BEAU BRUMMELL Vol. I. Belles oeau " Ttyised his gun and brought them both Original painting by H. Wesley Rand Beau? & Belles of Beau Brummell Volume I. Written by Captain Jesse Printed by The Grolier Society London IMPERIAL EDITION Limited to One Thousand Copies for England and America 345 Edinborougb Press PREFACE PROTECTED by the example of the amiable author of "The Deserted Village," who did not consider the biography of Beau Nash too trifling a subject for his pen, and encouraged by some little success in a former attempt at authorship, I venture to take another shot at that target which still con- tinues to be the object of my ambition, the approbation of those who read. The desire to please is not, however, always attended with suc- cess, for the very simple reason that it is impos- sible to please everybody ; and those who expect to find in the " Life of George Brummell " a delightful dish of scandal, will, no doubt, exclaim, " His shot has gone very wide of the mark." I could, it is true, have served up one so hot, that it would have shrivelled up the ears of the most inveterate lovers of it ; but, to repeat the anec- dotes I have heard the Beau relate, of the orgies of Carlton House, of tippling dowagers, doting ex-chancellors, shy generals, and b d jewels, etc., forms no part of my intention ; and, even if it were desirable that Brummell's gossip on such subjects should be repeated, it would be impossible 2073692 vi PREFACE to vouch for its authenticity ; for no one so de- lighted in mystifying and hoaxing people as he did, or could so readily find imaginary, and very plausible, proofs, when the truth of his fictions was assailed. That he wrote some detached papers in the shape of reminiscences, there can be no doubt ; many passages in his letters prove this. In the centre of his diminutive garden, under the ram- parts at Calais, which he frequented a good deal during the summer months, there was a small pavilion ; and here, when the heat obliged him to lay aside his hoe or rake, he amused himself with his pen. The commonplace book in which he inserted these memoranda was secured by a lock, and one of his great friends, who, in his way through Calais, occasionally spent a portion of the day with him in his retreat, informed me that Brummell once drew his attention to the manu- script calling it " his book of life," and saying, as he turned carelessly over the leaves, " Here is a chapter on Carlton House ; here one on Mrs. Fitz- herbert and the prince ; this is devoted to Lady H ," etc. This book was in his possession at Caen, and, as it lay on his table, he sometimes pointed it out to his visitors, remarking that it con- tained recollections of his own life and descriptions of the gay world he had formerly lived in. Indeed, it appeared almost as if he kept a diary, for, dining one day at Mr. Villiers's, he said to the lady of the PREFACE vil house, " Mrs. Villiers, I was looking at my journal yesterday, and I see that it was on this very day two years that I had the pleasure of making your acquaintance." These, and many other reasons, render it more than probable that Brummell not only recorded the events of his past life, but also of each day, or perhaps week. Nothing, however, has been heard of these papers since his death ; perhaps they were destroyed by him when imbe- cility had set the seal of unconsciousness upon his actions, or he may have delivered them up, for a pecuniary consideration, to those who were most interested in obtaining possession of them. It is, however, a highly honourable trait hi his char- acter, that he did not, amidst all his troubles and difficulties, publish them for his own benefit. When in jail at Caen for debt, he said to Monsieur Godefroi, one of his fellow prisoners, " I have letters of the royal family, of Lord Byron, and others, the sale of which would produce me more than sufficient to pay my debts ; but I will not part with them, for I should compromise several families." Mr. Leleux, his landlord at Calais, also informed me that a London publisher had offered his lodger a thousand pounds if he would give up his memoirs. "When this proposition was made to Mr. Brummell," said Mr. Leleux, "he was in great distress, and I frequently asked him why he did not accept it. To this he usually made some frivolous excuse ; but on one occasion, when pressed viii PREFACE hard for his real reason, he said, ' I promised the Duchess of York that I would not publish any notes of mine during the lifetime of George the Fourth, or his brothers ; and I am under so many obligations to her, and have such a deep respect for her generous and amiable conduct to me in our early friendship, and since, that I would rather go to jail than forfeit my word. She is the only link that binds me in this matter.' " At Brum- mell's death several packets of letters, tied up with different coloured ribbons, and carefully num- bered, a miniature, a silver shaving-dish, a gold ring, and a few silver spoons were found in a trunk at the hotel. The miniature and letters were taken possession of by the vice-consul, and the remaining effects by the landlord, in liquida- tion of an account which had only been partially cancelled. This person said that in the same parcel with the letters was another, containing a great many locks of hair. They were each of them in a separate envelope, and, on the outside of one, in Brummell's handwriting, was the follow- ing remark : " Lady W , la femme la plus coquette du monde" From the foregoing remarks, therefore, the reader will understand that, with the exception of his letters, and the poetry taken from his album, I was not assisted in the compilation of this memoir by any papers left by Brummell, nor by any obtained from his family (to whom I applied), for they had none to give me, but by PREFACE ix information which I collected from various sources. Amongst the numerous attempts that have been made in the novels of the day to delineate Brum- mell's character, Trebeck, in " Granby," was the only one that he considered successful. I once heard him say, " Lister must have known those who were intimate with me : " from this clever and entertaining book I have made one or two extracts. The principal portion of the materials, however, from which the sketch of his early career has been drawn, was procured from friends who were intimate with him. The description of the last years of his life is the result of my own obser- vations, and that of those who were constantly about him. To them, and to those noblemen and gentlemen who were kind enough to reply to my inquiries, I beg to return my acknowledgments ; and in conclusion I have merely to add that, what- ever imperfections the work may have, whether as to the choice of subject, the style, or execution, I have carefully refrained from any attempt to enliven it by the introduction of anecdotes, which, though witty and amusing, would have wounded the feelings of others. In this, at least, I trust I have not failed. W. JESSE. JUNIOR UNITED SERVICE CLUB, March) CONTENTS CHAPTER I. PAGB Early Distinctions in Dress Milton's Eve The Roman Exquisite The Native Princes of Britain Hotspur's Fop The Beaux in the Reign of Charles the Second Beau Hewitt Beau Wilson Beau Fielding Beau Edgeworth Beau Nash Petrarch Lord Byron The Abbe* Delille The Prince de Kaunitz English Fops I CHAPTER II. Brummell's Origin The Death of His Grandfather Lord Liverpool Patronises His Father, and Subsequently Introduces Him to Lord North Made Private Secre- tary to That Nobleman The Richardson Family George and His Aunt Brawn Lord North's Regard for Brummell's Father Instructions for a Prince and for the Representatives of the People Mr. Brummell's Re- tirement from Public Life Donnington Sheridan and Miss White Death of Mr. and Mrs. Brummell . .16 CHAPTER III. Buck Brummell at Eton His Gentlemanly Deportment The Windsor Bargeman The Sporting High Sheriff xii CONTENTS PACK His Novel Estimate of Character Dame Young Description of George by the Captain of Her House His Great Dexterity in Toasting Cheese His Pecca- dilloes Doctor L. Brummell Enters at Oriel College, Oxford His Consumption of Midnight Oil There Leaves the University Is Gazetted to a Cornetcy in the Tenth Introduced to the Prince of Wales In Attendance on His Royal Highness at His Marriage The Blue Nose Reasons for Disliking the Army Retires from the Service 28 CHAPTER IV. Brummell Attains His Majority, though Not in the Tenth Establishes Himself in Chesterfield Street His Fig- ure and Countenance His Style of Dress A French Author's Opinion of Him The Dandies, English and Indian Wraxall's Description of Dress in 1794 Brum- melFs Cravat His Method of Tying It His Con- demnation of the Duke of Bedford's Coat The Beau's Tailors " Superfine " and "Bath Coating" The Prince of Wales's Wardrobe Brummell's Dress at the Cover Side 47 CHAPTER V. Brummell's Extreme Neatness Lord Byron's Opinion of His Outward Appearance Leigh Hunt's The Beau's Cleanliness His Precautions to Ensure It Why Country Gentlemen Were Disqualified for Becoming Members of Watier's Mr. Pitt's Opinion of Them Brummell's Manners and Tastes Lord Chesterfield's Gentleman Lord P 's Snuff-cellar The ex-Garde- du-Corps The Gentleman of the Old School Innova- tions, not Improvements The Minuet and Cotillons American Manners 63 CONTENTS xiii CHAPTER VI. PAGE Brummell's Accomplishments In London during the Month of November His Friend, the Duke of Bedford Visits to Woburn, Belvoir, etc. Fete on the Duke of Rutland's Coming of Age Brummell Is Mistaken for the Prince of Wales His Indifference to Field Sports Nimrod's Opinion of His Riding Thomas Asheton Smith His Reason for Riding at an Impossibility The Major of the Belvoir Volunteers The Regular and the Irregular Brummell's Stud The Late Duchess of Rutland The Beau's Friends and Associates at Bel- voir 76 CHAPTER VII. Brummell's Influence in Society Proofs of It The Young Debutante at Almack's The Hogshead of Martinique Brummell's Assurance Mr. Lister's Elucidation of That Subject Mrs. Johnson Thompson Brummell and Wyndham The Dinner at Mr. R.'s, and the Ride to Lady Jersey's The Horrid Discovery The Double Distress 90 CHAPTER VIII. Practical Jokes The Emigre Mr. Snodgrass The Beau's Canine Friend Affectation J. W. C r, and Bloomsbury Square Brummell's Mots A Trav- elled Bore Vegetable Diet A Limping Lounger A New Way of Accounting for a Cold A Bad Summer The Advantages of Civility Prince Boothby and Mrs. Clopton Parthericke Sheridan's Bet . . . .103 CHAPTER IX. Brummell's Softer Moments His Numerous Offers His Honesty in Love Affairs The Intended Mrs. Brum- xiv CONTENTS PAGB mell His Flirtations and Love-letters His Great Pop- ularity with the Fair Sex His Good Nature Miss Seymour's Letter to Him BrummelPs Regard for Her . 113 CHAPTER X. Another of BrammelPs Correspondents Lady Hester Stan- hope Her Letter to Him Admiral Sir Bladen Capel Lady Hester's Droll Reason for That Officer's Being Sent to the Mediterranean The Late Lord Berwick Lady Hester Leaves England Her Mountain Home at Mar Elias Admirable Description of Her Ladyship, and Her Residence There by a Friend of the Author's Her Opinion of Brummell Her Adoption of Eastern Superstitions Her Courage The Holy Gate of Da- mascus Lady Hester's Reply to the British Consul at Cairo Her Personal Appearance 125 CHAPTER XI. BrummelPs Album His Letter Presenting It to a Friend Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire Lines on the Death of Hare Wraxall's Description of Her Grace Her Fascinating Manners and Love of Dress and Dis- sipation Lord Carlisle's Apology for Her Plume Her Friend Charles Fox His Lines on the Death of Her Favourite Spaniel A Scale of the Beauties of 1793 Mrs. Bouverie and Charles Fox . . . .140 CHAPTER XII. The Duchess of Devonshire Her Follies and Infirmities Taste for Play at this Period Charles Fox and the Jews His Lines on the Gaming-table The Duchess's Kindness of Heart Her Enthusiasm The Contest for Westminster in 1784 Anecdotes of, and Squibs Let Off, at This Election The Duchess's Poem of " The Passage of the St. Gothard " Her Knowledge of French CONTENTS xv PAGE and Italian Her Translation of One of Petrarch's Sonnets 153 CHAPTER XIII. The Duchess's Fugitive Poetry The Late Lord Morley Borino the Brave His Feats at Melton Described in Verse by George Ellis Short Notice of That Gentle- man The Duchess of Devonshire's Lines on a Bust of Charles James Fox Her Verses from a Blind Man to His Wife Death of Her Grace Anecdote of Lady Besborough Elizabeth, Duchess of Devonshire Gib- bon in Love Sketch of Her Grace's Character Her Patronage of Literature, and Antiquarian Researches . 166 CHAPTER XIV. Brummell a Whig, but no Politician General Fitzpatrick His Contributions to the Beau's Album His Lines on a Proposed Grant of Money for the Prosecution of the War Mrs. Miller of Bath-Easton Horace Wai- pole's Description of Her Castles in the Air The Late Lord Palmerston His Epitaph on His Wife Lord Upper Ossory Lady Tyrconnel Lines Ad- dressed to Her by That Nobleman Lady Upper Ossory 185 CHAPTER XV. Lord John Townshend Lady Hunloke Sir Robert Adair Poem of Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire's, Sup- posed to Be Addressed to Sir Robert Adair, by Lady Hunloke Sir Robert Adair's Reply to Lady Hunloke, by Lord John Townshend Sir Gregory Page Turner Sir G. Osborne Turner Sir Thomas Tyrwhitt Jones Mr. Robson, M. P. 198 xvi CONTENTS CHAPTER XVI. PAGE Charles Sturt, M. P. for Bridport His Gallantry in Rescu- ing Some Shipwrecked Seamen His Perilous Adven- ture and Great Presence of Mind Mr. Sturt in the House of Commons The Young Ensign and the Town Clerk The Reverend Pell Akehurst An Imaginary Address of His to the Countess of Besborough, by Lord John Townshend Lines by the Same Nobleman to the Memory of His Daughter The Foreign Grave Lord John Townshend's Death 211 CHAPTER XVII. Estimation in Which Brummell Was Held by Clever Men The Poet Crabbe's Opinion of Him " The Butter- fly's Funeral" Brummell the Author of It Julia Storer The Beau's Verses on Her Child An Anec- dote from the Clubs of London A Rencontre between Sheridan and Brummell Sheridan's Fugitive Poetry Lines Addressed to the Countess of Besborough Tom Sheridan The Loss of the Saldanha Frigate His Stanzas on the Event Lines to Julia .... 223 CHAPTER XVIII. Other Contributors to BrummelPs Scrap-book Lord Mel- bourne His Lines on the Bust of Fox The Dream Translation of an Ode from Anacreon The Hon- ourable George Lamb The Robber's Good-night R. Payne Knight The Yellow Leaf George Canning His Squib on Mr. Whitbread's Speech at the Impeach- ment of Lord Melville The Duchess of Gordon's Salute Mrs. O'Neill Stanzas by That Lady . . .240 CHAPTER XIX. "Wales, Ring the Bell" The Real Delinquent Brum- mell's Quarrel with the Prince of Wales Causes That CONTENTS xvii FAGB Led to It Ben and Benina Mrs. Fitzherbert The Beau's Impudence "Who's Your Fat Friend?" Brummell's Intimacy with the Duke of York Letters from the Duchess to Brummell Her Great Partiality for Dogs Fete at Oatlands The Duke's Reply to His Servant A Pastoral Dialogue by R. B. Sheridan The Right Honourable George Rose .... 253 CHAPTER XX. A Dinner-party at Oatlands Lord Erskine's Description of It in Verse The Company Present Colonel Arm- strong The Honourable William Spencer Monk Lewis Kangaroo Cooke Lady Anne Culling Smith Miss Fitzroy Colonel de Lancey Barclay Brummell Le Chevalier Cainea Lord Erskine's Childhood One of His Letters Written from School Goes to Sea in the Tartar Letter to Lord Cardcross from Jamaica 269 CHAPTER XXI. Lord Erskine Enters the Army His Slow Promotion Leaves the Service Enters at Cambridge His Great Admiration and Friendship for Fox Lines Written by Him at Oatlands on Receiving from the Duchess of York a Lock of that Statesman's Hair Lord Byron Two Fragments of His Unpublished Poetry Stanzas on the Murder of Mr. Weir, by the Rev. J. Mitford The Younger Brother's Claim Les Mille Colonnes Epigrams 284 CHAPTER XXII. Brummell at the Clubs Watier's Lord Byron and the Dandies The Ball at the Argyle Brummell One of the Four Gentlemen Who Gave It The Regent Goes to It The Beau's Run of Good Luck at Hazard xviii CONTENTS PAGE Alderman Combe and Brummell High Play at Wat- ier's BrummelFs Continued Losses His Friend's Good-natured Attempt to Save Him 111 Success of His Scheme Dick the Dandy-killer A New Way to Pay Old Debts The Sixpence with a Hole in It The Storm Gathering 298 CHAPTER XXIII. Symptoms of a Move Brummell's Epistle to His Friend Scrope Davies The Wit's Laconic Reply His Ex- traordinary Penchant at College Brummell Cuts His Cable, and Comes to an Anchor at Calais The Author Passes through That Town Boxing, Gouging, and the SavateThe Table d'Hote at the Royal The Mysteri- ous Stranger A Walk on the Market-place English Refugees Various Reasons for Expatriation . . .310 CHAPTER XXIV. Brummell's Lodgings in the Rue Royale His Good- natured Landlord M. Leleux's Regard for Him Proofs of It BrummelPs Effects Sold by Auction in London Copy of Mr. Christie's Bill of Sale The Snuff-box That Was Destined for the Regent Brum- mell Furnishes His Rooms His Passion for Buhl Furniture Ridiculous Extravagance in the Indulgence of It His Sevres China Napoleon's Paper-weight The Beau's Conundrum Snuff-box 324 CHAPTER XXV. Donations Made to Brummell by His Friends The Duch- ess of York's Liberality to Him Her Christmas Present Mr. Chamberlayne Brummell Learns French Scrope Davies's Description of His Progress The Beau's Fashionable Visitors- Lord Westmoreland In- CONTENTS xix PAGE vites Him to Dine Brummell's Reply The Legal Intruder The Exile's Daily Avocations His Dog Vick Her Illness and Death Anecdote from " Granby " Brummell's Grief at the Loss of His Pet . . . 336 CHAPTER XXVI. BrammelPs Visitor from Dover His Ungallant Conduct to His Daughter His Reception of Wellesley P e on His Arrival at Calais Mr. B y's Toady The Morning Walk with Lord Sefton A Rencontre on the Ramparts The Beau Reported Dead Calais Gossip Brummell Adds His Quota The Result His Ap- pointment at Chalk Farm His Reception of Colonel R d 347 CHAPTER XVII. Brummell's Screen Destined for the Duchess of York Description of This Pasticcio The Six Compart- ments The Elephant and Napoleon Portraits of the Beau's Friends His Illustrations of Their Characters General U n The Marquis of Hertford Lord Sefton The Hyena Tamed by the Muses and the Graces The Tiger and the French Revolution Brum- mell's Satire upon Lord Byron Price Offered for the Screen M. Leleux's Parrot 358 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS " RAISED HIS GUN AND BROUGHT THEM BOTH DOWN " Frontispiece GEORGE BRUMMELL 49 HESTER LUCY STANHOPE 125 THE LADIES WALDEGRAVE 136 THE DUCHESS OF DEVONSHIRE AND CHILD . .157 "'WHO'S YOUR FAT FRIEND?'" . . . .257 BEAU BRUMMELL CHAPTER I. Early Distinctions in Dress Milton's Eve The Roman Ex- quisite The Native Princes of Britain Hotspur's Fop The Beaux in the Reign of Charles the Second Beau Hewitt Beau Wilson Beau Fielding Beau Edgeworth Beau Nash Petrarch Lord Byron The Abbe Delille The Prince de Kaunitz English Fops. who yet remain of his generation, but who were not acquainted with the subject of these memoirs, will, no doubt, be astonished that any one should have taken the trouble to be his biographer, and much wonder what there can possibly be to say about Beau Brummell unless, indeed, it were to give the impertinent witticisms currently reported of him. But of those contemporaries who knew him inti- mately and still survive, few will be surprised that I have found some amusement in collecting the scattered reminiscences of so singular a character. The term Beau is now very nearly obsolete, and Brummell, to whom the term in its popular sense was erroneously applied, will, in all probability, be 2 BEAU BRUMMELL one of the last persons distinguished by that sobri- quet ; but before entering upon this memoir, per- haps a few words respecting the most notorious of the species so denominated may not be out of place. From the earliest ages there have always been in- dividuals vain enough to be completely absorbed in the study of dress, yet this can hardly be matter of astonishment, for every one must allow that vanity in the abstract is coeval with humanity ; and it was, possibly, under this conviction that even Milton suffered himself to accuse Eve of contemplating her beautiful form in the looking- glass of Nature. " That day I oft remember, when from sleep I first awaked, and found myself reposed Under a shade on flowers, much wondering where And what I was, whence thither brought, and how. Not distant far from thence a murmuring sound Of waters issued from a cave, and spread Into a liquid plain, then stood unmoved Pure as th' expanse of Heaven ; I thither went With inexperienced thought, and laid me down On the green bank, to look into the clear Smooth lake, that to me seem'd another sky. As I went down to look, just opposite, A shape within the wat'ry gleam appear'd Bending to look on me : I started bade, It started back ; but pleased I soon return'd, Pleased it return'd as soon with answering looks Of sympathy and love : there I had fix'd Mine eyes till now, and pined with vain desire, Had not," etc. Paradise Lost, Book iv. BEAU BRUMMELL 3 Distinctions in dress, it may be inferred, were at a very remote period highly prized, or the vener- able patriarch Jacob would not, in the indulgence of his parental vanity, have selected "a coat of many colours" as the most gratifying gift he could bestow upon his younger and favourite son ; a gift which was probably valued by Joseph, not only as a proof of his father's affection for him, but also on account of its being a garment of peculiar beauty, and superior to those worn by his brethren. The hope expressed by Sisera's mother, that her son would find amongst the spoil of Barak's camp "a prey of divers colours of needlework on both sides," has also been adduced as an evidence that the princes and great men of Israel were fond of arraying themselves in glorious apparel, and far from indifferent to the decoration of their persons. Of the toilet of the Hebrew beau or belle, however, few details have been preserved ; but no such blank exists in the history of the last con- querors of their nation ; of their dandyism many and amusing particulars have been handed down to us in those works which treat of their domestic manners, after riches and luxury had increased in Rome, and corruption had stamped the character of her citizens with effeminacy and voluptuousness. The tunic of the Roman exquisite was often of green silk ; he painted, rouged, and curled his hair, wore a great number and variety of rings, light or heavy, according to the season ; and the most 4 BEAU BRUMMELL superlatively finished fops had the hairs, even of their legs, plucked out by the roots with small tweezers, called volsellce. In this state of things it was very natural that the dress of the women, which had been, till then, modest and simple, should become the chief object of their attention, and so completely was this the case that a lady's toilet and ornaments were called her world, mim- dus muliebris. But a refined state of society, however it may excite personal vanity, is certainly not necessary to its development ; it is exhibited by the savage in the taste he displays in the choice of his beads, shells, and feathers, and the variety and elegance shown in the designs of his tattooing; and it is highly probable that, when Julius Caesar landed in Britain, he found some of our native princes much better painted than others, and their blue tints of a brighter hue. Perhaps the iron age of chiv- alry, when women's hearts were won in coats of mail, not in silk tunics, was more free from dandy- ism than any other. In the days of the Crusades men thought but little of themselves, and, excepting in the splendour of their armour, and a gay plume or scarf, still less of their outsides. The gallant Hotspur's indignant description of the finical fop, "who shone so bright and smelt so sweet, and talked so like a waiting gentlewoman," is one of the earliest, best, and most entertaining given in our language. In the reign of Elizabeth, the dis- BEAU BRUMMELL 5 tinguished men that her vigorous mind induced her to select for her companions and advisers, were remarkable for the bravery of their attire, for they were obliged to fall in with the taste of their imperious mistress, who devoted much time to the adornment of her person. It was, however, reserved for the court of that luxurious monarch, Louis the Fourteenth, who never permitted even his own valet to see him without his full-bottomed wig, to give effect to that spirit of coxcombality which was introduced into England at the Resto- ration by the rakish and rollicking cavaliers who formed the unprincipled suite of Charles the Sec- ond. His reign produced a host of beaux, at which time the term appears to have been first used and amongst others was applied more particularly to Hewitt, Wilson, and Fielding. The first of these worthies, Sir George Hewitt, afterward an Irish viscount, which peerage seems to have died with him, had the credit of being the individual from whom "gentle George Etheredge," though himself the involuntary original, is said to have drawn the character of Sir Fopling Flutter, in the " Man of the Mode " the prototype of all the fops in comedy. The viscount appears, also, to have been one of the first persons who reduced the robuster " damn me " of the preceding age to the modern "dammee," since become the con- sumptive " demmee " of our own. In Sir Walter Scott's edition of Dryden, we have, in Roches- 6 BEAU BRUMMELL ter's farewell, an example of this mincing inno- vation of Beau Hewitt's : " Had it not better been than thus to roam, To stay and tie the cravat-string at home ? To strut, look big, shake pantaloon, and swear, With Hewitt, ' Damme, there's no action here.' " Wilson, too, another beau of that day, is de- scribed by Grainger as a most mysterious person. He was the younger son of a respectable family, and entered the army, from which, after a short service in Flanders, he was dismissed for coward- ice, when he returned to England with forty shillings borrowed from a friend. Here, to the astonishment of every one, he, in a short time, appeared the brightest star in the hemisphere of fashion, his dress, table, equipages, and stud being perfect, and his hospitality profuse. As he seldom played, and was not known to have any intrigues, it soon became matter of lively speculation how he contrived to support all this state ; many of his friends tried to worm out his secret, but without success ; for, though his conduct and conversation were apparently perfectly open, he was in reality so guarded, even in his convivial moments, that no expression ever escaped him that could give a clue to the source of his wealth. Some said that he possessed the grand secret of converting meaner metals into gold, and others that he had robbed a Dutch mail of a package of rough diamonds. But BEAU BRUMMELL 7 a more natural solution of the mystery attached to Mr. Wilson's proceedings is given in some inter- cepted letters appended to a work published in 1708, entitled "Memoirs of the Court of England in the Reign of Charles the Second," and which seems to have been much read at the time, for it went through several editions. In one of these epistles, it is stated that Beau Wilson's ability to pursue his extravagant career was owing to the liberality of the beautiful Duchess of Cleveland, with whom he intrigued ; but the details of the story are so singular and minute, that the authen- ticity of some of them may fairly be doubted. Mr. Wilson was killed in a duel by that prince of schemers, Mississippi Law, who, it is said, ran him through the body before he could draw his sword in his own defence. Beau Fielding, who stands on record as the best looking of the beaux, and is mentioned by Swift, as one of those "who made mean figures upon some remarkable occasions," was of a good family in Warwickshire. Being intended for the bar, he was sent to London early in life, but, giving way to the temptations of fashionable vices, soon abandoned that profession. His person was exceedingly beautiful, and he took infinite pains to set it off. Charles the Second was so struck with his figure, when he first saw him at court, that he called him the "handsome Fielding." From that moment he became the most conceited of all fops, 8 BEAU BRUMMELL and was not only vain and expensive in his own dress, but fantastical in that of his lackeys, who usually wore yellow liveries, with black sashes, and black feathers in their hats. His courage was of the same quality as that of his contemporary, Mr. Wilson, his greatest piece of heroism having been to run a helpless linkboy through the body in St. Martin's Lane. One evening, however, in pushing forward, to show off his dress and figure, at the theatre in Lincoln's Inn Fields, he trod upon the foot of a lawyer named Fullwood, who thereupon instantly challenged, and wounded him, but who, singularly enough, was killed in a duel with a Captain Cusack the same night. Fielding also received a severe caning from, and was subse- quently wounded by, a Welsh gentleman of the name of Price. His excesses and extravagance at length consumed his patrimony, after which he subsisted upon his gallantries and the supplies that he obtained at the gaming-table, where he was generally successful. To repair his shattered fortunes he eventually married a connection of Dean Swift's, the only daughter and heiress of Lord Carlingford. By this lady, a zealous Roman Catholic, he was converted to her faith, and prob- ably induced to attach himself to the cause of James the Second, for whose service he raised a regiment in his own county, and whom he afterward accompanied to France, where he lived handsomely on his wife's remittances. BEAU BRUMMELL 9 When this lady died, being again in difficulties, Fielding once more had recourse to matrimony for a subsistence, but this time he was completely taken in by a certain Mary Wadsworth, who had assumed the name and character of Madame De- laune, a person of great wealth. Discovering the fraud, he soon forsook her, and subsequently es- poused, when in her sixty - first year, Barbara Villiers, Duchess of Cleveland, the reputed mis- tress of his predecessor, whom he treated with insolence and brutality. This occasioned a prose- cution, and on the 4th of December, 1 706, a year after this marriage, he was tried and found guilty of bigamy at the Old Bailey ; but when sentence was passed upon him that he should be burnt in the hand, he craved the benefit of clergy, produced the queen's warrant for suspending execution, and was admitted to bail. After this he became recon- ciled to his false Mary, and styles her, in his will, his dear and loving wife. Beau Fielding was the Orlando of the Tatler, and died of a fever at his house in Scotland Yard, in 1712, at the age of sixty-one. The next on the list is a member of that family which, through the talents of both father and daughter, has become so distinguished in this cen- tury, Beau Edgeworth. It is to him that Steele, also fond of dress in his younger days, and called a coxcomb by his libellers, alludes, in the two hundred and forty-sixth number of the Tatler, as io BEAU BRUMMELL "a very handsome well-shaped youth, that fre- quents the coffee-houses about Charing Cross, and ties a very pretty ribbon, with a cross of jewels, to his breast ; " in a note to Goldney's edition he is called the "prince of puppies." Colonel Ambrose Edge worth died in the Bridewell of Dublin, having been out of his mind some time previously to his death. Beau Nash, who was usually styled the " King of Bath," follows next. " His prosperity," says Butler, in his " Chronological Exercises," " was of long duration ; and if a man who supported him- self by gambling and intrigues can be said to deserve prosperity, it was justly due to this cele- brated character ; but at length age and infirmities approached ; and though Horace says we should preserve consistency to the last, it appeared ridicu- lous to see gray hairs and decrepitude aping the gaiety and hilarity of youth." Beau Nash was buried in the abbey church, at Bath, on the 3d February, 1761, having lived to the great age of eighty-eight ; his funeral obsequies were con- ducted with much parade and solemnity, and at the expense of the corporation. There were, no doubt, during this period, many other eminent fops besides these ; but it is observ- able that a man was never distinguished by the title of beau, if he had anything in him superior to it ; that is, assuming that the epithet means a fop, which, in the words of Roscommon, is " a man BEAU BRUMMELL il of small understanding and much ostentation." Still, and inconsistent as it may appear, very supe- rior and clever men have bestowed far more than necessary attention upon their dress. Petrarch, in writing to his brother, says : " Recollect the time when we wore white habits, on which the least spot, or a plait ill-placed, would have been a sub- ject of grief, and when our shoes were so tight that we suffered martyrdom." Lord Byron avows that he had "a touch of dandyism in his minority," and "had retained enough of it to conciliate the great ones, at four and twenty." The Abbe Delille, who, besides being a priest, was also a poet, and, perhaps, the ugliest man of his day, lost so little of his personal vanity that, even in mature age, he invariably had his hair dressed with powder couleur de rose ; and the Prince de Kaunitz, who wore satin stays, passed a portion of every morning in walking up and down a room in which four valets puffed a cloud of scented powder, but each of a different colour, in order that it might fall and amalgamate into the exact nuance that best suited their master's taste. "Us etaient," observes a French writer, "des deVots a 1'elegance, et en cela ils me'ritent nos respects ; mais ^taient-ils elegants? Voila la question." Upon Rafaelle, the most spiritual of painters, has the epithet, "coxcomb," been irreverently bestowed. Nelson, who wrote the " Companion to the Fasts and Festivals," and who is supposed to have been the 12 BEAU BRUMMELL author of " The Whole Duty of Man," was a splendid dresser ; it was from him that Richard- son drew his character of Sir Charles Grandison. Charles Fox also, who, late in life, was one of the most unostentatious, not to say slovenly, men about town, was a macaroni in his youth, and, with his friends, Lords Carlisle and Essex, wore red-heeled shoes ! At this period the coxcombality of dress was necessarily great, for muffs, velvets, ruffles, gold lace, and perfumed powder were then the usual appendages of male attire. We might, and with reason, imagine it was a woman, and not the Earl of March, a great sporting character, who, writing to George Selwyn, at Paris, in 1766, says: "The muff you sent me, by the Duke of Rich- mond, I like prodigiously, vastly better than if it had been tigr/, or of any glaring colour several are now making after it;" and again, in 1776, he remarks : " Pray bring me two or three bottles of perfume to put amongst powder, and some patterns for velvets that are new and pretty." But per- haps the most remarkable instance that can be cited, in proof of the fact that a feeling of dandy- ism sometimes forms a component part of a great mind, is that of the late Marquis Wellesley; to whom, almost to the last moment of his life, and when still in the full possession of those vigorous and intellectual faculties, the evidence of which forms one of the most brilliant historical pictures in the public annals of this and the latter part of BEAU BRUMMELL 13 the last century, a piece of rich waistcoating was as much an object of attraction and delight as to his handsome and youthful secretary. Indeed it is said that this nobleman frequently sat alone en grande toilette, decorated with his blue ribbon and the garter, as if intending to appear at a royal levee, or a chapter of the Order. But to return to the period at which the macaronies flourished (who, according to the testimony of Horace Walpole, were travelled young men who wore long curls and spying glasses), the adoption of broadcloth made sad havoc with the tastes of such men as the Duke of Queensberry ; and the beaux who came in when muffs and velvets went out were of a very different description. One of the most notorious was the late Lord Harewood, called, from the singular penchant he had for imitating the Prince of Wales in his dress, Prince Lascelles. Of this mania he was cured by Fox, Sheridan, and Wyndham, who persuaded his Royal Highness to allow his queue (which it was then the fashion to wear) to be concealed by the collar of his coat. He readily consented, and during dinner, for they were all dining with the prince, one of the three called Lascelles's attention to the fact, who, com- pletely tricked into the idea that the queue was cut off, appeared the next day, to the amuse- ment of the conspirators, without his own. Colonel Montgomery, also a friend of the Prince of Wales's, and the unsuccessful principal in the duel with 14 BEAU BRUMMELL Captain Macnamara, was in the habit of dressing like the Duke of Hamilton, and thus received the sobriquet of the Duke of Hamilton's double. An- other fop of this century was a Colonel Matthews, who, being extremely distressed at the loss of one of his front teeth, determined upon having it replaced by one drawn from another person's jaw, trusting perhaps to that jargon of the doctors called "healing by a second intention." He was fitted accordingly, but, horrible to relate, the saliva, or something, adhering to the tooth, inoculating the system, brought on a cancer in the mouth, of which he died. Though many others might be enumerated be- sides those I have mentioned, I will close the list with the names of the venerable patriarch of the beaux, who still survives, Sir Lumley Skeffington. He is said to be entitled to the enviable denomina- tion of the most amiable of the genus beau ; and a distinguished author, who allowed his pen to dwell briefly on these matters some years ago, says "that under all his double-breasted coats and waistcoats he never had any other than a single- hearted soul." Having brought this sketch of the principal beaux upon record to a close, I will now enter upon the life of him who Lord Byron said was one of the three great men of the nineteenth century, placing himself third, Napoleon second, and Brummell first. To this postulate it is not BEAU BRUMMELL 15 my intention to offer any support ; but I think there is sufficient evidence to show that he ought not to be classed with the beaux, if, as I have before remarked, a beau is a fop, and a fop a man of small understanding. But if I prove my own assertion, what then ? Does it at all signify whether his reputation remains as it is or not ? No. Then " Le jeu, vaut-il la chandelle ? " Yes, if the first portion of this biography amuses the reader, and the last pages excite reflection. Some indeed will smile at the moral Brummell's life con- veys ; others may perhaps agree with me in the views I have taken of it. CHAPTER II. BrummelPs Origin The Death of His Grandfather Lord Liverpool Patronises His Father, and Subsequently Intro- duces Him to Lord North Made Private Secretary to That Nobleman The Richardson Family George and His Aunt Brawn Lord North's Regard for Brummell's Father Instructions for a Prince and for the Representatives of the People Mr. Brummell's Retirement from Public Life Donnington Sheridan and Miss White Death of Mr. and Mrs. Brummell. f 'RUMMELL'S origin, like that of many greater men than himself, was humble. A French journalist, who wrote a bio- graphical notice of him a few months after his death, says that " his grandfather, the first of the Brummells and the founder of the family, was originally a treasury porter, a situation which he obtained through the patronage of Lord North, and that prudence and industry enabled him to give his son a good education ; " also, " that he succeeded, through the kindness of the same noble- man, in procuring him employment in that office." A writer in a late periodical has asserted that Beau Brummell was the son of a confectioner, and others have described his father as having been in Lord Bute's household. But these ac- 16 BEAU BRUMMELL 17 counts are all, or nearly all, equally incorrect. George Brummell's grandfather was in business in Bury Street, St. James's, and might have been a confectioner, though I have no evidence of the fact ; he was buried in St. James's churchyard, in a corner of which his tombstone may still be seen, and on it the following inscription : " Here lies the body of Mr. William Brummell, who departed this life the 3ist of March, 1770, aged 6 1 years." His wife's death is likewise recorded thus : " Also the remains of Mrs. Jane Brummell, who departed this life on the 27th of July, 1788, aged 73 years." An uncle of the beau's, Ben- jamin Brummell, of the treasury, who died in February, 1816, is likewise buried in the same vault. Within a few feet of Mr. BrummeH's grave is that of the celebrated Tom Durfey, a tablet to whose memory is inserted in the wall of the church itself, facing the west entrance. Not being in affluent circumstances, Mr. Brum- mell, like many persons in business in the present day, let a portion of his house, and, fortunately for him and his family, not only " the spirit of Jenky arose," but Jenky himself; or, in words less Ossianic than those of the song of Scrutinaria, his lodgings were taken by Charles Jenkinson, afterward the first Lord Liverpool ; and it is said, I know not with what truth, that his dis- tinguished lodger was attracted to the house by the perfect penmanship of the affiche, "Apart- 1 8 BEAU BRUMMELL ments to let," written in his son's, the beau's father's, best hand. Mr. Jenkinson, as is well known, was not only clever, but remarkably laborious ; and though one of that administration contemptuously spoken of as "all the hacks," in contradistinction to the one yclept " all the talents," it should be remembered that hacks are more useful than race-horses ; and that his lordship, instead of closing his career like the high-mettled racer, in a kennel, died in ermine trappings, and left a very comfortable tcurie to his successors, while the "talents " hardly left a shed to theirs. BrummeH's father was but a boy when Mr. Jenkinson came to lodge in Bury Street, but his active disposition soon attracted that gentleman's attention, and, pleased with his quickness, he made him his amanuensis, and, when joint secretary of the treasury, in 1 763, he obtained for him a clerk- ship in that office. In this subordinate situation young Brummell remained for some time ; but fortune is generally the friend of industry, and his unremitting attention to business and strict integrity, together with Mr. Jenkinson's recom- mendation, who was a lord of the treasury in 1767, induced his successor, Lord North, to ap- point him his private secretary. This nobleman honoured him with his friendship, and continued him in this confidential post during his adminis- tration ; that is, from 1770 to 1782, when the BEAU BRUMMELL 19 Marquis of Rockingham took office. It is rather curious that clergymen at this period sometimes held the situation of secretary to the first lord of the treasury ; the Rev. Mr. Walker had that appointment under the marquis, and the Rev. Mr. King under the Duke of Portland. Advanced thus, in all probability beyond his most sanguine expectations, Mr. Brummell's shrewdness and intelligence were constantly exerted ; and he not only succeeded in obtaining emoluments under his new patron, but drew a prize in the lottery office of Mr. Richardson, by marrying his youngest daughter. She is said to have been one of the prettiest women of her day, and not erroneously, if the artist who executed the miniature of her, now existing, was not a Lawrence, or a rival of Mr. Brummell. But though this marriage must have been a very eligible one for the young lady, it does not appear that the connection exactly suited the ideas of the Richardson family, who were fond of pedigree, and claimed to be de- scended from no less a personage than Sir W. Richardson, chief justice in the reign of James I. The shield of the chief justice is still to be seen in the painted window of Lincoln's Inn ; and his monument, which is in Westminster Abbey, is near to that of the celebrated Doctor Busby, who wielded the birch so vigorously and success- fully during the fifty-five years that he was master of Westminster School. Mr. Richardson's objec- 20 BEAU BRUMMELL tions, however, were probably softened afterward ; for another daughter was not so fortunate, and married Mr. Vernon, an actor ; a third sister es- poused a Mr. Hughes, a very respectable person in the city ; and the fourth married a gentleman of the name of Brawn, who had a farm near Lilbourn. George Brummell occasionally paid a visit to his aunt Brawn ; and one of the earliest episodes remembered of his childhood is, that he was one day guilty of crying most bitterly because he could not eat any more of her ample damson tart. The eldest son of Mr. Richardson, who succeeded to the lottery office at his father's death, was a great friend of the late Mr. Coutts, the banker, and an expensive man about town ; he died early. The second brother was in the navy, and sailed in the Alarm frigate, the first in the service that was coppered ; he was also on board the Centurion, the ship in which Lord An son circumnavigated the globe. At his brother's death he replaced him in the lottery office. How very highly Lord North appreciated the services of Mr. Brummell, is satisfactorily proved by the lucrative appointments which that minister conferred upon him ; for, at his decease, he held those of receiver of the duties on uninhabited houses in London and Middlesex, comptroller of the hawkers' and pedlars' office, and agent and paymaster to the out-pensioners of Chelsea Hos- BEAU BRUMMELL 21 pital, the net salaries of which amounted to ^2,500 per annum. As Mr. Brummell enjoyed such a hand- some share of the good things in the gift of Lord North, called by the pamphleteers of the day " the God of Emolument," it was not only natural, but fair, that he should occupy a prominent position in the squibs so frequently launched forth against his master, and with justice, too ; for perhaps no country with free institutions ever suffered so much from the obstinate "honesty," perhaps his admirers will exclaim, as England did from the colonial policy of that minister. In one of the pamphlets I have alluded to, entitled "Instructions for a Prince, with State Maxims and Interesting Papers, found in the Cab- inet of the King of Lunaria," the author gives the following letter from a certain secretary to a newly elected member of the House of Commons, that secretary was Brummell's father, and the note is supposed to have been written by order of Lord North. " SIR : Permit me to congratulate you on the honour- able seat which you have lately obtained in so honourable a manner. I enclose you, by order of my master, Lord N , a copy of instructions drawn up by himself for the use of his members. " I have the honour to be, sir, etc., " WILLIAM BRUMMELL." The instructions to the representatives of the people were as follows : 22 BEAU BRUMMELL " rst. You are to use your best endeavours in bringing over the opposition. " 2d. You are never to play the orator, lest you should stumble on unseasonable truths (applicable to some cases in the present day) ; an aye or no, judiciously employed, is infinitely preferable to the finest rhetorical flourish. " 3d. You are not to be absent from duty on any pre- tence whatever. "4th. Good posts will be provided for your relatives and friends ; but if they cannot be immediately given, you are not to murmur or threaten, or even talk of conscience. " Lastly. You are to pay implicit obedience to the will of the minister." The expenditure of secret service money is thus humourously made out by the same author ; the initials only of the names of some were given in the original I have rilled them up. "To my dearly beloved cousin, the Earl of Bute, the Mazarin of Lunaria, for his care of me in my nonage, 20,000 per annum. " To the Earl of Mansfield, the Solon of the age, as a reward for his assiduity in new-modelling the laws, ,5,000 per annum. " To the Poet Laureat, Mr. William Whitehead, exclu- sive of his salary, for making me the paragon of princes, and humbling my enemies in the birthday odes, 500 per annum. " To sundry posts and pensions in the Lords and Com- mons, in order to secure a majority in both houses, value ,300,000. " To several of the poorer and more noisy patriots, 30,000 per annum. " (N. B. We are making daily converts.) BEAU BRUMMELL 23 " To a common-councilman of Lunaria for his speeches at the halls, and endeavouring to persuade the liverymen of London that they have no will of their own, 500. " To a lord of the Admiralty (probably Charles Fox), to enable him to purchase a new suit, and that he may appear at court with clean linen, 100. " To Lord North, he having a very large family, seven children, and a very small income (only ,20,000 per an- num), for his assistance in raising Lunaria to her present height and prosperity, a douceur, 50,000. " To Edward Gibbon, Esq., for An Essay on the Art of Sinking in Politics ; or, Rules for the Ruin of a State,' ^500. " To the commissioners, cash to bribe Congress, ; 100,000. " To Oberea, Queen of Otaheite, my sole, yet powerful * ally, for dolls, beads, ribbons, etc., value ^2,000. " To divers new writers for puff and panegyric, ; 10,000 per annum." These were indeed glorious days for the writers of "puff and panegyric." Major Topham, the editor of the World, actually succeeded to David Hume's pension.* 1 As the powerful may by many be thought somewhat ques- tionable, the following extract from Captain Cook's voyage is submitted to the reader : " The fleet of Otaheite, which I then saw, consisted of 210 vessels, besides smaller ones to serve as transports, etc.; and it appears from an accurate calculation, that the whole island can furnish for immediate service sixty- eight thousand able men." No despicable assistance to Lunaria hi her present despicable situation. a Major Topham died at Doncaster on the 2Oth April, 1820. He was known to the lovers of the drama by the many prologues and epilogues which proceeded from his pen, also by several minor theatrical pieces. He likewise wrote a biography of the cele- brated and eccentric John Elwes, Esq. 24 BEAU BRUMMELL After Lord North's resignation, Mr. Brummell retired to the country, and in the year 1788 served the office of high sheriff for Berkshire. In the immediate vicinity of his seat, the Grove, near Donnington Castle, a place famous for having been the residence of Chaucer, and for its spirited resistance to the Parliamentarian army in the civil wars, he was eminently distinguished by his private virtues, particularly in his exertions on behalf of the infant poor, many of whom he benevolently rescued from ignorance and destitution ; and by them his loss was truly deplored for it was felt. Nor was he forgetful of the duties of hospitality to his affluent friends ; the hall door, though it hung upon an old-fashioned hinge, yielded easily to the touch of his numerous visitors, and the Grove was universally acknowledged to be one of the most agreeable houses in the neighbourhood. That such should have been the case was not extraordinary. Mr. Brummell had for twelve years been in habits of intimacy with perhaps the most delightful of companions, who, whatever might be his political obstinacy or manoeuvring to retain office, was possessed of more bonhomie and powers of pleasing all that came within reach of his conversation than any other of the great public men of his time. The society which Mr. Brummell received at Donnington was of the best and most talented description ; both Fox and Sheridan visited there, BEAU BRUMMELL 25 and tradition has still preserved the remembrance of one of the practical jokes, in which the latter was so fond of indulging. It was played off on a Miss White, a spinster who had passed her grand climacteric, but whose vanity was so little tempered by age, that Sheridan, in one of his frolicsome and persuasive moments, succeeded in inducing her to believe that Mr. Harris, the pro- prietor of Covent Garden Theatre, and a guest at Donnington, was in love with her. " My dear Miss White," said Sheridan, "my friend is en- dowed with great sensibility, only touch him on that point, and he is yours ; " and the lady, instigated by the mischievous wit, and hoping to attract the admiration of Mr. Harris, dressed her- self in the costume of one of those pastoral beauties immortalised in Chelsea china ; and, attired in a stiff dress of primrose brocade and gipsy hat with pale blue ribbons, sat by the side of a pond in the grounds, with a fishing-rod in her hand, the best part of a broiling summer's day, nervously expect- ing her Colin it is needless to add, in vain. Under the influence of these examples, Master George Brummell doubtless cultivated his natural penchant for fun ; but in the early part of the year 1793 the sounds of festivity were hushed at the Grove ; death left Mr. Brummell a widower ; and exactly one year and a day after his wife's burial he was himself carried to the family vault at St. Martin' s-in-the-Fields, and laid beside her. This 26 BEAU BRUMMELL event took place the i/th of March, 1794. Mr. Brummell died, leaving two sons ; William, the eldest, and a daughter, still survive ; the former married, in May, 1800, Miss Daniel (whose sister was married to a brother of the present Lord Gwydyr), and the latter a Captain Blackshaw, who resided in a cottage near the Grove. Mr. Brummell's youngest son, George Bryan Brummell, the subject of the present memoir, had not quite completed his sixteenth year at the time of his father's death, having been born on the /th of June, 1778, and baptised on the 2d of July, at St. Margaret's, Westminster. I am ignorant who on this occasion promised to answer for his antici- pated misdeeds, but his second Christian name would seem to imply that the shade of the old Irish hero came back from the world of spirits to do him honour. A very handsome provision was left, at Mr. BrummelPs death, for his three chil- dren, proving that he not only knew how to acquire money, but how to keep it ; a virtue which in this, as in the generality of cases with fortunes rapidly made, did not descend at least to his youngest son. The sum of .65,000, which Mr. Brummell died possessed of, was placed in the hands of trustees, to be equally divided amongst his children on their attaining their majority. The amount is so large, more particularly when it is remembered that Mr. Brummell was given to acts of hospitality, that it leads to the supposition that he speculated BEAU BRUMMELL 27 successfully ; probably like his patron, Lord North, in the funds. Such was the origin of the beau's family, and such the details I have been able to collect respect- ing it. He seldom touched upon the subject of his genealogical tree never in conversation ; but, in one of his notes to a young lady hereafter given, he appears to allude to it when he says in the com- mencement, " I swear to you by those humble ancestors who sleep in their parish churchyards ; " humble they were, but respectable; and it is a pity that Brummell did not content himself with the position in society their industry and better judgment had secured for him, and this he was probably brought to think by the sufferings and reverses of his later life. CHAPTER III. Buck Brummell at Eton His Gentlemanly Deportment The Windsor Bargeman The Sporting High Sheriff His Novel Estimate of Character Dame Young Description of George by the Captain of Her House His Great Dexterity in Toasting Cheese His Peccadilloes Doctor L. Brum- mell Enters at Oriel College, Oxford His Consumption of Midnight Oil There Leaves the University Is Gazetted to a Cornetcy in the Tenth Introduced to the Prince of Wales In Attendance on His Royal Highness at His Mar- riage The Blue Nose Reasons for Disliking the Army Retires from the Service. 'T Eton, to which his father sent him in 1790, at least he appears in the list of the lower school for that year, George Brummell was remarkable for his quiet gentle- manly manners and ready wit, as well as for the excessive neatness of his personal appearance. At that time the term " dandy " was not the vogue ; "bucks," and "macaronies," were then the nick- names of such as affected peculiar elegance in their dress ; and, according to one authority now living at Eton, he was distinguished from his fel- lows by the sobriquet of " Buck Brummell." The anxiety with which he eschewed the dirty streets on a rainy day, his white stock with a bright gold 28 BEAU BRUMMELL 29 buckle behind, and the measured dignity of his step, are remembered by his contemporaries who still survive ; his language, dress, and deportment were in this respect always in perfect keeping. It frequently happened that a contest took place between the boys and the Windsor bargemen, and on one of these occasions an unhappy bargee fell into the hands of the exasperated lads, who, having been in a former row very roughly handled by these Jacob Faithfuls, gave momentary way to passion, and were literally contemplating throwing him over the bridge into the Thames. In the midst of the uproar and hauling about, fifty pulling him one way, and fifty the other, Buck Brummell came over the bridge, and probably from a good- natured motive he, in the quietest tones of re- monstrance, addressed his incensed companions as follows : " My good fellows, don't send him into the river, the man is evidently in a high state of perspiration, and it almost amounts to a certainty that he will catch cold." A finer instance of bathos seldom occurs from drowning to catching cold ! but to be sure, either might have happened, even to a bargee. This appeal of George Brum- mell' s was irresistible ; the boys took it, and, in an ebullition of laughter, projected the bargeman along the road, who took to his heels and was out of sight in an instant. Little, however, is now remembered of Brum- mell at Eton ; old Sukey, the purveyor of tarts 30 BEAU BRUMMELL and apples, is an inmate of the almshouse, but her mind is too enfeebled by age for her to recollect whether he patronised her, and if he was ever so vulgarly happy as to enjoy cranberries, bulls' eyes, or the classical elecampane ; neither have I been able to ascertain, whether like other boys he hacked his desk, or cut his name on the walls. In the upper schoolroom, where upwards of three thou- sand names are cut on the oak panelling, number- ing amongst them those of Charles Fox, and scores of others of our young nobility and commoners scarcely less distinguished in the senate, or the field that of George Brummell does not appear. I was dining one day with the high sheriff of a county contiguous to the metropolis, a Nestor of Nimrods, and accidentally hearing him remark that he was at Eton in the latter part of the last century, I asked him whether he recollected Brum- mell there. The rough, but good-humoured, old fox-hunter immediately acknowledged the acquaint- ance. " I knew him well, sir," said the vet- eran sportsman ; " he was never flogged ; and a man, sir, is not worth a d n who was never flogged through the school." Here the conversa- tion, to my great regret, was cut short by the under sheriff hopping into the room, and announc- ing to his chief, who was doing the honours most admirably, that "in the great tithe cause, Smith versus Jones, a verdict had just been recorded in favour of the plaintiff." This brought on a perfect BEAU BRUMMELL 31 typhoon from the high sheriff, mangel wurzel, fat beasts, and the sliding-scale. I made a waiting race of it, but it was of no use ; the whole of the squires present went off at score, I could never get old Hubert to hark back to the beau, and the evening passed without my being able to take advantage of this rencontre with a brother Etonian of my hero. Indeed I had some time previously completely given up all hopes of obtaining anything more relating to Brummell's schoolboy days, when, through the kindness of a friend, I received a communication on the subject from a gentleman whose name it is not necessary to mention, but from whose courteous letter I now quote the fol- lowing passage : " I was three years at Eton with my old friend Brummell. We were at Dame Young's, and I was the captain of her house, in which there were forty boys. All these three most happy years George was my fag. He was a far livelier lad than his handsome brother William ; indeed, no one at the school was so full of anima- tion, fun, and wit. He was a general favourite. Our dame, his tutor, and my tutor (the father of the present head master, Doctor Hawtrey), and Doctor Goodall, all petted him. You ask me whether he was pugnacious ; I do not remember that he ever fought or quarrelled with any one ; indeed, it was impossible for any one to be more good-natured than he was. With George, now 32 BEAU BRUMMELL General Leigh, and Lord Lake, and Jack Musters, who were all in the same house with us, and Berke- ley Craven, a great pickle in his boyish days, and living at Doctor Foster's, and with all his other intimate companions, I never heard of his having a single disagreement. Like them, also, he was not in the least studious, but a very clever and a very idle boy, and very frank ; and then, whatever he became afterward, not in the least conceited, though nature seemed to have supplied him with a quadruple portion of amusing repartee. " I recollect nothing about his fondness for ath- letic exercises, boating, cricket, etc., but I really believe no young Etonian was ever more popular with all his companions than George Brummell, not even excepting his celebrated namesake, George Canning. As head of the house I had two suppers of cold meat and pastry, and a double portion of bread and cheese. No toaster of bread and cheese ever surpassed or even equalled George Brummell, and I can speak from experience, as he nightly toasted mine most delicately for three years. When the toasting was over, he divided it into two as equal parts as he could, and I chose mine first. When I divided what he had toasted, he always had the first choice. "About two years after he had been at Eton, his father having been informed of some peccadillo he had committed, sent his butler from Donning- ton with a paternal letter to his eldest son, which BEAU BRUMMELL 33 began, 'My dear William,' and another to the beau, commencing George.' George's letter was in other respects a most disagreeable one, intimat- ing, as it did, the order for his immediate return, with all his clothes, his father having determined not to allow him to return again to Eton. Hear- ing of his trouble, I went to his room, and found him with the two letters before him ; they were wet with tears, which, parvis componere magna, fell, if not like the falls of Niagara, like those of the Clyde, such a stream of tears I never saw, and have never seen since. ' George,' said I, 'what's the matter?' He could not speak, but, sobbing, pointed first to 'My dear William,' and then to the monosyllable ' George.' I give you this anecdote as a trait of his being possessed, at least at this time, of a warm heart. His father's relented also, for after the next holidays George reappeared amongst his companions, the most manly boy of them all." The only person who appears to have been unfavourably disposed toward the young Etonian was Doctor L , one of the masters of the Lower School, who frequently forwarded a true and particular account of his delinquencies to the Grove, but it does not appear that he was himself immaculate. Abraham Moore wittily remarked of this reverend gentleman, when he was elected to a vacant fellowship, that his success proved the truth of the poet's observation that "worth makes 34 BEAU BRUMMELL the man the want of it a fellow ! " Brummell was in the fifth form in 1793, the year he left Eton, and though he took very good care that none of his companions should impute to him the intention of succeeding the head master, he left the college a gentlemanly scholar ; and also with an ample share of that precocious worldliness of which a public school generally imparts some to the dullest comprehension. It was this, together with the originality of his character, his good humour, vivacity, and ready address, that gave him an ascendency over his schoolfellows, a po- sition which his classical attainments or superior physical power never would have procured him. From Eton he went to Oxford, and entered at Oriel College. Here, according to Mr. Lister, in Granby, "he rapidly progressed in the exclusive habits to which he had shown himself predisposed ; the little that remained of schoolboy frankness was quickly thrown aside in his violent desire to be perfectly correct ; and, to gratify this taste, he cut one of his brother Etonians, because he en- tered at a junior college, and discontinued visiting another, because he had invited him to meet two men of Hall. The plan which he acted upon was to make intimacies with men of high rank and connections ; he was a consummate tuft- hunter, and to the preservation of an embryo baronet or earl, he fancied it necessary to sacrifice a friend a term. BEAU BRUMMELL 35 " He consumed a considerable quantity of mid- night oil, but very little of it over his books ; and it was not so much from a meritorious motive, as a wish to do something that nobody thought he could or would do, that he wrote for the Newdigate prize. It is true, he was not successful, but his copy was considered the second best, and he con- trived to make people believe that he would have been, if he had taken sufficient pains ; for his friends asserted that his failure was merely owing to his indolence in having neglected to count his verses. He was more celebrated, however, for his systematic violation of college rules than for his stanzas. He always ordered his horse at hall-time, was the author of half the squibs that appeared on the screen, turned a tame jackdaw, with a pair of bands on, into the quadrangle to parody the master, and treated all proctors' and other penalties with contempt." This account of Brummeirs college career is probably correct as far as relates to his studies. He, no doubt, gave himself very little trouble about lectures, and, like the generality of undergradu- ates, was wise enough not to importune his tutor for instruction ; but the accusation of cutting an old schoolfellow, and a friend a term, may fairly be doubted, for it does not at all accord with the character given of him by his captain at Eton, nor by those of his contemporaries at Oriel, with whom the author is acquainted. It seems, indeed, as if 36 BEAU BRUMMELL Mr. Lister had imagined this college sketch, to make it correspond with the habits and disposition of Trebeck in after Me. But although he did not devote himself to study, he gained from a fellow Oxonian some useful infor- mation in the line that he intended to take. This gentleman, a Mr. E , was famous for his comic songs and good stories, and many of these he imparted to Brummell, who afterward gave them with such good effect at the wine-parties of his friends, that he left the university with a better reputation for wit and fun than his instructor. Having added these qualifications to the many he possessed when he arrived at this seat of learning, he took an early leave of Alma Mater, and three months after his father's death, viz., on the i/th June, 1794, was gazetted to a cornetcy in the Tenth Hussars, at this time commanded by the Prince of Wales. According to Brummell' s own statement, he had been presented to the heir-apparent on the terrace at Windsor, when a boy at Eton ; and he used to say that his subsequent intimacy with his Royal Highness grew out of the slight notice with which he was then favoured. A contemporary and friend of his told me that, on his arrival in London, some of the caterers for the prince's amusement informed him that the young Etonian had grown up a second Selwyn, upon which his Royal High- ness intimated a desire to see him again. A party BEAU BRUMMELL 37 was accordingly made for this purpose, and George, not being embarrassed by any real modesty, as many similarly situated would have been, acquit- ted himself so much to the prince's satisfaction that the fortunate result was the gift of the cor- net cy already spoken of. Adorned with the rich uniform of the Tenth, which his slight but handsome figure was well calculated to show off, and brought forward under the auspices of his royal patron, Brummell found himself at once in the highest society in the country in a position that in all probability he had never dreamed of attaining, even in his most sanguine and ambitious moments. The intimacies, also, which he formed with several of his brother officers, no doubt contributed to facilitate his re- ception in families of the highest rank and fash- ion ; for amongst them were Lord Petersham, Lords R. E. Somerset, Charles Ker, Charles and Robert Manners, and the Honourables Bligh and Lumley. Though Brummell was only sixteen years of age, a mere boy, when he entered the Tenth, and the prince was then two and thirty, his partiality for the young cornet did not surprise those who were about his Royal Highness, for he was well known to have a strong predilection for companions who had any marked peculiarities of character about them ; hence his former intimacy with Lord Barry- more, George Hanger, and several others. George 38 BEAU BRUMMELL Brummell was an original, too, and a genius in his way ; for how could his wit, assurance, and agree- able manners have been acquired at that early age ? Many were the marks of royal favour be- stowed upon him ; and, with that precipitation of preference which characterised his Royal High- ness's conduct toward his favourites, he was soon placed on a footing of intimacy wholly inconsistent with their relative positions in life. The Tenth were almost always either at Brighton or in London ; and, on the arrival of the Princess Caroline of Brunswick to celebrate her marriage with the heir apparent, a party of the regiment, commanded by Lord Edward Somerset, escorted her from Greenwich to St. James's. At the au- gust ceremony Brummell was in personal attend- ance upon the prince, as a kind of chevalier ffhonneur; he also went down with the happy couple to Windsor, and his description of the honeymoon was in strong contrast to the one given by the princess herself in the " Diary Illus- trative of the Times of George the Fourth." BrummeH's account of these espousals must, however, have been tolerably authentic, as he went the next morning to take the prince's or- ders while his Royal Highness was still at his toilet, when he certainly received no unfavourable impression from the conversation that took place. When I heard him relate the circumstances, it was years after he left England ; and he certainly BEAU BRUMMELL 39 had no lingering admiration, at that time, for his former friend. He said that nothing could go off better ; that " the young couple appeared perfectly satisfied with each other, particularly the princess ; she was then a very handsome and desirable-look- ing woman," and it was only, according to Brum- mell's version of the story, when the intrigues of some old ladies about the court began to take effect, that any disagreement between them be- came apparent. Once included in the brilliant circle that sur- rounded the Prince of Wales, he rapidly estab- lished a reputation for wit and refinement, and soon became a great favourite with the fair sex. The following anecdote will illustrate this remark : At a ball given by a great law lord in the neighbour- hood of Russell Square, at which, amongst a very numerous assemblage of the beau monde, a Miss J , afterward Lady G H , was pres- ent, a circumstance occurred which proved that he understood the difficult art of making himself agreeable to a proud woman. Miss J was a magnificent creature, and, of course, the greatest attention was paid her ; but, though surrounded by ardent admirers, not one of them had sufficient influence to induce her to dance. Like a spoiled beauty as she was, she de- clined the offers of one and all of them. Quite late in the evening, however, Cornet Brummell was announced, and he had scarcely made his bow 40 BEAU BRUMMELL to her, when this difficile lady, who had probably been waiting for him, rose from her chair, and, giving her hand to the new arrival, was soon seen figuring away amongst a crowd of the discarded, who had sought that hand in vain. As the beau approached one of them, my informant, he in- quired, with an air of great curiosity, who the ugly man near the chimney piece might be. "Why, surely, my good fellow, you know him," said his acquaintance ; " that is the master of the house ! " " No," replied the unconscious cor- net, " how should I ? I was never invited." When Brummell was with his regiment he was the life and soul of the mess, for his original wit and collection of good stories were inexhaustible, and at the dinner-table he always kept his brother officers in roars of laughter. As to duty, he did little or none ; and, when late for parade, which was very often the case, he would ride up to the commanding officer and disarm him with some queer apology, half impudence, half excuse, which was generally accepted, for he was popular and the colonel good-natured. But he was so much about the prince that he was seldom present with the corps, and the gallant Tenth did not, therefore, benefit much by his services. When, unfortunately for the country, he was with them, it is said that he did not actually know his own troop ; but, happily for him, one of his front rank men had a very large blue nose. This feature was BEAU BRUMMELL 41 Brummell's beacon ; and, when coming on parade, which, as I have said before, was frequently ten minutes too late, he galloped along the line, or between the squadrons, until he arrived at the nose. Here he reined up and took his place in the front or rear, as the case might be. On one occasion, however, some recruits having joined the ranks from drill, a transfer of men was made, and several were drawn from the front rank of his troop and sent to another. At the next parade that he attended, and several days after this alteration, he found the regiment already in line, and ignorant, of course, of all the arrange- ments that had been made at the barracks in the meantime, he rode up and down as usual, and at length stopped opposite his nose his blue nose. " How now, Mr. Brummell ! " vociferated the colo- nel, " you are with the wrong troop." " No, no," muttered the beau, turning around in his saddle, and looking confidently first at his invaluable nose, and then at the colonel, adding, in a sup- pressed tone, " I know better than that ; a pretty thing, indeed, if I did not know my own troop." One of his brother officers humourously told me that he attended to his duty infinitely better after he had left the regiment than he did when he be- longed to it ; for he seldom passed within twenty miles of their quarters without turning out of his road and paying them a visit. On one of these itinerant calls he drove into the barrack yard at 42 BEAU BRUMMELL Canterbury in his carriage with four posters. " Halloo, George ! " said a friend from the mess- room window, " when did you take to four horses ? " " Only since my valet gave me warn- ing for making him travel with a pair." This was Brummell's usual mode of reply, ever ready with some droll excuse for his follies or extrav- agance. Rapid as was his promotion, for he commanded a troop in less than three years after he entered the service, having been promoted to the rank of captain on the ist of June, 1796; and little as he was inconvenienced by his military duties, he did not care to put up with any further interfer- ence with his independence ; for as soon as the novelty of the thing wore off, he began to think of retiring. This he did, in the very early part of 1798 ; the disturbed state of Europe, the wail- ings of the Anti-Jacobin, and the splendid declama- tions of Burke, in the cause of suffering humanity, having failed to induce him to seek " a reputation at the cannon's mouth ! " With such brilliant prospects of advancement as Captain Brummell had before him, it is difficult to say what was his reason for taking so unwise a step ; perhaps it was his anxiety to exchange his club for White's, or emancipate his head from hair-powder, which was still worn in the army. This absurd fashion of powdering the hair originated in the whim of a French mountebank BEAU BRUMMELL 43 at a fair, who, to get an extra laugh out of his audience, greased his head, dredged it with flour, and then grinned horribly. But though powder was still worn in the army. when Brummell left the service, it had been gradually falling into disuse in society in England, since the tax had been laid upon it by Mr. Pitt, three years before ; to evade this impost, many speculators brought forward powder made of other materials than flour ; amongst them was Lord William Murray, a son of the Duke of Atholl, who took out a patent, in 1796, for making starch from horse- chestnuts. The fatal blow, however, was given to this cus- tom by Francis, Duke of Bedford, and his friends, who, in order more effectually to disappoint Mr. Pitt of the revenue that he very reasonably hoped to realise, from an article so intimately connected with the vanities and fashions of the day, entered into an engagement to forfeit a certain sum of money if any of them wore their hair tied or powdered, within a certain period. Accordingly, in the September of 1795, a general cropping, washing, and combing out of hair took place at Woburn Abbey probably in the powde ring-room, an apartment dedicated to the powder-puff, in the houses of most gentlemen in those days. Amongst the Absaloms present on this startling occasion, this anti-pigtail plot, were the present Marquis of Anglesea, Lord Jersey, and Sir Harry Feather- 44 BEAU BRUMMELL stone ; the late Lord William Russell, Mr. Lamb- ton, the father of the late Lord Durham ; and Messrs. Anthony and Robert Lee, Trevers, Button, Day, and Vernon. But, in spite of this opposition on the part of the leading Whigs, there still remained energetic supporters of powder and the minister ; amongst these were to be numbered all the elderly ladies, who naturally enough patronised a habit that made the young and old appear equally gray. Their ex- ertions, however, were fruitless ; and the treasury was amusingly charged with entertaining the idea of taxing the substitute which eventually replaced their powder, and, to make up for the unlooked- for deficiency in the tax, it was proposed that a return should be made of false hair, whether worn in scratches or fronts ; but the perruquiers defied Nature, and the plan, if ever contemplated, was relinquished. But at the time Brummell left the Tenth, it was highly desirable that the use of powder should be countermanded in the army ; for a scarcity of corn was seriously felt, and the following calculation, made when the powder tax was first imposed, shows how much of this invaluable article of food was uselessly consumed in that service alone. The military force of the United Kingdom and our colonies at this period, including foot, horse, militia, and fencibles, amounted to 250,000 men, each of whom was supposed to use a pound of BEAU BRUMMELL 45 flour per week; this made no less a sum than 6, 500 tons weight a year, a quantity sufficient to make 3,059,353 quartern loaves, and to supply fifty thousand persons with bread for that period. The scarcity two years after Brummell's retire- ment, viz., in July, 1800, was so great, that the consumption of flour for pastry was prohibited in the royal household, rice being used instead ; the distillers left off malting, hackney-coach fares were raised twenty-five per cent., and Wedgewood made dishes to represent pie-crust. But to return to Brummell, though probably he was sufficiently annoyed at being obliged to wear powder when it was going out of fashion, his prin- cipal reason for leaving the profession was, his objection to being quartered in a manufacturing town ; at all events, it was the one that he chose to assign. It appears his regiment was at Brighton when they suddenly and unexpectedly received an order to march for Manchester. The news arrived late one evening, and early the next morning, Brum- mell, according to the account he gave me, made his way to the prince, who expressed some sur- prise that he should be favoured with a visit from him at such an unusual hour, when the beau, after due apology, said : " Why, the fact is, your Royal Highness, I have heard that we are ordered to Manchester. Now you must be aware how dis- agreeable this would be to me ; I really could not go think, your Royal Highness, Manchester ! 46 BEAU BRUMMELL Besides," and here was an instance of his tact, "you would not be there. I have, therefore, with your Royal Highness's permission, determined to sell out." " Oh ! by all means, Brummell," said the prince, "do as you please, do as you please." And accordingly he resigned with the most per- fect indifference, and before he was of age, his troop in the Tenth at that time the most dash- ing regiment in the army ! CHAPTER IV. Brummell Attains His Majority, though Not in the Tenth Establishes Himself in Chesterfield Street His Figure and Countenance His Style of Dress A French Author's Opinion of Him The Dandies, English and Indian Wrax- afl's Description of Dress in 1794 BnumnelTs Cravat His Method of Tying It His Condemnation of the Dnke of PediuMBi Coat The Bean's Tailors " Superfine " and " Bath Coating " The Prince of Wales's Wardrobe Brnm- mell's Dress at the Cover Side. |UT the profession of arms was decidedly not Brummell's proper vocation, and the service did not suffer severely by his resignation ; the least restraint or compulsory exertion was perfectly repugnant to his nature, and the trifling inconveniences of a soldier's life, even in England, were in the last degree unlikely to suit a young man who seemed created on pur- pose to personify elegant idleness. A year after he left the army he came into possession of his fortune, which, having accumulated during his minority, amounted to .30,000. Being now master of his time as well as of his money, he determined to devote himself to a Me of pleasure, and the first step he took toward the accomplishment of his design was to establish him- 47 48 BEAU BRUMMELL self with all the means and appliances of comfort in No. 4 Chesterfield Street, May Fair, in which street, by the bye, George Selwyn also resided. There, with the assistance of a man cook, who formed one item in his small but recherche menage, he gave some excellent little dinners ; his guests were congenial spirits, and, on the authority of a noble duke, I can say that even the prince hon- oured them with his presence. But while he preserved all the appearances nec- essary to support the position he had acquired in society, there was nothing outrageously extrava- gant in his general routine of expenditure ; at this time he was wise enough not to play, and his stud consisted only of a couple of horses, to enable him to air himself in the park. It has already been observed that Brummell's figure was well set off by his hussar uniform, but it should be clearly understood that it derived no other advantage from it ; the reverse of which is the case with so many young men who hide a bad one under the attractive shelter of regimentals. Nature had, indeed, been most liberal to him in this respect ; he was about the same height as the Apollo, and the just proportions of his form were remarkable ; his hand was particularly well- shaped, and, had he been inclined to earn his livelihood after his flight from London, he would readily have found an engagement as a life-sitter to an artist, or got well paid to perambulate France George "'Brummell From a miniature by John ' BEAU BRUMMELL 49 from fair to fair, to personate the statuary of the ancients. His face was rather long and complexion fair ; his whiskers inclined to sandy, and hair light brown. His features were neither plain nor hand- some, but his head was well-shaped, the forehead being unusually high, showing, according to phren- ological development, more of the mental than the animal passions, the bump of self-esteem was very prominent. His countenance indicated that he possessed considerable intelligence, and his mouth betrayed a strong disposition to indulge in sarcastic humour; this was predominant in every feature, the nose excepted, the natural regularity of which, though it had been broken by a fall from his charger, preserved his counte- nance from degenerating into comicality. His eyebrows were equally expressive with his mouth, and, while the latter was giving utterance to some- thing very good-humoured or polite, the former, and the eyes themselves, which were gray and full of oddity, could assume an expression that made the sincerity of his words very doubtful. This flexibility of feature enabled Brummell to give additional point to his humourous or satirical remarks ; his whole physiognomy giving the idea that, had he devoted himself to dramatic com- position, he would have written in a tone far more resembling that of the " School for Scandal " than the "Gamester," or any plot developing re- 50 BEAU BRUMMELL flection and deep feeling. His voice was very pleasing. Having described his person, it is high time to advert to the point in Brummell's character which procured him the sobriquet of beau, his taste in dress and great attention to it. On this subject he has been much misrepresented ; and it is strange how very few persons there are out of the class with whom he associated who appear to be aware that he possessed a single idea that did not origi- nate in his glass or his wardrobe. By the majority he is considered to have been an overdressed and finical puppy ; and he is represented by a journalist of modern days to have worn a dove-coloured coat and white satin inexpressibles, with an artificial scented clove carnation in his buttonhole. " This, the early period of his life and not the least important part of it," says the Revue de Paris, "was signalised by the famous pair of gloves, to ensure the perfection of which two glovers were employed, one being charged exclusively with the making of the thumbs, the other the fingers and the rest of the hand," in accordance, I suppose, with the grand principle of the subdivision of labour. The author of " Pelham " has improved upon this, and assigns three as the number of glovers employed in this achievement. "At this time," says the same feuilletonist e t " three coiffeurs were engaged to dress his hair, one for the temples, one for the front, and the BEAU BRUMMELL 51 third for his occiput ; his boots were cir/es au vin de Champagne, and the ties of his cravats designed by the first portrait painter in London, who only became the rage when Brummell had entrusted him with this delicate and sacred task." In other words, the author of this pamphlet would have his readers believe that he was an incroyable. In this light he is always viewed by foreigners, and Alfred de Musset, in " Les Comtes d'Espagne et d'ltalie," thus alludes to him in apostrophising the Muses : " Muses ! depuis le jour cm John Bull en silence Vit jadis par Brummell, en depit de la France, (Exemple monstrueux) trainer les pantalons Jusqu'a," etc. Another witty Frenchman, anxious for informa- tion on the subject of the English beau, concluded a note to me with this paragraph : " En somme, autant de details exte"rieurs que possible. Quant il s'agit de Brummell, la maniere dont il coupait ses ongles est importante ; ' 1'amese mele a tout/ dit Madame de Stael." But our own great lyric poet seems also to have entertained a similar opinion of him, when he makes Mr. Bob Fudge remark to his friend : " There goes a French dandy : ah ! Dick, unlike some ones We've seen about White's, the Mounseers are but rum ones. Such hats ! fit for monkeys : I'd back Mrs. Draper To cut better weather-boards out of brown paper ; 52 BEAU BRUMMELL And coats, how I wish, if it would not distress 'em, They'd club for old Brummell from Calais to dress 'em ! " Yet these lines will bear a more liberal construc- tion ; and perhaps the poet brings him forward more in reference to his good taste on this sub- ject, and with a view to the correction of dandy- ism in others, than as a culprit in foppishness himself. It is surely in irony that, in his descrip- tion of a great fete at Carlton House, he makes Brummell so interested in a pea-green coat ! and says: " Come to our fete, and show again That pea-green coat, thou pink of men, Which charm'd all eyes that last survey'd it, When Brummell's self enquired ' Who made it ? ' " It would be unjust indeed to BrummeH's memory if I neglected to show the impropriety of calling him a " dandy." The few associations connected with the term all teem with vulgarity ; the tap- room measure of that name is not an example of refinement, and in Johnson the nearest approach to the word is the dandelion, a vulgar flower ! But if in the true etymological style we divide the word, with the hope of improving its credit, what does the first syllable bring to mind ? Some- body quite as notorious as Brummell, but whose follies have been far more mischievous, whose elo- quence is great, but certainly not always refined, and to whose health many a dandy of whisky has BEAU BRUMMELL 53 been tossed off. The thing, the "dandy," how- ever, still exists, and will do so to the end of time ; but the term is nearly obsolete, and has been replaced by the "tiger" in England, and, oddly enough, by the "lion," in France. The only "dandies" I ever knew that do in any way relieve the just imputation of egregious folly attached to that outrt character, are those the trav- eller meets with in Hindostan, beings half fish, half men, the boatmen of the Ganges ; and good reason have I to remember them, for they ran away one day from our budgerow, because, when walking on the bank, my shadow had passed over their cooking-pot, and they vowed that I had thereby spoiled their dinner. Vishnu alone knows whether this was true or false ; all I can say is, they made a terrible commotion, and left me and my brother subaltern on the shore to mourn their departure. " The bark was still there, but the ' Dandies ' were gone." I was then inexperienced in the enlightened doc- trines of Brahma, but after I had been a short time in the country, I found it really was necessary to look after my shadow, not only out of respect to " civil and religious liberty all over the world," but out of regard to my own convenience, which was of much more consequence ; and often, when landing from my boat, after the day's tracking was over, and the bank was crowded with cook- ing-pots, for these boatmen never cook on board, 54 BEAU BRUMMELL I would gladly have been like Peter Schlemihl. There was certainly something very peculiar in the dress of these dandies, it was simply a rag around their waists, and not generally very clean ; but our countrywomen in India look upon Nature thus primitively draped with the utmost compos- ure. Never, to the best of my recollection, have I seen a blush mantle the cheek of a new arrival ; far be it from me, however, to insinuate that a want of modesty was the cause of this the dandies are black ! If, as I apprehend, glaring extravaganzas in dress such, for instance, as excessive padding, trousers containing cloth enough for a coat be- sides, shirt-collars sawing off the wearer's ears, and the corners threatening to put out his eyes, wristbands intruding upon his plate, or an expan- sive shirt front, like a miniature bleach-green, etc. constitute dandyism, Brummell most assuredly was no dandy. He was a beau, but not a beau of the Sir Fop- ling Flutter or Fielding school ; nor would he, like Charles James Fox, have been guilty of wearing red-heeled shoes! He was a beau in the literal sense of the word, "fine, handsome." As an auxiliary to his success in society, he determined to be the best-dressed man in London, and, in the commencement of his career, he perhaps varied his dress too frequently. The whim, however, was of short duration, and, scorning to share his fame BEAU BRUMMELL 55 with his tailor, he soon shunned all external pecu- liarity, and trusted alone to that ease and grace of manner which he possessed in a remarkable degree. His chief aim was to avoid anything marked, one of his aphorisms being that the severest morti- fication a gentleman could incur was to attract observation in the street by his outward appear- ance. He exercised the most correct taste in the selection of each article of apparel, of a form and colour harmonious with all the rest, for the purpose of producing a perfectly elegant general effect ; and no doubt he spent much time and pains in the attainment of his object. According to Wraxall, dress at this period had become exceedingly slovenly. "That costume," he observes, " which is now confined to the levee or drawing-room, was then worn by persons of condition, with few exceptions, everywhere and every day. Mr. Fox and his friends, who might be said to dictate to the town, affecting a style of neglect about their persons, and manifesting a contempt of all the usages hitherto established, first threw a sort of discredit on dress. From the House of Commons, and the clubs in St. James's Street, it spread through the private assemblies of London. But, though gradually undermined, and insensibly perishing of an atrophy, dress never fell till the era of Jacobinism and of Equality, in 1793 and 1794. It was then that pantaloons, cropped $6 BEAU BRUMMELL hair, and shoe-strings, as well as the total abolition of buckles and ruffles, together with the disuse of hair-powder, characterised the men, while ladies (having cut off those tresses which had done so much execution, and one lock of which, purloined, gave rise to the finest model of mock-heroic poetry which our own or any other language can boast) exhibited heads rounded ' a la victime, et a la guil- lotine? as if ready for the stroke of the axe." Brummell was one of the first who revived and improved the taste for dress ; and his great inno- vation was effected upon neckcloths, they were then worn without stiffening of any kind, and bagged out in front, rucking up to the chin in a roll. To remedy this obvious awkwardness and inconvenience, he used to have his slightly starched, and a reasoning mind must allow that there is not much to object to in this reform. He did not, however, like the dandies, test their fitness for use, by trying if he could raise three parts of their length by one corner without their bending ; yet it appears that if the cravat was not properly tied at the first effort or inspiring im- pulse, it was always rejected. His valet was com- ing down-stairs one day with a quantity of tumbled neckcloths under his arm, and, being interrogated on the subject, solemnly replied, "Oh, they are our failures." Practice like this of course made him perfect, and his tie soon became a model that was imitated, but never equalled. BEAU BRUMMELL 57 The method by which this most important result was attained was communicated to me by a friend of his, who had frequently been an eye-witness of the amusing operation. The collar, which was always fixed to his shirt, was so large that, before being folded down, it completely hid his head and face, and the white neckcloth was at least a foot in height. The first coup d'arc/tetwas made with the shirt collar, which he folded down to its proper size, and Brummell, then standing before the glass, with his chin poked up to the ceiling, by the gentle and gradual declen- sion of his lower jaw creased the cravat to rea- sonable dimensions, the form of each succeeding crease being perfected with the shirt which he had just discarded. His morning dress was similar to that of every other gentleman, Hessians and pantaloons, or top-boots and buck-skins, with a blue coat, and a light or buff-coloured waistcoat, of course fitting to admiration, on the best figure in England. His dress of an evening was a blue coat and white waistcoat, black pantaloons which buttoned tight to the ankle, striped silk stockings, and opera hat ; in fact, he was always carefully dressed, but never the slave of fashion. Still he criticised severely the dress of others, more particularly when there was a want of neatness in it. A nobleman now living told me that, when he was a young man, Brummell not only noticed him a good deal, but, $8 BEAU BRUMMELL from the way in which he patronised him, evidently appeared to think that he was doing him a great kindness. They were walking together arm in arm one day up St. James's Street, when Brummell suddenly stopped, and asked Lord what he called those things on his feet. " Why, shoes," he replied. "Shoes, are they?" said Brummell, doubtfully, and stooping to look at them, "I thought they were slippers." On another occasion, the late Duke of Bedford asked him for an opinion on his new coat. Brum- mell examined him from head to foot with as much attention as an adjutant of the Life Guards would the sentries on a drawing-room day. " Turn around," said the beau. His Grace did so, and the examina- tion was continued in front. When it was con- cluded Brummell stepped forward, and, feeling the lapel delicately with his thumb and finger, said, in a most earnest and amusing manner, " Bedford, do you call this thing a coat ? " The following reply to a question addressed to him by one amongst a knot of loungers at White's was given in the same spirit of badinage. " Brummell, your brother William is in town ; is he not coming here ? " "Yes, in a day or two ; but I have recommended him to walk the back streets till his new clothes come home." Brummell's tailors were Schweitzer and David- son, in Cork Street, Weston, and a German of the name of Meyer, who lived in Conduit Street. The BEAU BRUMMELL 59 Stultzes and Nugees, etc., did, I believe, exist in those days, but they were not then held in the same estimation as their more fortunate brethren of the shears. Schweitzer and Meyer worked for the prince ; and the latter had a page's livery, and on great occasions superintended the adornment of his Royal Highness's person. The trouser, which opened at the bottom of the leg, and was closed by buttons and loops, was invented either by Meyer or Brummell ; the beau at any rate was the first who wore them, and they immediately became quite the fashion, and continued so for some years. A good-humoured baronet, and brother Etonian of his, who followed him at a humble distance in his dress, told me that he went to Schweitzer's one morning to get properly rigged out, and that while this talented purveyor of habiliments was measuring him, he asked him what cloth he recom- mended ? "Why, sir," said the artiste, "the prince wears superfine, and Mr. Brummel the Bath coat- ing ; but it is immaterial which you choose, Sir John, you must be right ; suppose, sir, we say Bath coating, I think Mr. Brummell has a trifle the preference." BrummeH's good taste in dress was not his least recommendation in the eyes of the Prince of Wales, by whom his advice on this important subject was constantly sought, and, for a long time, studiously followed. Mr. Thomas Raikes says, in his France, 60 BEAU BRUMMELL that his Royal Highness would go of a morning to Chesterfield Street to watch the progress of his friend's toilet, and remain till so late an hour that he sometimes sent away his horses, and in- sisted on Brummell's giving him a quiet dinner, which generally ended in a deep potation. After their quarrel, however, the prince spoke of his former friend as a mere block, which a tailor might use with advantage to show off the particular cut of a coat ; and this speech went some way to confirm the notion of the nonentity of Brummell's character. But there is good reason for asserting that an extravagant devotion to dress might, with far more justice, be charged against his royal patron ; especially when corpulence, that sad annihilator of elegance, made it difficult for him to get into leathers of the dimensions he was anxious to wear. It was this that gave rise to the caricature in which a pair is represented lashed up between the bedposts, and their owner, having been lifted into them, is seen struggling desper- ately to get his royal legs satisfactorily encased ; leaving the imagination to picture the horizontal hauling that must have taken place, after the per- pendicular object had been effected, to make the waistband meet. In fact, the prince, not Brummell, was the Maecenas of tailors ; and perhaps no King of Eng- land ever devoted so much time to the details of his own dress, or devising alterations in that of BEAU BRUMMELL 61 his troops. On this, point, whatever attention he gave to it, he displayed little judgment, as the chin of many a Life Guardsman in a windy day attested. The extent to which he indulged his passion for dress is seen in the proceeds of the sale of his wardrobe, which amounted to the enormous sum of fifteen thousand pounds ; and if we are to judge by the price of a cloak pur- chased by Lord Chesterfield for two hundred and twenty, the sable lining alone having originally cost eight hundred, it is scarcely straining the point to suppose that this collection of royal garments had cost little less than one hundred thousand. A list of the articles was given in the Athenaum of the day, which, after expressing its astonish- ment at the prodigious accumulation of apparel, says that "wealth had done wonders, taste not much." But the best evidence that I can offer in support of the opinion that the word beau ought not to be applied to Brummell in an offensive sense, is the following extract from a very kind and cour- teous letter which I received from the Rev. G. Crabbe, to whom I had written, having observed Brummell's name mentioned in his life of his talented and amiable father. " I am sorry that I can give you no other in- formation, respecting the communication between Mr. Brummell and my father at Belvoir, than the short and trifling remark in the memoir, as I never 62 BEAU BRUMMELL heard ray father mention him except when he made that remark ; but short as it was, it entirely accords with the impression which I believe was general in that neighbourhood, viz., that Mr. Brummell was a sensible man and a finished gentleman ; the term 'beau,' which the world has offered to him, might be more applicable perhaps in his earlier years ; but when my father met him at Belvoir, he was, I conceive, about forty, and certainly did not, either in manners or appearance, exhibit that compound of coxcombry in dress, and vulgar as- siduity of address, which marks the ' beau ' (that is the dandy) ; I remember being struck with the misapplication of this title when I saw him one day in the Belvoir hunt. He was dressed as plain as any man in the field, and the manly and even dignified expression of his countenance ill accorded with the implication the sobriquet conveyed." CHAPTER V. BrummelFs Extreme Neatness Lord Byron's Opinion of His Outward Appearance Leigh Hunt's The Beau's Cleanli- ness His Precautions to Ensure It Why Country Gentle- men Were Disqualified for Becoming Members of Watier's Mr. Pitt's Opinion of Them Brummell's Manners and Tastes Lord Chesterfield's Gentleman Lord P 's Snuff- cellar The ex-Garde-du-Corps The Gentleman of the Old School Innovations, not Improvements The Minuet and Cotillons American Manners. jHERE was in fact nothing extreme about Brummell's personal appearance but his extreme cleanliness and neatness, and whatever time and attention he devoted to his dress, the result was perfect ; no perfumes, he used to say, but very fine linen, plenty of it, and country washing. With regard to perfumery, his taste perfectly coincided with that of the Champion of England. " I remember," says Lord Byron, in his letter on Bowles's " Strictures on Pope" " (and do you remember, reader, that it was in my earliest youth, ' Consule Planco '), on the morning of the great battle (the second) between Gully and Greg- son, Cribb, who was matched against Horton for the second fight, on the same memorable day awaking me (a lodger at the inn in the next room) 63 64 BEAU BRUMMELL 4 by a loud remonstrance to the waiter against the abomination of his towels, which had been laid in lavender ! " Mr. Leigh Hunt in a note, in which he kindly referred me to some anecdotes of Brum- mell, says, " I remember that Lord Byron once described him to me, as having nothing remark- able in his style of dress, except a 'certain ex- quisite propriety ; " ' and that gentleman, in a sketch which he gave of the beau at an early period of his life, observes, when speaking of his superior judgment on this point, "that the poet's hyperbole about the lady might be applied to his coat, 'you might almost say the body thought.'" It did think ; and, had Montesquieu known Brum- mell, he would never have said, " Le gout est un je ne sgais quoi." Cleanliness, however, rather than taste, was the touchstone upon which his acquaintance were in- variably tried ; to detect in them any deviation from that virtue, which has by common consent been placed next to godliness, was a sufficient reason for his declining any further intercourse with them. One of his friends, curious to know something of a family that he had passed a day with in the country, inquired of him what sort of people they were. " Don't ask me, my good fellow," replied Brummell ; " you may imagine, when I tell you, that I actually found a cobweb in my ! " The anecdote is, perhaps, true ; and it was probably this that induced him to keep BEAU BRUMMELL 65 a travelling one, for one of these indispensable articles of bedroom furniture is described in the catalogue of the sale of his effects as such, " in a folding mahogany case, with an external carpet case for the same." It is said that he objected to country gentlemen being admitted to Watier's, assigning as a sufficient reason for their exclusion, that their boots stunk of horse-dung and bad black- ing. If this had been true, many would have been of the same opinion, but his jocose remark was very probably made against some individual can- didate. His objection to one of the prevailing tastes of his day excessive devotion to stables, dog-kennels, and coachmanship appears to have been strong ; and he gives a proof of this by hav- ing taken the trouble to insert some very severe lines against the Whip Club in his album. But though ridicule, false or true, is often more keenly felt than just censure, the Squire Westerns must have been far more indignant with Mr. Pitt, who, after all the support they had given him, did in his convivial hours forget his official circumspec- tion and suffer his real opinion of them to escape him. A diplomatist of my acquaintance, now liv- ing, was present when the flattering expressions I allude to were uttered at Lord Mulgrave's table, that nobleman being, at the time, first lord of the admiralty. My gossip was then a young man, and the day on which he was so fortunate as to meet the prime 66 BEAU BRUMMELL minister at dinner was remarkable for being the one on which the first lord was to examine a boat, constructed by Sir Sidney Smith, in 1805, for the purpose of acting against the Boulogne flotilla. This vessel, which was in fact nothing more than two boats fastened together like those of the Pa- cific islanders, was navigated by the proper officers to Putney, and there, under the admiral's orders, put through all the manoeuvres which could in any way explain her use and capabilities. She was called the Gemini, and as it was a subject of some importance, Mr. Pitt and a large party had been invited to Lord Mulgrave's, whose house was on the banks of the Thames, to see the trial. Accord- ingly before dinner they went on the lawn to see the boat, and afterward returned to the house, where Sir Sidney having joined the party, which consisted of about twelve persons, they sat down to table. There was every prospect of the dinner being an agreeable one, and so it turned out ; Mr. Pitt was in great spirits, and amused those near him exceedingly, conversing with them on a variety of subjects, politics apparently never entering his head, and he was no flinch er at his wine. But after the cloth was removed the conversa- tion came less general, and was carried on by two or three persons, who had each his little knot of listeners ; one of the speakers being Colonel, after- ward Lord Dillon, who was holding forth on the good old times of Sir Robert Walpole, and the BEAU BRUMMELL 67 great utility of that noble class, the country gentle- men. "What's that you say, colonel," said Pitt, "of the good old times?" The colonel repeated his eulogium, finishing of course with a still more splendid peroration. "Ah," replied Pitt, in his deep sepulchral voice, "ah, Colonel Dillon, those were indeed the good old times, for they were days when country gentlemen were even more ignorant and more obstinate than they are at present ! " "Imagine my astonishment, however," said the diplomatist, " on hearing Mr. Pitt in the House of Commons, two months after, when he had some tax which he was anxious to saddle upon these 'ignorant and obstinate gentlemen,' make the most laboured panegyric in their praise ; and par- ticularly addressing Colonel Stanley, the Earl of D 's uncle (for the House was in committee at the time), instance him as one of the finest examples of this class ! " Brummell's great external characteristic was the elegance of his manners ; they were the gift of nature, not the conventional ones usually acquired, in greater or less perfection, in the class of society that he frequented. There was no affectation or pretension about him, but if any peculiarity could be observed, it was a tinge of the graceful for- mality generally described as "of the old school." His carriage was noble, all his movements were gentle and dignified, but never gave the impression 68 BEAU BRUMMELL that they were studied ; and his deportment was so peculiarly striking, that in walking down St. James's Street, he attracted the attention of the passers-by as much as the Prince of Wales him- self. To admire whatever was elegant was natural to him, and his living in the midst of every descrip- tion of refinement, in palaces, or in mansions hardly if in fact at all inferior, fully accounts for the taste and judgment which he possessed in buhl, china, and other objects of virtu; he was very curious in snuff-boxes, and had a collection of great beauty and value, as also of canes. Here, however, panegyric on his judgment must stop ; for it is doubtful whether his mind was so keenly alive to the sublime beauties of the Italian school of painting, or the sculpture of the ancients. His small library was stored with standard works, and though by no means comprising the extent of his reading, as he could at any time avail himself of superior ones, and constantly did so, showed the same good taste. Being thus habitually, as well as naturally, ele- gant and refined, he of course had an antipathy to vulgarity of any sort, especially in manners ; but his sarcastic allusions to it were directed, gen- erally speaking, against those who he considered ought to have known better. But it would be difficult indeed to fix the pre- cise standard of manners that constitutes the fin- ished gentleman, and many and amusing are the BEAU BRUMMELL 69 dicta of some, who have undertaken to supply rules for the guidance of such as are anxious to excel in that rare and difficult character. Amongst the prohibitory ones is Lord Chesterfield's declara- tion that .a gentleman ought not to play on the violin. Would it not have been more sensible had he said, a gentleman ought not to take snuff ? that most nasty operation, the only deviation from the practice of personal purity in which Brummell indulged. Happily for the fair sex, it has long fallen into general disuse as a fashionable habit, which it was in his day. The Prince of Wales took snuff, a sufficient reason for the almost uni- versal adoption of the custom. But even this Brummell did in an elegant manner, scarcely in- ferior to that of his Royal Highness ; like him, he opened his box with peculiar grace, and with one hand only, the left. One of the great amateurs of this nasal pastime, and a friend of Brummell's, still survives, and Lord P 's cellar of snuff not wine is said by the tobacconists to be worth three thousand pounds. But to return to the consideration of gentle- manly demeanour. Some five and forty years ago, a friend of mine, whose manners were peculiarly pleasing and correct, was out shooting, in Norfolk, with an elderly gentleman of his acquaintance. It was a bright burning day in September, and they had walked over miles of stubble and turnips with pretty good success, when, stopping in the middle 70 BEAU BRUMMELL of a field for a momentary rest, the young clergy- man took his handkerchief from his hat, and, pass- ing it across his brow, said to his companion, " Oh, how thirsty I am ! " " What ! " exclaimed the old sportsman, in a tone of unfeigned sur- prise, " thirsty ? a gentleman, young man, is never thirsty ; " and, taking a dried camomile flower out of his pocket, and placing it in his mouth, he shouldered his gun, recommending my friend, as they renewed their walk, to carry a similar antidote with him in future. Such was the feeling of the " old school " with regard to propriety of manners, though, perhaps, a little exaggerated in this instance, and certainly in that of Lord Chesterfield ; for with that nobleman it was a mere affectation of refinement, but with the old gentleman it was a real feeling of propriety. A ci-devant garde -du -corps of Charles the Tenth's, who formed one of the society of Caenn when Brummell was residing in that town, was also an example of stoicism similar to that required of a gentleman by this venerable critic. He had only his half-pay, seven hundred and fifty francs a year, and his wardrobe, as might naturally be expected, was rather deficient on such an income. It was little enough for a man who might be sans home, sans shirt, sans everything whose salon is the wretched cabaret at the corner of the street ; but for a legitimist, supporting the character of a well- dressed man, and a ruined cause, it was positive BEAU BRUMMELL 71 starvation. Fortunately, his affluent friends of the same political opinions sometimes assisted him with a coat, and occasionally with a pair of inexpres- sibles, or a dinner ; but never did their friendly donations extend to a cloak or a greatcoat, and in the most bitter weather, no matter whether it was sleeting or snowing, he was never seen in the street habited in anything of the kind. One keen winter afternoon, an Englishman, who was making his way to his dinner at the hotel as rapidly as he could, to his infinite amazement met Monsieur de Z with his surtout open, and looking the very emblem of the season. Boldly erect, however, with his hat on one side, he ap- peared to defy the elements, and stalked toward him as magnanimously insouciant as if he had been clad in sables. The Englishman, with his cloak thrown up to his very eyes, like a true hidalgo, struck with the transparent appearance of the garde-du-corpSy asked him, in a really compassion- ate tone, if he did not feel the cold ? " Froid, monsieur ! " said the haughty Carlist, " un homme comme-il-faut n'a jamais froid." Though there may be two opinions as to whether it is necessary that a gentleman should never be either thirsty, or cold, or play the violin, few will deny that " the gentleman of the old school " is now a rara avis, and that, in doing away with the formalities by which society was regulated in days gone by, we have lost much of the polish that 72 BEAU BRUMMELL distinguished him. Had the old sportsman, of whom I have been speaking, written " The Adven- tures of a Gentleman," he would scarcely have allowed his hero to set dogs to fight in a house, in one, too, in which he was a perfect stranger ! May we not question whether society has gained by the extent to which the relaxation of its forms has been carried, though some was desirable. The intercourse between a father and his son had in the last generation much of formality in it ; but the restrictions which then existed were useful, and tended strongly to preserve that consideration and respect which are too often broken through in the present day. In writing to his father, the son then addressed him as " My dear sir ; " in conver- sation, " Sir." A complete upsetting, instead of the modification of such forms as these, has not created a warmer affection between the two ; while it has certainly given rise to a familiarity that fre- quently terminates in impertinence, and, finally, in a total want of filial respect. Many an under- graduate, or incipient field-marshal, in penning a letter home for a fresh supply of funds, now com- mences his epistle with "My dear Governor," who at his wine-party designates his father by the still more elegant denomination of the " old boy," or the "old cock." The use of such coarse lan- guage, in speaking of a parent, cannot fail in time to breed contempt, and, in truth, it does so. But manners, as well as dress, will of course BEAU BRUMMELL 73 vary, as they ever have done, with each succeeding generation ; a hoop did not make a lady, nor gold lace a gentleman ; neither of these appendages is a loss, but the minuet contributed far more to make them elegant, than the gallopade ; and Sir Roger de Coverley was a better style of Christmas revel, than the dance termed a polonaise, into which is introduced a promenade through the bedrooms and down the corridors of our country mansions, on the walls of which the venerable ancestors of the family are shaking yes, shaking with indignation at such hoydenish proceedings. What would be the feelings of the youthful and stately beauties of preceding generations and beauties they were, in spite of pearl powder and pomatum if they could be resuscitated, and (placed against a trun- cated column of gas sent from London, to light the ballroom) see their great-granddaughters danc- ing the coquette, or some of the other cotillons ? I venture to assert, that they would have no necessity for rouge that night. The comparative merits of different forms of government is a prolific subject of discussion, and none is more worthy of attention, or more deeply interesting ; but it is astonishing how much opin- ions upon abstract principles are modified, by the influence which the manners and customs of different countries exercise upon them. What is there that excites such decided feelings against modern democracy, as the coarseness of 74 BEAU BRUMMELL its social and domestic habits ? What is there that has tended half so much to keep up our dislike to the government of our transatlantic friends, as the uncivilised character of the incidents that are constantly occurring in their drawing-rooms ? A pleasant episode, truly, in a state reception, to see the trays of refreshments, intended for the guests at the upper end of the room, cleared by a rush of visitors near the door; and a second supply escorted to its destination by a score of Irish lackeys, with shillalahs in their hands ! Moreover, there is something of tyranny in their equality ; it is not pleasant to be told at a hotel, though the landlord be a colonel, that, whether you like it or not, you must breakfast and dine when and where every one else does. And can it be pleasant, when the gong sends forth its brazen note, to be perforce one of a crowd, who rush to their food as eagerly as the tame carp at Fontainebleau, when they hear the gardener's bell each indi- vidual being conscious that, if he does not answer it, he must go without his meal ? If we are to believe the almost unanimous accounts of travellers in America, and particularly that of Mr. Dickens, the Hall of Congress is one vast spittoon ; the members being wholly regard- less of those little conveniences, appropriated to the indulgence of that almost national diversion. Why it happens that the inhabitants of the mod- ern and model republic, the Rev. Sydney Smith's BEAU BRUMMELL 75 "ark of human happiness," should be vulgar and tyrannical they are slave-owners still it is not easy to say ; but the former fact must create as much disgust as the latter indignation, in the minds even of the humble classes of a civilised country. In a community, constituted like the American, refinement of manners and gentlemanly bearing cannot be common to any very large proportion of the upper classes ; it cannot be expected. A decent regard for the gradations of society, how- ever few, must be granted by general consent, or established by long use, as the basis of refined manners ; and when that is so granted, or espe- cially when it has existed in a country for cen- turies, vulgarity is understood, even by the low, and becomes an outrage against the feelings of the high, who have been as it were born with, and responsible for, superior advantages. CHAPTER VI. Brummell's Accomplishments In London during the Month of November His Friend, the Duke of Bedford Visits to Woburn, Belvoir, etc. Fete on the Duke of Rutland's Com- ing of Age Brummell Is Mistaken for the Prince of Wales His Indifference to Field Sports Nimrod's Opinion of His Riding Thomas Asheton Smith His Reason for Riding at an Impossibility The Major of the Belvoir Vol- unteers The Regular and the Irregular Brummell's Stud The Late Duchess of Rutland The Beau's Friends and Associates at Belvoir. f JRUMMELL'S manner and address, which made him so acceptable, and enabled him to take such a leading position in society, were not his only recommenda- tions ; he was a charming companion, and was possessed of the best of all claims to popularity good humour. He drew well, and was not ignorant of music, and his voice was very agree- able in singing as well as speaking ; he also wrote vers de sociti/, one of the accomplishments in vogue in his day, with facility, and his dancing was perfect. Though these qualifications, and the quiet un- assuming manner which distinguished him, were more likely to make him a favourite with the fair 76 BEAU BRUMMELL 77 sex than his own, he was as much liked by the men, and became most intimate at a very early period of his life with some of the first families in the country ; the intervals between his seasons in London being varied by visits to the prince at Brighton or to Belvoir, Chatsworth, Woburn, etc. Nevertheless the following note will show that he positively was once in town in the month of Novem- ber ; but his friend Beauvais was probably an Jmigr/, and he was good-naturedly showing him the lions. " WOBURN ABBEY, November 10. " MY DEAR BRUMMELL : By some accident, which I am unable to account for, your letter of Wednesday did not reach me till yesterday. I make it a rule never to lend my box, but you have the entree libre whenever you wish to go there, as I informed the box-keeper last year. " I hope Beauvais and you will do great execu- tion at Up-Park. 1 I shall probably be there shortly after you. " Ever yours sincerely, "BEDFORD." At Belvoir he was Vami de la famille, and at Cheveley, another seat of the Duke of Rutland's, his rooms were as sacred as the Duke of York's, who was a frequent visitor there; and if any gentleman happened to be occupying them when he arrived unexpectedly, he was obliged to turn out. 1 The seat of Sir Henry Featherstonhaugh, Bart. 78 BEAU BRUMMELL On the Duke of Rutland's coming of age, in January, 1799, great rejoicings took place at Bel- voir, and Brummell was one of the distinguished party that assembled there, amongst whom were the Prince of Wales, the late Duke of Argyle, the Marquis of Lorn, the present Lord Jersey, etc., and all the neighbouring gentry. The festivities on this occasion lasted for three weeks, and were conducted on a truly ducal scale. Fireworks of the most splendid description were let off in front of the castle, one bullock was roasted whole on the bowling-green of the quad- rangle, and another at the bottom of the hill on which the noble pile of building stands ; but such was the severity of the weather, that while one side was roasting the other was freezing. This, however, did not deter the peasantry from making their way in hundreds to the duke's kitchen and servants' hall, where the table groaned with sub- stantial fare, and the "brown October" was not only "drunk on the premises," but carried away in pailsful. This unrivalled example of baronial magnificence and hospitality is still remembered in the vale of Belvoir, a circumstance not very extraordinary, for this proof of the warmth and generosity of the young and noble duke's dispo- sition is said to have cost him sixty thousand pounds. The weather being severe, there was of course no hunting, so skating was the order of the day ; BEAU BRUMMELL 79 and Brummell, in going down the hill to the ice, clad in a pelisse of fur, was one morning mistaken by the people, who had assembled in great num- bers, for the Prince of Wales, and was loudly cheered. The little incident will give some idea of the elegance and dignity of his carriage. It was indeed nearly as remarkable as that of his Royal Highness, who, in spite of the opinion retailed by a modern novelist, that "in the zenith of his popularity and personal advantages he seemed posi- tively vulgar by the side of the Count d'Artois," was allowed by his greatest enemies to be the most distinguished-looking man of his day. Though I had the preceding anecdote from the very best authority, I did not hear whether Brum- mell, when he arrived at the ice, " made a star " upon it, or rivalled the Marquis of Lorn, a perfect skater, by engraving his cipher. Certain it is that he hated personal exertion in any way, and it was difficult to make him give up his book and shoulder his gun, to join in a scramble over hedge- rows and ditches. He was not much of a shot, and looked upon a battue only as an excellent opportunity for letting off his fun. In those primeval days, there was no such thing as patent wadding ; and punched cards, if known, were not general ; at any rate, he did not choose to adopt them, and used to excite a laugh among the sportsmen by appearing at the breakfast-table with fifty or sixty pieces of paper like spills, at- 8o BEAU BRUMMELL tached with a large whistle to the buttonhole of his jacket. One of his greatest feats with his gun was per- petrated at Cheveley, where he had just returned from a grand day, on which three hundred head of game had been slaughtered. The rest of the party were contemplating the fruits of their suc- cess, as it lay upon the lawn ; but Brummell, who took little interest in the deceased, having acci- dentally caught sight of two tame pigeons which had lovingly perched upon one of the chimneys, tempted by a standing shot, carefully raised his gun, and brought them both down. His satisfac- tion, however, was very transient, for a general exclamation from the bystanders followed, and he soon learned they were the pets of one of the upper servants ; great was then his regret, and many the apologies he made to the owner. But this unfortunate chance was not quite so serious in its results as that of the Duke of York, who, while shooting at Cheveley, during a Newmarket October Meeting, mistook a favourite liver-coloured pointer of the duke's for a hare, and shot her dead. Poor Venus was a beautiful bitch, one of the finest dogs in the kingdom, and his Royal Highness was even more hurt than his friend, who valued her very highly. Though Brummell was so much at Belvoir, and kept a stud of horses there, he was never a " Mel- ton man," and his friends, as well as every one BEAU BRUMMELL 81 else, were amazingly astonished when he joined in the pleasures of the chase ; for, like many other gentlemen, he did not like it : it did not suit his habits, and his servant could never get him up in time to join the hounds, if it was a distant meet ; but even if the meet was near, and they found quickly, he only rode a few fields, and then shaped his course in an opposite direction, or paid a visit to the nearest farmhouse, to satisfy his enormous appetite for bread and cheese. I have heard him, but many years after, laugh amazingly over these incidents of his Melton days, and say in his usual droll way that he " could not bear to have his tops and leathers splashed by the greasy galloping farmers." The truth was, he preferred returning at two o'clock to lunch with the duchess and her female guests ; he was to them a most sociable, cheerful, and amusing companion ; and yet very much liked by the fox-hunters, farmers as well as gentlemen, for he had always a merry word to say to them, and the late Mr. Apperley assured me that, when he chose to ride, he rode respectably ; but he did not say that he ever heard of his having been in at the death, after the famous run from Billesden Coplow, immortalised in verse by a clergy- man, the son of a bishop : neither did he say that he ever rode, like Tom Smith, at a Croxton Park paling, with a hurdle on the top of it. It was on this occasion that Mr. Smith, being taken up half- 82 BEAU BRUMMELL stunned, and asked what on earth could tempt him to go at a fence impossible to clear, replied, " I had a lead, and if I had not gone at it, somebody else might have tried." But, many years after this period, when, at Caen, Brummell used sometimes to revert to the pleasurable recollections of times past, he once spoke of an occasion on which he was obliged to exercise his best powers across country ; and the anecdote, as it was repeated to me, was so amus- ing that, though I cannot authenticate the fact on which it depends, I cannot refrain from insert- ing it. It appears that, after he retired from the Tenth, he was tempted to accept a majority in the Belvoir Volunteers, raised by the Duke of Rutland after the short peace of 1803, and that, while he was in this responsible and complimentary situation, a general officer was sent down by the Horse Guards to inspect the corps. The official notifica- tions had been given and received, the time and place named, and General Binks (for such shall be his incognito) arrived punctual to the minute. The men were there, the officers also ; the drums and colour, not a halberd was missing, but Major Brummell where was he at this critical juncture ? nobody knew. The indignant regular waited and waited, the charger snorted, the general snorted, and at length, both being equally exasperated at the unreasonable BEAU BRUMMELL 83 delay, the gallant officer commenced the perform- ance of his now unpleasant duty ; this was termi- nating, of course not much to his satisfaction, when the truant major was descried in a scarlet coat in the distance, coming at speed across the country, occasionally craning on his way, and then with renewed energy making play over the flat. A few minutes, and the beau was cap in hand to General Binks, who suddenly halted the line, which then much resembled that formed by a patriotic volunteer corps, when reviewed in the Phoenix Park, and for the serpentine character of which their learned commander so drolly apologised to the lord lieutenant, by saying, " Your Excellency, we are lawyers, as this indenture witnesseth." But in this case, the commanding officer had to make an apology for himself, not for his corps, and he entered upon a series of explanatory speeches commencing with, Having left Belvoir quite early, fully thought he should have been home in time, for the meet was close at hand, but the favourite horse failed and landed him in a ditch, was dreadfully shook, and had been lying there an hour, which the state of his pink amply testified. Excuses, however, were vain ; General Binks was a martinet enrag/. He remained inexorable, and raising himself in his stirrups, addressed the delinquent in the following pompous and inflated style : " Sir, this conduct is wholly inexcusable ; 84 BEAU BRUMMELL if I remember right, sir, you once had the honour of holding a captain's commission under his Royal Highness, the Prince of Wales, the heir-apparent himself, sir! Now, sir, I tell you, I tell you, sir, that I should be wanting in a proper zeal for the honour of the service ; I should be wanting in my duty, sir, if I did not, this very evening, report this disgraceful neglect of orders to the commander- in-chief, as well as the state in which you present yourself in front of your regiment : and this shall be done, sir. You may retire, sir." The beau bowed low and in silence, and did retire ; but he had scarcely walked his horse five paces from the spot when he returned and said, in a subdued tone, "Excuse me, General Binks, but in my anxiety to explain this most unfortunate business I forgot to deliver a message which the Duke of Rutland desired me to give you when I left Belvoir this morning ; it was to request the honour of your company at dinner." It would be difficult to say which gave the oddest grin, the culprit or the disciplinarian ; the latter coughed, and at length cleared his throat sufficiently to express his thanks in these words : " Ah ! why, really, I feel, and am, very much obliged to his Grace ; pray, Major Brummell, tell the duke I shall be most happy ; and," melodiously raising his voice, for the beau had already turned his horse once more toward Belvoir, " Major Brum- mell, as to this little affair, I am sure no man BEAU BRUMMELL 85 can regret it more than you do. Assure his Grace that I shall have great pleasure in accepting his very kind invitation." And they parted amidst a shower of smiles. But Brummell was as yet only half out of his difficulties ; the invitation he had so readily given to the general was coined on the spot, was his own invention, to save himself from the conse- quences of his neglect of duty, and he had to ride for his life to the castle to prepare his friend, the duke, for an unexpected visitor, the distinguished Binks. This anecdote does not tell well on paper, but let the reader imagine Brummell giving his own account of the scene, taking off the graceful and submissive bow with which he acknowledged the reproof, and the arch twist of his eyebrows as he described himself giving the invitation, that acted as such an efficient anodyne to the general's indignation. Brummell always appeared at the coverside ad- mirably dressed in a white cravat and white tops, which latter either he or Robinson, his valet, introduced, and which eventually superseded the brown ones ; his horses were always in as high condition as himself, their coats looking like silk. They stood at the Peacock at the bottom of the hill, near Belvoir, and were under the care of a person of the name of Fryatt, who perfectly un- derstood his business; indeed he was more an agent than a groom, for he purchased when and 86 BEAU BRUMMELL what he thought proper, without much, if ever, consulting his master, who had too much sense to interfere with him. The truth was Fryatt was an excellent rider, a capital judge of horses, and sometimes put money into Brummell's pocket, besides mounting him well ; he also took care of himself, and at his death left eight or ten thousand pounds behind him, made out of horse flesh ; the inn which he kept at Melton for one or two years was not so profitable a concern. After a few seasons Brum- mell's stud was removed to Knipton, on account of some misunderstanding with Shipton, the land- lord of the Peacock ; in 1 807 his horses stood at Grantham. Knipton is a very beautiful village about a mile and a half from Belvoir Castle, and near it is a lake of two hundred acres in extent ; the spot is richly wooded, and the late duchess took great pains to improve it, particularly in the drives, which are laid out with much judgment ; the castle, also, will long remain a magnificent memo- rial of her architectural taste, for the plan of it was her own selection. Her love of landscape gardening probably originated in her talent for drawing, which was considerable, as the collection at Belvoir of her own doing affords ample and pleasing evidence. BrummeH's capability of ap- preciating this accomplishment, and his own profi- ciency in it, combined with his other acquirements BEAU BRUMMELL 87 and his indifference to field sports, naturally made him a very welcome guest in the drawing- room at Belvoir, and led to greater intimacy with his noble hostess than he might otherwise have aspired to. He appears to have taken a pleasure in applying his talent for drawing to the not unamiable object of preserving the memory of some of the distin- guished women, that he was fortunate enough to be able to number among his friends. These sketches are from miniatures or pictures. One, of Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, was taken from a portrait by Sir Joshua Reynolds, and is now, or was, in the possession of Lady Granville ; two others, those of the late Duchesses of Beau- fort and Rutland, are now in the author's hands. The former is in water-colours, the latter in pen- cil. Though not highly finished, both are very creditably executed for an amateur. In a letter of Brummell's subsequently given, written many years after the death of the Duch- ess of Rutland, he feelingly alludes to her in terms that would confirm the most delightful impression of her disposition. But, however the society in which she moved might have regretted her Grace's premature death, inasmuch as it removed one of the brightest and most fascinating ornaments from their gay circle, yet her loss was far more sin- cerely deplored by the poorer classes of her own neighbourhood, in whose welfare and happiness she 88 BEAU BRUMMELL had always manifested a most lively interest, and who assembled in vast crowds at her funeral, to pay the last tribute of a sincere respect to their benefactress. In concluding this chapter, the principal part of which relates to Brummell's intimacy with a family in which he for many years passed much of his time, it may not be altogether uninteresting to mention some of the guests with whom he was frequently associated, and with the majority of whom, now like himself in their graves, he was on the most friendly footing ; as it will give the reader an idea how deeply he must have felt the alteration in his circumstances and the change he had to encounter in society during his long and compulsory residence abroad, from Belvoir to Calais ! Amongst these were the Dukes of York and Cambridge ; the late Dukes of Beaufort, Man- chester, Dorset, and Argyle ; the Earls of West- moreland and Chatham (William Pitt's brother, and the great friend of the Duke of Rutland on the turf); the Lords Delamere, Apsley, Forester, F. Bentinck, and Robert Manners ; the Honourables W. Howard, Irby, and Henry Pierrepoint (Lord Manvers's brother and one of the leaders at Wa- tier's); Chig Chester (a great whist player, sports- man, and good fellow) ; Sir Watkin Wynne, Sir John Thoroton ; Colonel F. and the Rev. P. Tho- roton ; Colonel G. Cornwall, Parson Grosvenor, Mr. Delm6 Ratcliffe, and John Douglas. BEAU BRUMMELL 89 There were also the present Lords Jersey, Al- vanley, Willoughby d'Eresby, and Charles Man- ners, who, as well as Lord Robert, was with Brummell in the Tenth. A few commoners also survive, namely, Richard Norman, the Duke of Rutland's brother-in-law, Culling Smith, Sloane Stanley, General Grosvenor, and General Upton. CHAPTER VII. BrummelPs Influence In Society Proofs of It The Young Debutante at Almack's The Hogshead of Martinique Brummell's Assurance Mr. Lister's Elucidation of That Subject Mrs. Johnson Thompson Brummell and Wynd- ham The Dinner at Mr. R.'s, and the Ride to Lady Jersey's The Horrid Discovery The Double Distress. BRUMMELL'S intimacy with the Prince of Wales, and also with so many families of distinction, in addition to his social qualifications and perfect manners, soon made him sought and courted in society, and he was at length the vogue no party was complete with- out him ; and the morning papers, in giving the details of a rout, always placed his name first on the list of untitled guests. But his ambition was, not only to shine in the fashionable world, but to be its dictator, and, to effect this object, he saw that he must be formidable, like Sylla, he must be feared. A quick perception of the folly and gullibility of many of its members enabled him to shape his course accordingly ; and, being fully aware of the power of ridicule, and not inconven- ienced by any undue proportion of feeling for the crowd, he used it freely. His disposition to sat- 9 BEAU BRUMMELL 91 irise was, no doubt, unamiable, but there was an essential difference between exercising his sarcastic vein upon people who were perfectly indifferent to him, and making an ill-natured use of it in private circles. In cutting up individuals with whom he had no feelings in common, which was pretty often the case, he did no more than hundreds of others ; but, having a most perfect tact in all matters appertaining to mien and conduct in society, he made the witty, satirical, and cynical points of his character tell with much more effect than they did theirs. How well he eventually succeeded in making his opinion valued or dreaded, the following anec- dote will give an idea. " Do you see that gentle- man near the door ? " said an experienced chaperon to her daughter, whom she had brought, for the first time, into the arena of Almack's, " he is now speaking to Lord ." "Yes, I see him," replied the light-hearted and as yet unsophisti- cated girl; "who is he?" "A person, my dear, who will probably come and speak to us ; and, if he enters into conversation, be careful to give him a favourable impression of you, for," and she sunk her voice to a whisper, " he is the celebrated Mr. Brummell." This is no fiction ; the young Lady Louisa, who is now living, was the daughter of a duke, and her rank, wealth, and personal attractions might well have been thought sufficient to secure her against 92 BEAU BRUMMELL the criticisms of any man. This doubtless was her mother's opinion; but such was Brummell's influence, and such his supposed ill nature in the use of his powers of detraction, that she was obliged to warn her young debutante not unthink- ingly to expose herself to them. It has been asserted that even Madame de Stael was haunted by a dread of his disapprobation, and that she considered her having failed to please him as the greatest malheur that she experienced during her residence in London ; the next that the Prince of Wales did not call upon her. The fol- lowing is an extract from the Aurora Borealis of periodicals, which proves that it also acknowl- edged the existence of his extraordinary influence : " Every one has heard the story of the man who, when Pitt inquired what could be done to forward his interests, simply requested the prime minister to bow to him in public. There was some sense and knowledge of the world in this request ; nor was it altogether an unmeaning affectation in Brummell when, in reply to a nobleman of the highest rank, who accused him of inveigling his son into a disreputable gambling transaction, he ex- claimed, ' Really, I did my best for the young man : I once gave him my arm all the way from White's to Watier's.' " ' Brummell was so far right ; for had the young man possessed any sense, and prof- ited by his example, he would at least have gamed 1 Edinburgh Review, February, 1843. BEAU BRUMMELL 93 amongst gentlemen, and, in losing his money, would not have lost caste also, as it is to be pre- sumed the transaction occurred at some low hell, and not at either of these clubs ; unless, indeed, the opinion of the commentator on Lord Byron's works is correct, namely, " that a ' hell ' is a gaming-house so called, where you risk little and are cheated a good deal, and a 'club' a pleasant purgatory, where you lose more, and are not sup- posed to be cheated at all." Mr. Benson Hill, in his "Pinch of Snuff," like- wise relates the following anecdote, as a proof that Brummell's opinion was above appeal in the world of fashion ; it shows also that he turned his power to some account. " Fribourg and Treyer were once anxiously expecting their supply of the veritable Martinique, and the list of applicants for this highly prized article had long been filled up. The hogshead was opened in the presence of the arbiter, who, after taking a few pinches, gravely pronounced it a detestable compound, and not at all the style of thing that any man, with the slightest pretensions to correct taste, could pos- sibly patronise. This astounding announcement, which must soon spread among the candidates, petrified the purveyors ; they had procured the snuff at a heavy outlay, and it was now likely to remain on their hands. "The companions of the dictator left him to discuss the matter with the proprietors. No 94 BEAU BRUMMELL sooner were they gone than Brummell said, 'By some oversight I did not put my name down on your Martinique list, and I must have allowed the thing to have been disposed of to others, who know not its value as I do. Since the hogshead has been condemned, you will not object to my having three jars full of it ; that fact once known, there is little doubt that the remainder will find a speedy demand.' The Messrs. Fribourg gladly yielded to the ruse of the exquisite, and in a few days, it having become known that he had abso- lutely bought and positively paid for the quantity above named, not a grain was left." But many were the steps by which Brummell arrived at this culminating point, and incalculable pains did he devote to his object before his opinion weighed with the Mite of Almack's ; before he could arrogate to himself the power of assigning the limits of gentility, and deciding who were " bon ou mauvais ton ; " before he dared to permit himself to exercise his wit at the cost of an insult to his future sovereign, even though they had quarrelled an insult that he would never, under any circumstances, have addressed to an equal. The recollection of the anecdote to which I allude leads me to the consideration of another feature in Brummell's character, and one which mainly as- sisted him in attaining his singular eminence, I mean his indescribable assurance, which, without scandalising his memory, was not trifling. BEAU BRUMMELL 95 " No one," says the author of " Granby," " could talk down his superiors, whether in rank or talent, with more imposing confidence than Trebeck could ; his denunciations were always couched in a witty form ; and when it was needless or dangerous to define a fault, he could check applause with an incredulous smile, or depress pretension by the raising of an eyebrow. He observed, with deri- sion, how those who were delighted and amused vainly thought themselves confidentially treated, and exulted in the mistaken idea of being ex- empted from his cutting criticisms. No keeper of a menagerie could better show off a monkey than he did an original. On these occasions he always contrived to make the unconscious object of his experiments place his absurdities in the best point of view, concealing his own intentions under the blandest cajolery. " In the art of cutting he shone unrivalled ; he knew the 'when,' and the 'where,' and the 'how.' Without affecting useless short-sightedness, he could assume that calm, but wandering gaze, which veers as if unconsciously around the pro- scribed individual, neither fixing nor being fixed; that indefinable look which excuses you, perhaps, to the person cut, and at any rate prevents him from accosting you." In searching for materials for this work, I hap- pened one day to stumble, and as I thought, very fortunately, upon a duodecimo volume entitled 96 BEAU BRUMMELL "Anecdotes of Impudence." Here, thought I, something is surely to be gleaned ; but I was disappointed, and not only that, but surprised, for there was not a word about Brummell in the book ; and the frontispiece, which on the impulse of the moment I hoped was a portrait of the beau, proved to be one of Joseph Hume, Esq., M. P. Why Mr. Hume was selected by the author as the best type of the impudence of our times, it is not for me to say ; but I think few will deny that it was very hard upon poor Brummell. Cool and impertinent, indeed, were the speeches that he often made, and the tricks that he played, especially if he had been affronted, or in self- defence ; and then, whether his impudent remarks were levelled at a shoeblack or the Prince of Wales, was perfectly immaterial to him ; for, how- ever unjustifiable his jokes might sometimes be, at least he was never a court sycophant or a parasite. His sarcasms were generally launched at those moving in the same society as himself, at toadies, and rich and assuming parvenus who were endeav- ouring to force themselves into notice; not at people whose habits were unobtrusive, or who belonged to a more retired sphere of life. But the following well-known anecdote is the most inexcusable instance of his wanton impudence; for the person whom he made his butt had given him no just cause of offence ; moreover, she was a woman. BEAU BRUMMELL 97 It appears that there were two dashing ladies in London, whose patronymics were similar, and who gave great parties, one of them, a Mrs. Thompson, residing in the neighbourhood of Grosvenor Square, the other a Mrs. Johnson, living near Finsbury Square. It appears, too, that sometime after Brummell's quarrel with the Prince of Wales, the former lady gave a splendid ball, at which his Royal Highness had signified his intention of being present ; it is therefore scarcely necessary to add that Brummell was not included in the list of invitations. On the evening of the entertain- ment, however, while Mrs. Thompson was waiting in her anteroom, supported by a bevy of intimate friends, in momentary expectation of the arrival of her royal guest, and exulting in the completeness of all her preparations, the beau, to her ineffable surprise and disgust, made his appearance, and his best bow. Justly indignant at this outrage, she informed him, with as much coolness as she could command, that he was not invited. " Not invited, madam ! not invited ! " said Brummell, in his bland- est tones, "surely there must be some mistake," and leisurely feeling in all his pockets to prolong the chance of the prince's arrival, and therefore her misery, he at last drew forth an invitation card, and presented it to the incensed lady. She took it, and saw at a glance it was not her own card, but that of her rival in the east, and, haughtily throwing it from her in a climax of vexation and 98 BEAU BRUMMELL anxiety to get rid of him, said : " That card, sir, is a Mrs. Johnson's ; my name is Thompson." " Is it, indeed ? " replied Brummell, perfectly cool, and affecting the most innocent surprise, " Dear me, how very unfortunate ! really, Mrs. Johns Thompson, I mean, I am very sorry for this mis- take ; but you know, Johnson and Thompson and Thompson and Johnson are really so much the same kind of thing. Mrs. Thompson, I wish you a very good evening ; " and making a profound bow, he slowly retired from the room amidst the suppressed anger of the bevy of intimates, the titter of his own friends, and the undisguised wrath of the lady. Though Brummell cultivated much the society of women, and his deference to those with whom he associated on intimate terms was great, he had not any very sincere respect for the sex, as the impertinent manner in which he so ill-naturedly harassed this poor lady evidently shows. On that point, as on all others of substantial merit, he was immeasurably below his justly admired contempo- rary, Wyndham. Brummell's refinement of man- ners could stand no comparison with his refinement of feeling and sensitive delicacy toward women, of which the following is a most striking instance : He was once dining in the country, at the house of a very wealthy but not very polished acquaint- ance, when the conversation happening to turn upon the subject of female beauty, the gentleman BEAU BRUMMELL 99 in the course of the discussion said, " But, Mr. Wyndham, what do you think of my wife's eyes ? " "Sir," replied the disgusted Crichton, "I never took the liberty of looking at Mrs. F 's eyes." " Haven't you ? well, then, take her to the window," said the vulgar hound, quite misunderstanding the reproof, and much in the same tone as, had he been in his farmyard, he would have desired his visitor to examine a favourite Alderney. The anecdote of Mrs. Johnson-Thompson is no novelty, it has been worn threadbare, but it is, I believe, perfectly authentic, and, like some others of the same nature, which may or may not be so, ought not to be omitted in a chapter upon his impudent facetiae. It is said that on one occasion, when Brummell was dining at a gentleman's house in Hampshire, where the champagne was very far from being good, he waited for a pause in the con- versation, and then condemned it by raising his glass, and saying loud enough to be heard by every one at the table, " John, give me some more of that cider." But although guilty of impertinences of this kind, he was seldom premeditatedly ill-natured or ill-tempered, and, amongst his own set, his impudence was not only permitted, but expected ; and no one thought of noticing it any more than they would have done that of a court jester. The following are cases in point : " Brummell, you were not here, yesterday," said one of his club ioo BEAU BRUMMELL friends ; " where did you dine ? " " Dine ! why, with a person of the name of R s. I believe he wishes me to notice him, hence the dinner ; but, to give him his due, he desired that I would make up the party myself, so I asked Alvanley, Mills, Pierrepoint, and a few others, and I assure you the affair turned out quite unique. There was every delicacy in or out of season ; the Sillery was perfect, and not a wish remained ungratified ; but, my dear fellow, conceive my astonishment when I tell you that Mr. R s had the assurance to sit down, and dine with us ! " On another occasion, a wealthy young gentle- man then commencing life, and now a member for an eastern borough, being very anxious to be well placed in BrummeH's world, asked him and a large party to dine. The beau went, and a few minutes before they separated, he, addressing the company, requested to know who was to have the honour of taking him to Lady Jersey's that evening. " I will," said his host, delighted at the prospect of being seen to enter her ladyship's drawing-room in his company ; " wait till my guests are gone, and my carriage is quite at your service." "Thank you, exceedingly," replied Brummell, pretending to take the offer in a literal sense, "very kind of you, indeed ! But D k," and he assumed an air of great gravity, " pray how are you to go ? you surely would not like to get up behind ? No, that would not be right, and yet it will scarcely do for me to BEAU BRUMMELL 101 be seen in the same carriage with you." There was an involuntary roar from all present, in which Mr. D k, with great good nature, joined heartily. But Brummell could not always procure a cast in a friend's carriage, particularly if the friend had to call for him ; and one night being disappointed of a chance that he had calculated upon, when it was too late to send for a glass coach, he was unwillingly obliged to despatch his servant to the nearest stand, with many injunctions as to the selection he should make. In a few minutes, No. 1,803 was at his door, and soon after Brum- mell, who had alighted a little distance from the house, found himself ascending Lady Dungannon's staircase ; he had in fact reached the summit, and was on the eve of entering her splendid drawing- room already filled with guests, when a servant touched him gently on the arm, and to his horror and amazement, for he thought he had effected his purpose undiscovered, said, " Beg pardon, sir, per- haps you are not aware of it, but there is a straw in your shoe." While we have Brummell's name in connection with hackney-coaches, it may not be mal-a-propos to introduce a rather amusing puff which was inserted some years ago in a weekly paper, by a man who wished to recommend a patent carriage step. To effect his object he calls the beau's influence to aid his manoeuvre, and gives a very glowing description of his locomotive comforts, not 102 BEAU BRUMMELL a little in contrast with the preceding anecdote. The article commences with the following axiom : "'There is an art in everything, and whatever is worthy of being learnt, cannot be unworthy of a teacher.' Such was the logical argument of the professor of the Art of Stepping in and out of a Carriage, who represented himself as much pat- ronised by the sublime Beau Brummell, whose deprecation of those horrid coach steps he would repeat with great delight. ' Mr. Brummell,' he used to say, ' considered the sedan was the only vehicle for a gentleman, it having no steps ; and he invariably had his own chair, which was lined with white satin quilted, had down squabs, and a white sheepskin rug at the bottom, brought to the door of his dressing-room, on that account always on the ground floor,' from whence it was trans- ferred with its owner to the foot of the staircase of the house that he condescended to visit. Mr. Brummell has told me, continued the professor, that to enter a coach was torture to him. ' Con- ceive,' said he, ' the horror of sitting in a carriage with an iron apparatus, afflicted with the dreadful thought, the cruel apprehension of having one's leg crushed by the machinery ! Why are not the steps made to fold outside ? The only detraction from the luxury of a vis-a-vis, is the double dis- tress ! for both legs excruciating idea ! ' ' CHAPTER VIII. Practical Jokes The fimigre Mr. Snodgrass The Beau's Canine Friend Affectation J. W. C r, and Blooms- bury Square Brummell's Mots A Travelled Bore Veg- etable Diet A Limping Lounger A New Way of Accounting for a Cold A Bad Summer The Advantages of Civility Prince Boothby and Mrs. Clopton Parthericke Sheridan's Bet. [N the commencement of the last chapter I alluded to the tricks that Brummell played, meaning thereby practical jokes, a species of frolic highly amusing to the by- standers, until it is their turn to suffer, and in which he excelled. His predecessor, George Selwyn, and his contemporary, Sheridan, who loved one another as cordially as wits generally do, were also adepts in puerilities of this kind. Mr. Moore, in his "Life of Sheridan," says that he once induced Tickell to run after him into a dark passage, which he had covered with plates, having, however, taken good care to leave a path for him- self. Tickell was much cut ; but when Lord John Townshend came to condole with him, after a little show of indignation against his friend, he could not help exclaiming, "But how amazingly 103 104 BEAU BRUMMELL well it was done ! " Brummell's jokes in this way were well done also ; and, as is frequently the case, were practised upon those who could not retaliate. In one instance his victim was an old tmigr^ whom he met on a visit at Woburn or Chatsworth, into whose powder he managed, in concert with a certain noble friend, to introduce some finely pow- dered sugar; and the next morning Monsieur le Marquis, in perfect ignorance of the trick, after having been "bien sucrt" descended as usual to the breakfast-table. He had, however, scarcely made his bow and inserted his knife into the Perigord pie before him when the flies (for the heat was extreme), already attracted to the table by the marmalade and honeycomb, began to transfer their attentions to his head ; and before the segment of pie was finally detached, every fly at the table had settled on it. The carving-knife was relinquished to drive them away with his pocket-handkerchief, but the attempt was futile ; they rose for a second, but resettled instantly ; a few, indeed, winged their way to the distant parts of the room, but only to return with a reinforcement of their friends, who were vainly seeking a livelihood on the windows. Murmurs of astonishment escaped from the com- pany, as this new batch assailed Monsieur le Marquis ; he fanned his head, but it was of no use ; he shook it vehemently, but with no better success ; at length, the sugar becoming dissolved by the heat, trickled in saccharine rivulets over his BEAU BRUMMELL 105 forehead, which was soon covered by his torment- ors, buzzing and tickling so dreadfully that even old regime impassabilite' could stand it no longer. The unfortunate Frenchman started to his feet, and violently clasping his head with both his hands, rushed from the room, enveloped in a cloud of powder and flies ; his tormentors, and the echoes of an uncontrollable burst of laughter, following him up the staircase. When he was gone, Brum- mell and his confederate, of course, expressed more surprise than any one else, that the flies should have taken such a violent fancy to the Frenchman's powder and pomatum. Another gentleman who suffered by his pranks was a Mr. Snodgrass, I believe an F. R. S., and very fond of scientific pursuits ; probably the reason why he was singled out by Brummell as a fit and proper object for his fun. Accompanied by several friends, he once knocked up this savant at three o'clock on a fine frosty morning ; and when under the impression of his house being on fire, he pro- truded his body en chemise, and his head in a nightcap, from the window, the beau put the fol- lowing very interesting question to him : " Pray, sir, is your name Snodgrass?" "Yes, sir," said he, very anxiously, " my name is Snodgrass." " Snodgrass Snodgrass," repeated Brummell, " a very odd name that, upon my soul ; a very odd name, indeed ! But, sir, is your name really Snodgrass ? " Here the philosopher, with the 106 BEAU BRUMMELL thermometer below freezing point, naturally got into a towering passion, and threatened to call the watch ; whereupon Brummell walked off with " Good morning to you, Mr. Snodgrass." Such were the absurd tricks in which Brummell indulged ; and though he was not a wit in the literal sense of the word, like Lord Erskine, Sheri- dan, or Jekyll, he had a happy facility in placing the most ordinary circumstances in a ridiculous point of view, and never refrained, when oppor- tunity offered, from indulging his taste for ex- citing the risible muscles even of those who, very probably, thought but little of his talent in this way. He had also a singular power of giving an agreeable effect to a word or action, that in any one else would have been perhaps unnoticed, or, if noticed condemned ; but his happy hardihood generally carried him through the difficulties into which his fearless love of originality sometimes plunged him. It was, I believe, from one of his odd speeches that a certain gentleman, well known in the world, received the sobriquet of Poodle B g. It seems that Mr. B. had in his youth very beautiful hair, which curled naturally, and it was his practice, not an unusual one in the days of curricles, to be accompanied in his by his French dog. One day Brummell, who was on horseback, met them quietly driving together in the park, and hailed his friend with, " Ah, B g, how do you do ? a family vehicle, I see ! " BEAU BRUMMELL 107 His affectation, which was principally assumed for the purpose of amusing those about him, was another characteristic of his wit. He pretended to look upon the city as a terra incognita; and when some great merchant requested the honour of his company at dinner, he replied, " With pleas- ure, if you will promise faithfully not to tell." But a certain ex-secretary of the admiralty, of graver parts and great political and literary talents, has, since his time, carried on the joke to Blooms- bury, or some other square in that direction ; for, it is related of him that, when invited to dine in that remote region, he piquantly inquired where he was to change horses, a mot which has, no doubt inadvertently, wandered into " Pelham." The fol- lowing are some of the beau's jeux d? esprit that were at one time in general circulation, and a few of which have already been in print. An acquaintance having, in a morning call, bored him dreadfully about some tour he had made in the north of England, inquired with great pertinacity of his impatient listener which of the lakes he preferred ; when Brummell, quite tired of the man's tedious raptures, turned his head imploringly toward his valet, who was arrang- ing something in the room, and said, " Robinson." "Sir." "Which of the lakes do I admire?" " Windermere, sir," replied that distinguished in- dividual. " Ah, yes, Windermere," repeated Brummell, "so it is, Windermere." A lady at io8 BEAU BRUMMELL dinner, observing that he did not take any vege- tables, asked him whether such was his general habit, and if he never ate any. He replied, " Yes, madam, I once ate a pea." One day a friend, meeting him limping in Bond Street, asked him what was the matter. He re- plied, he had hurt his leg, and the worst of it was, " it was his favourite leg." Having been asked by a sympathising friend how he happened to get such a severe cold, his reply was, " Why, do you know, I left my carriage yesterday evening, on my way to town from the Pavilion, and the infidel of a landlord put me into a room with a damp stranger." On being asked by one of his acquaintance, during a very unseasonable summer, if he had ever seen such a one, he replied, " Yes, last winter." Having fancied himself invited to some one's country-seat, and being given to understand, after one night's lodging, that he was in error, he told an unconscious friend in town, who asked him what sort of a place it was, "that it was an ex- ceedingly good house for stopping one night in." At an Ascot meeting, and early in the day, Brummell walked his horse up to Lady 's carriage, when she expressed her surprise at his throwing away his time on her, or thinking of running the risk of being seen talking to such a very quiet and unfashionable person. " My dear Lady ," he replied, " pray don't mention it ; there is no one near us." BEAU BRUMMELL 109 The principal portion of this chapter has been devoted to the consideration of BrummeH's most imamiable qualities, to his powers of detraction, his satirical remarks, and practical jokes ; but let not the reader imagine they preponderated to the exclusion of better ones. No one possessed the art of pleasing to a greater degree, or exercised it with greater effect, when he was in the society of those he liked, whatever might be their age or station ; had he been the superlatively insolent character he is generally represented, he would have been universally cut, instead of sought after the absurdity of the notion is its most complete refutation. Well do I remember the lecture on good manners that he gave a young gentleman at Caen, who had justly laid himself open to censure, by the thoughtless omission of an act of courtesy that Brummell considered due to a lady near whom the youth was standing. "Civility, my good fellow," observed the beau, " may truly be said to cost nothing ; if it does not meet with a due return, it at least leaves you in the most creditable position. When I was young, I was acquainted with a striking example of what may sometimes be gained by it, though my friend on this occasion did not, I assure you, expect to benefit by his politeness. In leaving the opera one evening, a short time previous to the fall of the curtain, he overtook in the lobby an elderly lady making her way out to avoid the crowd ; she no BEAU BRUMMELL was dressed in a most peculiar manner, with hoop and brocade, and a pyramid of hair ; in fact she was at least a century behind the rest of the world in her costume : so singular an apparition had at- tracted the attention of half a dozen ' lord dukes ' and ' Sir Harrys/ sitting in the lobby, and as she slowly moved toward the box entrance, they amused themselves by making impertinent re- marks on her extraordinary dress and infirm gait. " Directly my friend caught sight of them and saw what they were after, he went to her assist- ance, threatened to give them in charge to a Bow Street officer, and with his best bow offered her his arm. She accepted it, and on the stairs he inquired whether she had a chair or a carriage, at the same time intimating his willingness to go for one. * Thank you, sir, I have my chair,' re- plied the old lady, ' if you will only be good enough to remain with me until it arrives.' As she was speaking, her servants came up with it, and making the cavalier a very stately curtsey, she requested to know to whom she had the honour of being indebted for so much attention. < My name, madam,' replied the stranger, as he handed her to her chair, 'is Boothby, but I am usually called Prince Boothby ; ' upon which the antiquated lady thanked him once more and left. Well, from that hour Boothby never saw her again, and did not even hear of her till her death, which took place a few years after, when he received a letter from BEAU BRUMMELL in her lawyer, announcing to him the agreeable in- telligence of her having left him heir to several thousands a year ! Now, my good sir," said Brum- mell to the abashed but youthful delinquent, " for the future, pray remember Prince Boothby." John Skrimshire Boothby was one of the most celebrated of the fine gentlemen of his day, the great peculiarity of whose dress was the shape of his hat, which he never changed. He is supposed to be the person alluded to by Foote in one of his farces, as distinguished by his partiality for people of high rank, and ready at any time to leave a baronet to walk with a baron, " to be genteelly damned beside a duke, rather than saved in vul- gar company." Moore, in allusion to him, or his double, says : " Beside him place the God of wit, Before him beauty's rosiest girls, Apollo for a star he'd quit, And Love's own sister for an Earl's." Boothby was well bred, intelligent, and amiable, but extremely eccentric, and he ended his career at his house in Clarges Street by his own hand, in July, 1800. His servants at the inquest bore the strongest testimony to his character as a good master, and a kind-hearted man. He had been possessed of three large estates ; the first was his own inheritance, which he dissipated ; the second came to him from a distant family connection ; and H2 BEAU BRUMMELL the third was the gift of the ancient lady in the lobby, whose name was Clopton, which he after- ward added to his own. Boothby was a great friend of the late Duke of Rutland, Lords Car- lisle and Derby, and Charles Fox, and was brother-in-law to that fox-hunting centaur, the late Hugo Meynell. He was also a member of the clubs in St. James's Street, where he used to play very high ; and he is mentioned in Moore's " Life of Sheridan " as having made a bet with the orator of five hundred guineas, that there would not be a reform in the representation of the people of England, within three years from the date of the bet, the 29th of January, 1793. Mr. Moore does not say that Sheridan paid. CHAPTER IX. Brummell's Softer Moments His Numerous Offers His Honesty in Love Affairs The Intended Mrs. Brummell His Flirtations and Love-letters His Great Popularity with the Fair Sex His Good Nature Miss Seymour's Letter to Him Brummell's Regard for Her. jHOUGH I have already alluded to Brum- mell's predilection for female society, I have not yet spoken of those moments, perhaps the most interesting of a man's life, at least to himself his moments of tendresse. Brummell had his ; but the organ of love in his cranium was only faintly developed. His temperament was elephantine ; still it was scarcely possible for him to be constantly in the society of the most beautiful and accomplished girls in Europe, and who will deny that the daughters of our aristocracy are so ? without having a preference for one of them, or perhaps half a dozen : and this was the case ; for he never attained any degree of intimacy with a pretty woman of rank that he did not make her an offer, not with any idea of being accepted, but because he thought it was paying the lady a great compliment, and procured her an unusual degree "3 H4 BEAU BRUMMELL of /clat in the fashionable world. His original view of the subject appears to have been generally understood and acted upon by his friends. One of his idols, however, seemed inclined to take him at his word, the present Lady W ; and often have I heard him rave about her. But Brummell's vanity and honesty in love affairs were equally extraordinary. It is related of him that he came one morning into the library of a noble friend, at whose house he was a fre- quent visitor, and told him, with much warmth and sincerity of manner, that he was very sorry, very sorry indeed, but he must positively leave Park that morning. " Why, you were not to go till next month ! " said the hospitable peer. "True, true," replied Brummell, anxiously, "but I must be off." " But what for ? " " Why, the fact is I am in love with your countess." " Well, my dear fellow, never mind that, so was I twenty years ago is she in love with you ? " The beau hesitated, and after scrutinising for a few seconds the white sheep-skin rug, said, faintly, "I be- lieve she is." " Oh ! that alters the case entirely," replied the earl ; " I will send for your post-horses immediately." Once, however, though not with a lady of rank, he did very nearly "his quietus make with a gold ring ; " for he interested the demoiselle sufficiently to induce her to consent to elope with him. The most favourable oppor- tunity that presented itself for so doing was at BEAU BRUMMELL 115 a ball in the neighbourhood of Grosvenor Square ; but his measures on the occasion were so badly taken, that he and the intended Mrs. Brummell were caught at the corner of the next street, a servant having turned mother's evidence. It is said that when a friend rallied him on his evident want of success in another matrimonial specula- tion, and pressed him for the reason of his failure, Brummell replied, with a smile, " Why, what could I do, my good fellow, but cut the connection ? I discovered that Lady Mary actually ate cabbage ! " But all this tells very little either for his judg- ment, or his feeling ; and it was rather extraordi- nary that, with all the advantages and opportunities he enjoyed, he did not select one lovely flower from the parterre of rank, fashion, and wealth, and wear it for life. However, independently of his deficiency in warmth and perseverance, he had too much self-love ever to be really in love ; had Cupid's arrow been a cloth-yard long, and had he drawn it to the head like the stout archer in Chevy Chase, it would scarcely have reached the beau's heart, or if it had, would merely have tickled, not wounded it. He was a thorough flirt, his love was as light and as elegant as everything else about him, and in none of his disappointments was he likely to have recourse to a pan of charcoal, or the Serpentine ; it was the transitory sentiment which, in a subse- quent letter, he says, is "so often and so easily expressed with a crow-quill, and its feigned regrets n6 BEAU BRUMMELL by tears, made with a sponge and rose-water upon perfumed paper." In this trifling with the god of love he through life delighted to indulge ; and the following laughable and amusing letters are speci- mens of his style in conducting a correspondence of the kind : " MY DEAR LADY JANE : With the miniature it seems I am not to be trusted, even for two pitiful hours ; my own memory must be, then, my only disconsolate expedient to obtain a resemblance. " As I am unwilling to merit the imputation of committing myself, by too flagrant a liberty, in retaining your glove, which you charitably sent at my head yesterday, as you would have extended an eleemosynary sixpence to the supplicating hat of a mendicant, I restore it to you ; and allow me to assure you that I have too much regard and respect for you, and too little practical vanity my- self (whatever appearances may be against me), to have entertained, for one treacherous instant, the impertinent intention to defraud you of it. You are angry, perhaps irreparably incensed against me, for this petty larceny. I have no defence to offer in mitigation, but that of frenzy. But we know that you are an angel visiting these sub- lunary spheres, and therefore your first quality should be that of mercy ; yet you are sometimes wayward and volatile in your seraphic disposition though you have no wings, still you have weapons, BEAU BRUMMELL 117 and these are resentment and estrangement from me. With sentiments of the deepest compunc- tion, I am always " Your miserable slave, " GEORGE BRUMMELL. " The Lady Jane , Harley Street." " DEAR Miss : When I wrote to you a century ago in plaintive strains and with ' all Hack- man's sorrows and all Werter's woes,' you told me, with pen dipped in oblivion's ink from Lethe's stream, that I must desist from my vagaries, be- cause I was trespassing on consecrated ground ; but you offered me instead your friendship as a relic by way of a bone to pick among all my re- fined and elegant sensibilities ! Well, I struggled hard to bring myself to this meagre abnegation, and my efforts promised to be propitious. I kissed the rod, cherished the relic, and enveloped myself in austerity and sackcloth. I then, by way of initiating myself to penance, inscribed you a mis- sive in appropriate terms of mortification, presum- ing, too, that it was the privilege, if not the duty, of my vocation to mortify you, also, as a votary, with a little congenial castigation. I dare say I wrote to you in a most absurd and recriminating manner, for I was excited by the pious enthusiasm of my recent apostasy, and I was anxious to im- press upon your more favourable opinion the exemplary and salutary progress I had made in n8 BEAU BRUMMELL my new school. You are, it seems, displeased at it, though my heresy from my first delightful faith was your own work. I know not now where to turn for another belief. "I will tell you the truth in plain, unmystical language, for I have not yet learnt to renounce that ; I was irritated because I thought you had cut me dead in the morning ; and, when I was tete-a-tete with my solitary lamp in the evening, a thousand threatening phantoms assailed me. I imagined that you had abandoned me ; in short, a cohort of blue devils got the better of me, and I am now all compunction and anguish. Pray be once more an amiable and compassionate being, and do not contract your lovely eyebrows any more (I wish to Heaven I could see them at this instant !) in sullenness at all my numberless in- congruities and sins. Be the same Samaritan saint you have already been to me ; you shall never more repent it. Whatever I may have said in a frenical moment of exasperation was unsaid and unthought an hour afterward when I sought my couch and proffered my honest prayers for forgiveness from above, and profanely from you who are upon earth. I am more than conscious of all my derelictions of all my faults ; but, indeed, they shall be in future corrected if you are still a friend to me. I had vaunted, in the vanity of my chivalrous spirit, that I had at length proved one in myself ; but it was empty BEAU BRUMMELL 119 ostentation, for I find that I cannot exist but in amity with you. " Your unfortunate supplicant, "GEORGE BRUMMELL." Love, indeed, but of this harmless character, formed one of the beau's distractions in exile ; and the following letter, which, like all the others, I beg to assure the reader is perfectly authentic, is an amusing proof, not only how sensitive he was on the subject, even in mature age, but also how he succeeded in awakening an interest for him in the minds of those who were both young and beautiful. The reader will remember the mind, not the heart. " RUE ROY ALE, , Wednesday. "Yesterday morning I was subdued almost to insanity, but your note in the evening restored me to peace and equanimity, and, as if I had been redeemed from earthly purgatory, placed me in heaven. Thank you, thank you, dearest of be- ings ; how can I retribute all this benevolent open- heartedness, this delightful proof and avowal of my not being indifferent to you? I cannot by inanimate words represent the excess of my feel- ings toward you. Take, then, with indulgent ad- mission and forbearance, the simple boon and sacred pledge of my heart's deepest affections for you ; they are rooted in my very soul and exist- 120 BEAU BRUMMELL ence ; they will never deviate ; they will never die away. By the glimmering light that was remain- ing I perceived something in white at your porte- cochtre. It was evident that I was recognised, and the figure advanced with your billet. In an instant I seized the hand of your faithful and intelligent messenger, compressed it forcibly, and, had she been as forbidding as the old dowager Duchess of , I should have saluted her, if I had not fancied at the instant that I heard some one coming up the street. We parted, and I re- turned to my solitary chamber. There I lacerated the letter with impatience, and then the light of love and of joy and the refreshing breath of evening stole through the open window over my entranced senses. After that I sought another stroll on the ramparts, and again returned home contented with you, with myself, and with the world. " ' I slept the slumbers of a saint forgiven, And mild as opening dreams of promised heaven.' " I have known few that could equal, none that could excel, you ; yet they possessed not your charm of countenance, your form, your heart, in my estimation. Certainly they did not possess that unaffected and fervent homage, which, in my constant memory, in my heart's life-blood, and in my devoted soul I bear to you. " Ever most affectionately yours, "GEORGE BRUMMELL." BEAU BRUMMELL 121 Such were the pathetic appeals that he addressed to single women in warm weather ; for his heart seldom thawed to this extent before the middle of June, and probably the first frost that nipped the dahlias crisped it up again till the following sum- mer ; at least sufficiently so to prevent him from shivering and shaking near his lady-love's porte- cochere in expectation of a note. He could write hundreds by his fireside at all seasons. As regards his London life, however, he generally preferred the society of married women, whose greater ac- quaintance with the world made them far more amusing companions than single ones ; and with- out any pretensions to bonnes fortunes, he was the idol of all those who took any lead in high life. Happy was she in whose opera-box he would pass an hour, whose assembly he would attend, or at whose table he would dine. He had, also, a strong partiality for two or three widows, whose names, however, I should be very sorry to disclose to the present generation ; and I leave Brummell's con- temporaries to fix upon any peeress they may think proper as the one to whom the following letter was addressed : " CHESTERFIELD STREET. " DEAR LADY : I am almost inclined to believe that you have forgotten me in the pro- tracted space of five days, and that you have amused your leisure hours with something or 122 BEAU BRUMMELL somebody more interesting to you. You are too overtly severe with Lord L ; he has effront- ery enough to persuade himself that you are piqued with him, and he will interpret that into a latent interest for him. What can it possibly be to you whether he goes to Brighthelmstone or not ? Affront him, but with dexterity, and his own consummate and mistaken vanity will be his speediest drawback ; but never make an enemy of a man whose physiognomy has been ravaged by the smallpox, for whom Jenner has lived in vain ! " Attar-Gul * (for Mr. has adopted that name in deference to his having inherited some ostrich's eggs, glass beads, cockatoo's feathers, and a few shells from an aunt, a sort of vagrant Zingarella, who died recently at Aleppo of the leprosy) has not perceptibly touched a bristle of his raven crown since you saw, or, rather, turned away your eyes from him. In submission to your desire, I have minutely scrutinised his head. He had the effrontery the other day to be irritated, because I asked him to lend me his brush of a sconce to assist at the morning toilet of my boots ! The monster ! Do not forget your parasol in this inflammatory weather. " Yours devoutly, "GEORGE BRUMMELL. " The Lady , Brighthelmstone" 1 Attar of roses. The Persian is considered the finest. BEAU BRUMMELL 123 But though his own affections seem never to have been very deeply engaged, the following letter shows that he possessed considerable sense and good feeling, when those of others, in whose welfare he took a real interest, were concerned. It was written by Miss Seymour, afterward Lady C. B k, and is introduced here as a striking and authentic proof of Brummell's good nature. It is unnecessary to refer to the actual circum- stances alluded to by the amiable and lovely writer ; I will merely observe that the informa- tion he gave her was of the utmost value, and that it is highly probable it would never have come to her knowledge, but for his disinterested kindness. " Wednesday morning. " I am more obliged to you than I can express for your note ; be assured that your approbation of my conduct has given me very sincere pleasure ; this is the only means I have of telling you so, for I am in such disgrace that I do not know if I shall be taken to the play, in any case, I shall be watched ; therefore, accept my most cordial thanks, and believe that I shall remember your good nature to me on this occasion with gratitude to the end of my life. " does not know how unkindly I have been treated, but is more affectionate than ever, because he sees I am unhappy. We did not arrive in town till seven last night, therefore no 124 BEAU BRUMMELL play. To-morrow they go to Covent Garden, perhaps I may be allowed to be one of the party. " Pray don't neglect my drawing ; you would make me very happy by lending me the yellow book again ; the other I don't dare ask for, much as I wish for it. Adieu ! I shall be steady in my opinion of you, and always remain " Yours very sincerely, "GEORGIANA A. F. SEYMOUR." " This beautiful creature is dead ! " was the remark Brummell had written at the bottom of the letter, which he kept as a memento of her friendship for him till within four years of his death ; he then parted with it, but only to a very intimate friend, who wished for the autograph. Hester Lucy Stanhope From original drawing by R. J. Hamerton CHAPTER X. Another of BrummelPs Correspondents Lady Hester Stanhope Her Letter to Him Admiral Sir Bladen Capel Lady Hester's Droll Reason for That Officer's Being Sent to the Mediterranean The Late Lord Berwick Lady Hester Leaves England Her Mountain Home at Mar Elias Admirable Description of Her Ladyship, and Her Residence There by a Friend of the Author's Her Opinion of Brum- mell Her Adoption of Eastern Superstitions Her Courage The Holy Gate of Damascus Lady Hester's Reply to the British Consul at Cairo Her Personal Appearance. jTHER lady correspondents Brummell had also ; and the subject of the next letter does not, from a motive of deli- cacy, render any mystery about it necessary. It is from that very erratic being, Lady Hester Stan- hope, and was written to inquire the character of a groom who had been in his service ; it bears the Cheltenham postmark. "August 30, 1803. "If you are as conceited as formerly, I shall stand accused of taking your groom, to give me an opportunity of writing to you for his character. All the inquiry I wish to make upon this subject is, to be informed whether you were as well satis- fied with James Ell when you parted with him, as 126 BEAU BRUMMELL when he had Stiletto under his care. If so, I shall despatch him at the end of next week with my new purchases to Walmer, 1 where I am going very shortly. You may imagine I am not a little happy in having it in my power to scamper upon British ground, although I was extremely pleased with my tour, and charmed with Italy. " I saw a good deal of your friend Capel at Naples ; if he rights the battles of his country by sea as well as he fights yours by land, he certainly is one of our first commanders. But of him you must have heard so full an account from Lord Althorp, 2 for they were inseparable, that I will only add he was as yet unsuccessful in the impor- tant research after a perfect snuff-box, when I left Italy. What news the last despatch may have brought upon this subject I am ignorant of, but take it for granted you are not ; as in all prob- ability the Phcebe was by .your interest appointed to the Mediterranean station for three years, to accomplish this grand and useful discovery. Should it prove a successful one, Capel, on his return, will of course be made Admiral of the White, for the signal services he has rendered to coxcombality. 3 1 The official residence of Mr. Pitt, as Warden of the Cinque Ports. * The present Earl Spencer, then in his twenty-first year. 3 The Honourable Sir Thomas Bladen Capel, K. C. B., etc., youngest son of the fourth Earl of Essex, was born on the a8th of August, 1776. This distinguished officer had the honour of being the signal-lieutenant of Nelson's ship, the Vanguard, at the BEAU BRUMMELL 127 " I met with a rival of yours in affectation upon the Continent, William Hill ! ' I fear it will be long ere this country will again witness his airs, as he is now a prisoner. This, perhaps, you are glad of, as the society of statues and pictures has infi- nitely improved him in this wonted qualification, and therefore rendered him a still more formidable competitor. "HESTER L. STANHOPE." That Lady Hester knew the beau well is evi- dent from the first paragraph hi her letter. In it she disarms him at the onset ; and in her fear- less disposition makes no difficulty of lashing him and his friends, with a keenness and dexterity quite equal to his own, and, apparently, with as much pleasure : of course she had an advantage in the lady's privilege of saying what she pleased ; battle of the Nile, and was promoted for his conduct on that day. He also rendered important services to the fleet when in com- mand of the Phoebe, after Trafalgar. Sir Bladen likewise com- manded the Endymion, at the passage of the Dardanelles, in 1807, and was actively employed in the Hague on the coast of America, from 1812 to the conclusion of the war. It was while serving on this station that his ship was nearly blown up by a petard. As Sir Bladen did not probably succeed in finding the perfect snuff-box, these services were no doubt of some use to him in obtaining his promotion. The New Navy List says the admiral entered the navy at the early age of six years ! 1 William Noel Hill, second son of the first Lord Berwick, who succeeded to that title on the death of his brother. He was at one time ambassador to the court of Turin, and died on the 4th of August, 1842. 128 BEAU BRUMMELL but there is every reason to suppose, that, when Brummell returned her a compendium of James Ell's qualifications in stable affairs, he did not conclude his billet without responding to the gossip and raillery that pervaded hers. After perusing this amusing letter, one is tempted to think what a pity it was, for her friends and society, that Lady Hester emigrated to the mountains of Lebanon, on which the cedars would have grown just as well without her ; but the letter affords some indication of the independent disposition that she afterward displayed to such an unusual degree, and in a manner so perfectly original ; for it must be admitted that it was, at least, a slight deviation from ordinary custom for a young lady to write to a gentleman on such a subject. Independence like her ladyship's could hardly be accounted for by her education, singular as it must have been under the direction of " Citizen Stanhope ; " much less by an early introduction to men's society at her uncle's table ; though there may, perchance, have been occasionally an ad- venturous spirit amongst the philo-politicals at Mr. Pitt's parliamentary dinners, of which she so gracefully did the honours. But, in whatever cause this feeling originated, it is difficult to recon- cile Lady Hester's long residence in the mountains of Lebanon, associating only with the wild Arab, or living in the most complete seclusion, with the BEAU BRUMMELL 129 love of her fatherland shown in that part of her letter in which she expresses her delight "to scamper on British ground," and the pleasure which it may be supposed she enjoyed in the society with which she was familiar, the most recherch^ of her own class. Why did Lady Hester thus expatriate herself was it for love ? If so, for whom, or what her uncle's memory, or Beau Brummell ? Certain it is, that in her solitude the latter was still remembered by her, even as late as the year 1830. A friend of the author, then serving in the Mediterranean, having obtained leave of absence for a few months, spent a portion of that year in wandering through Palestine and the adjacent countries, and in his travels he paid a visit to the "old Lady of the Mountain," who received him most graciously, for he was the bearer of a letter from an old friend of hers ; and Lady Hester signified her willingness to grant him an inter- view, the day after he had made her aware of his arrival by sending her his credentials, these were highly necessary, for she was not in the habit of so favouring travellers in general. At the hour named, therefore, my friend, full of anxiety to see and converse with such a singular character, made his way to her house; he was admitted by a little black female slave, possibly a mute, for it was in perfect silence that she ushered him into an apartment, so dark that he 130 BEAU BRUMMELL could with difficulty discover the ottoman, on which a voice at the other end of it desired him to be seated; he had scarcely obeyed, when a very small latticed window near him was suddenly opened by some invisible means, and the light thrown full upon his countenance, without, how- ever, having any, or but little, effect in relieving the obscurity which reigned complete at the opposite end of the long room. When his eyes had become somewhat accus- tomed to the glare, he saw a female figure sitting d F orientate on a carpet, dressed in the Eastern style, and by her side the black slave who had been his guide. Lady Hester, for it was his hostess who now addressed him, inquired first after the Duke of Wellington, and then George Brummell ; these two being apparently the only individuals of her own, or any other European nation, for whom she seemed to entertain the smallest interest, as, during the remainder of his audience, she adverted only to events that were passing in the country of her adoption. It would have been extraordinary, indeed, had Lady Hester not been anxious for intelligence respecting the hero of her younger days, the victor of Assaye ; with whom she had probably been acquainted before she left England, and the details of whose subsequent career had been the theme of admira- tion, even of the rude mountaineers that sur- rounded her, but that she should have been BEAU BRUMMELL 131 interested in obtaining tidings of the beau was rather remarkable. Let not the reader imagine, however, I was seri- ous, in insinuating that her ladyship entertained any tender sentiments for Brummell. Lady Hes- ter is said to have mourned one of a very differ- ent mould he who was by his gallant soldiers buried " darkly at dead of night, The sod with their bayonets turning ; By the struggling moonbeam's misty light, And the lantern dimly burning." This rumour was, I believe, entirely without foundation, though dates and circumstances gave some appearance of truth to it. Sir John Moore fell on the i6th of January, 1809, and Lady Hester left England in deep mourning and for ever early in the spring of the following year : her ladyship's half-brother, Major Stanhope, was also slain at the battle of Corunna. It was of this officer, and the hero of Meeanee, while leading on the Fiftieth Regiment, that Sir John Moore said, " Well done, my majors ! " Such was the imperfect recollec- tion I retained of the fireside narrative my friend gave me, nine years ago, of his interesting visit to Lady Hester; and I was regretting his ab- sence, as he could have made my sketch so much more worthy of the reader's perusal, when he opportunely arrived in England. Of course I immediately availed myself of this fortunate cir- 132 BEAU BRUMMELL cumstance, and the following letter contains his own striking and animated description of herself and her wild retreat, which he forwarded to me with a kindness and promptitude that proved how little his friendship or his memory was impaired by the time that had elapsed since we met. " Many years have passed since I was in Syria ; but, as you desire it, I will endeavour to describe my visit to Lady Hester Stanhope, as well as my memory permits. I was furnished with a letter of introduction from Lord , which I sent from Sidon, a knowledge of her disinclination to receive Englishmen generally having prevented my delivering it personally when passing near her abode on my way from Damascus. Her ladyship, however, acknowledged the letter most politely, invited me and my companion to visit her for as long a time as we found it convenient, and sent two fine Arabian horses to convey us to her resi- dence, which was formerly a convent, and crowns the summit of a hill about eight miles from Sidon. " The ascent to Mar Elias (for so the convent is called) was steep, and the approach to it more like that of a crusading baron's castle than of the resi- dence of a solitary lady, whose education had been finished, and early habits formed, amongst the most refined and intellectual of the English no- bility. A strong guard of Albanians protected the gate, and numbers of armed men, of the same nation, were idling about, as if time was a heavy BEAU BRUMMELL 133 burthen on their hands. We were conducted to a kiosk or summer-house, outside the main build- ing, and there an Italian, dressed like an Arab, received us and provided dinner in the European fashion ; this last appeared to be a matter of some difficulty, as her ladyship conformed to the Eastern habits, in eating, dress, and other matters, and some time had elapsed since plates and forks had been called into requisition. During dinner, an Arab, who spoke French most volubly, made his appearance and told us he was her ladyship's as- trologer, and enlarged upon her good fortune in possessing so talented a wizard as himself. " Soon after, Lady Hester sent to say she would be happy to receive us ; and we were accordingly ushered through several apartments by various attendants, until we reached a small and rather dark room, in which sat her ladyship, dressed as an Arab sheik, and looking more like a young man than an elderly lady. She sat with her back to the light, which streamed in through a small window full on our faces ; this she afterward told me was arranged on purpose to give her a fair scrutiny of the faces of her visitors. Chibouques (the long cherry - stick pipe) were introduced, and in a short time she became most agreeably communicative. " Her conversation was more than ordinarily eloquent, though tinctured with somewhat of the strangeness that pervaded her whole life and char- 134 BEAU BRUMMELL acter; her thorough knowledge of the language, habits, and customs of the East, combined with the ease with which she expressed her ideas, en- abled her to draw the most vivid pictures of those countries, and convey her information in a very agreeable manner. Nor was her conversation by any means confined to these subjects ; for when trifling circumstances recalled her thoughts to the days of her youth, when she presided at Mr. Pitt's table, she described those scenes, and the persons of such as were admitted to the circle of her uncle's society, as faithfully and minutely as if the memory of them had not been overlaid by the eight and twenty years she had passed amidst the exciting events of her later life. " Beau Brummell, who was in her youthful days the friend of the Prince of Wales, and envied and admired by both beaux and belles of all ranks of society, appeared to have been an especial fa- vourite of hers ; and though I am unable to repeat the description as she gave it, I can, even now, fancy that I see him riding up to her in the park in a suit of plum-coloured clothes, to give her a stick of perfume of his own manufacture ; a pecu- liar mark of favour, granted only on condition that she promised faithfully not to give a morsel to the prince, who was dying to get some. " I hinted at Brummell's eccentricities ; but she replied that he was an exceedingly clever man, always suiting his conversation to his hearers, and BEAU BRUMMELL 135 that he almost always paid her the compliment of talking very sensibly. She added that she had once rebuked him for some folly or other, and inquired why so clever a person as he was did not devote his talents to a higher purpose than he did. To which Brummell replied that he knew human nature well, and that he had adopted the only course which could place him in a prominent light, and enable him to separate himself from the society of the ordinary herd of men, whom he held in considerable contempt. These conversations, with the attendant chibouque, which her ladyship smoked as determinedly as the longest-bearded Mussulman in the land, were generally prolonged until near daylight, when we retired to rest. "During the day we were left to amuse our- selves, and did not see our kind hostess until after a late dinner. On one occasion, however, she showed us her garden, which, though very small, was laid out with great taste, and in the Eastern style, and contained many very beautiful and rare flowers. Trellises and latticework, covered with creepers, were so arranged that, when lit with lamps, and viewed from the convent windows, the garden would look exactly like a scene in the opera. " Lady Hester had acquired considerable influ- ence amongst the Arab tribes, with whom she passed much time during the earlier period of her residence in Syria ; this she obtained partly be- cause, though she professed a partial belief in the 136 BEAU BRUMMELL Koran, and conformed to most of their customs and prejudices, her life and habits were beyond their comprehension ; and her morality being un- questioned, they looked upon her somewhat in the light of a supernatural being a belief that she was inclined to encourage, rather than undeceive. Having tried her courage, which was indomitable, and experienced her hospitality, and the readiness with which her purse was opened to every call of distress, some of the tribes near Palmyra endeav- oured to persuade her to permit herself to be called ' Sovereign of the Desert,' and, as she assured me, prepared a sort of ceremony for her in- stallation at Palmyra, an honour, however, which she prudently declined. She believed in all kinds of astrology, and some of the wildest of the East- ern legends ; especially in that which alludes to the Thirteenth Imaum, whom she called the Sa- viour, and for whom she kept a horse that had the natural mark of a saddle on its back, which she said had never been mounted by man or woman. 1 1 Mussulmans reckon, I think (for I have no work to refer to), twelve Imaums, commencing with Moussa (Moses), Ibrahim (Abraham), and Husrut Esau (Jesus Christ), the Healer of the lame and blind, and their own prophet Mahomet, etc. The word is also applied to the principal sects, as All, the Imaum of the Persians, or the sect of the Shiaites ; Abu-Beker, the Imaum of the Sunnites, the sect of the Turks ; and Safi, of another sect, etc. The Mahometans look for the advent or reappearance of an- other, who will convert the whole world to the faith of Islam, and reign on earth for a time in great glory and happiness ; the The Ladies \Valdegrarc From the painting by Sir Joshua Reynolds BEAU BRUMMELL 137 " She also told me that her astrologer had been closely observing us during our first dinner, and had been able to assure her that we were not born under a hostile planet, nor had either of us red hair, or foreheads ' villainously low ; ' for had such been the case she would have been unable to have admitted us to her presence ; and this precaution she always took with those who were favoured by a reception at her house. Being aware of a prophecy believed by the Mussulmans of Damas- cus, which declares that the Turkish Empire will crumble to pieces in a certain number of years, after the day on which a Christian or Jew shall first ride on horseback through the holy gate which leads to Mecca, she rode up to the guard stationed there with her suite (always numerous and formidably armed), spurred her horse, dashed through it, and went straight to the durbar of the pacha, to acquaint him with her exploit. " In the course of conversation, during the last night we remained at Mar Elias, she inquired whether we had seen the Emir Beschir, and on end of this period and of the world will be simultaneous. The Mussulmans of India and Afghanistan expected the advent alluded to in A. D. 1842, and thought their successes at Cabul a prelude to it. A Belooch chief, when consulting a friend of the writer of this note, as to the advantage of his surrendering on certain terms, observed that if he could but hold out a little longer, his surrender would be rendered unnecessary by the appearance of the Thirteenth Imaum, whose arrival in that year was predicted by all the learned fakirs in India. 138 BEAU BRUMMELL our replying in the negative she clapped her hands, and the little black slave who appeared with hands crossed over her bosom, to answer the summons, was directed to call the scribe, to whom she dictated an epistle, which was despatched on the instant to the emir, saying that two friends of hers would visit him next day, and desiring a suitable reception. Soon after daylight the mes- senger returned, though the emir's residence was some miles distant, bringing a cordial invitation, which we accepted. " It was not without a feeling of great sadness that I took leave of Lady Hester; but when I ventured to hint at the possibility of her return to Europe, she cut the conversation short by asking me if I thought she could make up her mind to knit or sew like an Englishwoman, after having spent her life amid the stirring scenes she had been constantly engaged in. I then alluded to her forlorn situation, among men upon whose con- sciences the blood of a lone woman would have scarce weighed heavily ; but her eyes flashed fire, as she replied, drawing a dagger from her breast, 'Who would be the first to venture on the wildcat in her den ? ' Her reply to the consul at Cairo, who addressed her by desire of Ibrahim Pacha, then governor of Syria, was highly characteristic of herself ; without deigning to enter upon the subject of his letter, she directed her secretary to write, ' Consuls are for trade, not for the nobility.' BEAU BRUMMELL 139 The above meagre account will convey but a faint idea of this extraordinary woman, whose whole life was one continued romance ; but it is all my mem- ory enables me to give ; and therefore, my dear Jesse, I must beg you to accept the will for the deed." In a subsequent letter, a reply to one in which I had requested a more exact description of Lady Hester's personal appearance, my kind correspond- ent says : "Her ladyship must have been a tall woman, but her male attire took off from her height ; she was slight, well-formed, and carried herself exceedingly well. The folds of her turban concealed her gray hairs ; and the fairness of her complexion, the absence of beard, the brightness of her eye, and the vivacity of her expression gave her the appearance of a young man, until a strong light betrayed the wrinkles which time never fails to engrave on the fairest face. Her enunciation was rapid and fluent ; and when excited, her whole countenance seemed to light up, and she used her chibouque much in the same way that a Spanish lady would her fan, except that her gestures were more often those of command than entreaty. She rode as a man, and was always well armed." Such was my friend's clever outline of this singular woman, whose martial spirit and inde- pendent bearing remind us of those heroic ladies who, in ancient days, inhabited the banks of the Thermodon. CHAPTER XL Brummell's Album His Letter Presenting It to a Friend Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire Lines on the Death of Hare WraxalPs Description of Her Grace Her Fascinat- ing Manners and Love of Dress and Dissipation Lord Carlisle's Apology for Her Plume Her Friend Charles Fox His Lines on the Death of Her Favourite Spaniel A Scale of the Beauties of 1793 Mrs. Bouverie and Charles Fox. CAVING been able to collect only a few letters, written or received by Brummell before he left England, the most inter- esting substitute that I can offer in place of such materials is, extracts from his album of the un- published poetry of several of the most eminent characters of his time ; indeed, all the poetry sub- sequently given is from that collection. This volume is a ponderous quarto, of plain vellum paper, and, though totally devoid of interior dec- oration, is, nevertheless, an example of his taste and extravagance ; for the corners and clasps are of massive embossed silver gilt, like those on old missals, and the binding is dark blue velvet. The velvet has loug been faded, and the gilding is much worn, as if he had often meditated after 140 BEAU BRUMMELL 141 his reverses over its well-stored pages ; and though several blank leaves remain, it contains no fewer than 226 pieces of poetry. The choice of the subjects, and the manner in which they are treated, are not at all consistent with a worldly and self- ish disposition ; many of them are descriptive of the characteristics of childhood, in which, certainly, no one would suspect Beau Brummell of ever hav- ing interested himself ; nor is the fact of the vol- ume being such as he could with perfect propriety present to a lady any trivial proof of his good taste. The whole seem to have been kept as they were sent to him, either in notes, or on loose scraps of paper, and carefully copied in at different periods ; for they are arranged so exactly as to avoid turn- ing over a page in any one of them, that did not require it on account of its length. This album is a little monument of industry : the poetry is all inserted with his own hand, and the writing is remarkably neat ; it might, indeed, challenge com- parison with any lady's for elegance and regularity, with the advantage over modern penmanship, that it is as legible as printing. About six years before his death he presented this collection to her whom he deemed most worthy of possessing his treasured memorial of times past, a young lady from whose family he had received the greatest attention at Caen, and who had, by her wit and amiability, won the then old 1 42 BEAU BRUMMELL gentleman's heart. The following note accom- panied it : "Wednesday, April, 1834. "If you are fond of poetry, and you have not anything more dull to read, you may, perhaps, find something in my old album to yawn over, if it does not actually close your eyes ; what it con- tains was written in other and happier days, and most of them were given to me by the authors themselves, long before their minor productions had assumed any other form than that of manu- script ; such as the Duchess of Devonshire, poor Byron, Sheridan, and Lords Erskine and John Townshend all now peacefully sleeping in their graves ! The principal part of those verses that are not recommended by the name being attached to them are the namby-pamby compositions of an unfortunate person who shall be nameless, but whom you cut dead during the last several even- ings, and who, in desperate consequence, has been measured for a winding sheet this morning. "Always devoutly yours, " GEORGE BRUMMELL." By the Duchess of Devonshire, the first person to whom Brummell makes allusion in this letter, he seems to have been far more than tolerated, he must have been liked ; for it is scarcely prob- able that her Grace would have presented her own poetry to a person whom she did not think worthy BEAU BRUMMELL 143 of the compliment, and capable of appreciating it. But previously to laying the extracts I have selected before the reader, the following imperfect sketch of her character may not be altogether superfluous. Her Grace, the daughter of John, first Earl Spencer, was born on the Qth of June, 1757. Of her father's virtues we have had ster- ling evidence in the tenor of his life, and the general esteem in which he was held ; and these virtues the duke, his son-in-law, has feelingly com- memorated in his epitaph, which " Records the debt by love and duty paid." From her cradle Lady Georgiana Spencer gave promise of being unusually intellectual and beauti- ful; and her sensible and excellent mother, who was a daughter of Stephen Poyntz, Esq., bestowed the greatest care, and exercised the greatest judg- ment, on the cultivation of every principle and attainment that could improve either mind or body. Her success was complete as regarded the elegance of both ; but her daughter's mind was by nature deficient in the strength and dig- nity on which such a woman would have wished to see her character based. She was enthusiastic, but excessively volatile, and the combined tempta- tions of rank, wealth, and beauty were too great not to have a ruinous effect ; for when released from her mother's guidance, by her marriage with William, the late Duke of Devonshire, on the 6th 144 BEAU BRUMMELL of June, 1774, at which time, observes Horace Walpole, "she was a lovely girl, natural, and full of grace," she was rapidly drawn headlong into the vortex of fashionable life. In palliation of this want of firmness, however, it should not be forgotten that she was but seven- teen years of age, and, by an indulgent husband, placed in possession of the means of gratifying not only her wishes but her whims. She thus became speedily the authority for every idle fashion ; her name was attached to every novelty in dress that she chose to adopt ; and even the colour of her carriage was known, for some years after her death, as the " Devonshire brown." Her beauty and the brilliancy of her career soon attracted crowds of flatterers, besides the admiration of the very superior men that her husband's po- litical influence and opinions, good taste and hospitality, induced him to receive almost as constant visitors at Devonshire House. Dis- tinguished among them, and distinguished indeed they were, compared with the wits and politicians of our days, were Fox, Wyndham, Burke, Tickell, Lord J. Townshend, Fitzpatrick, Sheridan, and others. The kind, the courted, and the witty Hare " the Hare of many friends," from whom a bow at the opera was considered a greater com- pliment than from the Prince of Wales was also at the feet of the young and lovely duchess ; and it was in concert with the duke that she thus BEAU BRUMMELL 145 lamented the death of this, their mutual friend, in 1804. " Hark ! 'twas the knell of death what spirit fled, And burst the shackles man is doom'd to bear ? Can it be true, and 'midst the senseless dead, Must sorrowing thousands count the loss of Hare? " Shall not his genius life's short date prolong, (Pure as the ether of its kindred sky,) Shall wit enchant no longer from his tongue, And beam in vivid flashes from his eye ? " Oh no ! that mind, for every purpose fit, Has met, alas ! the universal doom ; Unrivall'd fancy, judgment, sense, and wit, Were his, and only left him at the tomb. " Rest, spirit, rest ! for gentle was thy course : Thy rays, like temper'd suns, no venom knew ; For still benevolence allay'd the force Of the keen darts thy matchless satire threw. " Yet not alone thy genius I deplore, Nor o'er thy various talents drop the tear ; But weep to think I shall behold no more, A loved companion and a friend sincere." Amongst such men as those I have mentioned, there must have been some who would never have been fascinated by a mere woman of fashion ; no, it was the extent and variety of the Duchess of Devonshire's intellectual acquirements, so far ex- ceeding those of the generality of women in her 146 BEAU BRUMMELL time, that won their attentions. She was well read in the belles-lettres, and in the history and polity of most countries ; she was also perfect mistress of the French and Italian languages, had both skill and taste in poetry, and could play upon the lyre. Indeed her mind, if we are to believe Wraxall, was far more gracefully modelled than her person. He says : " The personal charms of the Duchess of Devonshire constituted her smallest pretension to universal admiration ; nor did her beauty consist, like that of the Gunnings, in regularity of features, and faultless formation of limbs and shape ; it lay in the amenity and graces of her deportment, in her irresistible manners, and the seduction of her society. Her hair was not without a tinge of red, and her face, though pleasing, yet had it not been illuminated by her mind, might have been con- sidered as an ordinary countenance. Descended in the fourth degree, lineally, from Sarah Jen- nings, the wife of John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough, she resembled the portraits of that beautiful woman." As, however, the duchess was generally called then, and is so in our generation, "the beautiful duchess," it is scarcely possible to believe that her face, under any circumstances, could have been " considered an ordinary countenance ; " nor does the splendid portrait of her by Sir Joshua Rey- nolds give that impression ; but, beautiful or not, she bewitched every one into believing that she BEAU BRUMMELL 147 was so, and speedily captivated a society so per- fectly capable of appreciating her as that by which she was surrounded. In doing the honours of her noble mansion, which was characterised by a splendour far greater than that of the court, her unusual accomplishments told with double effect ; and their value to her guests was so enhanced by the natural fascination of her manners, that they soon looked with leniency upon her foibles. Tickell, in the " Wreath of Fashion," which had reached its sixth edition in 1780, wrote stanzas in honour of her petticoat ; and Lord Car- lisle, a rhapsody on seeing her Grace in full dress ; he also undertook to justify her caprices in the following lines : " Wit is a feather, this we all admit, But sure each feather in your cap is wit ; 'Tis the best flight of genius to improve The smiles of beauty and the bliss of love. Like beams around the sun your feathers shine, And raise the splendour of your charms divine ; Such plumes the worth of mighty conquerors show, For who can conquer hearts so well as you ? When on your head I see those fluttering things, I think, that love is there, and claps his wings. Feathers help'd Jove to fan his amorous flame, Cupid has feathers, angels wear the same. Since then from heaven their origin we trace, Preserve the fashion it becomes your Grace." Indeed there was scarcely a man of eminence in her day, who could write a stanza, that did not 148 BEAU BRUMMELL d i S . ! I $ ~ 1 1 1 I ijli 1 fjlj fe W O fe U"3,Ua eo H-StJfl Princess Mary .... 15 16 19 16 18 14 18 16 20 Duchess of Devonshire . 16 17 18 14 15 20 17 16 18 Duchess of Rutland . . 17 18 12 19 14 16 14 14 18 Duchess of Montrose 16 15 15 12 14 18 18 14 16 Lady Stormont . . . 12 14 13 17 10 16 14 17 15 Lady Anne Fitzroy . . 17 17 16 17 15 16 17 18 17 Lady Anne Lambton 15 14 16 13 ir 10 16 12 20 Lady William Russell . 14 16 15 12 16 14 15 14 17 Lady Erskine St. Clair . 18 17 16 15 16 18 14 13 17 Lady Webster .... 16 16 12 12 17 18 14 18 14 Lady Caroline Campbell 18 16 16 17 19 18 18 12 20 Lady Elizabeth Lambert 15 14 15 18 20 14 17 18 17 Mrs. Tickell .... 17 16 18 20 16 20 18 19 20 Mrs. Law 18 16 14 20 15 14 17 17 18 Miss Ogilvie .... 17 16 17 14 12 15 14 18 16 16 18 18 16 14 18 18 18 20 BEAU BRUMMELL 149 The Duchess of Gloucester, at this period in her seventeenth year, and per- haps the loveliest girl in England. Her Royal Highness's foot and ankle were faultless ; a fact which was frequently divulged to her numerous admirers, by the short petticoats worn in 1797. Georgiana, eldest daughter of John, first Ei thirty-sixth year. Died, soth March, 1806. Earl Spencer, at this time in her Mary Isabella, daughter of Charles, fourth Duke of Beaufort, and mother of the present Duke of Rutland. Her Grace was an intimate friend of Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire ; and in the thirty-seventh year of her age. Died, ad September, 1831. Caroline Maria, daughter of George, fourth Duke of Manchester, in her twenty-third year. Her Grace is still living. Louisa, youngest daughter of Charles, ninth Lord Cathcart, afterward Countess of Mansfield ; and subsequently married to the Hon. Fulke Greville. Her ladyship was in her thirty-fifth year ; she died in July, 1843, aged eighty-three. Probably the present Lady Anne Culling Smith, daughter of the first Earl of Mornington, then wife of the Hon. Henry Fitzroy, son of the first Lord Southampton, who died in 1794. Her ladyship was at this time in her twenty-fifth year. Anne Barbara, second daughter of the fourth Earl of Jersey ; married, in 1791, W. Lambton, Esq., and subsequently the Hon. Charles Wyndham, brother of the Earl of Egremont. She was in her twenty-first year. Died April, 1832. The lady of the late unfortunate Lord W. Russell. She was an elder sister of Lady Anne Lambton's, and was in her twenty-second year. Died in 1808. Henrietta Elizabeth Bouverie, eldest daughter of the Hon. Edward Bouverie, uncle to Jacob, second Earl of Radnor. This lady, who was subsequently Lady Rosslyn, was in her twenty-second year, and died on the 8th August, 1810. Elizabeth, daughter of Richard Vassal, Esq., at this time the wife of Sir God- frey Webster ; which marriage was, in 1797, dissolved by Act of Parliament, when her ladyship married Henry Richard, third Lord Holland, and survives him. Isabella Caroline, eldest daughter of the late, and sister to the present Earl of Carlisle ; at this time in her twenty-second year. Her ladyship is the mother of the present "Thane of Cawdor," and still retains considerable traces of her former beauty. Daughter of Richard, sixth Earl of Cavan ; married in the November of this Ear, 1793, W. Ricketts, Esq. ; which marriage was dissolved by Act of irliament, in April, 1799 ; when she re-married, in March, 1800, Rev. Mr. Brickenden. Her ladyship was at this time in her eighteenth year, and a lovely woman. She died in January, 1830. Mary, sister to the beautiful Miss Linley, Sheridan's first wife. Possibly Anne, daughter of George Towry, Esq., who married, in October, 1789, Edward Law, Esq., afterward the first Lord Ellenborough. There were two sisters, celebrated beauties, of this oame ; one of them married n \Tr T.fv*Vp Wife of Lord E. Fitzgerald, and a natural daughter of Philip Egalite, Duke of Orleans, by Madame de Genlis. This beautiful creature was in her twentieth year. Lord Edward and his young bride arrived in London in January of the preceding year. 150 BEAU BRUMMELL address some complimentary verses to her. Doc- tor Darwin, "that mighty master of unmeaning rhyme," sings her praises in his "Botanic Gar- den," and her friend, Charles Fox, did not think it beneath him to write some verses on the death of her favourite spaniel : they were in the album. " ON THE DEATH OF FADDLE, A FAVOURITE SPANIEL OF GEORGIANA, DUCHESS OF DEVONSHIRE'S, WHO DIED AN EARLY VICTIM TO LOVE; HIS FATHER, FADDLE, SENIOR, HAVING PERISHED BY A SIMILAR FATE. C. J. FOX. " Not Edward, when he saw with courage fell, The beaten foe beneath the stripling run, And, his career in Cressy's field begun, Did the black warrior's future fame foretell Not great Pelides, when in that dark dell Of grisly Pluto, from Laertes' son He learnt the trophies by his Pyrrhus won, And stalk'd away, the proudest ghost in hell, More joy'd than ancient Faddle's shade, when late The tidings through the grove of myrtle flew, That mighty Love had caused young Faddle's fate : Thus mortals, to their follies ever true, Of favourite passions would extend the date, And, in their offspring, love or fight anew ! " But all this homage is not surprising. In her youth the duchess must have been, in spite of Wraxall's allusion to red hair, a lovely woman ; for, when she was about six and thirty, two years after the doctor botanised her, she held no mean BEAU BRUMMELL 151 position in the following amusing estimate of the personal attractions of our then reigning beauties. (See tables on pages 148, 149.) This arbitrary mode of estimating the comparative merits of individuals was the invention of Akenside, who first applied it to poets ; and the plan, whether well or ill executed, in the present instance, is a far more complete one than Lord Byron's pyra- mid, or rather isosceles triangle, of which the " Pleasures of Memory " form the apex. The point of perfection is twenty. The history of the Hon. Mrs. Bouverie's domes- tic life, the mother of the beautiful Lady Erskine St. Clair here mentioned, is perhaps one of the most remarkable to be found in Debrett. She was a daughter of Sir E. Fawkener, ambassador to the Porte, and in June, 1764, when only fifteen, married the Hon. E. Bouverie. Having lived with him twenty-two years, or more (for their eighth child was born in 1786), she then placed herself under the protection of Lord Robert Spencer, son of Charles, second Duke of Marl- borough, to whom she was not married till 1811, a year after the death of her first husband. It is said that Mrs. Bouverie was a very attractive and engaging woman, and that her conduct when living with Lord Robert, who was very constant to her, was in other respects so amiable and exemplary that it elicited from Charles Fox the paradoxical remark, that "they made adultery 152 BEAU BRUMMELL respectable." He also wrote the following most extraordinary quatrain upon her, which I found in Brummell's collection : "She loves truth, though she lies till she's black in the face; She loves virtue, though none in her conduct you trace ; Her delicate feelings all wickedness shocks, Though her lover's Lord Robert, and her friend is Charles Fox ! " Lady R. Spencer died in November, 1825, and his lordship in June, 1831. Mr. Bouverie was an uncle of the present Doctor Pusey, whose father first assumed that name. It is curious, but the doctor is of a family descended from Prot- estant refugees ! CHAPTER XII. The Duchess of Devonshire Her Follies and Infirmities Taste for Play at this Period Charles Fox and the Jews His Lines on the Gaming-table The Duchess's Kindness of Heart Her Enthusiasm The Contest for Westminster in 1 784 Anecdotes of, and Squibs Let Off, at This Election The Duchess's Poem of " The Passage of the St. Goth- ard " Her Knowledge of French and Italian Her Trans- lation of One of Petrarch's Sonnets. [N the short space of three years after her marriage, the Duchess of Devon- shire's extravagance became the subject of public criticism, and several pamphlets were addressed to her, reflecting severely upon her conduct ; the motto of one was, " Pleased with a feather, tickled with a straw," alluding to Lord Carlisle's verses ; that of another was also from Pope, " She sighs, and is no duchess at her heart ; " and both of these were very severe. But long after this period, having been fifteen years de- voted to pleasure, she was still foremost in every fashionable folly, and in 1793 was at the head of the lady patronesses of the celebrated picnic parties. There is, however, every reason to fear that her Grace's excessive extravagance was not 154 BEAU BRUMMELL her worst fault ; not only from traditional report, but from the evidence that may be met with in every autograph collection, we learn that the duchess was devoted to faro, the fashionable game of the day, and other games of chance, which brought her into positions greatly detrimental to her character and the dignity of her high station. In this she certainly was not discouraged, either by her male or female friends, and gaming in private circles was then far more common than in the present day ; though, unfortunately, the vice is not extinct, and fashionable women of rank might now be named, who play as deep as did then her Grace of Devonshire. It was, indeed, one of the characteristic follies of " All the Talents ; " the absorbing passion of several members of the party who were most inti- mate at Devonshire House. The devotion of Fox to play is notorious, and he seems to have been scarcely able to pass forty-eight hours without it. A gentleman, now living, informed me that one evening, when he and two or three other friends of Mrs. Fox were drinking tea with her in South Street, the door opened and Charles James came skipping into the room, in most unusual spirits; they were on the point of inquiring the cause, but he saved them the trouble by exclaiming, as he continued his capers, which he cut all around the room, " Great run ! great run ! vingt-et-un ; lucky dog ; to-morrow morning pay the Jews pay them BEAU BRUMMELL 155 all ! " Unfortunately for him, and for them too, it was Friday night, which in the excess of his honesty and happiness he did not think of. Of course, the next day no Israelite would come for his cash ; and that night the monies were carried to the club and there lost, the love of powerful excitement and the insatiable cravings of the gamester's heart overcoming that great man's bet- ter feelings and good but transient resolutions. But though a slave to this dreadful passion, and therefore to its degrading consequences, he wrote the following curious description of the gaming- table, in which the political feelings of this consti- tutional statesman are singularly interwoven with the subject, and in terms that would scarcely be agreeable to, or in accordance with, the opinions of the Whigs, in these days of the march of opin- ion. The critical powers of Fox, however, on points relating either to history or historians, generally led him to just conclusions ; and his denunciation of Cromwell, though on so trifling an occasion, is made in a spirit as liberal as that of his remark on the partiality of Hume and Gib- bon, for their respective and favourite opinions ; namely, " that one so loved a king, and the other so hated a priest, that neither of them could be depended upon, when either a priest or a king was concerned." These lines by Fox were copied from the beau's album, and I believe have never been published. 156 BEAU BRUMMELL THE GAMING-TABLE. " A spot there is, say, Traveller, where it lies, And mark the clime, the limits and the size, Where grow no trees, nor waves the golden grain, Nor hills, nor vales, diversify the plain ; Eternal years without the farmer's toil, Through all the seasons clothe the favour'd soil ; Fair pools, in which the finny race abound, By human hands prepared, enrich the ground Not Indian coasts produce an ampler store, Pearls, ivory, diamonds, gold and silver ore : Yet, Britons ! envy not these wealthy climes, Perpetual war distracts and endless crimes Pollute the soil ; pale Avarice triumphs there, Hate, Envy, Rage, and heart-destroying care : With Fraud and Fear, and comfortless Despair. Their government not long remains the same, Though they, like us, revere a monarch's name ; Now Cromwell like, a low and base-born knave, Nobles, and Kings and Queens presumes to brave : The nobles fall the king's a captive slave. Britons, beware let Avarice tempt no more Spite of its wealth, avoid the fatal shore." But to return to the duchess. Though she played high and all her amusements were of an expensive character, and her love of dissipation became so strong that she never deliberately im- proved her habits of life, yet she constantly gave remarkable instances of generosity and kind feel- ing ; being in that respect, as she was in every- thing else, a creature of impulse, she yielded without discrimination to the supplications of distress, as Duchess of Devonshire and Child From a painting by Sir Joshua Reynolds BEAU BRUMMELL 157 easily as she did to the temptations of luxury, and those pleasures which her success and influence in society induced. She liberally assisted literary characters, and especially protected Charlotte Smith, the celebrated novelist, who, at one period of her life, lived at Devonshire House ; but the most pleasing trait of her domestic character was the example she set her fashionable friends by nursing her own children, thereby discouraging the unnatural practice prevalent in her time, of sending them into the country and leaving them to the management and discretion of ignorant and sometimes unfeeling nurses. A poet of the day thus refers to this incident : " So when the mother, bending o'er his charms, Clasps her fair nursling in delighted arms, Throws the thin kerchief from her neck of snow, And half unveils the pearly orbs below, With sparkling eye the blameless plunderer owns Her soft embraces, and endearing tones ; Sucks the salubrious fount with open lips, Spreads his inquiring hands, and smiles and sips." The interest which the Duchess of Devonshire took in public affairs was far beyond what had ever been displayed by any of her female contem- poraries. When the American war broke out, she was seen at Tiptree and Warley Camps, dressed in the regimentals of the Derby militia. The con- sequence was a military fever amongst the women, 158 BEAU BRUMMELL which was followed by a naval one, when the victories of Howe, Jervis, Duncan, and Nelson revived the national spirits ; and the Egyptian, Aboukir, and Nelson bonnets, caps and head-dresses were all the fashion. On the declaration of war being made against France, she set to work with all her friends to make flannel waistcoats for the troops ; and she showed the same enthusiasm in the cause of her friend Charles Fox, in his great contest for Westminster in 1784, which appropri- ately enough commenced on " All Fools' Day ; " and, being in the " good old times," lasted for one month and seventeen days. The excitement which this election caused amongst all grades of society was never exceeded in the most turbulent republics. The most refined ladies quite forgot all propriety of demeanour, and some of the highest rank actually pulled the favours from each other's bosoms in the opera refreshment- rooms, accompanying the action with screams of "No Fox, no Fox." Even at Carlton House, election jokes were permitted, and at the breakfast given by the Prince of Wales on this occasion, some one pinned a Fox cockade on the head of Lady Talbot, who was a violent Tory ; for some time her ladyship did not perceive it, but a telltale mirror at length revealed the affront, when the favour was removed with no gentle hand, and not only indignantly thrown at her feet, but stamped upon to the great amusement of the bystanders. BEAU BRUMMELL 159 But no one was so devoted to the interest of the popular candidate or the success of his cause as the Duchess of Devonshire, who was then figur- atively called, and is still distinguished by the appellation of, " Fox's Duchess." Accompanied by her sister, Lady Duncannon, and her friend, the Duchess of Rutland, she attended continually at the hustings in an elegant equipage with a favour in her hat, and one on her breast, inscribed with the word " Fox ; " and supported by the presence of her scarcely less fascinating sister, she visited the houses and shops of the electors and dazzled and enslaved them by her enchanting manners, her beauty, and the influence of her high rank ; nor did she object to convey the humblest of the electors in her own carriage to the hustings to vote for her friend. But the most convincing proof of her ardour in his cause is the well-authenticated story, that, rather than lose a plumper for her candidate, she permitted a butcher a man probably surrounded at the time with slaughtered beeves and fat South- downs to kiss her in Newport market ! Of course this enthusiasm called forth philippics from the Tories, and the greatest admiration from the Whigs ; but what it called forth from the duke, her hus- band, has not transpired. To excuse this kiss one of her party quoted Dean Swift, who says " that an overnice man is a man of nasty ideas ; " and another compared her to Cornelia, the wife of 160 BEAU BRUMMELL Pompey, and daughter of Metellus Scipio. In an account of this memorable election, which filled a thickly printed quarto volume of eight hundred pages, published by Debrett, a few months after, there are 130 squibs and pieces of poetry from the wits and versifiers of both sides. The following are specimens of their powers, and the compliments paid to her Grace. " Fair Devon all good English hearts must approve, And the Waldegraves, 1 God bless their sweet faces ! The Duchess she looks the sweet Queen of Love, And they like the three sister Graces. Then let each of us say, May the D 1 take Wray, And Charley and Liberty carry the day. " E'en cobblers she canvassed, they would not refuse, But huzza'd for Fox and ' No wooden shoes.' She canvass'd the tailors, and ask'd for their votes, They all gave her plumpers, and cried, ' No turncoats.' 2 Then let each of us say," etc. But would a canvasser like her Grace be so suc- cessful in these degenerate days of " pounds, shil- 1 Elizabeth Laura, at this time Lady Chewton, afterward Lady Waldegrave ; Charlotte Maria, afterward Duchess of Grafton ; Hannah Horatia, afterward Lady Hugh Seymour, all three daughters of the second Earl of Waldegrave. " The Ladies Waldegrave," writes Doctor Warner to George Selwyn, in June, 1779, "have been about marrying the whole town, but are not married. Lord Egremont was very near, but he said he should hang himself before the summer was over if he did." * Alluding to Sir Cecil Wray's change of opinion. BEAU BRUMMELL 161 lings, and pence," in which the very ghost of chivalry has been hunted from the land ? Could she still find in Newport market a butcher who would prefer a kiss to a ten-pound note ? I fear not. It was during the excitement and turmoil of this election that the flattering and well-known exclamation burst spontaneously from the lips of the impassioned coal-heaver, who, roused by her expressive countenance, said, while gazing with admiration upon it, " I could light my pipe at your eyes." This compliment was highly appre- ciated by the duchess, and she always admitted it as the most gratifying one that had ever been paid her. Though this celebrated woman devoted herself heart and soul to politics, and the gaieties and dis- sipation of the sphere of life in which she moved, she was capable of enjoying pleasures of a very different character ; for, on her return from Italy, in the autumn of 1793, to which country she had gone with her mother and Lady Besborough, on account of the delicate health of the latter, the pas- sage of the St. Gothard suggested to her the pleas- ing little poem of that name, the opening of which is an apostrophe to the lovely land she was leaving. A natural benevolence and warmth of feeling per- vade this poem ; the stirring points in Swiss history are evidently dwelt upon with energy and admira- tion ; nor is the descriptive part wanting in beauty, simplicity, and strength. Her Grace, with maternal 1 62 BEAU BRUMMELL feeling, dedicated it to her children ; and perhaps the prettiest quotation to make from it is the con- cluding stanza, in which she thus addresses them : " Hope of my life ! dear children of my heart ! That anxious heart, to each fond feeling true, To you still pants each pleasure to impart, And more oh ! transport, reach its home and you." Soon after this poem was published it was translated into French by the Abbe Delille, a member of the Academy, and author of " Les Jardins," who was probably an emigrant friend of hers. When the duchess presented him with this specimen of her poetical powers, she sent with it the following complimentary lines : "A MONSIEUR L'ABBE DLILLE. " Vous dont la lyre enchanteresse Unit la force a la douceur, De la nature amant flatteur ; Vous qui 1'embellissez sans cesse, J'ose vous offrir en tremblant De 1'humble pre la fleur nouvelle ; Je la voudrais une immortelle, Si vous acceptez le present. " GEORGINE DEVONSHIRE." Though these couplets are in themselves trifling, yet they show that her Grace was, as I have before remarked, a perfect mistress of French ; but the following translation of Petrarch's thirty-fourth sonnet is a far more remarkable instance of her BEAU BRUMMELL 163 proficiency in the Italian language, an accomplish- ment which her friend Charles Fox also possessed. This the reader may see in his "II piacere e il Desire," an imitation of Monk Lewis's poem, " In Yonder Bower Lies Pleasure Sleeping," which is printed in the edition of "Dark Musgrave's" poems, published in 1812. The friend who was kind enough to send me a copy of this translation by her Grace is perhaps better able to appreciate the merits of Italian literature than any English- man now living. He gave me also some details of the circumstances under which it came into his possession, and I now insert them in his own words. " My first visit to the Eternal City was in 1822, and it was there that I had the pleasure of making the acquaintance of Elizabeth, Duchess of Devon- shire. Knowing that one of my objects was to investigate certain controverted points in the life of Petrarch, she very kindly assisted me in my researches ; and one morning, whilst we were en- gaged in discussing the nature of his attachment to Laura, she presented me with the translation of ' Levommi il mio pensier,' as a specimen of the poetical talents of her predecessor Georgiana, and a striking proof of the facility with which the English language, when properly handled, renders the sublimity and tenderness of the great lyrical poet of Italy." As the reader may like to compare it with the Italian, I have given the original with it. 164 BEAU BRUMMELL "SONNETTO XXXIV. ' Dice essersi levato col pensiero infino al cielo, e quivi aver veduto Laura che lo prese per mano e parlogli. Dice in ultimo che al suon delle sue parole poco manco che non morisse di dolcezza. Questo si pud dir veramente il phi bel sonnetto del Petrarca. " Levomrai il mio pensier in parte, ov'era Quella, ch'io cerco e non ritrovo in terra ; Ivi fra lor, che '1 terzo cerchio x serra, La rividi piu bel la, e meno altera. Per man mi prese, e disse : ' In questa spera Sarai ancor meco, se '1 desir non erra : I'son colei che ti die tanta guerra, E compie mia giornata innanzi sera. Mio ben non cape, 2 in intelletto umano ; Te solo aspetto, e quel che tanto amasti, E laggiuso e rimaso, il mio bel velo.' 3 Deh perche tacque ed allargo la mano? Ch' al suon de' detti, si pietosi e casti, Poco manc6, ch'io non rimasi in cielo." TRANSLATED BY GEORGIANA, DUCHESS OF DEVONSHIRE. " In spirit I had mounted to the sphere Where she amidst its gentle inmates beam'd, Whom still I fondly seek, but find not here : More beautiful and less severe she seem'd. X 7/ terzo cerchio. Si finge rapito al terzo cielo, luogo asse- gnato dai Poeti agli amanti virtuosi e casti. * Mio ben non cape, ac. 1' intelletto umano non e capace di comprendere la pienezza della mia felicita. 3 Te solo aspetto e il mio bel velo (il corpo), cioe, quello che tu tanto amasti e ch'e rimaso laggiuso sulla terra. Commentator's Note. BEAU BRUMMELL 165 She press'd my hand, and said, ' In this bright star With me, if hope deceive not, thou shalt dwell : That maid I am who caused thy live-long war, And closed her day of life ere evening fell. My bliss transcends the reach of human mind : Thee only I desire, and what thou prized'st so much, Those beauteous spoils, I left on earth behind.' Why ceased she, why withdrew the pledge thus given? That chaste, that thrilling voice, that holy touch, Had sure sufficed to keep my soul in heaven ! " CHAPTER XIII. The Duchess's Fugitive Poetry The Late Lord Morley Borino the Brave His Feats at Melton Described in Verse by George Ellis Short Notice of That Gentleman The Duchess of Devonshire's Lines on a Bust of Charles James Fox Her Verses from a Blind Man to His Wife Death of Her Grace Anecdote of Lady Besborough Elizabeth, Duchess of Devonshire Gibbon in Love Sketch of Her Grace's Character Her Patronage of Literature, and Anti- quarian Researches. doubt many other examples of Georgi- ana, Duchess of Devonshire's, taste and acquirements exist in the domestic ar- chives of Chatsworth ; but though they were not accessible to me, I trust I have in some degree succeeded in my attempt to awaken the reader's interest in the lovely authoress of the fugitive poetry that I now transcribe from Brum- mell's album, and which, after diligent search, I have not discovered in print. The first piece gives ample evidence of her classical taste, and the richness and elegance of her imagination. " Here, in the bower of beauty, newly shorn, Let Fancy sit, and sing how Love was born; Wrapt up in roses, Zephyr found the child In Flora's cheek, when first the goddess smiled ; 166 BEAU BRUMMELL 167 Nursed on the bosom of the beauteous Spring, O'er her white breast he spread his purple wing. On kisses fed, and silver drops of dew, The little wanton into Cupid grew ; Then arm'd his head with glittering sparks of fire, And tipp'd his shining arrows with desire. Hence joys arose upon the wings of wind, And Hope presents the lover always kind ; Despair creates a rival for our fears, And tender Pity softens into tears." The stanzas that follow are not so imaginative, but more natural, and on that account more pleas- ing. " My cherish'd hope, my fondest dream, Still, dearest ! rests on thee ; A blank without thee ah* would seem, And life would lifeless be. " The place thy presence glads to seek Is where I'm ever best; And when I hear thee kindly speak, And speak to me, I'm blest. " But should hard fate command it so, Still, dearest! I'm resigned ; And if from me thou'rt bent to go, Or alter'd, or unkind, " Unfelt by thee, my silent care Shall never claim relief; And still I'll wish thou may'st not share My solitary grief." 1 68 BEAU BRUMMELL In the next, the duchess seems to have adopted the metre of " Alonzo the Brave," and the " Fair Imogene," of M. G. Lewis. The hero of this ballad was the late Lord Mor- ley, then Lord Boringdon, who was a strong sup- porter of Mr. Pitt, and when a young man spoke frequently in the House of Lords. It is probably to these speeches that her Grace alludes, which no doubt found but little favour in the eyes of such an ardent Foxite as she was. Of the ladies that the youthful Lord Boringdon jilted, the author has no gossiping details to give ; but of the one who jilted him the Peerage gives due information, and shows that these verses were written previously to the 24th of June, 1804, on which day he married the Lady Augusta Fane, second daughter of John, tenth Earl of Westmoreland ; which marriage was dissolved in 1809, when her ladyship remarried the late Right Hon. Sir Arthur Paget. Lord Morley died on the I4th March, 1840. " BORINO THE BRAVE. " A baron so bold, and of parentage fair, Was riding beside the green sea ; His vizor was up, and his forehead was bare, His face it was comely, and long was his hair, And tall, and full portly was he. " He slowly rode on, 'twas for exercise' sake, Nor trotted, nor canter'd did he ; He mused on the speeches he'd made, and would make, Of the vows to fair damsels he'd keep or would break, And on many a quaint repartee. BEAU BRUMMELL 169 " Oh ! from him let the barons of England beware How their loves and their palfreys they guide ; Many women may love them, for whom they don't care, Many horses may stumble, unless they're aware, Or if loose in their stirrups they ride. " A Bedlamite Duchess x was bathing hard by, When she saw the young Paladin pass ; He bewilder'd her brain, and he dazzled her eye, Her guides could not stop her, she strove to rush by, And swore that she would, ' by the mass ! ' " The baron was frighten'd, with reason and truth, For her love and her frenzy were strong ; She turn'd as he turn'd, and with gesture uncouth, Her arms she elongated straight at the youth, And they seem'd to be half a mile long. " He spoke not, he flew not, he only could scream, When plump in the water he fell ! And lo ! all this bustle, though strange it may seem, He found by awaking was only a dream, Was a very good story to tell. " And now still at midnight, the supper just o'er, Her spirit he seems to behold ; The story he told, though he told it before, For each night as the clock strikes, he tells it once more, And forgets it has ever been told ! " The following ballad is another quiz upon the same nobleman, for which reason I have placed it with the preceding one. It was written by George 1 Quere, her Grace of Gordon ? 1 70 BEAU BRUMMELL Ellis, another of Brummell's friends, and is in some measure a parody on Monk Lewis's ballad of "Durandarte and Belerma," " Sad and fearful is the story Of the Roncesvalles fight" It was written when Mr. Ellis was on a visit to his cousin, the present Lord Seaford. Brooksby Hall is on the road from Melton to Leicester. " Sad and fearful is the story Of the hunt in Leicestershire, On that fatal field of glory Met full many a dashing squire. " There fell bold Borino, never Horse did such a baron bear, Thinking he could ride for ever, Mounted on so dun a mare. " Scarlet spencer deck'd his shoulders, Of his coat the skirts were blue ; Pantaloons charm'd all beholders, Leather, and of yellow hue. " Huge his hat, to put his head in, Longer queue was never seen ; Round his neck his 'kerchief spreading, Check'd with faded blue and green. " Leaps he thought were quite delightful, Hedge and ditch, whate'er might hap, Even gates were not too frightful, Leap he would and chose a gap. BEAU BRUMMELL 171 O'er the gap the dun mare vaulted, Glow'd with joy his noble blood ; Pass'd the gap, the dun mare halted, Dropp'd the Baron in the mud ! Although young I fall, believe me,' Cried this lord, of noble mind, Think not, sirs, a fall would grieve me, 'Tis to fall before we find : * Comforts twain my griefs have lighten'd, Though your grooms have seen me down ; First I prove I was not frighten'd, Next, the spencer's not my own.' M Laugh'd the grooms, the farmers hearty, Laugh'd the huntsman till he cried; Laugh'd each sportsman of the party, Good, my lord, thus ever ride.' ** Baron, bolder, wiser, graver, (Riding Spanish, sure to fall,) Lord in scarlet spencer, braver Started ne'er from Brooksby Hall." Perhaps no one ever better united the character of a gentleman with that of a man of letters than the author of this humourous scrap, which is val- uable as the trifle of a very superior man. Mr. Ellis was a person of gentle and polished manners, and his mind was peculiarly formed to feel and inspire others with the warmest sentiments of friendship. Mr. Lockhart, in speaking of the in- timacy that existed between this talented individ- 172 BEAU BRUMMELL ual and Sir Walter Scott, calls him the "elegant and amiable Ellis ; " and that he was amiable there is little reason to doubt, for he was the friend of the great and good Heber, who intro- duced Scott to his acquaintance. The intimacy thus formed between Sir Walter and Mr. Ellis lasted for many years, indeed, until the death of the latter ; for, besides the many social qualities which they possessed in common, their great taste for national antiquarian lore and deep knowledge of this particular study were subjects of mutual interest ; and, when in London, the great novelist always reserved Saturday and Sunday for a visit to Sunning Hill, the residence of his friend. Doc- tor Leyden, Sir Walter Scott's amanuensis and assistant, also paid him a visit there, and thus de- scribed his countenance in a letter to his patron : "His eyen graye as glas ben And his looks ben alto kene, Loveliche to paramour; Brown as acorn ben his faxe, His face is thin as bettel axe, That dealeth dintis doure." This grotesque sketch by the enthusiastic lover of old English verse does not convey to the mind of the unlearned any other idea than that of a rusty battle-axe, a very moat-drawbridge-and- portcullis cast of countenance. In the early part of Mr. Ellis's career he was, like Burke, a Whig, BEAU BRUMMELL 173 and contributed his share of satires to the "Rolliad" and "Probationary Odes," but in 1779 he changed his political opinions, a circumstance rather more unusual in those days than in the pres- ent ; and, after he became the coadjutor of Canning and Frere, he wrote as ardently and well, and praised Mr. Pitt as cleverly, in the Anti-Jacobin, as he had abused him in the opposition periodicals. " Pert without fire, without experience sage," was the opening line of one of his gibes against that minister ; but, though engaged in the literary warfare of the pen in early life, Mr. Ellis was not affected with the odious asperity which frequently results from that occupation, or from entering actively upon the arena of politics. His literary claims to our admiration and respect rest, however, upon more solid and commendable grounds than his political versification. His writ- ing has been compared to Addison's for purity, and his " Essay on the Formation and Progress of the English Language," his antiquarian knowledge, and contributions to the Quarterly Review, of which he was one of the earliest supporters, will remain and be prized as the evidence of his talent long after the remembrance of his social accom- plishments has passed away. Mr. Ellis also wrote some light poetry, of which he limited the publicity to circulation amongst his intimate friends. In the latter years of this gentleman's life he was much 174 BEAU BRUMMELL harassed by a painful disease, which he bore with patience and fortitude, and expired at Sunning Hill on the 1 8th of April, 1815, in the seventieth year of his age. There are several other pieces of the Duchess of Devonshire's poetry in BrummeH's collection besides the preceding ones ; among them are some lines on a bust of Charles J. Fox at Woburn, the battle of Aboukir, and her celebrated negro song, "The loud wind roared, the rain fell fast," which was suggested by a circumstance that befell Mungo Park during his travels in Africa, and which was set to music many years ago. There is also an excellent specimen of her Grace's wit and domestic satire ; but, as the joke on which it turns was taken up by Lord John Townshend, I have placed it with his reply. The following are her lines on the bust of Charles James Fox at Woburn : " Here, 'midst the friends he loved the man behold, In truth unshaken, and in virtue bold ; Whose patriot zeal and uncorrupted mind Dared to assert the freedom of mankind And, whilst extending desolation far, Ambition spread the baneful flames of war, Fearless of blame, and eloquent to save, 'Twas he, 'twas Fox, the warning counsel gave ; 'Midst jarring conflicts stemm'd the tide of blood, And to the menaced world a landmark stood. Oh ! had his voice in Mercy's cause prevail'd, What grateful millions had the statesman hail'd ! BEAU BRUMMELL 175 Whose wisdom made the broils of nations cease, And taught the world humanity and peace But though he fail'd, succeeding ages here, The vain yet pious effort shall revere ; Boast in their annals his illustrious name, Uphold his greatness, and confirm his fame." The succeeding stanzas, on account of their peculiar beauty and pathos, I have reserved for the last, in order that the impression they will naturally make upon the reader may not be im- paired by any subsequent trifle from the same pen. " I've known all the blessings of sight, The beauties that nature displays, And traced in the splendour of light The glories that stream'd in the blaze; Yet though darkness its sorrows has spread, I grudge not the pleasures I've known, Since, reclining, I thus lay my head On a breast that I know is my own. " I have valued the charms of the rose, As I pluck'd it all fresh from the tree ; I have kiss'd it, and bid it disclose Its sweets, for I meant it for thee. * But memory still has its bliss, Though no longer I gaze on thee now; More sweet than the rose is thy kiss, And more fresh and more lovely art thoM. " The life of the roebuck was mine, As I bounded o'er valley and lawn, 176 BEAU BRUMMELL I watch'd the gray twilight decline, And worshipp'd the day-breaking 1 dawn. I regret not the freedom of will, Or sigh as uncertain I tread, I am freer and happier still When by thee I am carefully led. * Ere my sight I was doom'd to resign My heart I surrender'd to thee, Not a thought, or an action was mine, But I saw as thou bad'st me to see. Thy watchful affection I wait, And hang with delight on thy voice ; And dependence is soften'd by fate, Since dependence on thee was my choice." These verses speak eloquently for a heart that the blandishments of fashion beguiled to a lament- able extent, but could never entirely corrupt. " To her mother," says Wraxall, " the Duchess of Dev- onshire was attached with more than common filial affection, of which she exhibited pecuniary proofs rarely given by a daughter to a parent. Nor did she display less attachment to her sister, Lady Duncannon." It is said that in her last illness the retrospect of her life caused the Duchess of Devonshire the deepest regret, and that she felt acutely the utter insignificance and emptiness of the pleasures which had so constantly absorbed her mind and energies. The disorder which ter- minated in her death was an abscess in the liver, 1 Day-breaking, Qy. "^zy-breaking." BEAU BRUMMELL 177 her Grace having experienced the first attack of it about three months before while dining at the Marquis of Hertford's. From that time it increased so rapidly as to baffle every attempt made to sub- due it by the combined talents of Doctors Baillie, Pit cairn, and others. Her disease was beyond the aid of human skill, and she expired at Devonshire House on the morning of the 3Oth of March, 1806, in the forty-ninth year of her age. The Prince of Wales had the greatest regard and respect for her, and expressed a wish to attend her funeral ; but the honour was declined, as in London the ceremonials were conducted with great privacy. This, however, was not the case at Derby, for the hearse was met three miles from the town by the nobility and gentry of the county, and the duke's tenantry, who accompanied it to the family vault of the Cavendishes, in St. Stephen's Church. Fifteen years after, the late Countess of Besborough was, at her own request, laid in the same vault. In the zenith of their beauty and influence, "the rival sisters," as they were generally called, were tenderly attached to each other ; and how this feeling survived in Lady Besborough's mind, is attested by an affecting anecdote, which Wraxall thus relates: "During the month of July, 1811, a very short time before the decease of the late Duke of Devonshire, I visited the vault in the principal church of Derby, where repose the remains of the 178 BEAU BRUMMELL Cavendish family. As I stood contemplating the coffin which contained the remains of that ad- mired female, Georgiana, the late duchess, the woman who accompanied me pointed out the relics of a bouquet which lay on the coffin, nearly collapsed into dust. 'That nosegay,' said she, 'was brought here by the Countess of Bes- borough, who had designed to place it with her own hands on her sister's coffin ; but overcome by her emotions on approaching the spot, she found herself unable to descend the steps con- ducting to the vault. In an agony of grief she knelt down on the stones, as nearly over the place occupied by the corpse as I could direct, and there deposited the flowers, enjoining me the perform- ance of an office to which she was unequal. I fulfilled her wishes.' " When the Prince of Wales was informed of the death of the Duchess of Devonshire, he is said to have exclaimed, " Then we have lost the best bred woman in England ! " And Fox observed, on the same melancholy occa- sion, "She had the kindest of human hearts." How characteristic the remarks of the two men ! In introducing the translation of Petrarch's sonnet, I had occasion to advert to Elizabeth, Duchess of Devonshire, the duke's second wife, and to allude to the estimation in which she held her friend and predecessor's accomplishments. Before concluding this chapter, it may not be irrelevant to speak of her great taste and acquire- BEAU BRUMMELL 179 ments; indeed it is impossible to mention one of these celebrated women without thinking of the other, for the intimacy that existed between them was perfectly Siamese, and after the separation of Lady Elizabeth from Mr. Foster, her first hus- band, had taken place, she became an inmate of Devonshire House, on the gossip of which I for- bear to dwell. The two friends afterward travelled together on the Continent, and when at Lausanne, in 1787, an incident occurred which proves that she was scarcely less delightfully insinuating, or less talented, than her gifted companion. The anecdote, charming in itself, is admirably related in a recent contribution to the Gentleman's Magazine, and amusingly displays the consummate vanity of the philosophic Gibbon, who was a fixed resident in that town, and formed a welcome addi- tion to their society. " Beautiful in her person," says this writer, "fascinating in her manner, still under the age of thirty, and wholly unsuspicious of all amorous pretensions from a man of the mature years, ungainly figure, and love-repelling countenance of her learned countryman, she checked not the exuberance of her admiration of his genius : she had unconsciously, however, made a deep impression on his imagination, and one morning, more especially, just as he had termi- nated his elaborate performance, and felt elated with the achievement, as he so glowingly describes the sensation in his ' Life,' he invited the seductive i8o BEAU BRUMMELL lady to breakfast ; when in a bower, fragrant with encircling acacias, he selected for her perusal various attractive passages of the concluding sheets. "Enchanted with the masterly narrative, her ladyship complimented him on the completion of his task with a charm of language and warmth of address which the author's prurient fancy, much too licentiously indulged, as his writings prove, converted into effusions of tenderer inspiration. Falling on his knees, he gave utterance to an impassioned profession of love, greatly to the surprise of its object, who, recoiling from his contact, entreated him to rise from this humiliat- ing posture. Thus recalled to cooler feeling, but prostrate and helpless from his unwieldy form, he vainly sought to regain his feet, and the delicate female, whose first astonishment soon yielded to irrepressible laughter at the ridiculous scene, was equally powerless in affording relief, until at length, with the aid of two robust women, he was reseated in his armchair, from which it was pre- tended he had accidentally slipped. Thus solven- tur risu tabulae,' a laugh at once dissolves the lover's enchantment, and with it evaporated the lady's anger, genuine or simulated ; for with the Lady Elizabeth, this demonstration of the Promethean puissance of her charms, which could quicken into vivid emotion such a mass of seem- ingly inert matter, was, on reflection, felt rather BEAU BRUMMELL 181 as a homage than an offence ; and though unfruit- ful of effect in evoking, as in the opera of ' Zmir and Azor, or, Beauty and the Beast,' a responsive flame, it in no sense interrupted her friendly inter- course with Gibbon." This " decline and fall " in the historian's phil- osophy, and total forgetfulness of the chances of ridicule, certainly gives an exalted idea of the Lady Elizabeth's charms ; but my amiable friend, to whom she presented the translation of Pe- trarch's sonnet, and on whom, unlike Gibbon, time has exercised a softening influence over the pas- sions, writes even now thus eloquently in her praise : " You are much too young to have known Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, and therefore felt la belle passion for her, as every man did in my day. I had the honour of knowing both her and her successor, and in spite of the fine eyes and seductive manners of the former, I preferred Elizabeth. I will not, however, draw any com- parisons between them unless, indeed, it should be between their literary accomplishments. Eliza- beth did not, as far as I know, ever dabble in poetry : she did more than this ; she was a zealous patroness of literature and the fine arts ; she was the duchess who, at her own expense, caused a machine to be fabricated for dragging the Tiber, in the vain hope of redeeming some of the statues which it is well ascertained had been thrown into it at different periods during the civil wars and 182 BEAU BRUMMELL the first invasion of Clovis. That praiseworthy attempt, though often repeated, was utterly fruit- less. "It was she also who caused, at her own ex- pense, the ALneid to be translated into Italian verse, a magnificent work which, in point of elegance, fidelity, and typographical correctness, leaves nothing to be desired. With that in his hand, the traveller may trace the progress of ./Eneas from his first landing in Italy, to the fatal termination of his combat with Turnus. Her palace at Rome, as well as her purse, was open to all men of genius, without distinction of rank or country ; she may be said to have held the keys of the Vatican and other libraries ; for, owing to her influence, I obtained admission to them when they were closed even to the Romans themselves, in consequence either of repairs or festivals. Though others may, I have none but pleasing souvenirs of that charming woman, for I owed many obligations to her kindness during my residence at Rome. " One of the most gratifying memorials I possess is a letter that she wrote to me shortly after her scheme for dragging the Tiber for antiques had failed, in which she deeply deplores the result ; it is a curious proof of fine feeling and affectation, two qualities not very compatible with each other. I allude to her mode of writing merely the initial and final letters of words, an affectation which BEAU BRUMMELL 183 often cost me considerable trouble in guessing at her meaning. Thus, in referring to her re- peated disappointments on this subject, she writes, ' My 1 t like my f t at s have failed ! ' Not- withstanding this, I have no hesitation in saying that, if a woman could be properly termed the Maecenas of her age, Elizabeth, Duchess of Devonshire, well deserved the appellation." She also published at Rome an edition of her friend and predecessor's poem, " The Passage of the St. Gothard," and the fifth satire of the First Book of Horace, with illustrations, several of which were designed and executed by herself. Her Grace's death, in March, 1824, interrupted the completion of a Dante, which she had also intended to illustrate with one hundred plates. She was the friend of Cardinal Gonsalvi, of Canova, Cammucini, and Thorwaldsen, and was generally surrounded by eminent artists and men of letters ; her influ- ence in Rome was great, partly owing to her classical and literary taste, but still more to a munificence which scarcely knew a limit, and it was this influence, perhaps, which led the widow of the younger Pretender (and afterward of Alfi- eri) thus to adress the duchess from her palazzo at Florence, " Ma belle amie, on dit ici, que vous r6gnez & Rome, permettez moi d'aller vous visiter dans vos tats," etc. In the spirit of old Rome a medal of her was struck at her death, commemo- rative of her arduous exertions in the protection 184 BEAU BRUMMELL and advancement of Italian literature, and her un- wearied efforts to preserve or restore to the world any remains of the classical antiquities which she so deeply venerated. Her Grace was a daughter of the fourth Earl of Bristol. CHAPTER XIV. Brummell a Whig, but no Politician General Fitzpatrick His Contributions to the Beau's Album His Lines on a Proposed Grant of Money for the Prosecution of the War Mrs. Miller of Bath-Easton Horace Walpole's Description of Her Castles in the Air The Late Lord Palmerston His Epitaph on His Wife Lord Upper Ossory Lady Tyrconnel Lines Addressed to Her by That Nobleman Lady Upper Ossory. 'T the Duke of Devonshire's, Brummell had many and agreeable opportunities of improving his acquaintance with the wits and celebrated men, of the party of which his Grace was the leader, and his duchess such an enthusiastic supporter. But Brummell, though a staunch Whig, took little active interest in their political proceedings, and in all probability his reason for preferring their society was, that their leisure hours were more convivially spent than those of the ministerial one, and the " Pilot who weathered the storm." Foremost amongst these wits was General Fitz- patrick, and I shall in this chapter introduce two of his contributions to the beau's album, as well as those of several more of Brummell' s friends, 185 186 BEAU BRUMMELL whose verses have likewise escaped the printing- press. Richard Fitzpatrick, the son of John, first Earl of Upper Ossory, was born January 30, 1747. In his youth he served in the American war, but, having a political turn, he relinquished active service, and entered the senate as member for Tavistock, in 1780. Though he attained the post of secretary of war, he was far more cele- brated as the friend of Fox, and his companion at the gaming-table, and as one of the best polit- ical versifiers of his day, than as a statesman, or an orator. The general was the author of some of the happiest pleasantries in the " Rolliad," and the " Probationary Odes ; " he wrote the verses on Brooke Watson, those on the Marquis of Graham, and the " Liars ; " he also wrote " Dorinda," a town eclogue, and other short pieces. The following specimen of his politico-poetical talents is nearly, if not quite, equal to any squib Swift ever wrote. WRITTEN ON THE BACK OF A BILL ENTITLED " AN ACT FOR GRANTING TO HlS MAJESTY AN ADDITIONAL CONTRIBUTION FOR THE PROSECUTION OF THE WAR ! " " Plan, by general confiscation, To redeem a ruin'd nation ; Plan, through all its parts a blunder, Credit to maintain by plunder; Plan, which property protects, By the seizure of effects ; Plan, securing general comfort ; Can we pay too large a sum for't ? BEAU BRUMMELL 187 Which such comforts soon shall bring, as Writs of Capias and Distringas, Into poor folks' houses breaking, E'en the beds they sleep on taking ; Thus by wives and children starving, All that's dear to man preserving ; Virtue, and good morals guarding, Base informers by rewarding ; Strengthening all our social ties By encouraging of spies ; Setting down in each man's cot, What he has, and he has not ; What though gone all Fortune gave him, No economy can save him. Base conceit to fight the French meant, By prohibiting entrenchment ; Vital Christians, still repining That religion is declining, Here in her behalf decree Premiums upon perjury ; Friends of due subordination, Here, 'twixt high and humble station Cordial union to secure, Drive the rich to starve the poor. Here a clause which needs must please us, Of superfluous cash to ease us, Whence the tax, by dexterous shift, All at once becomes a gift ; Clause which leaves an option pleasant To be robbed or make a present; For, should you decline the honour, To become a nation's donor, Shortly to your cost you'll find There's a process still behind ; Which, how closely e'er you lock it, i88 BEAU BRUMMELL In due time will reach your pocket. So sham cripples, whom we meet Asking alms through many a street, Rob by night (their wooden leg off) Those they in the morning beg of, And, as laws are made restraining Suffering wretches from complaining, These, to stop poor people's bawling, Lift their crutch and lay them sprawling. In this project what can men see But the rulers in a phrenzy, Still the desperate course pursuing Which has brought us all to ruin ? Who 'mongst country lubbers sees one So absurd and void of reason, To increase the ass's loads He has plung'd in miry roads ? British dolts, if 'tis your pleasure To endure such loads as these are, Prate no more about your freedom, Empty boasts ! for none will heed 'em. All your spirit is but vapour, Magna Charta mere waste paper ; All your boasted fire but smoke, Beasts of burden, bear the yoke ! " Near these lines of the general's were the fol- lowing anonymous verses, also humourously refer- ring to the excessive taxation of the times. The name of Miller, in the first stanza, made me fear they might have been printed in a collection of poetry written for a fantastical lady of that name, who lived at a villa near Bath, and published in 1775 for charitable purposes, under the title of BEAU BRUMMELL 189 " The Vase of Bath-Easton ; " but on consulting the work I did not find them, and this leads me to hope that they have never been printed. At this villa the lady used to receive a large and distin- guished circle of friends every Thursday, and the chief amusement of these reunions was to read aloud the scraps of sentimental and other poetry that had been composed by them, perhaps in the king's bath, in the previous week, much of which was in praise of herself, her villa, and each other. Horace Walpole, in describing the Bath-Easton vagaries, writes thus to General Conway : " Mrs. Miller is returned a beauty, a genius, a Sappho, a tenth muse, as romantic as Mademoi- selle Scuderi, and as unsophisticated as Mrs. Vesey. The captain's fingers are loaded with cameos, his tongue runs over with virtu ; and that both may contribute to the improvement of their own coun- try, they have introduced bouts rim& as a new discovery. They hold a Parnassus fair every Thursday, give out rhymes and themes, and all the flux of quality at Bath contend for the prizes. A Roman vase, dressed with pink ribbons and myrtles, receives the poetry, which is drawn out every festival. Six judges of these Olympic games retire and select the brightest compositions, which the respective successful acknowledge, kneel to Mrs. Calliope Miller, kiss her fair hand, and are crowned by it with myrtle, with I do not know what. You may think this is a fiction or exagger- 190 BEAU BRUMMELL ation. Be dumb, unbelievers. The collection is printed, published. Yes, by my faith, there are bouts rimts on a buttered muffin, made by her Grace the Duchess of Northumberland ; recipes to make them by Corydon the venerable, alias George Pitt ; others very pretty by Lord Palmer- ston ; some by Lord Carlisle ; many by Mrs. Miller herself, that have no fault but wanting metre, and immortality promised to her without end or measure. In short, since folly, which never ripens to madness but in this hot climate, ran dis- tracted, there never was anything so entertaining or so dull." "CASTLES IN THE AIR. " Were I content on earth to dwell, To earth my views confine, With rapture, Miller, I'd survey This paradise of thine. " I too my willing voice would raise, And equal praise bestow, But that the scene which others praise, For me is far too low. " I grant the hills are crown'd with trees, I grant the fields are fair ; Yet after all one nothing sees, But what is really there. "True taste ideal fancy feigns, Whilst on poetic wings ; 'Bove earth, and all that earth contains, Unbounded fancy springs. BEAU BRUMMELL 191 " To dwell on earth's gross element, Let grovelling spirits bear, Whilst I on nobler plans intent Build castles in the air. " No neighbours there can disagree, Or thwart what I design ; For there not only all I see, But all I wish, is mine. " No surly landlord's leave I want, To make or pull down fence ; I build, I furnish, lay out, plant, Regardless of expense. " One thing, indeed, excites my fear, Nor let it seem surprising, Since Ministers, from year to year, New taxes are devising, " Lest earth being taxed, as soon it may, Beyond what earth can bear ; Our Financier a tax should lay On castles in the air ! " Well with the end the means would suit, Did he in these our days, Ideal plans to execute, Ideal taxes raise." Multifarious, indeed, were the schemes sent in to government, toward the close of the last cen- tury, with a view of raising new taxes. It must have been at this time that the Austrian general exclaimed one day, in the Haymarket, " Good Heavens ! you rule the seas, and give a guinea 1 92 BEAU BRUMMELL and a half for a codfish," a bitter epigram; for the imperialist thought that a guinea was laid on by the government as a tax ! It is impossible, with every proper feeling of veneration for Horace Walpole's taste, to coincide with him in his admiration of Lord Palmerston's poetry, in the " Vase of Bath-Easton." Tickell is more correct, when he says, "With chirps of wit, and mutilated lays, see Palmerston fineer his bout rime's" There are also, in the Gentleman's Magazine, several specimens of his lordship's po- etry, which are not very felicitous ; but the follow- ing epitaph on his first wife, Miss Poole, which was also in Brummell's collection, might well have softened Tickell's satire. It is not exaggerated praise to say that these lines will bear comparison with those of Mason ; and the composition was probably influenced by his lordship's having read and admired them ; for the poet's wife died in her twenty-eighth year, at Bristol Hot Wells, March 27, 1767, two years before Lady Palmerston, who also expired at the same place. " Whoe'er, like me, with trembling anguish brings His heart's whole treasure to fair Bristol's springs ; Whoe'er, like me, to soothe distress and pain, Shall court these salutary springs in vain : Condemn'd, like me, to hear the faint reply, To mark the fading cheek, the sinking eye ; From the chill brow to wipe the damps of death, And watch, in dumb despair, the shortening breath ; BEAU BRUMMELL 193 If chance should bring him to this artless line, Let the sad mourner know his pangs were mine : Ordain'd to lose the partner of my breast, Whose beauty warm'd me, and whose virtues bless'd, Framed, every tie that binds the heart to prove, Her duty, friendship, and her friendship, love ; But yet remembering that the parting sigh Appoints the just to slumber not to die The starting tear I check'd, I kiss'd the rod And, not to earth resign'd her, but to God ! " But these poems have interrupted the conclu- sion of this short notice of General Fitzpatrick. He had a very commanding presence and courtly manners, and possessed an inexhaustible fund of conversation as well as wit, which qualities, com- bined with great good nature, rendered him an universal favourite ; but, like his friend Fox, and the rest of that party, Fitzpatrick appears to have been sadly deficient in the principle of moderation, the power of regulating his passions and habits, and the steadiness of character and industry which tended so much to the success of their opponents, and to command for them the respect in which they were held, even by those who differed from their political views. Long indulgence in the pleasures of the table impaired, in later life, his bodily as well as mental faculties, and Wraxall gives a painful account of the shattered state of both, shortly before his death. This took place on the 25th April, 1813, in the sixty-seventh year of his age. I 9 4 BEAU BRUMMELL Lord Upper Ossory, General Fitzpatrick's elder brother, though not so witty or so popular, was a man of much more temperate habits, and highly and deservedly esteemed. Horace Walpole, in writing from Paris to George Selwyn, in 1765, mentions him in favourable terms : " We have swarms of English ; but most of them know not Joseph, and Joseph desires not to know them. I live with none of them but Crawford and Lord Ossory ; the latter of whom I am extremely sorry is returning to England. I recommend him to Mr. Williams as one of the properest and most amiable young men I ever knew." At this time Lord Os- sory was only twenty years of age, and Walpole seems to have valued his acquaintance, as he was for many years after a frequent visitor at Ampthill. His lordship, who was educated at Eton and Oxford, had a poetical turn as well as his brother ; and, to judge by the lines addressed to Lady Tyr- connell, now given, this talent was usefully and kindly employed. The warning, however, that his poetry conveyed on this occasion was unheeded ; or, if it caused a temporary check in her thought- less career, she did not eventually profit by it. This lady, who was a daughter of the famous Marquis of Granby, married George, second Earl of Tyrconnel, and was divorced from him in 1777, being then in her twenty-fourth year. She subse- quently married the Honourable Philip Anstruther, according to the Peerage ; but the Gentleman's BEAU BRUMMELL 195 Magazine, in mentioning her death in 1792, says P. Leslie, Esq., once a wine-merchant in France, and second son of Lord Newark of Scotland. This discrepancy in this gentleman's identity arose from the following circumstances : David Leslie, second Lord Newark, a staunch friend of Charles the First, died in 1694, leaving an only daughter who married Sir A. Anstruther, Bart. His son claimed the barony of Newark, after his mother's death, when the House of Lords gave a decision in his favour ; but they afterward re- tracted their verdict. Philip Anstruther, Esq., would therefore have been his proper denomina- tion, in 1792, though the metre of the lines seems to indicate Leslie, as the name used ' by Lord Ossory. " ADDRESSED TO LADY TYRCONNEL. Lord Upper Ossory. " Envy, that loves not merit, ne'er will spare A form so perfect, and a face so fair ; Let prudence, then, o'er all your steps preside, And sage discretion every action guide. For know (but first I must demand excuse For the plain bluntness of an honest muse), Know and reflect, ere yet it is too late, You stand this moment on the brink of fate. By fashion blinded, and by folly led, The path of ruin and of vice you tread ; Reflect long years of sorrow must repay The short-lived pleasures of one fleeting day ; Lovely and young, and in Tyrconnel blest, By strangers honoured, and by friends caress'd, 196 BEAU BRUMMELL How will they mourn to hear cursed envy tell From what a glorious height of bliss you fell ! What charms can you in empty Leslie find, To shake your virtue, or your judgment blind ? Shun him not only him, but all the rest That would plant daggers in thy youthful breast ; Guard from their arts thy yet unspotted fame, And spare thy honour'd father's glorious name." This is a singular subject for Lord Ossory to have touched upon ; as, about seven years before these lines were written, he had married the wife of Augustus Henry, third Duke of Grafton, who had been previously divorced from that notorious libertine. The duke's profligate amours, and more especially his liaison with Nancy Parsons, a once beautiful, but then superannuated courtesan, led to his estrangement from his accomplished and injured duchess ; and it must have been a deep interest in her misfortunes that tempted Lord Ossory into forming an intimacy, which led to a dissolution of this ill-sorted marriage. Many and great were the trials this amiable woman endured, before she consented to take the step which tar- nished her reputation, and deprived her of the place in society that her virtues adorned. Gilly Williams, intending to throw ridicule on her re- ligious feelings, writes thus in 1765: "The Duchess of Grafton goes nowhere but to church." Horace Walpole, who was, says Mr. Jesse, an ardent admirer of her beauty, her good sense, and BEAU BRUMMELL 197 many endearing qualities, and who, more than once, speaks of her enthusiastically as "my duch- ess," pays her a pleasing compliment, in his poem of " The Three Herons." Lady Ossory was the only daughter of the first Lord Ravensworth, and died in February, 1804. CHAPTER XV. Lord John Townshend Lady Hunloke Sir Robert Adair Poem of Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire's, Supposed to Be Addressed to Sir Robert Adair, by Lady Hunloke Sir Robert Adair's Reply to Lady Hunloke, by Lord John Town- shend Sir Gregory Page Turner Sir G. Osborne Turner Sir Thomas Tyrwhitt Jones Mr. Robson, M. P. 'MONGST the names of valued friends mentioned by Brummell, in his letter to the lady to whom he presented his album, is that of Lord John Townshend, son of the first Marquis Townshend so much distinguished at the battles of Dettingen and Fontenoy, and who had the melancholy satisfaction of receiving the keys of Quebec after the death of Wolfe. Lord John was born on the iQth of January, 1757, and was a godson of George the Second. He was educated at Eton, and afterward went to Cam- bridge, where his career was so brilliant that the university returned him as their member at the age of twenty-three. He had been a candidate the previous year, 1779, when he was defeated by the Solicitor-General Mansfield, but only by twelve votes. It was on this occasion that the marquis sent a man up to vote against his son, and 198 BEAU BRUMMELL 199 for Lord Hyde, the third candidate. Lord John's adherence to the Whig party cost him his seat in 1784, when he was superseded by Mr. Pitt. He was subsequently returned, with Fox as his colleague, for Westminster, and afterward sat twenty-five years for Knaresborough, at the expi- ration of which time he retired from Parliament. " Few men," says Wraxall, " held a higher place in Fox's friendship than the Lord John Town- shend ; a place to which he was entitled by the elegance of his mind, his various accomplishments, and his adherence to him through life. If party could ever feel regret, it would have been excited by his being excluded from a seat so honourable in itself as that of the University of Cambridge, to which he had attained by unwearied personal exertions." In early life Lord John was con- spicuous in society for the grace of his manners, and, as his friend Tickell says, "for his pathetic bow." His poetical productions were admired for their exquisite humour; and, in conjunction with Tickell, he wrote the satire entitled " Jekyll." To him we also owe the " Probationary Ode for Major Scott," and the playful parody of " Donee gratus eram tibi ; " he likewise wrote a severe ode ad- dressed to Lord North, and similarly pungent verses to Lords Harrington, Dartmouth, and George Germaine. A party at Chatsworth, at which Lord John was present, gave rise to the following pretty 200 BEAU- BRUMMELL piece of scandal in verse by the Duchess of Devonshire. It has been already alluded to, and will introduce a reply by his lordship, who, as I have before observed, was one of her intimate friends. In this poem the spirituelle Georgiana appears to have been amusing herself not a little at the expense of Lady Hunloke, wife of Sir Henry Hunloke, Bart., and a sister of the late Lord Leicester. Her ladyship was one of the duchess's country neighbours, and stands accused of having a predilection for Mr., afterward the Right Honourable Sir Robert, Adair, also one of her Grace's political friends, and a visitor at Chatsworth. This gentleman, son of the celebrated surgeon of that name by Lady Caroline Keppel, daughter of William, second Earl of Albemarle, was the tlfrve and friend of Fox, whose memory he de- fended against Tomline ; and while he sat in Parliament, which he did, first for Appleby, and afterward for Camelford, he steadily supported that statesman. In 1 789, when Russia was men- aced by England for her policy with regard to Turkey, Mr. Adair, under Fox's auspices, visited St. Petersburg (a fact which the reader must bear in mind as he peruses the poem), to counter- act Mr. Pitt's measures ; and it was after this that the Empress Catherine requested Fox to sit for his bust, which she subsequently placed between those of Demosthenes and Cicero. That Charles BEAU BRUMMELL 201 Fox should feel an honest satisfaction in pre- serving his country from being embroiled in an unnecessary war, is perfectly comprehensible ; but it is difficult to believe that he attached any value to this hollow compliment from the great repre- sentative of absolute power. In 1806 Mr. Adair was appointed ambassador at Vienna, and three years after was sent as minister to Constantinople ; after which, he retired from public life. The "dingy home," of which the duchess speaks in the opening lines of this poem, is Wingerworth Hall, the seat of the Hunloke family ; and it was probably the iron foundries in the neighbourhood of Chesterfield that suggested the allusion, for Wingerworth is but two or three miles from that town ; the hall is about ten from Chatsworth. Though the Duchess of Devonshire's love of liter- ature was quite sufficient to excite the envious of her day to call her a Blue, she would, by the quiz she thus inflicted upon her contemporary, have completely escaped the more recent denunciation of that clique by Trebeck, who observes "that the Blues seldom condescend to scandal except scandal of the worst kind, such as ripping up old grievances, and speaking shamefully ill of the dead. I met a Blue the other day who was discussing the Suffolk letters and Walpole's memoirs, and then went on to say paw-paw things of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu. Now really this is quite atro- cious ; to attack a modern reputation is venial in 202 BEAU BRUMMELL comparison. Thank Heaven, with all my faults it cannot be said that I ever slandered anybody's great-great-grandmother." Now I venture to hope the reader will not think that I have slan- dered a great-grandmother (for such would Lady Hunloke be were she now alive) by publishing these lines, as at the period they were written she was in her fifty-first year. Lady Hunloke is said to have been a merry, talkative, and coquettish lady, and, like her friend the duchess, very fond of play. "TO ROBERT ADAIR, FROM LADY HUNLOKE. Duchess of Devonshire, " Undone and plunder'd, waddling, sad, and slow, From Chatsworth to my dingy home I go ; The barren heaths and mines of coal I view, And turn my back, but not my thoughts from you ; The dreary landscape renovates my care, Since gloom and cinders but recall Adair. What though on all my smiles incessant shone, Except when Besborough l the rubber won ; Though softest meanings on my accents spoke, Save when I cursed Lord Granville Gower's z revoke ? And though soft looks express'd my feelings bland, Except when squinting into Denman's 3 hand ; 1 The late Earl of Besborough, who died in his eighty-seventh year, on the 3d of February, 1844, at Canford House, in Dorset- shire, the seat of his second son, Lord de Mauley. * The present Earl Granville, who married the Lady Harriet Cavendish, second daughter of William, fifth Duke of Devon- shire, by Georgiana, the noble authoress of this poem. 1 Probably Lord Denman. BEAU BRUMMELL 203 Yet though on all with varying grace I rose, Repeating scraps of poetry and prose ; My ample learning though I deign'd to show, And quoted French and Latin d profios Yet still on thee my anxious thoughts were bent, For thee, the smile, the nod, the wink, were meant. And though, at first, I little understood, The flattering import of thy pensive mood, Thy frowning brow, pale cheek, and downcast eye, And absent wandering of each set reply ; Yet soon I triumph'd in the inflicted smart, And prized my conquest o'er a statesman's heart, And, as bright rays, to one fix'd focus brought, Concent'ring there to blazing flames are wrought, My charms with shafts of fire inflamed thy pond'rous thought. 'Twas rash in me the dangerous sight to view, Though fat, and red, I caught the infection too : And, though much courted by the lordling band, Though e'en Lord Ossulston * on tiptoe stand ; In spite of all the attentive Morpeth 2 spoke, All Bennet's pedantry, and Townshend's 3 joke, All Granville's beauty, and Duncannon's 4 youth, To thee I vow my constancy and truth. No longer, then, be politics thy care, For can a motion with my heart compare ? No longer strike the Treasury bench with dread, Nor like Lord Burleigh shake thy meaning head. E'en Fox will yield the lightning of thy eye, Thy frown terrific, and thy mute reply ; 1 The present Earl of Tankerville. * The present Earl of Carlisle. 3 The Lord John Townshend. 4 The present Earl of Besborough, then in his twentieth year, and the youngest of the party. 204 BEAU BRUMMELL For generous Fox can never disapprove, That public toils should cede to happy love ! Let Buonaparte sway the jarring world, Be realms, be empires, from their bases hurl'd, No counter revolutions me shall wait, No restoration of a monarch's fate ; For soon as poor Sir Harry breathes no more I'll fly to meet the lover I adore ! Bucks and Archbishops, I'll alike discard, And thou of all mankind alone regard. Then take no mission to the Baltic's tide ; To freeze thy soul and pinch thy scanty side ; To warmer comforts let thy fancy turn, Nor longer from thee joys connubial spurn. Nor let thy quondam party's tricks prevail Tell them their reign is o'er, their maxims stale, And that thy choice is, pudding, beef, and ale ; Bid them alone their empty schemes pursue, A glittering card-purse opens to thy view. Then doubt no more, but hear thy Hunloke swear, With thee, her life, her love, her jointure too, she'll share." As Mr. Adair was a poet, for he is said to have contributed to the "Rolliad" and "Probationary Odes," it may be supposed that he was ignorant of the joke that the party at Chats worth were car- rying on against him and the comely half-century from Wingerworth, or he would have seized his own lyre and sung his own strain calm or impas- sioned. But fortunately for my readers this was not the case, or they would have lost the following droll and desperate reply, that Lord John oblig- ingly concocted for him, and, while composing BEAU BRUMMELL 205 which, it is clear he ludicrously kept in view Pope's poem of "Eloisa to Abelard." By the al- lusion to the Congress at Luneville, these vers-de- socittt were evidently written late in the winter of 1800, or very early in the succeeding year, as the treaty of peace was not signed until the Qth of February, 1801. The "starving land," in the second line, was no exaggerated expression respecting the state of the country, for about this period the quartern loaf was sold for half a crown. "ROBERT ADAIR'S REPLY TO LADY HUNLOKE. Lord John Townshend. " In times like these, when to St. Stephen's walls A starving land the legislature calls ! Now when the patriot band should be prepared, Nor pamphlets now, nor paragraphs be spared ; Why rove I here when Parliament is met? Why stray my steps beyond thy shop, Debrett? 1 What means this stupor in a statesman's breast? Fame, virtue, sleeps, ambition is at rest, My long-made maiden speech remember'd not ; The House of Commons, the Whig Club forgot ! 1 Debrett's shop was opposite to Burlington House, and is now occupied by Mr. Pickering, the publisher. Mr. Stockdale, who has been succeeded by Mr. Thorpe, bookseller and auto- graph collector, lived next door. Perhaps Lady Hunloke's house was nearer to the Park, for a former family mansion of Sir Harry's was in Piccadilly; this house was purchased by Lord Coventry, in 1765, for ^10,000. 206 BEAU BRUMMELL Far other cares thy lover Hunloke, knows ! All Hackman's l sorrows, and all Werter's woes ! Lost and extinct, my party zeal I see, And pity fools that think of aught but thee. What though, unmatch'd in diplomatic fame, Beyond the Baltic they revere my name ? Though now at Luneville the Congress wait Adair's decision upon Europe's fate ; Should at my feet the rmghty Consul fall, France, Austria, Russia, I would scorn them all.* Not Fox's mission would I deign to carry, Here let me stay, the rival of Sir Harry ! Thou know'st how first at Chatsworth I was made Thy hapless victim, as at whist we play'd ; Each wink, each shrug, each whisper, and each look, For softest hints my vanity mistook ; 1 The Rev. James Hackman, who shot Miss Ray, the mistress of Lord Sandwich, as she was coming out of Covent Garden Theatre. Lust and jealousy hurried him to the commission of this deed on the 7th of April, 1779, an< ^ ^ e was hung on the 1 9th of the same month at Tyburn. The hangman's cupidity on the occasion was of the most barefaced description ; when the unfortunate culprit flung down his handkerchief as the signal for the cart to move on, instead of instantly whipping the horses, he jumped on the other side of him to snatch it up, lest he should lose this perquisite in the crowd; he then returned to the cart, and, as Lord Carlisle writes to George Selwyn, " with the gesture so faithfully represented by your friend Lord Wentworth, Jehu'd him out of the world." There still exists in a private garden at Hampton Court, a grotto that was constructed by Miss Ray and with her own hands. 8 Should at my feet the world's great master fall, Himself, his throne, his world, I'd scorn them all. Not Caesar's empress would I deign to prove, No make me mistress to the man I love. Pope : Eloisa to Abelard. BEAU BRUMMELL 207 Too soon I found, how rash was my conceit, All eyes but mine thou couldst contrive to cheat. Say not for me were meant thy sly regards, Not me they ogled, but Lord Besborough's cards ; Too plain I saw (no wonder in the dumps) Thy sidelong glances leering at his trumps ; Thou say'st that when Sir Harry leaves thee free, Thy heart, thy card-purse, shall belong to me ; Nor beef, nor ale, nor pudding wilt thou grudge, All this thou say'st but all thou say'st is fudge. Soon as Sir Harry's fatal knell shall toll, Oh ! that 'twere mine his widow to console ! * But ah ! some youth more delicate than I, Shall hush thy murmurs, and thy tears shall dry. Some sturdier swain more suited to thy taste, With keener stomach for the rich repast. Then fly me, fly to Wingerworth repair, Forget, renounce, abjure, the lost Adair ! Yet say, my Hunloke, thou who every part Of Shakespeare's drama canst repeat by heart, Where's the mock envy, or fictitious spleen, But some similitude in me is seen ? Long nursed and train'd in Melancholy's school, One sad epitome of every fool. Oft hast thou heard me sigh, and seen me look, Like musing Jacques stretch'd by a murmuring brook ; Seen me its stream augment with many a tear, And mourn and moralise the passing deer : Vain of my yellow hue, oft seen me move, The piteous pageant of Malvolio's love. 1 How much unnecessary trouble the Duchess and Lord John gave themselves about the Rt. Hon. diplomatist's love-affairs was shown by his marrying, in 1805, Gabrielle Angelica, Countess d'Hagincourt, at which time Lady Hunloke was " a widow," Sir Henry having died on the I5th of November, 1804. 2 o8 BEAU BRUMMELL Oft, too, like Romeo's, is my woful plight, Banish'd from thine, as he from Juliet's sight; Prostrate the holy priest beheld him fall, And heard the frantic wretch for poison call ; From thee exiled, not less I madly rave, Or ' take the measure of an unmade grave ; ' Not less resolved to play some desperate freak, And stare, and terrify poor Parson Peeke ! Yet oh, vain cares, not all the fire I've felt, That solid, ah ! too solid flesh can melt ' Vain is my vacant stare, my random talk, Vain the slow grandeur of my pensive walk ; Vain is my faded form's pathetic grace, My hopeless, endless, comfortless disgrace ! My sallow cheek my sad funereal air, And deep and hollow groans, that paint the soul's despair. Then rouse, Adair ! assume a nobler part ! Let fame, let glory, re-inspire thy heart ! Lo ! where St. Stephen's chapel greets thine eyes, Its proudest triumphs are thine easy prize ; There anxious ever, ever on the watch, Each trick of singularity to catch, To pause and bow, and every gesture ape, That art assumes in senatorial shape ; Lend me, ye mimic powers ! your aid divine, Each grace concentrate, and each charm combine. Teach me, like Grey, 1 to rise, or to sit down ; To stare like Sheridan, like Tierney frown ; To stoop like Wyndham, or erect, like Pitt, Proudly take out my handkerchief, and spit ; Or rap, with all Dundas's force the box, And shriek and scream, and almost sweat like Fox. I fly, I fly, impetuous to town, Pride of the Whigs, and terror of the Crown ; 1 The present Earl, then Mr. Grey. BEAU BRUMMELL 209 Rush to the House, and furious to impeach, Discharge at Pitt my long-projected speech. Then, not on thee, not on my Hunloke's face, My ardent gaze is fix'd but on the mace ; x These eyes, that wont to languish in despair, Then flash their fire around the Speaker's chair. And now, both sides attentive homage pay, Sir Gregory Page, 2 and Tyrwhitt Jones 3 give way ; 1 Not on the cross my eyes were fix'd, but you ; Not grace, or zeal, love only was my call, And if I lose thy love I lose my all. Pope : Eloisa to Abelard. * Sir Gregory Page Turner, third baronet, succeeded his great uncle, Sir G. Page, in August, 1795, when he added to his own the name and arms of Page. Sir Gregory was a Tory, and at the general election in 1784 was chosen member for Thirsk, in York- shire, which he represented up to the time of his death. He did not, however, add much to the brilliancy of the debates, and when Mr. Grey, in 1797, moved for a reform in the representa- tion of the people, a motion that was seconded by Erskine, and supported by Fox, Sheridan, and others, Sir G. Page Turner gave it his most strenuous opposition, pathetically asserting, " That he always felt for the Constitution, and nothing else, when he got up in the morning, and when he lay down at night." His death is said to have been caused by his chagrin, at not succeed- ing in a trial that he had with a builder, who made an iron bridge over a stream in his garden, the erection of which had been sug- gested to Lady Turner by a friend, and which cost nine hundred pounds. On examining his secretaire, his executors found in it 16,700 guineas. He was succeeded by his eldest son, Gregory Osborne, who had as litigious a disposition as his father, and was defeated in two celebrated trials, one with a Mr. Stroehling, who had painted a picture for him, of Daniel in the lions' den, for the sum of fifteen hundred pounds ; the other, with the Rev. Mr. Beazley, also on the subject of pictures. Sir G. Page Turner died on the 4th January, 1805, at his house in Portland Place. * Thomas Tyrwhitt Jones, Chancellor of the Duchy of Corn- 210 BEAU BRUMMELL I rise, and frowning at the Treasury-bench, Full in their view my doubled fist I clench. Loud and more loud the opposition cheer, Sturt * in the van, and Robson 2 in the rear ; Pitt shrinks and trembles, as I shed My long-stored vengeance o'er his guilty head. Then he whose voice now melts in strains of love, Shall call for papers, for committees move ; Bill after bill bring in, fresh motions make, Secure, at least, to keep himself awake ; Or, should a tasteless audience cough and groan, Proud to prolong their pains and sufferings not his own ; Heavens! in what seas of patriot flame I'm toss'd How soon the lover's in the statesman lost ! Vain hopes, deceits his heart's illusion o'er, And thou and Wingerworth ne'er thought of more." 3 wall, and a great friend of the Prince of Wales. Mr. Jones was member for Bridgenorth, and created a baronet in 1808. In politics he was a Whig, and spoke often. 1 Charles Sturt, Esq., M.P. for Bridport. * Richard Bateman Robson, M.P. for Honiton, afterward for Oakhampton ; one of the " noisy patriots " of his day, and who had the satisfaction of proving, before the House of Commons, in February, 1802, that the country was insolvent; for that a Mr. Martin, another member of the House, had presented a bill at the Sick and Hurt Office, for nineteen shillings and sevenpence, which had been refused payment. He died at his house in Manchester Square, on the xoth of March, 1827. 3 Lady Hunloke died at her house in Saville Row, on the 22d of January, 1820. CHAPTER XVI. Charles Sturt, M. P. for Bridport His Gallantry in Rescuing Some Shipwrecked Seamen His Perilous Adventure and Great Presence of Mind Mr. Sturt in the House of Com- mons The Young Ensign and the Town Clerk The Rev- erend Pell Akehurst An Imaginary Address of His to the Countess of Besborough, by Lord John Townshend Lines by the Same Nobleman to the Memory of His Daughter The Foreign Grave Lord John Townshend's Death. w \O man better deserves a passing bio- graphical notice than Charles Sturt, formerly M. P. for Bridport, for he was one of the most open-hearted, generous, and char- itable men of his day, and many were the striking incidents in his life. His large fortune enabled him to indulge such a disposition without restraint ; and in the town he represented he was idolised by all classes, more especially, however, by the blue- jackets, who would have made Bridport a most uncomfortable abiding-place to any one who said anything against him. These men looked upon him as one of themselves, for he was devotedly fond of yachting, which, from his island castle of Brownsea, he had every opportunity of enjoying ; but the adoration in which he was held by the 212 BEAU BRUMMELL sailors of the town and coast rested not only on his love of that pursuit, but the great personal courage he displayed in his impetuous desire to do good ; he was, indeed, always " in the van," and frequently at the risk of his own life. On the ist of February, 1799, the Bee, bound for the West Indies, went on shore on the sands at Poole, the wind being at east, and blowing a tremendous gale, with heavy snow. The boats of the Tickler, gun-brig, went off to her assistance ; they failed, however, in their attempts to reach her, and she was left to her fate ; but, in the course of the day, the crew were rescued by Charles Sturt, after having been with his men twice thrown from his boat into the breakers. Eighteen months after this exploit, being out in his cutter about two leagues from shore, and sail- ing against Mr. Weld's yacht, of Lulworth Castle, he observed that his own boat towing astern re- tarded her progress, and ordered a boy into her to take her ashore. The sea running very high, the lad declined, as did also the men ; when Mr. Sturt, feeling it then a point of honour, immedi- ately jumped into her. At this instant the rope gave way, and, by the force of the wind and reced- ing tide, he was drifted to sea, soon after which the boat upset. In this perilous situation his pres- ence of mind did not forsake him ; he regained, by swimming, his station on the keel, and pulled off all his clothes except his trousers. It was after BEAU BRUMMELL 213 one of the many desperate struggles that he made of the same kind, that, giving up all for lost, he wrote with a pencil on a slip of paper, which he put in his watch-case, the following words, "Charles Sturt, Brownsea, to his beloved wife," and fastened the watch to his trousers. Shortly after, and almost by a miracle, a mate of a transport, three miles to windward, the last of several that had passed, happened to observe him, and four resolute fellows immediately embarked in a boat to his assistance ; but as there was a heavy sea running, and they could only see him occasionally, it was not till after a hard pull of nearly two hours that they reached him. Poor Sturt was all but exhausted, and on the eve of relinquishing his failing hold upon the boat, when his preservers took him into theirs ; unable to ar- ticulate his thanks, he lifted his hands to heaven, and instantaneously burst into a flood of tears. Mr. Sturt was one of those who, after the short peace of Amiens, and in violation of the acknowl- edged laws of nations, were detained prisoners in France, from which country he escaped by his own energy and enterprise. In politics he was a Whig, and he seconded some of the late lamented Sir Francis Burdett's early motions in the House of Commons ; in debate he was most vehement, and not very discreet. When Mr. Whitbread moved for a committee to inquire into the conduct of ministers respecting 214 BEAU BRUMMELL the French invasion of Ireland, his abuse of the treasurer of the navy was most copious. "The whole statement of the security of Ireland made by the honourable gentleman (Mr. Dundas)," said Mr. Sturt, " is a mis-statement ; he hoped in God he would not have much longer the direction of naval or any other affairs. He might wriggle, and grin (Mr. Dundas showing symptoms of uneasi- ness), and twist, and toss his head about, as much as he pleased, but he hoped it would soon be twisted somewhere else." The Sturts were not only a gallant but a merry race, and a most laughable anecdote is told of a relation of the member, I believe a brother, who was in the army. This young gentleman, when an ensign in the Regiment, was quartered at Colchester, the town clerk of which place, a Mr. S , was a particularly thrifty attorney, who, in the pride of his heart, had given out, not by the bellman, but next to it, that he could, would, and should give the two Misses S the sum of twenty thousand pounds each on their wedding- day. This want of caution, into which his vanity had betrayed him, made it necessary, as he fancied, to exclude the officers of the garrison from all par- ticipation in his hospitalities ; and his extreme discretion naturally became the subject of many a joke and discussion amongst them. In one of these messroom gossips young Sturt, to the amazement of his companions, offered a BEAU BRUMMELL 215 bet that he would dine with the unapproachable treasures at their papa's own table, at a dinner- party for which they all knew that invitations had just been sent out. Of course the bet was quickly taken, and, on the day in question, young Sturt walked up to the attorney's door precisely at the dinner hour, and begged that he might see Mr. S on most urgent business. He was immedi- ately admitted, for that gentleman had no idea of losing a client, though in a red coat ; but he was not a little astonished when the officer gravely informed him that he was the bearer of intelli- gence that would save him ten thousand pounds. At this juncture, however, the dinner was an- nounced, and Sturt, with well-feigned regret, was on the point of retiring, saying that he would call the next morning, when the bewildered lawyer, fearful of neglecting his guests, perhaps old clients, and yet distressed at the idea of losing his particu- lars, became totally forgetful of the dangerous chance to which he exposed the Misses S , and pressed him to join the party. This, after proper hesitation, the ensign consented to do, and taking good care to place himself next to the for- bidden fruit, made fierce love to the youngest lady and her father's oldest port during the repast. No sooner was this over, and the gentlemen on their way to the drawing-room, than Mr. S , now in a perfect fever, hurried the young gentle- man into his private room, the door of which was 216 BEAU BRUMMELL scarcely closed when he exclaimed, "Well, Mr. Sturt, how can you possibly save me ten thousand pounds?" "Why, sir," said the gallant five and threepence (sad odds in favour of six and eight pence), " they say in the town that you will, on their marriage, give your daughters twenty thou- sand pounds apiece ; now, Mr. S , I will take either of them with ten." Tradition has not pre- served the indignant town clerk's reply, but Sturt is said to have lost no time in returning to the barracks and claiming the bet. Charles Sturt, of Brownsea, married Lady Anne Ashley, daughter of Anthony, fourth Earl of Shaftesbury, and died May 12, 1812. But to return from this long digression to Lord John. To judge by the succeeding verses, it was not unusual for him to amuse himself and' his friends with the real or imaginary flirtations of his acquaintances. In this pastime it is highly prob- able that he received every encouragement from the witty and beautiful "rival sisters," and it is to the effect that Lady Besborough's transcendent charms had upon the fiery temperament of the gentleman, in whose name he addressed the fol- lowing lines to her, that we owe this original and extraordinary squib. In those days there was a race of clergymen, now happily extinct, whose unclerical habits and language were open to the most serious animadversions from those who re- spected their calling ; and it is not, therefore, very BEAU BRUMMELL 217 surprising if they occasionally fell under the satir- ical lash of a witty man of the world, who, in all probability, would never have exercised it upon a worthy member of the profession. If the leading features of this pasquinade be true, Lord John's victim had little to complain of ; still, the verses would not have been introduced here if the author had not ascertained that the reverend gentleman, who died at Ely in 1803, left no child or near relation to whom the publication of them would have given pain. "ON THE REVEREND PELL AKEHURST, RECTOR OF BUCKLAND, HERTS.; AND ADDRESSED TO THE COUNTESS OF BESBOROUGH. Lord John Townshend. " Behold the fatal hour approach, Adieu ! the destined dilly's come ; D d be the dilly, curst the coach ! The coachman curst that drives me home ! And must I live, oh, d n the life ! Live without you, and with my wife. But who, my Lady, who can tell, If you will ever think of Pell ? " Still shall I trace in dreams my fair To operas, plays, assemblies, balls ; How this Lord flies to find your chair, How t'other for your footman calls. I start, I waken at the sound, While fancied flambeaux blaze around But who, my Lady, who can tell, If you will ever think of Pell ? 218 BEAU BRUMMELL " When Sunday's summons claims the priest, Far from his flock the wretch shall stray, Where foot of man, nor foot of beast, Or guides his step, or marks his way. There lost, to woods and wilds he sighs ; Here d ns his blood, and bl s his eyes ! But who, my Lady, who can tell, If you will ever think of Pell ? " By verdant Jewin's silver streams, Oft shall my listless length recline ; While pensive memory fondly dreams, A thousand joys that once were mine. Tears, such as devils weep, shall flow, With oaths that none but parsons know : But who, my Lady, who can tell, If you will ever think of Pell ? " Here, breathed I many an ardent vow, Here, as you chanced blest chance ! to pass, I said with a pathetic bow ' ' Miladi, voulez-vous le bras ? ' Here, wooed your hand with gentle squeeze, Here, popp'd down plump upon my knees ! But who, my Lady, who can tell, If you will ever think of Pell ? " Lo ! at your toilet as you sit, Lordlings and embryo statesmen wait; There love, and politics, and wit, In motley coterie debate ! While these young dogs, and millions more, Day after day besiege your door, 1 Probably Lord John was thinking of Tickell's description of him, already alluded to in this chapter. BEAU BRUMMELL 219 Ah ! who, my Lady, who can tell, If you will ever think of Pell ? " Think in my breast what wild despair, What rash tumultuous passions rise ! Think of your glossy auburn hair, Your pearly teeth, your hazel eyes ! Think how this barbarous last adieu, Robs me of peace, of life, of you ! Think think, but I'll be d n'd to hell, If you will ever think of Pell." Such are the amusing evidences of Lord John Townshend's wit and humour, that I found in Brummell's album, which are characterised by a spirit of playful rather than malignant satire. In the heyday of youth, and even in manhood, when engaged in the turmoil of politics, and surrounded by the excitements of that brilliant society b} which he was courted and admired, he had little time, or perhaps disposition, for reflection ; and the last preceding stanzas were no doubt written at the earlier period. But a strong contrast to them is presented in the next and last example of his poetical talent, and greatly is the estimate that we should have formed of his character ele- vated by the impression that these lines leave upon the reader's mind ; they evince, not only how deep and sincere were his parental feelings, but also those religious ones, which, as he himself observes, were "to cheer his closing day." In the evening of life, Lord John Townshend was 220 BEAU BRUMMELL visited by several heavy domestic trials, having lost three children ; one of them was the godson of his friend Charles Fox, and named after him. The first of these afflictions was the death of a favourite daughter, and this melancholy event he thus feelingly records. " To THE MEMORY OF GEORGIANA ISABELLA TOWNSHEND, WHO DIED ON THE I7TH OF SEPTEMBER, l8ll, IN THE TWENTY-FIRST YEAR OF HER AGE. By Her Father. " Oh ! gone for ever loved lamented child ! So young, so good, so innocent and mild, With winning manners, beauty, genius, sense, Fond filial love, and sweet .benevolence ; The softest, kindest heart, yet firmest mind ; In sickness patient, and in death resign'd ; Never, oh ! never yet a fairer bloom Of opening virtues found an early tomb ! How hard thy trials, how severe thy woes, She, she alone, thy sorrowing mother knows, Who, three long years, with sad foreboding heart, Bankrupt of every hope from human art, Still wept and watch'd, and still to Heaven for aid, Her fruitless vows with meek devotion paid. But thou, pure spirit ! fled to endless rest, Dear child ! my heart Dear Bella ! thou art blest. And oh ! the thought that we again may meet ! Oh ! not another gleam of hope so sweet Dawns on thy father's breast with welcome ray, To soothe his grief, and cheer his closing day." It was after reading this natural and affecting epitaph that the author, deeply impressed by its BEAU BRUMMELL 221 beauty, though unskilled in verse, wrote the fol- lowing lines ; they have no poetical merit, but may meet with charitable criticism from the many, and interest the sympathies of some, who have passed through the same ordeal as himself. They com- memorate the death of Edgar, who was born at Odessa, in South Russia, and died there suddenly on the 7th of March, 1840. "THE FOREIGN GRAVE. " Traveller, why shed the tear ? the flowing sails Are spread, and fill'd by favouring gales ! Why sad and pensive thus, when, high and bright, Old England's cliffs rise proudly on your sight ? When all around is gaiety and mirth, Why listless view the land that gave you birth ? The Traveller paused then on his friend, his bride, He threw an earnest glance, and thus replied : 4 Stranger, think not that with regret I view Those headlands bold to England I am true ! On mouldering Rome I've gazed with deep delight, On Marathon look'd down from dark Pentelic's height ; And wandering on with ardour unsubdued, Symplegades I pass'd, and Euxine rude ; But not fair Hellas, with her southern smile, Compares with yonder gem our sea-girt isle. To me that bay, that crag and inlet deep, Are old familiar friends, yet still I weep ; For as we journey'd, full of hope and joy, Death cross'd our cloudless path we lost our boy ! With aching heart, his beauteous frame I bore To the wild steppe on bleak Odessa's shore ; 222 BEAU BRUMMELL i And there, where in the field of death is seen A small enclosure, with its gate of green, I laid him down : it was the place of rest Of friends, who in that land I loved the best. I look'd into the grave, the snow had drifted there; Oh ! what a winding-sheet for one so fair ! Though from his lips no word our ears could greet, His glance was language, and his smile was sweet When last I saw his tranquil little face, 'Twas nestled in his mother's fond embrace ; So warm, so rosy, cast in such a mould ! Now wreathed in snow, inanimate and cold. In foreign accents rose the burial hymn ; My eyes were fill'd aye to the very brim No simple floweret decks that infant's tomb, Nature denies the daisy there to bloom ; But near the wall a small acacia grows, Which o'er the grave a transient shadow throws. No sculptured marble decorates the spot Think you that cherub-boy is then forgot ? Oh no ! so long as life and sense are ours, His loss will tinge with gloom our gayest hours; Tombs must, like man, decay ; the foaming wave May, in some ages hence, that churchyard lave ; Perhaps its mounds invade, and with rude hand Sweep every trace away, and leave a sand Stranger ! 'tis for my child these tears I shed : Our hearts are on the Euxine with the Dead ! ' " Toward the close of his life, Lord John Tovvn- shend spent much of his time at Brighton, where he was greatly respected, and received many and marked attentions from his late Majesty. He died on the 25th of February, 1833, in the seventy- seventh year of his age. CHAPTER XVII. Estimation in Which Brummell Was Held by Clever Men The Poet Crabbe's Opinion of Him " The Butterfly's Fu- neral " Brummell the Author of It Julia Storer The Beau's Verses on Her Child An Anecdote from the Clubs of London A Rencontre between Sheridan and Brummell Sheridan's Fugitive Poetry Lines Addressed to the Count- ess of Besborough Tom Sheridan The Loss of the Sat- danha Frigate His Stanzas on the Event Lines to Julia. jH AT Brummell possessed a refined taste, not merely in dress and manners, but on subjects more worthy of his intellect, is proved by his being admitted on intimate terms to the society of such women as the late Duch- esses of Devonshire and Rutland ; and men whose pursuits were of a much higher order than those of the idlers of Watier's, or the flaneurs of Bond Street and St. James's. Had he indeed been noth- ing better than an elegant automaton, he would never have acquired the influence that he decidedly obtained ; he would not have enjoyed the society of clever men, neither would they have thought it worth their while to bestow a word upon him, even in their moments of relaxation. But the reverse was the case : his acquaintance was not 223 224 BEAU BRUMMELL limited to men of fashion only ; it comprised a great portion of the most intellectual men of his time, and at what period of our history was there such a constellation of genii ? His acquirements, of which I have already spoken, were sufficient to make him a most delight- ful accession to any society ; his reading, though desultory, was extensive, and therefore he could always, in one way or other, take a respectable, if not a leading part in conversation, that he showed admirable tact in adapting it to the taste of those in whose society he might happen to be, appears by the testimony of men very superior to himself. In the memoirs of the amiable Crabbe, his son observes that his father, when visiting at Belvoir, " was particularly pleased and amused with the conversation of the celebrated Beau Brum- mell." The Quarterly Review, also, the Medo- Persianic lawgiver of literature, and the grindstone of mental reputations, actually acknowledged that he had talent ; though it condemned him severely, and justly, for not having employed it in a more sensible and useful manner. Of his poetry, the following are specimens. The first, " The Butterfly's Funeral," does not, it is true, possess the originality of Roscoe, or Mrs. Dorset, but it is an admirable effort in the same style as their poems, to which Brum- mell subsequently alludes. Though familiar to, and the delight of every child, these lines have BEAU BRUMMELL 225 hitherto been published under feigned initials, of which " B," however, was the last letter ; but they have never been attributed to him. Mr. John Wallis, who, in 1804, first brought out this trifle, and printed three thousand copies of it, which were speedily sold, says, in his reply to my inquiry on the subject, "I cannot recollect whether I knew at the time who was the author of ' The Butterfly's Funeral ; ' it is, however, very likely I may have received it direct from Mr. Brummell, for I knew, and was in the habit of seeing him and other conspicuous characters about town, at the time I published that poem." Brummell sent these verses to a lady at Caen, and I subjoin the following extract from the let- ter that accompanied them. "But to change," he says, speaking of his miseries, " this larmoyant egotistical strain, I will transcribe you some verses that I have omitted in my album they are not of the gayest subject ; but never mind ! they were written at the period when 'The Peacock at Home,' 1 'The Butterfly's Ball,' 2 and other trifling but meritorious poetical things of the same description, were in vogue with all the world in London. The ' Butterfly's Funeral ' was 1 " The Peacock at Home " was written by Mrs. Dorset, a sister of Charlotte Smith. * " The Butterfly's Ball and Grasshopper's Feast " was writ- ten by W. Roscoe, Esq., for his children, and set to music by order of their Majesties for the Princess Mary, the present Duchess of Gloucester. 226 BEAU BRUMMELL then commended by good-natured friends, and, as probably you never read it, should you like it, it may meet with the same charitable eulogy from you." "THE BUTTERFLY'S FUNERAL. " Oh ye ! who so lately were blythesome and gay, At the Butterfly's banquet carousing away ; Your feasts and your revels of pleasure are fled, For the soul of the banquet, the Butterfly's dead ! " No longer the Flies and the Emmets advance, To join with their friend in the Grasshopper's dance ; For see his thin form o'er the favourite bend, And the Grasshopper mourns for the loss of his friend. " And hark ! to the funeral dirge of the Bee, And the Beetle, who follows as solemn as he ; And see where so mournful the green rushes wave, The Mole is preparing the Butterfly's grave. " The Dormouse attended, but cold and forlorn, And the Gnat slowly winded his shrill little horn ; And the Moth, who was grieved for the loss of a sister, Bent over the body and silently kiss'd her. " The corse was embalm'd at the set of the sun, And enclosed in a case which the Silk- worm had spun; By the help of the Hornet the coffin was laid On the bier out of myrtle and jessamine made. " In weepers and scarves came the Butterflies all, And six of their number supported the pall ; And the Spider came there, in his mourning so black, But the fire of the Glowworm soon frighten'd him back. BEAU BRUMMELL 227 " The Grub left his nutshell, to join in the throng, And slowly led with him the Bookworm along ! Who wept his poor neighbour's unfortunate doom, And wrote these few lines, to be placed on her tomb : " EPITAPH. " At this solemn spot, where the green rushes wave, Here sadly we bent o'er the Butterfly's grave ; 'Twas here we to beauty our obsequies paid, And hallow'd the mound which her ashes had made. " And here shall the daisy and violet blow, And the lily discover her bosom of snow ; While under the leaf, in the evenings of spring, Still mourning his friend, shall the Grasshopper sing." The succeeding stanzas were also in the album, and Brummell asserts that they are his likewise but a gentleman well read in the fugitive poetry of the last and present century is not of that opinion, and thinks they have been published; he referred me to the collections of Dodsley, Nicholls, and Pearch, in which, however, I could not find them. It might be supposed that Brum- mell would scarcely have felt sufficient interest in the subject to take up his pen, either to transcribe or compose them ; but whether he wrote them or not, if he only applied them to the circumstance to which they refer, he showed some feeling, and very good taste. He told the lady to whom he sent a copy, that he wrote them in 1806 for Julia Storer, whose unfortunate 228 BEAU BRUMMELL history I shall pass over in silence ; she died a few years after. " Unhappy child of indiscretion, Poor slumberer on a breast forlorn ! Pledge and reproof of past transgression, Dear, though unwelcome to be born. " For thee, a suppliant wish addressing To Heaven, thy mother fain would dare ; But conscious blushes stain the blessing, And sighs suppress my broken prayer : " Yet, spite of these, my mind unshaken, In parent duty turns to thee ; Though long repented, ne'er forsaken, Thy days shall loved and guarded be ! " And though to rank and place a stranger, Thy life an humble course must run ; Still shalt thou learn to fly the danger Which I, too late, have learnt to shun. " And, lest the injurious world upbraid thee, For mine, or for thy father's ill ; A nameless mother still shall aid thee A hand unseen protect thee still. " Meanwhile, in these sequester'd valleys Still shalt thou rest in calm content ; For innocence may smile at malice, And thou, oh ! thou art innocent ! " But, amongst all Brummell's friends, none contributed so largely as the Sheridan family BEAU BRUMMELL 229 to enrich his collection of poetry; there being in it three sets of stanzas by Mrs. Sheridan, two by Tom, and seventeen by Richard Brinsley. The following anecdote, however, taken from a work entitled "The Clubs of London," is scarcely consistent with the friendly terms on which he and Sheridan appear to have been, as shown by that paragraph of BrurnmeH's letter, in which he mentions Sheridan as "one of those who, in other and happier days, gave him their minor productions before they had assumed any other form than that of manuscript." This author says that "the wit, meeting Brummell one day near Charing Cross, and perceiving that he ap- peared anxious to avoid him, accosted him thus: ' Ah ! Brummell, my fine fellow, where have you been at this time of day ? ' " The prince of dandies was at first rather non- plussed, but at length drawled out, 'Sherry, my dear boy, don't mention that you saw me in this filthy part of the town ; but perhaps I am rather severe, for his Grace of Northumberland resides somewhere about this spot, if I don't mistake. The fact is, my dear boy, I have been in the d-a-mn'd city to the bank: I wish they would remove it to the West End, for re-al-ly it is quite a bore to go to such a place ; more par- ticularly as one cannot be seen in one's own equipage beyond Somerset House, and the hack- ney-coaches are not fit for a chimney-sweeper 230 BEAU BRUMMELL to ride in. Yes, my dear Sherry, you may note the circumstance down in your me-mo-randum- book, as a very remarkable one, that on the twentieth day of March, in the year of our Lord eighteen hundred and three, you descried me travelling from the east end of the town like a common citizen, who had left his counting- house for the day, in order to dine with his upstart wife and daughters at their vulgar resi- dence in Brunswick Square.' When Brummell had concluded this affected rhapsody, Sheridan said: " ' Nay, my good fellow, travelling from the east ! after all, that is surely impossible ; you must be joking.' " ' Why, my dear boy, why ? ' demanded Brum- mell. " ' Because the wise men came from the East,' replied Sheridan. "'So then, s-a-r,' exclaimed the fop, 'you think me a fool, do you ? ' " ' By no means,' answered Sheridan, turning away, 'but I know you to be one, and so, good morning.' " Brummell, like the equestrian statue just oppo- site to him, was struck dumb and motionless for a few seconds. At length he vociferated, 'I tell you what, my friend Sherry, I shall cut you for this impertinence, depend on't ; I mean to send the prince to Coventry for the next twelve BEAU BRUMMELL 231 months, and you shall accompany him.' Sheridan laughed heartily at the idea of being put under Brummell's imperial ban, and to the great amuse- ment of the fellow of his excommunication an- nounced to him the woful tidings the same evening." That the first answer was really given by Brum- mell to some jocular remark of Sheridan's, as mentioned by the author of this work, is very possible ; but there are circumstances in the details of the narrative which cast a doubt on the genuineness of the whole story. The " dear boying," and "dear Sherrying," are not like the beau ; nor did he ever drawl out his words, or "vociferate" in the manner here described; and though Brummell was not able to cope with Sheri- dan's wit, he would never have been struck dumb and motionless (by the bye this is the first time I ever saw it intimated that this statue once possessed the powers of speech and motion), or have been so simple as to place himself in a posi- tion to be called a fool ; neither is it at all credible that the orator would have made such a vulgar speech, more particularly without the slightest provocation. The principal part of the poetical trifles that Sheridan sent to Brummell have been already pub- lished ; but the following interesting fragments of the versatile genius of that clever man have not, I think, met the public eye. 2 32 BEAU BRUMMELL R. B. Sheridan. " The poorest peasant of the poorest soil, The child of poverty, and heir to toil, Early from radiant Love's impartial light, Steals one small spark to cheer his world of night. Dear spark ! that oft through Winter's chilling woes, Is all the warmth his little cottage knows. The wandering tar, who not for years has prest The widow'd partner of his day of rest, On the cold deck, far from her arms removed, Still hums the ditty which his Susan loved. The soldier, fairly proud of wounds and toil, Pants for the triumph of his Nancy's smile : But ere the battle, should he hear her cries, The lover trembles and the hero dies. That heart, by war and honour steel'd to fear, Droops at a sigh, and sickens at a tear." " TO THE COUNTESS OF BESBOROUGH. " When memory, chill'd by absence, shall decay, And love's first warm impression fade away, Oh ! may this sketch, with more than mimic art, Recall the living likeness to your heart ; Revive affection, threatening to decline, And while it pleads my faith, recover thine." "ON FEMALE INFLUENCE. " In female hearts, did sense and merit rule, The lover's mind would ask no other school ; Shamed into sense, the scholars of your eyes, Our beaux from gallantry would soon be wise ; Would gladly light, their homage to improve, The lamp of knowledge at the torch of love." BEAU BRUMMELL 233 ; TO " Dear object of my late and early prayer, Source of my joy, and solace of my care, Whose gentle friendship such a charm can give, As makes me wish, and tells me how to live ; To thee the Muse, with grateful hand, would bring These first fair flowers of the doubtful Spring. Oh, may they, fearless of the varying sky, Bloom on thy breast, and smile beneath thine eye, In fairer lights their vivid blue display, And sweeter breathe their little lives away." 'TO " The stricken deer that in his velvet side, Feels at each step the trembling arrow play ; In shades of thickest covert loves to hide, And from the cruel hunter speeds away. But I, more wounded than the stricken deer, Scarce wish from my destroyer's aim to fly I weep, but 'tis, alas ! too soft a tear, And e'en my groans are mingled with a sigh. 1 " " ON A CHILD. " In some rude spot where vulgar herbage grows, If chance a violet rear its purple head, The careful gardener moves it ere it blows. To thrive and flourish in a nobler bed. Such was thy fate, dear child ! Thy opening such ! Preeminence in early bloom was shown ; For earth too good, perhaps, And loved too much Heaven saw, and early mark'd thee for its own." 1 See Pope's lines on his love for Lady Mary Wortley Mon- tagu. 234 BEAU BRUMMELL " DELUSION, PHANTOM, AND FICTION. " In Britain's sad hour of grief and contention, The three new estates fairly met in convention ; 'Twas to help the poor country's distracted condition And of royal authority make a partition. Delusion's attorney, lest things might grow worse, Laid claim to his household, his peers, and his purse : 'You're right,' exclaim'd Phantom, 'I'll serve you with zeal, But, remember, I'm keeper of him and his seal.' Quoth Fiction, ' my object with yours quite accords ; So I rule the proceedings of Commons and Lords : ' The physicians all said, the decision was fair ; But old Anarchy swore he'd put in for his share." The next stanzas are by Tom Sheridan, whose name, alas ! at the moment I am writing, excites the most melancholy reflections ; for death has re- cently dealt severely indeed with his kindred. His brother, the last of his own generation, died lately ; and in the same newspaper was announced the death of poor Frank, his son, the gayest, the wit- tiest, and the idlest of pleasure-loving beings ; he also " has shuffled off this mortal coil," and in a foreign country. Every one, as I have often seen, did their best to spoil him ; therefore it was not extraordinary that he had many foibles ; but there was a large balance of generous qualities in his character, which, as he was his own enemy, and never other people's, will not fail to outweigh the remembrance of his faults and infirmities. Both father and son died abroad ; the former, at the BEAU BRUMMELL 235 Cape of Good Hope, on the I2th of September, 1817 ; the latter, at the Mauritius, in the autumn of 1843. Both of these pieces of poetry, by Tom Sheridan, who had much of the convivial wit of his father, are of more original character than any verses that Richard Brinsley ever composed. The first was written shortly after the wreck of the Saldanha frigate, commanded by the Honourable William Pakenham, brother of the late Earl of Longford, who, with his officers and the whole of the ship's company, amounting to three hundred men, were lost off the coast of Ireland, on the night of the 4th of December, 181 1. The Saldanha was a new frigate, one of the finest in the navy, and her com- mander, a rising officer of the highest character, was only in his twenty-ninth year. This dread- ful catastrophe is thus recorded in the Annual Register : " Rathmilton, December the 6th. His Maj- esty's ship Saldanka, Captain the Honourable William Pakenham, sailed from Cork on the iQth of November, to relieve H. M. ship Endymion, off Lough Swilly ; and having reached that harbour, she, with the Endymion and Talbot, sailed on the 3Oth hist., with an intention, it is said, of proceeding to the westward. On the 3d of De- cember it blew very hard from the northwest ; the wind continued to increase till the 4th, and in the evening and night of that day, it blew the 236 BEAU BRUMMELL most dreadful hurricane that the inhabitants of this part of the country ever recollected. At about ten o'clock at night, through the darkness and the storm, a light was seen from the signal- towers passing rapidly up the harbour, the gale then blowing right in. This light, it was sup- posed, was on board the Saldanha ; but this is only conjecture ; for, when the daylight discovered the ship a complete wreck in Ballyna Stokerbay, on the west side of the harbour, every soul on board had already perished, and all knowledge of the circumstances of her calamitous loss thus perished with her." The bodies of Captain Paken- ham and two hundred of her crew were washed ashore, and the only living thing that escaped on this dreadful occasion is said to have been a parrot, belonging to one of the officers. "THE LOSS OF THE SALDANHA. T. Sheridan. " Britannia rules the waves : ' Heard'st thou that dreadful roar ? Hark ! 'tis bellow'd from the caves Where Lough Swilly's billow raves, And three hundred British graves Taint the shore. " No voice of life was there, 'Tis the dead that raise the cry; The dead, who heard no prayer, As they sunk in wild despair, Chaunting in scorn that boastful air, Where they lie. BEAU BRUMMELL 237 " ' Rule Britannia,' sung the crew, When the stout Saldanha sail'd ; And her colours, as they flew, Flung the warrior-cross to view, Which, in battle, to subdue Ne'er had fail'd. " Bright rose the laughing morn, That morn that seal'd her doom ; Dark and sad is her return, And the storm-lights faintly burn, As they toss upon her stern, 'Mid the gloom. " From the lonely beacon height, As the watchmen gazed around, They saw their flashing light Drive swift athwart the night ; Yet the wind was fair, and right For the Sound. " But no mortal power shall now That crew and vessel save ; They are shrouded as they go In a hurricane of snow And the track beneath her prow Is their grave. " There are spirits of the deep, Who, when the warrant's given, Rise raging from their sleep On a rock or mountain steep, Or 'mid thunder clouds, that keep The wrath of Heaven. 238 BEAU BRUMMELL " High the eddying mists are whirl'd, As they near their giant forms ; See their tempest flags unfurl'd ! Fierce they sweep the prostrate world : And the withering lightning's hurl'd Through the storm. " O'er Swilly's rocks they soar, Commission'd watch to keep ; Down, down with thundering roar The exulting demons pour The Saldanha floats no more On the deep ! " The dreadful hest is past, All is silent as the grave, One shriek is first and last Scarce a death-sob drank the blast, As sunk the quivering mast 'Neath the wave. " ' Britannia rules the waves ; ' Oh vain and impious boast ! Go, mark, presumptuous slaves, Where He who sinks or saves, Scars the sands with countless graves, Round your coast." The following are on a very different theme and in striking contrast to the preceding. "TO JULIA. " Since you will needs my heart possess, Julia, 'tis just I first confess The faults to which 'tis given ; BEAU BRUMMELL 239 It is much more to change Inclined Than restless seas or raging wind, Or aught that's under Heaven. " Nor will I hide from you the truth, It has been from its very youth A most egregious ranger ; And, since from me it oft has fled, With whom it was both born and bred, 'Twill scarce stay with a stranger. " The black, the fair, the gay, the sad, It is so very, very mad, With one kind look can win it; By nature 'tis so prone to rove 'Twill quit success, for change, in love, And what's more, glories in it. " And now, if you dare be so bold, After the truths that I have told, To like this arrant rover; Be not displeased, if I confess I think the heart within your breast, Will prove just such another." CHAPTER XVIII. Other Contributors to BrummeH's Scrap-book Lord Melbourne His Lines on the Bust of Fox The Dream Translation of an Ode from Anacreon The Honourable George Lamb The Robber's Good-night R. Payne Knight The Yel- low Leaf George Canning His Squib on Mr. Whitbread's Speech at the Impeachment of Lord Melville The Duchess of Gordon's Salute Mrs. O'Neill Stanzas by That Lady. 'MONGST the long list of distinguished persons who sent vers de socitit to Brummell, Lady Dacre, Lady Granville, and Lord Melbourne are the only three individuals who now survive, and consequently the only per- sons to whom it was necessary to apply for permis- sion to publish these evidences of their taste and accomplishments. The reply that I received from Lord Melbourne was couched in terms of amiable circumspection, and perfectly in accordance with his known good nature ; he says, " I can have no objection to your inserting any poetry of mine in your intended work, which you think may add to its interest, provided there be in it nothing dis- creditable to the writer, nor injurious to the feel- ings of others ; on both of which points you will exercise a sound discretion." No objections of 240 BEAU BRUMMELL 241 this nature can possibly be urged against the first, or the three succeeding trifles from his lordship's pen. They were probably written very early in life, and had been the elegant occupation of leisure hours passed, in reality, by the side of the tranquil Cam ; but, in imagination, reposing on the banks of some streamlet, wild in the classic island of Cythera. His lordship had, however, even at this time, not only distinguished himself by his classical, but by other and more solid attainments ; and perhaps the most flattering testimony of this was given by Fox, when he made his celebrated speech on the death of his friend, the Duke of Bedford, - one of the finest declamations of the heart ever made within the walls of the House of Commons. On that memorable occasion he finished his painful task by introducing the following passage from the essay of William Lamb, sur 1'Avancement Progressif de 1'Esprit Humain, recited at the University of Cambridge in December, 1 798 : " Le crime n'est un fle"au que pour le temps ou le succes le couronne, tandis que la vertu, soit qu'elle tri- omphe soit qu'on la persecute, est un bienfait du ciel, non seulement pour 1'ige ou nous vivons, mais pour la posterity la plus recule'e ; elle sert au bonheur des hommes, dans le moment present par ses actions, et dans 1'avenir par ses exemples." Lord Melbourne's admiration for this great, though unsuccessful, statesman, is powerfully and simply expressed in the following apostrophe to his bust : 242 BEAU BRUMMELL " ON THE BUST OF CHARLES JAMES FOX. " Live, marble live ! for thine's a sacred trust, The patriot's name that speaks a noble mind ; Live, that our sons may stand before thy bust, And hail the benefactor of mankind ! This was the man, who, 'midst the tempest's rage, A mark of safety to the nation stood ; Warn'd with prophetic voice a servile age, And strove to quench the ruthless thirst for blood. This was the man, whose ever deathless name Recalls his generous life's illustrious scenes ; To bless his fellow creatures was his aim And universal liberty his means ! " The three succeeding pieces were also from his lordship's pen. "THE DREAM. " Hide, Sun, thy head ! delay thy light, And yield to Love's befriending night Some portion of thy sway ; I would not change the airy form, Which seems to meet me kind and warm, For all the blaze of day. "In vain I sue stern Fate denies : My slumbers break, the Vision flies, I lose my Laura's charms ; That taper waist, that bosom fair, Dissolving into empty air Eludes my eager arms. " No wretch, his day of respite done, Who sees his last uprising sun And only wakes to die, Curses the light with so much pain, And weeps, and sighs to sleep again, So ardently as I. BEAU BRUMMELL 243 " Invidious light ! my hated bane, Why rudely break the ideal chain On which my raptures hung ? I saw sweet Laura's angel grace, My eyes were fix'd upon her face, My soul upon her tongue. " Her rosy lips I seem'd to press, Nor seem'd the maid my fond caress By frowns to disapprove ; I heard her voice so sweet, so clear, Sound music to my ravish'd ear, For it express'd her love. " Smile, then, sweet Laura ! let me find, For once, reality as kind As golden visions seem ; For it has been my lot to rue, That all my sorrows still were true, And all my joys a dream." The following ode was translated by a Mr. Shepherd see the "Poetical Register" for 1810 or rather do not see it, for the translation is sadly inferior. " TRANSLATION FROM ANACREON, WHO CALLS UPON SOME EMINENT ARTIST TO PAINT HIS MISTRESS. "A-ye, ^uypdT the commencement of Brummell's ca- reer he was generally with the prince or his great friends, and but seldom at the clubs ; so seldom, indeed, that one of his chums in the Tenth told me that he rarely met him at them. He did not at this period require strong excitements like his friends Sheridan and Fox, and men of similar dispositions ; to them the clubs were like night taverns, to which they re- tired for amusement after undergoing the terrible sufferings of politicians wisely condemned by the country to legislate for it till midnight. Deep potations, blade bones of mutton, and the music of the dice-box he had, at this time, the good sense to eschew : 'tis true he dropped in occasionally 298 BEAU BRUMMELL 299 upon their orgies, pour se dfoaliser I 'esprit, and to enjoy the jokes of others, but not to steep his own intellect in wine. After his quarrel with the prince, he was a great deal more at the clubs, particularly Watier's, 1 which was at the corner of Bolton Street, and extremely select : this club was established by a person of that name, with a com- mittee of gentleman, Brummell being one of its principal supporters. It is thus alluded to by Lord Byron, who calls it the " Dandy Club," and he speaks of Lord Alvanley, Brummell, Mildmay, and Pierrepoint, as the four chiefs. " I liked the Dandies," says the noble poet ; " they were all very civil to me, although in gen- eral they disliked literary people, and persecuted and mystified Madame de Stael, Lewis, Horace Twiss, and the like, most damnably. They per- suaded Madame de Stael that A had a hun- dred thousand a year, etc., till she praised him to his face for his beauty, and made a set at him for . . . and a hundred fooleries besides. The truth is, that though I gave up the business early, I had a tinge of dandyism in my minority, and probably retained enough of it to conciliate the great ones, at five and twenty. I had gamed and drunk, and taken my degrees in most dissipations, and having no pedantry, and not being overbearing, we ran on 1 Brummell was also a member of Brookes's ; he was proposed by Mr. Fawkener on the 2d of April, 1799, and declined, as it is delicately expressed in the ledger of the club, in May, 1816. 300 BEAU BRUMMELL quietly together. I knew them all, more or less, and they made me a member of Watier's (a superb club at that time), being, as I take it, the only literary man, except two others (both men of the world), Moore and Spencer, in it. Our mas- querade was a grand one, so was the Dandy ball, too." This memorable fete was given at the Argyle rooms in July, 1813, by the four gentleman already mentioned, after winning a very considerable sum one evening at hazard. Elated with their run of good luck, they very gallantly determined to give a fancy ball, one that would astonish their friends. A serious question, however, arose among them, whether they should or should not invite the prince, who had previously quarrelled with Brummell and Sir Henry Mildmay ; but after a long, loyal, and solemn discussion on this most important subject, Brummell very properly laid aside his own feelings, and it was agreed that Mr. Pierrepoint should sound the regent, and ascertain if he would like to accept the invitation. The prince immediately intimated, and with some eagerness, his desire to be invited, and he accordingly was so, in the names of all the four votaries of Terpsichore ; and on the night in question my informant went early, with a few others, in order that they might get well placed, for the purpose of witnessing the manner in which his Royal Highness would notice Brum- mell and Sir Henry. BEAU BRUMMELL 301 When the prince arrived he made one of his stately bows to Lord Alvanley and Mr. Pierre- point, and shook each of them cordially by the hand ; but of the other two gentleman he took no notice whatever, nor would he even appear to know that they were present. The consequence was, that when the regent retired, Brummell, justly incensed at the insult thus publicly and designedly put upon him, would not attend him to his car- riage : this the prince did not fail to observe, and the next day, when speaking of the circumstance, said, " Had Brummell taken the cut I gave him good-humouredly, I would have renewed my inti- macy with him," which, in conformity with the feeling thus expressed, he never afterward did. This anecdote is in strong contrast to the general opinion, that the prince was the most finished gen- tleman of his day. Surely it was undignified on his part to take advantage of his rank, and cut his old companion when he was actually his guest, and certain that he would not retaliate. When Brummell first commenced play, he was very successful, the case with nine men out of ten, and on one occasion he won six and twenty thou- sand pounds, pretty high play for a man whose patrimony did not much exceed that sum. His friends, after this lucky hit, strongly recommended him to buy an annuity ; but he either refused to adopt the suggestion, or neglected to act with suf- ficient promptitude upon their advice, and, a few 302 BEAU BRUMMELL nights after, he lost it all again. The following is an example of his success and of his impudence, and also the rather unusual circumstance of his getting the worst of a joke. The loser was the late Alderman Combe, also a great gamester, and who, though unsuccessful in this instance, made, it is said, as much money by his dexterity at play as he did by brewing. One evening, while he filled the office of Lord Mayor of London, he was busily engaged at a full hazard-table at Brookes' s, where the wit and the dice-box circulated together with great glee, and where Brummell was also one of the party. " Come, Mash-tub," said the beau, who was the caster, " what do you set ? " " Twenty- five guineas," answered the alderman. "Well, then, have at the mayor's pony * only, and seven's the main," replied Brummell ; and he continued to throw until he drove home the brewer's twelve ponies running ; he then rose from his chair, and, making a low bow whilst pocketing the cash, ex- claimed, " Thank you, alderman ; in future I shall never drink any porter but yours." " I wish, sir," said Combe, " that every other blackguard in Lon- don would tell me the same." 2 The reaction, however, came at last ; the stakes were too high, and the purses of his companions too long, for him to stand against any continued run of bad luck; indeed, the play at Watier's, 1 In gaming slang, a pony means twenty-five guineas. * New Monthly Magazine. BEAU BRUMMELL 303 which was very deep, eventually rubied the club, as well as Brummell, and several other members of it. A certain baronet now living is asserted to have lost ten thousand pounds there at frarti, at one sitting; but play ran high at all the clubs. "Pay fifteen hundred pounds to Lord ," said the late Marquis of H. one night to the crou- pier, at White's it was for one rubber of whist. " It should, however, be remarked," added the member of this club who mentioned the circum- stance to me, " the order was more often given by the noble marquis's adversary." The influx of foreigners, in the years 1814 and 1815, greatly contributed to increase the taste for play at this period, and the celebrity gained by Bliicher, at the baths of Pyrmont, did not desert him in Lon- don. Gay and gallant guardsmen, too, fresh from their late achievements in the field, and tired of " roughing it on a beefsteak and a bottle of port," were eagerly bent on indemnifying themselves for the hardships they had undergone. Almack's and the clubs were burning to receive them, the women were all crazy to have them in their drawing- rooms, and they lost no time in making love, as ardently as they had made war ; or, in losing their back pay, that had accumulated by a disease under which the army in Spain had frequently and se- verely suffered an affection of the military chest. Elder brothers, who unfortunately did not fight, were immediately laid under contribution ; 304 BEAU BRUMMELL at least all those who were able and willing to honour the heroes and their cheques ; and these new levies, or a portion of them, also found their way back to the board of green cloth. The season of 1814 saw Brummell a winner, and a loser like- wise, and this time he lost not only his winnings, but "an unfortunate ten thousand pounds," which, when relating the circumstance to a friend many years afterward, he said, was all that remained at his banker's. One night, the fifth of a most relentless run of ill luck, his friend, Pemberton Mills, heard him exclaim that he had lost every shilling, and only wished some one would bind him never to play again. " I will," said Mills, and, taking out a ten pound note he offered it to Brummell, on condition that he should forfeit a thousand, if he played at White's within a month from that evening. The beau took it, and for a few days discontinued coming to the club ; but about a fortnight after, Mills, happening to go in, saw him hard at work. Of course the thousand pounds was forfeited ; but his friend, instead of claiming it, merely went up to him, and, touching him gently on the shoulder, said, " Well, Brummell, you may at least give me back the ten pounds you had the other night." He was at last completely beggared, though for some time he continued to hold on by the help of funds raised on the mutual security of himself and BEAU BRUMMELL 305 his friends, some of whom were not in a much more flourishing condition than himself. Their names, however, and still more their expectations, lent a charm to their bills, in the eyes of the usurers, and money was procured, of course at ruinous interest. It is said, that some unpleasant circumstances, connected with the division of one of these loans, occasioned the beau's expatria- tion, and that a personal altercation took place between Brummell and a certain Mr. M , when that gentleman accused him of taking the lion's share. The author will not undertake to say to whom, or to what extent, culpability is to be attached in this affair. Brummell might have hoped that a turn of luck would enable him to retrieve his losses, and repay those of whom he had borrowed ; and as to the punctuality attending the payment of play debts at White's and Brookes's, it does not appear that a want of it was at all unusual, that is, if we are to judge by the letters of Sheridan, Fitzpatrick, and others. The impossibility, how- ever, of settling this quarrel is assigned by Lord Byron as the reason which led to Brumm ell's departure from England. "When Brummell," says his lordship, " was obliged by that affair of poor M , who thence acquired the name of Dick the Dandy-killer (it was about money, and debt, and all that), to retire to France," etc. Certain it is that he was well acquainted with the 306 BEAU BRUMMELL money-lenders, for several of these parchments emerged from their obscurity during Brummell's sojourn at Calais. Some of these bonds were drawn by Lord C , the Marquis of , and George Bryan Brummell, and, as fragments of them were occasionally sent to one of his friends there, to mix his snuff in, it may be presumed that at least a few of these proofs of mutual love and affection had been redeemed ; but there is also every reason for supposing that, in similar transactions, several of his obligations were left unfulfilled. Those who were parties to them suf- fered, of course, by his departure, and I believe no one more so than Lord R M . Among the numerous anecdotes with which he has been charged, is one which applies specially to his indifference on these matters. According to this on dit, Brummell once consented to borrow five hundred pounds of an individual who, from his position in society, had some difficulty in get- ting introduced into the world of fashion, and who hoped that his assistance in the emergency re- ferred to would secure him, through the beau's influence, the much desired honour. It did so, but not exactly in the manner that he expected, for when, in Brummell's decadence, his applications for payment became frequent, and of course annoy- ing, the falling meteor at last replied that he had already paid him. "Paid me," said Mr. . "When?" "When?" reechoed Brummell, with BEAU BRUMMELL 307 assumed indignation ; " why, when I was standing at the window at White's, and said as you passed, ' Ah, how do you do, Jemmy ? ' " But verily "there is a tide in the affairs of men," particularly in such men, and it was a neap one with him. Fortune, who had been his housekeeper so long, now fairly gave him warning ; it was useless calling for fresh cards, the game was up. Yet, great as his ex- travagance was, it was play that completed his ruin. Had he refrained from gaming, this great man might have lived all his life on the sunny side of St. James's Street ! and been buried by the side of his respectable ancestor, in the churchyard of that parish, instead of wearing away a monotonous existence upon the charity of his friends, in pacing the dirty streets of a Continental town. Brummell had a very odd way of accounting for the sad change which took place in his affairs at this time. " He used," observes one of his friends at Caen, " when talking about his altered circum- stances, to say that up to a particular period of his life everything prospered with him, and that he attributed his good luck to the possession of a certain silver sixpence, with a hole in it, which somebody had given him years before, with an injunction to take good care of it, as everything would go well with him so long as he did, and vice versa, if he happened to lose it. The promised prosperity attended him for many years, whilst he held the sixpence fast ; but having at length, in an 3o8 BEAU BRUMMELL evil hour, unfortunately given it by mistake to a hackney-coachman, a complete reverse of his pre- vious good fortune took place, and one disastrous occurrence succeeded to another, till actual ruin overtook him at last, and obliged him to expatriate himself. On my asking him why he did not ad- vertise, and offer a reward for the lost treasure, he said, 'I did, and twenty people came with six- pences having holes in them to obtain the promised reward, but mine was not amongst them.' 'And you never afterward,' said I, ' ascertained what became of it ? ' ' Oh, yes,' he replied, ' no doubt that rascal Rothschild, or some of his set, got hold of it.' If you think the foregoing plaisanterie worth inserting, do so ; I can vouch for its au- thenticity, as it occurred in conversation with myself. Whatever poor BrummeH's superstitious tendencies may have generally been, he had un- questionably a superstitious veneration for his lost sixpence." But to continue : a cloud also had for some time been gathering over his fame as well as his fortune ; the prestige of his name was going, and his fiat no longer regarded ; public events had eclipsed him, and the ladies of the beau monde were far more interested in hero worship, or in procuring a hair from the tail of Platoff's horse, than securing the good opinion of the once all- powerful dictator. Brummell and Buonaparte, who had hitherto divided the attention of the world, fell almost together; the former being BEAU BRUMMELL 309 doomed to the mortification of seeing his share bestowed on the sea-fight in the Serpentine, the Chinese Pagoda, and Oldenburg hats, and his cleanliness forgotten in that of the fierce sons of the Don. CHAPTER XXIII. Symptoms of a Move Brummell's Epistle to His Friend Scrope Davies The Wit's Laconic Reply His Extraor- dinary Penchant at College Brummell Cuts His Cable, and Comes to an Anchor at Calais The Author Passes through That Town Boxing, Gouging, and the Savate The Table d'Hote at the Royal The Mysterious Stranger A Walk on the Market-place English Refugees Vari- ous Reasons for Expatriation. length the pressing solicitations of the Dandy-killer made London London, in the height of the season positively unpleasant to the unfortunate Antonio, who would, perhaps, have given a pound of flesh, ay, and per- haps more, to have averted the crisis ; but his creditor was no Shylock, and ducats there were none, so there was but one alternative left, and on the 1 6th of May, 1816, he suddenly retired from the stage on which he had played such a conspicuous part. On this eventful Thursday he dined off a cold fowl and a bottle of claret, which was sent him from Watier's, and it is said that only a few hours before he took wing he wrote the following laconic note to one of his intimes : 310 BEAU BRUMMELL 311 " MY DEAR SCROPE : Lend me two hundred pounds ; the banks are shut, and all my money is in the three per cents. It shall be repaid to- morrow morning. Yours, "GEORGE BRUMMELL." His friend, very probably thinking that he was hard up, immediately sent him this equally laconic reply : " MY DEAR GEORGE : 'Tis very unfortunate ; but all my money is in the three per cents. "Yours, S. DAVIES.'" " Scrope Davies," says Lord Byron, " is a wit, and a man of the world, and feels as much as such a character can do." In this respect the resem- blance between the two friends was sufficiently 1 A clergyman, a friend of mine, told me that he was once roused from his slumbers in the dead of the night, by a violent knocking at his bedroom door, and a shrill female voice, call- ing out in accents of terror, " Sir, sir, Mary's a-beginning to cut her throat," another Abigail of the establishment. I allude to the circumstance, as an introduction to an anecdote told of Scrope Davies, who, when at Cambridge, is said to have cut his, after every Newmarket meeting; indeed so frequently did he amuse himself in this way, that on one occasion the medical man who was sent for refused to hurry when he heard it was Scrape's throat that he was required to sew up, saying, " There is no danger of him, I have done that six tunes already." Know- ing that Mr. D has survived this extraordinary habit forty years, I trust that I shall not be accused of imputing to him any intention of becoming z.felo de se. 312 BEAU BRUMMELL strong, and, if the anecdote is true, the answer could scarcely have occasioned Brummell any sur- prise. But he was not a man to moralise upon it, or soliloquise in front of his club or the houses of his friends, those houses in which he had been so often a welcome guest ; though, as he passed them this evening for the last time, the future must have pressed itself upon his mind with a very cheerless and unpromising aspect. On the night that he left London, the beau was seen as usual at the opera, but he left early, and, without returning to his lodgings, stepped into a chaise which had been procured for him by a noble friend, and met his own carriage a short distance from town. Travel- ling all night as fast as four post-horses and liberal donations could enable him, the morning of the i/th dawned on him at Dover, and immediately on his arrival there he hired a small vessel, put his carriage on board, and was landed in a few hours on the other side. By this time, the West End had awoke and missed him ; particularly his tradesmen and his enemies, both of whom had long scores against him. In much less haste, and happily with a very different object in view, I took my departure for France in the spring of 1842. Calais lay in my route, and in the few days I remained there, I collected the little that was remembered of the beau's history, during his long residence in that sanctuary of English debtors. The absurd privi- BEAU BRUMMELL 313 leges of bygone times, which were so long left untouched by corrupt governments, are now falling rapidly before the power of public opinion ; and, perhaps, no greater proof of the desire to promote the interests of honest men has been given in the treaties with foreign powers of late years than that clause which has opened the shores of Amer- ica to the righteous claims of justice. To her de- mands " la Grande Nation " is still deaf, but though it may be a Utopian idea to suppose that any particular creed of the Christian religion will ever be universal, we may at least hope that this, the greatest of its attributes, will at some period be recognised by all mankind. With us the principle of leaving the course of justice free has long been recognised, and the last remnant of a contrary character was destroyed when the privileges of the Isle of Man were abrogated. While the rogue has been thus defeated in his plans of emigration, greater facilities for arranging his difficulties, and a greater share of personal liberty, have been af- forded to the honest debtor ; for the protection of such men, no country can show a more humane code of laws than England. 1 If there was any one on board the Belfast ab- sconding from them, or his creditors, the slow rate 1 Since the above was written, and on" the I3th of February of the past year, 1843, a convention was signed between Eng- land and France, for the mutual surrender in certain cases of persons fugitive from justice. 314 BEAU BRUMMELL at which we made our way down the river, against the still flowing tide, must have given him some qualms, even while we were in smooth water, for a silver oar might easily have overtaken us before we reached Gravesend. Old Father Thames is always a stirring sight to an Englishman, but the Pool was nearly clear of shipping, owing to the lengthened set-in of westerly winds ; and not even a barge was run down, or a wherry swamped, to enliven the tedium of looking at the sedgy banks of the Essex shore. Tired of nature, I turned to my steaming companions ; but with them, alas ! all was unprofitable as on terra firma ; they were as taci- turn as Englishmen, when strangers, and depend- ent entirely on each other for amusement, usually are ; and the only sociable creature on board was Boatswain, the captain's Newfoundland dog, whose good opinion I soon secured with a biscuit : it would have been difficult to say how long it would have taken me to secure that of my companions. It was night when we reached our destination, but there was still light enough to see that the "juste milieu " authorities had grubbed up the plate on the pier that marked the spot on which Louis the Eighteenth " Set the first of his own dear legitimate feet " his left foot : unfortunate omen ! when he re- turned from his exile. Everything else wore the same aspect here as on a previous visit, when, to pre- BEAU BRUMMELL 315 vent me from introducing the cholera, I was obliged to submit to a quarantine of three days, in company with a Spanish courier, as highly seasoned with garlic as any olla podrida that he had ever eaten. A villainous place near Fort Rouge was the one appointed for our purification ; whether that happy consummation was ever obtained by my companion, in this world, I will not undertake to say positively in purgatory it might have been just possible. The morning after my arrival I took a stroll on the ramparts, and found Hogarth's Gate looking not a day older ; the fishwomen and their skate not a whit more handsome ; they the women, not the skate still wearing huge gold earrings, and blue and red worsted stockings and petticoats. The habits of the people, at any rate those of the lower orders, appeared to have remained as unchanged as their costume ; and it still happens that a French- man may be seen to bite his friend's nose off on the Grande Place, in the squabbles that take place on a market-day, or beat his head in with his sabot after he has got him down. Boxing may be termed a noble science, though the exhibitions in the prize-ring of late years have led many to think it otherwise ; as the lion does not yet lie down with the lamb, nor is likely to do so for some time to come, the utility of " the noble art of self-defence" must be acknowledged in so far as it restrains all unfair and savage propen- sities, when men will not settle a quarrel without 316 BEAU BRUMMELL proceeding to blows. What will its enemies say to the execrable American practice of gouging ? or the disgusting mode of fighting indulged in by our neighbours, called the " savate ? " It was, probably, a detestation of these, or other brutali- ties, and a conviction of the necessity of maintain- ing in the more humble classes what is natural to every Englishman, a love of fair play, that induced such men as the late Duke of York, Lord Albe- marle, the present Lord Grey, Mr. Wyndham, and others, to countenance the prize-ring by their presence. Calais has great attractions in the eyes of a "Levanter," but, I imagine, in his only: he sleeps securely within its walls, and does but dream of those which might have held him within their stern embrace in his own country. With all its disagree- ables of "canaux et canaille," and its deficiencies of all sorts, there is one fact which must recom- mend Calais, not only to the debtor, but to every Englishman, above all the towns in " The vine-covered hills and gay regions of France " it is the nearest to Shakespeare's Cliff in that country of England, which the beau, in the amus- ing quintessence of his refinement, always spoke of as "Albion." Various are the shades of guilt or necessity that have made it expedient for so many of our coun- trymen to expatriate themselves to this uninterest- BEAU BRUMMELL 317 ing place, and to give a detailed account of the reasons which have induced the greater portion of the English residents to cross the Channel would indeed be a work of labour, and invidious as well as useless ; but, without concerning oneself upon the subject, it was impossible to take a morn- ing walk and not meet some of them loitering about the streets, and hearing of their various misdemeanours. The "table d'hote" at the Royal introduced me to a countryman, who was, I firmly believed, an unfortunate frhappt of some sort, but what I could not divine ; and such a surmise was not uncharitable at Calais, where a " table d'h6te " is scarcely en regie without one. The stranger sat opposite to me, and I saw at the first glance that he was not a debtor ; or, if so, not a chevalier d' indtistrie, or a ruined man about town ; he was too well dressed to be either ; moreover his countenance had not the slightest characteristic of the genus Diddler. His face was one of those faces which the French call impassible, and looked as if it had never been ruffled since his last flagellation at school, some fifty years before. I allude only to his nose and mouth, for his eyes were concealed by a pair of dark green goggles, which defied all speculation as to the shape or colour of the features behind them. During the repast he ate but little and spoke less, and I observed that he appeared very uneasy and fidgetty 318 BEAU BRUMMELL whenever the door was opened by the servants on entering the salle. Once, too, during dinner, he removed his spectacles, and then I saw that his eyes were as strong as the bull's-eyes in a ship's deck ; indeed, I felt from this moment certain that they were put on as a disguise. While speculating, however, in my own mind what this mysterious elderly gentleman could be, or why, with such eyes, he wore goggles, the dinner concluded and as I was sipping the remainder of my Bordeaux and watching the assiduous manner in which he con- tinued chopping up his apple-parings, the waiter came in and announced the arrival of the English mail. Ah ! how strangely was the stout gentle- man agitated at this intelligence ! how he chopped away ! I could hear him breathing as loud as the beast in Sinbad's cave ; and his complexion, from being the colour of the vin ordinaire before him, became as white as the table-cloth indeed, whiter, for that was as usual at every "table d'hdte," any- thing but white. " Are you unwell, sir ? " said I, across the table. " No, sir, thank you," replied the stranger, hesitatingly ; and, while he was yet speaking, the gargon again entered with a bundle of English newspapers. The forced calmness of his demeanour now forsook him altogether ; off went his goggles, and before the papers were well out of the waiter's hands he seized one of them. How he trembled as he tore away the envelope ! how he buried his eyes in the type ! He seemed BEAU BRUMMELL 319 to throw each into a different column to skim it the quicker down the middle and up again ; his organs of vision were fairly dancing a country- dance. At length the Times was scanned, was searched in every part, and, having terminated his examination, he, to my surprise, threw it down quite careless of the general contents. The suspicious goggles were then replaced, and monosyllables came slowly from between his half- closed lips. " Oh, ha ! very odd ! " and then a groan, and then a pause, and then a "Not yet," like the thief in Ali Baba; and the good man threw himself back in his chair with a most hope- less expression of countenance. Very soon after he left the room, and my compassion being in- creased rather than diminished, I followed him out into the courtyard of the hotel and approached him. "You appeared anxious to see the paper, sir," said I ; " was there any news ? " " Nothing particular," replied the stout gentleman; "funds wonderfully high wonderfully high ; ninety-three, sir, ninety-three ; but it is a mere flash in the pan, Peel must go out." How I happened to fix upon the subject I know not, but my next inquiry was, whether the election petitions were concluded. He started, as if I had been a rattlesnake; and, struggling to gain composure for his answer, another " Not yet " came from his rotundity in thick and laboured accents. In a few minutes he was confidential, and I was informed why he was 320 BEAU BRUMMELL domiciled in Calais. " Sir, you see before you a most unfortunate individual ; but let me ask you first of all whether you are a Whig ? " " No, sir," said I, " I am not now ; they are extinct." " Well, sir, Whig or Tor "I frowned. "Conservative, I mean, no offence, sir, I hope no offence ; but cannot you feel for a man in my situation ? " " That I can," I replied ; " but pray what is your situation ? are you in debt, sir ? " " In debt ! no, sir ; " and the gentleman looked dreadfully shocked at the imputation, the green spectacles rose at least half an inch. " Why then here ? " I con- tinued. "Ah, sir! you may well inquire why I, one of the first merchants in Liverpool, am living in this froghole of a place. I hate the French, sir, and thank Heaven I do not speak a word of their language ; the fact is," and the old man sunk his voice to a whisper, and looked anxiously around the court, " the fact is, sir, I am here to get out of the way, sir out of the way of a Speaker's warrant." Then came all the details of the elec- tion, how the Tory member bribed, and how the affable Lady Anne had induced him to administer to the necessity of the electors on the other side ; and finally, what a martyr he was to the cause. A month in Calais, away from his wife and children, and his coal fire and bottle of port, to say nothing of his ledgers, had however worked a miracle with the enthusiastic reformer, and most solemnly did he swear never to have anything BEAU BRUMMELL 321 more to do with 'elections or Lady Annes again. " Sir, they may return who they like for me in future ; " and as the exiled merchant said this we reached the Grande Place. There he drew my attention to several Englishmen who were prom- enading up and down, and pointed out certain individuals amongst them who had acquired an unenviable notoriety in England. "That person crossing the square," said my informant, "is Mr. R o, who figured in the Exchequer Bill affair ; that one moving off through the crowd is Mr. M , a forger in another line, and that dissi- pated looking fellow crossing to the Hotel de Ville, at one time drove his four-in-hand, and was one of the most wealthy commoners in England. The only thing he drives now is a hard bargain, which he does with every tradesman he deals with." A political refugee was next pointed out as the ex- radical candidate for Marylebone ; and in conversa- tion with him was a dark-looking, pock-marked, black-whiskered man in a blue greatcoat and two yards of red comforter. " Who do you think he is ? " said my cicerone. " I can't imagine, perhaps a fisherman." " Oh, no ! he is an English policeman in disguise, just come over to arrest three well-known jail- birds, who have lately committed a burglary with horrible violence near Nottingham, and, as I live, sir, there go the rascals look ! near the cafe in fustian jackets and corduroys. See how they are 322 BEAU BRUMMELL laughing at B 64 ; and well they may, for do you know the French government has refused to give the scoundrels up ! The only chance the police- man has is to kidnap them when they are drunk, and smuggle them on board the packet ; but he has been here a fortnight, and they have not yet given him an opportunity." " And are you ac- quainted with any of the soi-disant gentlemen delinquents ? " " Oh, no ! " replied my now talka- tive acquaintance, "I heard their histories from the Englishman who sat on my right at the ' table d'hote.' He meets every packet that comes in, and if it arrives in the morning, knows, before I meet him at dinner, the name, height, parentage, and age of half the passengers ; their business, both here and at home ; whether they are in the army or the fleet, the church or the law ; whether they are travelling solely for amusement or escap- ing from their creditors ; or whether they are, like myself, sir, keeping out of the way of a Speaker's warrant. I know your name, sir ; your name is Jesse ; you are in the army ; you live at Brighton ; and your age is thirty-two." " And how on earth does he know this ? " said I. " Easy enough," replied my acquaintance ; " my right-hand neigh- bour is acquainted with all the commissionaires, and sees all the passports when they take them to be vis/s." A man-monkey in a cocked hat and red breeches, who had just perched himself on a chair to aston- BEAU BRUMMELL 323 ish the natives of the environs (for it was mar- ket day), now commenced "Grenadier, que tu m'afflige ! " in tones less human than those of his crazy violin ; and, making my bow to the irreproachable and independent elector, I elbowed my way through the crowd, and soon found myself at the door of M. Leleux, in the Rue Royale, where Brummell lodged during his residence at Calais. CHAPTER XXIV. Brummell's Lodgings in the Rue Royale His Good-natured Landlord M. Leleux's Regard for Him Proofs of It Brummell's Effects Sold by Auction in London Copy of Mr. Christie's Bill of Sale The Snuff-box That Was Des- tined for the Regent Brummell Furnishes His Rooms His Passion for Buhl Furniture Ridiculous Extravagance in the Indulgence of It His Sevres China Napoleon's Paper-weight The Beau's Conundrum Snuff-box. [ONSIEUR LELEUX'S house, origi- nally the old Hotel d'Angleterre, is on the right-hand side of the street, and but a few yards from the Hotel de Ville. The two oval frames, that are still seen over what in former days was the gateway, once encircled portraits of George the Second and his queen ; but these bas- reliefs were destroyed by the rioters during the popular outbreaks of the Revolution. Half a dozen doors farther on is a shop which has for its sign " Au Pauvre Diable," not an inappropriate one in the town of Calais. Pressing down the latch of M. Leleux's door, the noise of which was the signal for opening another, at the extremity of the shop, I stood in the presence of the best bookseller in Calais, and 3 2 4 BEAU BRUMMELL 325 one of its most good-natured-looking citizens. His cap, with that odd snipe-bill-looking peak so com- monly seen in France, and my best Andr6, were immediately raised ; and to my request that he would assist me in gleaning some intelligence of the deceased beau, he acceded with ready polite- ness, and with a frank and soldier-like bearing that I certainly thought smacked not of the Garde Nationale. In my further intercourse with him I found that my surmise was correct ; it had been acquired in the tent of Miranda, during the wars of the South American republics, for M. Leleux was secretary to that celebrated man. His coun- tenance lighted up as he spoke of his old lodger ; and, having opened the trenches of conversation by taking a large pinch of snuff, he commenced a kind of recitative of his sayings and doings, which unfortunately amounted to very little in the end. "Ah, mon cher monsieur," said the old militaire, "je n'ai aucun documens de lui. Je pourrais cependant vous fournir quelques petits details, et cela volontiers. D'abord c'est moi qui 1'avait bien connu, car quatorze ans il a demeur6 dans cette maison, et je vous ferai voir son apparte- ment ; " and we ascended the staircase together to the first floor. "This, sir," observed M. Leleux, in very good English, but with a slight accent, "was his draw- ing-room, and this one adjoining, his dining-room ; you see they are front rooms ; his dormitory was 326 BEAU BRUMMELL on the other side of the passage. After he had resided with me about five years, I allowed him to have the rooms a little to the left of these ; they are approached by a different staircase. That suite consisted of a dining-room on the ground-floor, and a drawing-room over it, and a handsome bedroom at the back. It was at this time Mr. BrummeH's ambition to obtain the office of consul at Calais, and the gentleman who held it being then in very bad health, made him rather sanguine on the point. The expectation, however, was never fulfilled, for he is still living, and likely to live; but being won over by my locataire's persuasive manner, I per- mitted him to decorate his rooms in his own way ; and though he did it very well, I can assure you I was not much the richer for the money he laid out. Mais, monsieur, le pauvre homme e"tait si amusant, si amusant, qu'on ne pourrait rien lui refuser. Sir, I would have kept him for nothing if he would have stayed : ah ! he certainly was a very droll fellow." Our conversation here terminated, and I took my leave ; but on a subsequent visit the old gentle- man showed me over the rooms already alluded to. They must have been very comfortable ; but the black and white marble pavement of the private entrance, which Brummell laid down, and the rich crimson paper of the dining-room, are all that remain as evidence of his acknowledged taste and extravagance. BEAU BRUMMELL 327 I must now " hark back to his burst from Lon- don," when, in the words of Pope, he bid farewell to the "dear d d distracting town," and left the box of Lady with a joke more than usually satirical. The dogs of the law were quickly on the scent ; but they no sooner reached Dover than they dropped their tails discouraged, for Rey- nard, instead of running to earth, had taken the water, and not a hope remained of their catching him. On his arrival at Calais, he took up his temporary abode at Dessin's Hotel, then in the hands of Quillacq, to whom he sold his carriage ; he remained there a short time, and afterward hired a set of rooms belonging to the same pro- prietor. When Brummel left London, he was living at No. 13 Chapel Street, Park Lane, to which house he had removed from Chesterfield Street, some time before ; it belonged to Mr. Hart, the Duke of Gloucester's steward. The change appears to have been much for the worse, a mews gracing one side of the house ; his tradesmen also began to whisper that he was getting shaky, and would not pay much longer. By the dinner-service and glass that were disposed of after he left Chapel Street, it seems that he occasionally entertained his friends in his new residence, though he had discarded his cook on quitting Chesterfield Street. He did not ever replace him, and found, no doubt, that other people's viands were much cheaper than 328 BEAU BRUMMELL his own, and quite as good ; when by any accident he was thrown upon his own resources, he managed to content himself with the best repast Mr. Brookes could provide : " Liberal Brookes, whose speculative skill Was hasty credit and a distant bill." A few days after his flight, his furniture and effects were sold at public auction by Mr. Christie ; the following is a copy of the first page of the book of sale : "A Catalogue of A very choice and valuable assemblage of Specimens of the rare old Sevres Porcelaine, Articles of Buhl Manufacture, Curiously Chased Plate, Library of Books, Chiefly of French, Italian, and English Literature, the best Editions, and in fine condition. The admired Drawing of the Refractory School Boy, and others, exquisitely finished by Holmes, Christall, de Windt, and Stephanoff. Three capital double-barrelled Fowling Pieces, By Manton. Ten dozen of capital Old Port, sixteen dozen of Claret (Beauvais), Burgundy, Claret and Still Champagne, The whole of which have been nine years in bottle in the Cellar of the Proprietor ; Also, an Assortment of Table and other Linen, and some Articles of neat Furniture; BEAU BRUMMELL 329 The genuine property of A MAN OF FASHION, Gone to the Continent ; Which, By order of the Sheriff of Middlesex! Will be Sold by Auction By Mr. Christie, On the Premises, No. 13, Chapel-street, Park-lane, On Wednesday, May 22nd, and following Day." Amongst the articles of Brummell's furniture were a mahogany-framed sliding cheval dressing- glass on casters, with two brass arms for one light each, a medicine chest and colour box. The drawing-room had a chimney glass, in a carved ebony frame, chintz furniture, and Brussels carpet ; the back drawing-room had also a chimney glass, book-shelves, and library bookcase. The dinner service consisted of twelve oval dishes, twenty soup-plates, seventy-eight meat ditto, nine wine- coolers, a breakfast service for eight persons, three claret jugs, twelve hock glasses, forty wine ditto, decanters, etc. There were sixteen pairs of sheets, forty huckaback towels, napkins, etc. Amongst the Sevres china was a pair of oval vases, which sold for nineteen guineas ; they were green, with flowers and fruit, and mouldings of burnished gold. A small cup and cover of the same, eighteen pounds. A ewer and basin, maza- rine blue and gold ground, richly ornamented with birds and exotics finely painted in compartments, with the name of each specimen upon them ; the 33 BEAU BRUMMELL handle of this ewer was silver gilt, and the lot fetched twenty-six pounds. There were also a variety of chocolate cups and other articles, a clock of Vulliamy's, a letter scale (no doubt, all his letters were franked), the design a fig- ure of Cupid, weighing a heart with a brace of doves ; this was in ormolu on a black marble plinth. A silver teakettle, embossed and chased, brought forty-seven pounds. There were only six spoons and four forks how did they happen to be left behind ? Amongst the books were some good historical works, the standard poets, two editions of Shake- speare, his friend Ellis's "Specimens of Early English Metrical Romances," bound in curiously raised calf ; the Quarterly and Edinburgh, the Memoirs of De Grammont, Chesterfield's Letters, Berrington's "Abelard and Eloisa," and a large collection of novels now forgotten. A family party at dinner, by Holmes, fetched eighty-five guineas. There were also editions of Flaxman's designs for the Iliad, ^Eschylus, and Burger's " Leonora ; " a copy of the Mus^e Frangais, por- traits for the Memoirs of De Grammont, prints by Cipriani and Bartolozzi, a portrait in oils of his father's benefactor, Lord North, and portraits of Nelson, Pitt, the Duke of Rutland, and George the Third. The Beauvais claret sold for five pounds, eight shillings ; the champagne, three pounds five shillings ; and the port, four pounds per dozen. BEAU BRUMMELL 331 The sale was attended by many members of the fashionable world, every one being apparently anx- ious to purchase something ; the Duke of York was not there, but he gave orders for some Sevres china to be bought for him. Purchases were made in this manner by many of his friends. Amongst the company present were Lords Besborough and Yarmouth, Lady Warburton, Sir Henry Smyth, Sir H. Peyton, Sir W. Burgoyne, Sir T. Stepney, Colo- nels Sheddon and Cotton, General Phipps, Mr. Massy Dawson, Acland, of the Albany, Mr. Mills, of Park Street, Mr. Tower, and the Rev. Belli. The competition for the knick-knacks and articles of virtu was very great ; amongst them was a very handsome snuff-box, which, on being opened by the auctioneer before it was put up, was found to con- tain a piece of paper with the following sentence, in Brummell's handwriting, upon it: "This snuff- box was intended for the prince regent, if he had conducted himself with more propriety toward me." The proceeds of the sale amounted to about eleven hundred pounds, and the sum was paid to the Sheriff of Middlesex. But I must return to Calais. Brummell remained but a few months in M. Quillacq's lodgings ; from them he removed to the house of M. Leleux, where he remained till he left for Caen, in the September of 1830. He was no sooner in possession of his new apartments than he set about furnishing them 332 BEAU BRUMMELL in the most expensive manner ; and five and twenty thousand francs, which he took with him, or re- ceived shortly after his arrival at Calais, were quickly spent in making himself perfectly com- fortable in his new abode. He had quite an old dowager's passion for buhl furniture, and in the indulgence of this taste he expended large sums of money'. Many of the most rechercht articles that adorned his salon were brought from Paris by a courier, who executed these and other com- missions for him, and who gained a profit of thirty thousand francs upon the purchases he made dur- ing the ten or twelve years he was thus employed. This was a large sum ; but Brummell, in his absurd mania for such things, sometimes disbursed half as much in one year. Sometimes a chef-d ceuvre, a darling cabinet, did not suit ; it had then to be disposed of, which it was for half the original cost ; at other times, a perfect gem had to be sent back to Paris, of course at his own -expense ; or perhaps the article was exchanged ; in this case his com- missionaire profited both as buyer and seller. At length, having bestowed incalculable pains, and many sleepless nights and anxious days, upon this interesting and important subject, he managed, in spite of his extreme fastidiousness and his pov- erty, to collect a sufficient quantity of buhl and ormolu to furnish his three rooms in the elegant and costly style of Louis Quatorze ; and they would have commanded the approbation of the BEAU BRUMMELL 333 most enragte buhl-furniture-fancier of his former clique. He also squandered large sums in bronzes, japanned screens, and whims of every description. On one side of his drawing-room stood a large cabinet, with brass wire doors; these were kept locked with the most jealous care, for they pro- tected, from the familiar and dangerous inspection of his visitors, a service of extremely beautiful Sevres china. The designs were most exquisite, and on each plate was represented, in colours chaster than the originals, all the celebrated beau- ties that held such powerful sway over the courts of Louis the Fourteenth and Fifteenth, and, as they were not few in number, the reader may imagine that his inanimate but elegant harem com- pletely filled his buhl seraglio. These portraits were so charmingly done, that the beau, in the true spirit of a sultan, used to inform his visitors that it was "almost profanation even to look at these frail fair ones." The walls of this room were covered with pic- tures and prints, a few of the former being from the pencil of a young artist of the town, who was patronised by the beau by way of encouragement. Some favourite books, in handsome suits of mo- rocco or silk, reposed on the card-tables, and on the circular one in the centre of the apart- ment lay a little crowd of valuable snuff-boxes, card-cases, paper-weights, miniatures, and knives, and portfolios, in every variety of gold, enamel, 334 BEAU BRUMMELL mother-of-pearl, ivory, and tortoise-shell, embossed leather, and embroidered satin. Amongst this collection of expensive trifles were an ormolu greyhound and a presse-papier of Sienna marble, surmounted by a small bronze eagle ; the latter was presented to him as a souvenir by Monsieur de Montrond, Talleyrand's foreman, and had at one time pressed the despatches and private papers of Napoleon. It is now in the author's possession, and not the less valued for having once belonged to the greatest and bitterest enemy England ever had. Many amongst the multitude of little bijoux that ornamented this table were esteemed by him far beyond their intrinsic value ; some of them were the cadeaux of royalty, and, could they have spoken, especially those that were the gift of an amiable woman, whose charitable remembrance of him will be hereafter alluded to, they might have wiled away many of his lonely hours. His passion for snuff-boxes was extreme. He had one which he only could open, and some friend of his, while he was at Belvoir, tried it with his knife, with the intention, no doubt, of purloining his snuff, which was always excellent. Hearing of the outrage, Brummel said, " Confound the fellow, he takes my snuff-box for an oyster ; " but notwithstanding the splendid collection he possessed, and having sent his friend Capel, by permission of the first lord, to Naples, to procure him a perfect tabatihe, he BEAU BRUMMELL 335 actually had one of black shell and gold built at Calais. This he gave to the present Duke of B , in exchange for a bank-note of fifty pounds ; in other words, that nobleman consented to receive it that he might with more delicacy present him with that sum for, though a ruined man, Brum- mell had not yet been subjected to all the dirty degradations that invariably accompany that char- acter, when his ruin is the result of premeditated folly and unrestrained indulgence. This sketch of the drawing-room would be incomplete if I omitted to mention that the table-cover on which all his useless elegancies were displayed was worked for him by the Duchess of York, and that his easy-chair was the gift of the same kind friend. Correctness of taste in everything was decidedly the beau's forte, and, seated in his fauteuil, sur- rounded by his buhl, paintings, prints, knick- knacks, and the Sevres portraits of the beautiful La Valliere and her discreet rival, he appeared, amongst the heterogeneous medley of English who subsequently attended his leve"e, nearly the only living creature in keeping with the room and its details. CHAPTER XXV. Donations Made to Brummell by His Friends The Duchess of York's Liberality to Him Her Christmas Present Mr. Chamberlayne Brummell Learns French Scrope Davies's Description of His Progress The Beau's Fashionable Visi- tors Lord Westmoreland Invites Him to Dine Brum- mell's Reply The Legal Intruder The Exile's Daily Avocations His Dog Vick Her Illness and Death Anecdote from " Granby " Brummell's Grief at the Loss of His Pet. iONSIDERING the reduced state of his circumstances, the reader will naturally inquire how it happened that Brummell managed to gratify a taste so little in accordance with them ? The answer is that, though a man of fashion, he had an extraordinary number of good friends ; and the sums of money that he must have received from various sources, many of them unknown, attest the fact that he was, at this time, even too generously assisted. A clerk of M. de Vos, a Calais banker, called on him one morning to place a large sum in his hands that had been paid into their bank the day before ; it was stated to me to have been a thousand pounds, but supposing it was only half that amount, it was 336 BEAU BRUMMELL 337 a large donation. So strict was the incognito preserved that the fortunate recipient could never trace the gift to the generous individual who sent it. But in the circle of those who administered not only to his wants but to his luxuries (the evil day had not yet come when he was to find the utmost difficulty in procuring the necessaries of life), no one appears to have extended relief to the expatriated beau with more warmth of feeling or delicacy of manner than the late Duchess of York. The "votre tres-affectionnee amie et servante" of more prosperous times was practically illustrated toward him to the day of her Royal Highness's death. Every year at Christmas some token of regard was conveyed to him ; a purse, a card-case, or note-keeper, the work of her own fair hands ; Brummell treasured these proofs of the duchess's taste and skill, and had several of them remaining when he was at Caen. These little marks of her regard, when opened, were never found empty, and a rustling was always heard within their folds, which no doubt fell agreeably upon ears now so little familiar with the sound of bank-notes. But women are ever the most lasting in their attachments, whether of love or friendship, and the conduct of this royal lady is the more meritorious on account of her high rank ; for the opportunities which persons in her exalted station have of wit- nessing the miseries of human nature are few, and, from ignorance rather than indifference, they fre- 338 BEAU BRUMMELL quently are not so much alive to the sufferings of mankind as those who daily witness those suffer- ings : they bask in the sunshine of perpetual per- sonal comfort, and, while plenty is ever pouring forth her blessings around them, no beggar is allowed to tread the palace courts, poverty is scarcely bold enough to make its appeal to their hearts in person, and language in the form of a petition, however strongly worded, does not truth- fully and vividly describe what they seldom or never see. The Duke of Gloucester also treated Brummell with much kindness and consideration, and when his Royal Highness, in his way through Calais, went down to the packet to embark, Brummell always accompanied him : had he only imbibed a small portion of the duke's punctuality in the weekly audit of his accounts, he might perhaps have had the satisfaction of one day returning in his company to the opposite shore. He had also a kind friend in John Chamberlayne, Esq., who con- tributed to his comfort by the payment of a yearly gratuity, which it was his intention to continue in the event of his own decease ; but, becoming afflicted by insanity, he left no will. This was a sad chance for Brummell : he wrote to his repre- sentatives on the subject, but the answer was unfavourable ; and it was intimated to him that there was no memorandum to that effect among Mr. Chamberlayne' s papers. The Duke of Argyle, BEAU BRUMMELL 339 though not affluent, seldom forget to call and assist him with money ; and Lord Alvanley, who never passed his door without doing the same, invariably dined with him ; the dinner, bien entendu, being sent from Dessin's at his lordship's expense. Many other noblemen and gentlemen at various periods relieved the dull tenor of his life by their visits ; and from each he received substantial proofs of their regard. Among them were the Dukes of Wellington, Rutland, Richmond, Beaufort, and Bed- ford; Lords Sefton, Jersey, Willoughby d'Eresby, Craven, Ward, and Stuart de Rothesay. To the assistance tendered him by his friends, may of course be added that of his relatives. His principal correspondents were the Duke and Duchess of York, Lord Alvanley, and J. Chamberlayne, Esq. In the early part of his residence at Calais, he led a very retired life, for he was unable to speak French with fluency, and his mornings and even- ings were occupied in perfecting himself in that language. He could not otherwise have entered a French salon with any degree of comfort ; the English society he abominated, and frequented it only during the latter part of his stay there, when he had grown less difficult and less exclusive. Nothing could be more indicative that Brummell had ability and energy, when the occasion suited him to exercise it, than the proficiency he attained in French ; for, as will be seen in the sequel, he made himself master of the language, and could, 340 BEAU BRUMMELL for an Englishman, write an excellent letter. Byron's anecdote of Scrope Davies, given in Moore's life of the noble poet, is delightfully incorrect. "When Brummell retired to France," says his lordship, " he knew no French, and having obtained a grammar for the purpose of study, our friend Scrope Davies was asked what progress Brummell had made in French. He responded that the beau had been 'stopped, like Buonaparte in Russia, by the elements.' " Like many other good things told of Brummell, it is deficient in the desideratum necessary to give it value truth. During the period that the army of occupation remained in France, he enjoyed the society of several of his old friends, who were serving with it, and many others on their way to Paris, which capital was then all alive with the revelry and dis- sipation of foreigners, and emigres who had been exiled from the Trois Frere's, VeYey's, and rouge et noir, for upwards of twenty years : the chief of our gallant army, also, paid the town some flying visits en route to or from England, and I have heard it asserted, without, at this period, noticing his great rival in notoriety ; but at length the most good-natured man in all England, the Marquis of , effected a reconciliation between them, and from this time his Grace never passed BrummeH's door without inquiring after him, and sometimes giving him an invitation to dine with him at Dessin's. This was sometimes announced from his BEAU BRUMMELL 341 carriage, as he went by, for he had not, of course, a minute to spare. It appears that the late Lord Westmoreland, when passing through Calais, also called on him, and said how happy he should be if he would dine with him that day at three o'clock ! Brummell's answer was truly characteristic : " Your lordship is very kind ; but I really could not feed at that early hour ! " " When I first knew Brummell at Eton," said the courteous old gentleman who sent me this anecdote, "we daily dined together at twelve, and fed very heartily ! " But Brummell, soon after his arrival, had less distinguished and agreeable visitors than either the Duke or Lord Westmoreland. On one occa- tion an itinerant communicator of the legal house of Howard and Gibbs tapped softly at his door, with the intention of presenting some law paper for his signature or consideration. " Come in," said the beau, deceived by so gentle an application for admittance ; his visitor's head, on a level with the latch, was instantly in the room his body being cautiously kept in the passage. " Why, you little rascal," screamed the astonished George Bryan Brummell aforesaid, directly he saw him, " are you not hung yet ? begone ! " the head obeyed, the door closed, and the little body departed. His routine of life at Calais was methodical in the extreme ; he rose at nine, breakfasted off cafi au lait, and sat reading the Morning Chronicle, 342 BEAU BRUMMELL brochures, or books (that is, after his Le"vizac had been laid aside), till twelve ; precisely at that hour he might be seen in a flowing brocade dressing- gown and velvet cap, like the beret of the olden time, crossing the passage to his bedroom ; and so punctually did he keep to stated hours, that his landlord's "devils" used to exclaim, when he appeared, " Ah ! voila Monsieur Brummell ; c'est midi," and they immediately struck work, and went to their dinner. The business of his toilet now commenced, and this occupied a considerable part of two hours ; from the time that was completed he held his levee, and sat en prince chatting with his friends. If it was in the summer, he resorted to the open window of his charming room, and apostrophised his acquaintances as they passed. " Brummell ! " shouted one of them to him under his window the beau looked out " Have you heard the news ? " " No ; what's the matter ? " " Why, S , the banker, ran off last night." "Well, what of that?" "Why, I have lost a thousand francs." " Have you ? then, my good fellow, in future take a hint from me, and always keep your banker in advance." At four o'clock he stepped into the Rue Royal e, as well turned out as he ever did into St. James's Street, in the very meridian of his glory. A walk on the ramparts, or to his garden at the foot of them, killed the next hour ; but he walked more pour se distraire BEAU BRUMMELL 343 than for exercise, his " long walk," as he termed it, being out of one gate and in at the other, the two being about a hundred yards apart. The fact was that Vick, his terrier, was so afflicted with embonpoint, that even during this short prome- nade he was obliged to turn around and wait for her at least a dozen times before he had accom- plished fifty paces. His partiality for this dog was extreme. Vick was once very ill, so he sent for two of his friends, learned in the diseases of the canine race, who, on their arrival, found her laid upon his bed, and Brummell in great dis- tress standing by her side. An examination of her condition having taken place, the two dogopathists opined that she ought to be bled. " Bled ! " said her master, turning away, " I shall leave the room ; inform me when the operation is over." When poor Vick died he shed tears, and observed to Mr. Marshall, in his usual cynical tone, that he had " lost the only friend he had in the world," meaning, most likely, in the world of Calais. Lister has introduced a version of this anecdote in " Granby," but there is a difference in the dog's name and species, and the time and place. The scene I allude to is laid at a nobleman's house in the country, where he broke up a prolix conversa- tion one morning by making his poodle perform some laughable tricks, and directing the attention of the company to the beauty of his dog. " Come here, Polisson," he said, "come here and show 344 BEAU BRUMMELL yourself ; is not he magnificent ? Look at these tufts, I had him shorn by the best tondeuse in Paris. Lady Harriet, I'll give you her direction." " Oh, thank you ! how handsome he is ; he must be quite a treasure." "Oh! invaluable: when Polisson dies I shall steal for him Lord Byron's epitaph on his Newfoundland dog ; then I shall say, with my hand on my heart (speaking of my friends), ' I have never had but one, and there he lies,'" pointing to the dog who was stretched upon the hearth-rug. Poor Vick was buried, by his special desire, in Dessin's garden ; and though her master did not actually put on mourning, he talked seriously of erecting a monument to her memory. His salon was peremptorily closed against visitors for three days, and it was several weeks before he permitted any one to speak of her death. He had subse- quently three poodles : the most famous of the trio was called "Atous," and had been trained by a soldier of the garrison. This dog was a perfect specimen of canine intelligence, and he turned out for his walk at four, quite as neat as Brummell. His great accomplishment was to take a hot muffin from the plate before the fire, and run around the room offering it to the company ; but poor " Atous " also died, and Brummell was again a prey to grief. Like a true cynic, his eye was seldom if ever moistened on hearing of the death of a friend, though a flood of tears was BEAU BRUMMELL 345 always ready when his dogs died. His poodle was regretted because it was constantly in his presence, and his decease left a blank in the daily routine of his habits and ideas. But to resume the sketch of his diurnal pro- ceedings. At five o'clock precisely he ascended the staircase to his rooms, and dressed for dinner, which was sent from Dessin's at six ; at this meal he washed his sesophagus with a bottle of Dor- chester ale, of which he had always a barrel in the house. This showed plainly indeed that he had "fallen from his high estate," and was fain now to treat with rather less contempt than he felt on hearing it the sarcastic remark of the alderman, for the beverage was at least malt liquor. This potent stuff was followed by a liqueur glass of brandy, which he always took during dinner, and the rear was brought up by a bottle of Bor- deaux ; a pretty comfortable refection for a man who lived entirely on the charity of his friends. It was after one of these niggardly repasts that he is said to have written to the late Lord* Sefton that he was " lying on straw, and grinning through the bars of a gaol ; eating bran bread, my good fellow, eating bran bread." I will not, however, vouch for the truth of the story. The double X did not take great effect upon his brain ; for though not given to excess, he had been well accustomed to a tolerable quantity of wine, to say nothing of Roman punch, into the mysteries of 346 BEAU BRUMMELL which it has been asserted that he initiated the prince regent. One who knew him intimately at Calais assured me that he had never seen him inebriated but once, and then he was so disgusted with himself that he performed a voluntary pen- ance of solitary confinement for eight days ; query, with or without his Dorchester ale? At seven o'clock, or half-past, he went to the theatre, where he had a small box ; or in the long warm evenings he retired to his garden, in the summer-house of which (now thrown down) he either read or noted down his recollections of his past career. CHAPTER XXVI. Brummell's Visitor from Dover His Ungallant Conduct to His Daughter His Reception of Wellesley P e on His Arrival at Calais Mr. B y's Toady The Morning Walk with Lord Sefton A Rencontre on the Ramparts The Beau Reported Dead Calais Gossip BrummellAdds His Quota The Result His Appointment at Chalk Farm His Reception of Colonel R d. [UGH was the general tenor of his life, varied occasionally by a dinner at the consul's, or a visit from some friend of former years a few of these stray birds of fashion would sometimes delay their departure for two or three days, merely to enjoy a laugh at the fund of anecdotes with which he was charged ; and one of them, who had a house at Dover, fre- quently crossed the water to see him, and always gave him notice of his intention, desiring that he would have all in readiness for his party at the hotel, himself included. At these little fetes, he was always in good spirits, and as amusing as ever. One day after dinner, the elegant beau, though always on the qui vive that his proceedings should be faultless, upset a cup of coffee on the cloth. The bell was rung for the waiter to remove it, and 347 348 BEAU BRUMMELL on his appearing for that purpose he gave him to understand, with the most imperturbable gravity, that a young and graceful lady, the daughter of his friend, had committed this piece of gaucherie. Directly, however, he had left the room, the real delinquent hastened to apologise and soften the indignation of the innocent victim, or at least attempted to do so ; adding drolly to a string of excuses, "You know it would never have done to let the world know that / was guilty of such awkwardness." This was not very chivalrous ; even if his fair neighbour had really spilt it, it would have been more good-natured, if not so entertaining, to have taken the odium on himself mais son tgo'isme r/gnait partout. But, however glad he might be to accept any invitation that promised to afford him amusement within the walls of the town, his friends could never succeed in persuading him to spend one night away from his own rooms. Lord Alvanley did, I believe, once prevail upon him to go to Dun- kirk, and his landlord thought that he would at any rate not return that night ; but he was mistaken, for at four o'clock in the morning Brummell knocked at the door. The beau appeared much flattered and pleased by any attentions paid him by his itinerant visitors, and always endeavoured to be more than usually agreeable to them if that were possible, though he could not deny himself a joke, if it came into his head. I remember, said one of his Calais BEAU BRUMMELL 349 friends, that when sitting with him one morning, in walked W P e, who had just landed from the Dover packet ; it happened to be a very cold day, and the new arrival drew his chair close to the fire ; this Brummell observed, and said, " Why, Wellesley, you appear cold ! but I am not surprised at it, for you must have been devil- ish hot in England, or we should never have seen you here." It was not till his old friends, Mr. G. C m, Sir Arthur F s, and afterward Colonel D , Berkeley C n, and Henry B y, came and fixed themselves at Calais, that Brummell entered at all into the English society of the place, and then with great discrimination in the choice of his acquaintances. But even in spite of this caution, he sometimes came in contact with his friends' friends, whose manners were most disagreeable to him. At one house at which he visited, the master kept a kind of fag, a tame animal, who was ready to follow him anywhere, and eat his dinners. This person was also kind enough to market for him, go to post, or to the stables on a cold night moreover, he was obliged to submit to be roasted : not like the present Lord Chief Justice, at Eton, once only and in earnest, and as a juvenile martyr to the ardour of his political opinions, but a discretion, and get no credit for it. Nature had done little for this convenient creature of a convenient race, 350 BEAU BRUMMELL and his parents less ; but, malgrt his outlandish bearing, his patron had the bad taste to permit him to appear in the presence of his company. It happened that on one occasion the beau was of the party, and shortly after they had sat down to dinner, the toady, thrusting out his plate, said, "Mr. Brummell, I'll trouble you for a potato." There was never a very large supply of silver at the tables of the English residents at Calais, and Brummell looked right and left for a spoon ; but there was none, and he paused at the difficulty ; the toady, however, tired of holding out his arm, quickly relieved him from the dilemma by saying, in a persuasive tone of voice, " Oh, take your fork I'm not particular." "My dear B y," said the beau afterward to his friend, "how can you ask gentlemen to meet such people at dinner ? if your horses are ill, pay the fellow five francs and have done with him." However, toward the close of his residence at Calais, he was not so particular whom he dined with. One day, when walking on the ramparts arm in arm with the late Lord Sefton, they were met by an extremely vulgar-looking Englishman, who bowed to Brummell in a very familiar man- ner. " Sefton," said the beau, " What can that fellow mean by bowing to you ? " " To me ! he is bowing to you, I suppose, for I know no one in Calais." Soon after, however, the stranger passed again, and seizing Brummell by the arm, BEAU BRUMMELL 351 said to him, in a most frightfully cordial tone, " Don't forget, Brum, don't forget, goose at four goose at four ! " thus betraying the beau's engagement to dine with his hospitable but vul- gar friend, an invitation that he thought he had so cleverly concealed from his refined one. It was while promenading one day on the pier, and not long before he left Calais, that an old associate of his, who had just arrived by the packet from Eng- land, met him unexpectedly in the street, and cor- dially shaking hands with him, said, " My dear Brummell, I am so glad to see you, for we had heard in England that you were dead ; the report, I assure you, was in very general circulation when I left." "Mere stock-jobbing, my good fellow, mere stock-jobbing," was the beau's reply. Like all small towns, whether in England or elsewhere, in which the society is limited, there were in Calais several male as well as female gos- sips, whose only occupation was to perambulate from house to house, and retail at each in succes- sion, all that was true, and a great deal that was not, that they, had seen or heard, or neither, in their morning walks. Brummell, as well as many others, was subject to have everything he said or did carefully discussed, and often enlarged upon, by such people; and they frequently fastened an ill-natured remark, or perhaps a good joke, upon him, when he had in fact never heard either, till he was called upon to contradict the cancan of the day. 352 BEAU BRUMMELL This exaggeration was quite unnecessary as re- garded him, for his satirical vein and impudence led him to make a sufficient number of pointed and saturnine remarks upon his countrymen, and lay himself open to retaliation. But Brummell was more particularly severe with those who manifested a disposition to intrude upon him without due in- troduction, or who vulgarly affected to be some- body, when their conduct and manners plainly indicated that they had never frequented that class of society to which they assumed to belong. Those who called themselves colonels or captains, without having any claim to the rank, were sure to be objects of his displeasure ; retired tuft-hunters also, and self-important fat gentlemen, were always singled out as targets for his keen and droll re- marks. Whenever he was asked whether he knew any character of this kind, or indeed others more agreeable, but not to his mind, his usual reply was, " Know him, my good sir ? to be sure I do. The fellow is a rank impostor ; I recollect him perfectly when he was butler at Belvoir." Or, "Don't you remember Jones, who kept the snuff-shop in Bond Street ? that's the very man." In the following instance, however, he was called upon, in a very summary manner, to contradict one of his mis- chievous witticisms. The sufferer in this case was a military man, who in the Peninsular, or some other war, had had the misfortune to be severely wounded in the BEAU BRUMMELL 353 face in fact to lose the most prominent feature of it. The sarcasm in question at length reached the ears of the injured party, and in consequence the beau was one morning disturbed, at his break- fast, by a loud knocking at the door ; his permis- sion to enter was scarcely given, when the grisly warrior, with indignation in his eyes, and "satis- faction " in his thoughts, stalked into the room and confronted him. " Pray, sir," said Brummell, rising from his fauteuil, " what happy circumstance has induced you to favour me with such a very early visit ? " " Why, the fact is, Mr. Brummell," replied the veteran, in a tone of voice which at once told his aggressor that the circumstance was anything but a "happy one," and that if his wit did not speedily get him out of the scrape, his valour must see him through it, " the fact is, Mr. Brummell, I have heard that you have been kind enough to spread a report about the town, affect- ing my position in society here, by stating that I am not a retired officer, and never held a commis- sion ; and that I am really nothing more nor less than a retired hatter." With admirable presence of mind the beau listened to this accusation, which was certainly delivered in a manner savouring more of the camp than St. James's, and with much gravity thrown into his countenance, he im- mediately answered, " I am sorry, very sorry, that any one should conceive it possible that I could be guilty of such a breach of good manners. I can 354 BEAU BRUMMELL assure you that there is not a word of truth in the report." The captain, perfectly satisfied and de- lighted with his reception, now moved toward the door, when Brummell followed him to it, and, as he was leaving the room, again affirmed that the report was false; "for," said he, "now I think of it, I never in my life dealt with a hatter without a nose." It is probable that the officer was not much pleased with this unfeeling speech, but he was so taken by surprise that he made no reply, and beat a retreat immediately. The only notice that Brummell took of the affair was, to express his astonishment the next day that any one should have sent him a " death's head ! " If his wit provoked a quarrel, it, as in this case, generally settled it ; for he was by no means a lover of the duello. Some years before this period, the second of a gentleman, who had received in- structions to call upon him and demand either sat- isfaction or an apology, is said to have announced his errand in a very peremptory manner, and concluded his message by saying that he must apologise in five minutes. " In five minutes, sir ! " replied the beau in a cold sweat, " in five seconds, or in less time, if you prefer it." Brummell at- tributed his dislike to assignations in defence of his honour to a constitutional tendency to knock under. He was, he said, dearly fond of notoriety, but not of this particular kind. " My dear fellow," observed the beau to a friend, when conversing BEAU BRUMMELL 355 on the subject, "perhaps you are not aware of the circumstance, but I am not naturally of a heroic turn. Nevertheless, I once had an affair at Chalk-farm, and a dreadful state I was in, I can tell you ; never in my life shall I forget the horrors of the previous night ! sleep was out of the ques- tion ; and I passed it in pacing my room, cursing the cruelly good joke for which I was on the eve of being torn from Lady and Roman punch for ever. The dawn was to me the harbinger of death, not of another day ; and yet I almost hailed it with pleasure; but my second's step upon the stairs soon neutralised the feeling ; and the horrid details, which he carefully explained to me, anni- hilated the little courage that had survived the anxieties of the night. We now left the house, and no accident of any kind, no fortunate upset, occurred on our way to the place of rendezvous ; where we arrived, according to my idea much too soon, a quarter of an hour before the time named. "There was no one on the ground, and each minute seemed an age, as, in terror and semi-suffo- cation, I awaited my opponent's approach. At length the clock of a neighbouring church an- nounced that the hour of appointment had come ; how its tones, brought by the wind across the fields, struck upon my heart ! I felt like the criminal, when he hears the bell of St. Sepulchre's for the last time : we now looked in the direction of town, but there was no appearance of my antagonist ; 35 6 BEAU BRUMMELL my military friend kindly hinted that clocks and watches varied, a fact I was well aware of, and which I thought he might have spared me the pleasure of hearing him remark upon ; but a second is always such a 'd d good-natured friend.' The next quarter of an hour passed in awful silence, still no one appeared, not even in the horizon ; my companion whistled, and, confound him ! looked much disappointed ; the half-hour struck still no one ; the third quarter, and at length the hour. My centurion of the Coldstream now came up, this time in truth my friend, and said to me, and I can tell you they were the sweetest accents that ever fell upon my ear, ' Well, George, I think we may go. ' ' My dear M ' I replied, ' you have taken a load off my mind, let us go immediately ! ' ' Brummell was by no means a bad classic, and he no doubt remembered that Horace kept a reputa- tion, though he was not carried home upon his shield ; but though he was certainly no Bayard, there is no reason for asserting that he was an- other Bob Acres. Still, when he felt a deficiency in such emergencies, he should have applied to his friend, Lord A , who could have lent him as much courage then as he did money after- ward, and that was to no trifling extent. Once, indeed, he showed fight in a most un- usual and vigorous manner : it was when the then proprietor of a notorious courtesan called to re- quest him to explain some insult, with which he BEAU BRUMMELL 357 was said to have regaled the lady, in a morning call that she had made him. High words having ensued between Brummell and this gentleman, he ordered him to leave the room ; but rinding that he demurred, the exasperated beau, like the Bailie Nichol Jarvie, enforced his commands with a red- hot poker, that was opportunely resting in the fire at the time. In this instance our hero deserved the honour of an ovation, for it was a hundred to one against him, and his opponent was, moreover, a man of war. If we could muster credulity sufficient to believe the memoirs of this modern Aspasia, who, singularly enough, has since turned Roman Catholic, she not only held the beau captive, but in contempt, and this, too, when he was Nulli Secundus in London ; but it is not astonishing that she affected to do so, for he must have in- spired her with une jalousie de femme a femme a woman can hardly be expected to forgive a man for being more elegant than herself. CHAPTER XXVII. BrummelPs Screen Destined for the Duchess of York De- scription of This Pasticcio The Six Compartments The Elephant and Napoleon Portraits of the Beau's Friends His Illustrations of Their Characters General U n The Marquis of Hertford Lord Sefton The Hyena Tamed by the Muses and the Graces The Tiger and the French Revolution Brummell's Satire upon Lord Byron Price Offered for the Screen M. Leleux's Parrot. ,HOUGH Brummell read a great deal, his favourite matinal avocation was work- ing at a large screen, which, when fin- ished, he had destined for the Duchess of York ; but the pleasure of recording, by this present, his sense of her great kindness was denied him, for her Royal Highness died before it was completed ; he then laid it aside, and never resumed his labours. This work of taste and patience is a masterpiece in its way ; and had it ever reached Oatlands, many a fair dame and antiquated spinster would have envied its royal owner. The screen measures five feet and a half in height, and, when opened, is rather more than twelve in length ; it is divided into six leaves, and the ground is of green paper. 358 BEAU BRUMMELL 359 The idea of a general design, with which it was evident Brummell had commenced, seems to have been soon laid aside. The most prominent fea- tures of it are the quadrupeds, which form the cen- tre of the upper part of each leaf ; these prints are on a scale much larger than the generality of the other drawings. In the first compartment is an elephant, the second bears a hyena, the third a tiger, the fourth a camel, and the fifth a bear. The sixth has no animal upon it. Many of the drawings which cover the remaining surface of the screen are coloured ; the engravings are in line, mezzotint, or lithograph, with sketches in chalk, pastile, or pencil ; in fact, a specimen of every possible variety of the limner's or engraver's art, if oils be excepted, is to be found upon it. It will therefore be easily imagined that the general effect produced by such a multitude of objects, of every colour and form, is on the first coup cfceil very confused ; but, on a closer inspection, the at- tention that has been devoted to arrangement of almost every part becomes easily discernible ; each little pictorial episode, and there are hundreds, is encircled by wreaths and garlands of flowers of every description ; the rose predominating, much to the credit of the paster's taste ; fruit, and em- blems in character with the subject to be illus- trated, are also mingled with the flowers ; to give an exact description of this glorious piece of fiddle- faddle, the trifling industry of a thoroughly idle 360 BEAU BRUMMELL man, would be both useless and tedious. I shall therefore merely attempt a slight sketch, in the order in which I examined it, commencing with the first compartment. On this leaf, as I have before remarked, there is an elephant, under the neck of which is a full- faced portrait of Napoleon, who, in this case, is the subject to be illustrated. By introducing this animal the beau intended to express the emperor's power ; but on the throat of the modern king- maker is a butterfly, intended to represent another of his attributes, and to neutralise his greatness. The portrait is encircled by the neck, shoulder, and trunk of this Chouni ; and the edges of the two drawings, which would otherwise have been discoverable, are concealed by other attributes, as well as by fruit and flowers, cut out and arranged with infinite pains. This plan of con- cealing the edges was pursued throughout with as much nicety as a sempstress would bestow on the hem of a chemise d'komme. Amongst these emblems, and immediately above the emperor's head, is a mortar elevated for firing ; from the mouth of it proceeds a sword, around which a ser- pent has entwined itself ; a scythe and a flag, with the Russian eagle o'n it, are crossed above the sword, and the trophy is completed by laurel branches over the emblem of Time. The trum- pet of Fame, and a port-fire nearly burnt out, are above the Muscovite colours. The reader BEAU BRUMMELL 361 can scarcely fail to see the application of these illustrations to Napoleon's histo'ry. Below the elephant, and in the centre of the same leaf, are grouped four coloured portraits ; the one on the left hand looking outwards is General U n ; next to him are the late Mar- quis of Hertford and Lord Sefton, apparently in conversation ; and the fourth (to me an inconnu) is on their right, and looking toward them. The general, who has a neckcloth large enough for three, and a rounded shirt collar on the same scale, is smelling a sprig of jessamine ; a cupid lolls on his shoulder, as much at ease as the read- ing Magdalen at Dresden, and is killing, not the general, but Time, with a book, probably Ovid's "Art of Love." On the body of the gallant officer, who is thus indulging poor Cupid with a ride a pick-a-back, is pasted an unnatural and classical looking landscape, representing a forest in the distance, with a rocky foreground ; but the princi- pal subject is a young lady, who, having thrown aside her harp, is caressing the antlers of a wounded stag. Back to back with the general is the late Lord Sefton, the defect in whose fig- ure Brummell concealed with a flower, probably with the intention of showing that he considered his physical infirmities were entirely overbalanced by his amiable disposition. This he might well do, for he was one of his greatest benefactors. Between his lordship and the marquis is the head 362 BEAU BRUMMELL of a very lovely woman, ornamented, without the slightest necessity, by a plume of ostrich feathers. The two peers are so placed that it is difficult to say out of whose pocket the divinity is emerging ; most likely that of the latter. Lord Sefton is in Hessians, and wears a very peculiar hat. My Lord of Hertford, whose whiskers look as if they were made of leopard's skin, is dressed in a great- coat, and carries a large cane between a pair of yellow tan gloves, his left hand being inserted, like Lord Sefton's right, in his pocket behind. His emblems are also highly appropriate and numer- ous. First, and in the front, are two cupids in an azure cloud, one bearing the hymeneal torch, and the other a dove, which is looking him amor- ously in the face. Cupids, in every variety of position that the coryphee of the grand opera could devise, float around his lordship. They may be literally said to swarm ; and judging by their looks, each of them seems to be laden with the sweets of a different hive, more luscious than those of Nar- bonne or Hymettus. One, much larger and more saucy-looking than the rest, is standing on his lord- ship's shoulder, and rests, with folded arms, and the domesticated air of a favourite spaniel, upon his hat. To the right is a charming print, by Bartolozzi or Cipriani, of a young girl attended by the everlasting cupids ; above her is a little archer shooting at doves in a palm-tree, and around are satyrs carrying bacchantes and shep- BEAU BRUMMELL 363 herdesses in their arms. Farther on is a gentle- man who sports a pair of yellow knee-breeches, and is presenting a nest of doves to a lady in a scarlet-bodied dress. All these subjects appear to have been appliqut with great judgment in honour of the most noble the Marquis of Hert- ford. The inconnu, the last of the quartet, is the counterpart of a piping bullfinch, and by the em- blems that surround him may perhaps have been a celebrated "fanatico per la musica." These portraits are from Dighton's caricatures. The hyena in the second compartment is repre- sented as being tamed by the Arts, Sciences, and Religion, symbols of which, mingled with the Muses and the Graces, are seen on every side. In the centre of this leaf is a coloured print, taken from a scene in the " Fille mal garde"e." There are also various drawings representing his- torical, mythological, and rural subjects. Amongst the most striking are Telemachus relating his ad- ventures to Calypso, Phaeton driving his car, Time his chariot ; a French dragoon at bivouac prepar- ing a fowl for the camp-kettle ; a religieuse at her devotions ; a minuet at a French fair ; a gentle- man and a shepherdess, whose dog has seized the skirt of her dress, and with an anxious look is endeavouring to detach her from her admirer. The tiger on the third leaf is surrounded by cupids, cows, goats, etc., all, with the exception of the first, harmless and peaceful animals. On 364 BEAU BRUMMELL each side of the royal brute is a coloured print, representing the juvenile amusements of the Dau- phin and the Duchess d'Angouleme. In the one to the right they are playing at soldiers : she is marching in front of her brother and beating a drum, thus indicating the resolute spirit which she afterward showed ; her dog is scampering before her ; and her companion, who is dressed in the national colours, is carrying a flag, on which are inscribed the words " Union, Force." She has evi- dently tempted him away from his ninepins to follow her, and these toys are seen behind him scattered on the ground. In the other print they are playing at battledore and shuttlecock, looking very happy and very merry. The ferocious tiger was well chosen to illustrate the period and the subject to which this part of the screen is devoted ; for in this beast of prey are plainly personified the cruelties of the Revolution, and, in the domestic animals, the helplessness of those who suffered by its horrible excesses. The children's ignorance of the nature of the proceedings of which their flag and their tricoloured sashes were the emblems, and their utter unconsciousness of the anxiety and danger which at that very time surrounded them and all belonging to them, as expressed by their game of battledore and shuttlecock, is truly char- acteristic of their years. Such, happily, -is gen- erally the case with children. In the midst of the dreadful hurricane in which the crew of the BEAU BRUMMELL 365 Bridgewater so nearly perished, and when not a ray of hope existed for the safety of a soul on board, where were the little children of one of the passengers, and what were they doing ? Were they frightened at the unusual trembling of the ship, as she staggered under the concussions of each suc- ceeding wave, or sobbing in their mother's arms ? No ; at that awful moment they were floating their little paper boats in the water that half filled the cabins. Below these prints are many other cupids also, but by no means so comfortable as the one on Lord Hertford's shoulder. One poor boy is standing, in a cold wretched night, at the door of a house ; his torch is thrown down in the snow, and his dripping pinions are scarcely covered by a scanty red mantle. He seems to be a good illus- tration of the old song, " In the dead of the night," and is apparently singing the insinuating line, " I've lost my way, ma'am ; do pray let me in." Near this mischief-maker is another smoking a pipe. Below the camel, in the fourth compartment, is a man in Cossack trousers ; a monkey is sitting on his back, gently exciting his own epidermis ; a pensive cupid is clinging to the coat of the incognito. Near him is a gentleman with a lady in his arms ; a cupid is looking up at them, and pointing to a volume of sermons which he holds in his hand ; a butterfly has alighted on the cava- lier's coat, and not far off is a group of cupids and 366 BEAU BRUMMELL satyrs rushing in among bathing nymphs. There is also a female barber. The bear in the fifth compartment is stimulating his appetite with a young crocodile ; around him are children at play, shepherds, the Graces, Venus, and numerous insects and shells. Lower down are portraits of Charles Fox, Necker, Sheridan, the Regent Philip of Orleans, and John Kemble. Fox has a butterfly near him ; Nelson, Greenwich Hospital ; Sheridan, a cupid carousing on some straw; and Kemble, a ladybird on his waistcoat. Around the arm of a man in Hessians is a green monkey holding a mask, and another monkey is between his legs. There are also likenesses of Lucien Buonaparte, the Princess Charlotte, and the Duke of Cambridge when a young man ; and a little piece representing an old curt de village trying, but in vain, to thread the needle of one of his pretty parishioners. Byron and Napoleon, placed opposite to each other, occupy the upper centre of the last and sixth leaf. The former is surrounded with flowers, but has a wasp on his throat. This to his friend was base ingratitude on the part of Brummell, for the noble lord spoke of, and would have pasted him, with more charitable feeling. Kean, as Richard, is the last print I shall notice. He is below the emperor, and his neck is ornamented with two hymeneal torches laid together crosswise by a true-lover's knot. BEAU BRUMMELL 367 It will be seen by this imperfect description that to understand fully the wit shown in the arrange- ment of all the groups, it is necessary that the observer should be familiar with the gossip of the day, and there is little doubt that any of Brum- mell's contemporaries would, with the greatest ease, recapitulate the histories attached to each, and explain to his juniors circumstances in the arrangement that to them are merely unmeaning riddles. When Brummell left Calais, the screen, accord- ing to his valet's version of the affair, was placed in his hands as part payment of a debt. Subse- quently, when Selegue's affairs became deranged, he was obliged to put it in pawn at an upholsterer's at Boulogne, and it was at this person's house that I saw it during my short stay in that town. A nobleman, one of Brummell' s former friends, in passing through, was once anxious to buy it, but the gentleman's gentleman valued his master's exertions too highly, and foolishly asked seven thousand francs for it, a bargain which his cus- tomer very naturally refused. Since that period another Englishman offered two thousand ; this, however, was declined, and when I saw it, the cabinet-maker was fitting it up very handsomely with a mahogany frame, and intended sending it to London, where he hoped to realise a large sum by the sale of it. This screen must have been a fertile subject of conversation for BrummeU's 368 BEAU BRUMMELL privileged visitors, and to them only was it ever exhibited. To have heard him while employed in cutting out, cutting up, and pasting his dearest friends, and expatiating upon the group that was under his hands at the time, must have been a treat indeed. Having now introduced the reader to the beau's buhl, Sevres, quadrupeds, and screen, I must not omit to mention a biped that completed his effemi- nate establishment. This was no less a personage than a stately green and yellow parrot, which was very much attached to him, and, in return, he treated the intelligent bird with great considera- tion. Brummell was never tired of singing his praises and calling the attention of his visitors to his beauty. " Is he not a fine bird ? " he used to say. " What plumage ! what a beak and tail ! How solemn he looks ! Stand here, my good fellow, and examine him. Don't you see a likeness to somebody ? a traveller, a poet, ay, and a patriot, too a man who had the good luck to be sent to Newgate. Well, now, how very obtuse; the likeness don't strike you, I see," and then placing his visitor in a different position, he would continue thus : " Now, look at him in this point of view now don't you see ? how very odd ! why, don't you see how like he is to Hobhouse ? " Hobhouse, however, at length got beyond the board of control, and was dismissed for malprac- tices into the court below, his beak being on more BEAU BRUMMELL 369 friendly terms with the curtains and the buhl furniture than was agreeable to his master, or rather to his master's locataire, for he was the property of Mr. Leleux. Whenever an opportun- ity offered, however, Hobhouse broke loose from his cage, and would fly up to the beau's windows. For this contumacious conduct he at last got pinioned ; but he was an obstinate fellow, and as he could not take wing, he used to walk up-stairs, as well as his namesake or any other visitor, knock at his friend's door, and having obtained admit- tance, which he never failed to do, did not return to his cage without having received both wine and biscuit. This bird, I believe, came from Havre, appropriately termed by Miss Costello, " the town of parrots/" END OF VOLUME I. University of California SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 405 Hilgard Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90024-1388 Return this material to the library from which it was borrowed. A 000046134 3