and the securities taken on the
loans. Mr. Wirt says that at length, apprehensive of a discovery of the
deficit, he, with his friends in the assembly, devised the scheme of the
loan-office the better to conceal it. The entire amount of the
defalcation was eventually recovered from the estate of Robinson, which
was sold in 1770 by Edmund Pendleton and Peter Lyons, surviving
administrators.[547:A] Burk attributes Robinson's death to the
mortification that he suffered on account of his defalcation. Bland and
Nicholas, in their letters addressed to Richard Henry Lee, allude to it
in terms of exquisite delicacy.

The first of the family of Speaker Robinson of whom we have any account
was John Robinson, of Cleasby, Yorkshire, England. His son John was
Bishop of Bristol, and British envoy at the court of Sweden; he was also
British plenipotentiary at the treaty of Utrecht, being, it is said, the
last divine employed in a service of that kind. He was afterwards Bishop
of London, in which office he continued until his death in 1723. Leaving
no issue he devised his real estate to his nephew, Christopher
Robinson, who had settled on the Rappahannock. His eldest son, John
Robinson, born in 1682, was president of the council. He married
Catherine, daughter of Robert Beverley, the historian. John Robinson,
Jr., their eldest son, was treasurer and speaker, and is commonly known
as "Speaker Robinson."[548:A] He resided at Mount Pleasant, on the
Matapony, in King and Queen, the house there having been built for him,
it is said, by Augustine Moore, of Chelsea, in King William, father of
Lucy Moore, one of his wives. Her portrait is preserved at Chelsea; his
is preserved by his descendants. His other wife was Lucy Chiswell. He
lies buried in the garden at Mount Pleasant.

FOOTNOTES:

[540:A] The following is a list of the council in 1764:--

The Honorable JOHN BLAIR, President.
William Nelson, | Philip Ludwell Lee,
Thomas Nelson, | John Tayloe,
Peter Randolph, | Robert Carter,
Richard Corbin, | Presley Thornton,
William Byrd, | Robert Barwell, Esquires.

Of the members of the house at this time may be mentioned the names of
Cabell, Cary, Wythe, Pendleton, Harrison, Marshall, Washington, Carter,
Robinson, Lee, Bland, Mercer, Page, Braxton, Henry, Nelson, and
Randolph.

[541:A] Two other resolutions were offered, but not by Henry, to the
effect that the people of Virginia w