d while he was there, he
talked with so much force and energy upon all points of religion, that
the pious fathers beheld him with admiration. Mankind were for some
time in suspense, what would be the issue of this new course of life;
but he soon put an end to their speculations by appearing again in
the world, and running headlong into as wild courses of vice and
extravagance, as he had ever before done. He had for a companion, a
gentleman for whom he entertained a very high esteem; but one who
was as much an enemy as possible to such a licentious behaviour. In
another situation, our noble author would have found it a happiness
to be constantly attended by a person of his honour, probity, and good
sense; but the duke's strange and unaccountable conduct, rendered
the best endeavours to serve him ineffectual. In a letter which that
gentleman wrote to a friend in London, he concludes with a melancholy
representation of the duke's present circumstances;

----'However, notwithstanding what I have suffered, and what my
brother 'madman' has done to undo himself, and every body who was so
unlucky as to have the least concern with him, I could not help being
sensibly moved on so extraordinary a vicissitude of fortune, to see a
great man fallen from that shining light, in which I have beheld him
in the house of lords, to such a degree of obscurity, that I have
beheld the meanest commoner here decline his company; and the Jew he
would sometimes fasten on, grow tired of it, for you know he is a
bad orator in his cups, and of late he has been seldom sober. A week
before he left Paris, he was so reduced, that he had not one single
crown at command, and was forced to thrust in with any acquaintance
for a lodging: Walsh and I have had him by turns, all to avoid a crowd
of duns, which he had of all sizes, from 1400 livres to 4, who hunted
him so close, that he was forced to retire to some of the neighbouring
villages for safety. I, sick as I was, hurried about Paris to get him
money, and to St. Germains to get him linen. I bought him one shirt
and a cravat, which, with 500 livres, his whole stock, he and his
duchess, attended by one servant, set out for Spain. All the news
I have heard of him since, is, that a day or two after he sent for
captain Brierly, and two or three of his domestics to follow him; but
none but the captain obeyed the summons. Where they are now I cannot
tell, but I fear they must be in great distress by this time,