1740. Three years
later we find him in Paris, leading a gay life, and writing respectful
letters to England for more money. Previously to this, however, he had
obtained, through his father, the sinecure of Clerk of the Irons and
surveyor of the Meltings at the Mint, a comfortable little appointment,
the duties of which were performed by deputy, while its holder contented
himself with honestly acknowledging the salary, and dining once a week,
when in town, with the officers of the Mint, and at the Government's
expense.

So far the young gentleman went on well enough, but in 1744 he returned
to England, and his rather rampant character showed itself in more than
one disgraceful affair.

Among the London shows was Orator Henley, a clergyman and clergyman's
son, and a member of St. John's, Cambridge. He had come to London about
this time, and instituted a series of lectures on universal knowledge
and primitive Christianity. He styled himself a Rationalist, a title
then more honourable than it is now; and in grandiloquent language,
'spouted' on religious subjects to an audience admitted at a shilling
a-head. On one occasion he announced a disputation among any two of his
hearers, offering to give an impartial hearing and judgment to both.
Selwyn and the young Lord Carteret were prepared, and stood up, the one
to defend the ignorance, the other the impudence, of Orator Henley
himself; so, at least, it is inferred from a passage in D'Israeli the
Elder. The uproar that ensued can well be imagined. Henley himself made
his escape by a back door. His pulpit, all gilt, has been immortalized
by Pope, as 'Henley's gilt tub;' in which--

'Imbrown'd with native bronze, lo! Henley stands,
Tuning his voice and balancing his hands.'

The affair gave rise to a correspondence between the Orator and his
young friends; who, doubtless, came off best in the matter.

This was harmless enough, but George's next freak was not so excusable.
The circumstances of this affair are narrated in a letter from Captain
Nicholson, his friend, to George Selwyn; and may, therefore, be relied
on. It appears that being at a certain club in Oxford, at a wine party
with his friends, George sent to a certain silversmith's for a certain
chalice, intrusted to the shopkeeper from a certain church to be
repaired in a certain manner. This being brought, Master George--then,
be it remembered, not at the delicate and frivolous age of most Oxford
boys, but at th