BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 91
The seconds think it proper to add, that both parties behaved with the utmost
coolness and intrepidity.
“ RAWDON.
‘ I WINCHILSEA
‘‘ Tuesday evening, May 26th.”
It is reported that her Majesty the Queen, who might have been supposed
inclined to resent an attempt upon the life of her son, so far from appearing to
do so, politely received the Colonel shortly afterwards at the Spanish ambassador’s
gala.
On the 28th Colonel Lennox found it necessary to solicit his Royal Highness,
as Colonel of the Coldstream Guards, to permit a call of the officers to
colisider of “ certain propositions touching his conduct and situation,” which the
Duke at once agreed to. The opinion of this military convention was as
follows :-“ It is the opinion of his Majesty’s Coldstream Regiment of Guards,
that Colonel Lennox, subsequent to the 15th instant, has behaved with courage,
but from the peculiarity of the circumstances, not with judgment.”
In consequence of this ambiguous decision, the Colonel and his friends
deemed it proper for him to leave the Guards. He, accordingly, on the 16th of
June, exchanged with Lord Strathaven of the 35th, which regiment was then
stationed in Edinburgh Castle ; previous to joining, however, Colonel Lennox
had occasion to fight another duel, a pamphlet having been published by one
Theophilus Swift, Esq., throwing reflections on the character of the Colonel.
The latter immediately called on Mr. Swift ; a meeting was the consequence, on
the morning of the 3d July, in a field near to the Uxbridge road-Mr. Swift
attended by Sir William Brown, and Colonel Lennox by Colonel Phipps. The
principals took their stations at the distance of ten paces, when Lennox, being
the injured party, was allowed to fire first. The ball took effect in the body of
Rlr. Swift,’ whose pistol went off without injury. Mr. Swift soon recovered
from the effects of the wound.
Colonel Lennox at length arrived in Edinburgh on the 21st of the month.
In the evening the Castle was illuminated in honour of his joining the regiment,
on which occasion he gave “ an excellent entertainment to the officers, and ten
guineas to the privates, to drink his health,” the officers also giving ten guineas
for the same purpose. Shortly after, he visited Gordon Castle, where he was
married to Lady Charlotte, eldest daughter of the Duke of Gordon, and niece
to the celebrated Lady Wallace.
About this time the Incorporation of Goldsmiths in Edinburgh made the
Colonel an honorary member of their body, and presented him with the free-
’ This gentleman’s father was nearly related to the celebrated Dean Swift, a life of whom he
published. After the Colonel’s succession to the Dukedom, and his appointment to the Lieutenancy
of Irelaud, in 1807, it occurred that &. Swift was one of the party at a ball given at Dublin Castle.
On being presented to the royal depute, Mr. Swift humorously remarked, “ This is a Werent ball
from that your Highness favoured me with the last time we met.”
92 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
dom in a silver snuff-box. In October of the same year, he had the freedom of
the city conferred upon him by the magistrates, at the same time with the
Right Honourable the Earl of Hopetoun, and two brothers of that nobleman,
John and Alexander Hope.
During the Colonel’s stay in Edinburgh, Mr. Kay mentions that he was much
beloved by all who knew him. He adds, “The Colonel is also a great player
at cricket, a game of which he was very fond, and at which he used to amuse
himself with the common soldiers-a degree of condescension, which, together
with the drink-money he gave them on such occasions, made them all very fond
of him.”
Colonel Lennox served afterwards in the Leeward Islands, and arrived in
St. Doming0 from Martinique with eight flank companies of foot, on the 8th
June 1794, just at the breaking out of that pestilential disease, the yellow fever,
to which forty officers and six hundred rank and file fell victims in two months.
In 1795 he was appointed aid-de-camp to the King, with the rank of Colonel
in the Army, and had the rank of Major-General conferred upon him in 1795.
In 1800 he was made Colonel-Commandant of the 35th foot, and farther promoted
to be Colonel of the same regiment in May 1803. He attained the rank
of Lieutenant-General in 1805.
At the general election in 1790, he was returned Member of Parliament for
the County of Sussex; at the next election, six years afterwards, he was re-chosen,
and again in 1802 and 1806, immediately after which, on the death of his
uncle, he succeeded to the Dukedom of Richmond and Lennox. On the first
of April 1807, his grace was sworn a Privy Councillor, and appointed Lord-
Lieutenant of Ireland. He was afterwards made Governor of Canada, where
he died in 181 9, and was succeeded in his titles by his son Charles,-the second
of a family of fourteen, the eldest being a daughter.
No. XL.
COLONEL HUNTER.
THIS gentleman was much above the ordinary height, and exceedingly corpulent.
It is said that
when the Colonel accompanied his regiment to the West Indies-a climate
proverbially fatal to Europeans-upon his arrival there, while superintending
the disembarkation of the regimental stores, he was much annoyed by a person
walking round and round him, and staring uncommonly at him. Surprised at
this singular surveillance, the Colonel asked what he wanted, when the fellow
very gravely replied, “ I am just wondering, sir, if I have a coffin large enough
for you.” This hint was not lost ; the Colonel took the earliest opportunity of
disappointing the speculative undertaker, by returning to his native country.
He was brother of Sir James Hunter Blab, Baronet.
