ended with 'Pray, reverend sir, good reverend sir, consider
your cloth.' He answered, 'I do, child, consider my office, and I hope
all our cloth do the same.' He then threw down some money, and strutted
off with great dignity.

"With the women I had one general formulary: 'Sweet pretty lady,' 'God
bless your ladyship,' 'God bless your handsome face.' This generally
succeeded; but I observed the uglier the woman was, the surer I was of
success.

"It was a constant maxim among us, that the greater retinue any one
traveled with the less expectation we might promise ourselves from them;
but whenever we saw a vehicle with a single or no servant we imagined
our booty sure, and were seldom deceived.

"We observed great difference introduced by time and circumstance in the
same person; for instance, a losing gamester is sometimes generous, but
from a winner you will as easily obtain his soul as a single groat. A
lawyer traveling from his country seat to his clients at Rome, and a
physician going to visit a patient, were always worth asking; but the
same on their return were (according to our cant phrase) untouchable.

"The most general, and indeed the truest, maxim among us was, that those
who possessed the least were always the readiest to give. The chief art
of a beggar-man is, therefore, to discern the rich from the poor, which,
though it be only distinguishing substance from shadow, is by no
means attainable without a pretty good capacity and a vast degree of
attention; for these two are eternally industrious in endeavoring to
counterfeit each other. In this deceit the poor man is more heartily
in earnest to deceive you than the rich, who, amidst all the emblems
of poverty which he puts on, still permits some mark of his wealth to
strike the eye. Thus, while his apparel is not worth a groat, his finger
wears a ring of value, or his pocket a gold watch. In a word, he seems
rather to affect poverty to insult than impose on you. Now the poor man,
on the contrary, is very sincere in his desire of passing for rich; but
the eagerness of this desire hurries him to over-act his part, and he
betrays himself as one who is drunk by his overacted sobriety. Thus,
instead of being attended by one servant well mounted, he will have two;
and, not being able to purchase or maintain a second horse of value,
one of his servants at least is mounted on a hired rascallion. He is
not contented to go plain and neat in his clothes; he therefore