NUMB. 116. SATURDAY, April 27, 1751. Optat ephippia bos; piger optat arare caballus. Thus the flow ox would gaudy trappings claim; SIR, To the RAMBLER. HOR. FRANCIS. I WAS the fecond fon of a country gentleman by the daughter of a wealthy citizen of London. My father having by his marriage freed the estate from a heavy mortgage, and paid his fifters their portions, thought himself discharged from all obli gation to further thought, and entitled to spend the reft of his life in rural pleasures. He therefore fpared nothing that might contribute to the comple tion of his felicity; he procured the best guns and horses that the kingdom could fupply, paid large falaries to his groom and huntfman, and became the envy of the country for the difcipline of his hounds. But above all his other attainments, he was eminent for a breed of pointers and fetting-dogs, which by long and vigilant cultivation he had fo much improved, that not a partridge or heathcock could rest in fecurity, and game of whatever fpecies that dared to light upon his manor, was beaten down by his fhot, or covered with his nets. My elder brother was very early initiated in the chace, and at an age when other boys are creeping like fnails unwillingly to fchool, he could wind the horn, beat beat the bushes, bound over hedges, and fwim rivers. When the huntfman one day broke his leg, he fupplied his place with equal abilities, and came home with the fcut in his hat, amidst the acclamations of the whole village. I being either delicate or timorous, lefs defirous of honour, or less capable of sylvan heroifm, was always the favourite of my mother; because I kept my coat clean, and my complexion free from freckles, and did not come home like my brother mired and tanned, nor carry corn in my hat to the horse, nor bring dirty curs into the parlour. My mother had not been taught to amuse herself with books, and being much inclined to defpise the ignorance and barbarity of the country ladies, difdained to learn their fentiments or conversation, and had made no addition to the notions which fhe had brought from the precincts of Cornhill. She was, therefore, always recounting the glories of the city; enumerating the fucceffion of mayors; celebrating the magnificence of the banquets at Guildhall; and relating the civilities paid her at the companies feasts by men of whom fome are now made aldermen, fome have fined for fheriffs, and none are worth less than forty thoufand pounds. She frequently displayed her father's greatness; told of the large bills which he had paid at fight; of the fums for which his word would pafs upon the Exchange; the heaps of gold which he used on Saturday night to tofs about with a shovel; the extent of his warehouse, and the strength of his doors; and when the relaxed her imagination with lower fubjects, defcribed the furniture of their country-house, or repeated the wit of the clerks and porters. By By these narratives I was fired with the splendour and dignity of London, and of trade. I therefore devoted myself to a fhop, and warmed my imagination from year to year with inquiries about the privileges of a freeman, the power of the common council, the dignity of a wholesale dealer, and the grandeur of mayoralty, to which my mother affured me that many had arrived who began the world with less than myself. I was very impatient to enter into a path, which led to fuch honour and felicity; but was forced for a time to endure fome repreffion of my eagerness, for it was my grandfather's maxim, that a young man feldom makes much money, who is out of his time before two-and-twenty. They thought it neceffary, therefore, to keep me at home till the proper age, without any other employment than that of learning merchants' accounts, and the art of regulating books; but at length the tedious days elapfed, I was tranfplanted to town, and, with great fatisfaction to myfelf, bound to a haberdasher. My mafter, who had no conception of any virtue, merit, or dignity, but that of being rich, had all the good qualities which naturally arise from a close and unwearied attention to the main chance; his defire to gain wealth was fo well tempered by the vanity of fhewing it, that without any other principle of action, he lived in the esteem of the whole commercial world; and was always treated with respect by the only men, whofe good opinion he valued or folicited, those who were universally allowed to be richer than himself. By By his inftructions I learned in a few weeks to handle a yard with great dexterity, to wind tape neatly upon the ends of my fingers, and to make up parcels with exact frugality of paper and packthread; and foon caught from my fellow-apprentices the true grace of a counter bow, the careless air with which a fmall pair of scales is to be held between the fingers, and the vigour and sprightliness with which the box, after the ribband has been cut, is returned into its place. Having no defire of any higher employment, and therefore applying all my powers to the knowledge of my trade, I was quickly master of all that could be known, became a critick in fmall wares, contrived new variations of figures, and new mixtures of colours, and was fometimes confulted by the weavers when they projected fashions for the enfuing spring, With all these accomplishments, in the fourth year of my apprenticeship, I paid a visit to my friends in the country, where I expected to be received as a new ornament of the family, and confulted by the neighbouring gentlemen as a master of pecuniary knowledge, and by the ladies as an oracle of the mode. But unhappily, at the first public table to which I was invited, appeared a student of the Temple, and an officer of the guards, who looked upon me with a smile of contempt, which deftroyed at once all my hopes of distinction, fo that I durft hardly raise my eyes for fear of encountering their fuperiority of mien. Nor was my courage revived by any opportunities of difplaying my knowledge; for the templar entertained the company for part of the day with hiftorical narra tives and political obfervations; and the colonel afterwards detailed the adventures of a birth-night, told the claims and expectations of the courtiers, and gave an account of affemblies, gardens, and diverfions. I, indeed, effayed to fill up a pause in a parliamentary debate with a faint mention of trade and Spaniards; and once attempted, with fome warmth, to correct a grofs mistake about a filver breast-knot; but neither of my antagonists feemed to think a reply neceffary; they refumed their difcourse without emotion, and again engroffed the attention of the company; nor did one of the ladies appear defirous to know my opinion of her dress, or to hear how long the carnation fhot with white, that was then new amongst them, had been antiquated in town. As I knew that neither of these gentlemen had more money than myself, I could not discover what had depressed me in their prefence; nor why they were confidered by others as more worthy of attention and refpect; and therefore refolved, when we met again, to roufe my fpirit, and force myself into notice. I went very early to the next weekly meeting, and was entertaining a small circle very fuccefffully with a minute reprefentation of my lord mayor's show, when the colonel entered careless and gay, fat down with a kind of unceremonious civility, and without appearing to intend any interruption, drew my audience away to the other part of the room, to which I had not the courage to follow them. Soon after came in the lawyer, not indeed with the fame attraction of mien, but with greater powers of language; and by one or other the company was fo VOL. V. happily U |