[156] Chauncey Townshend. They were not related to Lord Townshend’s family. [Mr. James Townsend was at this time M.P. for West Looe. Lord Shelburne brought him in for Calne on Mr. Dunning’s elevation to the peerage, and he represented that borough till his death in 1787. He spoke at times with considerable effect in the House of Commons. One quality very requisite to the success of a popular leader he certainly possessed,--and that was, resolution; he showed it on all occasions. I have heard, on good authority, that a highway robbery having once been committed in his neighbourhood, he disguised himself as a countryman, and with his friend, the late Mr. Parker of Munden, in Hertfordshire, set out in search of the offender, and succeeded in overpowering and apprehending him. Mr. Parker used to dwell on the man’s ludicrous astonishment in discovering that his captors were gentlemen.--E.] [157] Daughter of Sir Orlando Bridgman. His second wife was Miss Stevenson. She died a few weeks after the marriage.--E. [158] Mr. John Sawbridge, of Olantigh, in Kent, grandson of Jacob Sawbridge, M.P., the South Sea Director. He was a man of strong understanding and upright principles. He is said to have had a coarse figure, and still coarser manners (Wraxall’s Posthumous Memoirs, vol. i. p. 105), but he did not want refinement of feeling. Highly as he prized the popular favour, he at once sacrificed it at the coalition, rather than abandon Mr. Fox. Wilkes, Townshend, and many of the leading Patriots were on this occasion found among the King’s friends; and Sawbridge, instead of being as usual at the head of the poll, saved his seat by only seven votes. He represented the City till his death in 1793. John S. W. Sawbridge Earle Drax, Esq., M.P. is his grandson and lineal representative.--E. [159] Cavendish, vol. i. p. 100.--E. [160] He was the eldest son of Lieutenant-General Richard Onslow, a younger brother of the Speaker, by Miss Walton, the niece and heiress of the gallant Admiral Sir George Walton. He succeeded his father as Member for Guilford in 1760, and continued to represent it until 1784. He died in 1792.--E. [161] Sir Edward Deering, Bart., of Surrenden Deering in Kent, and one of the representatives of New Romney. He was an opulent and influential country gentleman. He died in 1798.--E. [162] It was to excite the magistrates to do their duty against riots, promising them protection. It was interpreted as preparatory to a massacre.