human nature, he never could be
sure that the polish on the _edge_ of the sole would be accurately
produced, unless the whole underwent the operation. He occasionally
polished a single boot himself, to show how perfection on this point was
to be obtained. Clogs, so indispensable in the dirt of an unpaved French
street, he always abhorred; yet, under cover of night, he _could_, now
and then, condescend to wear them. "Theft," as the biographer observes,
"in Sparta was a crime--but only when it was _discovered_."

But after this life of fantasy and frivolity, on which so much
cleverness was thrown away, the unfortunate Beau finished his career
miserably. On his application to the Foreign Office, representing his
wish to be removed to any other consulate where he might serve more
effectually, and of course with a better income; the former part of his
letter was made the ground of abolishing the consulate, while the latter
received no answer. We say nothing of this measure, any further than
that it had the effect of utter ruin on poor Brummell. The total loss of
his intellect followed; he was reduced to absolute beggary, and finally
spent his last miserable hours in an hospital for lunatic mendicants.
Surely it could not have been difficult, in the enormous patronage of
office, to have found some relief for the necessities of a man whose
official character was unimpeached; who had been expressly put into
government employ by ministers for the sake of preserving him from
penury; who had been the companion, the _friend_ of princes and nobles;
and whose faults were not an atom more flagrant than those of every man
of fashion in his time. But he was now utterly ruined and wretched. Some
strong applications were made to his former friends by a Mr Armstrong, a
merchant of Caen, who seems to have constantly acted a most humane part
to him, and occasional donations were sent. A couple of hundred pounds
were even remitted from the Foreign Office; and, by the exertions of
Lord Alvanley and the present Duke of Beaufort, who never deserted him,
and this is much to the honour of both, a kind of small annuity was paid
to him. But he was already overwhelmed with debt, for his income from
the consulate netted him but L.80 a-year, the other L.320 being in the
hands of the banker, his creditor; and it seems probable that his
destitution deprived him of his senses after a period of wretchedness
and even of rags. Broken-hearted and in despair,