THE PATRON OF CRABBE 



means of preparation for the political life on which his ambi- 

 tion was already fixed. With the triumphs of his friend, the 

 younger Pitt, before him, the young Duke's clear spirit felt 

 the touch of the spur, and he followed eagerly every course 

 which might lead to knowledge and power. 



The Manners family then, as now, lived at the Castle 

 during the hunting season. For shooting and racing they 

 generally went to Cheveley, and Croxton Park, a house built 

 by the third Duke as a hunting box, was much favoured by 

 the Duchess Isabella and her friends for fishing. This sport, 

 which seems to have been carried on in the ponds, was not 

 unfashionable, giving occasion as it did to the belles of the 

 day to don becoming costumes, and to the beaux openings 

 for " most elegant compliments," none the less welcome pos- 

 sibly because of their antiquity. The comparison of man 

 when suffering from the pangs of love to a fish struggling on 

 a hook, though given as an instance of wit by a contemporary 

 writer, is probably as old as the sport itself In these fishing 

 parties Crabbe delighted, and he enjoyed too the compara- 

 tively less ceremonious life at Cheveley or Croxton. 



During this time the management of the hounds appears 

 to have rested a good deal with Mr. Thomas Thoroton, 

 whose younger son Robert is mentioned by Crabbe with 

 great affection. This Thomas Thoroton, of Scrieveton, was 

 closely connected by service, friendship, and marriage with 

 the Duke's family. He had been the political and private 

 agent for the third Duke, and being thus intimately ac- 

 quainted with his affairs, he has left among the Rutland 

 Manuscripts a valuable collection of letters containing his 

 correspondence with Lord Granby, during the absence of the 

 latter in Westphalia. He sat for Newark during the close 

 political connection which for some years existed between 

 the third Duke and the Duke of Newcastle, and later Mr. 

 Thoroton became member for Bramber, in Sussex, on the 

 nomination of Lord Granby. Thoroton seems to have been 

 most useful to the family, for he had business habits and 

 an intimate knowledge of the condition of the estate, and 

 of their political influence, at a time when the age of 



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