[185] Brand.
May 16.
His Grace the Duke of Baubleshire
His Grace the Duke of Baubleshire,
Among the peers without compeer,
A noble lord of parliament,
Upon “his country’s good” intent,
Through Durham daily took his walk,
And talk’d, “ye gods, how he would talk!”
His private riches how immense!
His public virtue, how intense
Preeminent of all the great,
His mighty wisdom ruled the state!
His claims, to high consideration,
Brought deeper into debt the nation.
Was he not, then, a statesman? what,
Else, could he be?—for I know not.
A Remarkable Character.
On the sixteenth of May, 1796, died in Durham workhouse, at the advanced age of eighty-five years, the “duke of Baubleshire.” His title was neither ancestral, nor conferred by creation; but, as Napoleon is said to have placed the iron crown on his own head, and vowed to maintain it with his sword, so Thomas French assumed the title of duke of Baubleshire of his own will, and maintained his nobility throughout life, by wearing a star of coloured paper, or cloth, on the breast of his spencer. As a further mark of his quality, he mounted a cockade in his hat, and several brass curtain rings on his fingers. Thus decorated, and with a staff in his hand to support his feeble frame, he constantly tottered through Durham; every street of which ancient city acknowledged his distinction.