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 pleafure; but when cards and dice have engroffed our attention, women and all their charms are flighted at five-and-twenty. A thorough gamefter renounces Venus and Cupid for Plutus and Ames-ace, and owns no miftrefs 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 confcience, and his liberal deportment and affected openness is a fpecious veil to recommend and conccal the blackeft vil lainy.

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 encrease 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 state 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 mask falls off, he runs the hazard of being fuffocated by the ftench of his own poifons. I have feen fome examples of this fort not many years ago at White's. I am uncertain whether the wretches are ftill alive; but if they are ftill alive, they breathe like toads under ground, crawling amidst old walls, and paths long fince unfrequented.

But fuppofing that the Sharper's hypoerify remains undetected, in what a itate of mind mult that man be, whofe fortune depends upon the infincerity of his heart, the difingenuity of his behaviour, and the falfe bias of his dice! What fenfations muft he fupprefs, when he is obliged to

fmile, although he is provoked; when he must look ferene in the height of despair : 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 moft benefit; I mean amidst 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 must ha mour every turn and caprice to which that set of spoiled 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 less honeft occupation.

The Sharper has alfo frequently the mortification of being thwarted in his defigns. Opportunities of fraud will not for ever prefent themfelves. The falfe dice cannot be conftantly produced, nor the packed cards always be placed upon the table. It is then our gamester 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 must stand 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 stage, 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 thofe 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.

Connoifear.

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 pleafed to fee her enter the room with a decent and matron-like behaviour, which I thought very much became her. I saw she had a great deal to fay to me, and eafily discovered in her eyes, and the air of her countenance, that he had abundance 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 thousand 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 hufband," fays fhe, "gives his humble fervice to you;" to which I only anfwered, "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 spirit than I had ever obferved before in her; " I did not think, brother, you had been fo ill-natured. You have feen ever fince I came in, that I had a mind to talk of my husband, and you will not be fo kind as to give me an occafion." "I did not know," faid 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 speak of one who is to be fo; but to speak of one who is fo-indeed, Jenny, I am a better bred man than you think me." She fhewed a little diflike to my raillery, and by her bridling up, I perceived the expected to be treated hereafter not as Jenny Distaff, but Mrs. Tranquillus. I was very well pleafed with the change in her humour; and upon talking with her on feveral fubjects, 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 unspeakable fatisfaction, not only because I had found her a husband from whom she could learn many things that were laudable, but also because I looked upon her imitation of him as an infallible 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 flynels of her fex hindered her from telling me the greatnefs of her own paffion, but I cafily collect

ed it from the reprefentation fhe gave me of his. "I have every thing in Tranquillus," fays fhe, "that I can wish for and enjoy in him (what indeed you told me were to be met with in a good hufband) the fondness of a lover, the tenderness of a parent, and the intimacy of a friend." It tranfported me to fee her eyes fwimming in tears of affection when the fpoke. "And is there not, dear fifter," said I,

more pleasure in the poffeffion of fuch a man, than in all the little impertinences of balls, affemblies, and equipage, which it coft me fo much pains to make you contemn?" She aniwered fmiling, "Tranquillus 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 midst of all my fatisfactions: I am afraid, you must 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 fhall 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 reafonable a temper as Tranquillus-Endeavour to pleafe, and you must please. 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 invisible." Tatler.

§ 114. Curiofity.

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

3G 4

It

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 excefs;-order it rightly, the advantages are worth the purfuit; the chief of which are- -to learn the languages, the laws and customs, and understand the government and intereft of other nations, to acquire an urbanity and confidence of behaviour, and fit the mind more eafily for converfation and difcourfe;-to take us out of the company of our aunts and grandmothers, and from the tracks of nursery 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 goodby obferving 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 of getting clear from all leffons both of wisdom and reproof at home-carries our youth too early out, to turn this venture to much account; on the contrary, if the scene 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 unpromising a fetting-out,-without care, -without compafs,-be not caft away for ever; and may he not be faid to efcape 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 scholar.

If wisdom could fpeak no other language but Greek or Latin-you do well-or if mathematics will make a gentleman, or natural philofophy 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 upshot will be generally this, that in the most preffing 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 seen! fome broken Swifs valetde-chambre--fome general undertaker, who will perform the journey in fo many months, "if God permit,"-much knowledge will not accrue;-fome profit at leak,

he will learn the amount to a halfpenny, of every stage from Calais to Rome;-be will be carried to the beft inns,-inftructed where there is the beft wine, and sup 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 advantages.

And here endeth his pride-his knowledge, and his ufe.

But when your fon gets abroad, he wil be taken out of his hand, by his fociety with men of rank and letters, with whom he will pass the greateft part of his time.

Let me obferve, in the first place,—that company which is really good is very rare

and very fhy: but you have furmounted this difficulty, and procured him the bet letters of recommendation to the most eninent and refpectable in every capital.

And I anfwer, that he will obtain all by them, which courtesy strictly stands obliged to pay on fuch occasions, but ra more,

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

Converfation is a traffic; and if you enter into it without fome stock of knowledge, to balance the account perpetually betwixt you, the trade drops at once; and this is the reafon,-however it may be boafted to the contrary, why travellers have fo little (especially good) converfa tion with natives, owing to their fufpicion, or perhaps conviction, that there is nothing to be extracted from the converíation of young itinerants, worth the trouble of their bad language, or the interruption of their vifits.

The pain on thefe occafions is ufually reciprocal; the confequence of which is, that the disappointed youth seeks an eafier fociety; and as bad company is always ready,—and ever laying in wait-the career is foon finished; and the poor prodigal returns the fame object of pity, with the prodigal in the gospel.

Sterne's Sermons,

$115. Controverfy feldom decently conducted. "Tis no uncommon circumstance in controverfy, for the parties to engage in all the fury of difputation, without precifely inftructing their readers, or truly knowing themselves, the particulars about which they differ. Hence that fruitless parade of argument, and those oppofite pretences to demonftration, with which most debates, on every subject, have been infefted. Would the contending parties first be fure 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, instead of imaginary conqueft, would be the noble reward of literary toil. Browne's Efays.

§ 116. How to please in Conversation. None of the defires dictated by vanity is more general, or lefs blameable, than that of being diftinguished for the arts of converfation. Other accomplishments may be poffeffed without opportunity of exerting them, or wanted without danger that the defect can often be remarked; but as no man can live otherwife. than in an hermi

tage without hourly pleasure or vexation, from the fondnefs or neglect of thofe about him, the faculty of giving pleasure is of continual ufe. Few are more frequently envied than thofe who have the power of forcing attention wherever they come, whofe entrance is confidered as a promise 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.

hope of contributing reciprocally to the Merrientertainment of the company. ment extorted by fallies of imagination, fprightlinefs 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 nar rative. He who has ftored his memory with flight anecdotes, private incidents, and perfonal peculiarities, feldom fails to find his audience favourable. Almost every man liftens with eagerness to extemporary hiftory; for almoft every man has fome real or imaginary 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 himself to become a fpeaker in another; for though he cannot comprehend a feries of argument, or tranfport the volatile spirit 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 shall give to fome inferior fociety.

Narratives are for the moft 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 himself equal to the task. Rambler.

and Behaviour pointed out.

He that would please must rarely aim at fuch excellence as depreffes his hearers in their own opinion, or debars them from the

I fhall not attempt to lay down any particular rules for converfation, but rather point out fuch faults in difcourfe and behaviour, as render the company of half mankind rather tedious than amusing. It is in vain, indeed, to look for converfation, where we might expect to find it in the greateft perfection, among perfons of fafhion: there it is almoft annihilated by univerfal card-playing; infomuch that I have heard it given as a reason, why it is impoffible for our prefent writers to fucceed in the dialogue of genteel comedy, that our people of quality scarce ever meet but to game. All their difcourfe turns upon the odd trick and the four honours: and it is no less a maxim with the votaries

of