The fact is, my affairs were in confusion – I was greatly in debt: I knew it was necessary to finish my conquest over Lady Margaret as soon as possible; and Lord A—’s seemed the best place for the purpose. Nay, I thought delay so dangerous, after the cursed paragraph, that a day might unmask me, and it would be better therefore not to lose an hour in finishing the play of “The Stranger,” with the farce of the “Honey Moon.” Behold me then at Lord A—’s, leading off Lady Margaret to the dance. Behold me whispering the sweetest of things in her ear. Imagine her approving my suit, and gently chiding me for talking of Gretna Green. Conceive all this, my dear fellow, and just at the height of my triumph, dilate the eyes of your imagination, and behold the stately form of Lord A—, my noble host, marching up to me, while a voice that, though low and quiet as an evening breeze, made my heart sink into my shoes, said, “I believe, sir, you have received no invitation from Lady A—?”

‘Not a word could I utter, Paul, – not a word. Had it been the highroad instead of a ball-room, I could have talked loudly enough, but I was under a spell. “Ehem!” I faltered at last: – “E–h–e–m! Some mis–take, I – I.” There I stopped. “Sir,” said the Earl, regarding me with a grave sternness, “you had better withdraw.”

‘“Bless me! What’s all this?” cried Lady Margaret, dropping my palsied arm, and gazing on me as if she had expected me to talk like a hero.

‘“Oh,” said I, “Eh–e–m, eh–e–m, I will exp–lain tomorrow, ehem, e–h–e–m.” I made to the door; all the eyes in the room seemed turned into burning glasses, and blistered the very skin on my face. I heard a gentle shriek as I left the apartment; Lady Margaret fainting, I suppose! There ended my courtship and my adventures in “the best society.” I felt melancholy at the ill success of my scheme. You must allow, it was a magnificent project. What moral courage! I admire myself when I think of it. Without an introduction, without knowing a soul, to become, all by my own resolution, free of the finest houses in London, dancing with earl’s daughters, and all but carrying off an earl’s daughter myself as my wife. If I had, the friends must have done something for me; and Lady Margaret Tomlinson might perhaps have introduced the youthful genius of her Augustus to parliament or the ministry. Oh what a fall was there! Yet faith, Ha! Ha! Ha! I could not help laughing, despite of my chagrin, when I remembered that for three months I had imposed on these “delicate exclusives,” and been literally invited by many of them, who would not have asked the younger sons of their own cousins; merely because I lived in a good street, avowed myself an only child, and talked of my property in Yorkshire! Ha, ha! How bitter the mercenary dupes must have felt, when the discovery was made! What a pill for the good matrons who had coupled my image with that of some filial Mary or Jane – Ha! Ha! Ha! The triumph was almost worth the mortification. However, as I said before, I fell melancholy on it, especially as my duns became menacing. So, I went to consult with my cousin the bookseller, he recommended me to compose for the journals, and obtained me an offer. I went to work very patiently for a short time, and contracted some agreeable friendships with gentlemen whom I met at an ordinary in St James’s. Still, my duns, though I paid them by driblets, were the plague of my life: I confessed as much to one of my new friends. “Come to Bath with me,” quoth he, “for a week, and you shall return as rich as a Jew.” I accepted the offer, and went to Bath in my friend’s chariot. He took the name of Lord Dunshunner, an Irish peer who had never been out of Tipperary, and was not therefore likely to be known at Bath. He took also a house for a year, filled it with wines, books, and a sideboard of plate: as he talked vaguely of setting up his younger brother to stand for the town at the next Parliament, he bought these goods of the townspeople, in order to encourage their trade: I managed secretly to transport them to London and sell them; and as we disposed of them fifty per cent under cost price, our customers, the pawnbrokers, were not very inquisitive. We lived a jolly life at Bath for a couple of months, and departed one night, leaving our housekeeper to answer all interrogatories. We had taken the precaution to wear disguises, stuffed ourselves out, and changed the hues of our hair: my noble friend was an adept in these transformations, and though the police did not sleep on the business, – they never stumbled on us. I am especially glad we were not discovered, for I liked Bath excessively, and I intend to return there some of these days and retire from the world – on an heiress!

‘Well, Paul, shortly after this adventure, I made your acquaintance. I continued ostensibly my literary profession, but only as a mask for the labours I did not profess. A circumstance obliged me to leave London rather precipitately. Lord Dunshunner joined me in Edinburgh. D— it, instead of doing anything there, we were done! The veriest urchin that ever crept through the High Street is more than a match for the most scientific of Englishmen. With us it is art; with the Scotch it is nature. They pick your pockets, without using their fingers for it; and they prevent reprisal, by having nothing for you to pick.

‘We left Edinburgh with very long faces, and at Carlisle we found it necessary to separate. For my part, I went as a valet to a nobleman who had just lost his last servant at Carlisle by a fever: my friend gave me the best of characters! My new master was a very clever man. He astonished people at dinner by the impromptus he prepared at breakfast; – in a word, he was a wit. He soon saw, for he was learned himself, that I had received a classical education, and he employed me in the confidential capacity of finding quotations for him. I classed these alphabetically and under three heads: “Parliamentary, Literary, Dining-out.” These were again sub-divided, into “Fine,” “Learned,” and “Jocular:” so that my master knew at once where to refer for genius, wisdom, and wit. He was delighted with my management of his intellects.