36 ECHOES OF OLD COUNTY LIFE. 



Ionian Islands. Winthrop Praed did not live long to 

 enjoy his Parliamentary honours ; consumption carried 

 him off in the midst of a promising political and literary 

 career, but his fugitive poems and more ambitious works 

 will long remain to testify to his elegant and refined 

 tastes. 



Two hard fights for the honour of representing the 

 Borough afterwards took place between Mr. Thomas 

 Benjamin Hobhouse, of philosophical Radical celebrity, 

 fighting for the Whig-Radical party, and Colonel 

 Hanmer for the Tories. The former, it was said, en- 

 deavoured to regain the seat as a warming-pan for 

 Lord Nugent ; but in both instances, after a very severe 

 struggle, the Colonel triumphed, and JNIr. Hobhouse's 

 philosophical ideas were not aired in the House of 

 Commons. 'Mv. Rice Clayton, an independent country 

 gentleman, later represented the Borough, and became 

 endeared to all parties by his kindly intercourse with 

 his constituents, especially with the poorer classes. 

 Against him Lord Nugent, on his return, started again 

 as a candidate at the next dissolution. The Conservative 

 party, to retain the second seat, put up a Mr. Bering^ 

 an architect and a Royal Academician, but politically 

 an imbecile. j\Ir. Clavton had cjiven the Duke of 

 Buckingham offence by supporting Sir Robert Peel in 

 his financial policy, and the extreme Tory party quietly 

 and secretly made a compact with the extreme Radicals 

 to run in Lord Nugent, whilst they were to give their 

 second votes to Mr. Bering. The plot succeeded, and, 

 to the surprise and disgust of independent Conservatives, 

 the much-beloved Rice Clayton was defeated. He wrote 



