OFFElt TO EGMONT . 17 highest legal ability to frame his memorials, which arc dis¬ tinguished by a mastery of the ancient feudal tenures of the kingdom, which elicited expressions of admiration from the government. The pertinacity with which he urged his scheme showed that he was not a man easily diverted from any settled purpose, and few governments could have resist¬ ed the powerful influence he brought to bear for the attain¬ ment of his object. There can bo little doubt that whatever might be the consequences of possession to the Lord Para ¬ mount himself and his family of nine children, the destiny of the island would have been far better in his keeping than in that of the men to whom it was afterwards unfortunately committed. In order to conciliate Lord Egmont , and make reparation to him for the trouble and expense to which he had been put in urging his scheme, the Board of Trade, by a minute dated the 5th of . Time , 1767, offered him any entire parish,—comprehending about one hundred thousand acres,— which he might select, but his lordship addressed a letter to the Board on the eleventh of the same month declining to take the grant.* * The writer has obtained liis information from manuscript copies of the jorigiual minutes of the Commissioners of Trade and Plantations.