George Augustus Selwyn, then, famous for his wit, and notorious for his love of horrors, was the second son of a country gentleman, of Matson, in Gloucestershire, Colonel John Selwyn, who had been an aide-de-camp of Marlborough’s, and afterwards a frequenter of the courts of the first two Georges.  He inherited his wit chiefly from his mother, Mary, the daughter of General Farington or Farringdon, of the county of Kent.  Walpole tells us that she figured among the beauties of the court of the Prince and Princess of Wales, and was bedchamber-woman to Queen Caroline.  Her character was not spotless, for we hear of an intrigue, which her own mistress imparted in confidence to the Duchess of Orleans (the mother of the Regent:  they wrote on her tomb Cy gist l’oisivete, because idleness is the mother of all vice), and which eventually found its way into the ‘Utrecht Gazette.’  It was Mrs. Selwyn, too, who said to George II., that he was the last person she would ever have an intrigue with, because she was sure he would tell the queen of it:  it was well known that that very virtuous sovereign made his wife the confidante of his amours, which was even more shameless than young De Sevigne’s taking advice from his mother on his intrigue with Ninon de l’Enclos.  She seems to have been reputed a wit, for Walpole retails her mots as if they were worth it, but they are not very remarkable:  for instance, when Miss Pelham lost a pair of diamond earrings, which she had borrowed, and tried to faint when the loss was discovered, some one called for lavender-drops as a restorative.  ‘Pooh!’ cries Mrs. Selwyn, ‘give her diamond-drops.’

George Augustus was born on the 11th of August, 1719.  Walpole says that he knew him at eight years old, and as the two were at Eton about the same time, it is presumed that they were contemporaries there.  In fact, a list of the boys there, in 1732, furnished to Eliot Warburton, contains the names of Walpole, Selwyn, Edgecumbe, and Conway, all in after-life intimate friends and correspondents.  From Eton to Oxford was the natural course, and George was duly entered at Hertford College.  He did not long grace Alma Mater, for the grand tour had to be made, and London life to be begun, but he was there long enough to contract the usual Oxford debts, which his father consented to pay more than once.  It is amusing to find the son getting Dr. Newton to write him a contrite and respectful letter to the angry parent, to liquidate the ’small accounts’ accumulated in London and Oxford as early as 1740.  Three years later we find him in Paris, leading a gay life, and writing respectful letters to England for more money.  Previously to this, however, he had obtained, through his father, the sinecure of Clerk of the Irons and surveyor of the Meltings at the Mint, a comfortable little appointment, the duties of which were performed by deputy, while its holder contented himself with honestly acknowledging the salary, and dining once a week, when in town, with the officers of the Mint, and at the Government’s expense.