Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-05-26

from the field in silence. To every applicant
there was but one answer and one mode OF
treatment. Before any interview could be
arranged, or any business discussed, Mr..
Price appeared as gentleman usher. His
fee was or lOgHineas, according 70 eireum-
stances. That paid, q preliminary converse
tion ensued, and in less than ten minutes
the hapless pigeon was given to understand
that he was "toe old, /" or "too young" too
badly endowed, or-above all-too deficient
in morals to be admitted into the presence
Of the charming but unseen lady.
The usher expressed his unutterable re-
gret at such an uniooked-for catastrophe,
and with gracious bow consigned his
victim to q strapping footman, who con-
Quoted him to the outer door. He had
paid his guineas voluntarily to take part in
. certain game, but before he could make q
single move found himself eheckmated and
politely dismissed in the street. Clearly,
there was no remedy.
PLAYING NUMEROUS ROLES.
Among the many victims, however, were
two who resented this treatments Mr..
Wigmore, man of fortune who had adEer-
tised for q wife, and q wealthy young
student from Oxford-beth of whom applied
to the Magistrates OF Middlesex for . war
rant against our hero as a ''rogue and
very terms, as being much WANTED" at .
certain court Of justice. But. the whole
thing fell through, and Mr.. P. who at that
very time was renting three different sets Of
lodgings in widely remote parts of London,
once more sank into the darkness of private
life. In the Wigmore drama, from which
our hero had reaped unusually heavy fees,
he had actually figured in three distinct
characters: Gentleman usher, A. a., the
advertiser, and an ''elderly clergyman in
full canonieals," the reverend uncls of the
ladyl
Out Of this darkness he did not dare to
creep until 1759-60, when he once more
went back to his old trade as q brewer,
clerk to Mr.. Staples, Of Lineoln's Inn. So
enchanted was Staples with the skill, hon
esty and high morals of Price, that he rec
commended him to Mr.. Wa as q young
man of singular piety and many virtues,
which, indeed, he proved by going to church
regularly in the morning with Staples and
to the Tabernacle in the afternoon with the
rich and worthy W. After six months of
this farce, having obtained from his godly
patron loan of e2, 900 to carry out an i'm
provement in bitter ale, our excellent clerk
once more chose his opportunity and le-
wanted with all the cash he could lay hands
on. OF the peaceful joys and virtuous
amusements OF his private life, no record
remains, beyond the one trifing incident
that they were shared by Mrs. Poulteney,
whom he exhibited as 'The Famous Irish
Giantess" at q fashionable room in st.
James.
THIS SERVED WELL FOR A TIME,
and would no doubt have proved greater
success, had be not suddenly been arrested
for debt. Mr.. Prices mode of conducting
business, public or private, was marked by
a fatal habit OF never paving ready money
to tradesmen, friend or foe. A score Of
hungry creditors from all parts of the city
now rushed upon him with clsmorous fury,
forced him in the Court of Bankruptcy and |
tried to prove him fraudulent trader. But |
Price was more tt. a match for them, and |
the five commissioners before whom he sp- |
peared, though Foote, the actor, gave evi- |
ienee against him with bitter Wit, and an
awful indictment of facts and figures. The |
prisoner was released, and before he could |
De again arrested had fed from his migrate
Ful country, and for the next eight years |
devoted himself and his unwearied abilities
% the service of Holland, and especially to
he manufacture Of the famous "Sehiedam"
yin to be smuggled into England without
oaying duty.
But Holland, like ungrateful England, at
ast grew weary of this great genius, and in
ITO he was driven to take refuge once more