tue for the Age he lives in, would not let this Matter be thus palliated, but told my Pupil, That he was to underftand, that Diftinction, Quality, Merit, and Induftry, were laid afide among us by the Incurfions of thefe civil Huffars, who had got so much Countenance, 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 Earneftnefs, to give a true Idea of that Sort of People he was declaiming against, or to remedy the Evil which he bewail'd: For the Acceptance of these Men being an Ill which hath crept into the Conversation-Part of our Lives, and not into our Conftitution itself, 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 (continued he) at prefent 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 subdued us to fo very particular a Deference to them, that tho' they are known to be Men without Honour or Confciedce, no Demand is called a Debt of Honour fo indifputably as theirs. You may lofe your Honour to them, but they lay none against you: As the Priesthood in Roman Catholick 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 Conftitution, talk in the Key of Cato, with the Severity of one of the antient Sages, and debate the greatest Queftion of State in a common Chocolate or Coffee-houfe? Who could, I fay, hear this generous Declamator, with out 31 out 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 Conversation, 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 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, (though 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 fet all right. He was therefore indolent enough to speak of this Matter with great Impartiality. • When I look around me, (faid this eafy Gentleman) and confider in a juft Balance us Bubbles, El⚫ der Brothers, whofe fupport our dull Fathers contrived to depend upon certain Acres, with the Rooks, whofe • Ancestors left them the wide 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 Man-And fince he must unbutton, he would not be reduced outwardly, but is ftripped to his upper • Coat. But though I have great Temptation to it, I will not at this Time give the Hiftory of the lofing • Side, but speak the Effects of my Thoughts, fince the Lofs of my Money, upon the gaining People. This ill Fortune makes moft Men contemplative and given to Reading; at least it has happened so to me; 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 spared either C 4 Greek N° 56. Greek or Trojan, when they fell in their Way, upon a Party. But there is a memorable Verse, which gives us an Account of what broke that whole Body, and made both Grecks and Trojans Masters of the Secret of their Warfare and Flunder. There is nothing fo 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 lefs 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 diffident of their own Abilities, never to blush, or ever to be wounded but by each other. Though 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 fevenfold 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 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 Hiftory 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 antient Manufcripts. As we make thefe Enquiries, we fhall diurnally communicate them to the Publick, that the Knights of the Induftry may be better understood by the good People of England. These Sort of Men, in fome Ages, were Sycophants and Flatterers only, and were indued with Arts of Life to capacitate them for the Converfation 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 Reafons 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, Fidlers, and Lacqueys, are ele vated into Companions in this prefent Age, fhall be accounted for from the Influence of the Planet Mercury on this Island; 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 Memory 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 difcufs'd, under the Character of Reynard, the Manner of furprizing all Sharpers as well as him. But of these great Points, after more mature Deliberation. SIR, St. James's Coffee-house, Auguft 17. To Ifaac Bickerfaff, Efq; E have nothing at prefent new, but that we un W derftand by jome Owlers, old People die in France.. Letters from Paris of the 10th Inftant, N S. fay, That Your most Humble Servant, From my own Apartment, August 17. I AM to acknowledge feveral Letters which I have lately received; among others, one subscribed Philanthropos, another Emilia, both which fhall be honour'd. I have a Third from an Officer of the Army, wherein he defires I would do Juftice to the many gallant Actions which have been done by Men of private Characters, or Officers of lower Stations, during this long War; that their Families may have the Pleasure of feeing we lived in an Age wherein Men of all Orders had their proper Share in Fame and Glory. There is nothing I fhould undertake with greater Pleasure than Matters of this Kind: If therefore they who are acquainted with fuch Facts, would please to communicate them, by Letters directed to me at Mr. Morphew's, no Pains fhould be fpared to put them in a proper and distinguishing Light. THIS is to admonish Stentor, That it was not Admiration of his Voice, but my Publication of it, which has lately increafed the Number of bis Hearers. Quicquid agunt Homines noftri Farrago Libelli. The Actions of Mankind are the Subject of my Collections. N° 57. I Saturday, Auguft 20, 1709. Will's Coffee-boufe, August 19. WAS this Evening reprefenting a Complaint fent me out of the Country from Emilia. She fays, her Neighbours there have fo little Senfe of what a refined Lady of the Town is, that he who was a celebrated Wit in London, is in that dull Part of the World in fo little Efteem, that they call her in their bafe |