blood-vessel. When Lord Hardwicke saw him for the last time on the 19th
he was 'extremely ill'; 'there was a glimmering of hope on the 20th in
the morning, but he died that day about five in the evening.'

This is the summary of the evidence, which to my mind is conclusive.
Unless one assumes a conspiracy of silence between Lord Hardwicke and
Mrs. Yorke, I do not see that I can reasonably admit any other
hypothesis. I therefore claim that phrase of his brother's as a solution
of the supposed mystery of Charles Yorke's death.

If hereafter the vague rumours which have so long been current should be
supported by any real evidence, my judgment will be disputed, but I am
glad to have this opportunity of asserting my own firm conviction that
the version of the unhappy affair given in the family papers is correct,
and that Charles Yorke's death was due to natural causes.

Charles Yorke was twice married. His first wife was a daughter of
Williams Freeman, Esq., of Aspeden, Hertfordshire, by whom he had a son
Philip. This son succeeded his uncle as third Earl of Hardwicke, he
inherited the Tittenhanger and other estates (which passed away to his
daughters on his death in 1834) from his mother, and he is still
remembered for his wise and liberal administration as the first Lord-
Lieutenant of Ireland after the Union (from 1801 to 1806), the
irritation and unrest caused by which measure he did much to allay.
[Footnote: A recent publication, _The Viceroy's Post Bag_, by Mr.
MacDonagh, gives some curious details of his correspondence from the
Hardwicke Papers at the British Museum.] As a Whig he had always been in
favour of Catholic Emancipation in Ireland, and though he agreed to
postpone it on joining Addington's Administration, he adhered to the
cause till its triumph in 1829; and he gave a qualified support to the