530 
ples if he had not gone to Maidftone to 
vote for his friend, Filmer Honeywood, 
the ftaunch advocate for the independence 
of the county; and a contefted eleGion 
for the city of Canterbury drew him again 
from his retirement. This election took 
place juft after the famous ftoppage of 
the Bank; and after a vifit to his friends 
~ at thehall, and shouts of congratulation 
from all the freemen, he walked to the 
alderman’s houfe, with whom the wager 
had been laid, proffered fome notes for 
cath, prefented the written agreement on 
the wager, and demanded of the alderman 
the fum of ten pounds. 
The queftion, as might naturally be 
expected, ftaggered a little the alder- 
man, who was alfo a banker; and as 
the words admitted of fome debate, and 
Lord R. had not with him documents of 
the refufal at the Bank of cafh for a ten 
pound note fpecifically proffered, the pay- 
ment was deferred, and whether it has 
been made or not the writer cannot 
determine. 
On returning to the hall, Lord R. came 
again on the huftings, by the fide which 
is appropriated for perfons to return who 
have voted, and for the infirm, and the 
friends of the candidates, or the officers 
of the court. The theriff very politely 
offered to take here his lordfhip’s vote, 
who with his ufual good humour de- 
clined it; “ Iam not fo old neither, fays 
he, that I cannot do like the reft of my 
brother citizens,’ and inftantly went 
down the ftairs, where he met an old 
man aicending, who had given him a vote 
nearly fifty years before; mixed with his 
brother citizens, went up the proper 
ftairs with them, and gave the laft proof 
of his political connection with Canter- 
bury in a manner worthy of himfelf and 
his principles. 
We might tecount a variety of anec- 
dotes expreflive of his character, but the 
limits will not permit us; yet we muft not 
pats over the fubject of his food, which 
ie been fo much the obje& of inquiry 
and mifreprefentation. He has been faid 
to live on raw flefh, and to be, in fhort, 
little better than a cannibal. This was 
by no means the cafe; and to underftand 
this, as well as the other parts of his cha~ 
racter, we muft look to his leading prin- 
ciples, mature and independence. He 
thought that this ifland produced within 
itfelf fufficient food for his nourifhment. 
Wheat he confidered as an exotic, befides 
it. was fermented, two reafons fufficient to 
expel it from his nourifhment. Foreign 
coffee, for the fame reafon, was rejected, 
and he tried various experiments with 
burnt beans, peas, &c. Remarkably fond 
of fweet things, he ufed honey as a fubfti- 
Memoirs of Lard Rokeby. 
[Jan. 4, 
tute for fugar; but it is to be obferved 
that he was not a fcrupulous obferver of 
his general rule, and when it was hinted 
to him that he was eating the cruft of a pie, 
or fimilar things in the ordinary cookery, 
he turned it off with a good-humoured 
laugh, adding, “ Where is the man that 
lives as he preaches?” His appetite was 
remarkably ftrong, which he {fatisfied at 
times by boiled beef, or rathér beef kept 
for a confiderable time in boiling water ; 
and his table was amply provided with 
every thing in feafon, exceedingly well 
drefled, and of which he partook off-a 
wooden platter like any other perfon. 
He drank no wine, and he gave the beft 
proofs of the excellence of his diet by the 
length of his life. No one was more 
hofpitable to his guefts, they were defired 
to order juft what they pleafed, and in 
return were requefted and expected to 
permit the hoft to eat what and when he 
pleafed. : 
He never willingly omitted bathing a 
fingle day, and had made,/ for that pur- 
pofe, a -bathing-houfe of confiderable 
length and breadth, glazed in front, to a 
fouth-eaftern afpect, and thatched at top. 
This, probably, is the moft comfortable 
bath-houfe in England, as, after bathing, 
you may run up and down to dry yourfelf, 
and do not feel that difagreeable cold com- 
mon in the {mall elegant bath-houfes of 
marble, where you freeze in cold magni- 
ficence. Lord R.’s bath-houfe was board- 
ed and matted. In this bath-houfe, and a 
wood at {mall diftance from it, interfeGted 
with walks, and at proper intervals hay- 
ing wooden feats and benches, his lord- 
fhip fpent confiderable time, frequently 
committing to paper his valuable reflec- 
tions. : 
His memory was prodigious. In con- 
verfation, if any thing occurred which af- 
forded room for difference of opinion, he 
would frequently run on the fudden to his 
library, bring back a folio or two, and 
point the paflage on which the whole de- 
pended. He was.a great ‘reader as well 
as deep thinker, and preferved the ufe of 
his eyes to the laft: for writing, he very 
frequently availed himfelf of the help of 
an amanuenfis. In fo fingular a charac- 
ter, it is natural that perfons little ac- 
quainted with it fhould make very erro- 
neous conjectures. Covetoufnefs was re- 
prefented to be his prevailing feature, but 
this was not perceptible in his domeftic 
arrangements, where, in every article of 
good living, there was fuperfluity, and 
his parlour fires of wood and coal, which 
would be fufficient for half a dozen com- 
mon rooms, did not countenance the idea 
of a frugal difpofition; befides, his con- 
duct to his tenants (for there was no- 
where 
