Person:William Best (15)

July 6, 1859 - Personal Remembrances of Sir Frederick Pollock

Dined at Vintners' Hall, at their great annual Kenton festival. It was on this occasion, or at some similar one in another year, that I heard the most successful after-dinner speech ever made. The late Lord Wynford, son of the first peer so long Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, was always the important guest at this dinner. His father, when Serjeant Best, had won a great case when at the bar as counsel for the Vintners' Company, and their gratitude was kept up in the next generation of the family. Before dinner Lord Wynford told me of his difficulty in finding something new to say in the speech which was always expected from him, and begged me for some hints. Of course I replied that he knew the place and its ways far better than I did, and that he had only to trust to the inspiration of the moment and all would be sure to go well. When his time came Lord Wynford went over the usual story of his father's connection with the Company, and its traditional maintenance with himself, and how he used to be brought to dine in their hall when a boy, and he wound up by saying : " As I grew older and was about to enter upon life, my father said to me, 'John, it is now my duty to give you some advice upon your conduct. You will be exposed to many temptations, you will often have to decide on what is right and what is wrong, and to take your course accordingly, and I have only one rule to lay down for you. When you are in doubt what to do, look at the Vintners' Company, do as they do, and you will certainly do right.' " This brought down thunders of applause, and I congratulated Lord Wynford as we were going away upon the immense hit he had made.

Wikipedia

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

William Samuel Best, 2nd Baron Wynford (19 February 1798 – 28 February 1869), was a British peer.

1. ↑ ^1.0 1.1 William Best, 2nd Baron Wynford, in Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia.