rs the
inscriptions of "Dishonour, Impudence, Poverty, Ignorance, and Want of
Shame." "Bless me!", said I; "sure, my Lord does not see what he plays
for?" "As well as I do," says Pacolet. "He despises that fellow he plays
with, and scorns himself for making him his companion." At the very
instant he was speaking, I saw the fellow who played with my Lord hide
two cards in the roll of his stocking. Pacolet immediately stole them
from thence; upon which the nobleman soon after won the game. The little
triumph he appeared in, when he got such a trifling stock of ready
money, though he had ventured so great sums with indifference, increased
my admiration. But Pacolet began to talk to me. "Mr. Isaac, this to you
looks wonderful, but not at all to us higher beings: that nobleman has
as many good qualities as any man of his order, and seems to have no
faults but what, as I may say, are excrescences from virtues. He is
generous to a prodigality, more affable than is consistent with his
quality, and courageous to a rashness. Yet, after all this, the source
of his whole conduct is, though he would hate himself if he knew it,
mere avarice. The ready cash laid before the gamester's counters makes
him venture, as you see, and lay distinction against infamy, abundance
against want; in a word, all that is desirable against all that is to
be avoided." "However," said I, "be sure you disappoint the sharpers
to-night, and steal from them all the cards they hide." Pacolet obeyed
me, and my Lord went home with their whole bank in his pocket.

IV.--RECOLLECTIONS.

It is remarkable that I was bred by hand, and ate nothing but milk till
I was a twelvemonth old; from which time, to the eighth year of my age,
I was observed to delight in pudding and potatoes; and, indeed, I retain
a benevolence for that sort of food to this day. I do not remember that
I distinguished myself in anything at those years but by my great skill
at taw, for which I was so barbarously used that it has ever since given
me an aversion to gaming. In my twelfth year, I suffered very much for
two or three false concords. At fifteen I was sent to the university,
and stayed there for some time; but a drum passing by, being a lover
of music, I listed myself for a soldier. As years came on, I began to
examine things, and grew discontented at the times. This made me quit
the sword, and take to the study of the occult sciences, in which I was
so wrapped up that Oliver Cromw