76 1Kin0s of tbe 1Rofc, IRifle, a^ 6un 



finest in England. The best guns, rods, and tackle to 

 be had for money were his, and he was the inventor 

 of many practical improvements in the sportsman's 

 equipment both for field and flood. The hospitality 

 at Thornville Royal was princely. Colonel Thornton 

 boasted that he had the largest and finest stock of 

 old port in the kingdom. He was himself a six-bottle 

 man till after he was sixty. Yet so strong was his 

 head, and so sound his constitution, that he could sit 

 out the most valiant topers of his day ; and when he 

 had seen the last of them under the table, usually 

 about three o'clock in the morning, he would take a 

 short stroll in the grounds, come back refreshed by 

 the cool morning air, sit down to write letters and 

 overhaul accounts for a couple of hours, and turn up 

 at breakfast as fresh as a daisy. When or how he 

 slept his guests never could ascertain ; and, indeed, 

 there was a tradition that he never went to bed. But, 

 depend upon it, he found some time for sleep, and 

 probably, one way or another, had as much of it as 

 was necessary for health. 



When he was in London he ruffled it with the fastest of 

 the men about town. He was a member of the S avoir 

 Vivre Club, probably the wildest, maddest, rowdiest club 

 that ever existed. " The wicked Lord Lyttelton," whose 

 death was said to have been foretold him in a dream, 

 Charles James Fox, and Richard Brinsley Sheridan were 

 prominent members of this coterie of reckless farceurs and 

 bon viveurs. The play was of the highest, the wagering 

 and practical joking went beyond all bounds of decency. 

 Fox, perhaps to show his contempt for his club-mates, 



