"Mr Milnes of Fryston was one of my earliest friends. After a sharp
contest with Mr Smyth of Heath he was returned for the Borough of
Pontefract. His Maiden speech in Parliament produced a very great
sensation; but a second speech which he made shortly after was considered
as a failure, though Mr Plummer Ward, himself no bad judge, declared it
was superior to the former and spoke highly of it. I rather think that
Milnes terminated it abruptly and was considered to have broken down. He
seems himself to have thought so for he made no further effort, and, soon
after, abandoning all political views, turned his mind entirely to
Agriculture.

"At that date Milnes was a wild, unstable creature, at one time devoting
his days and nights to reading; at another giving them up to play; at
another engrossed entirely with shooting; always agreeable, clever and
sarcastick, he was everything by fits but nothing long, yet always dearly
loved by his friends and companions, always a straightforward man, full of
high feeling and honour.

"Perhaps nothing will give a better idea of the wild spirit of his
character than an occurrence that took place in his youthful days. At a
time when Battues and a system of the preservation of game as it is now
carried on in Norfolk were little known in this part of the country, he
undertook the entire management of the game at Fryston, and succeeded in
stocking the Plantations there with abundance of Pheasants. Not content
with giving his orders to the keepers, he used frequently to accompany
them in their nightly watches.

"On one of these occasions they fell in with a party of poachers, who took
to their heels.