Page:Reminisences of Captain Gronow.djvu/242
Sicilies; in fact, so notorious was that liaison, that Hesse was eventually expelled from Naples under an escort of gendarmes. He was engaged in several affairs of honour, in which he always displayed the utmost courage; and his romantic career terminated by his being killed in a duel by Count Léon, natural son of the first Napoleon. He died as he had lived, beloved by his friends, and leaving behind him little but his name and the kind thoughts of those who survived
Visiting in the Country.—When I returned to London from Paris, in 1815, upon promotion, I was accompanied by Colonel Brooke, who was good enough to invite me to pass some time at his brother's, Sir E. Brooke, in Cheshire, upon the occasion of the christening of his eldest son. The fête was truly magnificent, and worthy of our excellent host; and all the great people of the neighbouring counties were present.
Soon afterwards I went to the Hale, a country house near Liverpool, belonging to Mr. Blackburn, one of the oldest members of the House of Commons, where many persons, who had been at Sir Richard Brooke's, met again. Mr. Black-