hich wetted three or four
Peoples Clothes pretty heartily. By and by a full Flask was overset,
which put half a dozen more of us into the same pickle; so that
nothing was heard for some time, but, _Sir, I am heartily sorry_; _I
beg your pardon_; _Mischances will happen, but I hope it won't stain_;
and the like. We were all up from our Chairs, wiping and cleaning one
another. We were no sooner got into order again, and begun to be
merry, forgetting what was past, but Supper came to be set upon the
Table; when the Cook, in handing a Dish of Fish over our Shoulders,
let fall the Bason, with all the Sauce in it, upon half a score of us.
We now were in a worse Condition than ever, and all got upon our Legs
again in the utmost Confusion and Disorder; and with rumbling and
tumbling about, a huge Pewter Piss-pot, with about half a dozen
Gallons of Urine in it, was thrown down from its Stand. I got a Pocket
full to my share, and there were few of the Company but what had their
Dividends of it. Bless me, says I, sure never such a Series and Train
of Disasters fell out so before. In short, I could stand it no longer,
but paid my Shot, and came away with my Clothes in such a condition,
that I had scarce ever seen the like, and was forc'd to give them away
the next Morning. In a Day or two after, I was thoroughly satisfied
with the real Cause of these _Accidents_, _viz._ that the House in
which I had met with this Mischief, was entirely supported by
_Woollen Drapers_, _Taylors_, and _Button-sellers_; and that we had
got several of 'em that Night in our Company.

Women of Quality and Fashion will perhaps think themselves no ways
liable to any of these Mischances; but I shall convince them, that
howsoever secure they may imagine themselves to be from them by their
Coaches and Chairs, and other Accommodations, they are yet to be come
at by some People they are not well aware of. There are few Women of
any Fashion, that make a tolerable Figure in the _Beau Monde_, but
what have a continual clatter of Manteaumakers, Milliners, and
Sempstresses about their Ears; besides Tire-Women, and Fortune-Tellers
by Coffee-Grounds; together with a Train of Chamber-maids, and old
Housekeepers, who have got married, and are permitted to visit the
Families they once lived in. These, with a Croud of Midwives,
Twelve-penny Lottery-Women, and other _How d'ye do_ People, are for
ever plaguing them with this new Fancy and Pattern, and recommending
such and