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 some historians say, gaming began among the Lydians to divert hunger, I could cite many authorities to prove it had its rise at the siege of Troy; and that Ulysses won the sevenfold shield at hazard. But be that as it may, the ruin of the corps of the Myrmidons proceeded from a breach between Thersites 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 necessary for a partisan, he was the favourite of his officer. But the whole history of the several changes in the order of sharpers, from those Myrmidons to our modern men of address and plunder, will require that we consult some ancient manuscripts. As we make these inquiries, we shall diurnally communicate them to the public, that the knights of the industry' may be better understood by the good people of England. These sort of men, in some ages, were sycophants and flatterers only, and were endued with arts of life to capacitate them for the conversation of the rich and great; but now the bubble courts the impostor, and pretends at the utmost to be but his equal. To clear up the reasons and causes in such revolutions, and the different conduct between fools and cheats, shall be one of our labours for the good of this kingdom. How therefore pimps, footmen, fiddlers, and lacqueys, are elevated into companions in this present age, shall be accounted for from the influence of the planet Mercury 2 on this 2 Mercury was the god of thieves, and worshipped in this country by our heathen ancestors. island; the ascendency of which Sharper over Sol, who is a patron of the Muses and all honest professions, has been noted by the learned Job Gadbury 3, to be the cause, that' cunning and trick are more esteemed than art and science.' It must be allowed also to the memory of Mr. Partridge, late of Cecil-street, in the Strand, that in his answer to an horary question, At what hour of the night to set a fox-trap in June 1705? he has largely discussed, under the character of Reynard, the manner of surprising all sharpers as well as him. But of these great points, after more mature deliberation. 6 SIR, St. James's Coffee-house, August 17. · TO ISAAC BICKERSTAFF, ESQ. WE have nothing at present new, but that we understand by some owlers, old people die in France. Letters from Paris of the 10th instant, N. S. say, that monsieur d'Andre, marquis d'Oraison, died at eighty-five: monsieur Brumars, at one hundred and two years, died for love of his wife, who was ninety-two at her death, after seventy years cohabitation. Nicholas de Boutheiller, parish-preacher of Sasseville, being a bachelor, held out to one hundred and sixteen. Dame Claude de Massy, relict of monsieur Peter de Monceaux, Grand Audiencer of France, died on the seventeenth, aged one hundred 3 Job Gadbury, and old John Gadbury, Job's master, were almanack-makers, astrologers, and brother conjurers, of Mr. Partridge, who died in 1715. 4 Runners of wool, or clandestine exporters of live sheep, contrary to law. and seven. Letters of the seventeenth say, monsieur Chrestien de Lamoignon died on the seventh instant, a person of great piety and virtue; but having died young, his age is concealed for reasons of state. On the fifteenth, his most christian majesty, attended by the dauphin, the duke of Burgundy, the duke and duchess of Berry, assisted at the procession which he yearly performs in memory of a vow made by Lewis the Thirteenth, in 1638. For which act of piety his majesty received absolution of his confessor, for the breach of all inconvenient vows made by himself. 'I am, SIR, "Your most humble servant, From my own Apartment, August 17. I AM to acknowledge several letters which I have lately received; among others, one subscribed Philanthropos, another Emilia, both which shall be honoured. I have a third from an officer in the army, wherein he desires I would do justice 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 seeing we lived in an age, wherein men of all orders had their proper share in fame and glory. There is nothing I should undertake with greater pleasure than matters of this kind; if therefore they, who are acquainted with such facts, would please to communicate them, by letters directed to me at Mr. Morphew's, no pains should be spared to put them in a proper and distinguishing light. This is to admonish Stentor 5, that it was not admiration of his voice, but my publication of it, which has lately increased the number of his hearers.' STEELE. N° 57. SATURDAY, AUGUST 20, 1709. Quicquid agunt homines nostri est farrago libelli, JUV. Sat. i. 85, 86. Whatever good is done, whatever ill- Will's Coffee-house, August 19. I WAS this evening representing a complaint sent me out of the country from Emilia '. She says, her neighbours there have so little sense of what a refined lady of the town is, that she, who was a celebrated wit in London, is in that dull part of the world in so little esteem, that they call her in their base style a tongue-pad.' Old True Penny bid me advise her to keep her wit until she comes to town again, and admonish her, that both wit and breeding are local; for a fine court-lady is as awkward among country house-wives, as one of them would appear in a drawing-room. It is, therefore, the most useful knowledge one can attain at, to understand among what sort of men we make the best figure; if there be a place where the beauteous and accomplished Emilia is unacceptable, it is certainly a 1 See N° 56. 5 See N° 54; and 61. vain endeavour to attempt pleasing in all conversations. Here is Will Ubi, who is so thirsty after the reputation of a companion, that his company is for any body that will accept of it; and for want of knowing whom to choose for himself, is never chosen by others. There is a certain chastity of behaviour which makes a man desirable; and which if he transgresses, his wit will have the same fate with Delia's beauty, which no one regards because all know it is within their power. The best course Emilia can take is to have Tess humility; for if she could have as good an opinion of herself for having every quality, as some of her neighbours have of themselves with one, she would inspire even them with a sense of her merit, and make that carriage which is now the subject of their derision, the sole object of their imitation. Until she has arrived at this value of herself, she must be contented with the fate of that uncommon creature, a woman too humble. White's Chocolate-house, August 19. SINCE my last, I have received a letter from Tom Trump, to desire that I would do the fraternity of gamesters the justice to own, that there are notorious sharpers, who are not of their class. Among others he presented me with the picture of Harry Coppersmith 2 in little, who, he says, is at this day worth half a plumb, by means much more indirect than by false dice. I must confess, there appeared some reason in what he asserted; and he met me since, and accosted me in the following manner: 'It is wonderful to me, Mr. Bickerstaff, that you can pretend to be a man of penetration, and fall upon us knights of the indus 2 See N° 61. |