e. "Bless me! sir, there is no
room for a question." This rivets you into his heart; for you at once
applaud his wisdom, and gratify his inclination. However, I had too much
bowels to be insincere to a man who came yesterday to know of me, with
which of two eminent men in the City he should place his son? Their
names are Paulo and Avaro.[272] This gave me much debate with myself,
because not only the fortune of the youth, but his virtue also depended
upon this choice. The men are equally wealthy; but they differ in the
use and application of their riches, which you immediately see upon
entering their doors.

The habitation of Paulo has at once the air of a nobleman and a
merchant. You see the servants act with affection to their master, and
satisfaction in themselves: the master meets you with an open
countenance, full of benevolence and integrity: your business is
despatched with that confidence and welcome which always accompanies
honest minds: his table is the image of plenty and generosity, supported
by justice and frugality. After we had dined here, our affair was to
visit Avaro: out comes an awkward fellow with a careful countenance;
"Sir, would you speak with my master? May I crave your name?" After the
first preambles, he leads us into a noble solitude, a great house that
seemed uninhabited; but from the end of the spacious hall moves towards
us Avaro, with a suspicious aspect, as if he believed us thieves; and as
for my part, I approached him as if I knew him a cut-purse. We fell
into discourse of his noble dwelling, and the great estate all the world
knew he had to enjoy in it: and I, to plague him, fell a commending
Paulo's way of living. "Paulo," answered Avaro, "is a very good man; but
we who have smaller estates, must cut our coat according to our cloth."
"Nay," says I, "every man knows his own circumstance best; you are in
the right, if you haven't wherewithal." He looked very sour (for it is,
you must know, the utmost vanity of a mean-spirited rich man to be
contradicted, when he calls himself poor). But I was resolved to vex
him, by consenting to all he said; the main design of which was, that he
would have us find out, he was one of the wealthiest men in London, and
lived like a beggar. We left him, and took a turn on the 'Change. My
friend was ravished with Avaro. "This," said he, "is certainly a sure
man." I contradicted him with much warmth, and summed up their different
characters as well as I coul