A

VIEW

ОР

SOCIETY AND MANNERS

IN

FRANCE, SWITZERLAND, AND GERMANY.

LETTER I.

Paris.

I

you

Was greatly disappointed by your not coming to town, as you intended, having been for some time impatient to inform of what passed between your young friend and me; I relied till the moment of our departure on having an opportunity of doing this personally. Since our arrival at Paris my time has been taken up with certain indispensable arrangements for the duke of Hamilton, and I now seize the first occasion of communicating the whole to you, in the only manner at present in my power.

You will remember the uneasiness you once expressed to me on account of that gentleman's propensity to gaming, and of the inconveniences to which he had been put by some recent losses; you will also remember the resolutions which, in consequence of your request, he formed against play; but you have yet to learn, that he resumed the dice before the month was ended in which he had determined never to touch them more, and concluded one unfortunate night, by throwing away a sum far exceeding any of his former losses.

Ashamed of his weakness, he carefully concealed his misfortune from you, and thereby has been subjected to

VOL. I..

some distresses of a more mortifying nature than any he had formerly felt.

What shocked him most, was a circumstance which will not greatly astonish you the indifference which many, who call themselves his friends, shewed at his situation, and the coldness with which they excused themselves from making any attempts to relieve him from his difficulties. Several to whom he had advanced considerable sums in the days of his good fortune, declared a perfect inability of repaying an party of their debt; they told some sad tale of an unforeseen accident, which had put that entirely out of their power for the present; yet one of those unfortunate gentlemen, the same evening that he refused to repay our friend, lost double the sum, every farthing of which he actually paid in ready money. Mr.

-'s expectations from those resources having in a great measure failed, he applied to Mr. P. the city, who supplied him with money at legal interest, sufficient to clear all his debts, for which he has granted him a mortgage on his estate. While our young friend informed me of all this, he declared, that the remorse he felt on the recollection of his folly was infinitely greater than any pleasure he had ever experienced from winning, or could enjoy from the utmost success. He expressed, at the same time, a strong sense of obligation to you and to me, for our endeavours to wean him from the habit of gaming, regretted that they had not been sooner successful, but was happy to find, that he still had enough left to enable him to live in a decent manner, agreeable to a plan of economy which he has laid down, and to which he is resolved to adhere till the mortgage is relieved. I have now (added he, in a solemn manner) formed an ultimate resolution against gaming for the rest of my life; if I ever deviate from this, you have a right to consider me as devoid of manly firmness and truth, unworthy of your friendship, and the weakest of mortals.'

Notwithstanding the young gentleman's failure on a former occasion, yet the just reflections he made on his past conduct, and the determined manner in which he spoke, give me great hopes that he will keep his present resolution. To him I seemed fully persuaded of this, and ventured to say, that I could scarcely regret his last run of bad luck, which had operated so blessed an effect; for he who has the vigour to disentangle himself from the snares of deep play, at the expense of half his fortune, and with his character entire, may on the whole be esteemed a fortunate man. I therefore insisted strongly on the wisdom of his plan, which I contrasted with the usual determination of those who have been unlucky at play. Without fortitude to retrench their expenses, or bear their first misfortunes, they can only bring themselves the length of resolving to renounce gaming as soon as they shall regain what they have lost; and imagining they have still a claim to the money which is now in the pockets of others, because it was once in their own, they throw away their whole fortune in search of an inconsiderable part, and finish by being completely ruined, because they could not support a small inconvenience. I pointed out, how infinitely more honourable it was to depend for repairing his fortune on his own good sense and perseverance, than on the revolutions of chance; which, even if they should be favourable, could only re-establish him at the expense of others, most probably of those who had no hand in occasioning his losses. His inseparable compaentered while I was in the middle of my harangue. Our friend, who had previously acquainted him with his determination of renouncing gaming, endeavoured to prevail on that gentleman to adopt the same measure, but in vain. laughed at his propos

nion

al, said,' he was too easily terrified;' that one tolerable run of good fortune would retrieve his affairs; that my fears about ruin were mere bugbears; that the word ruin, like cannon charged with powder, had an alarming sound, but was attended with no danger; that if the

worst should happen, I could but be ruined; which was only being in the same situation with some of the most fashionable people in the nation.'

He then enumerated many instances of those who lived as well as the wealthiest men in England, and yet every body pronounced them ruined. There is Charles Fox,' added he, a man completely ruined; yet beloved by his friends, and admired by his country as much as ever.'

To this fine reasoning I replied, that the loss of fortune could not ruin Mr. Fox; that if nobody had been influenced by that gentleman's example, except those who possessed his genius, his turn for play would never have hurt one man in the kingdom; but that those who owed their importance solely to their fortune, ought not to risk it so wantonly as he might do, whose fortune had always been of little importance, when compared with his abilities and since they could not imitate Mr. Fox, in the things for which he was so justly applauded, they ought not to follow his example in those for which he was as justly condemned; for the same fire which burns a piece of wood to ashes, can only melt a guinea, which still retains its intrinsic value, though his majesty's countenance, no longer shines on it.'

did not seem to relish my argument, and soon after left us: but our young friend seemed comfirmed in his resolutions, and gave me fresh assurances, the day on which I left London, that he never would vary.

Knowing the interest you take in his welfare, and the high esteem he has for you, I have thought it right to give you this piece of information, which I know will afford you pleasure. His greatest difficulty in adhering to the new adopted plan will be at first: in his present state of mind, the soothings and support of friendship may be of the greatest service.

When your affairs permit you to go to London, I dare say you will take the earliest opportunity of throwing yourself in his way: You will find no difficulty in per

suading him to accompainy you to the country. Removed for some months from his present companions and usual lounging-places, the influence of his old habits will gradually diminish; and, confirmed by your conversation, small chance will remain of his being sucked into the old system, and again whirled round in the vortex of dissipation and gaming.

LETTER II.

Paris.

YOUR setting out for London immediately on the receipt of my letter, is what might have been expected.-Nothing renders a man so active as an eager desire of doing good; and I might have foreseen that you would catch at the opportunity with which I furnished you to indulge a ruling passion.

It gives me great satisfaction to know, that our young friend and you are upon such a confidential footing; and I heartily hope that nothing will interrupt a connection which must be a source of pleasing reflection to you, and in every way advantageous to him.-I had no doubt that he would readily agree to accompany you to the country; but I was not so certain that he might not have found it necessary to accept of your other very friendly proposal. -His refusal is a proof, that he has reconciled his mind to his circumstances; and, with those sentiments, I am convinced that he will be able to live within his remaining yearly income with more satisfaction than he enjoyed when he spent five times that sun.

You insist so much on my writing to you regularly, from the different places where I may reside during my absence from England, that I begin to believe you are in earnest, and shall certainly obey your commands.

I know you do not expect from me a minute account of churches and palaces. However agreeable these may be to the spectator, they generally afford but a slender entertainment when served up in description.