Note 194 — No. XXII.

[The hero of the above song was Charles Howard, eleventh Duke of Norfolk, who both as a member of the House of Commons (while Earl of Surrey), and afterwards as a peer, was one of Fox’s most strenuous supporters. Sir N. Wraxall thus describes him: “Nature, which cast him in her coarsest mould, had not bestowed on him any of the external insignia of high descent. His person, large, muscular, and clumsy, was destitute of grace or dignity, though he possessed much activity. At a time when men of every description wore hair-powder and a queue, he had the courage to cut his hair short, and to renounce powder, which he never used except when going to court. In his youth he led a most licentious life, having frequently passed the whole night in excesses of every kind, and even lain down, when intoxicated, occasionally to sleep in the streets, or on a block of wood. In cleanliness he was negligent to so great a degree that he rarely made use of water for the purpose of bodily refreshment and comfort.” Complaining one day to Dudley North that he was a martyr to the rheumatism, and had ineffectually tried every remedy for its relief, “Pray, my lord,” said he, “did you ever try a clean shirt?” It must not be forgotten, however, that he was a munificent patron of literature, for he defrayed the entire expense of printing Taylor’s Translation of Plato, 5 vols. 4to.; Dallaway’s History of Sussex, 2 vols. 4to.; and Duncumb’s History of Herefordshire, 2 vols. The initials B. O. B. refer to Mr. (afterwards Sir Robert) Adair, who is often alluded to in these pages.—Ed.]