was an English colony. For several years the family fluctuated
between Tours and Elstree, and we hear of a great yellow chariot which
from time to time rolled into daylight. Richard's hair gradually turned
from its fiery and obtrusive red to jet black, but the violent temper
of which the former colour is supposed to be indicative, and of which he
had already many times given proofs, signalised him to the end of life.
In 1823 Mrs. Burton gave birth to a daughter, Maria Katharine Elisa, who
became the wife of General Sir Henry Stisted; and on 3rd July 1824 to a
son, Edward Joseph Netterville, both of whom were baptized at
Elstree. [34] While at Tours the children were under the care of their
Hertfordshire nurse, Mrs. Ling, a good, but obstinately English soul who
had been induced to cross the Channel only after strenuous opposition.

3. Death of Richard Baker, 16th September 1824.

Richard Burton always preserved some faint recollections of his
grandfather. "The first thing I remember," he says, "was being brought
down after dinner at Barham House to eat white currants, seated upon the
knee of a tall man with yellow hair and blue eyes." This would be in the
summer of 1824. Mr. Baker, as we have seen, had intended to leave the
whole of his property--worth about half a million--to his red-haired
grandson; and an old will, made in 1812, was to be cancelled. But
Burton's mother had a half brother--Richard Baker, junior--too whom she
was extravagantly attached, and, in order that this brother should not
lose a fortune, she did everything in her power to prevent Mr. Baker
from carrying out his purpose. Three years passed away, but at last Mr.
Baker resolved to be thwarted no longer, so he drove to his lawyer's.
It was the 16th of September 1824. He reached the door and leapt nimbly
from his carriage; but his foot had scarcely touched the ground before
he fell dead of heart disease. So the old will had to stand, and the
property, instead of going to Burton, was divided among the children
of Mr. Baker, Burton's mother taking merely her share. But for this
extraordinary good hap Richard Burton might have led the life of an
undistinguished country gentleman; ingloriously breaking his dogs,
training his horses and attending to the breed of stock. The planting of
a quincunx or the presentation of a pump to the parish might have proved
his solitary title to fame. Mr. Baker was buried at Elstree church,
where may be seen a tabl