ood country fare and wholesome
exercise; for I have everything within myself, and as good a pack of
fox-hounds as any in the three kingdoms. I shan't pretend to expatiate
upon the elegance of the house, which to be sure is an old building; and
these, you know, are generally cold, and not very convenient. But, curse
the house! the dirty acres about it are the thing; and d--d fine parcel
they are to be sure. If my old grandmother was dead--she can't live
another season, for she's turned of fourscore, and quite worn out: nay,
as for that matter, I believe I have got a letter in my pocket, giving
an account of her being despaired of by the doctors. Let me see--No, d--
it! I left it at home, in the pocket of another coat."

Pickle, who, from the beginning of this harangue, saw its tendency,
seemed to yield the most serious attention to what he said: breaking in
upon it, every now and then, with the interjections, hum! ha! the deuce!
and several civil questions, from which the other conceived happy omens
of success; till perceiving they had advanced as far as the passage into
St. James's, the mischievous youth interrupted him all at once, saying,
"I see you are for the end of the walk; this is my way." With these
words he took leave of the saunterer, who would have delayed his
retreat, by calling to him aloud, that he had not yet described the
situation of his castle. But Peregrine, without stopping, answered
in the same tone, "Another time will do as well"; and in a moment
disappeared, leaving the projector very much mortified with his
disappointment; for his intention was to close the description with a
demand of twenty pieces, to be repaid out of the first remittance he
should receive from his estate.

It would have been well for our hero, had he always acted with the same
circumspection. But he had his unguarded moments, in which he fell a
prey to the unsuspecting integrity of his own heart. There was a
person among the number of his acquaintances, whose conversation he
particularly relished, because it was frank, agreeable, and fraught with
many sensible observations upon the craft and treachery of mankind. This
gentleman had made shift to discuss a very genteel fortune, though
it was spent with taste and reputation, and now he was reduced to his
shifts for the maintenance of his family, which consisted of a wife
and child. Not that he was destitute of the necessaries of life, being
comfortably supplied by the bounty of