260 CHICANERY. 



father's position, and with his property, 

 which at that time amounted, in land 

 and houses alone, to between sixty and 

 seventy thousand pounds and deriving as 

 well a handsome income from a business 

 that was no trouble to him ; living in the 

 enjoyment of every comfort, and keeping 

 his pack of harriers; should all at once 

 plunge into a concern that required daily 

 application, a capacity for complications, 

 a mind well tutored in the ways and 

 wiles of the world, and a perfect know- 

 ledge of the tricks and chicanery which 

 the Londoners deem so high an attain- 

 ment, to manage with any degree of 

 comfort to his mind or benefit to his 

 interest. 



In all these qualifications, except the 

 first, perhaps, my respected parent was 

 eminently deficient; consequently he soon 

 became a mark for the designs of an un- 

 principled set of men within the coaching 

 circle, and among them the individual 



