MANTIS. 153 
Lucy. What cruel diversions people 
find out I 
Mother, Those barbarous sports pro- 
ceed from ignorance and idleness ; or 
from a still more pernicious disposition^ 
the spirit of gambling. 
Lucy. I thought gambling was play- 
ing with cards. 
Mother, Gambling is not confined to 
cards or dice : he, who lays a wager on 
the swiftness of a racehorse, gambles ; so 
does the Chinese gamester who bets on 
the success of an insect, and who some- 
times stakes all he is worth, even the 
clothes upon his back. It is the same 
sordid propensity, my dear Lucy, which 
leads the higher ranks to the race course, 
or the lower classes to the cockpit, 
which induced the ancient Athenians to 
train their locusts for battle, and which 
tempts the modern China-man to hazard, 
his all on the courage of a mantis. 
H 5 
