86 AUTHENTICATED NAUli ATIVK OF 



of the New Church/ Tiverton, Devonshire, and ultimately became 

 rector of Kevv; therefore, up to a certain period of his natural life he 

 had received nothing but benefits at the hands of fortune. The be- 

 nignant star that presided over his destinies can hardly be said to 

 have abandoned him ; and his untoward disrepute and ultimate ruin 

 and decay were attributable to himself alone. For several years ante- 

 cedent to his visit to America, his eccentric habits and appearance 

 had procured for him an unfortunate notoriety. A peculiar pro- 

 pensity to vulgar gamblers and pothouse politicians excluded him from 

 that honourable rank in society to which he would have been entitled 

 by his education and dearest connexions. The gaming tables of St. 

 James's were his daily resort, and he was ever remarked for his des- 

 perate play and the large amount of his stakes. 



We are able to give but little account of him during his residence, 

 of about two years, in the United States, whence he proceeded to 

 Paris, the " unsubstantial and melancholy stage" on which the 

 closing scenes of his life were to be exhibited. On his arrival at the 

 French capital we find him pursuing his adventurous speculations at 

 the tables of rouge et noir and roulette, and to all appearance he was 

 provided with a considerable stock of cash. Success marked his 

 course on most occasions. A house in the Palais Royale paid him on 

 one night four thousand pounds ; hence his appearance in the saloons 

 excited considerable sensation among the conductors of those esta- 

 blishments. 



Mr. Colton took the singular precaution of converting his cash into 

 such a form, that whatever sum he might chance to possess could be 

 carried round his waist in a silk handkerchief. Nothing was more 

 gratifying to him than an opportunity of vaunting his system of play, 

 and of exhibiting his enormous gains, which he frequently counted 

 over, with an air of triumph, in a public cafe. When, on the other 

 hand, he had been got the better of, or in other words had lost ! he 

 threatened destruction to the tables. He has often been heard to ex- 

 claim Nemo me impune laccssit " The money I have been robbed 

 of by these fellows, they shall pay back with good interest." 



* It was during his early residence on his living at Tiverton, and practice in 

 the church, that, among other " whims and fancies" that ever and anon filled 

 his prolific brain, the strange and marvellous affair of the appearance of the 

 u Sampford ghost" occupied and amused him for to him, indeed, the then ter- 

 rified and wondering world of simpletons and blockheads owed all their super- 

 stitious (laughable) amazement ! Colton was the constructor of that playful cob- 

 web to catch flies ! and it was not before he was himself consulted as to the na- 

 ture of the " ghost" consulted in his sacred character as priest, and was heard 

 by the present editor and proprietor of the Taunton Courier (who afterwards 

 is'sued a very clever pamphlet, which led to the discovery of ihe " troublesome 

 goblin of Sampford"), to remark that "the ghost must certainly be no other 

 than a very learned one, since it uttered, to the astonishment of the learned 

 doctor, not only Latin, but Greek, and so on" that the " diabolical cheat" was 

 found out. In the forthcoming life of this remarkable man, which will be edited 

 by a literary gentleman of our acquaintance, hundreds of the most remarkable 

 facts will be detailed with accuracy and truth, and which will not only amuse, 

 but enliven the world. 



