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The Gaming Table by Andrew Steinmetz

 CHAPTER XI. page 65

Paterfamiliases and Materfamiliases rivalled each other in endeavouring
to make things pleasant in their households for his particular delectation,
especially if they had grown-up daughters; hospitable hosts invited him to
dinner, fashionable matrons to balls; political leaders sought to
secure him as a partisan; _DEBUTANTES_ of the season endeavoured
to attract him as an admirer; _TRADESMEN THRONGED TO HIS
DOORSTEPS FOR HIS CUSTOM_, and his table was daily covered with
written applications for his patronage." _Noblesse oblige;_
and so does fashion. The aspirant had confessedly a hard time of
it. "He must be seen at Tattersall's as well as at Almack's; be
more frequent in attendance in the green-room of the theatre than
at a _levee_ in the palace; show as much readiness to enter
into a pigeon-match at Battersea Red House, as into a flirtation
in May Fair; distinguish himself in the hunting-field as much as
at the dinner-table; and make as effective an appearance in the
park as in the senate; in short, he must be everything--not by
turns, but all at once--sportsman, exquisite, gourmand,
rake, senator, and at least a dozen other variations of the man
of fashion,--his changes of character being often quicker than
those attempted by certain actors who nightly undertake the
performance of an entire _dramatis personae_." '

[133] It will be remembered that when Fox's debts were in
like manner estimated they amounted to L140,000: the
coincidence is curious. See ante.

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