“OLD Q.” IN PICADILLY

Evening Star, Issue 19797, 22 February 1928, Page 11

“OLD Q.” IN PICADILLY

DARK REPUTATION WHITEWASHED Day after day in years of tiie eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries there sat on a low balcony ol a house in Piccadilly William Douglas, fourth Duke of Queensbcrry, a man concerning whose life there, were many strange stories. He lived till 1810, when his age was eighty-five years. With his one remaining eye he scrutinised through a “quizzing-glass” (a monocle with a handle) the people who passed. He wore the star of the Order ol the Thistle, of which he was the senior knight. A servant, Radford, stood behind him, and named any passers who were of note. Another man, with a saddled pony, waited below the window, and a story gained popular currency that it was ids task to follow any pretty woman who attracted, the attention of the Duke, and report who she was and where she lived. While not liking to upset a tradition, Mr Lewis Melville says in ‘ The Star of Piccadilly ’ that actually, as the Duke’s sight was poor, Radford stood near him to inform him which of His friends were passing and to invite them to come up. The groom with the pony was there to execute immediately any commissions—possibly innocent enough—of “ Old Q.,” or “ Old Quiz,” as Queensberry was often called. The general tendency of Mr Melville’s hook is to show that the Duke was less dark than he was painted. He was a man about town, he hud lived wildly in youth, and ho remained a voluptuary; but “it is difficult to believe that he was so bad as he has been represented to have been hy nearly everyone who has written about him—to have been so would have been a whole-time job for him, and there is no reason to believe that he essayed such a task.” Queensberry had outlived his contemporaries, but he saw no reason to change his ways, which had been formed in a period when noblemen claimed a largo share of license and of superiority to public opinion. He was no more vicious than many of his contemporaries, thinks Mr Melville; most of the statements against him were made hy men who did not really know him. Wraxall and Baikes, who did know him, are quoted in contrast to popular fables. Queensberry was a nobleman of many titles and of great estates; he was a millionaire at a time when milionaires were scarce; and it is fairly clear that ho was more often pursued than pursuing. Women of all ranks or none cast avaricious eyes on his money and titles, but lie died a bachelor.

Queensberry had been a racehorse owner and a gambler, hut he was shrewd enough to make both recreations pay. Ho had no intellectual attainments, hut he was no fool, and lie could express himself clearly and vigorously enough in letters to his friends. “Old Q.” could be generous, as when he offered to General Picton, whom lie did not know, £ ID,00(1 to he used in defence concerning charges against Picton’s administration as Governor of Trinidad. Mr Melville’s book is an interesting account not only of Queensberry, but ol social life and celebrities of his time. The Duke was not quite one of the professed dandies, but ho followed tlio fashions of his period, one of which was the carrying of muffs by men. He continued this custom till old age; and in middle age, when ho was the Earl of March, lie wrote to his friend, George Selwyn : “ The muff you sent me by the Duke of Richmond I. like prodigiously; vastly belter than if it had been 1 tigre ’ or of any glaring color! Several are now making after it.”

In his later years Queensberry was careful to preserve his health, lie was attended by Pero Elisec, who had been physician to Louis XV. Elisce was paid handsomely for every day that Queensberry lived, and there was an understanding that when the patient died no further claim would ho admitted; but ■£5,0(10 to Elisec was one of many legacies loft by “Old Q.” In addition, John Fuller, a London apothecary, paid 9,250 visits to this “aged gentleman who swore like ten thousand troopers,” but Queensberry repeatedly refused to pay

him anything, saying that his executors could see to all that. Fuller, who had stayed at Queensberry’s house for 1,215 ijights, had to institute after the death of Ids patient an expensive lawsuit to obtain his fees; he claimed £12,000, and was awarded £7,500. It was said that Queensberry for a large part of his life had bathed in milk every morning and had applied raw veal cutlets to his cheeks to preserve his complexion. Such tales as those Mr Melville can neither confirm nor deny.