lpole in Paris.--Anecdote of Madame Geoffrin.--'Who's that Mr.
Walpole?'-- The Miss Berrys.--Horace's two 'Straw Berries.'--Tapping a
New Reign.--The Sign of the Gothic Castle.--Growing Old with Dignity.--
Succession to an Earldom.--Walpole's Last Hours.--Let us not be
Ungrateful.

GEORGE SELWYN.

A Love of Horrors.--Anecdotes of Selwyn's Mother.--Selwyn's College
Days.--Orator Henley.--Selwyn's Blasphemous Freak.--The Profession of a
Wit.--The Thirst for Hazard.--Reynolds's Conversation-Piece.--Selwyn's
Eccentricities and Witticisms.--A most Important Communication.--An
Amateur Headsman.--The Eloquence of Indifference.--Catching a
Housebreaker.--The Family of the Selwyns.--The Man of the People.--
Selwyn's Parliamentary Career.--True Wit.--Some of Selwyn's Witty
Sayings.--The Sovereignty of the People.--On two kinds of Wit.--Selwyn's
Home for Children.--Mie-Mie, the Little Italian.--Selwyn's Little
Companion taken from him.--His Later Days and Death.

RICHARD BRINSLEY SHERIDAN.

Sheridan a Dunce.--Boyish Dreams of Literary Fame.--Sheridan in Love.--A
Nest of Nightingales.--The 'Maid of Bath.'--Captivated by Genius.--
Sheridan's Elopement with 'Cecilia.'--His Duel with Captain Matthews.--
Standards of Ridicule.--Painful Family Estrangements.--Enters Drury
Lane.--Success of the Famous 'School for Scandal.'--Opinions of Sheridan
and his Influence.--The Literary Club.--Anecdote of Garrick's
Admittance.--Origin of the 'Rejected Addresses.'--New Flights.--Political
Ambition.--The Gaming Mania.--Almacks'.--Brookes'.--Black-balled.--Two
Versions of the Election Trick.--St. Stephen's Won.--Vocal Difficulties.--
Leads a Double Life.--Pitt's Vulgar Attack.--Sheridan's Happy Retort--
Grattan's Quip.--Sheridan's Sallies.--The Trial of Warren Hastings.--
Wonderful Effect of Sheridan's Eloquence.--The Supreme Effort.--The
Star Culminates.--Native Taste for Swindling.--A Shrewd but Graceless
Oxonian.--Duns Outwitted.--The Lawyer Jockeyed.--Adventures with
Bailiffs.--Sheridan's Powers of Persuasion.--House of Commons Greek.--
Curious Mimicry.--The Royal Boon Company.--Street Frolics at Night.--
An Old Tale.--'All's well that ends well.'--The Fray in St. Giles'.--
Unopened Letters.--An Odd Incident.--Reckless Extravagance,--Sporting
Ambition.--Like Father like Son.--A Severe and Witty Rebuke.--
Intemperance.--Convivial Excesses of a Past Day.--Worth wins at last.--
Bitter Pangs.--The Scythe of Death.--Sheridan's Second Wife.--De