He had been unfairly treated over the Oxford
affair; and with a spice of malice very surprising in
one so placable, and an obstinacy remarkable in one so
weak, refused from that day forward to exercise the
least captaincy on his expenses. He wasted what he
would; he allowed his servants to despoil him at their
pleasure; he sowed insolvency; and, when the crop was
ripe, notified his father with exasperating calm. His
own capital was put in his hands, he was planted in the
diplomatic service, and told he must depend upon
himself.
He did so till he was twenty-five, by which time he had
spent his money, laid in a handsome choice of debts,
and acquired (like so many other melancholic and
uninterested persons) a habit of gambling. An Austrian
colonel--the same who afterwards hanged himself at
Monte Carlo--gave him a lesson which lasted two-and-
twenty hours, and left him wrecked and helpless. Old
Singleton once more repurchased the honour of his name,
this time at a fancy figure; and Norris was set afloat
again on stern conditions.
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