92 'OLD q' 



of Colonel John Selwyn, at one time aide-de-camp to 

 John Churcliill, Duke of Marlborough. At twenty- 

 six, young Selwyn, rightly or wrongly, was expelled 

 from Oxford (though he had previously taken his 

 name off the books of his college) for an ' irreverent 

 jest,' which would seem to have been levied against 

 a creed, but not against religion. 



This gave Selwyn opportunity (had the ' custom ' of 

 those times permitted certain officials to do the work 

 for which they were paid) of attending to his appoint- 

 ment as Clerk of the Irons, and Surveyor of the 

 Meltings at the Mint — a post his father's influence 

 had procured for him on entering his twenty-second 

 year. The duties of this office being, however, 

 executed by deputy, entailed no greater labour on 

 young Selwyn than drawing his emoluments and 

 condescending to present himself, when in town, at 

 the weekly dinner of the Mint officials, which a 

 then grateful and indulgent public provided gratis. 

 Whether the performance of these arduous duties 

 counselled the ' relaxation ' of Parliament, his chro- 

 nicler does not record. But in 1747 he ' graduated ' at 

 St. Stephen's, Westminster ; his father's proprietorial 

 interests in the county of Gloucester enabled him to 

 sit as one of its members for some years, and even 

 to influence the return of the second representative. 



