ZCbe Coftcs of Ibolfebam 223 



glimpses we have of him as a sportsman is that given 

 by Mr. W. Spencer Stanhope, of Cannon Hall, Barnsley, 

 in a letter to Lord Walsingham quoted by the latter 

 in the Badminton volume on " Field and Covert 

 Shooting." Mr. Stanhope, referring to grouse-drivi 

 which he says was first commenced by his father's 

 keeper George Fisher about 1805, writes: 



"The first drive I can recollect being present at 

 was in 1836, when the late Lord Leicester was at the 

 Boadhill drive, then aged eighty-three ; and old Sir 

 William Cooke, of Wheatley, was there with a flint 

 gun, and he brought down an old cock that had 

 come down the length of the line and had been shot 

 at by everybody ; he took off his white hat and called 

 out, ' There's your copper caps, gentlemen ! ' ' 



Six years later, on June 3Oth, 1842, Thomas William 

 Coke, Earl of Leicester, died at Longford Hall, his 

 Derbyshire seat, having reached the patriarchal age of 

 eighty-nine, and he lies buried beside his first wife in the 

 family vault in the little Norfolk church of Tittleshall. 



There were one or two traits in the character of 

 " Coke of Norfolk " to which I may refer before taking 

 my leave of him. Although one of the best whist-players 

 in England, he abhorred gambling in every shape ; and, 

 fond as he was of horses, he detested racing. His advice 

 to his son was, " Tom, when you go through Newmarket 

 draw down the blinds ; never look at the place." This, 

 of course, was in the good old days of post-chaises and 

 travelling " chariots." 



His political enemies accused him of being coarse 

 and violent in his language, vehement and intemperate 



