This look was produced chiefly by the effect of an elaborately dressed jet black wig which he wore.

What misfortune had made him bald so early--if to be bald early in life be a misfortune--I cannot say; but he had lost the hair from the crown of his head, and had preferred wiggery to baldness.

No doubt an effort was made to hide the wiggishness of his wigs, but what effect in that direction was ever made successfully?
He was, moreover, weak, thin, and physically poor, and had, no doubt, increased this weakness and poorness by hard living.
Though others thought him old, time had gone swiftly with him, and he still thought himself a young man.

He hunted, though he could not ride.
He shot, though he could not walk.

And, unfortunately, he drank, though he had no capacity for drinking! His friends at last had taught him to believe that his only chance of saving himself lay in marriage, and therefore he had engaged himself to Julia Brabazon, purchasing her at the price of a brilliant settlement.