PREFACE. se, Mrs. illi PROTECTED by they, and I see: amiable author of "The Deserted Village," who 'aar 'not consider the biography of Beau Nash too trifling a subject for his pen, and encouraged by some little success in a former attempt at authorship, I venture to take another shot at that target which still continues to be the object of my ambition-the approbation of those who read. The desire to please is not, however, always attended with success, for the very simple reason, that it is impossible to please everybody; and those who expect to find in the Life of George Brummell a delightful dish of scandal, will, no doubt, exclaim, "His shot has gone very wide of the mark." I could, it is true, have served up one so hot, that it would have shrivelled up the ears of the most inveterate lovers of it; but, to repeat the anecdotes I have heard the Beau relate, of the orgies of Carlton House, of tippling Dowagers, doating Exchancellors, shy Generals, and b―d Jewels, &c., &c., forms no part of my intention; and, even if it were desirable that Brummell's gossip on such subjects should be repeated, it would be impossible to vouch for its authenticity; for no one so delighted in mystifying and hoaxing people as he did, or could so readily find imawhen the truth of his ginary, and very fictions was assailed.' That he wrote some detached papers in the shape of reminiscences, there can be no doubt: many passages in his letters prove this. In the centre of his diminutive garden, under the ramparts at Calais, which he frequented a good deal during the summer months, there was a small pavilion; and here, when the heat obliged him to lay aside his hoe or rake, he amused himself with his pen. The common-place book in which he inserted these memoranda was secured by a lock, and one of his great friends, who, in his way through Calais, occasionally spent a portion of the day with him in his retreat, informed me, that Brummell once drew his attention to the manuscript-calling it, "his book of life," and saying, as he turned carelessly over the leaves, "Here is a chapter on Carlton House; here one on Mrs. Fitzherbert and the Prince; this is devoted to Lady H,” &c. This book was in his possession at Caen, and, as |