Adventures of a Mirror. 89 world, however abfurd, and how- | harmless game at cards. We had ever ridiculous that fashion may be. a noble duke, who, without the pretence of ftare-burthens, had in fact no cares but what the gamingtable afforded—and fo long had he ADVENTURES of a MIRROR. been a practitioner in all games, LETTER II. Containing the true account of a Route -a Baron—and a Fork—and how Ireceive a melancholy Accident. concluded my last letter with that when advanced in years, as he now was, nature had, according to the Lavaterian principic, imparted to his countenance very vitible indications of his mind. I thought I faw odd tricks, revokes, pam, fpadille, and bafto in his features, and although I do not believe I 13 tontteaming, that any man is born on purpofe which, however dull and unpleafant they might prove to my readers, 1 could not but confider as neceffary at parting. My readers too will pleafe to confider my fituarion, placed as I was in the midst of a most numerous company, feen by and feeing all that were prefent, and every minute circumftance that paffed. How could I then avoid making refletions? And I hope that reflections fo juft as mine are well known to be, will not prove very tedious, though they may be very cominon, and I doubt not, fometimes very unpleafing. The fault in the latter cafe is not mine; it is in my very nature, and is more than balanced by another quality of mine, which is, that I am always as willing and ready to dif cover a beauty or a virtue, as to expofe a deformity or a vice. only to play cards, yet if fuch opinion could be allowed, I fhould certainly think that his grace had very pioufly fulfilled the end of his creation. But to characterise the whole of this groupe is unneceffary. This is the first time I have had occafion to introduce fuch perfonages, and it will probably be the last, for after this evening it was my lot to fee them ho more. One lady, the wife of a noble perfonige not prefent, attracted my particular atention, as I did hers, for fhe fat directly oppofite to me, and though he was fo very intent on the game as even to forget thofe little calls of vanity which lead certain ladies to look at me frequently, I could not but watch her motions very attentively. The game he was engaged in was the old fashionable one of whitwhich was here played for five hundred guineas an immenfe and almoft incredible fum; but I hope my readers will entertain no doubts of my veracity on this fcore, until they have made the proper enquiries. The company in which I was now plared confifted of perfons of great diftinétion, a name or epithet which is never applied to any perfon beneath the rank of a lord, at leaft; a few of ieffer rank, indeed, were prefent, but even they are people of quality, a phrafe far more compre- Large as this fum was, he had henfive than the former, and, in-made feveral additions to it by bett deed, may be applied to themselves ing a cool hundred, as it was called, by any people whatever that with on the game, with four or five pro. to be thought fomebody. We had ple in the room, who without con. fenators of great talents and ora- fining themfelves to any one game, tory, who came here to difpell the amufed themselves by going from weightier cares of the nation, by a table to table, and Lying betts on VOL. XXII. N certain curfed tumble." "Yes-but he is used to itpray did you touch?" "Mere piddling-only two hun you certain players. With fo much at only towards the lady on the fir ftake, it may be fuppofed this lady fhriek, that they might know wh betrayed fome portion of anxiety-it was. I confidered this as th but hope was very powerful, and very height of inhumanity, an I could difcover that upon the whole fancied myself in a company of ab fhe had an uncommon degree of folute devils, who delighted in tor confidence in her partner as well menting each other, and enjoying as in herself. As the game pro- the ftate of torture; and I fhould ceeded this confidence abated, and have remained in this error perhap when her opponents had fcored up until now, had not two gentlemer five, fhe owed fuch vifible marks advanced near me, and in a whispe of alarm and agitation as made me entered into the following conver fee matters were taking a new turn. fation. And here let me obferve that the "So-lady has had another finest fet of features in the world may be rendered as frightful as uglinefs itfelf by an inward contention between hope, fear, avarice, envy, jealousy, and the other paf-dred- I betted on the fecond round." fions incident to gaming. When "But how can the pay?" this lady fat down to cards, methought I never beheld a more beautiful object. Grace and lovelinefs were eminently displayed in her countenance and motions. But when her opponents had declared themfelves to be eight, the turned her eyes towards me, Heavens! what a frightful object! How canged from all that is amiable to all that was odious; her eyes were fwollen with inflamed blood, which flew to her head with incredible impetuofity-. her lips quivered with paffion, her whole trame was agitated, and I thought I never beheld fo thocking a transformation. This lafted, how ever but a fhort while the fatal trick was won by her opponents, and the affecting a laugh, which paffed into a firong hytteric, funk down in a moft violent fit of that disorder. Perhaps my readers may think that the whole room was thrown into confufion by this accident, that the amufements were difcontinued, and the company difmiffed-no fuch thing occurred. The few who were lookers on conveyed the lady into another room-and thofe who were engaged continued their employment without fuffering the unalleft disturbance, cafting a look “Faith I can't tell, lord know is completely done up, and as to the old fcheme of rack renting tenants, it would anfwer no purpofe now." "She is a fine woman by the lord Harry." "Yes-and one may fee where all this will end-fhe muft raise the vind fomehow; and how to do it without contracting fresh debts, is to me a paradox." "Yet he played, I thought tolerably well." "Yes-if the plays for a trifles no woman knows her game better-but when the plays fo high as to night-and he has loft upwards of two thoufand guineas, her auxiety destroys her-a fkilful and cool opponent cannot fail to have the advantage-inttead of remembering the cards the is thinking of how much fhe has loft, and where she thould be counting honours the is counting how much he may gain." "That feems to be the cafe, indeed." She appeared in very strong I give my reader fome prefatory mat ter, the better to prepare him for it. convulfions when removed." "As to that, it is her way, I never knew her lofe without fomething of that kind. At first it appeared to produce good fage effect, but now we have feen it to often, that if he goes on fo, the will be allowed to carry herself out of the room." "Curfedly vexed the must be, that is certain." "Yes, and that with the delicacy of her frame will throw her into fome ilinefs for a few days-what woman is equal to fuch boisterous fallies of paffion?" "And yet I would engage to cure her fooner than any physician in the world." "I understand you--by fending her a cordial draft on a banker yes, that must be the cure after all; and if my lord has been fuccefsful at Brookes's to-night, he will adminifter the needful, for to do him juffice, he never refuses to pay her debts when he can, and fhe is equally generous to him when fortune faYours her, which is, however, but rarely the cafe." "But, Sir George, betwixt you and me, I don't like her partner to night." What the Baron? Nor I-I 'don't know how the devil that fellow gets into every company-but I do believe him to be an arrant fharper." "This I am certain of-he loft nothing to-night." The baron, of whom the two gentlemen were fpeaking, really deferved the character they had begon to give him. He was a foreigner of fome rank in his own country, but in this a mere adventurer, one who by a pleasing exterior, a great fund of good-nature, polite manners, and knowledge of the world, had ingratiared himself into the good graces of many perfons of diftinction. At their parties, routs, drums, and affemblies, he was always an invited, and always a welcome gueft. He feemed to lofe his money with a good grace, although he certainly recovered it elsewhere without any grace at alland fo equally did he balance his winnings and lofings, as apparently to feem a player of fuch various fuccefs that few thought it a danger to play with him. Some of the knowing ones, as they call themfelves, had long suspected him, and yet fo cautious was he, that they found it impoffible to fay that he ever pofitively cheated-for this my readers know is an affertion never to be made without the clearest proofs. This night, however, was deftined for his detection-he had now fat down to lanfquenet with a party, and was fo very fuccefsfull that (as a bye-ftander knows more of the game than the players) a noble lord who stood near him was determined to detect him. He watched his every motion with the moft fcru "I was plain he was in league with lord, who was his pre-tinizing eye, and when he had fully tended opponent." farisfied himself that he had made a Here the converfation was fud- difcovery, whispered fomething to denly broke off by an accident, a fervant who difappeared, and rewhich I alluded to in the end of my turned in a twinkling with a weapon laft letter, and which likewife in- concealed, which my lord, with terrupted the reflections I was a fingular adroitnefs, conveyed into making on the above dialogue as it his own pocket. All this I was paffed. This accident was fo ex-witness to while listening to the traordinary in its nature that I must above dialogue, but nothing puz 2 N 2 zled zled me fo much-I could not think | received the compliments and ca what frolick was in agitation. My lord now begged to join the party, and a lady who pleaded in. difpofition refigned her cards to him. The baron fill won to the attonishment of all prefent, except my lord, who was only confirmed in his former fufpicions, and watch ing his opportunity, while the baron had his hand on the table, fuddenly drew out a fork from his pocket, and with it pinned the baron's hand close to the table, Loud frieks from all present announced this extraordinaay affair-my lord only was unconcerned, and with all the coolness imaginablefaid, "Baron, 1 fufpect you have a card under this hand, which does not belong to the pack if you have not I beg your pardon," and pulling out the fork, difcovered the card. There are few men equal to a detection of this kind, All the baron's addrefs forfook him-he was literally dumb-and between the pain of the wound, and the much greater torture of fuch a difcovery, perhaps at that moment it would have been difficult to have found a more miserable wretch in the whole univerfe. Indeed, as a facetious author remarks on a fimilar occafion," He was in a fituation to be envied only by a man who is just going to be hanged." It is a maxim among players, that if one of them is detected in cheating, he is obliged to refund not only all he has won at that par ticular time when the detection took place, but whatever he may have gained in the courfe of the day or night. This piece of justice was exercifed on the unfortunate baron with the utmost rigor. There was non ixture of mercy in this punishment; every one feized his own, and the character of many years was thus blatted in one unlucky minute. The noble lord who was the ingenious caufe of the detection relles of the whole company, and was declared to be the most fit per fon to finish the baron's disgrace by kicking him out of the company I his, however, he performed in manner fo clumsy, not being, fuppofe, ufed to the bufinefs, that he knocked the baron with great force towards me, and his elbow coming in contact with my lower part, one fourth of me was shivered to pieces. Amidst the confusion which this accident occationed, the baron made his cfcape with all poffible precipitation, and I was told that on his first appearance in public he graced the wounded hand by a delicate muff, which he wore ever afterwards, but was never again refpected or invited to private parties. Yet in public rooms, and on the turf, he regained his character in a few years as a blacklegs, and with men of that ftamp was held in fome eftcem, cfpecially as an accomplice. But to return to my own misfortune. It may be thought, perhaps, that my lady and mitrels would rage and ftorm on this occafion, as ladies fometimes do when china or glaties are carelessly broke, but the atlair of the fork had engroffed her whole attention fo much that fhe viewed my mutilation with calm. philofophy, and begged the gentleman who was the caufe of it would not mind it. Indeed nothing now was regarded, or talked of, but the detection of the baron. The cardtables were laid afide, and a general converfation took place, in which various opinions were given. Ip whatever ellimation they forn.erly held the baron, each began to hint that they had long fufpected him; and fo wife are we in foreseeing things after they happen, that a variety of cccafions were called to remen brance, with day and date in which they firongly fufpected the baron had cheated. One recollected Mif:ries of Society. being ftruck with a particular circumulance on fuch a day-another remembered a hint that was given on fuch another day-but the conclufion was that the baron was now for ever profcribed, and it was voted (a very ufelefs vote) that the matter fhould be divulged in all companies and places where the no. torious rogue had ever appeared. What became of me, after this unhappy night, fhall be the fubject of another leter from THE MIRROR. 93 my family begun to encrease, and I conceived that the bufinefs I pof feffed was too advantageous to be thrown away, perhaps, upon a ftranger who might ruin it for want of that establishment of connexion which I enjoyed. I continued it, therefore, for feveral years, but having early a turn for books and fubjects of literature, I must coufefs I often longed for the happy period when I might get rid of the hurry, the bustle and the vexations of trade, and retire to fome comfortable hut in the country to pur fue my inclinations undisturbed. In every other refpect I was the The MISERIES of SOCIETY, happiest of men, that is, fo far as the best of wives and the most dutiful of children tend to make a man A TRUE STORY, Being a Companion to "THE MISE-happy-and that, you know, Mr. RIES OF SOLITUDE," in our last Editor, is not a little. Magazine. SIR, The time at length arrived when I was able to arrange my concerns in fuch a manner as kft me at liberty to change my way of life Read your last Magazine with without any lofs or inconvenience, much pleafure, and no article and I bought a houfe within a dozen contributed more to my amufement miles of town, pleasantly fitua ed than the story of Mr. Abraham in a fmall village, and having all Thifty, who after having for many thofe conveniencies which I wifhed years longed for folitude, obtained It was with very little difficulty Í his with, and was miferable becaufe perfuaded my wife to enter into my he had no employment. I deter-notion of retired happiness, although mined, on reading that ftory, to fend you my own hiftory, in which though I cannot promife fo much entertainment, yet I flatter myself fome portion of inftruction may be derived from it, particularly by thofe gentlemen who are liable to changes, and to be foon tired of their fituation. You will find, I have already informed you that however, that my miferies arofe retirement was my principal object. from a very different caufe-Mr. It was ncceffary for my health, and Thrifty was tormented in his retire-it would enable me to engage with ment by folitude-1 am fo by com- fpirit and fuccefs in a course of pany. reading and study which I had prefcribed myself. I was not, therefore, very particular in wifhing that my friends would pay me a vifit, though common civility required that I fhould ask this favour, and I The patrimony that was left me was fo confiderable, and my wishes in regard to fortune fo moderate, that I would have given over bufiLefs on my father's death, had not both fhe and my family feemed to quit the fociety they had been used to in London with fome small degree of reluctance-I fay feemed for as they never expreffed their diffatisfaction, I could judge only by certain fymptoms of gravity, which I hoped would foon wear off. flattered |