play at all.

At one of these towns I found a man, whose family I respected, and for
whom I had a personal regard; he loaded me with civilities, nay, made me
presents, before I had the most distant suspicions _how_ he became in a
situation to enable him so to do. He made every profession of love and
regard to me; and I verily believed him sincere; because I knew he had
been obliged by a part of my family; but when I found a coach, a
country-house, a good table, a wife, and servants, were all supported by
the _chance_ of a gaming-table, I withdrew myself from all connections
with him; for, I fear, he who lives to play, may _play_ to _live_.

Upon the whole, I think it is next to an impossibility for a young man
of fortune to pass a year or two in _Paris_, the southern parts of
France, Italy, &c. without running a great risque of being beggared by
sharpers, or seduced by artful women; unless he has with him a tutor,
who is made wise by years, and a frequent acquaintance with the customs
and manners of the country: an honest, learned Clergyman tutor, is of
less use to a young man in that situation, than a trusty _Valet de
Chambre_. A travelling tutor must know men; and, what is more difficult
to know, he must know women also, before he is qualified to guard
against the innumerable snares that are always making to entangle
strangers of fortune.

It is certainly true, that the nearer we approach to the sun, the more
we become familiar with vices of every kind. In the _South of France_,
and _Italy_, sins of the blackest dye, and many of the most unnatural
kind, are not only committed with impunity, but boasted of with
audacity; and, as one proof of the corruption of the people, of a
thousand I could tell you, I must tell you, that seeing at _Lyons_ a
shop in which a great variety of pictures were hung for sale, I walked
in, and after examining them, and asking a few questions; but none that
had the least tendency to want of decorum, the master of the shop turned
to his wife, (a very pretty woman, and dressed even to a _plumed_
head)--shew _Monsieur_ the little miniature, said he; she then opened a
drawer and took out a book, (I think it was her mass-book) and brought
me a picture, so indecent, that I defy the most debauched imagination
to conceive any thing more so; yet she gave it me with a seeming decent
face, and only observed that it was _bien fait_. After examining it with
more attention than I should, had I received i