523 
five or fix miles, comamences the vaft flat 
known by the name of Romney Marth, 
which, with the Weald ef Kent, is 
bounded to his eye by Dungenefs, Beachy 
Head, and the hills of Sufflex and Surrey, 
and the ridge of hills on a part of which 
he ftands, and which runs through nearly 
the middle of the county of Kent inte Sur- 
rey. Turning eaftward, he perceives the 
fea, and has a glimpfe of the coafts of 
France: his view is bounded by hills fill 
higher, as he turns to the north; but 
from the top of thefe hills, at half a mile 
diftance from the {pot on which he ftands, 
he commands the fame extenfive profpe& 
over the marfh and Weft Kent, which is 
enriched ona fine day by the view of the 
coait of France from Boulogne to Calais, 
feeming {carcely to be feparated from the 
land. At the bottom of thefe hills ftands 
the family manfion, a fubftantial brick 
houfe, with offices fuited to the refidence 
of a man with four or five thoufand a year, 
When Mr. R. came to the eftate, there 
were about eight hundred acres round the 
houfe, partly in his. own occupation, 
artly let out to tenants: they were al- 
eae into fields of various dimenfions, 
bounded by the fubftantial hedges fo well 
known to be the ornament of Kent, but 
cutting the ground into too many mi- 
nute parts for pidturefque beauty. #There 
was a garden walled in, and fuitable 
roads to the houfe. Mr. R. tcok the 
whole of this land into his own occupation 
as foon as poflible; and nature, with his 
eccupancy, began to refume her rights. 
The only boundaries on his eftate were 
foon only thofe which feparated his land 
from that of his neighbours. Adieu to 
the ufe of gates or fliles in the interior : 
they were left to gradual decay ; the foil 
was not difturbed by the labours of horfe 
and men; the cattle had free liberty to 
{tray wherever they pleafed; the trees were 
no longer difhonoured by the axe of the 
woodman, the pollards ftrove to recover 
their priftine vigour, the uniformity of 
hedges and: ditches gradually difappeared. 
The richeft verdure clothed both hills 
and vallies, and the mafter of the man- 
fion wandered freely in his grounds, en- 
joying his own independence, and that of 
the brute creation around him. 
The fingularity of this tafte excited na- 
turally a great deal of curiofity, and, as 
ufual, no fmall degree of cenfure. But, 
whatever may be objected on the fcore of 
profit, it is certain that the gain on the {cale 
of picturefque beauty was, wemight almoit 
fay, infinite. In a national view, the fub- 
je admits of much difcuffion: but the 
queftion, which we have often agitated 
with Mr. R. and in whofe opinion we are 
inclined to place great confidence, has fel- 
Memoirs of Lord Rokeby. 
[ Jan. 1 . 
dom been fairly ftated and argued. The 
point is, could thefe acres have produced 
fo much food and cloathing, and imple- 
ments for manufactures, if they had been 
fubje& to tillage and the ufual mode of 
’ agriculture? In thefe times of agricultu 
ral curiofity the queftion becomes inte- 
refting, but the prefent limits do not per- 
mit us to enter into the whole of Mr. R.’s 
views in the management of his affairs. 
But the gaps in the hedges, the growing 
up of the pollards, and the verdure of the 
grounds might have been fupportable, if 
the coach-roads alfo had not difappeared, 
the coach-houfe become ufelefs, the gar- 
den been trodden under foot by horfes and 
oxen, the hay-lofts fuperfluous. At the 
fame time that nature refumed her rights 
over his fields, fhe took full poffeffion of 
the mafter, and gave him the active ufe of 
his limbs.> The family ceach ftirred not 
from its place to the day of his death: he 
feldom got into a chaife, and performed 
long journies on foot. Naturally of a ten- 
der and delicate conftitution, he thus be- 
came hardened to all weathers, and en- 
joyed his faculties and fpirits to the day of 
his death. Indulging himfelf in thefe pe- 
culiarities, in which by the way, to fay 
the worft of them, he was no man’s enemy 
but his own, he kept up a confiderable in- 
tercourfe with his neighbours, and corre- 
fpondence with characters eminent in the 
political world: he publithed a pamphlet 
in the American war, replete with found 
fenfe, and which procured, among other 
marks of re{pec&t, a journey from London 
to Baths by a perfon with the exprefs 
view, and extreme defire, of converfing 
with its author. He reprobated, during 
the whole of that unnatural conteft, the 
conduct of adminiftration ; and the men of 
Kent, who were notat that timefubdued by 
minifterial influence, liftened with plea- 
fure to its firm opponent at their county 
meetings. ; 
About that period, he either formed 
the opinion, or began to exprefs it with 
an unufual degree of confidence, that the 
Bank of England would break during his 
life-time. He was fo firmly convinced of 
it in his own mind, that it became a 
pretty confiant topic with him; and,when 
he met with opponents, he defended it with 
fuch ftrength of argument as could nat 
eafily be refifted. One day the converfa- 
tion on this fubje& ended in a fingular 
wager, which was taken down in writing, 
purporting that the heirs and executors of 
Mr. Robinfon fhould pay to the other 
party, an alderman of Canterbury, . the 
fum of ten pounds, if the Bank did not 
break during the life-time of the former ; 
and on the other hand, that the alderman 
fhould be fimilarly bound to pay the fum af 
tem 
