of un- 

 rivalled combination of talents as that of a country 

 gentleman able to hold his own in any field-sport with 

 all his fellows, and no less qualified to take his seat in the 

 cabinet of the statesman or the closet of the scholar and 

 the philosopher.' 



With gifts so eminently fitted to render him an invalu- 

 able acquisition to the House of Commons, it might have 

 been confidently expected that Mr Delm^-Radclifie 

 would aspire to Parliamentary honours. But, though 

 twice ardently pressed to stand for Hertfordshire, with an 

 undertaking to pay every farthing of his expenses, he de- 

 clined. The country and the sports which he loved had 

 greater attractions for him than any that politics could 

 offer. 



