and fought; they could frown as well as smile,
and see the eccentricity of their own follies as well as enjoy them. But
the true beau is a _beau-ideal_, an abstraction substantialized only by
the scissors, a concentrated essence of frivolity, infinitely sensitive
to his own indulgence, chill as the poles to the indulgence of all
others; prodigal to his own appetites, never suffering a shilling to
escape for the behoof of others; magnanimously mean, ridiculously wise,
and contemptibly clever; selfishness is the secret, the spring, and the
principle of, _par excellence_, the beau.

In the brief introduction prefixed to the "Life," some of those
individuals who approached closest to perfection of old times are
mentioned. One of those was Sir George Hewitt, on whom Etheridge, the
comic writer, sketched his Sir Fopling Flutter. This beau found a place
in poetry as well as in prose,

"Had it not better been than thus to roam,
To stay, and tie the cravat-string at home?
To strut, look big, strike pantaloon, and swear
With Hewitt--D----me, There's no action here?"

Wilson followed. He was a personage who first established the fashion of
living by one's wits. Returning from the army in Flanders with forty
shillings in his pocket, he suddenly started into high life in the most
dashing style, eclipsed every body by his equipage, stud, table, and
dress. As he was not known at the gaming-table, conjecture was busy on
the subject of his finances; and he was charitably supposed to have
commenced his career by robbing a Dutch mail of a package of diamonds.
Still he glittered, until involved in a duel with Mississippi Law; the
latter financier, probably jealous of so eminent a rival, ran a rapier
through his body.

The next on the list is Beau Fielding. He was intended for the bar, but
intending himself for nothing, his pursuit was fashion. He set up a
showy equipage, went to court, and led the life of "a man about town."
He was remarkably handsome, attracted the notice of Charles II., and
reigned as the monarch of beauism. He was rapidly ruined, but repaired
his fortune by marrying an heiress. She died; and the beau was duped by
an Englishwoman, whom he married under the idea that she was a Madame
Delaune, a widow of great wealth. Finding out the deception, he cast her
off, and married the Duchess of Cleveland, though in her sixty-first
year. For this marriage he was prosecuted, and found guilty of bigamy.
He then