PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. XV 



as cordially as any young gentleman living : but 

 the bargain was, — Horace, Homer, ajid hunting, 

 but not the one without the other ; so, as I knew 

 that from this decision appeal was useless, I took 

 lessons from the huntsman and tutor at the same 

 time. Manhood came on, and for years my good 

 star was in its ascendancy, till death began to be 

 busy in our family, and as our property, or rather 

 incomes, depended on lives, not on deaths, if cor- 

 dial good wishes for their health could have kept 

 them alive, many of the departed would be to this 

 day still " living." Suits in Chancery ensued ; 

 some lost, others gained, — which will account at 

 once for the vicissitudes of different periods of 

 my hfe, and for the seeming incongruity that I 

 am aware exists in what I have at times written, 

 namely, my acquaintance with scenes, manners, 

 and men so much at variance with each other; 

 in fact, from the habits of the peer to the tricks 

 of the dealer. Yes, reader, I have been behind 

 the curtain, where both are actors ; kind Fortune 

 leading me, a willing and delighted spectator, in 

 the first case ; stern Fate obliging me to dive into 

 the mysteries of the other. But, at the same 

 time, I must allow that I have dived into many 

 curious scenes and places voluntarily, from mere 

 curiosity. I have sipped chambertin in a ducal 



