epit old age it was
his custom, in fine sunny weather, to seat himself in his balcony in
Piccadilly, where his figure was familiar to every person who was in the
habit of passing through that great thoroughfare. Here (his emaciated
figure rendered the more conspicuous from his custom of holding a
parasol over his head) he was in the habit of watching every attractive
female form, and ogling every pretty face that met his eye. He is said,
indeed, to have kept a pony and a servant in constant readiness, in
order to follow and ascertain the residence of any fair girl whose
attractions particularly caught his fancy! At this period the old
man was deaf with one ear, blind with one eye, nearly toothless, and
labouring under multiplied infirmities. But the hideous propensities of
his prime still pursued him when all enjoyment was impossible. Can there
be a greater penalty for unbridled licentiousness?

MR LUMSDEN.

Mr Lumsden, whose inveterate love of gambling eventually caused his
ruin, was to be seen every day at Frascati's, the celebrated gambling
house kept by Mme Dunan, where some of the most celebrated women of the
_demi-monde_ usually congregated. He was a martyr to the gout, and his
hands and knuckles were a mass of chalk-stones. He stuck to the _Rouge
et Noir_ table until everybody had left; and while playing would take
from his pocket a small slate, upon which he would rub his chalk-stones
until blood flowed. 'Having on one occasion been placed near him at the
_Rouge et Noir_ table, I ventured,' says Captain Gronow, 'to expostulate
with him for rubbing his knuckles against his slate. He coolly answered,
"I feel relieved when I see the blood ooze out."'

Mr Lumsden was remarkable for his courtly manners; but his absence of
mind was astonishing, for he would frequently ask his neighbour _WHERE
HE WAS_! Crowds of men and women would congregate behind his chair, to
look at 'the mad Englishman,' as he was called; and his eccentricities
used to amuse even the croupiers. After losing a large fortune at this
den of iniquity, Mr Lumsden encountered every evil of poverty, and died
in a wretched lodging in the Rue St Marc.(144)

(144) Gronow, _Last Recollections._

GENERAL SCOTT, THE HONEST WINNER OF L200,000.

General Scott, the father-in-law of George Canning and the Duke of
Portland, was known to have won at White's L200,000, thanks to his
notorious sobriety and knowledge of the game of Whist. The general
po