RUM. My dear young friend, I will tell the old gentleman to do so--you
must see that I could not possibly think of persuading a person who
grows onions in his garden----

FOTHER. We shall be eternally grateful----

BRUM. For three weeks exactly--from which time you, at all events, will
begin to wish that I had confined my attention to my own particular
affairs. But the world is ungrateful. I once waved my hand to a
saddler's son from White's window. Well, sir, I owed him five hundred
pounds, and he had afterwards the assurance to ask me for it.

FOTHER. You astonish me!

BRUM. Positive fact. So be cautious, young man, and in your way through
life--if you wave your hand to such a fellow, let it be over a stamped
receipt.

FOTHER. I shall follow your counsel most scrupulously.

BRUM. There, sir, never let me see you again in those gloves! These,
sir, [_showing his_] are the only gloves for a gentleman. Pray leave
me--I can't bear the sight of them. Meantime, tell your betrothed that I
shall do everything in my power to secure your unhappiness. I have
already spoken to Lord Ballarat about you. I told him you were the
laziest fellow and the best dresser in the town--in fact, cut out by
nature to serve the government. Good-bye--I shall ask you to dine with
me some of these days--but not yet awhile--you must work up to that. And
now, Fotherby, to show you how deep an interest I take in your welfare,
you shall give me your arm to the ramparts. [_Exeunt._

ACT II, SCENE III

CHARACTERS: Brummell; Isidore; Fotherby; Nurse; another Old Woman;
Landlord; Waiter.

SCENE: Brummell's lodgings in a miserable apartment house at Caen,
France. Eight years have elapsed. With no means of livelihood and
pursued by creditors, Brummell is now reduced to abject poverty,
broken health, and a deranged mind. He is thrown among people of
low rank and is subjected to many indignities; but to the last he
clings to his fastidious tastes and is a gentleman among imaginary
aristocrats.

OLD NURSE. _in high Norman cap, discovered seated in arm chair, mending
stockings; another_ WOMAN _near her._

NURSE. Yes, my dear, clean out of his mind--that's what he's gone.

OLD WOMAN. Deary me!

NURSE. Aye, and there be folks as says he was once as neat and tidy as a
new sixpence. Now he's as dirty as a George the First halfpenny!

OLD W. Deary me!

NURSE. Aye, child, and he knew lords and dooks-