4*42 THE BEE, OR Feb. I^, 



which is only deftined for guilty heads. Yet how of- 

 ten do we fee him reduced to poverty and want, ex- 

 pofed to the mifery of a jail, without friends and with- 

 out help ! A man in this fituation is an objeft of pity : 

 he who refufes it is unworthy of a better lot. On the 

 other hand, the more fplendid fpendthrift, who indulg- 

 ed hrttifelf ift all the fafliionable follies of fenfnality«nd 

 extravagance, who perhaps was the ruin of the for- 

 mer, whofe credit was never fupported but by them oft 

 ruinous means, viz. " wind bills, and perfonal aflu- 

 rance," often meets with that pity which the other ne- 

 ver has found: in a fliort time furmounts his difficulties 

 or feeming embarralTments : overleaps the bounds of 

 prudence, and begins again his ruinous career with 

 undiminifhed fplendof ; defpifing alike the cenfures of 

 the world, and of his own confcience, hackneyed in 

 iniquity. Ought not the 'one to be admired in his 

 misfortunes, and the other reprobated in his fplendor, 

 and detefted, though furrounded with the glare of tin- 

 zied fhew ? 



As matters bave flood for feme time part, there is 

 no man who deals extenfively but mufl fufFer ; and the 

 fraudulent bankrupt is generally the one who lives 

 moft fplendidly. 



When we trace bankruptcies to their fource, we ge- 

 nerally find extravagance at home, ruinous fpeculations, 

 or misfortunes, the caufe to which they have been ow- 

 ing. Could not fome mode be adopted to check the 

 growth of this growing evil ? Could not fome mark of 

 odium be flamped upon them by the public ? The wife 

 moft furely would applaud a fcheme for that purpofe ; 

 'tis a pity it has not been already put in execution. For 

 inftance, when it was clearly proved that a man had 

 fairly ruined himfelf by heedlefs expenditures, which 

 he well knows his circumftances could not admit of; if 

 he is d member of a mercantile fociety, and it is infi- 

 nuated that either fraudulent praftices, or fome other 

 caufe, owing to himfelf, have been the caufe of his 



