Maclaine did not at this period keep very reputable society; but was in 1746 again occupying a position with the forgiving "Colonel F——n." The Colonel seems to have, on this second occasion, found him an undesirable servant; whereupon, "being prepossessed with the perfections of his person," he proposed to enlist in Lord Albemarle's troop of horseguards. The Colonel, as an old soldier, thought this, no doubt, the best thing, and, with an advance of ten pounds, bade him go where glory waited him.
Maclaine accordingly enlisted. He had visions of being seated on a prancing steed—"steed" being the superlative of "horse"—and, dressed in something with plenty of blue or scarlet and gold in it, taking part in ceremonial processions and escorts. Unhappily, soon after he had enlisted, he heard that the troop was to proceed at once to Flanders on active service, and hurriedly got, somehow, out of the dangerous position.
He then made some attempt to settle down and live respectably, for he married the daughter of a Mr. Maclagen, a horse-dealer in the Oxford Road—the Oxford Street of to-day. His wife brought a small dowry of £500, and with this they set up business in the grocery and chandlery way in Welbeck Street. Unhappily for any views he may have entertained of a settled life as a tradesman, his wife died in 1748. It appeared then that the business had not prospered, or that their style of living had been beyond their means, for the stock and furniture were then found to be worth only £85.
Maclaine's first idea after this domestic catastrophe was one very prevalent at that time: the notion of posing as a gentleman of fortune and of fashion, with the object of ensnaring the affections of some susceptible young lady of means and marrying her for her money. He accordingly realised all his effects, and, placing his two infant daughters in the care of his mother-in-law, burst upon the town as one of the elegants of the day.
A needy neighbour, like himself a tradesman, Plunkett by name, who had failed as a chemist, was induced by this hopeful widower to act a part as his footman, and together they frequented places of fashionable assemblage, both in London and at Tunbridge Wells, on the look-out for heiresses. But the game was shy, and meanwhile the small capital of £85 was fast melting away. Fine clothes were ten times more expensive in that age than the finest clothes of to-day, and although it was possible to obtain a good deal on credit, it was not at all workable to visit Vauxhall and such expensive places, and to cut a dash there, for any considerable time on so inconsiderable a capital.