Duke of Richmond

“ Of his illegitimate son, the Duke of Richmond, Henry was extravagantly fond, and at one time thought of making him heir-apparent, which might have been done, for the English dread of a succession war was then at its height. Richmond died in his seventeenth year. Having no sons of a tormentable age, Henry made his daughters as unhappy as he could make them by the harsh exercise of paternal authority, and bastardized them both, in order to clear the way to the throne for his son. ”

“ The Duke is here in this libel, my lords,—in this libel, gentlemen of the jury, the Duke of Richmond is called an honorable man and a respectable soldier! Could more flattering expressions be invented? Has the most mercenary Press that ever yet existed, the mercenary Press of this metropolis, contained, in return for all the money it has received, any praise which ought to be so pleasing—“an honorable man and a respectable soldier”? ”

“ Immediately behind Anne Boleyn's litter rode a company of henchmen of the royal household, armed with gilt partisans. Next succeeded a chariot covered with red cloth of gold, and drawn by four horses richly caparisoned, containing the old Duchess of Norfolk and the old Marchioness of Dorset. Then came the king's natural son, the Duke of Richmond—a young man formed on the same large scale, and distinguished by the same haughty port, and the same bluff manner, as his royal sire. ”

“ Such an act of justice to an office, which cannot be appreciated by the object, is in very bad taste, considering it is detrimental to the public, who would have felt grateful for a similar regard to its own interests. But the Duke of Richmond's conduct by no means surprised us: he who is only a Tory in disguise was just the man to pretend a contempt for salary before he was in place, and to clutch at it ravenously the moment he got into power. ”

“ The noble duke, remarkable for a false air of Parisian elegance, which distinguishes his carriage from that of our great men, usually so full of stiffness and formality; yet I do not think that any of the modern great men of France have ever, as the Duke of Richmond often does, crossed their legs and raised their feet higher than the level of their heads, in full session, for the purpose of better viewing themselves in their polished boots. ”

“ Treated by both king and duke as a member of the royal family, she took part in negotiating the marriage of the Princess Anne with Prince George of Denmark. The erection of the estate of Aubigny into a duchy was granted her by Louis in letters patent of January 1684, and a year later the Duke of Richmond was naturalised in France, in order to be able to succeed to her estates and title there. ”

“ An ardent reformer like the Duke of Richmond—the then Duke of Richmond—who was in favour of annual parliaments, universal suffrage, and payment of members, was not likely to wish to associate himself too closely with a politician who wept with emotion at the bare thought of depriving Old Sarum of parliamentary representation. ”

“ It must have been with the king's knowledge that he proposed at the council on 6 June 1536 that the Duke of Richmond should be placed before Mary in the succession to the throne. After the pilgrimage of grace, he was in 1537 sent on a special commission to quiet the men of Lancashire. ”

“ Thus the Duke of Richmond starts into the perfection of a full-grown engineer, without the ceremony of gradual organization, or the painful tediousness of progressive maturity.—Juno was particularly famed for an unceasing spirit of active persecution against the bravest and most honourable men of antiquity. Col. Debbeige, and some other individuals of modern time, might be selected, to shew that the noble Duke is not in this respect without some pretensions to sympathy with the queen of the skies.—Venus too, we all know, originated from froth. ”

“ His firmness during the struggle against the opposition in 1784 is said to have prevented Pitt from resigning in despair, and it was on this occasion that George III is reported to have said ‘there was no man in his dominions by whom he had been so much offended, and no man to whom he was so much indebted, as the Duke of Richmond’ (Memorials and Correspondence of C. J. Fox, 1853, i. 455) . In spite of many previous declarations Richmond now developed into a zealous courtier, and soon grew disinclined to all measures of reform. ”

“ That this prince, the first Duke of Richmond of the present line, will always aid the cause of the Stuarts and smite all rebels, is part prayer, part prophecy, on the side of the poet, who in this case was no Vates, for the Duke served as aide-de-camp to William in Flanders, and died a Lord of the Bedchamber to King George I.
In course of time, as the little Duke grows to manhood, the poets keep him in view, and in their dedications oppress him with praise of his parents' qualities and his own. ”

“ Still the state is very much troubled, and a new revolt is expected every day."
"Then we can pause, and rest at Angers," said Richmond, gravely. "If I have many friends at the court of France, I have been obliged to leave many at the court of Britanny. Their safety must be considered at once. I will write to the good duke, before I break bread. I pray you, in the mean time, seek me a trusty messenger. Let him be a Frenchman, for there might be danger to any other." ”

“ Au reste, the Duke of Richmond's campaign seems completely to have annihilated the little popularity he ever had; and though I am satisfied he will not resign till after the meeting of Parliament, and perhaps till after the session is over, I am equally persuaded he will not continue another year in the Cabinet.
We are sending Hessians to Toulon, and shall soon have there a really respectable force; the interval is the only thing to be feared ”

“ He feared too much the consequences for Charles, and he determined to spare no effort to avoid a scandal, and to save the already deeply-injured Queen. So he went secretly to work to outwit the King. He made himself the protector of those lovers, the Duke of Richmond and Miss Stewart, with the result that one dark night, a week or two later, the lady stole away from the Palace of Whitehall, and made her way to the Bear Tavern, at the Bridge-foot, Westminster, where Richmond awaited her with a coach. And so, by the secret favour of the Lord Chancellor, they stole away to Kent and matrimony. ”

“ Prejudice and partiality have the greatest share in their disputes, and every society their proper champion to assert their pre-eminence and bring home the trophies to their own country. Even Richmond Park has its Dymack. But, on Friday, the 26th of Jan., 1738, there was a decisive engagement on the plains of Sussex, which, after ten hours’ struggle, has settled all further debates, and given the brush to the gentlemen of Charlton. Present on the morning:—The Duke of Richmond; Duchess of Richmond ”

“ Some well-known jockeys. of Portland and the late Duke of Richmond. Round the sides of the room are portraits of all the members. That nearest the door is interesting; it is the only portrait there of which the original is living—the present Duke of Richmond. ”

“ They attainted his enemies by wholesale, and beyond all precedent. One duke, one marquis, three earls, three bishops, with a whole host of knights and gentlemen, were thus deprived of honour, title, and estate; and their lands, forfeited to the Crown, were bestowed by Richard liberally on his northern adherents, who were thus planted in the south to act as spies on the southern nobles and gentry. The Countess of Richmond, though attainted, was permitted to hold her estates for life, or rather, they were thus conceded for that term to her husband, Lord Stanley, to bind him to the usurper. ”

“ Henry of Richmond, I neither admit nor combat your claim to the crown. Lancaster has many partisans, and the victory is yours. But as duke of York, I challenge and defy you. I call on you, either by person or by champion, to meet me in the lists, that I may defend my honour and maintain the right. Let us spare the people's blood. In single combat let my pretensions be set at issue; and my good sword shall cut to pieces the wicked lies and base traditions you have calumniously and falsely forged to my disgrace. ”

“ When Charles was dying he recommended Richmond to his brother, but James hated the Duchess of Portsmouth, and removed the duke from the mastership of the horse on 6 Feb. 1685, on the alleged ground that the office could not be exercised by deputy. James was more concerned, however, for the youth's spiritual prospects, and made his mother promise to rear him as a Roman catholic. Mother and son passed over to France about August 1685, and remained there for a year. Richmond was duly presented to Louis, and was well received. ”

“ When, however, the Duke of Richmond died in Montreal in 1819—a man whom everybody knew to be a sagacious and wise statesman, and whose many high employments had made him intimate with all the sovereigns and politics of Europe, and whose deep personal interests at stake gave to his opinions immense weight—and when he declared, a short time before his death, that "The surplus population of Europe, when not wanted for the armies and navies of their own land, would be permitted to flock here, and would be entitled to vote ”

“ On the introduction of the Catholic Emancipation Bill he became one of the most vigorous of Wellington's opponents, and spoke frequently against the bill and its ‘wings.’ If the ultra-tories could have formed a government, the duke was to have been lord-lieutenant of Ireland or first lord of the treasury (Greville, i. 205, where Richmond is characterised as having ‘a certain measure of understanding,’ and as ‘prejudiced, narrow-minded, illiterate, and ignorant, good-looking, good-humoured and unaffected, tedious, prolix, unassuming, and a duke’) . ”

“ Richmond was appointed chaplain to the late Duke of Kent, by whom he was honoured with a share of his Royal Highness's friendship. In 1817 Mr. R. was presented by the late Emperor Alexander of Russia, with a splendid ring, as a testimony of the approbation with which his Imperial Majesty viewed the narratives in this volume.
Many peaceful years were passed at Turvey. Happy in the bosom of his family, no man more excelled as a pattern of domestic virtues than Legh Richmond. ”

“ He was an usurper, and his cruelty had incensed the Duke of Buckingham, his favourite, to such a degree, that he contrived his ruin, and offered the crown to Henry Earl of Richmond, the only surviving Prince of the House of Lancaster, then at the court of France, on condition that he would marry Elizabeth, the eldest daughter of Edward IV. in order to unite the Houses of York and Lancaster -- Richard being informed of the affair, ordered the Duke to be instantly beheaded without a trial. ”

“ Surrey and the Duke were immediately arrested, and the personal attendance of Lady Richmond being of course indispensable, Sir John Gates and Sir Richard Southwell were sent down for her into Norfolk to Keninghall, and were directed to bring with her at the same time a certain Elizabeth Holland, an ambiguous favourite of the Duke who resided with his family. [48]
Lady Richmond, on learning the object of their visit, at first almost fainted. As soon as she could collect herself she fell on her knees and declared that she had always believed her father to be loyal. ”

“ In every way she was his enemy; besides that linked to her ruin was the sweet idea of confiscation, one ever entertained with delight by the money-loving king.
He assembled a council in his palace at Shene, which stood near where Richmond now stands. The chiefs of the English nobility were his counsellors. The duke of Buckingham, son of him who first favoured, and then rose against Richard the Third. The lords Dawbeny and Broke, who had been raised to the peerage for their services in the same cause. Lord and Sir William Stanley, men to whom Henry principally owed his crown. ”

“ He laid much stress on the belief that the example of the king would induce all orders of men to make equal sacrifices to the needs of their country. Richmond declared that he had no wish to curtail the pensions of those who had wasted their fortunes in the service of their country, as the Pelhams, for the Duke of Newcastle was said to have sunk five hundred thousand pounds during the years that he so fondly adhered to office. He gave the Ministers and the aristocracy credit for a disinterestedness which they did not possess. ”

“ A flag marked the place where King Richard died, near a small pond, and a white flag pointed out the position of Richmond's army.
Richard Plantagenet was born about the year 1450, of Lady Cecilia, wife of Richard, Duke of York, in the ancient castle of Fotheringhay, Northamptonshire; but his natal abode was swept away by order of our [Pg 303] first James, and we have perhaps no earlier relic of the Prince than his official seal as Admiral of England the date of which is fixed by Mr. Pettigrew between the years 1471 and 1475. ”

“ Couragious Richmond,
Well hast thou acquit thee: Loe,
Heere these long vsurped Royalties,
From the dead Temples of this bloudy Wretch,
Haue I pluck'd off, to grace thy Browes withall.
Weare it, and make much of it
Richm. Great God of Heauen, say Amen to all.
But tell me, is yong George Stanley liuing?
Der. He is my Lord, and safe in Leicester Towne,
Whither (if you please) we may withdraw vs
Richm. What men of name are slaine on either side?
Der. Iohn Duke of Norfolke, Walter Lord Ferris,
Sir Robert Brokenbury, and Sir William Brandon
Richm. ”