unpardonable Dishonour to our Country, to let him leave us with an Opinion, that our Nobility and Gentry kept Company with common Thiefs and Cheats; I told him, they were a Sort of tame Huffars that were allowed in our Cities, like the wild Ones in our Camp, who had all the Privileges belonging to us, but at the fame Time were not tied to our Difcipline or Laws. Aletheus, who is a Gentleman of too much Virtue for the Age he lives in, would not let this Matter be thus palliated, but told my Pupil, That he was to understand, that Diftinction, Quality, Merit, and Industry, were laid aside amongst us by the Incurfions of these civil Huffars, who had got fo much Counte, nance, that the Breeding and Fashion of the Age turned their Way to the Ruin of Order and Oeconomy in all Places where they are admitted. But Sophronius, who never falls into Heat upon any Subject, but applies proper Language, Temper, and Skill, with which the Thing in Debate is to be treated, told the Youth, that Gentleman had spoken nothing but what was literally true, but fell upon it with too much Earneftness to give a true Idea of that Sort of People he was declaiming againft, or to remedy the Evil which he bewail'd: For the Acceptance of these Men being an Ill which hath crept into the Converfation-part of our Lives, and not into our Conftitution it felf, it must be corrected where it began, and confequently is to be amended only by bringing Raillery and Derifion upon the Perfons who are guilty, or those who converfe with them. For the Sharpers

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Sharpers (continued he) at present are not as formerly, under the Acceptation of Pick-pockets; but are by Custom erected into a real and venerable Body of Men, and have fubdued us to fo very particular a Deference to them, that tho' they are known to be Men without Honour or Confcience, no Demand is called a Debt of Honour so indifputably as theirs. You may lofe your Honour to them, but they lay none against you: As the Priesthood in RomanCatholick Countries can purchase what they please for the Church, but they can alienate nothing from it. It is from this Toleration, that Sharpers are to be found among all Sorts of Affemblies and Companies, and every Talent, amongst Men is made Ufe of by fome one or other of the Society for the Good of their Common Caufe: So that an unexperienced young Gentleman is as often enfnared by his Understanding as his Folly: For who could be unmoved, to hear the eloquent Dromio explain the Constitution, talk in the Key of Cato, with the Severity of one of the ancient Sages, and debate the greatest Question of State in a common. Chocolate or Coffee-houfe; Who could, I fay, hear this generous Declamator, without being fired at his noble Zeal, and becoming his profeffed Follower, if he might be admitted. Monoculus's Gravity would be no lefs inviting to a Beginner in Converfation, and the Snare of his Eloquence would equally catch one who had, never feen an old Gentleman fo very wife, and yet fo little fevere. Many other Inftances of extraordinary Men among the Brotherhood

41 might be produced; but every Man who knows the Town, can fupply himself with fuch Examples without their being named. Will. Vafer, who is skilful at finding out the ridiculous Side of a Thing, and placing it in a new and proper Light, (tho' he very feldom talks), thought fit to enter into this Subject. He has lately loft certain loose Sums, which half the Income of his Estate will bring in within feven Years: Befides which, he propofes to marry to set all right. He was therefore indolent enough to fpeak of this Matter with great Impartiality. When I look round me, faid this eafy Gentleman, and confider in a juft Ballance us Bubbles, Elder Brothers, whofe Support our dull Fathers contrived to depend upon certain Acres ; with the Rooks, whofe Ancestors left 'them the wild World; I cannot but admire their Fraternity, and contemn my own. Is. not Jack Heyday much to be preferred to the Knight he has bubbled? Jack has his Equipage, his Wenches, and his Followers: The Knight fo far from a Retinue, that he is almost one of Jack's. However, he is gay, you fee, 'ftill; a florid Outfide His Habit fpeaks the And since he must unbutton, he would not be reduced outwardly, but is stripped to his upper Coat. But tho' I have great Temp'tation to it, I will not at this Time give the 'Hiftory of the lofing Side, but fpeak the Effects of my Thoughts, fince the Loss of my Money, upon the gaining People. This ill Fortune 'makes moft Men contemplative, and given to Reading; at least it has happened fo to me 3

Man

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and the Rife and Fall of the Family of Sharpers ' in all Ages has been my Contemplation.

I find, all Times have had of this People; Homer, in his excellent Heroick Poem, calls them Myrmidons, who were a Body who kept among themselves, and had nothing to lofe; therefore never fpared either Greek or Trojan, when they fell in their Way, upon a Party. But there is a memorable. Verfe which gives us an Account of what broke that whole Body, and made both Greeks and Trojans Masters of the Secret of their Warfare and Plunder. There is nothing so pedantick as many Quotations; therefore I fhall inform you only, that in this Battalion there were two Officers called Therfites and Pandarus; they were both less renowned for their Beauty than their Wit; but each had this particular Happiness, that they were plunged over Head and Ears in the fame Water, which made Achilles invulnerable; and had ever after certain Gifts which the rest of the World were never to enjoy. Among others, they were never to know they were the most dreadful to the Sight of all Mortals, never to be diffi dent of their own Abilities, never to blush, or ever to be wounded but by each other. Tho' fome Hiftorians fay, Gaming began among the Lydians to divert Hunger, I could cite many Authorities to prove it had its Rife at the Siege of Troy; and that Ulyffes won the Sevenfold Shield at Hazard. But be that as it may, the Ruin of the Corps of the Myrmidons proceeded from a Breach between Therfites and Pandarus, The First of these was Leader of a Squadron, wherein

wherein the latter was but a private Man; but having all the good Qualities neceffary for a Partizan, he was the Favourite of his Officer. But the whole History of the feveral Changes in the Order of Sharpers, from thofe Myrmidons to our Modern Men of Addrefs and Plunder, will require that we confult fome ancient Manufcripts. As we make these Enquiries, we fhall diurnally communicate them to the Publick, that the Knights of the Industry may be better understood by the good People of England, These Sort of Men in fome Ages, were Sycophants and Flatterers only, and were endued with Arts of Life to capacitate them for the Conversation of the Rich and Great; but now the Bubble courts the Impoftor, and pretends at the utmost to be but his Equal. To clear up the Reasons and Caufes in fuch Revolutions, and the different Conduct between Fools and Cheats, fhall be one of our Labours for the Good of this Kingdom. How therefore Pimps, Footmen, Fiddlers, and Lacqueys, are elevated into Companions in this prefent Age, shall be accounted for, from the Influence of the Planet Mercury on this Ifland; the Afcendency of which Sharper over Sol, who is a Patron of the Muses, and all honeft Profeffions, has been noted by the learned Job Gadbury to be the Cause, that Cunning and Trick are more efteemed than Art and Science. It must be allowed alfo, to the Mεmory of Mr. Partridge, late of Cecil-ftreet in the Strand, that in his Answer to an Horary Question, At what Hour of the Night to fet a Fox-Trap in June 1705? He has largely discuss'd,

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