at _Hombre_ be
proposed, and you are settling your Way of Play, he says, _We never play it
so at the Dutchess's_. If you ask him to take a Glass of Wine at a Tavern
with you, he is always engaged in a _Parti quarre_; and then he speaks all
the _French_ he is Master of. If he has an Amour, it is with a Woman of
Quality. He sits in the Side Box the first Act of the Play, and stays no
longer, for some Reasons best known to himself. It happened once, that a
Person sat next to him, who, by his Star and Garter, he knew to be of the
first Rank: _Tom_, seeing some of his Acquaintance in the middle Gallery,
thought it would be for his Reputation to be seen to talk with this
Gentleman; therefore, observing when the Eyes of his Acquaintance were upon
him, he drew his Lips near my Lord's Ear, and asked him _what a Clock it
was_; my Lord answered him; then _Tom_ look'd up again, and smiled; and
when he talked with his Friends next, told them, that his Lordship had
informed him of some Changes designed at Court, not yet made publick; and
therefore they must pardon him if he did not communicate. He did not come
off so well upon another Occasion; for having boasted of a great Intimacy
with a certain Foreign Minister, _Tom_ was asked by some Gentlemen to go
one Evening to his Assembly: He willingly accepted the Party, thinking by
their Means to get Admittance: They, on the contrary, expected to be
introduced by him; when they came into his Excellency's House, the Porter,
who had dress'd himself in his great Coat, which was richly laced, and
having a good Wig, well powder'd, was coming down to take his Post; _Tom_
seeing the Richness of the Habit, fancied it was a Robe worn by Foreigners,
mistook the _Porter_ for the Embassador, and, making several low Bows,
began to address him with, _May it please your Excellency_. The Fellow
answered, Sir, if you'd speak with my Lord, I'll call one of his Gentlemen
to you; this raised a Laugh against him by his Companions, and _Tom_ walked
off defeated in his Vanity, tho' he would fain have laid the Mistake on a
sudden Absence of Thought, and asserted, that he had frequently conversed
with the Ambassador.

My old Friend, the Humourist, who is liberal of Talk in his Wine, I must
confess, sometimes lets his Vain-Glory bring his Discourse under some
Suspitions; especially, when upon the Strain of his Intimacy with King
_Charles_. He tells how that Prince, seeing him one Morning in the Park,
obliged him to