It was said that being much addicted to gambling and proud of the
immensity of the wagers which she dared to risk, Madame Beaumont on one
occasion staked the entire Bretton estate on a game of chance. She lost;
and her opponent, being apparently as sporting as herself, dared her to
win it back by riding through Bretton Park and village astride on a
jackass with her face to the tail The idea of the haughty and pompous lady
undertaking such a penance must have seemed actually incredible, but
Madame Beaumont was not readily daunted. To the unbounded surprise of her
fellow-gamester she accomplished the feat and thus reinstated herself in
all her former wealth and grandeur.

In Yorkshire, she invariably drove about the country in a carriage drawn
by four beautiful black horses on which were seated postilions in velvet
jockey-caps. She owned an extraordinary number of carriages, and directly
news reached her that any visitor of importance was being entertained at
Cannon Hall, she would order out her finest equipage and drive over in
full state with the intention of enticing away the guest whose rank
attracted her. As usual, no rebuffs discouraged her-she failed to perceive
them. In London, she strove with equal determination to admit no one to
her parties who was not the possessor of a title--commoners, however well
born, were received by her with a scarcely concealed insolence. The big
yellow coach in which she and her daughters drove about town was a
familiar sight, making its triumphal progress through the most fashionable
streets, or drawn up by the Park railings that its occupants might
converse with the _elite_ among the loungers who thronged around it. For
those who scoffed at Madame Beaumont courted her diligently on account of
the excellence of her entertainments, while her luxury and the lavish
nature of her expenditure formed their favourite topic of jest and gossip.
Apart from her boundless hospitality to those whom she considered
sufficiently important to be honoured by it, the sums which she spent on