ent,--Lady Margaret fainting,
I suppose! There ended my courtship and my adventures in 'the best
society.'

"I felt melancholy at the ill-success of my scheme. You must allow it
was a magnificent project. What moral courage! I admire myself when I
think of it. Without an introduction, without knowing a soul, to become,
all by my own resolution, free of the finest houses in London, dancing
with earls' daughters, and all but carrying off an earl's daughter
myself as my wife. If I had, the friends must have done something
for me; and Lady Margaret Tomlinson might perhaps have introduced the
youthful genius of her Augustus to parliament or the ministry. Oh, what
a fall was there! Yet, faith, ha, ha, ha! I could not help laughing,
despite of my chagrin, when I remembered that for three months I had
imposed on these 'delicate exclusives,' and been literally invited by
many of them, who would not have asked the younger sons of their own
cousins, merely because I lived in a good street, avowed myself an only
child, and talked of my property in Yorkshire! Ha, ha! how bitter the
mercenary dupes must have felt when the discovery was made! What a pill
for the good matrons who had coupled my image with that of some
filial Mary or Jane,--ha, ha, ha! The triumph was almost worth the
mortification. However, as I said before, I fell melancholy on it,
especially as my duns became menacing. So I went to consult with my
cousin the bookseller. He recommended me to compose for the journals,
and obtained me an offer. I went to work very patiently for a short
time, and contracted some agreeable friendships with gentlemen whom I
met at an ordinary in St. James's. Still, my duns, though I paid them by
driblets, were the plague of my life. I confessed as much to one of
my new friends. 'Come to Bath with me,' quoth he, 'for a week, and you
shall return as rich as a Jew.' I accepted the offer, and went to Bath
in my friend's chariot. He took the name of Lord Dunshunner, an Irish
peer who had never been out of Tipperary, and was not therefore likely
to be known at Bath. He took also a house for a year; filled it with
wines, books, and a sideboard of plate. As he talked vaguely of setting
up his younger brother to stand for the town at the next parliament,
he bought these goods of the townspeople, in order to encourage their
trade. I managed secretly to transport them to London and sell them; and
as we disposed of them fifty per cent under cost price