each a type of the society of the eighteenth century; the
unscrupulous politician, the cultivated amateur and man of letters,
the sportsman with half the opera dancers in London in his pay--of
all he was the closest friend. The most intimate of them, the Duke
of Queensberry, led an extravagant and a dissipated life, in
contrast with which Selwyn's was homely and simple. He could leave
the gambling table of the club to play with Mie Mie or a schoolboy
from Eton; while his friends were crippled by dice and cards and
became seekers after political places by which they might live, he
was prudent in his play and neither ruined himself nor others. He
had a self-control and a sound sense, which were not common in his
generation; we see them in the tranquil, contemplative eyes of
Reynolds's portraits, ready in a moment to gleam with humour. By
reason of his unfailing good-nature, he was always at the service of
a friend. Himself without ambition, he watched men, not possessed of
his tact and ability, rise to positions which he had never the least
desire to fill. In an age of great political bitterness and the
strongest personal antagonism he continued the tranquil tenor of his
way, amused and amusing, hardly ever put out except by the illness
or the misfortune of a friend. "George Selwyn died this day
se'night," wrote his friend Storer to Lord Auckland; "a more
good-natured man or a more pleasant one never, I believe, existed.
The loss is not only a private one to his friends, but really a
public one to society in general."* Gaiety of temperament and sound
sense, a quick wit and a kind heart, sincerity and love of society,
culture without pedantry, a capacity to enjoy the world in each
stage of life: these are seldom found united in one individual as
they were in George Selwyn, and he is thus for us perhaps the
pleasantest personality of English society in the eighteenth
century.