bury, on the
borders of Hampshire and Wilts, and espoused that of Steynham in Sussex,
where he generally resided. His favourite in the family had been the
Lady Emily, his eldest sister, who, contrary to the advice of her other
brothers and sisters, had yielded her hand to his not wealthy friend,
Colonel Richard Beauchamp. After the death of Nevil's parents, he
adopted the boy, being himself childless, and a widower. Childlessness
was the affliction of the family. Everard, having no son, could hardly
hope that his brother the Earl, and Craven, Lord Avonley, would have
one, for he loved the prospect of the title. Yet, as there were no
cousins of the male branch extant, the lack of an heir was a serious
omission, and to become the Earl of Romfrey, and be the last Earl of
Romfrey, was a melancholy thought, however brilliant. So sinks the sun:
but he could not desire the end of a great day. At one time he was a hot
Parliamentarian, calling himself a Whig, called by the Whigs a Radical,
called by the Radicals a Tory, and very happy in fighting them all
round. This was during the decay of his party, before the Liberals were
defined. A Liberal deprived him of the seat he had held for fifteen
years, and the clearness of his understanding was obscured by that black
vision of popular ingratitude which afflicts the free fighting man
yet more than the malleable public servant. The latter has a clerkly
humility attached to him like a second nature, from his habit of doing
as others bid him: the former smacks a voluntarily sweating forehead
and throbbing wounds for witness of his claim upon your palpable
thankfulness. It is an insult to tell him that he fought for his own
satisfaction. Mr. Romfrey still called himself a Whig, though it was
Whig mean vengeance on account of his erratic vote and voice on two or
three occasions that denied him a peerage and a seat in haven. Thither
let your good sheep go, your echoes, your wag-tail dogs, your wealthy
pursy manufacturers! He decried the attractions of the sublimer House,
and laughed at the transparent Whiggery of his party in replenishing it
from the upper shoots of the commonalty: 'Dragging it down to prop it
up! swamping it to keep it swimming!' he said.

He was nevertheless a vehement supporter of that House. He stood for
King, Lords, and Commons, in spite of his personal grievances, harping
the triad as vigorously as bard of old Britain. Commons he added out of
courtesy, or from usage