he lost treasure; he said, "I did,
and twenty people came with sixpences having holes in them to obtain
the promised reward, but mine was not amongst them!" And you never
afterwards,' 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."' Whatever poor Brummell's supernatural tendencies may have
generally been, he had unquestionably a superstitious veneration for his
lost sixpence.

TOM DUNCOMBE.

Tom Duncombe graduated and took honours among the greatest gamblers of
the day. Like Fox, he was heir to a good fortune--ten or twelve thousand
a year--the whole of which he managed to anticipate before he was
thirty. 'Tom Duncombe ran Charles Fox close. When Mr Duncombe, sen., of
Copgrove, caused his prodigal son's debts to be estimated with a view
to their settlement, they were found to exceed L135,000;(133) and the
hopeful heir went on adding to them till all possibility of extrication
was at an end. But he spent his money (or other people's money), so long
as he had any, like a gentleman; his heart was open like his hand; he
was generous, cordial, high-spirited; and his expectations--till they
were known to be discounted to the uttermost farthing--kept up his
credit, improved his social position, and gained friends. "Society"
(says his son) "opened its arms to the possessor of a good name and the
inheritor of a good estate. Paterfamiliases and Materfamiliases rivalled
each other in endeavouring to make things pleasant in their households
for his particular delectation, especially if they had grown-up
daughters; hospitable hosts invited him to dinner, fashionable matrons
to balls; political leaders sought to secure him as a partisan;
_DEBUTANTES_ of the season endeavoured to attract him as an admirer;
_TRADESMEN THRONGED TO HIS DOORSTEPS FOR HIS CUSTOM_, and his table was
daily covered with written applications for his patronage." _Noblesse
oblige;_ and so does fashion. The aspirant had confessedly a hard time
of it. "He must be seen at Tattersall's as well as at Almack's; be
more frequent in attendance in the green-room of the theatre than at
a _levee_ in the palace; show as much readiness to enter into a
pigeon-match at Battersea Red House, as into a flirtation in May Fair;
distinguish himself in the hunting-field as much as at the dinner-table;
and make as effective an appearance in the park as in the senate; in
short, he must be everyth