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whofe afhes it conveyed. For the fame purpose, an atchievement was afterwards fixed over the door of the late habitation of the deceased. The enfign of death may fairly be indulged, where the perfons are ennobled by their birth or ftation, and where it ferves to remind the paffer-by of any great or good actions performed by the deceased, or to infpire the living with an emulation of their virtues. But why, forfooth, cannot an obfcure or infignificant creature go out of the world, without advertising it by the atchievement? For my part, generally confider it as a bill on an empty houfe, which ferves the widow to acquaint us, that the former tenant is gone, and that another occupier is wanted in his room. Many families have, indeed, been very much perplexed in making out their right to this mark of gentility, and great profit has arifen to the Herald's Office by the purchase of arms for this purpofe. Many a worthy tradefman of plebeian extraction, has been made a gentleman after his deceafe by the courtesy of his undertaker; and I once knew a keeper of a tavern, who not being able to give any account of his wife's genealogy, put up his fign, the King's Arms, for an atchievement at her death.

It was the custom, in the time of the plague, to fix a mark on thofe houfes in which any one had died. This probably may have given rife to the general fashion of hanging up an atchievement. However this be, it is now defigned as a polite token, that a death has happened in the family; and might reafonably be understood as a warning to keep people from intruding on their grief. No fuch thing is indeed intended by it; I am therefore of opinion, that it ought every where to be taken down after the first week. Whatever outward figns of mourning may be preferved, no regard is ever paid to them within: the fame vifitings, the fame card-playings, are earried on as before; and fo little refpect is fhewn to the atchievement, that if it happens (as it often does) to interfect one of the windows in the grand apart ment, it is occafionally removed, whene ever the lady dowager gives a grand entertainment.

This naturally leads me to confider how much the cultoniary fuits of fo• lemn black,' and the other trappings • and figns of woe,' are become a mere

farce and matter of form only. When a perfon of diftinction goes out of the world, not only the relations, but the whole household, must be cloathed in fable. The kitchen-wench fcours her dishes in crape, and the helper in the ftables rubs down his horfes in black leathern breeches. Every thing muft put on a difmal appearance: even the coach muft be covered and lined with black. This laft particular, it is reafonable to imagine, is intended (like a death's head on the toilette) to put the owner conftantly in mind, that the pomp of the world and all gay purfuits are but vain and perishable. Yet what is more common, than for thefe vehicles to wait at the doors of the theatres, the opera-house, and other public places of diverfion? Thofe who are carried in them, are as little affected by their dif mal appearance as the horfes that draw them; and I once faw with great furprife, an harlequin, a fcaramouch, a thepherdefs, and a black fattin devil, get into a mourning-coach to go to a jubilee masquerade.

If I should not be thought to lay too much ftrefs on the leffer formalities obferved in mourning, I might mention the admirable method of qualifying the melancholy hue of the mourning ring, by enlivening it with the brilliancy of a diamond. I knew a young lady, who wore on the fame finger a ring fet round with death's heads and crofs marrowbones, for the lofs of her father; and another prettily embellished with burning hearts pierced through with darts, in refpect to her lover. But what I moft of all admire, is the ingenious contrivance by which perfons fpread the tidings of the death of their relations to the inoft diftant parts, by means of black-edged paper, and black fealing-wax. If it were poffible to infpect the feveral letters that bear about them these external tokens of grief, I believe we should hardly ever find the contents of the fame gloomy complexion: a merry tale, or an amorous billet-doux, would be much oftener found to be conveyed under these difmal paffports, than doleful lamentations or reflections on mortality: and, indeed, thefe mock signs of wee are fo little attended to, that a perfon opens one of thefe letters with no more concern than is felt by the poftman who brings it.

We cannot fuppofe, that black edgeď paper was ever intended to be defiled by M

vulgar

vulgar hands, but was contrived, like gilt paper, for the ufe of the polite world only. But, alas! we mult always be aping the manners of our betters. My agent fends me letters about bufinets upon gilt paper; and a ftationer near the 'Change teils me, that he not only fells a great quantity of mourning paper to the citizens, but that he has lately blacked the edges of the hop books for feveral tradefmen. My readers must have feen an elegant kind of paper, imported from France, for the ufe of our

fine ladies and gentlemen. An acquaintance of mine has contrived a new fort of mourning paper on the fame plan: and as the margin of the other is prettily adorned with flowers, true lovers knots, little Cupids, and amorous pofies in red ink; he intends that the margin of his paper fhall be difmally stamped in black ink, with the figures of tombftones, hour-glaffes, bones, skulls, and other emblems of death, to be used by perfons of quality when in mourning. T

N° XL. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 31, 1754.

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PERICULOSE PLENUM OPUS ALEE.

CURST IS THE WRETCH, ENSLAV'D TO SUCH A VICE,
WHO VENTURES LIFE AND SOUL UPON THE DICE.

TO MR. TOWN.

YOUR frequent ridicule of the feYou veral branches of Gaming has given me great pleature: I could only with that you had compleated the defign, by drawing at large the portrait of a Gamefter. This, fince you omitted it, I have ventured to undertake; and while your papers on that fubject ferve as a counter-treatife to that of Hoyle on Whitt, Hazard, &c. my Tough draught of the profeffors of thefe arts may tend to illuftrate the work, and stand as properly in the frontispiece, as the Knave of Clubs at the door of a cardmaker.

The whole tribe of Gamefters may be ranked under two divifions: every man, who makes carding, dicing, and betting, his daily practice, is either a Dupe or a Sharper; two characters equally the obiects of envy and admiration. The Dupe is generally a perfon of great fortune and weak intellects

Who will as tenderly be led by the nofe,
As affes a.e.
SHAKESPEARE.

He plays, not that he has any delight in cards or dice, but because it is the fashion; and if whift or hazard are propofed, he will no more refufe to male one at the table, than, among a set of hard drinkers, he would object to drink

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ing his glafs in turn, because he is not dry.

There are fome few inftances of men of fenfe, as well as family and fortune, who have been Dupes and bubbles. Such an unaccountable itch of play has feized them, that they have facrificed every thing to it, and have feemed wedded to feven's the main, and the odd trick. There is not a more melancholy object than a gentleman of fenfe thus infatuated. He makes himself and family a prey to a gang of villains, more infamous than highwaymen; and, perhaps, when his ruin is compleated, he is glad to join with the very fcoundrels that deftroyed him, and live upon the fpoils of others, whom he can draw into the fame follies that proved fo fatal to himfelf.

Here we may take a furvey of the character of a Sharper; and that he may have no room to complain of foul play, let us begin with his excellencies. You will perhaps be startled, Mr. Town, when I mention the excellencies of a Sharper; but a Gamefter, who makes a decent figure in the world, must be endued with many amiable qualities, which would undoubtedly appear with great lustre, were they not eclipfed by the odious character affixed to his trade. In order to carry on the common bufnefs of his profeffion, he must be a man of quick and lively parts, attended with a Stoical calmnefs of temper, and a conftant prefence of mind. He must fimile

at

at the lofs of thousands; and is not to be difcompofed, though ruin ftares him in the face. As he is to live among the great, he must not want politeness and affability; he must be fubmiffive, but not fervile; he must be master of an ingeauous liberal air, and have a feeming openness of behaviour.

Thefe must be the chief accomplishments of our hero: but left I fhould be accufed of giving too favourable a like. nefs of him, now we have feen his outfide, let us take a view of his heart. There we fhall find avarice the inain fpring that moves the whole machine. Every Gamefter is eaten up with avarice; and when this paffion is in full force, it is more ftrongly predominant than any other. It conquers even luft; and conquers it more effectually than age. At fixty we look at a fine woman with pleasure: but when cards and dice have engroffed our attention, women and all their charms are flighted at five and twenty. A thorough Gamefter renounces Venus and Cupid for Plutus and Ames-ace, and owns no miftrefs of his heart except the Queen of Trumps. His infatiable avarice can only be gratifed by hypocrify; fo that all thofe fpecious virtues already mentioned, and which, if real, might be turned to the benefit of mankind, must be directed in a Gamefter towards the deftruction of his fellow-creatures. His quick and lively parts ferve only to intruct and affift him in the most dextrous method of packing the cards, and cogging the dice; his fortitude, which enables him to lofe thousands without emotion, must often be practifed against the ftings and reproaches of his own confcience; and his liberal deportment and affected opennefs, is only a fpecious veil to recommend and conceal the blackeft villainy. It is now neceffary to take a fecond furvey of his heart; and as we have feen it's vices, let us confider it's miferies. The covetous man, who has not fufficient courage or inclination to encreafe his fortune by bets, cards, or dice, but is contented to hoard up his thoufands by thefts lefs public, or by cheats lefs liable to uncertainty, lives in a ftate of perpetual fufpicion and terror; but the avaricious fears of the Gamefter are infinitely greater. He is constantly to wear a mark; and, like Monsieur St.

Croix, coadjutor to that famous empoi

fonneuse Madame Brinvillier, if his mask falls off, he runs the hazard of being fuffocated by the ftench of his own poifons. I have feen fome examples of this fort not many years ago at White's. I am uncertain whether the wretches are till alive; but if they are, they breathe like toads under ground, crawling amidst old walls, and paths long fince unfrequented.

But fuppofing that the Sharper's hypocrify remains undetected, in what a Itate of mini muft that man be, whose fortune depends upon the infincerity of his heart, the difingenuity of his behaviour, and the falfe bias of his dice? What fenfations inutt he fupprefs, when he is obliged to fmile, although he is provoked; when he must look ferene in the heighth of defpair; and when he muft act the Stoic, without the confolation of one virtuous fentiment, or one moral principle? How unhappy muft he be, even in that fituation from which he hopes to reap molt benefit-I mean, amidst ftars, garters, and the various herds of nobility? Their lord hips are not always in an humour for play: they chufe to laugh; they chufe to joke; in the mean while our hero muft patiently await the good hour; and muft not only join in the laugh, and applaud the joke, but mult humour every turn and caprice, to which that fet of spoiled children, called bucks of quality, are liable. Surely his brother Thicket's employment, of fauntering on horfeback in the wind and rain till the Reading coach paffes through Smallberry Green, is the more eligible, and no less honest occupation.

The Sharper has alfo frequently the mortification of being thwarted in his designs. Opportunities of fraud will not for ever prefent themselves. The falfe die cannot be conftantly produced, nor the packed cards always placed upon the table. It is then our Gamester is in But even then, the greatest danger. when he is in the power of fortune, and has nothing but mere luck and fair play on his fide, he must ftand the brunt, and perhaps give away his latt guinea, as coolly as he would lend a nobleman a fhilling,

Our hero is now going off the ftage, and his catastrophe is very tragical. The next news we hear of him is his death. atchieved by his own hand, and with M2

his

his own piftol. An inqueft is bribed, he is buried at midnight, and forgotten before fun-rife.

Thefe two portraits of a Sharper, wherein I have endeavoured to fhew different likeneffes in the fame man, puts me in mind of an old print, which I remember at Oxford, of Count Guifcard. At first fight he was exhibited

in a full-bottomed wig, an hat and feather, embroidered cloaths, diamond buttons, and the full court-drefs of those days: but by pulling a string, the folds of the paper were shifted, the face only remained, a new body came forward, and Count Guifcard appeared to be a DEVIL. I am, Sir, your humble fervant, M. N.

N° XLI. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 1754.

QUI STUDET OPTATAM CURSU CONTINGERE METAM,
MULTA TULIT FECITQUE PUER.

Нок.

GOWNSMEN WITH JOCKEYS HOLD AN EQUAL PACE,
LEARN D IN THE TURF, AND STUDENTS OF THE RACE.

MR. VILLAGE TO MR. TOWN.

DEAR COUSIN,

Tby the late races at Newmarket, and written by a fellow-commoner of College, Cambridge, to a friend in London, fell into my hands by accident. The writer, if we may judge by his ftile and manner, is really, according to the modern phrafe, a Genius. As I look upon his epifle to be a very curious original, I cannot help demanding for it a place in your paper, as well as for the remarks which I have taken the liberty to fubjoin to it.

HE following letter, occafioned

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I Was in hopes I fhould have met you

at Newmarket races; but to fay the truth, if your luck had turned out fo bad as mine, you did better to stay away. Dick Riot, Tom Loungeit, and I, went together to Newmarket, the first day of the meeting. I was mounted on my little bay mare, that coft me thirty guineas in the North. I never crofled a better tit in my life; and if her eyes itand, as I dare fay they will, he will turn out as tight a little thing as any in England. Then she is as fleet as the wind. Why, I raced with Dick and Tom all the way from Cambridge to Newmarket: Dick rode his roan gelding, and Tom his chefnut

mare, (which, you know, have both fpeed) but I beat them hollow. I cannot help telling you, that I was dreifed tons, with a leather belt round my in my blue riding-frock with plate-butwaitt, my jemmy turn-down boots made by Tull, my brown fcratch bob, and my hat with the narrow filver-lace, cocked in the true sporting tafle: so that altogether I don't believe there was a more knowing figure upon the courfe. I was very flush too, Jack; for Michaelmas day happening damn'd luckily just about the time of the races, I had received fifty guineas for my quarterage. As foon as I came upon the course, I met with fome jolly bucks from London. Inever faw them before; however, we were foun acquainted, and I took up the odds; but I was damnably let in, for I lot thirty pieces flap, the first day. The day or two after, I had no remarkable luck one way or the other: but at last I laid all the cafh I had left upon Lord March's Smart, who loft, you know; but between you and me, I have a great notion Tom Marshal rode booty. However, I had a mind to push my luck as far as I could; so I fold my poor little mare for twelve pieces, went to the coffee-houfe, and left them all behind me at the gaming-table; and I fhould not have been able to have got back to Cambridge that night, if Bob Whip of Trinity had not taken me up in his phaeton. We have had a round of dinners at our rooms fince; and I have been drunk every day to drive away care. However, I hope to recruit again foon., Frank Claffic of Pembroke has

promifed

promifed to make me out a long catalogue of Greek books; fo I will write directly to old Square-toes, fend him the lift, tell him I have taken them up, and draw on him for money to pay the bookfeller's bill. Then I fhall be rich again, Jack and perhaps you may fee me at the Shakespeare by the middle of next week; till when, I am, dear Jack, your's, T. FLAREIT.

I have often lamented the narrow plan of our Univerfity Education, and always obferve with pleasure any attempts to enlarge and improve it. In this light, I cannot help looking on Newmarket as a judicious fupplement to the univerfity of Cambridge, and would recommend it to the young ftudents to repair duly thither twice a year. By thefe means they may connect the knowledge of polite life with ftudy, and come from college as deeply verfed in the genteel myfteries of Gaming, as in Greek, Latin, and the Mathematics. Attending these folemnities muft, indeed, be of great fervice to every rank of students. Thofe who are intended for the church, have an opportunity of tempering the feverity of their character, by an happy mixture of the jockey and clergyman. I have known feveral, who by uniting thefe opposite qualifications, and meeting with a patron of their own difpofition, have rode themselves into a living in a good fporting country; and I doubt not, if the excurfions of gownfmen to Newmarket meet with the encouragement they deserve, but we shall shortly fee the Beacon Courfe crouded with or dained sportsmen in fhort caflocks. As to the fellow-commoners, I do not fee how they can pafs their time more profitably. The fole intention of their refi. dence at the university is, with most of them, to while away a couple of years, which they cannot conveniently difpofe of otherwise. Their rank exempts them from the common drudgery of lectures and exercises; and the golden tuft, that adorns their velvet caps, is at once a badge of honour and an apology for ignorance. But as fome of thefe gentlemen, though they never will be scholars, may turn out excellent jockeys, it is but justice to let them carry fome kind of knowledge away with them; and as they can never shine as adepts in Sir Ifaac Newton's philofophy, or critics on Homer and Virgil, we should fuffer them

to make a figure as arbiters of the course, and followers of Aaron and Driver.

I am the more earneft on this occafion, because I look upon races as a diverfion peculiarly adapted to an univerfity, and founded upon claffical principles. Every author, who has mentioned the ancient games, includes the Race, and defcribes it with great dignity. This game was always celebrated with great pomp, and all the people * of fashion of thofe days were prefent at it. In the twenty-third Iliad in particular, there is not only a difpute at the Race, but a bet propofed in as exprefs terms as at Newmarket. The wager offered, indeed, is a goblet, which is not entirely in the manner of our mo dern fportfimen, who rather chufe to melt down their plate into the current fpecie, and bring their fide-boards to the course in their purfes. I am aware also that the races celebrated by the ancients were chariot-races: but even in thefe, our young students of the univerfity have great emulation to excel; there are among them many very good coachmen, who often make excurfions in thofe noble vehicles, with great propriety called Phaetons, and drive with as much fury along the road, as the charioteers in the ancient games flew towards the goal. In a word, if we have not fuch noble odes on this occafion, as were produced of old, it is not for want of a Theron but a Pindar.

The advices, which I have at feveral times received of the influence of the Races at Newmarket on the University, give me great pleafure. It has not only improved the behaviour of the students, but enlarged their plan of study. They are now very deeply read in Bracken's Farriery, and the Complete Jockey; know exactly how many tone they weigh, and are pretty competent judges of the odds. I went fome time ago to vifit a fellow-commoner, and when I arrived at his chambers, found the door open, but my friend was not at home. The room was adorned with Seymour's prints of horfes neatly framed and glazed; a hat and whip hung on one hook, a pair of boots on another, and on the table lay a formidable Quarto, with the Sportfman's Calendar by Reginald Heber, Efquire. I had the curiofity to examine the book; and as the college is remarkable for the study of philosophy, I expected to fee Newton's Principia, or perhaps

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