Читать книгу Biographical Notices of the Portraits at Hinchingbrook - Mary Louisa Boyle - Страница 9
Charles, Lord Wilmot:
ОглавлениеBy HAWKER.
Half-Length: Oval.
(A Boy in a Blue Mantle.)
Born, ——. He was the only son of John, Earl of Rochester. Died in 1681, a minor and unmarried, when the title became extinct. With all his faults Lord Rochester appears to have loved his only boy tenderly, and to have earnestly desired to keep him from the evils into which he himself had fallen. The following letter addressed by the father to the son is a touching proof of these better feelings:
“To my Lord Wilmot:—
I hope, Charles, when you receive this and know that I have sent this gentleman to be your tutor, you will be very glad to see I take such care of you, and be very grateful, which is the best way of showing your obedience. You are now grown big enough to be a man, if you are wise enough, and the way to be truly wise, is to serve God, learn your books, observe the instructions of your parents first, and next your Tutor, to whom I have entirely resigned you for these seven years, and according as you employ that time you are to be happy or unhappy for ever. But I have so good an opinion of you that I am glad to think you will never deceive me. Dear child, learn your book and be obedient, and you shall see what a father will be to you. You shall want no pleasure, while you are good, and that you may be so is my constant prayer.
Rochester.”