He was educated in the medical line, and in that capacity proceeded to India, either there professionally to establish himself, or he might perhaps have been a surgeon in a King’s ship, or in an East Indiaman. This is not material. He by some means or other, most probably by some commercial speculation, obtained possession of a very large quantity of opium. He disposed of this, and as is believed, in China, to such extraordinary advantage, that it produced a capital, on which he built his future fortunes, and those of his house.
This house is of no ordinary dimensions. There are at least twenty immediate descendants from him, all of whom have been successively introduced into the path which leads to fortune, not only with liberality but splendour.
He himself is a Baronet. His commercial engagements and concerns extend to every quarter of the globe. His two eldest sons are in Parliament, and fill the highest stations at the Bank and the East India-house. The rest of his family are in situations of the greatest respectability. Although this gentleman may very properly be ranked in the very first class of successful adventurers in life, yet he bears his faculties meekly, and does not, as in similar instances is too frequently the case, manifest the insolence of wealth.
The next personage who claims a high place among those who have drawn a capital prize in the lottery of life, has his portrait delineated in a former part of the work. His entrance into life was, as the son of a clergymen, respectable, but of no considerable eminence, and his claims did not rise beyond what the exertion of moderate talents might promise by persevering diligence at the bar. At the termination of life, he found himself, in consequence of a most fortunate marriage, a Member of Parliament, a considerable landholder, of extensive influence, and a companion of the great and powerful. This is the individual who, in his progress from mediocrity to affluence, had the misfortune to lose his memory.
A third distinguished character, from a very humble origin, and circumscribed education, after various experiments and vicissitudes, all at once found himself, if not to his own surprize, certainly to that of many, a Member of Parliament, and in a situation of great emolument, and of high responsibility. His original connections were indeed humble, if a certain lively lady may be credited, whose unembarrassed assurance, night after night, considerably baffled and perplexed the wisest and the gravest Members of Parliament. But so far his subsequent elevation does him the greater honour. Without any pretensions to learning, he possessed respectable talents and extensive accomplishments. He was a fluent speaker, and enjoyed that characteristic self-confidence, which neither could be disconcerted by the opposition, nor dismayed by the numbers of his adversaries in debate. He certainly was an elegant poet, and produced a poem in commemoration of a splendid victory, which was exceedingly popular.
In one respect, he was, by universal consent, remarkably successful. He was a member of various Symposiums, the principal object of whose assembling was to have good talk. He never failed to have it all to himself.
Fortune, who makes a lottery of life, has seldom exhibited greater waywardness than in the personage whose portrait next appears. He was an Irishman, of little or no hereditary property, but well educated, handsome in his person, and agreeable in his manners. He was, it is believed, called to the bar, but whether he ever practised is uncertain, and of no consequence. The place of his practice, when known to the Sexagenarian, was certainly not at the bar. He came over to this country, it may be said, without any intended reflection, to seek his fortune.
In his progress, he caught the contagion of play, but at that period, in all probability, his stake could not be high, nor the risk which he encountered great. It was the pernicious principle and habit which was to be reprobated. Most fortunately, for so the result might eventually have proved, he met a young lady at a fashionable watering-place, who attracted his immediate and serious attention. And well she might, for the sun of Britain has hardly ever shone upon a lovelier object. Most agreeable in her person, most captivating in her manners, of an intellect very far superior to the generality of her sex, with a high principle of honour, warm-hearted, generous, every thing indeed for which man could wish. Add to all this, a circumstance probably neither undesireable, nor entirely overlooked by our gentleman, she had a very large fortune, and was entirely at her own disposal.
He succeeded in his addresses. The lady treated him with a generous candour; and although not unacquainted with his characteristic foible, believed in his solemn protestations of laying aside for ever the dangerous propensities he had encouraged; and not improbably also trusted, as well she might, in her powers of enabling him to find the “Bathmendi[3],” of which he was in search, at home, in the reciprocation of connubial confidence and love.
Things went on very smoothly for a considerable time. The lady’s good sense, discretion, and engaging behaviour, appeared to have obtained a memorable triumph. Old acquaintances were revived, and cordially welcomed—new ones formed—the sweet ties of children promised to cement and perpetuate the harmony of the establishment;—when suddenly a sort of restlessness appeared on the part of the gentleman, and his absence from home, and particularly in the evening, became more and more frequent. It is in no circumstances whatever, an easy matter, to elude the vigilant and anxious eyes of a mother and a wife; and the lady of whom we are speaking, was remarkably acute, discerning, and sagacious. She evidently perceived that he had betaken himself to his old haunts, and former companions. Remonstrance she knew to be ineffectual, and she formed her plan accordingly; which, though it could not be unattended with severe mortification, she persisted in with firmness.