George Brummell was ‘a self-made man.’  That is, all that nature, the tailors, stags, and padding had not made of him, he made for himself—­his name, his fame, his fortune, and his friends—­and all these were great.  The author of ‘Self-help’ has most unaccountably omitted all mention of him, and most erroneously, for if there ever was a man who helped himself, and no one else, it was, ’very sincerely yours, George Brummell.’

The founder of the noble house of Brummell, the grandfather of our hero, was either a treasury porter, or a confectioner, or something else.[10] At any rate he let lodgings in Bury Street, and whether from the fact that his wife did not purloin her lodgers’ tea and sugar, or from some other cause, he managed to ingratiate himself with one of them—­who afterwards became Lord Liverpool—­so thoroughly, that through his influence he obtained for his son the post of Private Secretary to Lord North.  Nothing could have been more fortunate, except, perhaps, the son’s next move, which was to take in marriage the daughter of Richardson, the owner of a well-known lottery-office.  Between the lottery of office and the lottery of love, Brummell pere managed to make a very good fortune.  At his death he left as much as L65,000 to be divided among his three children—­Raikes says as much as L30,000 a-piece—­so that the Beau, if not a fool, ought never to have been a pauper.

[10:  Mr. Jesse says that the Beau’s grandfather was a servant of Mr. Charles Monson, brother to the first Lord Monson.]

George Bryan Brummell, the second son of this worthy man, honoured by his birth the 7th of June, 1778.  No anecdotes of his childhood are preserved, except that he once cried because he could not eat any more damson tart.  In later years he would probably have thought damson tart ‘very vulgar.’  He first turns up at Eton at the age of twelve, and even there commences his distinguished career, and is known as ’Buck Brummell.’  The boy showed himself decidedly father to the man here.  Master George was not vulgar enough, nor so imprudent, it may be added, as to fight, row, or play cricket, but he distinguished himself by the introduction of a gold buckle in the white stock, by never being flogged, and by his ability in toasting cheese.  We do not hear much of his classical attainments.

The very gentlemanly youth was in due time passed on to Oriel College, Oxford.  Here he distinguished himself by a studied indifference to college discipline and an equal dislike to studies.  He condescended to try for the Newdigate Prize poem, but his genius leaned far more to the turn of a coat-collar than that of a verse, and, unhappily for the British poets, their ranks were not to be dignified by the addition of this illustrious man.  The Newdigate was given to another; and so, to punish Oxford, the competitor left it and poetry together, after having adorned the old quadrangle of Oriel for less than a year.