is, all that nature, the
tailors, stags, and padding had not made of him, he made for
himself--his name, his fame, his fortune, and his friends--and all these
were great. The author of 'Self-help' has most unaccountably omitted all
mention of him, and most erroneously, for if there ever was a man who
helped himself, and no one else, it was, 'very sincerely yours, George
Brummell.'

The founder of the noble house of Brummell, the grandfather of our hero,
was either a treasury porter, or a confectioner, or something else.[10]
At any rate he let lodgings in Bury Street, and whether from the fact
that his wife did not purloin her lodgers' tea and sugar, or from some
other cause, he managed to ingratiate himself with one of them--who
afterwards became Lord Liverpool--so thoroughly, that through his
influence he obtained for his son the post of Private Secretary to Lord
North. Nothing could have been more fortunate, except, perhaps, the
son's next move, which was to take in marriage the daughter of
Richardson, the owner of a well-known lottery-office. Between the
lottery of office and the lottery of love, Brummell _pere_ managed to
make a very good fortune. At his death he left as much as L65,000 to be
divided among his three children--Raikes says as much as L30,000
a-piece--so that the Beau, if not a fool, ought never to have been a
pauper.

[10: Mr. Jesse says that the Beau's grandfather was a servant of Mr.
Charles Monson, brother to the first Lord Monson.]

George Bryan Brummell, the second son of this worthy man, honoured by
his birth the 7th of June, 1778. No anecdotes of his childhood are
preserved, except that he once cried because he could not eat any more
damson tart. In later years he would probably have thought damson tart
'very vulgar.' He first turns up at Eton at the age of twelve, and even
there commences his distinguished career, and is known as 'Buck
Brummell.' The boy showed himself decidedly father to the man here.
Master George was not vulgar enough, nor so imprudent, it may be added,
as to fight, row, or play cricket, but he distinguished himself by the
introduction of a gold buckle in the white stock, by never being
flogged, and by his ability in toasting cheese. We do not hear much of
his classical attainments.

The very gentlemanly youth was in due time passed on to Oriel College,
Oxford. Here he distinguished himself by a studied indifference to
college discipline and an equal dislike to studie