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He plays, not that he has any delight in cards and dice, but because it is the fashion; and if whift or hazard are propofed, he will no more refufe to make one at the table, than among a fet of hard drinkers he would object drinking his glafs in turn, because he is not dry.

There are fome few inftances of men of fenfe, as well as family and fortune, who have been dupes and bubbles. Such an unaccountable itch of play has feized them, that they have facrificed every thing to it, and have feemed wedded to feven's the main, and the odd trick. There is not a more melancholy object than a gentleman of fenfe thus infatuated. He makes himself and family a prey to a gang of villains more infamous than highwaymen; and perhaps when his ruin is completed, he is glad to join with the very fcoundrels that destroyed him, and live upon the spoil of others, whom he can draw into the fame follies that proved fo fatal to himself.

Here we may take a furvey of the character of a sharper; and that he may have no room to complain of foul play, let us begin with his excellencies. You will perhaps be ftartled, Mr. Town, when I mention the excellencies of a fharper; but a gamefter, who makes a decent figure in the world, muft be endued with many amiable qualities, which would undoubtedly appear with great luftre, were they not eclipfed by the odious character affixed to his trade. In order to carry on the common bufi nefs of his profeffion, he must be a man of quick and lively parts, attended with a ftoical calmness of temper, and a conftant prefence of mind. He muft fmile at the lofs of thoufands; and is not to be difcompofed, though ruin ftares him in the face. As he is to live among the great, he must not want politeness and affability; he must be fubmiffive, but not fervile; he must be mafter of an ingenuous liberal air, and have a feeming opennefs of behaviour.

Thefe must be the chief accomplishments of our hero: but left I fhould be accufed of giving too favourable a likeness of him, now we have feen his outfide, let us take a view of his heart. There we shall find avarice the main

fpring that moves the whole machine. Every gamefter is eaten up with avarice; and when this paffion is in full force, it is more ftrongly predominant than any other. It conquers even luft; and conquers it more effectually than age. At fixty we look at a fine woman with pleasure; but when cards and dice have engroffed our attention, women and all their charms are flighted at fiveand-twenty. A thorough gamefter renounces Venus and Cupid for Plutus and Ames-ace, and owns no mistress of his heart except the queen of trumps. His infatiable avarice can only be gratified by hypocrify; fo that all thofe fpecious virtues already mentioned, and which, if real, might be turned to the benefit of mankind, must be directed in a gamefter towards the deftruction of his fellow-creatures. His quick and lively parts ferve only to inftruct and affift him in the most dexterous method of packing the cards and cogging the dice; his fortitude, which enables him to lofe thousands without emotion, must often be practifed against the ftings and reproaches of his own confcience, and his liberal deportment and affected openness is a specious veil to recommend and conceal the blackest villainy.

It is now neceffary to take a fecond furvey of his heart; and as we have feen its vices, let us confider its miferies. The covetous man who has not fufficient courage or inclination to encreafe his fortune by bets, cards, or dice, but is contented to hoard up thoufands by thefts lefs public, or by cheats lefs liable to uncertainty, lives in a ftate of perpetual fufpicion and terror; but the avaricious fears of the gamefter are infinitely greater. He is conftantly to wear a mafk; and like Monfieur St. Croix, coadjuteur to that famous empoisonneufe, Madame Brinvillier, if his mafk falls off, he runs the hazard of being fuffocated by the stench of his own poifons. I have feen some examples of this fort not many years ago at White's. I am uncertain whether the wretches are still alive; but if they are, they breathe like toads under ground, crawling amidft old walls, and paths long fince unfrequented.

But

But fuppofing that the Sharper's hypocrify remains undetected, in what a ftate of mind muft that man be, whofe fortune depends upon the infincerity of his heart, the difingenuity of his behaviour, and the falle bias of his dice! What fenfations must he fupprefs, when he is obliged to fmile, although he is provoked; when he muft look ferene in the height of defpair: and when he must act the ftoic, without the confolation of one virtuous fentiment, or one moral principle! How unhappy muft he be even in that fituation from which he hopes to reap most benefit; I mean amidit ftars, garters, and the various herds of nobility! Their lordships are not always in a humour for play: they choose to laugh; they choose to joke; in the mean while our hero muft patiently await the good hour, and must not only join in the laugh, and applaud the joke, but muft humour every turn and caprice to which that fet of fpoiled children, called bucks of quality, are liable. Surely his brother Thicket's employment, of fauntering on horfeback in the wind and rain till the Reading coach paffes through Smallberry. green, is the more eligible, and no lefs honeft occupation.

The Sharper has alfo frequently the mortification of being thwarted in his defigns. Opportunities of fraud will not for ever present themselves. The falfe dice cannot be conftantly produced, nor the packed cards always be placed upon the table. It is then our gamefter is in the greatest danger. But even then, when he is in the power of fortune, and has nothing but mere luck and fair play on his fide, he muft ftand the brunt, and perhaps give away his laft guinea, as coolly as he would lend a nobleman a fhilling.

Our hero is now going off the ftage, and his catastrophe is very tragical. The next news we hear of him is his death, atchieved by his own hand, and with his own piftol. An inqueft is bribed, he is buried at midnight, and forgotten before fun-rife.

These two portraits of a Sharper, wherein I have endeavoured to fhew different likeneffes in the fame man, put me in mind of an old print, which

I remember at Oxford, of count Guifcard. At first fight he was exhibited in a full-bottomed wig, a hat and feather, embroidered cloaths, diamond buttons, and the full court drefs of those days; but by pulling a string the folds of the paper were fhifted, the face only remained, a new body came forward, and count Guifcard appeared to be a devil. Connoiffeur.

$116. The TATLER's Advice to bis Sifter Jenny; a good Lejon for young Ladies.

My brother Tranquillus being gone out of town for fome days, my fifter Jenny fent me word fhe would come and dine with me, and therefore defired me to have no other company. I took care accordingly, and was not a little pleased to fee her enter the room with a decent and matron-like behaviour,which I thought very much became her. I faw fhe had a great deal to fay to me, and easily difcovered in her eyes, and the air of her countenance, that she had abun dance of fatisfaction in her heart, which fhe longed to communicate. However, I was refolved to let her break into her difcourfe her own way, and reduced her to a thoufand little devices and intimations to bring me to the mention of her husband. But finding I was refolved not to name him, fhe began of her own accord; "My husband," says she, "gives his humble fervice to you;" to which I only answered, "I hope he is well;" and without waiting for a reply, fell into other fubjects. She at laft was out of all patience, and faid, with a fmile and manner that I thought had more beauty and fpirit than I had ever obferved before in her; "I did not think, brother, you had been fo illnatured. You have feen ever fince I came in, that I had a mind to talk of my hulband, and you will not be fo kind as to give me an occafion." "I did not know," said I," but it might be a difagreeable fubject to you. You do not take me for fo old-fashioned a fellow as to think of entertaining a young lady with the difcourfe of her husband. I know nothing is more acceptable than to fpeak of one who is to be fo; but to fpeak of one who is fo-indeed, Jenny, 3 D

I am

I am a better bred man than you think
me." She fhewed a little diflike to my
raillery, and by her bridling up, I per-
ceived the expected to be treated here-
after not as Jenny Diftaff, but Mrs.
Tranquillus. I was very well pleafed
with the change in her humour, and
upon talking with her on feveral fub-
jects, I could not but fancy that I faw a
great deal of her husband's way and
manner in her remarks, her phrafes, the
tone of her voice, and the very air of
her countenance. This gave me an
unfpeakable fatisfaction, not only be
caufe I had found her a husband from
whom he could learn many things that
were laudable, but also because I look-
ed upon
her imitation of him as an in-
fallible fign that the entirely loved him.
This is an obfervation that I never knew
fail, though I do not remember that any
other has made it. The natural flynefs
of her fex hindered her from telling me
the greatnefs of her own paffion, but I ea-
fily collected it from the reprefentation
The gave me of his. "I have every thing
in Tranquillus," fays fhe," that I can
wifh for and enjoy in him (what indeed
you told me were to be met with in a
good husband) the fondnefs of a lover,
the tenderness of a parent, and the in-
timacy of a friend." It tranfported me
zo fee her eyes fwimming in tears of af-
fection when she spoke. And is there
not, dear fifter," faid I," more pleasure
in the poffeffion of fuch a man, than in
all the little impertinences of balls, af-
femblies, and equipage, which it coft
me fo much pains to make you con-
temn?" She answered fmiling, "Tran-
quillus has made me a fincere convert
in a few weeks, though I am afraid you
could not have done it in your whole
life. To tell you truly, I have only
one fear hanging upon me, which is
apt to give me trouble in the midft of
all my fatisfactions: I am afraid, you
muft know, that I fhall not always make
the fame amiable appearance in his
eyes, that I do at prefent. You know,
brother Bickerstaff, that you have the
reputation of a conjurer, and if you
have any one fecret in your art to make
your fifter always beautiful, I fhould be
happier than if I were miftrefs of all the
worlds you have fhewn me in a starry

night." " Jenny," faid I, without having recourfe to magic, I shall give you one plain rule, that will not fail of making you always amiable to a man who has fo great a paffion for you, and is of fo equal and reasonable a temper as Tranquillus; Endeavour to please, and you must pleafe. Be always in the fame difpofition as you are when you afk for this fecret, and you may take my word, you will never want it: an inviolable fidelity, good-humour, and complacency of temper, outlive all the charms of a fine face, and make the decays of it invifible." Tatler.

§ 117. Curiosity.

The love of variety, or curiofity of feeing new things, which is the fame or at least a fifter paffion to it, seems wove into the frame of every fon and daughter of Adam; we ufually speak of it as one of nature's levities, though planted within us for the folid purpofes of carrying forward the mind to frefh enquiry and knowledge: ftrip us of it, the mind (I fear) would doze for ever over the prefent page; and we fhould all of us reft at eafe with fuch objects as prefented themfelves in the parish or province where we first drew breath.

It is to this fpur which is ever in our fides, that we owe the impatience of this defire for travelling: the paffion is no ways bad, but as others are in its mifmanagement or excess ;-order it rightly, the advantages are worth the purfuit; the chief of which are to learn the languages, the laws and cuftoms, and understand the government and intereft of other nations, to acquire an urbanity and confidence of behaviour, and fit the mind more easily for converfation and difcourfe;—to take us out of the company of our aunts and grandmothers, and from the tracks of nurfery mistakes; and by fhewing us new objects, or old ones in new lights, to reform our judgments-by tafting perpetually the varieties of nature, to know what is good-by observing the addrefs and arts of men, to conceive what is fincere,and by feeing the difference of fo many various humours and manners- to look into ourselves and form our own.

This is fome part of the cargo we might return with; but the impulfe of feeing new fights, augmented with that ae getting clear from all leffons both of wifdom and reproof at home-carries our youth too early out, to turn this venture to much account; on the contrary, if the fcene painted of the prodigal in his travels, looks more like a copy than an original-will it not be well if fuch an adventurer, with fo unpromifing a fetting-out,-without care, -without compass,-be not caft away for ever, and may he not be faid to escape well-if he returns to his country only as naked as he first left it? But you will fend an able pilot with your fon-a fcholar.

If wifdom could speak no other language but Greek or Latin-you do well-or if mathematics will make a gentleman, or natural philosophy but teach him to make a bow, he may be of fome fervice in introducing your fon into good focieties, and fupporting him in them when he has done but the upfhot will be generally this, that in the most prefling occafions of addrefs, if he is a mere man of reading, the unhappy youth will have the tutor to carry, and not the tutor to carry him.

But you will avoid this extreme; he fhall be escorted by one who knows the world, not merely from books-but from his own experience:-a man who has been employed on fuch fervices, and thrice made the tour of Europe with fuccefs.

-That is, without breaking his own, or his pupil's neck;-for if he is fuch as my eyes have feen! fome broken Swifs valet-de-chambre-fome general undertaker, who will perform the journey in fo many months, "if God permit," much knowledge will not accrue;-- fome profit at leaft, he will learn the amount to a halfpenny, of every ftage from Calais to Rome;-he will be carried to the best inns,—inftructed where there is the best wine, and fup a livre cheaper, than if the youth had been left, to make the tour and bargain himself. Look at our governor! I beseech you :-fee, he is an inch taller as he relates the advan. tages,

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There is nothing in which we are fo much deceived, as in the advantages propofed from our connections and difcourfe with the literati, &c. in foreign parts; efpecially if the experiment is made before we are matured by years or ftudy.

Conversation is a traffick; and if you enter into it, without fome flock of knowledge, to balance the account perpetually betwixt you,-the trade drops at once and this is the reason,-however it may be boasted to the contrary, why travellers have fo little (efpecially good) converfation with natives, owing to their fufpicion,-or perhaps conviction, that there is nothing to be extracted from the converfation of young itinerants, worth the trouble of their bad language, or the interruption of their visits.

The pain on thefe occafions is ufually reciprocal; the confequence of which is, that the difappointed youth seeks an eafier fociety; and as bad company is always ready,ind ever laying in wait

the career is foon finifhed; and the poor prodigal returns the fame object of pity, with the prodigal in the gospel.

Sterne's Sermons.

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cifely inftructing their readers, or truly knowing themselves, the particulars about which they differ. Hence that fruitless parade of argument, and thofe oppofite pretences to demonftration, with which moft debates, on every fubject, have been infefted. Would the contending parties first be sure of their own meaning, and then communicate their fenfe to others in plain terms and fimplicity of heart, the face of controverfy would foon be changed, and real knowledge, inftead of imaginary conqueft, would be the noble reward of literary toil. Browne's Elays.

$118. How to please in Converfation.

None of the defires dictated by vanity is more general, or less blameable, than that of being diftinguished for the arts of converfation. Other accomplishments may be poffeffed without op portunity of exerting them, or wanted without danger that the defect can of ten be remarked; but as no man can live otherwife than in an hermitage without hourly pleasure or vexation, from the fondness or neglect of thofe about him, the faculty of giving plea fure is of continual ule. Few are more frequently envied than thofe who have the power of forcing attention whereever they come, whofe entrance is confidered as a promife of felicity, and whofe departure is lamented, like the recefs of the fun from northern climates, as a privation of all that enlivens fancy or infpires gaiety.

for a counsellor, and too treacherous for a friend.

He that would pleafe muft rarely aim at fuch excellence as depreffes his hearers in their own opinion, or debars them from the hope of contributing re ciprocally to the entertainment of the company. Merriment extorted by fallies of imagination, fprightliness of remark, or quickness of reply, is too often what the Latins call, the Sardinian laughter, a diftortion of face without gladness of heart.

For this reafon no ftile of converfation is more extensively acceptable than the narrative. He who has stored his memory with flight anecdotes, private incidents, and perfonal peculiarities, feldom fails to find his audience favour. able. Almost every man liftens with eagerness to extemporary hiftory; for almost every man has fome real or ima ginary connection with a celebrated character, fome defire to advance or oppofe a rifing name. Vanity often cooperates with curiofity. He that is a hearer in one place qualifies himfelf to become a fpeaker in another; for though he cannot comprehend a feries of argument, or tranfport the volatile. fpirit of wit without evaporation, yet he thinks himself able to treasure up the various incidents of a story, and pleafes his hopes with the information which he fhall give to fome inferior fociety.

Narratives are for the most part heard without envy, because they are not fuppofed to imply any intellectual qualities above the common rate, To be acquainted with facts not yet echoed by plebeian mouths, may happen to one man as well as to another, and to relate them when they are known, has in appearance fo very little difficulty, that every one concludes himfelf equal to the talk, Rambler.

It is apparent that to excellence in this valuable art, fome peculiar qualifications are neceffary; for every man's experience will inform him, that the pleafure which men are able to give in converfation holds no ftated proportion to their knowledge or their virtue. Many find their way to the tables and the parties of thofe who never confider them as of the least importance in any other place; we have all, at one time § or other, been content to love those whom we could not esteem, and been perfuaded to try the dangerous experiment of admitting him for a companion whom we know to be too ignorant

120. The various Faults in Conversar tion and Behaviour pointed out. I fhall not attempt to lay down any particular rules for converfation, but rather point out fuch faults in discourse and behaviour, as render the company

of

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