ays on the anxious _look-up_
for a nibble at a new 'come out.'

"The young exquisite's connexion with the fancy, or rather with the
lowest branch of that illustrious body, the bruising fraternity and
their boon companions, had been, though not an avowed, a real source
of jealousy to many of his dear bosom friends at Long's hotel, from the
moment of the count's making his _debut_,

'_Imberbis juvenis, tandem custode remote_,'

into the fashionable world. That he would be ultimately floored by his
milling _proteges_ it did not require the sagacity of a conjurer to
foresee; nor was it likely that the term of such a catastrophe would
be so tediously delayed, as to subject any one who might be eager to
witness its arrival to that sickness of the heart which arises from hope
deferred. But this process for scooping out the Silver (or Foote) Ball,
as he has since been designated, by no means suited the ideas of the
worthies before alluded to. The learned Scriblerus makes mention of
certain _doctors_,{3} frequently seen at White's in his day, of a modest
and upright appearance, with no air of overbearing, and habited like
true masters of arts in black and white only. They were justly styled,
says the above high authority,

3 A cant phrase for dice,

~200~~subtiles and graves, but not always irrefragabiles, being
sometimes examined and, by a nice distinction, divided and laid open.
The descendants of these doctors still exist, and have not degenerated,
either in their numbers or their merits, from their predecessors. They
take up their principal residence in some well-known mansions about the
neighbourhood of the court, and many of the gentlemen who honoured the
count with their especial notice on his _entree_ into public life are
understood to be familiarly acquainted with them. Now could they have
only instilled into the young gentleman a wish to be introduced to these
doctors, or once prevailed upon him to take them in hand for the
purpose of deciding what might be depending upon the result of the
investigation; nay, could they even have spurred him on to an exhibition
of his tactics, in manoeuvring

'Those party-colour'd troops, a shining train,
Drawn forth to combat on the velvet plain;'

they could have so delightfully abridged the task which to their
impatient eyes appeared to be much too slow in executing, could
have spared their dear friend so much unnecessary time and labour in
dis