1827.] The Travellers Oracle. 385 



" Be Liberal. The advantages of a Reputation for Generosity which a person 

 easily acquires, and the many petty annoyances he entirely avoids, by the annual 

 disbursement of Five pounds worth of Shillings and Half Crowns, will produce 

 him five times as much Satisfaction as he can obtain by spending that sum in any 

 other way it does not depend so much upon a man's general Expense, as it does 

 upon his giving handsomely where it is proper to give at all he who gives Two 

 Shillings is called Mean, while he who gives Half a Crown is considered Generous j 

 so that the difference of these two opposite characters depends upon Sixpence. 



" He shall not be accused of Prodigality, in whose accounts not a more extra- 

 vagant charge appears than such a sum set down annually for " Good Humour." 



" Those who Travel for Pleasure must not disquiet their minds with the cares 

 of too great Economy, or, instead of the Pleasure, they will find nothing but 

 Vexation. To Travel agreeably, one must spend freely: 'tis the way to be 

 respected by every Body, and to gain Admittance Everywhere. Since 'tis but once 

 in your Life that you undertake such a Thing, 'tis not worth while to be anxious 

 about saving a few Pounds." 



Where you are to sleep on the road 



" The Earlier you arrive, and the Earlier after your arrival you apply, the bet- 

 ter the chance you have of getting a Good Bed : this done, order your Luggage 

 to your Room : A Travelling Bag, or a " Sac de nuit" in addition to your Trunk, 

 is very necessary it should be large enough to contain one or two changes of 

 Linen a Night Shirt Shaving apparatus-comb, clothes, tooth, and hair brushes. 

 If you travel by Diligence, some of which stop during the Night, the Travelling 

 Bag is a great luxury, as it is not always convenient to be continually unpacking 

 a Portmanteau. Take care to see your Sheets are well aired, and that you can 

 fasten your Room at Night : in the morning, when you are to set off again, see 

 your Luggage stowed safely as before. 



" In Lonesome places, where an accident may oblige you to rest, if you carry 

 Fire Arms, it may be well to let the Landlord see (as it were accidentally) that you 

 are well Armed. " Mr. La Combe, in his Picture of London, advises those who 

 do not wish to be robbed, to carry a Brace of Blunderbusses, and to put the muzzle 

 of one out of each Window, so as to be seen by the Robbers ! M ' 



" However well made your Pistols, however carefully you have chosen your 

 Flint, and however dry your Powder, look to their Priming and touch-hole every 

 Night : if you have reason to think that they may be required for actual service, 

 fire them off, clean them out, and reload them ; but never use these deathful 

 Instruments merely to save a little Money, and no prudent Traveller will carry 

 much : if your Pistol takes effect you may preserve your property, but it is a 

 melancholy price you pay for it, if it costs the Life of a fellow Creature ; and if it 

 misses fire, you will most likely not only be Robbed, but Murdered !" 



It will be advisable also for the traveller, " as well as the priming," to 

 examine, from time to time, the " loading" of his pistols, and make sure 

 that it is safe. A friend of our' s, riding alone on the frontiers of Spain, 

 was stopped, in open day, once by three robbers; at one of whom he fired 

 in a manner to bruler le cervelle, according to the French idiom the 

 pistol being within three feet of the enemy's head. To his great surprise,' 

 the man stood unhurt ! And the fleetriess of his horse extricating him 

 (with a bullet through the cape of his cloak) from the scrape during a 

 two hours' ride to his quarters, he came to the conclusion for to miss his 

 aim at such a distance appeared impossible that his servant must have put 

 powder into his pistols only in loading them, and been privy to the attack. 

 On reaching home, however, fortunately the suspected domestic was absent ; 

 and our friend proceeded to put up and attend to his horse himself; when, 

 as he took off , the saddle, and turned it up on the ground (" crutches not 

 being, in that part of the world, invented), the ball that had missed the- 

 head of the robber fell out of the holster-pipe ! 



M.M. New Series. VOL. IV, No, 22. 3 D 



