perfect kinds of tea. On the other, in beautiful jars, reposed an equally
choice and varied assortment of snuffs. Lord Petersham's snuff-boxes and
his canes were alike celebrated; indeed, his collection of the former was
said to be the finest in England, and he was reported to have a fresh box
for every day in the year. Thus Gronow relates that once when a light
Sevres box which he was using, was admired, Lord Petersham responded with
a gentle lisp--"Yes, it is a nice summer box--but would certainly be
inappropriate for winter wear!"

Caricatures of the period represent the heir to the Earldom of Harrington
clad in light trousers and a brown coat, seated upon a brown prancing
horse. One of his whims, indeed, was to affect everything brown in hue--
brown steeds, brown liveries, brown carriages, brown harness and brown
attire. This was attributed to the fact of his having been in love with a
fair widow of the name of Brown, whose charms he thus endeavoured to
immortalise; but whatever the truth of this rumour, it is evident from the
letter of Marianne Stanhope, that at the age of twenty-five he honoured
with his devoted attention a lady whose personal attractions and unamiable
disposition afforded a fund of entertainment to his relations living next
door to her in Grosvenor Square. And this sidelight on the character of
the dandy gives pause to criticism. How much, perhaps, of the eccentricity
for which Lord Petersham was remarkable, like that of the celebrated Lady
Hester Stanhope, may be attributed to the buffetings of a secret fate?
Yet, this man who, with exceptional abilities and exceptional opportunity
for exercising those abilities, could contentedly fill his empty days with
the manufacture of blacking, or pass an entire night, as Gronow relates
him to have done, playing battledore and shuttlecock for a wager with Ball
Hughes, was, in much, a typical product of his generation. His mannerisms
were accepted by his contemporaries with a forbearance which bordered on
admiration, and, however childish his peculiarities, he remained