he, "are generally inhabited by the profligate
of fashion, the ingenious artist, or the plodding mechanic. The first
is one who cares not who suffers, so he obtains a discharge from his
incumberances: having figured away for some time in the labyrinths of
folly and extravagance, till finding the needful run taper, he yields
to John Doe and Richard Roe as a matter of course, passes through his
degrees in the study of the laws by retiring to the Fleet or King's
Bench, and returns to the world with a clean face, and an increased
stock of information to continue his career. The second are men who
have heads to contrive and hands to execute improvements in scientific
pursuits, probably exhausting their time, their health, and their
property, in the completion of their projects, but who are impeded in
their progress, and compelled to finish their intentions in durance
vile, by the rapacity of their creditors. And the last are persons
subjected to all the casualties of trade and the arts of the former, and
unable to meet the peremptory demands of ~378~~ those they are indebted
to; but they seldom inhabit these places long, unless they can pay
well for their accommodations. Money is therefore as useful in a
lock-up-house or a prison as in any other situation of life.

"Money, with the generality of people, is every thing; it is the
universal Talisman; there is magic in its very name. It ameliorates all
the miserable circumstances of life, and the sound of it may almost be
termed life itself. It is the balm, the comfort, and the restorative.
It must indeed be truly mortifying to the opulent, to observe that the
attachment of their dependents, and even the apparent esteem of their
friends, arises from the respect paid to riches. The vulgar herd bow
with reverence and respect before the wealthy; but it is in fact
the money, and not the individual, which they worship. Doubtless, a
philosophic Tallow-chandler would hasten from the contemplation of the
starry heavens to vend a farthing rushlight; and it therefore cannot
be wondered at that the Sheriffs-officer, who serves you with a writ
because you have not money enough to discharge the just demands against
you, should determine at least to get as much as he can out of you, and,
when he finds your resources exhausted, that he should remove you to the
common receptacle of debtors; which however cannot be done to your own
satisfaction without some money; for if you wish a particular p