the trade, for I once dealt
in telling the truth. I was a laborer, sir, and gained as much as to make
me live. I never laid by, indeed, for I was reckoned a piece of a wag, and
your wags, I take it, are seldom rich, Mr. Harley." "So," said Harley,
"you seem to know me." "Ay, there are few folks in the country that I do
n't know something of. How should I tell fortunes else?" "True,--but go on
with your story; you were a laborer, you say, and a wag; your industry, I
suppose, you left with your old trade; but your humor you preserved to be
of use to you in your new."

"What signifies sadness, sir? A man grows lean on 't. But I was brought to
my idleness by degrees; sickness first disabled me, and it went against my
stomach to work, ever after. But, in truth, I was for a long time so weak
that I spit blood whenever I attempted to work. I had no relation living,
and I never kept a friend above a week when I was able to joke. Thus I was
forced to beg my bread, and a sorry trade I have found it, Mr. Harley. I
told all my misfortunes truly, but they were seldom believed; and the few
who gave me a half-penny as they passed, did it with a shake of the head,
and an injunction not to trouble them with a long story. In short, I found
that people do n't care to give alms without some security for their
money,--such as a wooden leg, or a withered arm, for example. So I changed
my plan, and instead of telling my own misfortunes, began to prophesy
happiness to others.

"This I found by much the better way. Folks will always listen when the
tale is their own, and of many who say they do not believe in fortune
telling, I have known few on whom it had not a very sensible effect. I
pick up the names of their acquaintance; amours and little squabbles are
easily gleaned from among servants and neighbors; and, indeed, people
themselves are the best intelligencers in the world for our purpose. They
dare not puzzle us for their own sakes, for everyone is anxious to hear
what he wishes to believe; and they who repeat it, to laugh at it when
they have done, are generally more serious than their hearers are apt to
imagine. With a tolerably good memory, and some share of cunning, I
succeed reasonably well as a fortune teller. With this, and showing the
tricks of that dog, I make shift to pick up a livelihood.

"My trade is none of the most honest, yet people are not much cheated
after all, who give a few half-pence for a prospect of happiness, whi