tion, for he attained an early proficiency in the classics, although at the same time his masters found it extremely difficult, if not wholly impossible, to regulate his conduct by the rules prescribed for other boys of the same age. It is but little wonder that the army should exhibit powerful attractions for such a character; and he, of course, aspired to a command in the cavalry.

Mr: Mellish accordingly became a cornet in the 11th Regiment of Light Dragoons, but this corps does not appear to have been either sufficiently gay or expensive for one of his turn of mind. He accordingly exchanged into the 10th Hussars, under the immediate command of His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, before he was of age, and soon entered into a brilliant, but short and dangerous career, which, in progress of time, would have consumed the best fortune and strongest constitution in the kingdom,

On attaining the term of twenty-one, which is not always the exact period of discretion, it was soon perceived that he was eminently deficient in point of experience, and he accordingly became the prey of men older and far more cunning than himself.

Captain Mellish (for he had now attained a troop) was actuated by that ambition which frequently inspires noble sentiments, and leads some men to the most glorious deeds of patriotism and of valour: but in him, it was ambition misdirected; or rather it was a love of notoriety, which led him to three different pursuits; and although each had a different starting-post, yet all terminated at the same goal!

Our gay young officer of cavalry first appeared on the turf, with no small degree both of splendour and reputation. To qualify himself for this expensive and dangerous sport, he entirely dedicated that time and those talents which, if consecrated to better objects, might have made him an excellent legislator, an able statesman, and a benefactor to his country. Since the epoch when the Duke of Queensberry appeared at Newmarket, no one had attained a greater precision in the noble arts of feeding, currying, bleeding, purging, and training

horses. He actually studied the osteology of his favourite animal; he made himself accurately, and it may be termed professionally, acquainted with the powers, good qualities, strength, and capabilities of the race-horse; he attained an exact knowledge of weights and distances; he knew the names, characters, habits, and peculiarities of all the noted riding and training grooms; and, in short, to a Bunbury's eye, seemed to have superadded a Foley's head. But did this wayward species of knowledge lead either to true fame, or honourable reputation? Did it enable him to retain,—or what, perhaps, would have been a merit of a very equivocal kind, — to encrease his patrimonial fortune? The cool calculating head of the late Mr. Ogden, and the gains of all who betted against him, will best answer this question. Although he knew the odds, as well as if he had been a disciple of Demoivre, yet they contrived so to hedge themselves, and ditch him, (without recurring to the remotest idea of any foul play whatsoever,) that he was soon forced to retire with a fallen crest, an irritable set of nerves, and a diminished fortune! What can be expected from the man that stakes his all, or nearly his all, on the faith, honesty, and chaste conduct of a beggarly boy, who, after being bred in the stables at Doncaster or Newmarket, among jockeys of the worst and lowest description, are placed in the scale for the purpose of adjusting-not their consciences, but their weights?

However, Mr. Mellish did not confine himself to one species of celebrity. While the turf was in an uproar at his speculations and achievements, Hyde-Park occasionally witnessed his skill and gentility as a rider. Here again he excelled☛ On the road, or in the field, he could urge either a hack or a hunter to greater exertions and higher feats than any of his contemporaries. What are a few "dirty acres" in comparison to such an achievement?

As a whip, too, it was his ambition to be without a superior; and he might have been fairly elected the leader of the Barouche Club, in opposition to all the great and singular pretensions of Lord Onslow and Sir John Ladd. Captain Mellish at length attained such wonderful skill in this fashionable

mystery, that he could drive four in hand rather better than the coachman of the York mail; while he contrived to manage his reins with greater facility than a Bond-street buck can regulate his Dennett. But not contented with this, he displayed his superior excellence by the selection of shy, skittish, jibing, and unruly horses, in the management of which our hero appeared unequalled.

At the same time, Captain Mellish was not insensible to another species of glory! He became the patron, the protector, and, what was far better, the treasurer of the most noted pugilists! In this capacity he not unfrequently initiated the provincial novice in all the secrets of the art; while he, at the same time, encouraged the veteran who had sometimes bullied and bled, and been mauled, and not unfrequently fought shy, and proved recreant, as exactly suited the interests of himself and his employers. It was thus that he rescued the honour of the English name from disgrace, and taught foreign nations to make a due estimate of the vigilance of the magistrates, our obedience to the laws, our respect for sobriety, and our love of order!

But these various pursuits, however expensive in themselves, would have proved insufficient, perhaps, to have wasted the gains and the savings of his opulent ancestors, had not the dice-box been called in to quicken the operation. After this, the auctioneer and his hammer are matters of course, and they were accordingly resorted to at last.

His friends, who had been always anxious to reclaim Mr. Mellish, now again kindly interposed, and, for the first time, with some degree of effect. He accordingly, at their instigation, relinquished the pleasures of the gaming table, and all the fascinations of Tattersall's, and the pugilistic ring, for exploits of a very different kind. The gallant General Sir Rowland Ferguson having been pleased to appoint him one of his Aides-de-camp, he repaired in his suite to Spain and Portugal, and readily exposed himself to conflicts which, however dangerous they might appear, were assuredly far less hazardous than those he had formerly exposed himself to in St.

James's Street and Pall-Mall. This part of his conduct is highly laudable and deserves our most hearty commendation.

At length towards the conclusion of the Peninsular war, he returned to his native country, and either then or soon after obtained the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel by brevet in the army, and nearly at the same time, if we are not mistaken, he was appointed Equerry to the Prince of Wales, a post for which, as he excelled in horsemanship, he must be allowed to have been admirably qualified.

He now determined to settle in life; and accordingly, as a first step, repaired to his farm at Hodsack Priory, to which he had been enabled to return both with safety and honour, in consequence of the judicious arrangements of several of his friends, for these gentlemen, by the judicious management of his property during his absence, had contrived to save something out of the wreck. Colonel Mellish also determined, about this epoch, on another step, suggested by their prudence and his own inclinations; this was to marry. He accordingly paid his respects, and finally led to the altar, one of the daughters of the Dowager Marchioness of Lansdown, by her first husband Duke Gifford, of Castle-Jordan, in the county of Meath, Esq., whose fortune, in addition to the remnant of his own patrimony, now enabled him to live in comfort, and even in affluence, had he been so inclined: but he still longed to indulge in his former delights; for his passion for the turf appears to have been inextinguishable, and he cherished the

Veteris Vestigia Flammæ

until the last moment of his existence !

This unhappily was not far distant, for his constitution had sunk under the long-continued toils and turmoils of both body and mind. Accordingly a dropsy now threatened his existence, and he actually died of this disorder, produced by the ravages of premature old age, in the autumn of 1817! His remains were interred with those of his ancestors, at the village of Blythe, the place of his former residence; and all his horses, dogs, and cattle were soon after sold.

Thus died, entirely worn out and exhausted, in the fortieth year of his age, a period when some men only begin to live in a rational point of view, Lieutenant-Colonel Mellish. In his person he was handsome, in his manners agreeable, in his ruling passion insatiable. When we contemplate the mode in which the greater part of his life was spent, we wonder, while we admit, that to a bad taste for horses, hounds, jockeyship, and boxing, he united many companionable, and some extraordinary qualities. His inexhaustible flow of animal spirits made him sought after by all the young and the gay. His conversation was full of facts and anecdotes; he could at times be grave, and even serious and didactic. Nor was he wholly insensible to the graces always attendant on the fine arts. He had cultivated, and understood music; that hand, accustomed to the vulgar labours of the coachman, could occasionally wield the pencil, and afford both delight and amusement: for he could draw with skill, and paint with a considerable degree of effect, in oil.

It is truly lamentable, that such qualities and accomplishments, should have been perverted by a long series of errors, dissipation, and follies, which, as they led both to his ruin, and his death, will, it is to be hoped, serve as so many beacons to warn the gay, unthinking, and unwary. It may be seen, indeed, from the above details, that youth, beauty, and hereditary wealth, are all of little or no avail, without early prudence and decorum, coupled with a religious attachment to virtue, good conduct, and good morals.