The Sun.
London, England, 1839-10-25 00:00:00

THE LATE DIME OF BEDFORD.

(From a Correspondent of the Morning Chronicle.)
" Multis Me bonis flebilis occidit."
Nothing extenuate,
Nor set down aught in malice."
When a " Master in Israel" has fallen, however
turbulent or exciting have been the times in which
he lived, the mind which excludes not the best
feelings of human nature will turn from public and
national differences to those qualities of private dis-
position which embalm the memory of the dead with
fragrance of unalloyed sweetness. Happy is it for
the living and the dead when, apart from all feel-
ings which engender strife, it may be said of him
who is gone, " He was a good man !"
The Duke of Bedford was, as has been already
stated, in the seventy-fourth year of his age. By
his first wife, daughter of Lord Torrington, he has
left three sons, whose names are sufficiently known.
By his second wife, daughter of the Duke of Gor-
don, a lady much younger than himself, he has left
a numerous family, of whom Lord Wriothesley, the
eldest, is in the Church ; Lord Charles, M.P. for
Bedfordshire ; a daughter, Lady Louisa, is married
to the Marquis of Abercorn ; and the sons are prin-
cipally in the army and navy.
During the lifetime of his first wife, who died in
1801, the Duke lived in retirement with the in-
come of a younger brother, much of his attention,
as well as that of his lady being given to private
benevolence, in which it is said they exceeded the
convenience of their means. In the• year 1802, on
the sudden death of his brother Francis, he suc-
ceeded to the title, removed to the principal family
seat at Woburn, and married the present Dowager
Duchess. At Woburn was the largest portion of
each year spent up to his lamented death, and it is
principally as a country nobleman and landlord that
this humble sketch is intended to exhibit him.
Politics may be dismissed in a few words. The
Duke was a consistent " Old Whig,"* and his
principles will therefore be viewed through the
~ colouring" of each man's " spectacles." But it
was never attempted to be denied that his conduct
was conscientious and disinterested. Interest, in
fact, he had little occasion for; and if he had, he was
not the man to cringe or compromise. A " revolu-
tionist" he certainly never was in the least degree, one
proof of which was, that in the most perilous time
he was active in raising and commanding a squadron
of volunteer cavalry. Nor was he at all a latitudi-
narian in religion. The chapel of Woburn, which
—amongst greater alterations—he ornamented with
organ, altar-piece, and communion plate, had his
presence at the service, including the sacrament ;
and honest and deserving clergymen, either " or-
thodox" or " evangelical," had his patronage, as
also religious societies. In education it is well
known that he coincided with Lord Brougham.
His principles were vindicated from some attacks
in your paper a very short time before his death
(Oct. 1). An old charity school at Woburn,
founded by his family, was extended by him, and
two or three other schools were established by him-
self or the Duchess.
The Duke was characterised by a strong natural
reserve, except when in his family or familiar so-
ciety, which was often supposed to partake of hau-
teur. But of the offensive quality of this feeling,
which has any wish to give pain or any pleasure
e"ri making inferiority felt, lie had not an iota.
1-I.e was not the man to whom Sterne addressed
his
iniercing rebuke, " Thou art rich, and standest
deifies,' by a numerous tribe of cringing expectants.
What t.hen ? Art thou proud, because they are
hungry ?''' If however, any embarrassment was
felt from diffe. rence of station, no honest person, of
any rank, feared the Duke, because he knew he
was just ; and what is even better, merciful. He
was also a forgiving inae,• It he considered that he
had experienced disrespect or offence, the party on
i expressing acknowledgement and regret was re-
stored to his favour and kindness.
The Duke, though not a showy, was a sound
man. Amongst other things, he was a good clas-
sical scholar. An eminent Conservative Bishop
.(Dr. Kaye, of Lincoln), may remember a circum-
stance (related the writer by a gentleman intimately
connected with a London Conservative Paper),
that on passing a day or two in company with the
Duke, he was actually surprised at the great flu-
ency of historical and general knowledge which his
Glace displayed.
Agriculture materially engaged the first twelve
years of his Dukedom. It was then a fashionable
subject—when noble hands would " handle sheep."
But there is no doubt that much solid and perma-
nent good is the practical result. IVlany can recol-
lect the stirring festivities of the " Woburn sheep-
shearing,"-f the disuse of which, however less neces-
sary it had become, was much regretted at the time.
i The excitement and benefit a, Woburn, during the
three days, nearly equalled that of the " Eglinton
Tournament."
1 In Devonshire, as well as in Bedfordshire and
everywhere else, where he had estates, the Duke
was reckoned, even by persons of the most oppo-
site principles, " a good landlord." Comfortable
and occasionally ornamental cottages were built for
the poor, and let at a low rate. Of the " New
Poor-law," a subject. on which so much honest dif-
,ference of opinion exists, and on which the writer
re grets that he differed from the Duke, or to speak
mo re honestly, that the Duke differed from him,
he belie Jes ham to be a most conscientious, but by
no means " out-and-out" supporter. In fact, the
tenor of his disposition must have been rather to
" mitigate" tilan to " strain."
For many years previous to the year 1816 the
Duke had made many ornamental additions to the
Is
noble domain of Woburn. About this period he
visited Italy, &c. for two years, and formed that
splendid collection of statuary, sculpture, and an-
cient relics which fill the Sculpture Gallery, for-
me?ly the greenhouse, a noble apartment, with its
adjulact, 200 feet long, at Woburn Abbey. Here
are to be seen, not only some of the finest produc-
tions of the chisel of the amiable Canova, West-
macott, &c., &c., but a really fine and full collec-
tion of ancient sculpture, vases, torsi, &c., some
with perfect and hateresting inscriptions, which is
hardly to be excelled by any private collection inEu-
rope. An account wkas published in a large folio
volume, privately printed by Dr. Hunt; and an-
other in a " History of Voburn, the Abbey, and
the Russell Family,' publisl;ed in 1831. A very
handsome " triumphal arch" e.ntrance to the park
had been erected some years beibre. His Grace's
patronage of British painters and other artists is
well known, if only from the engraving of Hay-
ter's picture " Lord William Russell's Trial," for
which the Duke gave him a commission of 1,500
guineas.
i In the year 1830, the Duke rebuilt, in a very ,
handsome and permanent manner, Covent-garden
Market, which belongs to the Russell family, at an
expense of 40,0001., forming a very desirable im-
provement to the metropolis. It is singular that
one of his last public acts was giving an immediate
assent to the erection of an additional convenience
et the west end, which is scarcely completed, and
Will be looked at with a melancholy interest. In
the same year (1830) the Duke rebuilt, nearly from
the foundation, the tower of Woburn Church,
which had fallen into deeay. The new tower is a
loft- • . -
~.. J and handsome one, with a lantern and flying
ciuttresses2 having
St. Danstan.s‘., a much finer effect than that of
decorated, and ra
eet-street. The chance) was also
grand painted window inserted at
the east end. The whole of these were from the
designs of Mr. Blore F.S A at an expense of
4,0004 It would be
.something less than common
justice to omit, that not only in various elegant im-
provements in the country., but in the more impor-
tant points of charity and beneficence, the Duke
was fully aided or prompted from
natural impulse,
by the present Duchess Dowager.
This brings the writer to the last, but anything
but least part of the narrative. The Duke has left
a blessed example of private charity
and kindness,
the details of which, though some of them
minadness,
y ap-

• In the " Sculpture Gallery" at Woburn asp Temple
of Liberty, with an elegant lonic portico, containing the
busts of the principal Whig statesmen at the commence_
ment of the present cantury. On the frieze is the follow_
ing inscription :—" fianc cdem libertati sacram, et a viro
patrim, bonorumque eiv ium amantis'simo, Francisco Russell
Bedfordias duce inchoalam, Johannes Russell hmres ejus
ea voluntate fratris morientis perficieudam curavit. Anno
Christi,
t There was a painting by Garrard, containing por-
traits of the Duke of York, Lord Somerville, Scc. &C.,
from which a large folio engraving was made.
t The writer believes that the Duke was Lord-L.ieute-
nax .t of Ireland in the year 1806: but in this really im-
pron,'Ptu sketch, is uncertain as to dates. His career thcre
was qciet, but by no means unpopular. It was during ht. 3
absence ill that a false report of an assassination by
brigands, caused a regret in the neighbourhood of Woburn,
which will Iln tit be but too real,
The Dilagave 2,300/. to the " Metropolis Churcbes
Fand."

• -*/

pear simple, are very worthy of record and imita-
tion. At Woburn, which, of course, was not the
whole or largest field of his benevolence, soup was
given to the poor weekly. Wine was given to
them, on application, in sickness. Fuel was sold
to them at reduced prices during the winter. The
privilege of once a week picking up and carrying
home the collected " fallen wood" in the noble park
of three thousand five hundred acres, abounding in
trees, was much greater than a stranger could sup-
pose. Every Christmas 100 guineas was given
to the clergyman of the parish to be distributed in
meat, fuel, and clothing. Perhaps there was never
a case, public or private, fairly brought before the
Duke, that he did not respond to more or less, ac-
cording to his opinion ; and if his benevolence was
never excessive, it was steady—it could be calculated
on. To the writer's knowledge, one of the last
letters he could have written was one of active kind-
ness, and that where his patience had been rather
severely taxed. No doubt his charities will be
continued by his successor, on whom may the
mantle of his benevolence fully fall.
A good, mild, and merciful spirit—one of those
which can ill be spared—has been withdrawn from
this mortal scene. An old man, of the mighty of
the land, after an honourable career, has been ga-
thered, full of years, to his fathers. Peace be with
him /—not in the Roman, but in the true Catholic
sense of the universal feeling of mankind. Gently
may the earth lie on his mourned body 1 and plea-
sant be his waking by the " quiet waters," where
the conditions of blissful re-union are faith, love,
mercy, brotherly kindness, and charity, P.
London, October 23.