THE LIFE OF A SPORTSMAN 



beloved nephew, Francis Raby, trusting that he would make a 

 better use of it than he himself had done. It consisted of 

 £137,000, in the three per cent, consols, together with a 

 small estate in Hertfordshire, of about 150 acres, on which it 

 had been his intention to have built a villa for his summer 

 residence, but the natural indolence of his character, together 

 with his love of Brighton at that period of the year, had 

 prevented his putting it into effect. And there was a short 

 codicil to the will, bequeathing fifty pounds a year to the poor 

 of the parish of Amstead, for ever. His remains were con- 

 veyed to the famil}' vault at Amstead ; and in the course of a 

 few months, a plain but neat monument was erected to his 

 memory, having the following simple inscription, from the pen 

 of his afflicted brother :— 



^arr^tr to the ill^morg 



OF 



BEAUMONT RABY, ESQUIRE, 



YOUNGEST SON OF ANDREW AND THE HONOURABLE MARTHA ALICIA 



RABY, OF AMSTEAD ABBEY, IN THE COUNTY OF LINCOLN ; 



WHO DEPARTED THIS LIFE ON THE THIRD OF FEBRUARY, 1803, IN THE 



FIFTY-THIRD YEAR OF HIS AGE. 



ALL WHO KNEW HIM CAN ATTEST THAT HE WAS A MAN OF A 



SINGULARLY MILD AND AMIABLE DISPOSITION— EVERY THOUGHT AND 



ACT OF HIS LIFE PROCEEDING FROM THE OVERFLOWING OF A 



WARM AND TENDER HEART. POSSESSING SOUND SENSE AND 



PRUDENCE, JOINED WITH MUCH URBANITY OF MANNERS, 



AS WELL AS STRICT INTEGRITY OF CONDUCT, HE 



MIGHT HAVE QUALIFIED HIMSELF FOR THE 



HIGHEST OFFICES OF SOCIETY : 



BUT HIS ATTACHMENT TO LITERARY PURSUITS, COUPLED WITH A DESIRE 



FOR RETIREMENT AND EASE, WHICH HE WANTED RESOLUTION TO 



COMBAT, CONFINED HIM TO THE STATION HE HELD— THAT OF 



AN ACCOMPLISHED GENTLEMAN. 



.THIS SIMPLE MONUMENT, ACCORDING WITH THE UNPRETENDING CHARACTER 



OF THE DECEASED, IS HERE PLACED BY HIS AFFECTIONATE BROTHER, 



ANDREW RABY. AS THE LAST TRIBUTE OF HIS REGARD AND LOVE 



FOR ONE TO WHOM HE WAS MOST CLOSELY UNITED, NOT ONLY 



BY BLOOD, BUT BY AFFECTION. 



As may be supposed, the situation and views of our young 

 spoi'tsman were materially changed by this accession of wealth 

 — for such it maj' be called, when devoted to the purposes of 

 merely one individual. The following three years, then, find 



270 



