In a commission which Clive sent to his friend Mr. Orme, there is an amusing instance of his attention to the most trifling parts of his dress. "I must now trouble you," he observes[144], "with a few commissions concerning family affairs. Imprimis, what you can provide must be of the best and finest you can get for love or money; two hundred shirts, the wristbands worked, some of the ruffles worked with a border either in squares or points, and the rest plain; stocks, neckcloths, and handkerchiefs in proportion; three corge[145] of the finest stockings; several pieces of plain and spotted muslin, two yards wide, for aprons; book-muslins; cambrics; a few pieces of the finest dimity; and a complete set of table linen of Fort St. David's diaper made for the purpose." In the list of packages which Mr. Richard Clive sent to his son in Bengal, one is a box of wigs! Whether Clive had resorted to this ornament from want of hair, or from deference to the fashion of the period, I know not; but there is[146] an authentic anecdote of his boyhood, which proves how essential a wig was considered to all who were full dressed. Clive had, when very young, been admitted by a relation, who was Captain of the Tower, to be one of the spectators when his Majesty George the Second happened to visit that fortress. Nothing was wanted in the boy's dress to prepare him for the honour of approaching majesty except a wig! To supply this want one of the old Captain's was put upon his head; and his appearance in this costume was so singular as to attract the notice and smiles of the King, who inquired who he was, and spoke to him in a very kind and gracious manner.[147] In concluding this chapter on the private occurrences of Clive's life during a period so eventful to his fame and fortune, I shall estimate, as far as I have the means, the wealth he carried to England, as well as the amount which he had, before he left India, given to, or settled upon, his friends and relations. I have already shown, in the fullest manner, how his great riches were acquired; and it is a grateful task to record the generous manner in which a considerable portion of them was distributed.