206 ikings of tfoe 1Rofc, IRffle, ant) 6un 



for the independence of the American colonies, which 

 was seconded by General Conway, who also accompanied 

 Coke when the latter presented the petition to the King. 

 Some years later a graceful recognition of the part then 

 played by Coke was made by Mr. Stephenson, the 

 United States Ambassador, who, on paying a visit to 

 Holkham, thus expressed himself: 



" I, the representative of fourteen millions of freemen, 

 thought it my first duty on my arrival in England to 

 pay my respects and offer the grateful acknowledgment 

 of my countrymen to the man who had acted so early 

 and so noble a part in vindication of America." 



Over one of the chimney-pieces in the saloon at 

 Holkham is a charming full-length picture of Coke 

 by Gainsborough, the last portrait, I believe, painted 

 by the great artist, who thenceforth confined himself 

 to landscapes. Mr. Coke is depicted in the act of 

 loading a gun ; a dog is at his feet. He wears long 

 boots, a broad-brimmed hat, and the shooting-jacket of 

 a century ago. Apart from its merit as a work of art, 

 this picture has an historical interest, as exhibiting the 

 actual dress in which Coke appeared before George III. 

 when, as knight of the shire, he presented an address 

 from the county of Norfolk, praying the King to 

 recognise the independence of the American colonies. 



But he was not always popular with his constituents. 

 The Earl of Albemarle, in his " Fifty Years of My 

 Life," gives the following graphic picture of a desperate 

 attack made upon Coke at the time of the Anti-Corn 

 Law agitation : 



"The high price of wheat and the low price of 



