2-799-056 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The late Duke of Grafton, 1844. Portrait of British peer and politician George Henry FitzRoy, 4th Duke of Grafton. 'Men born to ducal dignity and princely revenues are found, at least, as frequently as others, to be deficient in the intellectual aptitude, no less than in the requisite industry, for practical life. To this rule the subject of the present notice cannot be said to have formed any very striking or brilliant exception. He was a man of respectable talents, but of no very great attainments; the records of Parliament, therefore, contain fewer evidences of his ability as a legislator than of his zeal as a partisan, and his activity as a politician....After a lengthened retirement of nearly twenty years, he has quietly sunk to rest, leaving behind him numerous descendants to perpetuate his honours and enjoy his wealth'. From "Illustrated London News", 1844, Vol V.