The  reign  of  the  new  "King  of  Bath"  was,  how-
ever, of  comparatively  short  duration.  Rumour  and
scandal  were  making  the  holding  of  the  position  more
and  more  difficult,  even  at  a  time  when  morals  were
somewhat  easy,  and  in  1777  came  the  climax,  when
was  set  down  for  trial  the  divorce  case  of  John  Hooke
Campbell,  Esq.,  "  Lord  Lyon  King  at  Arms  for  the
Kingdom  of  Scotland,"  versus  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Campbell,
wife  of  the  same.  The  trial  and  its  adverse  conclusion
drove  Wade  from  Bath.  His  edicts  as  M.C.,  issued
with  all  the  pomp  and  circumstance  of  his  position,
were  no  longer  despatched  from  his  residence  in  Edgar
Buildings.  His  sumptuous  and  "elegant"  reunions  at
Mrs.  Herbert's  "lodgings"  in  Gay  Street,  or  in  Brock
Street,  came  to  an  untimely  conclusion,  and  the  Captain
withdrew  to  fresh  fields  and  pastures  new  at  Brighton,
where  for  a  period  he  filled  a  position  as  M.C.,  but
without  the  ^clat  or  glory  of  his   Bath  career.
The  ultimate  fate  of  Captain  Wade  has  always  been
something  of  a  mystery.  With  some  amount  of  trouble
the  writer  has  traced  his  career  subsequently  to  his
exit  from  Bath.  For  a  number  of  years  he  officiated
as  M.C.  for  the  proprietors  of  the  Public  Rooms  at
Brighton,  where  soon  after  his  arrival  he  dispensed
with  the  prefix  of  Captain.  But  the  Nemesis  of  a
tarnished  name  seems  to  have  pursued  him  to  his  new
sphere.  In  April  1797,  at  Christie's  London  Auction
Rooms,  when  Mr.  Gainsborough's  effects  were  sold,
a  portrait  of  "Mr.  Wade,  of  Brighton,"  was  sold  to  a
Mr.  Pierce,  for  the  paltry  sum  of  ^3,  los.  But  time
has  avenged  this  slight,  and  the  Bath  Gainsborough
portrait,  when  offered  for  sale  in  London  recently,  was
bought  in  at  ^2100.
