Mr. Grantley Berkeley (in his _Life and Recollections_) relates the
story less circumstantially:--"There is a well-known anecdote I am able
to correct, given to me by a medical friend of mine, who had it from
the late Henry Pierrepoint, brother to the late Lord Manners:--'We
of the Dandy Club issued invitations to a ball from which Brummel
had influence enough to get the Prince excluded. Some one told the
Prince this, upon which his Royal Highness wrote to say he intended
to have the pleasure of being at our ball. A number of us lined the
entrance-passage to receive the Prince, who, as he passed along, turned
from side to side to shake hands with each of us; but when he came to
Brummel, he passed him without the smallest notice, and turned to shake
hands with the man opposite to Brummel. As the Prince turned from that
man--I forget who it was--Brummel leaned forward across the passage,
and said, in a loud voice, 'Who is your fat friend?' We were all
dismayed; but in those days Brummel could do no wrong."
The following story was supplied to Captain Jesse by a correspondent.
The Beau, it appears, had a great _penchant_ for snuff-boxes:--"Brummel
had a collection chosen with singular sagacity and good taste; and one
of them had been seen and admired by the Prince, who said, 'Brummel,
this box must be mine: go to Gray's and order any box you like in lieu
of it.' Brummel begged that it might be one with his Royal Highness'
miniature; and the Prince, pleased and flattered at the suggestion,
gave his assent to the request. Accordingly, the box was ordered, and
Brummel took great pains with the pattern and form, as well as with the
miniature and diamonds round it. When some progress had been made, the
portrait was shown to the Prince; who was charmed with it, suggested
slight improvements and alterations, and took the liveliest interest
in the work as it proceeded. All in fact was on the point of being
concluded when the scene at Claremont took place; [where this writer
describes the quarrel as originating, through the Prince preventing
Brummel from joining a party, on the plea of Mrs. Fitzherbert disliking
him.] A day or two after this, Brummel thought he might as well go to
Gray's and inquire about the box; he did so, and was told that special
directions had been sent by the Prince of Wales that the box was not to
be delivered: it never was, nor was the one returned for which it was
to have been an equivalent. It was this, I believe, more than anything
besides, which induced Brummel to bear himself with such unbending
hostility towards the Prince of Wales. He felt that he had treated him
unworthily, and from this moment he indulged himself by saying the
bitterest things. When pressed by poverty, however, and, as I suppose,
broken in spirit, he at a later period recalled the Prince's attention
to the subject of the snuff-box. Colonel Cooke (who was at Eton called
'Cricketer Cooke,' afterwards known as 'Kangaroo Cooke'), when passing
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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