Lincoln's Inn.
_General Whitelocke_ (Vol. viii., p. 621.).--In reply to G. L. S., I well
remember this unfortunate officer residing at Clifton, near Bristol, up to
about the year 1826; but as I then removed to a distant part of the
kingdom, I cannot say where the rest of his life was spent. Although I was
then but young, the lapse of years has not effaced from my memory the
melancholy gloom of his countenance. If the information G. L. S. is seeking
should be of importance, I cannot but think he may obtain it on the traces
which have been given him. To which I may add, that up to a late period a
son of the General, who was brought up to the church, held a living near
Malton, Yorkshire; indeed, I believe he still holds it.
D. N.'s information, that General Whitelocke fixed his residence in
_Somersetshire_, may probably be correct; but it has occurred to me as just
possible that Clifton was the place pointed to, inasmuch as it is a vulgar
error, almost universal, that Bristol (of which Clifton may now be said to
be merely the _west end_) is in Somersetshire; whereas the fact is, that
the greater part of that city, and the whole of Clifton, are on the
Gloucestershire side of the Avon, there the boundary between the two
counties.
I may mention, that in a late number of _Tait's Magazine_, there was a
tale, half fiction and half fact, but evidently meant to appear the latter,
in which the narrator states that he was in the ranks in General
Whitelocke's army; and in that fatal affair, in which he was engaged, the
soldiers found that the flints had been removed from all the muskets, so as
to prevent their returning the enemy's fire! And this by order of their
General. Is not this a fresh invention? If so, it is a cruel one!