PAUPERS 



I kept my word. The second beggar was an Italian. This was 

 a personage of &quot; high consideration.&quot; He was introduced to the 

 side of my writing table. He behaved with a sort of dignified 

 politeness, mixed with somewhat of reserve, as if he thought the 

 person to whom he w r as addressing himself a very good sort of 

 man, but of rank inferior to himself. We could not understand 

 each other at first ; but, we got into French, and then we could 

 talk. He having laid down his hat, and being seated, pulled out 

 a large parcel of papers, amongst which was a certificate from the 

 Secretary of State of His Majesty the King of Sardinia, duly signed 

 and countersigned, and sealed with a seal having the armorial 

 bearings of that sovereign. Along with this respectable paper 

 was an English translation of it, done at New York, and authen 

 ticated by the Mayor and a Notary Public, with all due formality. 

 All the time these papers were opening, I was wondering what this 

 gentleman could be. I read, and stared, and read again. I was 

 struck not less by the novelty than the audacity of the thing. 

 &quot; So then,&quot; said I, breaking silence, &quot; your sovereign, after taxing 

 &quot; you to your ruin, has been graciously pleased to give you 

 &quot; credentials to show, that he authorizes you to beg in America ; 

 &quot; and, not only for yourself but for others : so that you are an 

 &quot; accredited ambassador from the beggars in Sardinia ! &quot; He 

 found he was got into wrong hands ; and endeavoured to put an 

 end to the negociation at once, by observing, that I was not forced 

 to give, and that my simple negative was enough. &quot; I beg your 

 &quot; pardon, Sir,&quot; said I, &quot; you have submitted your case to me ; 

 &quot; you have made an appeal to me ; your statement contains 

 &quot; reasons for my giving ; and that gives me a right to shew, if v 

 &quot; I can, why I ought not to give.&quot; He then, in order to pievent* 

 all reasoning, opened his Subscription, or Begging-book, and said : 

 &quot; you see, Sir, others give ! &quot; &quot; Now,&quot; said I, &quot; you reason, but 

 &quot; your reasoning is defective : for, if you were to shew me, that 

 &quot; you had robbed all my neighbours without their resenting it, 

 &quot; would it follow that I must let you rob me too ? &quot; &quot; A h ! par 

 &quot; bleu,&quot; said he, snatching up his credentials, &quot; je vois que vous 

 &quot; Btes un avare.&quot; Ah I by Old Nick, I see you are a Miser. And 

 off he went ; not, however, before I had had time to tell him to be 

 sure to give my best respects to the king of Sardinia, and to tell 

 His Majesty to keep his beggars at home. 



395. I afterwards found, that cases like this are by no means 

 rare ; and that, in Pennsylvania, in particular, they have accredited 

 beggars from all parts of the continent of Europe. This may be 

 no unuseful hint for the English Boroughrnongers, who have an 

 undoubted claim to precedence before the German and Italian 

 beggars. The Boroughmongers may easily add a legation of 

 mendicity to their Envoyships and Consulships, without any 

 great disgrace to the latter ; and, since they can get nothing out 

 of America by bullying and attacking, try what can be gained by 

 canting and begging. The chances are, however, that many of 



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