University for the same reason. For though he re-entered his college
in 1744 he only remained there until the following year, when he was
sent down for an irreverent jest after dinner, having taken more to
drink than was good for him. His friends, especially Sir Charles
Hanbury Williams and some in authority at Oxford also, thought that
Selwyn was harshly treated. Whether that were so or not this was the
end of his University career. It was not a promising beginning of a
life, and for some years he was regarded as a good-natured
spendthrift. The death of his elder brother and father however in
1751 produced a sense of responsibility, but even before this date
he had been endeavouring to regain his father's goodwill. "I don't
yet imagine," wrote his friend, Sir William Maynard, shortly before
the death of Colonel J. Selwyn, "you are quite established in his
good opinion, and if his life is but spared one twelvemonth you may
have an opportunity of convincing him you are in earnest in your
promises of a more frugal way of life." As too often happens the son
had not time in his father's lifetime to regain his good opinion.
Certainly Selwyn made no attempt to give up pleasure, though he was
bent on it no doubt with a more frugal mind. He was a man of fashion
and of pleasure, having his headquarters in London, paying visits
now and again to great country houses as Trentham and Croome. To
Bath he went as one goes now to the Riviera. In Paris too he
delighted; when in the autumn of 1762 the Duke of Bedford was in
France negotiating the treaty which is known in history as the Peace
of Paris, it was Selwyn who accompanied the Duchess when she joined
her husband. "She sets out the day after to-morrow," wrote Walpole
on September 8th, "escorted to add gravity to the Embassy by George
Selwyn." After the treaty was completed on February 10th of the
following year, as a memento of his visit the Duke presented Selwyn
with the pen with which this unpopular document was signed.* Indeed