potentiary to France. On his return he was elected a Knight of the Garter and Lord Steward of the King's Household, and was also a Colonel of the West Kent Militia. He was born at March 24, 1745; and died at his seat, Knowle, near Sevenoaks, July 19, 1799, aged 54, but was buried at Withyham, in Sussex. The title became extinct with his son,[1] who was killed while out hunting, being thrown from his horse at Killiney[2] in Ireland, Feb. 14, 1815, aged 21.
'The Duke' is celebrated in verse in the Gentleman's Magazine of 1773, as follows:—
Equalled by few he plays with glee,
Nor peevish seeks for victory,
His Grace for bowling cannot yield
To none but Lumpy in the field,
And far unlike the modern way
Of blocking every ball at play
He firmly stands with bat upright
And strikes with his athletic might,
Sends forth the ball across the mead,
And scores six notches for the deed.
Though he gave up cricket when he went as ambassador to France in 1784, and did not (it seems) resume play on his return, still he nearly was the means of an Eleven of England going to Paris. He, while there, wrote to Yalden (who was captain of the Eleven) to get an eleven together to go over and show the art. The Eleven was chosen, and the following was the list. W. Yalden, H. Attfield, John Edmeads, Earl of Tankerville,— Wood, W. Bedster, Lumpy, G. Fry, D. Etheridge, Stephen Harding, and the Duke of Dorset. They had got to Dover on their way, when to their great surprise the Duke of Dorset had returned, being compelled to flee from France, upon the breaking out of the revolution there, and the match had therefore to be abandoned.
