The Sun.
London, England, 1864-11-19 00:00:00

went to Pietti's Hotel, and was shown into a room where
there was a damp stranger." This sally convulsed the
officers of the gallant Tenth. Again—this was after he
obtained his captaincy—" Why, Captain Brummell, you
surely are not off with charming Lady M---." "An ounce
of civet, good apothecary," replied the incipient beau,
who had probably read elegant extracts from Shakspere ;
"an ounce of civet, good apothecary—l positively saw her
eating cabbage 11" "But surely you, Captain Brummell,
sometimes eat vegetables ?" said a somewhat gruff old major.
"Yes, yes, major, yes—l once ate a pea."

Having attained his majority, and come into possession
of his inheritance, £30,000 or thereabouts, the principal
having augmented during his minority, and there moreover
being ugly rumours ghat that oven the Tenth Hussars
might be ordered upon foreign service, George Brummell,
who had a constitutional objection to expose himself to the
action of that villanous saltpetre which ought never to
hove been digged out of the bowels of the harmless earth,
sold his commission and retired from the servica.

George Brummell at once determined to cultivate " a
life of pleasure"— Sybarite, Epicurean pleasure; therein
being as one with his patron the Prince of Wales. That
flowery path to ruin was gaily trod, Mr Brummell took a
house in Chesterfield-street, furnished it in exquisite style,
and forthwith devoted himself to the cultivation of society
in "high life," and the best mode of tying white necker-
chiefs. He succeeded in both those grand objects of ambi-
tion to his heart's content. " I can stand," he boasted,
"in the pit at the opera, and beckon to Lovain (Duke of
Argyll) on one side, and to Villiers (Lord Jersey) on the
other, and see them come to me." Fortunate Brummagem
Beau Brummell I But the tie and set of the white necker-
chief was his America of discovery. The how and the why
disturbed the peace and exercised the ingenuity of the
whole fashionable world. Vainly he was importuned to
disclose the wonderful secret. The oracle remained per-
sistently dumb. Not even to the Prince would he shed a
ray of light upon that sacred mystery. It was only when
hurriedly leaving England to avoid a debtor's prison that he
vouchsafed to enlighten "high life" through the medium
of his friend Lord Alvanley. " Starch is your man," ho
wrote with a pencil, directing the scrawl to that nobleman.
The Lord Alvanley was delighted, and gave in after years
substantial proofs of his gratitude for so signal a favour.
The " beau monde" participated in the enthusiasm of
Alvanley at the solution of the grand secret. Such were
your Gods, 0 Israel! And these Brummells, peers, princes,
were contemporaries with the men who wrestled down the
giant wars which for a quarter of a century had convulsed
Europe I
That Beau Brummell was the rage amongst the upper
ten thousand is indisputable. No dinner, no ball, no assem-
bly was held to be complete if be were absent. Very care-
ful was he to preserve his exclusiveness. He recognised
the peerage, but no other class of society, and like another
Regency George the Fourth imposter, John Wilson Croker,
affected to be ignorant that there was such a locality as
Russell-square "within the confines of civilisation."
Once, when remonstrated with by lie wealthy father of
a young man whom he, Brummell, had helped to "pluck"
at cards, he said, "Upon my honour, sir, I did much for
your son. I once gave him my arm all the way from
White's to Walters'. Think of that, sir 1"

Conspicuous in this " Eccentric" gallery are
Lady Hester Stanhope—perhaps the most ec-
centric of the group—the niece of Pitt and
the recluse of Palestine; Christina of Sweden,
Lady Wortley Montague, Dr Abernethy, Jonathan
Swift, the Chevalier D'Eon, Philip Duke of Whar-
ton, Madame De Geniis, and innumerable others.
From which epitome may readily be inferred what
stores of amusement and information are here to
be found. The style of the narrations, as may be
seen from the above extracts is vigorous and
exhilarating.

The Backwoodsman; or, Life on the Indian Frontier.
Eiited by Sir C. F. Wraxall, Bart. Cone Vol.
pp, 428. Illustrated. John Maxwell and Co.
Fall of vicissitude and adventure, full of peril
and daring, are these very animated reminiscences
of the Backwoodsman. Equal to Captain Mayne
Reid in the reckless gallantry of his sporting
ardour, almost equal to Baron Munchausen in the
marvellous nature of his perillous adventures, is
this denizen of the Backwoods, whose blockhouse
was bnilt at the foot of a mountain chain of the
Rio Grande, on the precipitous banks of the River
Leone. Buffaloes, panthers, wild horses, bears, and
other animals afford ample matter of interest and
amusement to the sportsman and the reader varied
with experiences of a more uncommon character,
as, for example, the following encounter ot—