ESSAYS. 



876 



whom he attempted to escape, hunted us 

 through every doubling, and gained upon us 

 each moment ; so that, at last, we fairly stood 

 still, resolving to face what we could not 

 avoid. 



Our pursuer soon came np, and joined us 

 with all the familiarity of an old acquaintance. 

 ' My dear Charles,' cries he, shaking my 

 friend's hand, ' where have you been hiding 

 this half a century ? Positively, I had fancied 

 von were gone down to cultivate matrimony 

 siiul your estate in the country.' During the 

 reply, 1 had an opportunity of surveying the 

 appearance of our new companion. His hat 

 was pinched up with peculiar smartness ; his 

 looks were pale, thin, and sharp; round his 

 neck he wore a broad black ribbon, and in his 

 bosom a buckle studded with glass ; his coat 

 was trimmed with tarnished twist ; he wore 

 by his side a sword with a black hilt ; and his 

 stockings of silk, though newly washed, were 

 grown yellow by long service. I was so much 

 engaged with the peculiarity of his dress, that 

 I attended only to the latter part of my friend's 

 reply ; in which he complimented Mr, Tibbs 

 on the t^ste of his clothes, and the bloom in 

 his countenance. 'Psha, psha, Charles,' cried 

 the figure, ' no more of that if you love me ; 

 you know I hate flattery, on my soul I do ; 

 and yet to be sure an intimacy with the great 

 will improve one's appearance, and a course 

 of venison will fatten ; and yet, faith, I despise 

 the great as much as you do ; but there are a 

 great many honest fellows among them ; and 

 we must not quarrel with one half because the 

 other wants breeding. If they were all such 

 as my lord Mtidler, one of the most good- 

 natured creatures that ever squeezed a lemon, 

 I should myself be among the number of their 

 admirers. 1 was yesterday to dine at the 

 duchess of Piccadilly's. My lord was there. 

 ' Ned,' says he to me, ' Ned', says he, ' I'll 

 hold gold to silver I can tell where you were 

 po:iclung last night.' ' Poaching, my lord,' 

 savs I ; ' faith, you have missed already ; for 1 

 staid at home, and let the girls poach for me. 

 That's my way ; 1 take a fine woman as some 

 animals do their prey ; stand still, and swoop, 

 they fall into my mouth.' 



' Ah, Tibbs, thou art an happy fellow,' 

 cried my companion with looks of infinite pity, 

 ' I hope your fortune is as much improved U3 



NO. 75 & 76. 



your understanding in such company ?' ' Im- 

 proved,' replied the oilier; 'you shall know, 

 but let it go no farther, a gn at secret five 

 hundred a year to begin with My lord's 

 word of honour for it Ills lordship took me 

 down in his own chariot yesterday, and we 

 had a tete-a-tete dinner in the country ; where 

 we talked of nothing else,' '1 fancy you forgot, 

 Sir,' cried I, ' you told us but this moment of 

 your dining yesterday in town !' ' Did I sny 

 so,' replied he cooly. ' To be sure, if I said so 

 it was so. Dined in town: egad, now I do 

 remember I did dine in town : but I dined in 

 the country too : for you must know, my boys, 

 I eat two dinners. By the by, I am grown 

 as nice as the devil in my eating. I'll tell you 

 a pleasant affair about that : we were a select 

 party of us to dine at lady Giograrn's, r.n af- 

 fected piece, but let it go no farther; a secret: 

 Well, says I, I'll hold a thousand guineas, and 

 say done first, that But dear Charles, you 

 are an honest creature, lend me half a crown 

 fora minute or two, orso, just till But hark'e, 

 ask me for it next time we meet, or it may br. 

 twenty to one but. 1 forget to pay you.' 



When he left us, our conversation natural!} 

 turned upon so extraordinary a character 

 ' His very dress,' cries my friend, ' is not 

 less extraordinary than his conduct. If you 

 meet him this day, you find him in rags ; if 

 the next, in embroidery : w ith those persons of 

 distinction, of whom he talks so familiarly, he 

 has scarce a coffee-house acquaintance. How- 

 ever, both for the interest of society, and per- 

 haps for his own, Heaven has made him poor; 

 and, while all the world perceives his w ants, 

 he fancies them concealed from every eye. 

 An agreeable companion, because he under- 

 stands flattery : and all must be pleased wilh 

 the first pair of his conversation, though all 

 are sure of its ending with a demand on their 

 purse. While his youth countenances the le- 

 vhy of his conduct, he may thus earn a pre- 

 carious subsistence ; but when atce conies on, 

 the gravity of which is incompatible with buf- 

 foonery, then will he find himself forsaken by 

 all. Condemned in the decline of life to hang 

 upon some rich family whom he once despised, 

 there to undergo all the ingenuity of stu ied 

 contempt; to be employed only as a spy upon 

 the servants, or a bug-bear to frighten children 

 into duty.' 



6E 



