(Beorae Xane jfoj ss? 



of William Pitt the younger, who offered to revive the 

 peerage of Bingley in his behalf Then it was that Fox 

 Lane, in declining the offer, made the memorable reply : 

 ' I beg to decline the honour you offer me, for I belong 

 to one of the very few really old English families, and I 

 am a commoner (not a trader), of high birth and fortune, 

 and I pique myself on that.' This was a kind of pride 

 which none could appreciate better than the son of ' The 

 Great Commoner ' himself, and he probably thought all 

 the more highly of Fox Lane for refusing the proffered 

 peerage. 



That James Fox Lane was a keen sportsman and main- 

 tained a considerable hunting establishment is certain. 

 But whether, as tradition asserts, hounds were kept at 

 Wothersome, on the borders of Bramham Moor, in the 

 time of Queen Anne is more than doubtful. In a brief 

 biography of Mr George Lane Fox which appeared in 

 Baily's Magazine the writer says : ' Famous as Yorkshire 

 has been from time immemorial for her packs of hounds 

 there is none, perhaps, dates longer back than the Bram- 

 ham Moor, which had been in Mr Fox's family since the 

 latter part of the reign of Queen Anne, when Mr Lane, 

 who was a son of Lord Bingley, kept them at the 

 Wothersome Dog-kennels near Bramham Park. Mr 

 Lane was succeeded in the Mastership first by Sir 

 Thomas Gascoyne, and secondly by Sir Walter Vava- 

 sour.' I do not know what authority the writer had for 

 this statement, but it is manifestly incorrect — for, in the 

 first place, the first Lord Bingley had no son, and in the 

 second place, the grant of land on Bramham Moor was 

 not made to him till the reign of George II. The Mr 

 Lane to whom the writer refers was George Fox Lane, who 

 married the daughter and heiress of Lord Bingley after 



