. The English
consul at Calais came to Mr Brummell late one evening, and intimated
that the King was out of snuff, saying, as he took up one of the boxes
lying on his table, "Give me one of yours."--"With all my heart," was
the reply; "but not that box, for if the King saw it I should never have
it again"--implying that there was some story attached to it. On
reaching the theatre the consul presented the snuff, and the King
turning, said, "Why, sir, where did you get your snuff? There is only
one person that I know that can mix snuff in this way!"--"It is some of
Mr Brummell's, your Majesty," replied the consul. The next day the King
left Calais; and, as he seated himself in the carriage, he said to Sir
Arthur Paget, who commanded the yacht that brought him over, "I leave
Calais, and have not seen Brummell." From this his biographer infers
that he had received neither money nor message, and his landlord is of
the same opinion. But slight as those circumstances are, it seems
obvious that George IV. had a forgiving heart towards the Beau
notwithstanding all his impertinences, that he would have been glad to
forgive him, and that he would, in all probability, have made some
provision for his old favourite if Brummell had exhibited any signs of
repentance. On the other hand, Brummell was a man of spirit, and no man
ought to put himself in the way of being treated contemptuously even by
royalty; but it seems strange that, with all his adroitness, he should
not have hit upon a middle way. There could have been no great
difficulty in ascertaining whether the King would receive him, in
sending a respectful message, in offering his loyal congratulations on
the King's arrival, or even in expressing his regret at his long
alienation from a Prince to whom he had been once indebted for so many
favours, and who certainly never harboured resentment against man.
Brummell evidently repented his tardiness on this occasion; for he made
up his mind to make a more direct experiment when the King should visit
the town-hall on his return. But opportunities once thrown away are
seldom regained. The king on his return did not visit the town-hall, but
hurried on board, and the last chance of reconciliation was gone.

Yet during his long residence in Calais, the liberality of his own
connexions in England enabled him to show a good face to poverty. He
paid his bills punctually whenever the remittance came, and was
charitable to the mendicants who