her milk; another was in a
consumption; the third had an ill voice, and would frighten me, instead
of lulling me to sleep. Such exceptions were made against all but one
country milch-wench, to whom I was committed, and put to the breast.
This careless jade was eternally romping with the footmen, and downright
starved me; insomuch that I daily pined away, and should never have been
relieved, had it not been, that on the thirtieth day of my life, a
fellow of the Royal Society,[205] who had writ upon Cold Baths, came to
visit me, and solemnly protested, I was utterly lost for want of that
method: upon which he soused me head and ears into a pail of water,
where I had the good fortune to be drowned, and so escaped being lashed
into a linguist till sixteen, running after wenches till twenty-five,
and being married to an ill-natured wife till sixty: which had certainly
been my fate, had not the enchantment between body and soul been broke
by this philosopher. Thus, till the age I should have otherwise lived, I
am obliged to watch the steps of men; and if you please, shall accompany
you in your present walks, and get you intelligence from the aerial
lackey, who is in waiting, what are the thoughts and purposes of any
whom you inquire for." I accepted his kind offer, and immediately took
him with me in a hack to White's.

White's Chocolate-house, May 13.

We got in hither, and my companion threw a powder round us, that made me
as invisible as himself; so that we could see and hear all others;
ourselves unseen and unheard.

The first thing we took notice of, was a nobleman of a goodly and frank
aspect, with his generous birth and temper visible in it, playing at
cards with a creature of a black and horrid countenance, wherein were
plainly delineated the arts of his mind, cozenage and falsehood. They
were marking their game with counters, on which we could see
inscriptions, imperceptible to any but us. My lord had scored with
pieces of ivory, on which were writ, Good Fame, Glory, Riches, Honour,
and Posterity. The spectre over against him had on his counters 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