Books in Brief: The Rise and Fall of a Regency Dandy

The Rise and Fall of a Regency Dandy: The Life and Times of Scrope Berdmore Davies, by T. A. J. Burnett (Atlantic-Little, Brown, 256 pp., $14.95).

This is a book born of a box, or rather a trunk: a trunk belonging to the dandy of the title, Scrope Berdmore Davies, which was found in a London bank vault in 1976, untouched since 1820, when its owner fled England and his creditors. The trunk’s contents would be interesting enough merely for the light they shed on the period. Scrope Davies, however, was an intimate of Lord Byron and his circle, and a character in his own right. The trunk yielded manuscripts by Byron and Shelley, as well as miscellaneous correspondence, letters and receipts from bankers and moneylenders, bills from various tradesmen, a pair of kid gloves, and betting records—for Scrope made his living almost entirely from gambling. Horseracing, dice, cards, shooting, tennis—Scrope played, or played at, them all, as well as dabbling in politics to aid various of his friends. It provided him with a very good living for about 15 years, keeping him in circulation and splendid style at the better clubs. He was a loyal friend of the difficult Byron, and no doubt provided a good many of the stories that went into the writing of Don Juan. Scrope was a wit, a dandy, a rakish chap, “one who,” according to Mr. Burnett, “had risen entirely by his own talents to a high position in social, political, sporting, and university circles, a man of intelligence and wit who refused to be solemn about his beliefs, a friend who was loyal but never servile, whose kindness was a legend, a generous winner and a resigned loser, one doomed from the beginning by the fatal love of gambling, but who nonetheless continued to stay afloat for over 15 years, and who, when he sank, did so with dignity and without repining.” That may be saying a bit much, but Burnett has evidence which shows it to be not so very far off the mark. Still and all, while this fine study chronicles the life, it is much better at the times; truth to tell, Scrope was a rather frothy fellow after all, and one who would be almost totally obscure but for the trunk in the bank vault containing the historic haul that was his life. The Rise and Fall of a Regency Dandy is a wonderful chapter of literary, and English, history.

JM

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Joe Mysak

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The Rise and Fall of a Regency Dandy: The Life and Times of Scrope Berdmore Davies, by T. A. J. Burnett (Atlantic-Little, Brown, 256 pp., $14.95).

This is a book born of a box, or rather a trunk: a trunk belonging to the dandy of the title, Scrope Berdmore Davies, which was found in a London bank vault in 1976, untouched since 1820, when its owner fled England and his creditors. The trunk’s contents would be interesting enough merely for the light they shed on the period. Scrope Davies, however, was an intimate of Lord Byron and his circle, and a character in his own right. The trunk yielded manuscripts by Byron and Shelley, as well as miscellaneous correspondence, letters and receipts from bankers and moneylenders, bills from various tradesmen, a pair of kid gloves, and betting records—for Scrope made his living almost entirely from gambling. Horseracing, dice, cards, shooting, tennis—Scrope played, or played at, them all, as well as dabbling in politics to aid various of his friends. It provided him with a very good living for about 15 years, keeping him in circulation and splendid style at the better clubs. He was a loyal friend of the difficult Byron, and no doubt provided a good many of the stories that went into the writing of Don Juan. Scrope was a wit, a dandy, a rakish chap, “one who,” according to Mr. Burnett, “had risen entirely by his own talents to a high position in social, political, sporting, and university circles, a man of intelligence and wit who refused to be solemn about his beliefs, a friend who was loyal but never servile, whose kindness was a legend, a generous winner and a resigned loser, one doomed from the beginning by the fatal love of gambling, but who nonetheless continued to stay afloat for over 15 years, and who, when he sank, did so with dignity and without repining.” That may be saying a bit much, but Burnett has evidence which shows it to be not so very far off the mark. Still and all, while this fine study chronicles the life, it is much better at the times; truth to tell, Scrope was a rather frothy fellow after all, and one who would be almost totally obscure but for the trunk in the bank vault containing the historic haul that was his life. The Rise and Fall of a Regency Dandy is a wonderful chapter of literary, and English, history.